FSX/FSX-SE/P3D DOUGLAS C-47R SKYTRAIN V3.14 BETA

With this package you have downloaded the probably long awaited update for our Douglas C-47R Skytrain V3.12 Beta edition. The main culprit of the delay happened to be the dreaded FSX bug that prevents ambient 'VCLighting' to be used with VC's that use bump-mapped textures. A lot of unforeseen new texture work was therefore at hand. Anyway, as you will soon see when you take your Skytrain/Dakota/Gooney Bird up for a first night flight, we've made it, bump- mapped textures are still there in the VVC (Vintage Virtual Cockpit) along with ambient 'VC lighting' at dusk/night/dawn. 1 - 0 for us. 

The now implemented VVC night lighting is actually the main feature of this V3.14 update but it certainly is not the only new feature or addition. The Interactive Checklist has been significantly upgraded, 'Automixture' can now be activated, the flight dynamics have been fine-tuned, alternative config files have been provided for joystick or pedal control of ground-steering, and there is a set of working OMI Marker Lights. Further modifications and corrections have been implemented following V3.12 users' and beta team feedback including new VOR1/2 Compass Roses, better placement of AH markers and various texture corrections/additions here and there. And that's not all, we also have installed a Showstopper!

It comes in the form of an interchangeable photo or picture that can be clipped on the left side of the Captain's panel. 4 different photos/pictures can be selected simply by clicking it. To complete this 'personal touch' implementation you can replace the 4 default photos/pics with a true personal subject if you like to. For obvious reasons we have called this new gadget 'Cutie' and a description of how to make your own 'Cutie' texture follows here underneath.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW AND/OR MODIFIED V3.14 VVC SUBJECTS : 

V 3.14 VVC NIGHTLIGHTING

Currently, aka 'for the time being', we can offer two types of cockpit night lighting. Red ambient cockpit light and UV light that will light up the Main Panels, Overhead Panels and Gauges (with a future final update panel and gauge lights will be separated). Red ambient light can be switched On/Off with a single knob on the Captain's Overhead Panel. UV Lighting consists of various UV lamps situated on the left and right cockpit walls, roof and throttle quadrant. Currently they will be switched On/Off all together, hopefully we'll be able to change that with the next and final update.

As opposed to the single ambient light knob the UV light can be switched On/Off with three knobs. One is situated on the Captain's panel, a second one on the Co-Pilot's panel and a third one on top of the Throttle Quadrant. Click the switch and it will move to 'Start', meaning it will take a second or two for the UV light to actually come on. Once it does the knob will automatically turn to 'On'. Click the knob again and it will move to 'Off' . 

The gauges' dials and needles are painted with so called 'radioluminescent' paint that glows in the dark. Dangerous stuff in the real world, lucky for us it is harmless. In real life the glow of this radioluminescent paint would gradually disappear and that UV lighting therefore helped a lot for the gauges to still be readable during the night.     

V 3.14 INTERACTIVE CHECKLIST

Call up the Checklist either via Shift-5 or by clicking any of the checklist icons in Shift-4 Monitor > Misc.

When you pick a Checklist item, the line will be highlighted. If the item is already set and checked, the cursor will proceed to the next line. It will wait for a click when it comes to an item that has no checkmark. 

To set a value via the checklist L-click the line again. On pages 1 and 2 (Before Starting, and Engine Start), an R-click removes or undoes the current setting (if possible). This comes in handy as a learning mode for identifying the location and operation of switches.

Page navigation is bottom left for previous, bottom middle for exit, and bottom right for next page. There are some occasional hotspots for items such as "Cold and Dark" on p.1, "Power Settings" on p. 4 etc.

If you want the Checklist to be accompanied by voice callouts from the pilots remember to turn on the callouts option via the Title page of the Checklist, or the interphone switch on the left of the pilot's seat.

V 3.14 AUTOMIXTURE

The pilot has two main choices: (a) controlling the mixture manually as in V 3.12 and or (b) using the new C-47 Automixture system. 

For using the C-47 Automixture system, the "Automixture" line under FSX realism settings must be turned OFF. It is best turned OFF for manual mode, too. In manual mode, the "mixture set best" setting is available via default key Ctrl-X. Never use Ctrl-X when in C-47 Automixture mode because this will lead to a 'flooding' loop.  Usually, you can stop the flooding by briefly changing over to manual mode, and then turning Automixture on again.

When loading a flight, the C-47 Automixture mode should be ON by default. You can toggle it manually either by R-clicking a mixture lever or by clicking Shift-4 Monitor > Engines > Mixture (which also provides a readout of the current setting).

Unlike manual mode, Automixture mode restricts lever movement to the following stops or detents: 

- EMERGENCY (full rich, 100%), 
- Auto-Rich (AR, target fuel/air ratio is 0.080), 
- Auto-Lean (AL, f/a 0.074), 
- Cutoff guard (against accidentally moving to cutoff)
- Idle cutoff (ICOF).

In C-47 Automixture mode the cockpit mixture levers will snap to the placarded positions. In manual mode they move continuously.

To set a C-47 Automixture setting use either of the following:

- VC levers: drag or mouse wheel
- Monitor > Engines > Mixture: click L/R  or wheel up/dn on the value hotspot (L=less, R=more)
- FSX default keys Shift-Ctrl-F1 (ICOF), Shift-Ctrl-F2 (decrease), Shift-Ctrl-F3 (increase), Shift-Ctrl-F4 (EMRG/full rich)
- Mixture hardware levers if fitted (range intentionally restricted to AR/AL only)
- Any mixture item on the Shift-5 Checklist 

Once a setting has been changed, the mixture will slowly adjust to reach the expected fuel/air ratio. This can take up to half a minute. If you see continuous mixture adjustments over  a longer period of time ("flooding") turn Automixture OFF and adjust mixture manually..

Note -- Given the variety of options currently present, any report of an issue  is best accompanied by a screenshot showing the readouts of the Shift-3 Control and Shift-4 Monitor panel windows.

V 3.14 GROUNDHANDLING/STEERING

Assuming that most flight simmers do not posses fancy rudder pedals with toe brakes but fly their virtual aircraft using a simple or more advanced joystick we have provided two slightly different aircraft.cfg's to handle ground steering. The default aircraft.cfg is best to be used by people who use a joystick with 3 axes (aileron, elevator and rudder) and can also handle differential braking. If no differential braking can be used keep the same default aircraft.cfg but open it and search for [contact points]. Underneath the contact points listing you'll find a line called  ' //-->Alternative settings for tail wheel steering '. Remove the two slashes in front of '//point' while placing them in front of 'point' on the line beneath ( //-->Default settings with free castoring tail wheel ). Don't forget to save the changes.

Lucky simmers with rudder pedals and toe brakes are advised to use the alternative aircraft.cfg called 'aircraft.cfg-C47pedalsensitive'. Rename 'aircraft.cfg' to something like 'aircraft.cfg_org' and remove '-C47pedalsensitive' from the respective file name. You always have 'aircraft.cfg-C47default' as a backup if anything goes wrong. 

V 3.14 HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN "CUTIE" TEXTURE

#1. In your paint program create a square background of size 1024x1024 painted black (0,0,0). 

#2. Load four cutie pictures of your own choice on separate layers, cut them down to size, and move into position top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right. 

#3. Save as 24-bit BMP or JPEG.

#4. Open the new picture in Martin Wright's DxtBmp program. If you haven't already got it, you can download it here: http://www.mwgfx.co.uk/

#5. Make sure the two "Mipmaps" boxes are NOT ticked.

#6. In menu "Alpha" click item "Create Alpha Channel (Black)." You may have to use a different Create Alpha option for getting the frame black, and the four inset pictures pure white.

#7. In menu "Image" click "Flip Image and Alpha".

#8. Go to menu "File > Save as > DDS texture". In the format slot select "DXT1" or  DXT5". 

#9. Name the output file 'cuties4.dds' and copy it to your airplane's texture folder. If you want your cuties to show up for all versions of the C-47, copy it to the airplane's main texture\ folder.

#10. You may also have to edit the file 'cuties4_LM.dds' in order to get a blue-tinted fluorescent shine at night time. In the ‘Paratrooper’ texture folder you will find a simple generic ‘cuties4_LM.dds’, which you may use for your own customized cutie.

V 3.14 INSTALLATION :

First move your current 'Douglas C-47R_V3.12 Beta' out of your FSX (or P3D) /Objects/Airplanes folder. 

Next, unzip this package to a temp folder keeping the folder structure intact. Move the 'Douglas C-47R_V3.14 Beta' folder either to your FSX or P3D Airplanes folder. Open the Effects folder in which you should see three folders named FSX, P3Dv3 and texture, plus two effect files called 'fx_c47parajump.fx' and 'fx_vclight_c47v3.fx'. Move these two fx files to either your FSX- or P3D/Effects folder. 

The FSX and P3Dv3 folders contain the exhaust smoke effects files. Depending on which sim you use open the respective folder and move the 'fx_Cranky_DC3_TFF.fx' file to the Effects folder of either FSX or P3D. Click 'Yes' when asked to Overwrite. 

Finally move the two BMP files (fx_c47para1.bmp and fx_c47para2.bmp) from the texture folder to either your FSX or P3D Effects/Texture folder. These are the two files that texture your parajumpers.

To port your V3.12 repaints to V3.14, copy the relevant [fltsim] sections from the 3.12 aircraft.cfg and paste them into the new V 3.14 aircraft.cfg. Make sure the numbering sequence is in proper order. Important: also edit all sim= lines to read 'sim=Douglas_DC3_v1.5' (no longer '1.4'). We have included the two additional exterior models that some of the V3.12 repaints call for, so nothing needs to be changed in that area. 

That should do it. Please do read the Manual as it contains more valuable information about the various updates of this V3.14 edition.

We hope you have as much fun flying your upgraded C-47 as we had putting this first update together.

DISCLAIMER AND COPYRIGHT

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The C-47 models were created under Microsoft's Game Content Usage Rules using assets from 
Flight Simulator X Deluxe Edition, (c) Microsoft Corporation. See www.xbox.com/en-
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