<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>
<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>
<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>
<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>
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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