MASSIVE CRASH FINAL RELEASE


PLEASE READ THIS THOROUGHLY BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING  :0)

There is important information included below about how to get the most out of this effects package, some/all of which you may not 
be aware of. 


Over the past few weeks several problems with Massive Crash2 were brought to my attention. Because I did not have access to a 
system with a high quality video adapter I never had the opportunity to test the effects on such a system. It was brought to my 
attention that during an impact on a system that has a high end video card the screen would flash colors and "wash-out" to a 
pure white screen unless the user zoomed 3X or farther back. 
This was due to a combination of scale of the effects in conjunction with a better video adapter -and/or- the effect slider in 
the simulator was set to maximum performance. This has been corrected in this release.

Improved frame rates in this release will help allow even those with lower quality video cards to take advantage of better visual 
effects settings. 

Another issue corrected in this release involved seaplanes or water aircraft rendering water wake in the air above the waterline 
after Massive Crash2 was installed. This will no longer occur with this update. Much better water crash effects were also added 
to this release.

The effects have now been better tuned for smaller aircraft. Massive Crash2 was a bit too sensitive and a small prop plane hitting 
the ground a bit harder than it should, would set off massive explosions. This has been corrected in this version. A small prop 
plane can now land, tip forward and *nose-drag" the ground. As long as the wings and tail do not break off the fuselage the results 
will only be dust and debris as it should. 

It is very important to understand how the effects work in order to maximize the crash experience. PLEASE read the following very 
carefully so you understand how to get the most *BANG* out of your system. The effects are driven the following things:


1. Flight Simulator Effects Detail Setting:        ***VERY IMPORTANT***
In the display settings of the Flight Simulator there is a slider that sets the detail level for special effects. This version of 
Massive Crash is **VERY SENSITIVE** to this setting. Because there were many people out there that have slower computers and were 
having problems with Massive Crash2, I have not only reworked the effects for those who have high quality video cards but also 
reworked them for those who have very slow systems. You may see very little in the way of crash detail, even if you have a good 
video adapter unless you set the *Effects Detail* in Flight Simulator to at least 50%.
The minimum setting will render crash effects but you may not see the massive blasts of fire, water and debris. Experiment with 
the setting to find what works best for your system. 

The following is my recommendation for the effects detail setting in the simulator:

a. Slow computers, 1.4gig (or less) with onboard or low end graphics card: Leave at *Minimum* or 0 (but you can try 50%)

b. Average systems, around 1.8gig with medium are average quality video card: 50% or *Medium*

c. High end systems, 2.0gig+ with "PRO" type video adapters: 100% or *Maximum*


2. Aircraft Breakage. 
Most of the default Microsoft aircraft have aircraft breakage or crash damage designed into the model file. I have seen great 
results in crashing all the default flight simulator planes with the exception of the 747 and 777. 
Those 2 aircraft do not like to come apart although I have seen them do it occasionally. Many, but not all, 3rd party aircraft 
STINK (for lack of a better word) when it comes to aircraft breakage. Although Massive Crash will render a good crash sequence 
in almost any situation, when the wings come off a plane from skimming a building, tree, water or ground... or when an impact is 
great enough to break a wing or tail section Massive Crash will respond by rendering a spectacular show. The default 737 is a 
great airliner to test the crash effects with. All of the default Microsoft prop planes respond very well to crash situations.

Aircraft breakage MUST BE ENABLED in the simulator or you will see 50% or less of what Massive Crash has to offer. 
"Detect Crash Damage" must be checked in the Flight Simulator settings along with proper editing of the aircraft.cfg file to enable 
VISUAL DAMAGE for the plane being flown. There are complete instructions below on how to enable this if you have not already done 
so or do not know how.


3. Aircraft.cfg Contact Points
In the aircraft.cfg file there are contact points set up for each aircraft. Each contact point has a value set for the amount 
of stress or force in PSI/PSF before damage occurs. The Flight Simulator's effects generator responds based on how many of these 
points are hit at once and also how hard the impact is. A plane that has aircraft breakage designed into the model but has a very 
poorly designed contact point log in the aircraft.cfg file will usually render very little crash on the screen. 
Many 3rd party aircraft makers design crash effects into the model file but then skimp on testing and setting contact points. 
If you have a plane that does have crash damaged designed into the model but does not respond very well to crash situations and 
you understand how the contact points work (Get the FS2002 AircraftContainer SDK at microsoft.com for details) you can add extra 
wing and fuselage contact points to the aircraft.


4. Type of Impact:
As stated above under *Aircraft Breakage*, how the plane comes apart determines how much and magnitude of crash effect you see 
on the screen. Another element that defines how impressive the crash effects are rendered is the amount of time a plane remains 
in motion after an impact. If a plane skims a tree and a wing is torn off AND the plane spins out of control in the air for a 
short period of time you will see a heck of a show. If a plane bounces hard off the water in a water landing and enough stress 
is imposed in that bounce without stopping the plane dead in the water, again the crash show will be very impressive. Once the 
aircraft fuselage comes to a complete stop the simulator will post the *CRASH* bar at which point no new explosion, dirt or fire
effects are produced so the longer the crash is stretched out, the bigger and more massive the show.

Unlike jet aircraft, because of the physics involved, small prop planes will usually flop around on the ground or do *cartwheels* 
when landed too hard or improperly. When this happens you will usually get a great crash show. 

Nose dives of jets will usually produce absolutely NO effect other than sticking the plane into the ground like a Yard Dart. This 
is because most jet aircraft do not have the contact points at the nose in the model or the aircraft.cfg which signify fuel tanks 
or engines are present. In a nose dive if the aircraft impales hard enough into the ground or water to contact the engines\tanks, 
usually at least 50% of the crash effects will appear but there are many aircraft that a nose dive will produce absolutely no results.


5. VIEWING A CRASH: ***VERY IMPORTANT***
One of the complaints about Massive Crash2 was that the explosion was so big it washed out the screen. With the better video cards 
and the effects slider set to *maximum* this was unavoidable the way Massive Crash2 was designed however there were quite a few 
emails from users who were getting the same *wash-out* results with the effects detail set to *minimum*. All of these cases were 
fixed by properly setting the spot view for the size of plane being flown. 

Imagine for a moment if you were really looking at a Lear Jet from the default spot view position the Flight Simulator places you 
in. The view starts out directly beside the aircraft. You are approximately 20 to 50 feet from that aircraft. Now imagine if you 
will that the Lear Jet crashes and you are still 20 to 50 feet beside the plane. Adding to that, the simulator pans in closer after 
a plane crashes. In that event you would be ENGULFED by the blast and totally incinerated. That is the *wash-out* you would see on 
the screen. 

It is important to set your spot view so you are not in the middle of a fire ball or the path of flying wreckage. The best way to 
view a crash so that you can see all the action is to set you spot view prior to landing so you are looking back at the nose of 
the aircraft. I would not set spot view directly in the center of the nose of the aircraft but a bit to one side so you can see 
what is happening behind the plane as it comes apart and fly’s toward you. This is also a great view to watch a good landing from 
as well. How far back you may wish to zoom is based on the size of the plane and how fast you are traveling. Small planes (prop or 
Lear) hitting the ground fast and hard can produce a heck of a blast so it is usually best to zoom back 1X if you have the effects 
slider set to *maximum* in the simulator. The simulator sets the default spot distance from large jets back very far compared to 
prop or Lear size aircraft which means that you will probably not need to zoom back at all. Experiment with the spot view settings 
for the individual aircraft to obtain the best view results for your livery.

There are screenshots of the proper distance and best angle for viewing a crash with different size aircraft in the IMAGES\CRASH 
VIEWING folder included with this package.


LAST:
Please understand that the effects are not controlled for each aircraft or for a size group of planes. I have absolutely no control 
over each crash situation, the scale produced or how each plane will perform. The name of the program is *MASSIVE CRASH*, hence you 
are going to get a MASSIVE CRASH if the plane tears off a wing in flight or impacts the ground, water, building, tree, etc.. with 
tremendous force no matter what size plane you are flying. 
I scaled the effects so they would look good with medium to larger aircraft and therefore small size planes will have crash results 
quite exaggerated if the wings or other parts of the plane break off. 
If I had made the effects perfectly scale to small single prop planes the jet impacts would look ridiculously small. The simulator 
develops the crash based on the list I provided above and the harder the impact, the larger the crash effect it will generate. If 
you prefer flying smaller aircraft such a Piper's or single engine Cessna I highly suggest you reduce the *Flight Simulator Effects 
Detail Setting* in the DISPLAY area of the program to MINIMUM. The visual crash results will be much closer to the proper scale.


==============================================================



*****************************************************************************

Any questions, suggestions or support issues should be directed to:

Nick Needham
[email protected]


I sincerely hope the flight simulator community enjoys these effects. Sincere thanks from me go out to everyone
who has donated their valuable time to create simulator software for the community!

This package is the final version of the Massive Crash series. Since it has tested without issues for several weeks I will not be releasing any more updates. 


******************************************************************************

INSTALLATION:


Step 1:
You may use one of the winzip .exe files in the RESTORE folder of this package to revert back to the original Flight Simulator effects files 

OR 

if you prefer to manually back up the files go to the main FS \Effects directory and copy/paste the files:

fx_dirtcrash.fx
fx_dirtspray_l.fx
fx_dirtspray_m.fx
fx_dirtspray_s.fx
fx_engsmoke.fx
fx_watercrash.fx
fx_wtrspray_l.fx
fx_wtrspray_m.fx
fx_wtrspray_s.fx

…to a safe location so you can restore them if you do not like the effects included in this package. If you prefer one of the older Massive Crash versions you may simply rerun a previous version of Massive Crash to revert back.

For ease of installation I the provided the following files in this package: 

MCrFINAL_FS2004.exe  -and-  MCrFINAL_FS2002.exe. 

a. Simply double click the .exe file for your version of Flight Simulator and a WinZip box will appear that will automatically install the needed files to the proper directories inside of the Flight Simulator locations as shown below:

For FS9 (FS2004) Users:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9

For FS2002 users:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\FS2002

b. When the Winzip window appears click "unzip" and allow the contents to extract directly into the directories. If your version of Flight Simulator is located other than where I have indicated above you MUST browse it manually to the correct location.


Step 2:
Make sure to set the *SPECIAL EFFECTS DETAIL* slider under the *DISPLAY* settings in the simulator to the level your system can handle. The following are my recomendations:

a. Very slow computers, 1.4gig (or less) with onboard or low end graphics card: Leave at *Minimum* or 0 (but you can try 50%)

b. Average systems, around 1.8gig with medium quality video card: 50% or *Medium*

c. High end systems, 2.0gig+ with "PRO" type video adapters: 100% or *Maximum*


The higher this is set, the more detail and action you will see in a crash. I also suggest before flying to close and reopen the simulator after setting this and confirm the setting remained at the level you placed it at.

The better effects come from belly skimming hits and tearing the wings off the plane. The same results will NOT occur each time the plane crashes. The crash effects will be influenced by the dynamics and physics of the aircraft as it makes contact with buildings, trees, ground, water, other planes, etc… The longer you stretch out a really bad landing the bigger the show!

If you have already enabled visual damage in your FS aircraft AND set the Flight Simulator to detect crashes and damage in the settings area of the program, you are ready to go..  Fly your plane. 

Enjoy!!!

*************************
HOWEVER:
*************************

If you have NOT already done so you must enable the visual damage of each aircraft that you want to see the effect work with AND also enable Flight Simulator to detect crashes and damage. This is accomplished in the next 2 steps.


Step 3:

a. Open the aircraft configuration file for the plane you wish to enable the effect for.

b. Scroll down to the end of the first sets of variables and add the following line:

visual_damage=1

NOTE: In order to simplify things you can try adding the visual_damage=1 code line under JUST the [GENERAL] heading. If you are still not seeing results then try adding it to one version of the aircraft as described below. If after several attempts no aircraft breakage is seen, it is possible the aircraft MODEL file simply does not have the needed information for aircraft breakage. The effects files will display just the same, breakage or not.

You must add the above line to the bottom of ALL the [fltsim.X] headings or ALL the variations of the plane will not display the effects. Once you reach the [General] heading you have entered and enabled crash damage for all the variations of the plane. Many planes will have only 1 variation and others may have as many as 3 to 6! An example of this edit is shown below. The default Microsoft Lear45 aircraft.cfg was used for this example:


***********************************
Lear45 aircraft.cfg:

[fltsim.0] //<------SEE THIS TOP HEADING??? SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF IT'S LIST
title=Learjet 45
sim=Lear45
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=
kb_checklists=Lear45_check
kb_reference=Lear45_ref
atc_id=N456LJ
ui_manufacturer=Bombardier
ui_type="Learjet 45"
ui_variation="White with gold and black"
description="The Model 45 is Learjet's first all-new aircraft since Bill Lear's first Model 23. Although it looks like a Learjet, it has only half the parts of a Model 35, reflecting a significant design progression. The parameters set down for the 45 called for it to have the performance of the Learjet 35, the handling of the Learjet 31A, and greater cabin space than the competition."
visual_damage=1 //<--------- $$$$********ADD THIS LINE HERE AT THE BOTTOM AS SHOWN*********$$$$

[fltsim.1] //<---------------SEE THIS HEADING???  ANOTHER ONE!! SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF IT'S LIST
title=Learjet 45 Limited Edition
sim=Lear45
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=1
kb_checklists=Lear45_check
kb_reference=Lear45_ref
atc_id=N45LR
ui_manufacturer=Bombardier
ui_type="Learjet 45"
ui_variation="Anniversary edition"
description="The Model 45 is Learjet's first all-new aircraft since Bill Lear's first Model 23. Although it looks like a Learjet, 
it has only half the parts of a Model 35, reflecting a significant design progression. The parameters set down for the 45 called 
for it to have the performance of the Learjet 35, the handling of the Learjet 31A, and greater cabin space than the competition."
visual_damage=1 //<--------------- $$$$********ADD THIS LINE HERE AT THE BOTTOM AS SHOWN*********$$$$


[General] //<-------SEE THIS HEADING???  YOUR DONE! THERE ARE NO MORE VARIATIONS FOR THIS PLANE!
atc_type=Learjet
atc_model=
editable=1
performance="Cruise Speed\t\nMach 0.81            464 kts..........  

YADDA YADDA YADDA 

(cut here for example)

*******************************


The above example shows 2 different variations (paint jobs) of the same Lear45 in which we enabled the visual damage for.


c. Save the edited aircraft configuration file.



Step 4:

The following instructions are for FS2004. FS2002 may be different but since I have never used FS2002 I cannot be sure. I would 
think from the description I give below you should be able to find the setting in FS2002.

a. Start the Flight Simulator and go to the settings area.

b. Click on "Realism" button. When the settings appear, select:

*DETECT CRASHES AND DAMAGE*

c. If you desire you can select the other options, *Allow collisions with other aircraft* and *Aircraft stress causes damage* but 
those two are not necessary for the effects to be enabled.

d. Restart the Simulator and confirm the *DETECT CRASHES AND DAMAGE* setting remained enabled. If so, go crash a plane!

============================================================

Enjoy!

Nick Needham
[email protected]

This package is the final version of the Massive Crash series. Since it has tested without issues for several weeks I will not be 
releasing any more updates.