Wake Effect Doesn't Show

TARPSBird

TARPSBird

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Staff member
I know this has been recently discussed on the CFS2 forum but my question pertains to FS2004 planes. What is the trick with the float points to make the wake effect show up on water take-offs and landings??? Water effects (splash and spray) seem to work OK but some of my planes don't show a wake no matter how much float point adjusting I do. The MS effects and aircraft container SDK's were no help, I know how to enter the effects in the .cfg file. Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.
 
No responses since last night. Guess I'm not the only one who can't figure out these wake effects. :icon_lol:
 
Sorry Tarps I didn't read the whole question. First, effects use files in the effects folder of the main directory and they will employ whatever texture is called for (adjacent to the effects) to execute the effect. Second, within any CFG you can add or modify effects as long as there is a corresponding one to be had from the aforementioned folders. Float points will position the effect for display.
Using the default C208 CFG as an example, double click to open it in notepad. Scroll down until you find the section:

[EFFECTS]
wake=fx_wake
water=fx_spray
dirt=fx_tchdrt
concrete=fx_sparks
touchdown=fx_tchdwn_s, 1

What I highlighted in bold are the exact names of effects files used for this aircraft. Third party effects as stand-alone or with new aircraft can be more pleasing than default. You can type in different effects to try them out.

If an aircraft shows no effects with ground or water check to see if there is an effects section in the CFG. If not you can copy and paste one right in, save changes, re-load the aircraft and it should work. That said, there are times when aircraft will not show surface effects and I have no clue why. Hope this helps.
 
No matter what Display settings I use, I always have wake effects. So we can eliminate that.

What you must do is control your tests and validate what works, then what doesn't.

Take the default Cessna 208 on floats as one aircraft that should have all the requirements in place to work. Assuming that you have not changed the Effects section in it, does its wake work? If not, does it still use the default wake effect. If not, change it so that it does. Default wake effect is wake=fx_wake.
If this does not work, then likely you have a bad fx_wake effect. Replace it and test agaian.

If that works, then we know FS, the C208, and the wake=fx_wake works.

Now find an aircraft that does not work.
Change the effects section to use the default wake wake=fx_wake
If it works, great. Carry on with other aircraft tests.

If it does not work, verify the aircraft.cfg has the Effect properly stated (wake=fx_wake).
If it does, ensure the float contact points are type 4 points.
If not, change them.
If they are type 4, then the contact points must be set to be in the water.
Use your lights section to set up some temporary lights set at the float contact points locations.
Turn on your lights and slew up so you can see where they are.

The front contact points should be approximately where the fattest part of the float is or about where the main gear should be, or slightly forward of that point.

The rear contact points should be where the step is in the rear part of the float.

Adjust the points so that the aircraft sits with the front part of the floats slightly higher than the rear with the floats submerged about 2/3rds to 3/4s the height.

I hope this helps; let us know what you find.
 
Float points suck. MS sure made this stuff hard to figure out.
The plane I was working on was the FS9 Grumman HU-16 Albatross by Greg Pepper and Michael Verlin. I finally got the wake effect to show by copying and pasting the float points from George Diemer's Sikorsky S-43B. George's plane has two float points up forward, two aft, and a water rudder. I have no idea why these float points worked and mine didn't, they were darn near identical. :confused: Now I have to restore the float points on the wing floats to get the spray effect and hopefully not screw up what I've already done in the process. Normally I enjoy doing this kind of tweaking on my planes but this has been frustrating. :banghead: Thanks guys for your assistance.
 
They are less sucky when you can see them. Do this;

In the CFG find the lights section, it will look like this (from the same C-208 example)

[LIGHTS]
//Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit
light.0 = 3, -12.80, -25.98, 2.72, fx_navred ,
light.1 = 3, -12.80, 25.98, 2.72, fx_navgre ,
light.2 = 3, -38.62, 0.00, 1.84, fx_navwhi ,
light.3 = 2, -13.17, -25.98, 2.72, fx_strobe ,
light.4 = 2, -13.17, 25.98, 2.72, fx_strobe ,
light.5 = 1, -36.20, 0.00, 9.15, fx_beacon ,
light.6 = 4, -9.49, 0.00, 0.98, fx_vclight,

Right below these add:

light.7 = 3, -12.80, -25.98, 2.72, fx_navred ,
light.8 = 3, -12.80, -25.98, 2.72, fx_navred ,
light.9 = 3, -12.80, -25.98, 2.72, fx_navred ,
light.10 = 3, -12.80, -25.98, 2.72, fx_navred ,

Now copy and paste the bold numbers with commas from the contact point section as shown and paste them into the four new light entries. 4's are floats. They numbers give spatial coordinates- fore/aft, left/right, up/down.

point.4 = 4, -4.00, -5.250, -5.600, 1600, 0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.85, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 0, 0.0, 0.0
point.5 = 4, -4.00, 5.250, -5.600, 1600, 0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.85, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 1, 0.0, 0.0
point.6 = 4, -26.35, -5.250, -4.800, 1600, 0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.95, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 2, 0.0, 0.0
point.7 = 4, -26.35, 5.250, -4.800, 1600, 0, 0.00, 0.0, 0.95, 2.5, 0.65, 0.0, 0.0, 3, 0.0, 0.0


light.7 = 3, -4.00, -5.250, -5.600, fx_navred ,
light.8 = 3, -4.00, 5.250, -5.600, fx_navred ,
light.9 = 3, -26.35, -5.250, -4.800, fx_navred ,
light.10 = 3, -26.35, 5.250, -4.800, fx_navred ,

Now re-load the aircraft and when you turn on the lights you will see a red dot where the float contact points are. They are harder to set than wheel points but some trial and error will yield good results. Remember to change both sets of numbers each change you try. And beware that a single period, comma, or anything else out of place can make planes do silly things. Good luck.
 
Aeromed, thanks for the example using lights for float points. I should have mentioned in my first post that I use the Aircraft Container Manager program so I am actually able to see where I'm placing the contact points. It's just the results from editing the points that are uncertain and you don't know what's gonna happen until you put the plane back in the water. One edit and the plane settles nose down with water lapping the windshield, another and it tilts nose up and sinks like the Titanic. I finally got everything working right tonight, both wake and spray effects (see screenshot). :) I've concluded that you should use just four float points for the main float area (in my case the fuselage) in a rectangular pattern, positioned pretty much as Milton suggested. To get the spray effect on the wing floats I used one float point each.
 
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