Does anyone know of a decent PT-17 or PT-13 stearman that I can fly in CFS 2.  I would also love a grumman goose (not the widgeon).

Thanks.

OK, I saw those and also one in the FS2000 vintage section.  Does anyone know how/how easy it is to set up the files to be used with CFS?

I got both the fs2000 pt-13 and the fs2002 "dingoIV" Stearmen working in CFS2 but both required a "sound transplant" since their sounds were aliased to the Cessna which is not in the usual CFS2 files. The dingoIV has a serious performance problem that might be solved by a power multiplier but the pt-13 flew quite well. It might be worth trying some of the other fs2002 Stearmen.

There is a pretty good essay on this site at http://www.simviation.com/fs_compatibility.htm which describes the problem. In short "some" fs2002 planes will work in cfs2 and "most" fs2000 planes will work. The sound file problem appears to be the main since the model won't even appear in the plane list until it is compatible. That help page tells you how to fix it.

Try it. Trying different aircraft is one of the enjoyable parts of this game.

Jimski

I couldn't get either of the stearmans to work from the FS 2000 vintage section.  The model wouldn't even show up when i went to free flight.  Am I missing something?

You can read more detailed stuff about the sound fix at http://www.simviation.com/lair/aliasing1.htm

Jimski

At first I thought your brakes were engaged but the fact that you could fly it made me think different.

Of the two I tried, the "dingoIV" pt17 barely flew but the fs2000 pt13 flew very well once I fixed the sound problem. I did not loop, etc. but take off was brisk and it popped right up to about 100kts and would not go much faster which is maybe quite realistic for this sort of airplane. Exactly hich model are you flying?

Usually you can indeed adjust cg and "flight tune" the model. I have found it is quite common to get very good looking models that don't fly right at all and I suspect that some modelers are mostly interested in the visuals leaving the proof to the student, so to speak.

Jimski

Let's stick with the pt13ydet.zip plane. Go to its folder and look for the aircraft.cfg file and bring it up on notepad (it is a plain text file). Add to it at the bottom:

[flight_tuning]
cruise_lift_scalar     = 1.0
parasite_drag_scalar   = .5
induced_drag_scalar    = 1.0
elevator_effectiveness = 1.0
aileron_effectiveness  = 2.0
rudder_effectiveness   = 1.0
pitch_stability        = 1.0
roll_stability         = 1.0
yaw_stability          = 1.0
elevator_trim_effectiveness = 1.0
aileron_trim_effectiveness  = 1.0
rudder_trim_effectiveness   = 1.0

[piston_engine]
power_scalar = 1.0

[propeller]
thrust_scalar = 1.0

and save. This is one flight tuning method. As you change the scalars the plane should respond. You will see that I have halved the parasitic drag and doubled the aileron effectiveness to get it to perform as I think it should in cfs2. Before doing this max speed was about 80 mph and now it is about 110 which is closer to spec which I think is about 120. And now it will roll in about 5 seconds, maybe it should roll even faster. I was able to do loops with it. (I will bet any stunt Stearman you see at an airshow is well souped up.)

You can also increase speed by increasing the power_scalar but this model already has takeoff and climb that is believable so its power to weight must be close to correct.

Anyway, the above words can be added to any aircraft.cfg file to fine tune a bit. Most files already have it plus another to fine tune weight and cg. You might try it with that fs2002 model to make the controls more effective.

I was unable to get the dingoIV fs2002 model to fly well at all in cfs2. It is perfect in fs2002.

I don't know what to think about your nose over on take off situation. Mine will not do it if I release brakes and don't push the stick forward too much.

Jimski

When you start in free flight your engine should not be running at all. Then you hit e to start it. Try it with one of the stock aircraft. Then try stopping the engine with the aircraft parked, brakes off, and shutting down the program. Then restart with the PT and see what happens. Sometimes the sims remember the way the program was shut down. If you shut down last time with the engine running wide open and the parking brake on it might start up the next time same way. I think?

Jimski

I just re-downloaded the files from both locations that I tried, and neither one had scalers, so maybe I screwed something up or had a corrupt file.

Jimski,

Thanks for your help.  I got everything to work right finally.  The right wing and tail of the plane don't show up when I pan around with the hat switch, but they show up when I use the chase camera.  Did you have the same problem?  Is there a way to fix this?  It looks like all the files are there in the textures file, but I don't know why they don't show up.  Sorry for all the questions, but there's no where else to get this info.  Thanks for your help.

jimski wrote on Jan 18^th, 2007 at 11:34pm:


I never actually found out what the caused the nose over problem.  Went back and checked the CFG file for the aircraft and found that there was nothing in there, but I swear i had seen something in there before that talked about the CG and weight, because I messed around with it.  Anyway, that wasn't there anymore, so I pasted in the scalar stuff you gave me, and it worked fine.

Thanks for your help!

Go to CFS2 at Simouthose. There you will find a PT-17. I think it is called  Stermen PT-17A02.This one is nice.This one is from FS2004.The big problem is your frame rates. I have both PT-17s.If you use them as AI stactic or flying AC you will notice a large frame rate hit.They also have a nice BT-13 inFS2004 that is being converted to CFS2.I have been working on bases along the east coast of the US and will I hope start soon building training missions .

roberthegf wrote on Jan 21^st, 2007 at 9:41pm:


That stearman was much better.  The panel doesn't work quite right, but other than that, it's great.