Unleashing the Power of Flight Sim Toolkit
Part 2 of 3
By: Matt Miller of Domark
	"Sir, we've got an unidentified outbound over the Aleutian Islands 
heading  towardSoviet airspace...high altitude," the SAC radar officer said.
	"Anything on AWACS?" asked the Colonel.
	"Data coming in now... SIR! It's been ID'd as a U2!"
	"There are no scheduled intelligence gathering missions today. What  the 
hell's going on?"
	"Sir. Intel .confirms a U2 is missing from Moffett Field NAS. Norad is on 
the horn."
	The Colonel picks up the phone, a stillness hovers over the command 
center,  "Yes sir, right away."
	"Lieutenant, scramble everything available, that plane will be in Soviet 
airspace inside of 15 minutes." the Colonel was nearly screaming now, doing 
his best to maintain composure in front of his men. 
	"Only thing we can get armed and airborne that quickly is a lone Hornet 
out of the Aluetian base."
	"Do it Lieutenant!"
	"Yes Sir! Sir, radar is picking up several Soviet Blackjacks inbound! 
Probably to take out our SAMs. I doubt they 'd be expecting an air-to-air 
engagement."
	"Excellent," a semi-wave of relief came over the Colonel, "Launch the 
Hornet!"

	Last month, we showed you the basics of two of Flight Sim Toolkit's 
(FST) editors, the Color Editor and the Shape Editor. This month we will 
continue to work on our scenario, titled Coldwar. We will delve into two of the 
other FST editors, and show a trick with an "editor" not included with FST, but 
one that is standard with all Windows packages. This month we look at the 
Cockpit and Model editors and demonstrate how we can make our own sounds 
using the Recorder in Windows.

An Orchestra of Instruments

	Let's first explore the innovative tool we call the Cockpit Editor. Here we 
will lay down insturments over a general PCX file format (standard in all art 
packages) used here as our "window pane" through which we will explore our 
sim world. Keep in mind that a flight sim doesn't necessarily need a cockpit.  In 
fact, realtime instrument panel update and redrawing of the cockpit itself are 
rather processor intensive and hence can have the effect of slowing down the 
jet.  On the other hand, without the cockpit you cannot evaluate your plane's 
vitals (ie: weapons remaining, fuel capacity, altitute, etc.) and this obv iously will 
detract from the playability and fun of your sim.  The best bet is to reach a 
"happy medium" between display options and aircraft speed.
	First we will need a PCX file on which we will paste our insturments. In 
order to quickly illustrate my point we will be using the supplied "AV8B.PCX" file 
located in the clip art library for ourColdwar scenario.
	A key point to remember is to draw your cockpit in the 256 color mode of 
your paint program and only use the first 16 colors on the default pallette. Any 
attempt to use more colors will not work effectively.
	A second point to keep in mind is the general shape of your cockpit. The 
larger the cockpit, the smaller your sim world as viewed through the pane.  FST 
enables you to customize your cockpit/sim world ratio to your personal 
specifications.  Rememer, too large a cockpit will slow down your jet. In modern 
day sims, the computer looks at the cockpit line by line beginning at the bottom 
of the screen. As soon as there is a line that has just one pixel of background 
color, the sim world will be drawn from that point up. The higher that first pixel is 
on the screen, the faster the sim. Also, lots of curves in the cockpit edges and on 
the HUD can slow down the sim considerably, so try to avoid them when 
possible. 
	Start off by opening up the Coldwar project we started last month. You 
are going to need to copy in the AV8B.PCX file from the Library into your 
Coldwar directory (use SAV8B.PCX if you are planning on running an SVGA 
sim). Now open the Cockpit Editor.
	Once you've entered the Cockpit Editor, select the Background picture 
you will be using. We've already copied the AV8B cockpit into our directory, so 
choose that one from the list of backgrounds in the Attributes section of the 
Options menu. Once this is selected, the AV8B cockpit should appear in the 
editing window.
	Since the full cockpit is not being displayed in the window, we must 
select Views from the menu bar, then select Fit from the menu. This resizes the 
window around the picture so it's easier to edit.
	The first insturment we will design will be the HUD (Heads-up-display). 
The HUD is the backbone instrument on all modern fighters, as it puts all 
important information right in the field of view of the pilot. Start by selecting "Add 
Dial" from the Edit menu on the menu bar. Grab the newly appeared dial and 
place it in the middle of the HUD display in the cockpit picture. Now go to 
Change Gauge on the Edit menu and select the Gauge Type of HUD (you will 
need to scroll down in the menu a bit to get to HUD on the list, it's near the 
bottom). The HUD is a pre-determined instrument so you don't need to tell it 
what the variable is.  It can only be a HUD. 
	Now, click on the edges of the HUD gauge in the window. Stretch the 
HUD so that it fits properly in the section of the cockpit where it will be placed.  
There are several other instruments you will want to place in your cockpit next. 
We want to be able to see our Airspeed, Altitude, and what weapon we have 
selected at a glance. Add three dials (using the Add Dial menu item, in the Edit 
menu), then change two of them each to Large Digits in the Change Gauge 
option. Place one of these gauges in the upper left corner of the HUD (we'll call 
this gauge one), and one in the upper right (gauge two). Change the variable 
on gauge one to "Airspeed", with a minimum value of 0 and a maximum of 
2000. Change guage two's variable to "Altitude" with a minimum of 0 and a 
maximum of 30,000. The third dial should be changed to Weapon Select and 
it's variable does not need changing as it is a pre-determined gauge in a 
manner like that of the HUD.
	We now need to add a Horizon Ball to the center of the control panel. To 
create another dial, change it's Type to "Horizon Ball". This is another gauge 
with pre-determined variables. 
	You will want to add several other guages, as noted in the screenshot. 
Once you have figured out how to place a gauge and resize it, you should be 
able to design your own custom instrument panel.
	If you would like to fly with warning lights, simply select the "Add Lamp" 
option on the Edit menu.  Then select either Square Lamp or Round Lamp on 
the gauge type. You can make any of the following gauge variables as lamps: 
Gear Up, Wheel Brakes On, Air Brakes On, Aircraft Stalled, Low Fuel, Engine 
Fail, Hyadraulic Fail, or Electrics Fail. 
Place these lamps over the left and right warning strips on the cockpit and 
you're all finished.
	Save your work as HORNET.FGD. You can easily save all files 
associated with one aircraft with the same name (in this case HORNET), 
because the file extensions are all different (for cockpits it's FGS, stands for FST 
Guage Data).
	Now that you have customized a cockpit which can be used in various 
sims, we'll go on to the Model Editor and show you how to create an accurate 
flight model.

Envelope Pushing 101

	Now that we have all the plane shape and cockpit built, we need to 
design and instruct our aircraft to fly to our preference. To illustrate this, we will 
be using the F/A-18 Hornet we have been working with in this article. First, we 
will load up the Model Editor. The opening screen of the outline of the jet may 
look a bit imposing at first, but trust me, it's very simple. One may not know the 
exact dimensions of the aircraft he wants to model, so you may want to look up 
the characteristics of the aircraft in a source such as Jane's All The World's 
Aircraft. These books give proper flight information for virtually every aircraft 
ever flown. Values such as Engine Thrust can easily be obtained from this or 
other sources.
	The scale of the squares determines the size of the aircraft you are 
building. To change the scale, select Edit then Blueprint. This will allow you to 
determine the size of the aircraft, and the distance from the right of the grid that 
the Center of Gravity lies. This Force Model does not need to be an exact 
representation of the aircraft. In fact, several factors can be inputted  in this force 
model that can not be inputted anywhere else. If your plane has a large control 
surface on the wing, then you would draw the wing larger than normal. In the 
end, the force model may not be an exact representaion of the aircraft, but it will 
bear a striking resemblence. 
	The Center of Gravity on an aircraft is of grand importance, because if the 
CoG is in the wrong place, then the aircraft will be inherently unstable. Such 
aircraft are actually more manueverable than normal aircraft, but the loss in 
stability in controls ultimately renderes them useless. Today, jets like the F-16, 
F-117, and the B-2 bomber, are what is known as fly-by-wire jets. This type of 
aircraft has a computer constantly calculating the small corrections needed to 
make the aircraft stable in flight (at least feels stable to the pilot). These types of 
aircraft are reproducable in FST, but the player must manipulate the numbers a 
bit to make them fit into FSTs parameters.
	The small rectangle at the bottom of the grid is a cross section of the tail 
plane. This is directly in line with the tail on the fuselage above it. This can be 
very helpful in determining the size of the tail, (if it's exact dimensions are not 
known).
	For our Hornet, we want to shape the aircraft to resemble an F/A-18. 
Looking at our Hornet specs, we will need to reshape our grid as follows:

	Width: 30 M
	Grid Size: 1 M
	Center: 12 M

	Now select the points on the Force Model and shape out a top view of an 
F/A-18. Since the Hornet has a large control surface on the wings, the model 
will be slightly larger than normal. When you are finished, your screen should 
look similar to that shown in the featured screenshot.
	The next step is to input the Engine data.  Hornets produce around 
25,000 pounds of thrust out of two engines, on afterburners, so we will give our 
jet the appropriate numbers. By marking our engines as "Jet" we do away with 
variables such as prop-wash, but must now concern ourselves with heat-
seeking missiles lodged at us  by enemy fighters. We'll make the amount of fuel 
carried 1000 pounds.
	Keep in mind that if you give an enemy aircraft a flight model with "Prop" 
then he only has cannons with which to shoot you down, but if you mark it as 
"Jet", the fighters are armed with various missiles as well. Anachronistic planes 
like Sopwith Camels armed with AIM-9M Sidewinders are possible, you just 
have to label the engine as Jet instead of Prop.
	Now you will notice that the Top Speed and Stall Speed of the aircraft 
have adjusted their values for the new engines you have installed. A Hornet has 
a stall speed of around 130 knots, so "fine tune" the Force Model until the Stall 
Speed reaches that mark.
	Next we shall get the aircraft down to it's truest detail. In the Aircraft 
Properties screen we see a VERY imposing set of words and values. For each 
of these I will give a brief description:

	Aircraft Weight: How much the aircraft weighs without fuel. The minimum 
value here is 500, with the maximum being 100,000.
	Airframe Drag: The Airframe drag reflects on the drag efficiency of an 
aircraft. The scale is from 0.5 to 10.0, where 0.0 represents no drag (no friction) 
and 10.0 would would be illustrative of a perfectly flat shape (perpendicular to 
the airflow). See the illustration for the various angles represented here.
	U/C Drag: These values are the same as Airframe drag, and are added to 
airframe drag when the landing gear is lowered.
	Airbrake: Similar to U/C, this value is added when the airbrake is 
deployed.
	Wing Dihedral (pronounced Di-HEAD-rahl): The angle of the wings 
upward from a forward view. A high Dihedral will make your aircraft more stable, 
as it has a natural tendency to level itself out. On the other hand, it  makes the 
plane increasingly difficult to manuever. To allow for better maneuverability, 
aircraft may be designed with Anhedral, or Negative Dihedral. This gives a 
better shape for manuevering.  Ultimately, the dihedral decisions are based on 
player preference. Anhedral is inputted as "-#" and represents the angle 
downward that the wings droop. Note: some aircraft may look like they have 
Anhedral, but this is only due to the wieght of the wings when the aircraft is 
resting on the ground.  Large jumbo jets actually have Dihedral, but when not 
moving look as if they have Anhedral. Your aircraft may have up to 20.0 
degrees of Dihedral, or -20.0  Anhedral.
	Wing Incidence: This is the other variable that effect wing angle. This 
represents the "side view" angle of the wing. Values here range from -5.0 to 
10.0, with level flight, at cruising speed, between 1.0 and 3.0.
	Wing Efficiency: This number determines the aircraft's stall speed and 
how much speed is lost in High-G turns. It can range from 0.3 to 3.0.
	Stall Angle: This is the angle the aircraft has to achieve to stop the airflow 
over the wing, thus stalling the aircraft. 
	Control Power: This determines how sensitive the joystick will be in 
controling the aircraft. A sluggish aircraft will have a low Control power, while a 
military fighter will have a higher one.
	Roll and Pitch inertia: One of the unique aspects of FST flight models is 
that aircraft inertia is taken into account when the aircraft attempts to manuever. 
High values make the aircraft slow to start and slow to stop once started. High 
values will make the aircraft harder to fly, but can allow for some neat aerobatics 
like the MiG-29's famous "Cobra".
	Biplane: Checking this box effectively doubles the wing area.
	Undercarrige Retracts: Allows user to retract the landing gear if checked. 
If left blank, then the Airframe Drag and U/C Drag are added together 
permenently (with a maximum value of 10.0).
	Tail Dragger: This determines where the wheels in the undercarriage are 
located.  If checked, the aircraft will land easier, but may be more difficult to take 
off.

	For our Hornet we will need to modify the basic flight datum to read as 
follows:

Aircraft Weight: 22,541
Aircraft Drag: 1.7 (expirementing with this allowed me to choose a top speed. 
U/C Drag: 3.1  (Gear will hinder greatly, remember to raise it!)
Airbrake Drag: 3.0 (allows for rapid speed deceleration)
Wing Dihedral: -3.00 (solid maneuvarability)
Wing Incidence: 0.00
Wing Efficiency: 2.7 (a decent, efficient wing)
Stall Angle: 30 Degrees
Control Power: 4.0
Roll Inertia: 4.00
Pitch Inertia: 2.00
U/C Retract? Yes
Flaps? Yes
Airbrakes? Yes
Biplane? No
Taildragger? No
Ejector? Yes

Engine: 24,000
Fuel Wieght: 1000 lbs.
# of Engines: 2
Type: Jet

Once finished, save your file as HORNET.FMD. You may want to take your new 
Hornet up for a test spin. To do that you need to first create a world in which to 
fly. We'll go into further detail on that next month, but for those who can't wait, 
follow the simple directions below to get your Hornet up and flying:

1] Open the World Editor
2] Select the "Raise Land" tool
3] Make a large patch of land in the middle of the screen.
4] Change the toolbar to "Object" mode.
5] Place down an object
6] Change the object to Runway.FSD
7] Zoom in near the bottom of the runway.
8] Place an object at the south end of the runway.
9] Edit this object so that it has a Flight Model of HORNET.FMD and a Cockpit of 
HORNET.FGD and the shape A-18.FSD. Mark this as Player.

	In the next part of this series, we will go into greater detail explaining the 
power of the World Editor.

Breaking The Sound Barrier

	Sound can be a critical component of a flight sim. It adds to the realism 
and excitement of exploring your creative side.  FST affords you the power to 
put whatever sound you desire into your sim. Rather than create our own sound 
editor for FST, we decided to simply use the one designed by Microsoft for 
Windows. The Sound Recorder in Windows is able to handle all the FST 
sounds, and save them as WAV files for playback. All you have to do is realize 
that the computer only looks for a certain filename whenever it plays a sound. If 
you record your dog barking in the Sound Recorder, then call this 
"CANNON.WAV."  Everytime you fire your cannon, Sparky will pipe up!
	To customize sounds for your sim, you just need to record a sound, then 
save it with a filename that FST can recognize. You also have to make sure that 
you save your sound as Mono and sample it at 11KHz. Some 16-bit sound 
cards may give you unusual effect if you attempt to record in 16-bit mode, so it's 
best to use 8-bit sampling (even better, use an 8-bit sound card (Sound Blaster 
is reccommended).
	Before you begin, you need to plug a microphone into the Input jack on 
your sound card. Load up the recorder (it's in the Accessories Icon). Now get 
ready to do some recording. Make sure the room is nice and quiet, then plug a 
microphone into the Input jack on your sound card. Click on Record. Now record 
your voice saying "Eject! Eject! Eject!". Save this as "EJECT.WAV" in the 
Coldwar directory. Now when you eject, FST will play back this sample instead 
of the default sound. You can use the editing option to "clean up" your sound. If 
there is a long pause at the beginning, move the bar on the sample until it is 
where your voice begins, then choose the "Delete Before Current Position" in 
the Edit menu. If there is some noise after you finished, then you can "Delete 
After Current Position" after moving the slider to the end of the sample.
	You can add some simple special effects to the sample by choosing "Add 
Echo" to the sample. Or you may even want to mix the sample of the default 
Eject  (with your voice) giving a more realistic punch to the sound.
	Whatever sound program you use, make sure you record at 11KHz, 
Mono, 8-bit, as this is the only sample rate FST can playback correctly. Other 
sample rates will give you distorted noises.
	Once you've mastered recording a sound, try recording the following 
sayings and saving them as the filenames given. This will add a personal touch 
to your FST flight sim

"Eject! Eject! Eject!" saved as EJECT.WAV
"Fox One Mike!" saved as FIRE.WAV
"FMV-103 Ready for takeoff" saved as START.WAV
"Pull Up!" saved as LOWWARN.WAV 

	Consult the FST Manual (Page 12) for a list of file names of sounds.

	Next month, we'll finish off our three part article with an in-depth look at 
the World Editor, the backbone of FST. You'll soon be soaring through the air, 
engaging the enemy U2, and sharing your creation with friends.  Polish up your 
FST skills, because CGW and Domark are introducing an action-packed contest 
along with the final installment of this series on Unleashing the Power of FST.
                                                                              
