<body>
<h1 align="center">FlightGear FAQ</h1>
- <p align="center">
- <small>Cameron Moore<br>
- <a href="mailto:cameron@unbeatenpath.net?subject=FlightGear%20FAQ">cameron@unbeatenpath.net</a>
- </small>
- </p>
<hr noshade>
<a href="#2.1">Where can I get FlightGear?</a>
</div>
<div class="indent">2.2 -
- <a href="#2.2">Where can I find the latest development source code?</a>
+ <a href="#2.2">What is the password for the FTP server?</a>
</div>
<div class="indent">2.3 -
- <a href="#2.3">What is SimGear, and why do I need it?</a>
+ <a href="#2.3">Why won't the FTP server let me in with the right login info?</a>
</div>
<div class="indent">2.4 -
- <a href="#2.4">Where can I fly and where do I get the scenery?</a>
+ <a href="#2.4">Where can I find the latest development source code?</a>
</div>
<div class="indent">2.5 -
- <a href="#2.5">Where can I get different 3D models for my plane?</a>
+ <a href="#2.5">What is SimGear, and why do I need it?</a>
</div>
<div class="indent">2.6 -
- <a href="#2.6">How current is the data in FlightGear compared to the real world?</a>
+ <a href="#2.6">Where can I fly and where do I get the scenery?</a>
</div>
<div class="indent">2.7 -
- <a href="#2.7">Where is the moving map?</a>
+ <a href="#2.7">Where can I get different 3D models for my plane?</a>
</div>
<div class="indent">2.8 -
- <a href="#2.8">Why don't you charge money for this?</a>
+ <a href="#2.8">How current is the data in FlightGear compared to the real world?</a>
+ </div>
+ <div class="indent">2.9 -
+ <a href="#2.9">Where is the moving map?</a>
+ </div>
+ <div class="indent">2.10 -
+ <a href="#2.10">Why don't you charge money for this?</a>
</div>
<br>
<h4>3 -
<a href="#5">Running</a>
</h4>
<div class="indent">5.1 -
- <a href="#5.1">Why do I get an error loading libmk4.so.0?</a>
+ <a href="#5.1">Why do I get an error loading libopenal.so.0?</a>
</div>
<div class="indent">5.2 -
<a href="#5.2">Why do I get "ssgInit called without a valid OpenGL context"?</a>
<div class="indent">5.5 -
<a href="#5.5">Why is FlightGear so slow?</a>
</div>
- <div class="indent">5.6 -
- <a href="#5.6">Why is my SGI machine so slow?</a>
- </div>
<div class="indent">5.7 -
<a href="#5.7">How do I see the frame rate?</a>
</div>
<b>
<a name="2.2">2.2 -
+ <u>What is the password for the FTP server?</u>
+ </a>
+ </b>
+ <div class="indent">
+ <p>The FTP server uses standard anonymous login procedures. Login
+ with the username "anonymous" and use your email address as the
+ password. Most FTP clients and web browsers will do this
+ automatically for you.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <b>
+ <a name="2.3">2.3 -
+ <u>Why won't the FTP server let me in with the right login info?</u>
+ </a>
+ </b>
+ <div class="indent">
+ <p>This generally means that the server is at it's capacity. You
+ should receive a message saying such, but your FTP client may be
+ hiding it from you. Your options are to keep trying until a slot
+ opens up or try connecting to one of our <i>FTP</i> mirrors listed at
+ <a href="http://flightgear.org/mirrors.html">http://flightgear.org/mirrors.html</a>.</p>
+ </div>
+
+ <b>
+ <a name="2.4">2.4 -
<u>Where can I find the latest development source code?</u>
</a>
</b>
<div class="indent">
<p>The latest development code is available for everyone through our
- CVS repository. See
- <a href="http://flightgear.org/cvsResources/">http://flightgear.org/cvsResources/</a> for details.
+ git repository. See
+ <a href="http://wiki.flightgear.org/FlightGear_and_Git">http://wiki.flightgear.org/FlightGear_and_Git</a> for details.
</p>
<p>Otherwise, you can get relatively up-to-date snapshots of the
development tree at
- <a href="ftp://flightgear.sourceforge.net/pub/flightgear/Devel/Snapshots/">ftp://flightgear.sourceforge.net/pub/flightgear/Devel/Snapshots/</a>.
+ <a href="http://flightgear.simpits.org:8080/">http://flightgear.simpits.org:8080/</a>, which are recompiled at every git commit.
</p>
</div>
<b>
- <a name="2.3">2.3 -
+ <a name="2.5">2.5 -
<u>What is SimGear, and why do I need it?</u>
</a>
</b>
</div>
<b>
- <a name="2.4">2.4 -
+ <a name="2.6">2.6 -
<u>Where can I fly and where do I get the scenery?</u>
</a>
</b>
</div>
<b>
- <a name="2.5">2.5 -
+ <a name="2.7">2.7 -
<u>Where can I get different 3D models for my plane?</u>
</a>
</b>
<p>While we are working toward building our own 3D models, we have
been given permission by several people to convert their models (which
where originally intended for use with <i>Microsoft Flight
- Simulator</i>) to use with FlightGear. See Wolfram's Hangar
- (<a href="http://home.t-online.de/home/Wolfram.Kuss/">http://home.t-online.de/home/Wolfram.Kuss/</a>)
- for a list of what we currently have available as well as
- information on how to convert models yourself.</p>
+ Simulator</i>) to use with FlightGear.</p>
</div>
<b>
- <a name="2.6">2.6 -
+ <a name="2.8">2.8 -
<u>How current is the data in FlightGear compared to the real world?</u>
</a>
</b>
</div>
<b>
- <a name="2.7">2.7 -
+ <a name="2.9">2.9 -
<u>Where is the moving map?</u>
</a>
</b>
</div>
<b>
- <a name="2.8">2.8 -
+ <a name="2.10">2.10 -
<u>Why don't you charge money for this?</u>
</a>
</b>
</b>
<div class="indent">
<p>Well, that depends. First make sure you are using the appropriate
- versions of FlightGear, SimGear, plib, zlib, and metakit. If any of
+ versions of FlightGear, SimGear, plib, zlib. If any of
the packages are out of sync with the others, compilation may fail.</p>
<p>The FlightGear <i>Downloads</i> page
(<a href="http://flightgear.org/Downloads/">http://flightgear.org/Downloads/</a>)
</b>
<div class="indent">
<p>The scenery archive files (ie. w100n30.tar.gz) should be untarred
- into the <code>Scenery/</code> directory in your
+ into the <code>Scenery/Terrain</code> directory in your
<code>$FG_ROOT</code>.</p>
</div>
</h2>
<b>
<a name="5.1">5.1 -
- <u>Why do I get an error loading libmk4.so.0?</u>
+ <u>Why do I get an error loading libopenal.so.0?</u>
</a>
</b>
<div class="indent">
- <p>With the default installation, libmk4.so.0 is installed into
+ <p>With the default installation, libopenal.so.0 is installed into
<code>/usr/local/lib</code>. You need to ensure that that path is
listed in <code>/etc/ld.so.conf</code>, then run <i>`ldconfig`</i>as
root.</p>
like <i>Quake3</i>.</p>
</div>
- <b>
- <a name="5.6">5.6 -
- <u>Why is my SGI machine so slow?</u>
- </a>
- </b>
- <div class="indent">
- <p>First of all, one of the most common mistakes on SGI hardware is to
- forget to specify --fog-fastest. On most SGI machines the EXP2 shading
- model isn't hardware supported resulting in frame rates below 1 frame
- per second (fps).</p>
- <p>FlightGear makes extensive use of the OpenGL z-buffer feature,which
- on most older SGI hardware is only supported in software. This means
- that the CPU has to do all the z-buffer calculations in addition to the
- other tasks FlightGear involves (flight dynamics, scenery tracking,
- pushing commands into the graphics queue, etc). The following features
- are software rendered on low-end SGI machines (like Indy and
- Indigo):</p>
- <ul>
- <li>stencil and accumulation buffer</li>
- <li>depth queuing and depth buffering</li>
- <li>fogging, lighting, clipping and transforms</li>
- <li>texturing</li>
- </ul>
- <p>This means that running FlightGear with the following options may not
- even get the desired result:</p>
- <p>
- <code>./runfgfs --fog-disable --shading-flat --disable-skyblend \</code>
- <br>
- <code>--disable-textures --disable-clouds --disable-sound \</code>
- <br>
- <code>--disable-panel --enable-hud --disable-anti-alias-hud</code>
- </p>
- <p>I could even imagine that adding --enable-wireframe doesn't work on
- these machines (I would be happy to be proven wrong though).</p>
- <p>On a machine like O2 the following options give an acceptable
- result:</p>
- <code>./runfgfs --fog-fastest --disable-sound</code>
- <p>Since I don't have access to other SGI hardware I can't tell which
- options would be appropriate for your situation.</p>
- </div>
-
<b>
<a name="5.7">5.7 -
<u>How do I see the frame rate?</u>
</b>
<div class="indent">
<p>You can import the 3D model and textures, but the flight dynamics
- (the .AIR file) must be completely redone for FlightGear. See
- <a href="http://home.t-online.de/home/Wolfram.Kuss/">http://home.t-online.de/home/Wolfram.Kuss/</a>
- for help importing .MDL files and textures.</p>
+ (the .AIR file) must be completely redone for FlightGear. </p>
<p>If you wish to import a model made with gmax, you will need to
convert it to .MDL format using <i>Microsoft's MakeMDL SDK</i> which
is available at
<a href="http://gingerall.com/charlie/ga/xml/p_sab.xml">Sablotron</a>.
</small>
</p>
- <address>Cameron Moore<br>cameron@unbeatenpath.net<br>
- </address>
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