Category:Aircraft

Aircraft modelling

In this category you will find articles related to making add-on aircraft for Silent Wings, including how to set up aerodynamics, sound, graphics, config files, etc.

• Aircraft Physics - Articles related to the physics modelling of an aircraft
• Graphics and sound - Articles related to the visual and audible modelling of an aircraft, and instrumentation

File structure

An aircraft model is defined by a set of files in a directory in the Silent Wings/data/aircraft/<modelname> directory. The directory name defines the model's name as it appears in the Silent Wings GUI.

These files should be present in the aircraft model directory:

• aircraft.cfg - The master configuration file

• aircraft.gng - The external 3d Gng model file
• cockpit.gng - The cockpit 3d Gng model file. Trim away parts of the aircraft that are not visible from the cockpit in this model, to increase the framerate.
• icon.png - An icon picture for the Silent Wings GUI

• autopilot.dat - Autopilot settings
• aero.dat - Aerodynamic model
• controls.dat - Controls settings
• engine.dat - Engine settings (optional)
• gear.dat - Landing gear and hardpoint settings
• mass.dat - Mass settings, waterballast and fuel

• config.dat - Various settings that don't fit anywhere else
• options.dat - Set by the GUI (will be overwritten, so don't bother editing this)
• panel.dat - Instrument panel settings
• sound.dat - Sound effects

• AI_aircraft.cfg - AI aircraft master configuration file (syntax as in aircraft.cfg)
• AI_aero.dat - Aerodynamic model (simplified) for the AI controlled aircraft (syntax as in aero.dat)
• AI_pilot.dat - Autopilot file for the AI controlled aircraft (syntax as in autopilot.dat)

Then you need three additional subdirectories:

• info - A directory with a html file called index.htm describing the aircraft, along with optional images linked in the html file. This file will be shown in the Silent Wings GUI
• sound - A directory containing the sound files defined in the sound.dat file
• textures - A directory containing the textures used by the .gng 3d models

The aircraft model will also access airfoil files that are put in the Silent Wings/data/airfoils directory.