FS2004 landing notifier

[dninex]

Hi everyone. I'm currently using FS2004, and find it extremely difficult to tell when I've landed, especially when flying helicopters or landing at very low vertical speeds (low approach angle, low pitch when landing etc.). I was wondering if there was a way to make FS notify me when I've landed, similar to the message that pops up on the bottom left when the brakes are on or you're stalling/overspeed. A downloadable utility would be nice, but maybe there is a way to modify some of the files in the FS9 folder to make the message show up. Thanks in advance for the help.

[Drcodyjones]

Some of the freeware addon planes play a different sound when the wheels are moving across the ground. This sounds like cups shaking to me.

Try projectopensky.com for some neat freeware planes.

[dninex]

I'll be sure to check those planes out, but would you know of a way for the sim to clearly notify me of landings by visual means while I'm in the VC?

[Drcodyjones]

No, I'm afraid that I've never found this sort of software. I think it would be a pretty easy software to program, seeing that I am a game developer myself. I don't know the programming language used for FS2004 though.

[napamule2]

Dninex,
You can make a window (press '[') and make it a 'spot view', zoomed in closer, and you will KNOW you have landed going by the smoke the tires make. Or just plain looking. There is also the 'radio altimeter' gauge, which you can add to your VC. It will indicate '0' (zero) AGL when your a/c (wheels) are 'down'. Programing? Who need it (hehe).
CB
Napamule

[skylab]

Landing notifier ?!?!

Gee.....I've made some pretty smooth landings in my day both in the sim and in the real World, but I've always know when I was on terra firma !!

[dninex]

Thanks so much napamule2! While I would still love to get any info on an add-on that notifies a landing as I described, windowing is working great for the moment. I also went into the sound settings (sounds were on default) and cut the engine noise in half and raised the environment noise by 50%, which helped out a bit when landing fixed-wing aircraft by making the touchdown tire screech a bit more audible.

The problem is landing helicopters, though. The windowing method works well enough when I'm landing on the ground, as the view will automatically shift above the ground. Unfortunately, the windowing doesn't really help that much when landing on top of buildings, as the camera just views "through" the buildings. This is further exasperated by helicopters making no sound at all when landing in FS2004.

As skylab said, in real life, it's obvious when you've landed a plane because of the tire screech and the force of the aircraft touching down. Playing around with the sound settings largely solved the problem for fixed-wing aircraft, but it's difficult to tell when I've landed a helicopter because there is no sound emitted upon landing helicopters in FS2004 and I don't have a force-feedback joystick. Landing on the ground is somewhat mitigated by the windowing method, but landing on buildings is still problematic. Napamule2, does the radio altimeter indicate altitude above buildings as well?

Anyways, thanks for your help so far everyone , and please notify me if there is an add-on such as the one I described.

[Avechelice]

Hello,

For the chopper(s) check the sound.cfg for seen if this is a touchdown sound (normally not)
You can add one in your sound folder (eg from a other aircraft) and edit the sound.cfg for ditto by copying the instances from the sound.cfg of the borowed ...
Usually aircrafts have 3 instances (left - right and noze or tailwheel) in the sound.cfg .. so normally will be enough to have right and left for a chopper AFAIK

note:
The default touchdown sounds are in the FS2004 sound folder (cmtouch*) so if you want use those .. it's no need to add soundfiles in the sound folder of the chopper

The sound.cfg of the Cessna 172 (touchdown stances)

[LEFT_TOUCHDOWN]
filename=cmtouch1, cmtouch2, cmtouch3

[RIGHT_TOUCHDOWN]
filename=cmtouch4, cmtouch5, cmtouch6

[CENTER_TOUCHDOWN]
filename=cmtouch7, cmtouch8

You must also edit in the aircraft.cfg the contacts points for add the type of sound !

Here you see where it is (in bold and it's 2 and 3 cause left and right for main gear) AFAIK

[contact_points]
//0 Class
//1 Longitudinal Position (feet)
//2 Lateral Position (feet)
//3 Vertical Position (feet)
//4 Impact Damage Threshold (Feet Per Minute)
//5 Brake Map (0=None, 1=Left, 2=Right)
//6 Wheel Radius (feet)
//7 Steer Angle (degrees)
//8 Static Compression (feet) (0 if rigid)
//9 Max/Static Compression Ratio
//10 Damping Ratio (0=Undamped, 1=Critically Damped)
//11 Extension Time (seconds)
//12 Retraction Time (seconds)
//13 Sound Type
//14 Airspeed limit for retraction (KIAS)
//15 Airspeed that gear gets damage at (KIAS)
//GEAR
point.0 = 1, -19.137, 0.000, -0.83, 2600, 0, 0.633, 60, 0.12, 2.5, 0.90, 3.0, 3.0, 0, 110, 120
point.1 = 1, 3.543, -6.437, -6.320, 1600, 1, 0.886, 0, 0.33, 2.5, 0.85, 7.1, 7.3, 2, 110, 120
point.2 = 1, 3.543, 6.437, -6.320, 1600, 2, 0.886, 0, 0.33, 2.5, 0.85, 4.3, 4.1, 3, 110, 120
//SCRAPES
point.3= 2, -0.69, -23.79, 0.59, 800, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0
point.4= 2, -0.69, 23.79, 0.59, 800, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 6, 0, 0
point.5= 2, -20.60, -7.58, 0.66, 800, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 9, 0, 0
point.6= 2, -20.60, 7.58, 0.66, 800, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 9, 0, 0
point.7= 2, 11.02, 0.00, 0.23, 800, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 4, 0, 0

This is the contact points of the default Bell 206b

So I think there you can change the bold numbers (7) by number 2 and 3 .
It's 4 number 7 as they define the left and right skid (skid are in red ... type 3) fore and aft (2 touchdown points by skid)

//0 Class <0=none,1=wheel, 2=scrape, 3=skid>
//1 Longitudinal Position (feet)
//2 Lateral Position (feet)
//3 Vertical Position (feet)
//4 Impact Damage Threshold (Feet Per Minute)
//5 Brake Map (0=None, 1=Left, 2=Right)
//6 Wheel Radius (feet)
//7 Steer Angle (degrees)
//8 Static Compression (feet) (0 if rigid)
//9 Max/Static Compression Ratio
//10 Damping Ratio (0=Undamped, 1=Critically Damped)
//11 Extension Time (seconds)
//12 Retraction Time (seconds)
//13 Sound Type
//14 Airspeed limit for retraction (KIAS)
//15 Airspeed that gear gets damage at (KIAS)

[contact_points]
point.0=3, 4.83, 3.33, -4.50, 1574.8, 0, 0.5187, 0.0, 0.286975, 2.5, 0.605067, 0.0, 0.0, 7.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.1=3, -3.50, -3.33, -4.58, 1574.8, 0, 0.5187, 0.0, 0.396299, 2.5, 0.728164, 0.0, 0.0, 7.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.2=3, -3.50, 3.33, -4.58, 1574.8, 0, 0.5187, 0.0, 0.396299, 2.5, 0.728164, 0.0, 0.0, 7.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.3=3, 4.83, -3.33, -4.50, 1574.8, 0, 0.5187, 0.0, 0.286975, 2.5, 0.605067, 0.0, 0.0, 7.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.4=2, 0.00, -16.67, 9.00, 0.0, 0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.000000, 0.0, 0.000000, 0.0, 0.0, 5.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.5=2, 0.00, 16.67, 9.00, 0.0, 0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.000000, 0.0, 0.000000, 0.0, 0.0, 6.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.6=2, -20.50, 0.00, 1.67, 787.4, 0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.000000, 0.0, 0.000000, 0.0, 0.0, 9.0, 0.0, 0.0
point.7=2, 0.00, 9.08, 2.58, 787.4, 0, 0.0000, 0.0, 0.000000, 0.0, 0.000000, 0.0, 0.0, 4.0, 0.0, 0.0

static_pitch = 0.198
static_cg_height = 4.294

Hope it's help

Remark:
Always save anything before performing changes !

EDIT:

Maybe you can try those sounds:
http://www.4shared.com/file/25512431...ound-MI24.html

I use them with a Mi-24 (from Tim Conrad) and this chopper have touchdown sounds
The contact point of this chopper ....

[contact_points]
static_pitch = 3
static_cg_height = 6.5
tailwheel_lock = 0
gear_system_type = 1
max_number_of_points = 9

point.0 = 1, 10.675, 0, -7.1025, 1574.8, 0, 0.8, 60, 0.286975, 2.5, 0.605067, 5, 4, 0, 150, 175
point.1 = 1, -3.8783, -4.833, -6.4382, 2574.8, 1, 1.25, 0, 0.396299, 2.5, 0.728164, 6, 5, 2, 0, 0
point.2 = 1, -3.8733, 4.833, -6.438, 2574.8, 2, 1.25, 0, 0.396299, 2.5, 0.728164, 5, 4, 3, 0, 0
point.3 = 2, 0, -25.3062, 2.0005, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0
point.4 = 2, 0, 24.9363, 2.8155, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 6, 0, 0
point.5 = 2, -32.5901, 0, -2.0865, 787.4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 9, 0, 0
point.6 = 2, 15.2712, -0.0092, -6.1427, 787.4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 4, 0, 0

You can download this helico there:

FS2004 (ACOF) - FS2004 Helicopters
FS2004 Mil MI-24V Hind E
[ Download | View ]

Name: mi-24v.zip Size: 11,104,871 Date: 01-05-2005 Downloads: 15,197
FS2004 Mil MI-24V Hind E. Deadly looking, and just as lethal, the Mil MI-24 series of helicopter gunships are perfect Cold War images of the Soviet concept of a "Flying APC" armed with AT missles, rockets and cannon, and capable of transporting eight troops in its cabin. Caused much concern in the West, where there was no counterpart, and given the NATO code-name "Hind" This model has multiple paint schemes, lots of animations, VC, some "custom" gauges and working gear. By Tim Conrad.

Be sure if you use the sounds I posted to modify the aircraft.cfg for have this in the following section or you will have no sounds at all

[GeneralEngineData]

//0=Piston, 1=Jet, 2=None, 3=Helo-Turbine, 4=Rocket, 5=Turboprop
engine_type = 5
fuel_flow_scalar = 1.0
min_throttle_limit = 0.0
engine.0 = 5.63, 0.0, 2.89




For the radar altimeter .. the measuring is from the plane to ground ... so until you know the altitude of the building roof (for make your small computation ) this can't be useful.

Regards.

[napamule2]

Well, if it's helio landing then that's different. I am proficient in landing on top of buildings (since FS98). The way I do my helio landings is from SPOT VIEW. After years of practice I can land on the 'H' on ground from the cockpit view. But for roof top landings I ALWAYS use spot view. It's all in the SETUP. First make sure zoom is 1X. Always. Then depending on helio, set view aprox 70 ft back and 6 ft up. Then be sure 'gradual transitions' is OFF. You don't want helio to squirm on approach. You need solid look to gauge things.

So, in spot view you want to 'look down' so you see both the helio and the SHADOW. Yes, turn on 'aircraft casts shadow'. It's VITAL. You can gauge the touchdown point using the shadow. When the the shadow is cast on roof (takes a couple of seconds to show) that also indicates that the roof can be landed on (roofs that are not 'hardened' will not show you helio shadow-so don't try landing on those as it will 'go thru' roof).

Then be sure to set your REALISM to 'Medium'. NOT 'Hard'. Then set sensitivities to 100% and 0% for null (EXCEPT RUDDER WHICH MUST BE 95% AND 5% NULL-IMPORTANT). Then do a careful calibration. Do it twice. Then go try flying helio. I myself use a USB numpad ($15) which I place to left of keyboard and assign the trottle to numpad. Right hand for twist grip joy and left hand for throttle. This way I can input throttle with TAPS of numpad keys. I can very quickly tap 3 times increase, then just as quickly tap 2 times decrease for obsolute control. Hovering and taxi is a snap this way. So is landing, as you pull back stick, and decrease throttle with taps, then when slowed and just before it drops I push stick forward and give (yes give) throttle (taps) to put in hover 5 ft off ground then do taps to decrease throttle and gently kiss the earth (skids or wheels it don't matter). I took some instruction at HoverControl and it helped with the fine details of helio flying/landing. Go there and at least look around the forum. Might help. Join and take lessons if you're serious about learning helio flying. IT JUST TAKES PRACTICE, PRACTICE. And oh yeah, PRACTICE.
CB
Napamule

[Jim Robinson]

You could make an XML gauge pretty easily that'd swap a .bmp (turn on a light) when your skids touch the ground using the 'sim on ground' variable. Placing the gauge in the VC is a problem though because the only way you can do it is replace an existing gauge.

Below is a .zip file that adds a "landing_confirmation gauge" to the default Bell 206, just extract the 2 included files to your 'Flight Simulator 9\Aircraft\bell206b\panel' folder but MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR ORIGINAL PANEL.CFG FIRST. This will replace the 206's fuel shutoff with the landing_confirmation gauge. You can adapt this to whichever heli you prefer.

landing_confirmation.zip

Jim