flight_model.cfg - [INTERACTIVE POINTS]
Interactive Points in Microsoft Flight Simulator are used to define the position of various doors of the aircraft - regular, emergency, and cargo doors - as well as some other points to interact with Airport Services, such as the end of a fuel hose to interact with a FuelTruck, or the end of an electrical cable to interact with a GroundPowerUnit vehicle. Interactive points should be added through the Aircraft Editor, and only tweaked if required through the flight_model.cfg file.
NOTE: While interactive points are currently stored in the flight_model.cfg file, they have no relationship with the actual Flight Model for an aircraft. Future updates to the SDK may move this data to another file.
The [INTERACTIVE POINTS] section should contain a line number_of_interactive_points = N where N represents the total number of interactive points for the aircraft. This parameter should then be followed by the required number of interactive_point.i = <DATA>, where i is a value between 0 and N - 1. , and <DATA> is a 1D table of values that set up the interactive point. Below you can see an example of interactive points being defined:
[INTERACTIVE POINTS] number_of_interactive_points = 10 interactive_point.0 = 0.4, 27.93, -6.05, 3.02, 0, 0, 0, -86, 72, 16, 85, 3, -2, 33, -1 interactive_point.1 = 0.4, 27.93, 6.05, 3.02, 0, 0, 0, 86, 85, 3, 72, 16, -2, 33, -1 interactive_point.2 = 0.4, -53, -5.2, 3, 0, 0, 0, -103, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, -1 interactive_point.3 = 0.4, -53, 5.2, 3, 0, 0, 0, 103, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, -1 interactive_point.4 = 0.4, -29.5, 2, -1.8, 1, 0, 0, 90, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, -1 interactive_point.5 = 0.4, 18, 1.93, -1.9, 1, 0, 0, 90, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, -1 interactive_point.6 = 0.4, -4, -6, 6.2, 2, 0, 0, -90, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, -1 interactive_point.7 = 0.4, -4, 6, 6.2, 2, 0, 0, 90, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, -1 interactive_point.8 = 0, 36.3, 10.78, -5.18, 4, 0, 0, 45, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, -1 interactive_point.9 = 0, 0, -54.59, -7.57, 3, 0, 0, -90, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, -1
The available parameters for the [INTERACTIVE POINTS] section are:
| Parameter | Description | Type | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
number_of_interactive_points |
The number of interactive points being defined. Ïf greater than 0, each one needs to have a corresponding |
Integer | Yes |
interactive_point.N |
A table of values defining the interactive point. This table has the following format: interactive_point.0 = Open Close Rate, Pos Z, Pos X, Pos Y, Type, Pitch, Bank, Heading, Jetway Left Bend, Jetway Left Deployment, Jetway Right Bend, Jetway Right Deployment, Jetway Top Horizontal, Jetway Top Vertical |
1D Table of Floats (see Data Types for more information) |
No |
Each interactive point definition requires the input of 14 different values. The table below explains what each one of the values represents, as well as the Interactive Points (if it has one):
| Position | Position Name | Description | Type | SimVar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Open Close Rate | Percent per second of animation of the interactive point (used mostly for doors). | Float |
|
| 1 | Pos - Z | Coordinate in ft of the point relative to aircraft Datum Reference Point, on the back-to-front (Z) axis. | Float | |
| 2 | Pos - X | Coordinate in ft of the point relative to aircraft Datum Reference Point, on the left-to-right (X) axis. | Float | |
| 3 | Pos - Y | Coordinate in ft of the point relative to aircraft Datum Reference Point, on the bottom-to-top (Y) axis. | Float | |
| 4 | Type | Integer corresponding to an enum, determining the type of the point (see the Type, Position, and Orientation section for more details). |
Integer:
|
|
| 5 | Orientation - Pitch | Pitch, in degrees, of the point orientation, where 0° means horizontal. | Float | |
| 6 | Orientation - Bank | Bank, in degrees, of the point orientation (currently unused, please set 0 here). | Float | |
| 7 | Orientation - Heading | Heading, in degrees, of the point orientation (0° means same heading as the aircraft). | Float | |
| 8 | Jetway Left Bend | A percentage value for the jetway left bend. See the Jetway Values section for more information. | Float | |
| 9 | Jetway Left Deployment | A value, in degrees, for the jetway left deployment. See the Jetway Values section for more information. | Float | |
| 10 | Jetway Right Bend | A percentage value for the jetway right bend. See the Jetway Values section for more information. | Float | |
| 11 | Jetway Right Deployment | A value, in degrees, for the jetway right deployment. See the Jetway Values section for more information. | Float | |
| 12 | Jetway Top Horizontal | A value, between -100 and 100, for the jetway horizontal line. See the Jetway Values section for more information. | Float | |
| 13 | Jetway Top Vertical | A value, between -100 and 100, for the jetway vertical line. See the Jetway Values section for more information. | Float | |
| 14 | Exit Open Failure Speed | A value which corresponds to the speed at which the aircraft will have a failure if an exit is open, in ft per second. This is only valid if the interactive point is of the type 0 (Exit). If set to -1, failures of this type will be disabled, and if not included then the default speed is 50 ft per second | Float | - |
Type, Position, and Orientation
For the first three available point types - Main exit, Cargo exit/door and Emergency exit - the interactive point should be positioned at the bottom of the door (in the middle of it for other directions). The orientation should point horizontally towards the exterior of the door (i.e. perpendicular to the door itself). This position and orientation will be used by Jetways, BoardingRamps, CateringTruck, and (for cargo) BaggageLoaders, in order to align properly.
For an aircraft to properly interact with a FuelTruck, it should have a fuel hose node as part of its model, hidden by default thanks to ModelBehaviors, preferably on the left side of the aircraft (see the section below for more details). The associated interactive point of type 3 - Fuel Hose - should then be placed at the end of the hose (on the fueltruck side), in the center of the circle (assuming a cylindrical hose). The orientation should point towards the exterior of the hose, in the same direction as the last part of the hose.
For an aircraft to properly interact with a GroundPowerUnit, it should have an electrical cable node as part of its model, hidden by default thanks to model behaviors, preferably on the right side of the aircraft, close to its nose (see the section below for more details). The associated interactive point of type 4 - Ground Power cable - should then be placed at the end of the cable (on the groundpowerunit side), in the center of the circle (assuming a cylindrical cable). The orientation should point towards the exterior of the cable, in the same direction as the last part of the cable.
Note that, when using the Aircraft Editor, interactive points are represented on the aircraft with an arrow starting from their position that indicates their orientation.
Jetway Values
The last six values of an interactive_point are used to properly animate the hood of a jetway in order to best match the shape of the aircraft. This also means that those values are only useful for interactive points of type 0 - Main exit - and only for aircrafts suitable for jetway interaction (defined in the Services section of the Aircraft Editor Aircraft Tab or the [SERVICES] section of aircraft.cfg).
Those six values are matched with the six animations for the jetway hood. The left and right deployment values are angles in degrees to incline the base of the jetway hood (with 0 being the default vertical position). The left and right bend values are percentages of the bending animation (0 to 100, where 0 is the default state). The top horizontal and vertical values are signed percentages of the corresponding animations (-100 to 100, where 0 is the default state).
To properly define them for your aircraft, there is sadly no magic recipe, and you will have to tweak those values until the result is satisfying. The recommended way to do so is as follows:
- start a flight on a gate with your aircraft
- call the jetway with the shortcut input TOGGLE JETWAY (default to
ctrl+J, and it can be changed in the controls option menu) - examine the current result of hood animation
- retract the jetway with the shortcut input
- edit interactive point values
- save them and reload your aircraft sim
- repeat
The good thing about those values is that any jetway created by any company will give similar results as your aircraft, as long as they use the same animation conventions.
To give an example, the default Airbus A320 Neo in Microsoft Flight Simulator has the following last six values for its interactive point of the front-left door:
72, 16, 85, 3, -2, 33
These correspond - in order - to:
- left bend
- left deployment
- right bend
- right deployment
- top horizontal
- top vertical
Carrier Landings
If you are wanting an aircraft to land on an aircraft carrier, then it must have a tailhook so it can be correctly arrested at speed when landing by the deck cables. This tailhook should be enabled in the systems.cfg file (see the [TailHook] section), and will require you to setup 3 interactive points for it to work correctly. These need to be of the type "Tailhook" (6) and will be associated with the following details:
- the point where the tail hook is attached to the plane
- the point of the end of the tail hook when fully retracted
- the point of the end of the tail hook when fully deployed
So, in this following example, we have 7 interactive points defined for the aircraft, and points 4, 5 and 6 are the ones that are used for the TailHook:
[INTERACTIVE POINTS] number_of_interactive_points =7 interactive_point.0 =0.33 , 4.00 , -30.00, -2.50, 3 , 0.00, 0.00, -90.00 , 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 interactive_point.1 =0.330000 , 4.000000 , 30.000000, -2.500000, 3 , 0.000000, 0.000000, 90.000000 , 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 interactive_point.2 =0.33 , -22.00 , -13.00, -2.50, 4 , 0.00, 0.00, -135.00 , 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 interactive_point.3 =0.33 , -22.00 , 23.00, -2.50, 4 , 0.00, 0.00, 135.00 , 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 interactive_point.4 =0.33 , -21.30 , 0.00, -1.7, 6 , 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 , 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 interactive_point.5 =0.33 , -27.30 , 0.00, -0.5, 6 , 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 , 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 interactive_point.6 =0.33 , -24.50 , 0.00, -7.0, 6 , 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 , 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
Behaviors And SimVars Related To Interactive Points
Each interactive point SimVar has to use an index corresponding to the index of the interactive point in the flight_model.cfg (starting at 0). In addition to the SimVars listed here and representing the constant values of interactive points, another simvar - INTERACTIVE_POINT_OPEN - is available. This simvar is a percentage which is 0% when the corresponding interactive point door is closed or the hose/cable is not visible, and 100% when the door is open or hose/cable is fully deployed.
All those SimVars can be used directly, or you can also use the following <Behaviors> templates, by using this include:
<Include Path="Asobo\Exterior.xml"/>
The template ASOBO_DOOR_InteractivePoint_Template is used to play an animation of a door opening, matching the SimVar for the associated interactive point. It can also be used for hose/cable deployment animations. It takes two parameters:
<ID>- the index of the corresponding interactive point<ANIM_NAME>- contains the name of the corresponding animation
Note that the animations first frame should be with the door closed (or hose/cable not visible).
The template ASOBO_FuelHose_InteractivePoint_Template is used when no animation is available to hide/show a hose/cable Node in the model based on the associated SimVar value. It takes two parameters:
<ID>- the index of the corresponding interactive point<NODE_ID> - the name of the node in the model
Note that the node will be hidden when INTERACTIVE POINT OPEN is 0 (by default) and shown for values strictly greater than 0.