FlightGear

The FlightGear flight simulator project is an open-source, multi-platform, cooperative flight simulator development project.

Installation

root #emerge flightgear

Command line usage

Although the simulation can be started via a menu in the the desktop environment (DE) or window manager (WM), it can be preferable to start FlightGear via the command line as there is more control over the simulation configuration.

user $fgfs

Show help messages:

user $fgfs --help --verbose | less

Start FlightGear via the launcher, which allows choosing various options (including the specific aircraft to fly):

user $fgfs --launcher

Show a listing of available aircraft:

user $fgfs --show-aircraft

Example command line incantation (which is used within the Win32 build) for adding geometry (use the desired screen resolution) and time of day options:

user $fgfs --fg-root=/usr/share/games/flightgear --fg-scenery=/usr/share/games/flightgear/Scenery --aircraft=c172p-canvas --control=joystick --disable-random-objects --prop:/sim/rendering/random-vegetation=false --disable-ai-models --disable-ai-traffic --disable-real-weather-fetch --enable-clouds3d --enable-fullscreen --prop:/sim/frame-rate-throttle-hz=60 --geometry=1680x1050 --bpp=32 --timeofday=noon

Additional aircraft

Users can download additional (unsupported) aircraft models. Once downloaded, extract the tarballs and use the following option:

user $fgfs --fg-aircraft="${HOME}/.fgfs/my-extracted-aircraft-2.12.0

Additional scenery

Users can download additional scenery or utilize terrasync.

Take note, there is currently no /usr/share/games/flightgear/Scenery folder as noted by the previous incantation.

Download the tarball scenery, extract into a local folder, and use the following option:

user $fgfs --fg-scenery="${HOME}/.fgfs/my-extracted-scenery-2.12.0/:/usr/share/games/flightgear/Scenery:${HOME}/.fgfs/my-terrasync"-2.12.0

Terrasync

To enable Terrasync, use the following while remembering to add the folder to the --fg-scenery list of folders, as specified above. (Unknown if specifying the additional Terrasync folder within fg-scenery is necessary.)

user $mkdir ${HOME}/.fgfs/my-terrasync-2.12.0

user $fgfs --enable-terrasync --terrasync-dir=${HOME}/.fgfs/my-terrasync-2.12.0 --fg-scenery=${HOME}/.fgfs/my-terrasync"-2.12.0

Scripting command line options

Eventually it becomes more desirable to automate much of these commands per scenario. It is nice to already have script files for different scenarios, named such as fgfs.sh, fgfs-mp.sh, and fgfs-debug.sh to respectively start in single player, multiplayer or debug modes.

For example, to start a FlightGear multiplayer session:

FILE ${HOME}/bin/fgfs-mp.sh

#!/bin/bash
# Airports
# KPDX Portland Intl
# KLAX Los Angeles Intl
# PFAI Fairbanks Int
# KSFO San Fransisco, CA

# Aircraft
# 777-300
# c172p-canvas
# CitationX

/usr/games/bin/fgfs \
    --aircraft=c172p-canvas \
    --browser-app=/usr/bin/seamonkey \
    --callsign=BIGBIRD \
    --control=joystick \
    --disable-terrasync \
    --enable-game-mode \
    --enable-real-weather-fetch \
    --fg-root=/usr/share/games/flightgear \
    --multiplay=out,10,mpserver16.flightgear.org,5000 \
    --prop:/sim/rendering/multithreading-mode=AutomaticSelection \
    --prop:/sim/rendering/shaders/quality-level=0 \
    --prop:/sim/rendering/texture-compression=off \
    --log-level=alert \
    --units-feet

Make the file executable and run it whenever. To modify your options, do so by editing the commented script file!

user $chmod u+x ${HOME}/bin/fgfs-mp.sh

user $./bin/fgfs-mp

(Omit the "./" if "${HOME}/bin" is already within the $PATH.)

Known Problems

Poor Frame Rates Compared to Win32 Build's Frame Rates

The default "c172p" aircraft model seems to cause significant frame rate loss. Choosing another aircraft model such as the "c172p-canvas" alleviates this problem.

user $fgfs --aircraft=c172p-canvas

See Also

Track IR