BOATS sim.cfg
As with any other SimObject, the project for boats generally contains a model folder, a texture folder, or possibly several of these for variants. Moreover, the model folder contains an *.xml file referencing LODs and model behaviors - as described in the corresponding section here: <Behaviors> - and may also contain animation data (explained here: Model Animation Definitions). Boats have a single *.cfg file in their root folder, which is the file sim.cfg.
Below you can find information on the different sections used in the sim.cfg file as well as what parameters and values are expected within them.
[fltsim.N]
The [fltsim.N] section(s) are used to define the basics of the boat. You can define multiple of these sections numbering them from 0, where each section is a variation of the boat object. Note that you cannot "skip" numbers, so you can't have [fltsim.0] and then follow it with [fltsim.2]. Each parameter listed below will take a default empty string "" which signifies the default folder, as explained in the descriptions for each parameter. However, should you wish to have variations, the name you give in each parameter will be appended onto the base folder name. For example, the base folder for a model is simply "model", so any variations would be in folders called "model.<variation>". The config file would then look like this:
[fltsim.0]
title=CargoGas.01
model=""
texture=""
[fltsim.1]
title=CargoGas.02
model="02" ; folder would be "model.02"
texture="02" ; folder would be "texture.02"
The following parameters exist for this section:
| Parameter | Description | Type | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
title |
The boat variation name. Names are a unique identifier of SimObjects and their variants. We recommend using your company name as a prefix, to guarantee the uniqueness of your SimObject even when included with objects produced by other 3rd party developers. | String | Yes |
model |
The folder for the boat model (if it's the default "model" folder, leave as an empty string ""). | String | No |
texture |
The folder for the boat textures (if it's the default "texture" folder, leave as an empty string ""). | String | No |
animation |
The folder for the boat animation (if it's the default "animation" folder, leave as an empty string "" or omit this parameter). | String | No |
[General]
This section controls some general details relating to the boat SimObj. Available parameters are:
| Parameter | Description | Type | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
category |
The category for the SimObject (in this case it will be "Boat"). |
Enum:
|
Yes |
DistanceToNotAnimate |
This is the distance (in meters) to turn off animation and model behavior systems, which lowers the processing overheads for the SimObjects. The approximate values by category would be:
When the boat is farther away from the viewpoint of the camera, its model behaviors and other animations are not executed in order to improve general sim performance. If the camera gets farther than this distance during an animation then comes back closer, the animation will immediately skip to the frame it should have been without the interruption and, for model behaviors, the simvar |
Float | No |
HasMovingPlatform |
When this is set to 1 (TRUE), the SimObject is registered in the simulation as being a "moving platform". This designation will change how aircraft calculate the surface velocity when flying over the sim objector coming in to land. | Boolean | No |
[DesignSpecs]
This section controls the specification related to the ground creature/human, like movement speed. Available parameters are:
| Parameter | Description | Type | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
max_speed_mph |
The maximum speed of the creature/human, in mph. If you have added the speed in Knots this is not required, but one of the two must be present. Value must be greater than 0. |
Float | Yes |
max_speed_knots |
The maximum speed of the creature/human, in Knot. If you have added the speed in mph this is not required, but one of the two must be present. Value must be greater than 0. |
Float | Yes |
acceleration_constants |
2 value table used to control the creature/human acceleration. The first value is a time constant of effect responsiveness (higher value for faster reactions), while the second one is a maximum acceleration in Gs. |
1D table of 2 Floats (see Data Types for more information) |
No |
deceleration_constants |
2 value table used to control the creature/human deceleration. The first value is a time constant of effect responsiveness (higher value for faster reactions), while the second one is a maximum acceleration in Gs. |
1D table of 2 Floats (see Data Types for more information) |
No |
turning_constants |
4 value table used to control how the creature/human turns. The first value is a time constant of effect responsiveness (higher value for faster reactions), the second value is the maximum number of degrees it can turn, third is the optimal turning speed (in Knots), and fourth is the maximum turning speed (in Knots). |
1D table of 4 Floats (see Data Types for more information) |
No |
SternPosition |
The distance in ft relative to the datum reference position, where a wake effect should start. For aircraft, this is set in the [WEIGHT_AND_BALANCE] section of the flight_model.cfg file, but for boats this is considered as the visual model center. |
Float | No |
[contact_points]
This optional section controls the contact points for the living thing with the ground. Although the creature/human could work fine with the default values set when omitting this section, we recommend including this section explicitly. The available parameters are:
| Parameter | Description | Type | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
static_cg_height |
The distance, in ft, between the center of the creature/human model and the ground. This should be a positive value if the center of the model is above the ground. Note that with a major [Version] number less than 1.0 (or unspecified), static_cg_height should actually contain this distance +1, due to FSX backward-compatibility, even though this is rather counter-intuitive. |
Float | No |
static_pitch |
The pitch of the human/creature when at rest on flat ground, in degrees. | Float | No |
[Effects]
The effects section of the file refers to the visual effect that should be used for the boat wake on the water surface.
IMPORTANT! This section relates to using legacy effects from previous versions of the product. For the current way of creating and using effects please see the section on Visual Effects.
The table below outlines the boat effects parameter:
| Parameter | Description | Type | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
wake |
A wake effect for water. Default would be fx_wake. |
String | No |
[Carrier]
This optional section is for telling Microsoft Flight Simulator that the boat is an aircraft carrier. The following parameter exists in this section:
| Parameter | Description | Type | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
carrier |
When set to 1 (TRUE) the boat will be considered as an aircraft carrier. Default value is 0 (FALSE). |
Boolean | No |