Vehicle Simulator - The New Simulation Experience

Vehicle Simulator supports many types of vehicles, all types are made of the following parts :

Vehicles can be made standard or customized, the standard vehicles are created by the program using a simple vehicle configuration file, this file defines only the basic properties of the vehicle, and not the actual part breakdown, and properties of each part.

Before going in depth into vehicle design please see this tutorial.

When you define elements or components for the vehicle, the vehicle becomes customized and allows you to define each part in great detail, the following sections explain the basic vehicle types and the ways to customize them and make your vehicle highly accurate.

The Vehicle Configuration File

The vehicle configuration file defines the basic vehicle properties, for each vehicle type there are basic properties you can set using this file, the program reads this file and stores all the parameters read, for the missing parameters the program uses default values.

[type] - type of vehicle

hang_glider - hang glider
para_glider - para glider
ultra_light - ultra light ( light plane )
glider - glider ( plane without engine )
airplane - airplane ( fixed wing airplanes )
trike - microlight ( powered hang glider mounted on wheels )
paraplane - paraplane ( powered paraglider mounted on wheels )
autogyro - auto gyro ( free rotatiing rotor with after propeller )
helicopter - helicopter ( powered main rotor with tail rotor )
automobile - car or land vehicle
boat - boat ( powered boat without sails )
submarine - submarine ( submersible without sails )
balloon - hot air balloons and dirigibles

[mass] - mass of vehicle (kg)
[pilot_name] - name of animated pilot to use
[eject_name] - name of ejection parachute to use

[wing_sur] - wing area (m^2)
[wing_span] - wing span (m)

[wing_dihedral] - wing dihedral angle (rd)
[wing_height] - wing height above cg (m) - [hang glider, trike]

[wing_al0] - wing install angle (rd)
[wing_alm] - wing stall angle (rd)

[wing_cla] - wing lift line slope (cl/rd)
[wing_cd0] - wing zero incidence drag coefficient
[wing_cdi] - wing induced drag coefficient

[cd_flaps] - added drag coefficient with flaps fully extended
[al_flaps] - added AOA with flaps fully extended

[cd_spoilers] - added drag coefficient with spoilers fully extended
[al_spoilers] - added AOA with spoilers fully extended

[cd_gear] - added drag coefficient with gear fully extended

[body_area] - body cross section area (m^2) - [gyro, helicopter, car, boat]
[body_cd] - body drag coefficient - [gyro, helicopter, car, boat]

[cockpit_size] - size of shadow area around cockpit (m)
[scale_factor] - scale factor - use 0.3048 to convert model from ft to m

[boat_length] - boat waterline length (m)
[boat_alt] - boat draft, height of waterline above keel, (m)
[boat_cgy] - height of boat CG above waterline (m)

[pilot_x] - pilot x position on body (m)
[pilot_y] - pilot y position on body (m)
[pilot_z] - pilot z position on body (m)

[main_gear_x] - main gear x position on body (m)
[main_gear_y] - main gear y position on body (m)
[main_gear_z] - main gear z position on body (m)

[nose_gear_y] - nose gear y position on body (m)
[nose_gear_z] - nose gear z position on body (m)

[gear_min_kf] - minimal gear friction coefficient
[gear_max_kf] - maximal gear friction coefficient

[has_skids] - vehicle has skids instead of wheels (0 or 1)
[has_floats] - vehicle has floats instead of wheels (0 or 1)

[camera_x] - camera x position on pilot [ hang glider, paraglider ] or on body (m)
[camera_y] - camera y position on pilot [ hang glider, paraglider ] or on body (m)
[camera_z] - camera z position on pilot [ hang glider, paraglider ] or on body (m)

[wing_x] - wing x position on body (m) - [ paraglider ]
[wing_y] - wing y position on body (m) - [ paraglider ]
[wing_z] - wing z position on body (m) - [ paraglider ]

[cable_x] - cable attachment point x position on body (m)
[cable_y] - cable attachment point y position on body (m)
[cable_z] - cable attachment point z position on body (m)

[hook_x] - hook attachment point x position on body (m)
[hook_y] - hook attachment point y position on body (m)
[hook_z] - hook attachment point z position on body (m)

[vario_climb] - variometer climb threshold (m/s)
[vario_sink] - variometer sink threshold (m/s)

[sink_max] - maximum sink rate (m/s)
[max_g] - maximum g load (g)
[min_g] - minimum g load (g)

[has_engine] - vehicle has engine ( 0 or 1 )

[engine_type] - type of engine

prop - constant pitch propeller
vpitch - variable pitch propeller
jet - turbo jet
jetab - turbo jet with after burner
rocket - rocket engine
car - car engine
boat - boat engine
amphib - amphibian engine

[fuel_time] - fuel time at max_rpm (sec)
[rpm_max] - maximal rpm at full throttle (rpm)
[rpm_min] - minimal rpm at idle (rpm)

[motor_hp] - engine effective power (hp) - per engine
[prop_diam] - propeller diameter (m) - per engine
[max_thrust] - maximum thrust (newton) - per engine
[max_altitude] - altitude limit for air breating engine (m)

[num_props] - number of engines [hang glider, trike, paraglider, paraplane, plane, gyro]
[ccw_left] - left propellers rotate counter clockwise ( 0 or 1 )
[ccw_right] - right propellers rotate counter clockwise ( 0 or 1 )

[has_gear] - vehicle has landing gear [ also when loading gear.x ]
[has_flaps] - vehicle has flaps [ also when found in model ]
[has_brakes] - vehicle has spoilers [ also when found in model ]
[has_rcs] - vehicle has reaction control system [ plane out of atmosphere ]
[has_vector] - vehicle motor has thrust vectoring ( 0 or 1 )

[panel_name] - name of panel

[panel_x] - panel x position on body (m)
[panel_y] - panel y position on body (m)
[panel_z] - panel z position on body (m)

[panel_scale] - panel scale
[panel_alfa] - panel pitch angle
[panel_beta] - panel yaw angle
[panel_gama] - panel roll angle

[num_blades] - main rotor blades count [autogyro, helicopter ]

[rotor_radius] - main rotor radius (m) [autogyro, helicopter ]
[rotor_chord] - main rotor chord (m) [autogyro, helicopter ]

[rotor_height] - main rotor height above cg (m) [autogyro, helicopter ]
[rotor_tilt] - main rotor control tilt angle (rd) [autogyro, helicopter ]

[rotor_mass] - main rotor mass (kg) [autogyro, helicopter ]
[spool_rpm] - main rotor spool rpm [ autogyro ]

[rotor_cla] - main rotor lift line slope (cl/rd) [autogyro, helicopter ]
[rotor_cd0] - main rotor zero incidence drag coefficient [autogyro, helicopter ]
[rotor_cdi] - main rotor induced drag coefficient [autogyro, helicopter ]
[rotor_al0] - main rotor install angle (rd) [autogyro, helicopter ]
[rotor_alm] - main rotor stall angle (rd) [autogyro, helicopter ]

[has_deck] - vehicle has deck ( landable by other vehicles ) [ boat ]
[deck_alt] - deck height above cg (m) [ boat ]
[hide_water] - hide water in cabin [boat] at [deck_alt] level

[is_hot_air] - type of balloon ( 1 - hot air 0 - dirigible )
[input_rate] - heating rate (kelvin/sec) or fill rate (m^3/sec)
[output_rate] - cooling rate (kelvin/sec) or drain rate (m^3/sec)
[volume] - volume of gas (m^3)

The X Files

Vehicle simulator uses the DirectX format for 3D model files, typically these files are generated by 3D modeling software and saved in the very popular 3DS format, from this format they can be converted to DirectX files using a converter created by Microsoft called Conv3ds, conv3ds can be downloaded here.
Conv3ds and scenery tools

Some modeling software have their own X Files exporters, for example if you are using the excellent 3D Studio Max download this plugin.
Panda Exporter for 3D Studio 9

The vehicle mesh - vehicle.x

This is the main model used to describe the vehicle, the program also seeks other names for compatibility with VS and MF, possible names are plane.x, boat.x, body.x.

The program supports one optional LOD file which is used when the vehicle is far, called simple.x.

This file contains the 3D model of the vehicle including moving parts, each moving part should be named according to a specific list of tags, the parts should have their axes defined according to the rotation axis for this part, as seen in the image below.

The Effects file

The effects file effects.cfg defines effects applied on the parts of the vehicle mesh and weapons, a typical sample of such file can be seen below.

Each line contains a name of part to be searched in the mesh file or weapons and the reflection scale and bump scale to be applied on this part, the part name can be a partial name, for example the name Box will be applied to Box01, Box02 etc..

The reflection scale gives a value between 0 and 1 where 0 is not reflective and 1 is fully reflective ( mirror ), the bump scale gives the bumpiness factor where 0 means smooth and 1 means rough.

The bump texture name gives the name of bump texture to load for this part, customized bump textures should exist inside the vehicle directory, or inside the graphics directory.

You can use a custom bump texture for each part of the vehicle giving it a very detailed appearance with less polygons, a good example of effects can be seen in the image below.

The Lights file

The lights file lights.cfg contains the position, size and type of lights defined for the vehicle when lights are turned on, a typical example of this file is seen below.

The first line of the file contains the number of lights to have, the other lines contain data about each light, up to 64 lights can be defined for a vehicle.

The types of lights available are; Red, Green, White, Strobe, Yellow, Blue, each light type has a visibility sector typical to navigation lights, these sectors are used for boats and aircraft, light names can have a combination of the type and a modifier, the modifier types are Omni, Flat, Fore, Back. ( for example ForeWhite, BackWhite, FlatWhite, etc.. )

Note: You can measure the position you wish to set your lights using the views dialog,
this dialog contains three sliders and x,y,z coordinate display.

The Smokes file

The smokes file smokes.cfg contains the position, size and color of smokes defined for the vehicle when the engine is turned on, a typical example of this file is seen below.

The first line of this file gives the number of smoke sources, up to 12 smoke sources can be defined for a vehicle.
The color of the smoke is given in red, green, blue values, the size is given in meters.

The Flames file

The flames file flames.cfg contains the position, size and color of flames defined for the vehicle when the engine is turned on, a typical example of this file is seen below.

The first line of this file gives the number of flames, up to 12 flames can be defined for a vehicle.

The color of the flame is given by its temperature in Kelvin, the size is given in meters, the flame can have also a smoke source which gives a lengthy trail instead of smoke particles.

Vehicle Sound Files

The default sounds are located inside the sounds directory of the program, however, each vehicle can have custom sounds and should have custom sounds whenever possible, these sounds should be places inside the vehicle directory itself.

Sound files should be mono sounds, 22 kHz, 16 bit sounds, other formats can be loaded as well.

The following sections explain the details of the panels, weapons and vehicle customization.