Navy Hawks X moving Xcraft - Valley Forge and LCS

[Finn 873]

I managed to make the Xcraft, Valley Forge and LCS moving.

They sail from Norfolk to Napoli every 8 weeks.

Looking forward to land on them when the landing pads are fixed.

wothan

[Infin8lives 3]

You wouldn't care to share that "how to" info would you?

[Finn 873]

I made new folders in the simobjectboat folder containing the models for each of the mentioned ships (Xcraft, Valley Forge and LCS) unfortunatly I couldn´t get the LHD to work since it consist of serveral .mdl files.

Example:

simobjects

................Boats

.........................veh_Aerosoft_Valley

.......................................................Model

................................................................Valley.mdl (from the Aerosoft_shipmodel folder)

................................................................Model.cfg (from the Aerosoft_shipmodel folder)

.......................................................Texture

................................................................WMSLxxxx.bmp (all files starting with WMSL)

................................................................Texture.cfg (from the Aerosoft_shiptexture folder)

..........................sim.cfg

The same should be done for the Xcraft and LCS, though the model.cfg, texture.cfg and sim.cfg should be created(they dont exist) and edited to reflect the names of the ships (look in the files for the Valley to figure out how it should look like).

After this I used a small freeware program called "AI Boat Traffic Compiler " that also works in conjunction with google earth.

What You do is making the route with Google Earth and save it with the Google Earth .kml extension. The content of this file looks like xml code and some of the entries has to be edited.

Another .txt file has to be created defining the ships (in this case the aerosoft ships) and another .txt file containing the plan (when to start, at what percentage of ship traffic they should appear etc).

These 3 files are loaded in the small program, that then compiles them to a single .bgl file, wich can be placed in the Addon scenery folder, and voila real moving Aerosoft ships that hopefull soon will be landable.

Sounds complicated, but once You figure it out it´s not that hard, allthough not as easy as the Aerosoft shipyard tool.

Link to the program and instructions: http://lc0277.nerim.net/boat/

Wothan

[Infin8lives 3]

Wow thx bro, I'll look into it tonight. You're right though, it does sound complicated.

[Finn 873]

Just follow the describtion that comes with the program.

Pay attention to the values in the Google Earth KML file that need to be altered.

Also note that the schedule for the ships are a bit strange, note the following:

The route I made, is the one from the example, and has to be interpreted as here:

From the PlanCarrier.txt file:

AC#1,B7640,5%,8WEEK,3/16:50:00,11/07:39:57,7640,normal,ferry,28/10:45:00,36/01:34:57,7640,reverse,ferry

-AC#1 is the boat described in the BoatsCarrier.txt file and means the Xcraft

-B7640 is the "boats route" "name" from the google earth .kml file. The name in the .kml file could be any number. But the number is the one to be used in the in the PlanCarrier.txt file, with a "B" in front of it.

-5% means that the ships will be shown when the ship traffic slider, in the display setup screen for FSX, is set higher than 5%.

-8 WEEK means that the ships will start from the startpoint every 8th week after the initial start date described here:

-3/16:50 means that the ships will start at 16:50 GMT (beware its GMT), the 3rd day after the first monday, of the year 2006. Since the first mondag of 2006 was the 2.January, the ships will start: (monday is 0, tuesday is 1., wednesday the 2. and thursday the 3. day) makes it thursday the 5.January. This is the initial start date and all subsequent ship runs will be evere 8th week afterwards giving the follwing shedule:

5. January 2006 Initial start date

2. March

27. April

22. June

17. August

12. Oktober

7. December

still + 8 weeks =>

1. February 2007

29. March

...and so on for every 8th week.

Please read on in the documentation.

Once You get the hang of it, it´s not as hard as it sounds.

Please feel free to ask further questions.

Wothan

[intrepid 2]

Wow! :shock: I couldn't have figured that out in 10 life-times, when i get further in to this i will have to try it out

That's why I spend way too much time reading these forums(according to my better half) THANK YOU Wothan

for sharing your expertise

Randy

[Finn 873]

Just a small teaser off whats possible. Here on this picture I just landed on the Valley Forge, steaming out from Norfolk, heading for Napoli.

I disabled crash detection in order to be able to land on the Xcraft and Valley Forge.

The LCS in the background is not yet landable.

See the wake effects:

[marcb 1]

Awesome tip wothanfja16!

I got right to it and now also have my fleet cruising the atlantic to Italy! 8)

I didn't manage to get the LHD go steam either. Maybe someone from Aerosoft can give us a hint into the right direction to accomplish this. I did get all other ships to sail without a problem, and it's dead fun. :wink:

Now I have got all these ideas about carrier group routes that I want to try out!... I'm for sure going to be busy for the next weeks making routes. It just doesn't get much better than this, flight and naval sim in one. 8)

Marc

[Finn 873]

Hello Marc

I´m happy that You managed to make it work.

It´s easy to alter the sample files that comes with the program for a start. Once You get the principles for using the program right, it will be easy to make a carrier group.

There is also a bunch of default ships, including carriers that comes with FSX. The detailed carrier that comes with FSX is just build in a wrong scale. I had it together with the Valley Forge, but the carrier just seemed to small and I think that the aerosoft ships are in correct scale.

Wothan

[Aerosoft Team [Inactive Account] 51558]

I managed to make the Xcraft, Valley Forge and LCS moving.

They sail from Norfolk to Napoli every 8 weeks.

Looking forward to land on them when the landing pads are fixed.

wothan

Wothan, the pads are being fixed as we speak. The reason for the problem is one we can't mention as it involves betas and Non Disclosure Agreements etc. Silly and totally stupid but it happens.

As we provide the MDL's all you done is possible and we encourage it. However, keep in mind the ship is part of the product and as such copyrighted (I think the manual is not 100% clear on that). So I would prefer that sharing the files is done by us. We would be glad to host the files and advertise them. We'll even show we appreciate them by getting you free copies of stuff you like to own. You provide additional value to the product and we owe you for that. Talk to us at info@aerosoft-shop.com and we'll sort it out.

But all in all, well done!

[Finn 873]

Hello Mathjis

I have emailed You via the above email adress.

As You can read in the mail, nor harms done yet, nothing apart from advices has been distributed by me.

Wothan

[lydian49 0]

I still don't get it. I have no idea on how you did this. If you could email me with step by step instructions, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Finn 873]

Please visit this site: http://lc0277.nerim.net/boat/

There You will find out how to do it. Not easy at first, but once You figured it out, You find that it isn´t that hard ;-)

For the Aerosoft ships that come with Navy Hawk X, I can´t give You detailed instructions due to legal issues doing so.

Mathjis is better to explain why You aren´t allowed to, but there are some good reasons for it !!

To experiment, You can use the default ships that comes with FSX. There is even a nice carrier that can be used.

Finn

[lydian49 0]

Please visit this site: http://lc0277.nerim.net/boat/

There You will find out how to do it. Not easy at first, but once You figured it out, You find that it isn´t that hard ;-)

For the Aerosoft ships that come with Navy Hawk X, I can´t give You detailed instructions due to legal issues doing so.

Mathjis is better to explain why You aren´t allowed to, but there are some good reasons for it !!

To experiment, You can use the default ships that comes with FSX. There is even a nice carrier that can be used.

Finn

I went to the site, downloaded software, and tried to follow your example of the new folder. I don't understand where you put the file and what exactly you put in the file. Also, I am lost with the .txt files. Do I write the whole thing myself?

[lydian49 0]

I went to the site, downloaded software, and tried to follow your example of the new folder. I don't understand where you put the file and what exactly you put in the file. Also, I am lost with the .txt files. Do I write the whole thing myself?

Sorry, I do not know where to put the new folder (for the moving ship).

[Finn 873]

Sorry, I do not know where to put the new folder (for the moving ship).

When done correctly, You should have generated a *.bgl file. Place it in the FSX/addon scenery/ scenery folder.

If the AI ship doesn´t show up, check the date. The way the start date and any subsequent start dates are determined can be difficult to understand. Read the documenttion on the above mentioned link very carefully !!

Finn