Door/Cargo Door Opening B707

[matt]

Good afternoon all;

First, let me say that I am really enjoying the HJG site and aircraft!

I really get into the history of things and this is a fantastic resource. Flying these 'old school' jetliners requires a lot of skill, that's for sure. Constantly thinking ahead.

I do have one issue that I haven't been able to resolve: the exits and cargo door.

I'm running FSX+Acceleration; OS is Vista. I've downloaded and installed the B707-323C (two American Airlines versions that use model 323C) and the AA 1965 and AA 1970 panels according to the directions. The only thing different in my install is that my fsfsconv folder resides in the main FSX directory, which seems to work.

I checked to insure that I have the correct FSX versions of the aircraft.cfg and panel.cfg files. All gauges and effects appear to work properly.

Addon-wise: I have a recent version of FSUIPC so the weather radar seems to work right. I am also running Jeppesen Simcharts 4.0 (until they pull the plug on it) and Ultimate Traffic 2.

Here is a complete description of the problem:

Using an aliased FSX panel (the 747-400), I can use the "Shift+E, then 1" and "Shift+E, then 2" keystrokes to open the main exit door and the lower baggage doors on the starboard side.

Using the HJG panels, any combination of "Shift+E, then (a number)" yields only the main door opening or closing.

Using either an aliased or HJG panel, I am unable to open the main deck cargo door. I've searched the site thoroughly, so based on what I learned here on the forum I assigned keys to the Concorde visor commands with no success. Also tried tailhook and wingfold commands but no luck.

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Let me stress that this is a minor issue; there may just be something oddball about my system that is interfering with the key commands...before I start committing a lot of effort toward fixing it, has anybody else running FSX+Accel+Vista been able to open the B707 cargo door?

Thanks!
Matt

[aerofoto - HJG Admin]

The maindeck cargo/freight doors of all our B707's/720's (those equipped with them .... B706-120F, B707-120BF, B707-320B SCD, B707-320C, and B720-020BF) do work.

This animation functions on the basis of the CONCORDE visor commands .... which need to be assigned within FS (I think it's FS OPTIONS where you'll find these assignments) before any of these doors can function.

Upon successfully assigning these commands these cargo/freight doors should work faultlessly .... on the basis of SHIFT F6 (to open) and SHIFT F7 (to close) keyboard commands .... I think it is from memory.

If I need to revise these instructions then I'll get back to you (HERE) sometime over the next couple of days.

Mark C
BOG/CO

[matt]

Ahoy Mark -

Thanks for your quick reply!

I'm stumped here. I've added the Concorde visor commands to my key assignments but no door movement so far.

I think something else on my system must be affecting my HJG panel & model. I will try some process of elimination.

Everything else is working like a charm so I'm confident my install is sound.

If anyone with FSX+Accel+Vista have gotten these to work please let me know what you did and what your system state was (addons etc).

Thanks again Mark, have a good one!

Matt

[Dan K. Hansen]

I'll try to replicated it in Windows 7, but it should work .... tried to turn off the UAC? or run FSX as an administrator? Double checked if your assignment are actually applied? this could also be due to the UAC, as an assignement writes to a file, and if this file is unde UAC .... well you got the picture....

[matt]

Good afternoon Dan;

Thanks for getting back to me!

I've set FSX to run as Administrator, but I will double check that when I get home from work. I'll try disabling UAC also. Frankly I don't think it's an issue of "not taking the assignment" because I've assigned other keys successfully in the same session. But you never know

Since my first post I've moved "fsfsconv" to the Simobjects>Airplanes folder, so now my install is basically identical to your instructions (option #1). The only thing different in my install is that my panel alias folder (holding the panel.cfg that points to the actual panel in fsfsconv) is called "panel.B707-323c.aa.1965" or something similar instead of just "panel" because there are a few different panel choices for the 707-320Cs as you know. I don't see how that should matter though, since I am seeing the correct panel when I load the aircraft.

I've got some FSX default aircraft 'disabled' at present; I will try enabling all of them (based on lessons learned from the 727 & Cessna 172 'overhead panel' issue). I'll also disable all addons and other programs that might be running to rule out conflicts.

Thanks for your help on this. If we can figure it out, great...otherwise I'm happy to fly the 707 as it is.

Have a good day!

[Dan K. Hansen]

No there's absolutely nothing wrong with a variety of panels, and I choose between them myself the way you describe... Normally it's not a good thing to disable default aircraft, and the drop-down selection in FSX makes it even easier to distinguish between the various Models ... Please see in one of my descriptions on how to modify the aircraft.cfg in order to isolate the HJG-models ....

[aerofoto - HJG Admin]

Matt .... if you have now correctly assigned that "CONCORDE VISOR" command within FS OPTIONS. Have you tried pressing those keyboard commands "TWICE" .... or more each (that's SHIFT F6 to open .... and SHIFT F7 to close) .... just to see if they then work ?

They way I had my CONCORDE VISOR command assigned, I recall having to press these commands twice each in order to fully open and close these cargo doors.

Make sure your brakes are set to "ON" and all strobe and all external light selected "OFF" too .... although I can't actually recall if that helps or not !

Mark C
BOG/CO

[matt]

Thanks, Gents...I will try these things this afternoon (if I have time), and then report back.

Dan - I did see how to segregate the HJG models, that is very smart...I think I will go back and do it to separate out some of my other aircraft. When I'm not screaming along in noisy, smoky jetliners I fly the MAAM-SIM DC-3s/C-47s

Thanks;
Matt

[aerofoto - HJG Admin]

When I'm not screaming along in noisy, smoky jetliners I fly the MAAM-SIM DC-3s/C-47s

OH .... low and slow .... and not to mention clean if not not noisey too ;D

Mark C
BOG/CO

[matt]

Update:

Well, I've tried everything I can think of: Running as admin, disabling UAC, enabling all default aircraft, shutting down addons and it's no use.

Which is OK, unless somebody finds out something new I am happy to fly 'as is'. Everything but the doors works and I hardly ever open them anyway ;D

Thanks for all your help!

Matt

[Dan K. Hansen]

You might try out Mark's advice on Parking brakes set, and engines shut down etc. after all there should be no reason to open the doors when the aircraft was set to go ;-)

[matt]

Sept 11, 2009 22:23:15 GMT Dan K. Hansen said:

You might try out Mark's advice on Parking brakes set, and engines shut down etc. after all there should be no reason to open the doors when the aircraft was set to go ;-)

You'd be surprised, Dan! Before my most recent flight from KDCA I got to watch a young lady try to jam last-minute luggage into the cargo hatch of a 737 after it had pushed back. It was pretty hilarious.

As for the 707, I've tried all thos things and I'm just going to accept that something on my system is interfering with the panel (and/or model) and just have fun flying it!

Fortunately I think everything else is working well...though I have not been brave enough to try the INS yet.

Thanks again, Gents - see you in the air ;D

[Dan K. Hansen]

I've just been re-installing my Win 7 setup including FSX, So I'll check this particular problem very soon... meanwhile you may want to write a list of which basepacks, panels, textures etc. you are using, and I'll try to replicate it...

[Dan K. Hansen]

OK, here goes....

No you're right, the "normal" SHIFT+E (1.2.3.4) doesn't seem to work very good....

In the aircraft.cfg section [exits] you'll see this:

number_of_exits=3
exit.0=0.4, 53.341, -5.144, 9.165, 0
exit.1=0.2, 34.729, 4.886, 3.271, 1
exit.2=0.2, -24.700, 4.886, 3.271, 1

The parameters are: exit.index=open/close ratio , reference point (x,y,z) , Type of exit, where 1=Cargo and 0= Main...

In this specific aircraft you have one main exit and two cargo doors defined ... that's the reason for the emergency door not opening, it isn't defined in the aircraft.cfg (so even if the animation is modeled, which I do not know, it won't work as long as it isn't defined in the aircraft.cfg file....

Now for the Cargo doors.

With the aid of a very nice small gauge: (doorctrl.zip from flightsim.com by Georg Aubele)

You just add the gauge to your main panel (window02 in the panel.cfg file (btw. remember to use the fsx-version ) by reading the attached guide... works fine in FSX even though it's developed for FS9.

(Your panel.cfg may be read-only so you must change the properties of the file first before attempting to overwrite it). It comes in 3 flavors.

But be aware that this gauge just makes it easier for you to open the exits .. it's a simple gauge as it does not show the actual number of exits you have, or the types ... it is "just" a gauge that relieve you from hitting the right key-combinations correctly ....

And to prove it:

[matt]

Awesome, thanks Dan...that gauge worked perfectly for both the 707 and the 727 on my system.

Looks like you've got the same model & texture displayed that I am working with.

Matt