# Fly Command Guide

## Introduction

These notes describe the keyboard commands and dialogues used in Fly plus give a few hints and tips for using the program. There is also a list of command line options that can be used when starting the program but this is really of academic interest: everything of importance that can be set by one of the byzantine command line options can also be set within the game via a dialogue box.

## Contents

- Quick Summary
- Keyboard Controls
  - Flight Controls
  - Throttle
  - Other Flying Controls
  - Autostab (Autopilot)
  - Viewing
    - Viewpoints
    - Viewing Directions
    - Other Viewing Commands
  - Sound
  - Navigation Aids
    - Area Map
    - Instrument Navigation
  - Game Controls
- The Choices Dialogue
  - The Controls Dialogue
  - The Display Dialogue
  - The Simulation Dialogue
  - The Conditions Dialogue
- The FST Menu
- Joystick Calibration on a PC
- Joystick Calibration under RISC OS
- Command Line Options
  - Common Options
  - Sim Environment Options
  - Other Options

At first sight the list of keyboard commands looks long and complicated but only a few keys are used for flying the aircraft. Most of the options are available via either the keyboard or the 'Choices' dialogue and it probably better to use that than try to remember the commands.

## Quick Summary

The following tables give a quick summary of the most important keys. Later sections cover these in more detail.

Flight Controls
Pitch down | Cursor up or keypad 8
Pitch up | Cursor down or keypad 2
Roll left | Cursor left or keypad 4
Roll right | Cursor right or keypad 6
Centre stick | Keypad 5
Rudder left | , or keypad 0
Rudder right | . or keypad .

Engine Controls
Start/stop engines | e
Fixed throttle settings | 1 to 9 and 0
Turn on/off reheat | Insert

Other Controls
Lower and retract undercarriage | g
Open and close airbrakes | b
Apply and release wheelbrakes | w
Lower flaps | s
Raise flaps | x

Weapon Controls
Fire selected weapon | Space bar
Cycle through weapons | Backspace or Return
Fire a flare | f
Drop chaff | c

Viewing Controls
Look forwards | F1
Look backwards | Shift-F1
Look left 60 degrees | F2
Look left 120 degrees | F5
Look right 60 degrees | F3
Look right 120 degrees | F6

Game Controls
Quit the game | Alt-X
Show Choices dialogue | Alt-O or Menu key
Eject | Ctrl-e

Return to Contents

## Keyboard Controls

These can be split into several groups:

- Flight Controls
- Throttle
- Other Flying Controls
- Autostab (Autopilot)
- Viewing
  - Viewpoints
  - Viewing Directions
  - Other Viewing Commands
- Sound
- Navigation Aids
  - Area Map
  - Instrument Navigation
- Game Controls

### Flight Controls

The simulation can be flown using a joystick, mouse or the keyboard for the main flight controls. The one to use is set from the 'Controls' dialogue. See the section The Controls Dialogue below for more information. The best way to play is to use a joystick but the mouse and keyboard are reasonable substitutes. Mouse control has an advantage over keyboard control in that the sensitivity of the mouse can be adjusted. The game defaults to keyboard if no joystick is attached. Keyboard controls are as follows:

Pitch down | Cursor up or keypad 8
Pitch up | Cursor down or keypad 2
Roll left | Cursor left or keypad 4
Roll right | Cursor right or keypad 6
Centre stick | Keypad 5
Rudder left | , or keypad 0
Rudder right | . or keypad .
Increase trim | Keypad +
Decrease trim | Keypad -
Zero trim | Keypad *

Pitch and roll controls
  The first five of these, the pitch and roll controls, only work when the keyboard has been selected as the main flight control. The others, the rudder and trim controls, work whatever is being used for flight control.
Trim controls
  The trim controls are very important. They affect the elevator trim and most aircraft in FST sims will need a large amount of trim. The trim is increased or decreased each time the key is pressed. The rule is:
  - Decrease trim (keypad -) if the nose pitches up
  - Increase trim (keypad +) if the nose pitches down
  Keep increasing the trim until the aircraft's nose stops pitching up or down. This may take a while as the aircraft is slow to react and it is easy to go too far. If this happens, trim it the opposite way until the aircraft is stable.

The idea with the keypad is that the main controls are all arranged together thus:

Num Lock | / | Zero trim | Decr trim
7 | Pitch down | Incr throttle | Incr trim
Roll left | Centre stick | Roll right
1 | Pitch up | Decr throttle
| Rudder left | Rudder right | Enter

#### Mouse Sensitivity

Fly is very responsive to movements of the mouse when using it to fly an aircraft but the sensitivity can be adjusted via the following keys:

Low | Alt-1
Medium | Alt-2
High | Alt-3

The 'low' or 'medium' settings are best for normal flight with the 'high' setting being used for combat.

The mouse sensitivity can also be set from the controls dialogue.

Note that autostab can be used to regain control of the aircraft when you lose control (something that is all too easy with the mouse and keyboard).
Return to Keyboard Controls

### Throttle

Start/stop engines | e
Fixed throttle settings | 1 to 9 and 0
Increase throttle by 1% | = or keypad 9
Decrease throttle by 1% | - or keypad 3
Reduce throttle to minimum | _ (underscore)
Increase throttle to maximum | +
Turn on/off reheat | Insert

Fixed throttle settings
  The fixed throttle settings vary from 1 (25%) to 9 (95%) and 0 (100%). The keys used are the normal numeric keys along the top of the keyboard. The engine RPM settings as percentages for each key are as follows:

  1 | 25% (engines idling)
  2 | 30%
  3 | 40%
  4 | 50%
  5 | 60%
  6 | 70%
  7 | 80%
  8 | 90%
  9 | 95%
  0 | 100%

Reheat (afterburners)
  Reheat can only be used if the aircraft is a jet. It gives a 50% boost in engine power but at the cost of very high fuel consumption.

Return to Keyboard Controls

### Other Flying Controls

Lower or retract undercarriage | g
Open or close airbrakes | b
Apply or release wheelbrakes | w
Lower flaps | s
Raise flaps | x

Lower and retract undercarraige
  The undercarriage should be raised before the aircraft's speed exceeds 300 knots and not lowered if it exceeds this otherwise the undercarriage will be damaged and rendered unusable. The same is true of the flaps. Note that raising and lowering flaps and undercarriage takes several seconds so do not leave it to the last moment.
Flaps
  The flaps are lowered by ten degrees each time the `s` key is pressed. The maximum flap angle is thirty degrees.

  The flaps are raised by ten degrees each time the `x` key is pressed.

Eject | Ctrl-E
Radar altimeter | Ctrl-N
Barometric altimeter | Ctrl-B

Eject
  You can eject from an aircraft it has an ejector seat at any time except when on the ground. Your aircraft crashes after this. You can either restart the game if you eject or quit it.
Altimeter type
  Fly has two types of altimeter available, radar and barometric. The radar altimeter gives the height of the aircraft above the ground. The barometric altimeter gives it above sea level. The altimeter type can also be set from the Simulation dialogue box (The Simulation Dialogue).

Return to Keyboard Controls

### Autostab (Autopilot)

Fly has a simple autopilot.

Turn autostab on or off | a
Turn ground following on or off | Alt-a

Ground following, `Alt-a`, can also be turned on and off via the Simulation dialogue (see The Simulation Dialogue). The dialogue also gives you the option to set the autopilot to fly at a fixed height.

In the normal course of events, the autopilot continues to fly the aircraft on the same heading and at the same altitude as when the autopilot was engaged. It is different if the 'fly at fixed altitude' option is in effect in that the autopilot will cause the aircraft to climb or descend to the set height. The autopilot follows the contours of the ground, climbing to avoid hills and mountains and then descending to the original height. This tends to give a bumpy flight and something more akin to a rollercoaster ride in mountains, which is where the 'ground follow' option comes in. If 'ground follow' is turned off, the aircraft still climbs but remains at the new height for a while, slowly descending to the original over a distance of several kilometres. The 'ground follow' option is normally turned on.

The autopilot works by moving the aircraft's control surfaces. It is not infallible and will sometimes fly you into mountains if it cannot change the aircraft's course fast enough or just gets it wrong.

The direction the aircraft is flying can be adjusted when the autopilot is on by pressing the rudder keys. Left rudder turns the aircraft to port and right rudder, to starboard.

The 'autostab altitude' can be changed via the Simulation dialogue when autopilot is engaged and the aircraft will climb or descend to the new height.

The autopilot can only be engaged if the aircraft's speed exceeds 50 knots.

The autopilot can be used as a 'cheat mode' to recover control of an aircraft if you lose it. Turn it on, move the flight controls to their 'rest' position and then turn off the autopilot once the aircraft is stable again. It is most use in this way if flying using the keyboard or mouse.
Return to Keyboard Controls

### Weapons

Fire selected weapon | Space bar
Cycle through weapons | Backspace or Return
Fire a flare | f
Drop chaff | c
Jettison stores | Ctrl-j
Cycle through radar modes | t
Cycle through radar ranges | r

Fire weapon
  The 'fire' button on a joystick and left mouse button can also be used to fire the weapons. Button 2 and the right mouse button cycle through the weapons available.
Flares
  Flares are for defending an aircraft against heat-seeking missiles, which are always air-to-air missiles in FST.
Chaff
  Chaff is for defending against radar guided missiles. These are surface-to-air missiles in FST.
Jettison stores
  'Jettison stores' gets rid of all the external weapons, that is, everything except for guns.
Radar
  The radar has three modes:
  Standard FST
    The normal FST radar which shows all air and ground targets around the aircraft.
  Air targets
    This shows all aircraft in a 90 degree cone in front of the aircraft.
  Ground targets
    This shows all ground objects in a 90 degree cone in front of the aircraft.
  Pressing the `t` key cycles through these modes from standard FST to air to ground and back to standard FST.

  Note that Green dots on the radar are friendly aircraft and ground objects and red ones are hostile.

Radar ranges
  The radar has three range settings, 20, 10 and 5 kilometres (approximately 12, 6 and 3 miles). The `r` key cycles from 20 to 10 to 5 and back to 20 again.

Return to Keyboard Controls

### Viewing

#### Viewpoints

The following keys control the different viewpoints possible in the program:

Pilot's viewpoint | Alt-v
Camera (chase) view | v
Tower view | o
Other aircraft's view | tab
Other object's view | Ctrl-tab
Missile view | Alt-m

Pilot's viewpoint
  This is the normal pilot's viewpoint.
Camera (chase) view
  There are two possible viewpoints with the camera view:
  1. The observer rides with the aircraft as if sitting on an imaginary plank attached to it.
  2. The observer is at a fixed position relative to the aircraft watching the aircraft as if in another aircraft flying alongside it.
  The viewpoint used is set by the option 'Use camera viewpoint in chase view' on the 'Display' dialogue box (The Display Dialogue). Another option here is the 'Chase view lag effect'. This affects the 'ride with aircraft' view. The viewpoint lags slightly behind the aircraft when it manoeuvres.
Tower view
  With the 'tower view', the observer is fixed in place but follows the movement of the aircraft. The observer is place a couple of hundred metres ahead and to one side of the aircraft to get a 'flyby' effect if the aircraft is airborne.
Other aircraft's view
  This allows you to see what is going from a computer-controlled aircraft's point of view. It puts you in the cockpit of one of these aircraft but you are a passenger: you do not have any control over the aircraft is flying. Pressing 'tab' repeatedly jumps from aircraft to aircraft. Note that the aircraft has to be within a short distance of your aircraft for 'tab' to work. The HUD (Alt-h) and padlock (p) keys can be used. The padlock view tracks the aircraft's target if it has one.
Other object's view
  "Other object's view" is like the tower view except that the viewpoint is moved to another object within a short distance of the aircraft. The viewer follows the movement of the player's aircraft. This can give rise to some strange effects such as being able to see through walls and so forth. It is really a matter of luck as to which object the viewpoint jumps to. The object can be one that is moving, for example, a truck or another aircraft, in which case the viewer moves with the object.

#### Viewing Directions

Viewing directions are as follows:

Look forwards | F1
Look backwards | Shift-F1
Look left 60 degrees | F2
Look left 120 degrees | F5
Look right 60 degrees | F3
Look right 120 degrees | F6
Look up (move cockpit image up and down) | F4
Pan left | F7
Pan right | F8
Pan down | F9
Pan up | F10
Zoom in | Page Up
Zoom out | Page Down
Reset viewing direction and zoom | Alt-F1

Fixed angle viewing keys
  The keys key `F1` to key `F6` give views around the aircraft at fixed angles. The panning keys are more flexible but slower.
'Look up' view
  The 'look up' view (moves the cockpit bitmap up and down. It depends on the cockpit bitmap how far it moves.
Panning keys
  The four pan keys `F7`, `F8`, `F9` and `F10` pan continuously in the given direction.
Zoom keys
  The zoom keys, `Page Up`, and `Page Down`, increase or decrease the magnification of the view by two each time the relevant key is pressed. The maximum magnification is times eight.
Reset view key
  The key `Alt-F1` resets the viewing direction and elevation to forwards and the zoom factor to one.
'View when key pressed' views
  The actions of some of the keys are changed if the 'view when key pressed' option is in effect (see the section The Display Dialogue below). The view only switches to the one for the key pressed for as long as the key is pressed; it returns to the forwards view when the key is released. The action of the `F1` key is changed: a 'look forward' key is pointless so it is used to look backwards instead.

#### Other Viewing Commands

Target tracking | d
Padlock view | p
Show figures | Alt-f
Show HUD | Alt-h
Show stick position | Alt-j
Switch to window | alt-Enter

Target tracking
  This draws a line on the screen pointing in the direction of a target after it has been acquired, for example, after obtaining a missile lock on an enemy aircraft.
Padlock view
  This locks the view direction to follow an enemy aircraft. Turning on padlock view will make Fly look for enemy aircraft close to your aircraft (up to two kilometres or 1.25 miles away). The viewing direction is changed so that you are looking at the nearest one if any are found and it will follow that aircraft keeping it centred on the screen.

  The padlock view can also be used when watching proceedings from one of the computer-controlled aircraft. The view tracks the aircraft's target, if it has one.

Show figures and show HUD
  These options are related. 'Show figures' displays the aircraft's bearing, height and speed at the top of the screen when using either the camera or tower views. 'Show HUD' displays a HUD for aircraft that have HUDs instead of the figures, otherwise it shows the details as per the 'show figures' option.

  The 'Show figures' and 'Show HUD' options are also available when the sim's viewpoint is another aircraft, in which case the figures relate to that aircraft.

Show stick position
  The 'show stick position' option displays a graphic in the top right-hand corner of the screen showing the position of the stick, rudder and elevator trim as follows:
  - White line at top: stick
  - yellow line at bottom: rudder
  - green line on left-hand side: trim
  A red dot means that the control is in its central postion.

  This option is of most use when flying using the keyboard or mouse to give an idea of the positions of the controls.

Switch to window
  This option is only available in the Windows version of the program. It switches the display to a window rather than running full-screen, provided that window is not larger than the screen.

Return to Keyboard Controls

### Sound

Turn engine sound on or off | q
Turn all sounds on or off | Ctrl-q

The sound options are also available on the Simulation Dialogue. (See The Simulation Dialogue). There is one other option that can only be set via the dialogue box, the volume. This can be set to either 'quiet' or 'loud'.
Return to Keyboard Controls

### Navigation Aids

#### Area Map

Display map | Ctrl-m

The area map shows the terrain and positions of objects in the simulation world around the player's position. The player's aircraft is the flashing white dot. Objects (aircraft and so forth) on one side are in blue and those on the other are in red. Grey dots are objects that do not have a side. Example:

The area shown by the map depends on the size of the simulation's world but it will never be less than 50 kilometres (roughly 31 miles) square. The maximum is 100 (roughly 62 miles) kilometres square, and this is the size of the above map Each square on the map represents an area 500 metres by 500 metre in size (very roughly 550 yards by 550 yards).

The game is halted when the map is being displayed.

Press any key to return to the game when the map is shown.

#### Instrument Navigation

The aircraft has a complete set of navigation aids for instrument flying.

Scan for next NDB with a higher frequency | /
Scan for next NDB with a lower frequency | Shift-/
Scan for the next VOR on NAV radio 1 with a higher frequency | ;
Scan for the next VOR on NAV radio 1 with a lower frequency | Shift-;
Scan for the next VOR on NAV radio 2 with a higher frequency | '
Scan for the next VOR on NAV radio 2 with a lower frequency | Shift-'
Select next radial on VOR 1 | [
Select previous radial on VOR 1 | Shift-[
Select next radial on VOR 2 | # or \
Select previous radial on VOR 2 | Shift-# or Shift-\
Select nearest ILS | i

Return to Keyboard Controls

### Game Controls

Quit the game | Alt-x
Pause the game | Alt-p
Grab a copy of the screen | Alt-g
Show information on game | Alt-t
Show Choices dialogue | Alt-o or Menu key
Show FST Menu | Esc
Show 'help' screens | h
Reset joystick | Alt-c
Fast time | Alt-z

Quit the game
  Pressing the `Alt-x` key brings up a dialogue box thus:
  You are given the choice to continue, restart or leave the game.

  Restart does not restart the entire simulation from the beginning again: it just puts you and your aircraft back on the starting runway ready to go again.

Pause the game
  To restart the game after pausing it, press `p`.
Screen grab
  The `Alt-g` key writes a copy of the screen to a file. under RISC OS, then name of the file is `GRABx` where `x` is a number starting from 1. The screen is saved as a RISC OS sprite in the simulation directory.

  Under Windows, the file is called either `GRABx.PCX` or `GRABx.BMP` where `x` is a number starting from 1. The screens are saved as `.BMP` files is the command line option `-b` is used. These are Windows bitmap files and are easier to work with. `PCX` files are an older type of image file and modern versions of Paint, for example, the one in Windows XP, will not read them.

Show Information on Game
  The `alt-t` key provides some information on how Fly is running. It shows:
  - Version number of the Fly program being used
  - Time according to the simulation
  - Frame rate (the higher the better)
  - Number of objects in simulation
  - Number of objects visible (objects within 16 Km of player)
  - Amount of memory currently being used
  - Time program has been running in 1/100th seconds
  - Time last frame took in 1/100th seconds
  The most important figure is the frame rate. The higher this is the better, and if it reads 50 then the program is running as well as it can. The performance can be improved by reducing the screen size, for example, from 1024 by 768 to 800 by 600, but it is not always possible to do this due to the size of the cockpits.
Show choices dialogue
  Press the `Alt-o` key to show the 'Choices' dialogue at any time. It can also be displayed by pressing the `Menu` key on a PC.
Show FST menu
  There is not much on the menu. It provides an alternative way to show the Choices dialogue and to exit from the game. The only extra item is an 'About' dialogue box.
Show 'help' screens
  Pressing 'h' pauses the game and shows a sim's 'help' screens, if the sim has any. Press any key except for 'backspace' or 'page up' to move on to the next screen. Press 'backspace' or 'page up' to go back to the previous help screen or 'Esc' to stop showing them.
Reset joystick
  Sometimes the joystick is unusable at the start of a game. Pressing `Alt-C` will sometimes cure this. If not, it is a case of quitting the game, calibrating the joystick and then starting again.
Fast time
  This causes the game to run at three times the normal rate. Press `Alt-z` again to return the game to normal speed. Everything is speeded up but some things such as the autopilot do not operate very well when running fast.

Return to Keyboard Controls

## The Choices Dialogue

The Choices dialogue is the main way to set up many aspects of the sim such as the screen size, how much haze there is and so forth. It is shown by pressing either Alt-o or the 'menu' key on a PC-style keyboard.

The dialogue is split into four parts:

Controls | Main flight controls
Display | Screen size and visual effects
Simulation | Aircraft options and sound
Conditions | Time of day, wind speed, etc

Click on the tab in the normal way to select which one to show.

- The Controls Dialogue
- The Display Dialogue
- The Simulation Dialogue
- The Conditions Dialogue

Return to Contents

### The Controls Dialogue

The controls dialogue affects the main aircraft controls.

Click on the Save button to save the settings as the defaults for the sim. Cancel abandons the changes in the normal way and OK sets them for the current game but does not save them.

#### Flight Controls

The main flight control is set here.

The joystick can only by selected if one is attached. The keyboard or mouse can be used at all times.

The mouse is used to fly the aircraft in the traditional way where moving the mouse left or right affects the roll and up and down controls pitch. The left mouse button (select) fires the currently selected weapon and the right one (adjust) cycles through the available weapons. The middle mouse button (menu) can be used to centre the stick.

The sensitivity of the mouse can be changed via the 'Mouse sensitivity' menu. The options are 'low', 'medium' and 'high'. 'low' and 'medium' are probably best for normal flight with 'high' being used during combat. The sensitivity can also be changed from the keyboard using Alt-1, Alt-2 and Alt-3 respectively.

It is probably worth ticking the 'Show stick position' option if using the keyboard or mouse. This displays a small graphic in the top right-hand corner of the screen showing the position of the 'stick' thus:
In the above example, the stick position is the white line. Two other pieces of information are shown: the rudder position (the yellow line) and the elevator trim (the green line). Incidently, this is the only way to get a visual idea of the current trim setting.

Hint: It is easy to lose control of the aircraft when flying with the keyboard or mouse. if this happens, press the `A` key to turn on autostab, centre the stick and then turn off the autostab once the aircraft is stable again.

#### Joystick Buttons

Fly support joysticks with up to eight buttons. Each button can be configured to perform an action. The possibilities are:

- Fire
- Weapon cycle
- Increase thrust
- Decrease thrust
- Afterburner on/off
- Airbrakes out/in
- Lower flaps
- Raise flaps
- Wheel brakes on/off
- Gear up/down
- Engine on/off
- Look back
- Look left
- Look right

Any button can be configured to carry out any of these actions and more than one button can be set to the same thing.

One possible combination is:

Button 1 | Fire weapon
Button 2 | Weapon cycle
Button 3 | Decrease thrust
Button 4 | Increase thrust
Button 5 | Afterburner
Button 6 | Airbrakes
Button 7 | Lower flags
Button 8 | Raise flaps

Return to The Choices Dialogue

### The Display Dialogue

This is used to set the screen size and various other aspects of the visual side of the program.

#### Screen

Screen size
  The 'size' menu list lets you select the screen resolution to use. The possibilities are:
  - 320 by 200 with 256 colours
  - 640 by 480 with 256 colours
  - 800 by 600 with 256 colours
  - 1024 by 768 with 256 colours
  The smallest screen size, 320 by 200, is there for compability with very old simulations. Use is not recommended, especially as the 'Choices' dialogue box is too large for the screen!

  Using a larger screen size just increases the size of the field of view. It does not increase the amount of detail visible. The aircraft's cockpit is drawn at the bottom of the screen in the middle with black boxes either side of it if is narrower than the screen width. It is not possible to use a screen size where the width is narrower than the cockpit bitmap.

Run in a window
  This only works with the Windows version of the program. The game switches from full screen to running in a window, as long as the window is smaller than the screen size.

#### Display Options

Show view only whilst key pressed
  This affects what is shown when one of the fixed viewing directions available via `F1`, `F2`) and so on is selected. In the normal course of events, the view switches to that direction and stays there. If this option is ticked, the view only switches whilst the key is held down. It jumps back to the forward view when the key is released.
Show altitude, airspeed and heading
  This and the next option control what information is shown on screen when using either the 'camera' or 'tower' view. This one displays the aircraft's altitude, airspeed and heading at the top of the screen.
Show chase HUD
  This and the previous option control what information is shown on screen when using either the 'camera' or 'tower' view. This one displays a HUD if the aircraft has one otherwise it shows the figures described above. The information on the HUD is fixed, as the diagram below shows:
  The HUD makes it possible to fly the aircraft from outside.
Chase view lag effect
  When this option is ticked, the viewer lags behind the aircraft slightly when it is manoeuvering when viewing the aircraft from the chase view. It is not used when using the 'camera viewpoint' mode.
Use camera viewpoint in chase view
  There are two versions of 'chase' view: one where the observer follows the aircraft moves as if sitting on a plank attached to the aircraft and 'camera' view where the observer watches the aircraft as if from another aircraft. Tick this option to select the 'camera' viewpoint.
Change lighting during day
  This options controls whether or not the light level varies during the day according to the position of the sun.
Use 'night vision goggles' at night
  This option switches the sim to a 'night vision' view when it is dark. Basically everything is a shade of green.

#### Effects

Horizon shading
  This option controls whether bands are drawn to simulate horizon shading. They are drawn when it is ticked.
blackout/redout
  If ticked, Fly simulated blackout and redout effects when the aircraft is performing high-G manoeuvres. Blackouts occur when large positive forces are experienced by a pilot causing blood to drain from the head. Redouts are the opposite: large negative forces cause redouts, which is when blood is forced into the head.

#### Sky

Draw Sun
  The Sun is drawn if this option is ticked.
Draw Moon
  The Moon is drawn if this option is ticked.
Draw stars
  Stars are drawn at night if this option is ticked.

  The star information is found in the file `stars` or `stars.dat`. There are nearly 900 stars listed. They are drawn accurately for the time of day and latitude at which the sim is set but only on the Greenwich meridian.

Return to The Choices Dialogue

### The Simulation Dialogue

This is used to control various aspects of the simulation such as which aircraft you fly.

#### Choose Aircraft

This lets you pick which aircraft you want to fly if the sim has more than one aircraft available. Your current aircraft has to be on the ground and stationary before you can change.

#### Aircraft Options

This box lets you set a number of things that affect the aircraft you are flying. The first three, 'Autostab ground follow', 'Autostab fly at fixed altitude' and 'Autostab altitude' control the autopilot.

Autostab ground follow
  The autopilot tries to keep the aircraft at the same altitude above the ground, climbing to avoid hills and mountains. Normally it will climb and then stay at the new altitude, only slowly descending to the old height. Ticking this option means that the aircraft will follow the terrain more closely. This can lead to something of a rollercoaster ride as the aircraft will climb over the smallest bump.
Autostab fly at fixed altitude
  The autopilot normally flies the aircraft at the same altitude it had when autostab was engaged. Ticking this option means that it will fly at the altitude set by the next option, 'Autostab altitude'.
Autostab altitude
  This sets the altitude at which the autopilot will fly the aircraft. It the the height above sea level, not the terrain. The aircraft will still climb to fly over obstacles but will then descend to the set height.
G effects on aircraft
  This controls whether or not manoeuvres that lead to forces outside the range the aircraft can handle will cause airframe failures.
Barometric and radar altimeter:
  These set the altimeter to read either the height above sea level (barometric) or the height above the terrain (radar).
Reliability
  This controls how reliable your aircraft is, that is, the probability of suffering hydraulic, electrical or other types of failure in flight.

#### Sound

The 'Sound' box has an overall control for whether sounds are played or not (All sounds on) and one that affects the engine sound only (engine sound on). Sounds can also be played either loudly or quietly.

#### AI Aircraft

This box gives some control over the behaviour of the computer- controlled aircraft.

Active fighters
The 'active' flag in a path controls whether or not a military aircraft acts aggressively. This applies to all types of aircraft except for fighters, which are normally active all the time. This option changes this behaviour. If ticked, fighters are active all the time. If not ticked, they behave like other aircraft and are only aggressive on the 'active' part of their flight path unless they are attacked, in which case they fight back.

#### Other Options

This is for miscellaneous options.

If 'Exit after crash' is ticked, the game ends if you crash or are shot down. You do not get the option to start again, which is what normally happens. (This is really for sims that have a front end program.)
Return to The Choices Dialogue

### The Conditions Dialogue

This is used to set the flight conditions.

#### Flight Conditions

Time and date
  The date and time can be set in the sim to representative values such as 'early morning' and 'May', or, alternative they can be set to the present date and time as supplied by the computer's clock. The lighting level will be set according to the time of day. Stars will be drawn at night.
Clouds
  The cloud density varies from 'no clouds' to 'dense', although 'dense' is not really that dense. Clouds will only be drawn if the sim contains cloud shapes. The program complains if you set this to anything other than 'none' and there are none. It may take a while for the clouds to appear as they have to drift across on the wind.
Haze
  The program simulates the effects of haze and this menu list lets you set just how hazy it is. It is more like fog when set to maximum.

#### Wind

The 'Wind' box lets you specify how windy it is. The direction is the direction the wind is blowing, NOT the direction it is coming from. The strength is based on the Beaufort scale and varies from no wind to strong gale (wind speed around 45 knots). The wind affects the handling of the aircraft on the ground and when flying.

#### Moon

The Moon is for the romantics (and astronomers) amongst you. It lets you set the phase of the Moon.

#### Sim Conditions

This is not really needed but it shows some information about the current date, time and so forth in the sim world.
Return to The Choices Dialogue

## FST Menu

Pressing the `Esc` key brings up the FST Menu.
There is very little on the menu and it can be ignored.

Choices...
  Clicking on this menu item displays the Choices dialogue box.
About
  Clicking on this menu item shows an 'About' dialogue box.
Exit Simulation
  This menu item provides an alternative way to exit from the game.

Return to Contents

## Joystick Calibration on a PC

Fly looks for a file called `ALLEGRO.JOY` for the joystick configuration information. If it cannot find it, the program will prompt the player to calibrate it. It displays on screen the message:

        Move stick to the top left then press a key

Move the joystick to the top left limit of its movement and press a key on the keyboard. The second message printed is:

        Move stick to the bottom right then press a key

Again, do that and press a key on the keyboard. That finishes the calibration. The details are saved in `ALLEGRO.JOY`.

Note that it is not possible to request that the joystick be reconfigured. If the joystick starts to misbehave, the only option is to delete ALLEGRO.JOY and start from scratch.
Return to Contents

## Joystick Calibration under RISC OS

It is not possible to recalibrate a joystick from within Fly when running under RISC OS. The first thing to try if the joystick is not working properly is to press `Alt-c` to attempt to reset the joystick. If this fails, the only option is to stop the program, calibrate the joystick outside of Fly and then start Fly again.
Return to Contents

## Command Line Options

Fly has a large number of command line options but in the normal course of events they can be ignored. Their main purpose is to allow various aspects of a simulation to be set up when the sim starts, for example, the time of day or cloud cover. It is envisaged that the author of a sim will select which command line options are needed for the sim and then wrap it all up with some kind of front end program or script. Many of the options set via the command line can be altered in play via the Choices dialogue. Refer to the section The Choices Dialogue for more information.

The general format of the Fly command is:

    Fly <world file name> <options>

where:

<world file name>
  This is the name of the world file to use. The name of the file can be given here or after the option `-w`. It omitted it defaults to `WORLD.FST`.
<Options>
  These are the command line options, described below. They are broken into three groups:
  - Common Options
  - Sim Environment Options
  - Other Options

Return to Contents

### Common Options

These control things such as the screen size.

Set screen size | -v1, 3, 6, 8
Choose player aircraft | -pname
Specify world file | -wname

`Set screen size`
  This sets the screen size. The possibilities are:
  `-v3 or -s3`
    320 by 200, 256 colours
  `-v6 or -s6`
    640 by 480, 256 colours
  `-v8 or -s8`
    800 by 600, 256 colours
  `-v1 ot -s1`
    1024 by 768, 256 colours
  It is also possible to start the game running in a window. Use `-vw3, -vw6, -vw8 or -vw1` to do this.

  `-s` can be used instead of `-v` for compatibility with old versions of Fly.

`Choose player aircraft`
  It is possible to have more than one player aircraft in a simulation. This option gives the name of the player aircraft to use. It omitted it defaults to `Player`.
`Specify world file`
  This allows the name of the world file to be given if the program is not to use the default of `WORLD.FST`. It is possible for more that one world file to be used; the program merges their contents.

The first two options (screen size and player aircraft) can be changed within the game via the Choices dialogue.
Return to Command Line Options

### Sim Environment Options

These options allow various aspects of the simulation environment to be set. They can all be changed from within the game except for the 'Do not recolour clouds' and 'Set latitude' options.

Set cloud density | -kc1, 2, 3, 4
Do not recolour clouds | -kn
Set wind direction | -kdnnn
Set wind speed | -ksnn
Set wind gust strength | -kg1, 2, 3
Do not draw the sun | -kh
Do not draw the stars | -ki
Set month and day | -kmmmdd
Set time | -kthhmm
Set latitude | -kldd

Set cloud density
  The density can be between 1 and 4 with 1 the least dense and 4 the densest.
Do not recolour clouds
  Clouds are normally recoloured using the horizon band colours. This option leaves the colours as specified in the shape files for special effects.
Set wind direction
  This is the direction the wind is blowing and is the direction in degrees.
Set wind speed
  This is the wind speed in knots.
Set wind gust strength
  This can be between 1 and 3 with 1 as the weakest gusts and 3 the strongest.
Do not redraw sun and stars
  These two options stop the program drawing the sun and the stars.
Set month and day
  This is the date on which the simulation is supposed to take place. It is an integer number `mmdd` which gives the month and date, for example, `-km1122` is the date November 22nd.
Set time
  The `-kt`allows the time at which the simulation takes place to be specified. It is an integer number `hhmm` which gives the time in hours and minutes, for example, `-kt1520` is 3.20 p.m.
Set latitude
  The program allows the latitude at which the simulation take place to be specified (but not the longitude). The latitude is given in degrees with negative numbers for latitudes in the southern hemisphere, for example, `-kl-35` set the latitude to 35 degrees south.

Return to Command Line Options

### Other Options

These control some miscellaneous aspects of Fly.

Disable sound completely | -n or -ns
Do not use palette in cockpit bitmap | -nc
Do not warn if shape not found | -nw
Do not display intro screens | -ni
Do not change screen resolution on startup | -nr

Disable sound completely
  Does what it says on the tin.
Do not use palette in cockpit bitmap
  Normally the first sixteen colours in the cockpit bitmap palette overwrite the first sixteen colours in the simulation palette. This option stops this from happening. It can lead to some strange colour effects.
Do not warn if shape not found
  Fly normally puts out a warning message each time it cannot find a shape file listed in the world file. It asks if a default should be used or whether it should halt. This command line flag stops this and the program automatically uses a default.
Do not display intro screens
  Fly looks for two files, `SFST.PCX` and `SINTROn.PCX`. These are a title screen and a introduction to the simulation. This command line flag stops Fly looking for them.
Do not change screen resolution on startup
  Fly will change the screen resolution when it starts a sim if the screen width is less than the width of the cockpit bitmap. This option stops it doing that.

Return to Command Line Options

#### Special Files

Name of menu file | -qname
name of alias file | -lname
Name of palette file if not 'cols.fcd' | -cname
name of directory in which to store files | -fname

In all of these options, `name` is the name of a file or directory. If a file name, the file should be in the same directory as all of the other simulation files.

Name of menu file
  The program normally looks for a file called `menu` or `menu.cfg` or for the sim preferences and so on. This option allows a file other that this to be used.
Name of alias file
  The alias file contains a list of file names and the names that Fly should really use when looking for those files. The name of any file can be changed in this way. The main purpose of alias files is to make it easier to have simulations which have a number of different scenarios where the scenario is picked by means of a program that front ends Fly. It allows alternative shapes, palettes and so forth to be used.
Name of palette file
  This allows the name of the palette file to be given. Normally the program will look for the file `COLS.FCD` or the one named in the file `FST.FPJ`. This option allows it to be given on the command line and takes precedence over any other.
File directory name
  Fly normally writes files such as the score file to the directory that contains all of the other simulation files. This option allows files to be written elsewhere.

Return to Command Line Options

#### Other Flags

Change lighting during day | -a
Save screen grabs as .BMP files under Windows | -b
Engine noise on | -e
End immediately after player crash | -d

Change lighting
  Fly varies the lighting level during the day if this option is specified.
Save screen grabs as BMP files
  This option tells the Windows version of Fly to save screen grabs as BMP format files rather than PCX format. It has no effect in the RISC OS version.
Engine noise on
  Start the game with the aircraft engine noise running (or once the engines have been started).
End immediately after player crashes
  Quit the game when the player's aircraft crashes instead of displaying a dialogue box requesting whether to end or start again.

Return to Command Line Options

FST 3 Fly Command Guide is copyright © Dave Daniels 2005
Written using !StrongED, !HTMLEdit and !Paint