BOAT DEFINITION
Boats within the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 world are SimObjects that can be added to water features, like rivers lakes and oceans. These SimObjects are defined through a sim.cfg file and will also have model, texture and (although not usually required) an animation file associated with them. It can also have an ai.cfg file, and optional camara.cfg and navigation_graph.cfg files. The general configuration for a boat SimObject would look something like this:
Note that 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). Like other SimObjects you may also include additional model and texture folders to create different variations that can then be used in the world.
The pages linked below outline the general requirements for the main configuration file used by all boat SimObjects:
Sim.cfg
While boats are meant to go on water, they do share most of the same chracteristics that Ground Vehicles have, and should be configured similarly. However, there is a unique paramter in the [DesignSpecs] section that will need to be given a value:
Additionally, you may want to configure the wake of the boat object using the [Effects] section and this parameter:
However this method is considered deprecated and you may prtefer to configure and assign some Visual Effects instead.
Finally, if the boat SimObject is to be used as an aircraft carrier then you should include the [Carrier] section and fill in the foillowing parameter: