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Adjusting Aircraft Model Radius

G

gadgets

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I'm in the process of upgrading AI flight Planner to, among other things, allow modification of certain aircraft parameters applicable to AI. All but one of those parameters are easily accessible in the aircraft.cfg file. The one that's not is the aircraft model radius which is in the .mdl file.

I'd like to be able to adjust the model radius for FS9 users (as Lee Swordy did in AFCAD). However, I can find no information on the FS9 aircraft .mdl file format.

Can any one give me some guidance, please?

Don
 
Why would you need to modify the model radius Don? It is no longer used to determine parking space size.

Edit. Oops, I didn't see your reference to FS9 :o
 
The radius value in the .mdl file is easily changed with a hex-editor. I don't remember the precise offset at the moment and don't have time to look, however it is within the first 100 bytes of the .mdl file's header.

If you have AFCAD, simply change the radius on a copy of your .mdl file, then open the original and modified copy in a hex-editor and check for the changed data...

Just for information though, FSX .mdl files are completely different and the radius is no longer "editable..."
 
I use AFCAD for this very purpose all the time. If you dont have it, get it. Its worth it just for this very tweak.

When you have things like tie-downs, which totally change your radius, it really messes things up. In AFCAD, simply open up Aircraft Editor, change the meters perimeter to desired setting, save, reboot FS and check your plane view in the selector window.

Too bad HEX editing wasnt as simple.

Too bad also that FSX doesnt allow for perimeter adjustments. If you do have a wierd FSX effect though (like its too big or too small), then simply check through all your parts as something has a Scale attached to it and needs to be cleared.


Bill
 
Thanks again. Bill (n4gix)

Lionheart, I am adding this capability to AI Flight Planner so that users don't have to load AFCAD to perform this function. If you do any AI flight planning, be sure to give AIFP a try.

Don
 
n4gix said:
Just for information though, FSX .mdl files are completely different and the radius is no longer "editable..."
Click to expand...

It still is, the new MDL format has a RADI section which contains the radius.
 
arno said:
It still is, the new MDL format has a RADI section which contains the radius.
Click to expand...

Yes, and as previously discussed, changing that RADI value will most assuredly have unpredictable results. In every case I've tried, it resulted in a model which would not load at all... :eek:
 
n4gix said:
Yes, and as previously discussed, changing that RADI value will most assuredly have unpredictable results. In every case I've tried, it resulted in a model which would not load at all... :eek:
Click to expand...

In that same discussion it worked fine for me, I could adjust the size of the aircraft in the preview by editing the value in the RADI section. But hex tweaking can be tricky, so any mistake will indeed produce an invalid MDL file afterwards.
 
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