F-18 Smoke

[dtdb]

I was able to add red and blue colored smoke coming off of the wings of the f-18 but I have the control to turn it on being the strobe light key. Is there anyway to assign a different key to turn the smoke on that the f-18 isn't allready using. ex. the extend or retract hoist key for the EH101, or something else. Or make a completely new control key.

This is what the lights part of the aircraft.cfg looks like. The ba smoke red and blue is the smoke effects.

[liGHTS]
//Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit, 5=landing
light.0 = 3,  -26.70,  -4.00,   1.40, fx_navredm ,
light.1 = 3,  -26.70,   4.00,   1.40, fx_navgrem ,
light.2 = 3,  -49.40,   5.80,   8.50, fx_navwhi ,
light.3 = 1,  -46.20,   5.90,   7.50, fx_beaconb ,
light.4 = 1,  -46.10,  -5.90,   7.50, fx_beaconb ,
light.5 = 10,  -14.00,  0.00,   2.00, fx_vclight ,
light.6 = 2, -35.00, 18.00, 0.00,   ba_smoke_blue.fx ,
light.7 = 2, -35.00, -18.00, 0.00,   ba_smoke_red.fx ,

[Razgriz]

Not without messing with animations, how did you change smoke color?

[dtdb]

I know that the white smoke effect the f 18 uses is fx_smoke_w.fx. I found another red and blue smoke effect, but it stayed up a lot longer than the white smoke. I found the color the other effects use. Open the effect with notepad to edit it.
White:
Color Start=244, 244, 247, 150
Color End=249, 249, 249, 255
Blue:
Color Start=0, 0, 255, 200
Color End=0, 0, 255, 255
Red:
Color Start=244, 0, 0, 200
Color End=249, 0, 0, 255

I just copied the f 18 white smoke and change the color part to make red and blue. You can change it to any color.

[Intrepid]

I know that the white smoke effect the f 18 uses is fx_smoke_w.fx. I found another red and blue smoke effect, but it stayed up a lot longer than the white smoke. I found the color the other effects use. Open the effect with notepad to edit it.
White:
Color Start=244, 244, 247, 150
Color End=249, 249, 249, 255
Blue:
Color Start=0, 0, 255, 200
Color End=0, 0, 255, 255
Red:
Color Start=244, 0, 0, 200
Color End=249, 0, 0, 255

I just copied the f 18 white smoke and change the color part to make red and blue. You can change it to any color.

DTDB; could you elaborate more on how to achieve this change,where exactly you placed the additions in
the cfg. files and which exact file,
I cut and pasted from the previous post and failed to see any change in the sim
possably showing a larger section of your cfg.files ,along with the change to the file in the
effects/ fx_smoke_w.fx. folder
Thanks
Randy

[Voodoo]

That's quite a cool idea, dtdb; copying the white smoke fx file, then saving it with a different fx file name after changing the color values of the [ParticleAttributes].

Of course you've hit on the problem of controlling it. The only easy parameters to change in the aircraft.cfg file for attaching effects to are the [lights] and the [smokesystem]. You've only got 1 Smoke switch available to you, "I", but you've got 10 different light types available to you:
1 Beacon
2 Strobe
3 Navigation or Position
4 Cockpit
5 Landing
6 Taxi
7 Recognition
8 Wing
9 Logo
10 Cabin

But you've only 4 key commands that can control lights directly from the keyboard:
Landing Lights  "CTRL + L"
Panel Lights  "SHFT + L"
All Lights  "L"
Strobes  "O"  (but you lose this Strobe control when you install Acceleration - although you could go into Settings > Controls and remap another key to the Strobe lights. Or remap "O" again if you don't ever fly the EH101)

Map one color effect to your strobe (light type 2) and maybe another colour to your cockpit lights (light type 4) to let you select them independently. But they'll always be using one of your standard lights control keys.

The only way I can think of getting a completely different key to work lights is to create some XML in your Panel folder and then add it as a gauge into your Panel.cfg file. But I am not skilled enough to know exactly what you need to do - although I think it's a workable idea. [HOWEVER, SEE MY NEXT POST FOR A POSSIBLY BETTER WAY OF DOING THIS]

A lot of afterburner effects use lights or the smoke system and some are activated by key switches using XML. The freeware FSFrance Concorde used "SHIFT + F4" to turn the afterburner effect on, so I guess you could study an XML file that does that and work from there?

The SDK contains the precise names of the lights as you would use them as variables in an XML gauge.

Does any of this make sense?

[Voodoo]

Hi DTDB,

There is a degree of key mapping that can be done via the standard.xml files in FSX.

I experimentally mapped the SHIFT+Z key by putting the following code into my "subset" standard.xml file (file can be found in c:/documents and Settings/username/Application Data/Microsoft/FSX/Controls, but don't confuse the "subset" standard.xml file with the "master" standard.xml file in your FSX root directory).

It worked fine with both the Acceleration Pack F18 and a 3rd-party add-on aircraft, and I also tried the same edit with TOGGLE_TAXI_LIGHTS, and that worked successfully too.

In the KEYBOARD_MAIN section of the STANDARD.XML (subset) file put an entry in this format:
<Entry>
<Key>SHIFT+Z</Key>
<Down>TOGGLE_NAV_LIGHTS</Down>
</Entry>

It does seem that many of the Event ID's listed in the SDK documentation might be keymapped simply in this way.

For your specific case, use light types 8 and 9 instead of type 2 (since Wing and Logo lights don't exist on the F/A-18 so they won't clash with anything) and use the Event ID's, TOGGLE_LOGO_LIGHTS and TOGGLE_WING_LIGHTS with whatever keys you want to remap.

Hope this helps. And let us know how you get on.

Best regards,

-Voodoo

[Razgriz]

For the directory, just type %appdata%/microsoft/fsx/controls

[Intrepid]

Voo Doo,Razgriz;   you guys rock   
I cant believe the effort you two guys put into helping others
enjoy this flight sim
 THANKS GENTLEMEN
Randy

[Voodoo]

Thanks Randy. I'm sure everyone would agree it's what the Board's all about. And I'm sharing a virtual beer with ya right now, sir!

[Intrepid]

Thanks Randy. I'm sure everyone would agree it's what the Board's all about. And I'm sharing a virtual beer with ya right now, sir!

Sorry I couldn't say Thanks fer the beer earlier,Had to go and cash in my empties
Ahaaaa good beer
Randy

[Voodoo]

I have posted up some pictures on the Screenshots forum, to show you what dtdb's "tricolor" smoke might look like.
http://www.fsdreamteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=771.0

Credit to dtdb for showing us this elegant way to do multi-coloured smoke. All I've done is mapped the "smoke-on" commands to individual keys: "P" for Blue, "I" for White (default), and "U" for Red.

If anyone wants to try this out for themselves, here is a step-by-step example (just very slightly modified from dtdb's example):

• In your Effects folder, make two extra copies of your fx_smoke_w.fx file
• Rename those copies as fx_smoke_blue.fx and fx_smoke_red.fx
• Edit each file and look for the [ParticleAttributes] sections. There are 4 of these sections in each file
• Look for the "Color Start" and the "Color End" lines
• The parameters in each line represent: Red, Green, Blue, Transparency
• For the fx_smoke_blue.fx file, leave the Blue and Transparency values as they are, and change the Red and Green values to zero
• Do a similar edit for the fx_smoke_red,fx file, leaving the Red and Transparency values as they are, but changing the Blue and Green values to zero
  
• In your aircraft.cfg file, look for the LIGHTS section and add the following lines:
  light.7 = 8, -35.00, 18.00, 0.00,   fx_smoke_blue.fx ,
  light.8 = 9, -35.00, -18.00, 0.00,   fx_smoke_red.fx ,
  (You may need to alter the "light.x" numbers to make them unique in your file)
• Go to your %appdata%/microsoft/fsx/controls folder and edit the "standard.xml" file
• Search for the strings "<key>U" and "<key>P" which map your U and P keys, and replace those sections with the following two pieces of code:
• <Entry>
              <Key>P</Key>
              <Down>TOGGLE_WING_LIGHTS</Down>
  </Entry>
• <Entry>
              <Key>U</Key>
              <Down>TOGGLE_LOGO_LIGHTS</Down>
  </Entry>

And that's you done. You can now use the U, I and P keys in any F18 variant to generate tricolor smoke.

Other options you may want to play with are:
You can pick your own different keys to remap - the ones I gave you are just my examples.
You can even add more colors by adding in "light type 10" and "TOGGLE_CABIN_LIGHTS" commands to your aircraft.cfg and your standard.xml files respectively.
If you want your smoke to last longer than the default 30 seconds or so, edit your "fx_smoke..." files and replace the Lifetime line in the Particle.0 section with this setting that makes the smoke last 150 seconds (alter to taste):

• [Particle.0]
  Lifetime=150.0, 150.0

You can change the LIGHTS section COORDINATES as follows if you'd prefer the smoke to come from the tailpipes rather than the wingtips (although you'll be limited to using one colour at a time then, which may be more realistic, but maybe not as pretty )

• light.7 = 8, -53.00, 0.00, 0.00,   fx_smoke_blue.fx ,
  light.8 = 9, -53.00, 0.00, 0.00,   fx_smoke_red.fx ,
  

Be aware that because the effects are linked to lights, pressing "L" will turn your red and blue smoke on too. It's a feature not a bug...LOL


Thanks again to dtdb. Chocks away, chaps, and have fun!

- Voodoo

[Intrepid]

That is one neet (I WAS thinking of another 4-letter word, but knew I would be edited ) addition.
Thanks VooDoo and DTDB
I am not from the States, but seeing that makes me want to stand up and salute
going to have try that out (when i get enough time that is)
Thanks again 
Randy

[Intrepid]

Hey, Thanks to all involved in this Thread-Post
I achieved the smoke effects I was looking for
Randy is happy

[shylock]

Hey voodoo ur the man when it comes to this so I ask, is it possible to disable the lights all together on the hornets other then the landing light??? We have trouble im multi player with this and I tried to tinker but couldnt get it.

[Voodoo]

Hi Shy'.

Well, the first thing that springs to mind is you can simply go to the FSX Settings > Controls and disable the key mappings for any default lights, except CTRL+L which is your landing lights.

Alternatively, you could also go into your "standard.xml" file (see earlier post) and remove lights entries from there.

But, these changes would affect all your aircraft and they wouldn't prevent people from switching lights on via the cockpit switches, so you might not think it a good idea.

I don't think there is anything you can do in your aircraft.cfg file since the LIGHTS section there only contains lights that are additional to those that are built into the model.

I've never flown multiplayer before (yeah sad I know but I'm more of a "spanners" than a "driver" ) but if you could tell me exactly what the problem is you are having with the lights in multiplayer, I (or someone) might come up with a better solution?