How do I know drop tanks are empty?

[MonsterZero]

Is there an indicator of how much remains in the drop tank?

 

Also, how do I set fuel feed so the drop tanks are emptied first, so I can drop them?

[iLOVEwindmills]

I don't think there's an indicator that tells you how much is remaining in the droptank on its own. The main fuel gauge will however show the total fuel quantity, including the external tank. So you can quickly calculate how much external you have by subtracting your max internal capacity from the total.

 

Additionally, there's a fuel warning indicator for your external tank on the information panel to the right of your main fuel gauge. I forgot exactly what it says, but it will initially start blinking as the tank is near empty and then light permanently as it is completely empty. So it's fairly easily recognizable.

 

You can then drop the tank, and see it removed from the information panel behind the flightstick.

[zaelu]

Drop tanks are used first. For 800ltrs drop tank the fuel gauge will drop just under 3000ltrs when tank is almost empty, I think at around 2800 the light will remain solid and you may jettison the fuel tank as it is now emptied.

 

Here is a picture I made to make it more clear. In the picture the plane had just spawned with just center fuel tank on and full fuel. You can see it is at around 3800ltrs the fuel gauge.

 

Edited June 2, 2015 by zaelu

[portman]

The light on the panel to the right ("fuel pods empty W") illuminates when the ventral drop tank is empty. The light on the panel in the middle, which says "fuel pods empty A" illuminates when the wing drop tanks are empty, or if no wing tanks are attached. Of course they could have put all the lights onto one single panel, but... you know.... the design philosophy of MiG back then was "we put the light where the cables end" ;-)

Edited June 2, 2015 by portman

[zaelu]

LOL. I have similar thoughts of ergonomy design of Ka-50 cockpit.

 

I like in Mig21 LanceR how they put cables around external fuselage (for serious reasons I am sure) then covered them under some tin foil of carenage.

 

 

Thanks for the tip portman... I fly mostly with big or small tank under belly as I like my pylons for weapons.

[Cobra847]

@zaelu; what cockpit texture mod are you using?

I see this in a lot of recent screenshots, someone has flipped the normals of the upper section of the cockpit (can see it on the lights)

[zaelu]

@Cobra847

 

This mod is named in my library "Cockpit Mips texture on MiG-21Bis -Nov 2014" so I presume (hopefully I am not wrong) that is only a resave with more MIP Maps than default made by me. (true it has the ASP leather modified also by me)

 

Which file should I check or should I upload it here for you to check?

[Cobra847]

@Cobra847

 

This mod is named in my library "Cockpit Mips texture on MiG-21Bis -Nov 2014" so I presume (hopefully I am not wrong) that is only a resave with more MIP Maps than default made by me. (true it has the ASP leather modified also by me)

 

Which file should I check or should I upload it here for you to check?

 

Roger!

 

It is possible that you are missing "Norm_Mig-21-cockpit_005.bmp.dds" from your Cockpit_textures .zip?

[zaelu]

hm, I have it but is resaved and ended a bit bigger as it uses DTX5 8bpp with interpolated alpha preset.

 

I attached both my files. modded and what appears to be original (from my JSGME backup).

 

You think this particular setup causes problems? I should use a simpler one for normal maps textures?

mig pit norm textures.zip