[Flightgear-devel] FG/Opengc Interface

[John Wojnaroski]

Hi,   A question was asked last week on running FG and OpenGC on the same machine. Well, the one way is to run each app in it's own window and use the loopback address of 127.0.0.1 to communicate via sockets.   fgfs  ..........   --opengc=socket,out,24,127.0.0.1,5800,udp  ...........   Depending on how the 2 glutMainLoop(s) share the frames from the video board, performance can be spotty for low-end boards.  Running a Geforce2 MX will probably provide about 30fps to share between FG and OpenGC. You can get more fps by reducing the parameters that suck up frames (clouds, vis, anti-aliasing, etc). You will also need to scale the display gauges and theie relative positons in the file ogcAppObject.cpp (Sorry, at some point this will all be files based similar to FG, for now it happens at compile time, but it only takes about a minute).Start the displays first, for some reason starting FG first starves the display app for frames. Shift-1 opens the socket and inits the displays after a short test sequence, Shift-2 makes the connection and starts data reception, Shift-4 starts internal computations and the navigation functions, Shift-5 engages the Flight Mgmt Computer (FMC) which will not work in the stand-alone mode. Keep the focus in the FG window and fly via the keyboard/joystick/yoke   Hey, it's a kludge, not a rose garden ;-)   Like the commercials say, demonstration by a professional driver under controlled road conditions...  do not attempt without proper supervision... void where prohibited by law ..... your results may vary...  and so forth.   The OPenGC rendering structure is similar to the panel code and could be inserted directly into fgfs, but I just haven't had the time or inclination to tackle the problem ATM.   question for the FDM jocks.  Sort of got my brain around this property stuff and got the info regards flap and gear properities coded into the interface Before sending the files off to Curtis for CVS insertion wanted to consider one additional  feature. In earlier pre-releases of 0.7.9 the gear (and flaps?) had extension and retraction delays that modeled the time delays for moving the parts. Glass display functions are dynamic in nature changing shape and color when surfaces/gear are in transition.Before I spend a lot of time looking for something that may not be there or building a gear/flap model that is redundant (and not coupled to the flight dynamics); what modeling is done in the FDMs, are those values available , and the access methods. Por favor.   On the 747 YASim model, have not been able to slow to a resonable approach speed < 150kts and maintain altitude, run out of elevator authority around 184 kts and flap settings seem to have no effect. The numbers I have in my 747 flight manual don't match up with what I'm seeing in the sim. For example, for 450k lbs, landing speed at full flap/slat setting is 128kts. It won't fly at that speed! Or any of the reference landing speeds for that matter. Realize the model is not intended to be *right-on*, but closer would be nice. (Using the 0.7.9 official release)   Regards John W.