Posts by Jet-Pack (IPACS)

  • Let's make an Aircraft

    Maybe we should opt for two versions, the World VFR first and then maybe the Executive Glass Touch later on.

    I like the large steam gauges of the world VFR panel and I think we could add the autopilot panel underneath the center area.

    And it doesn't have to be the garmin 796, if we use a generic tablet computer we could almost get the screen size of the executive touch.

  • Let's make an Aircraft

    Synthetic vision is probably not doable yet and touch inputs would be limited, because there is no actual touch input but it may be implemented in Aerofly in the future. I would like to attempt programming that, I think I could show off some nice programming skills with fading effects, animated pop ups etc. The artificial horizon is probably easy to do and the airspeed tape and altitude, HSI etc. can just be adopted from existing code, so that is also easy. And the digital engine gauges on the left would also be simple, maybe even the moving map overlay in the lower left corner could be possible.

    The CGR-30P in the world vfr panel would probably not be an issue, thats relatively easy to program.

    The mypanel could also be interesting, then I could also mimic some apps but it may not be as cool as having the glass touch.

    Ray, could you maybe do some research on what is actually put into the carbon cubs? Maybe its possible to have more than just these 4 options and combine some features?

  • Trim Increments

    Quote from RoyPettit

    Ken, I know this is off-topic here but maybe IPACS won't delete it before you see it. From my perspective the spring tension on the T16000 was way too much. Mods such as using zip ties to squeeze the spring had too many negative side effects. So using a dremel grinder I actually reduced the diameter of the tension spring wire (and sawed off 1.25" of each end of the spring). It is now about 50% "softer" (lateral pressure at top stick was reduced from 300 grams to 150 grams). It is now much more pleasant and realistic to fly with. I also clipped the wire to the light while I was in there. -=Roy=-

    Yeah, I just used zip wires, don't feel capable enough to saw it down :D

    We'll look into a centering trim option and how to make it finer for small corrections. If you want big corrections you can still hold it down.

    Though I must say, I was in a Do228 full flight simulator and one tick of pitch up trim was sending me up by about 200ft/min. So this is not just an issue in our Aerofly, its an issue with real aircraft as well and professional flight sims.

  • Let's make an Aircraft

    That looks great :)

    In terms of panels, I like the one he put in at the moment (though just texture I'm guessing). It allows me to add a bit of glass cockpit functionality, which would be pretty awesome I think. Plus it has that autopilot on the left, which could be nice to have. I prefer the tach with a needle though, don't know about you guys, maybe you like the led circle thingy better?

  • 3rd Party Aircraft.

    I actually already worked on the Learjet fuel system. Not final yet, I need to find videos or information weather the fuselage fuel tank always runs empty first or not. It gravity feeds into the other tanks, so I would assume it just runs dry quickly. I have that implemented right now, if that is not the case I have to somehow make sure the pressure in the wing tanks is high enough, so that the fuel from the center doesn't flow anymore. But yeah that's the sort of stuff thats coming in the future...

  • Time Of Day

    Quote from J van E

    Hm... that's not entirely true afaik. In FSX/P3D you always set the local time by default: when you set up a flight you pick a time and a location and when the flight has started the time you set will always be the local one. So if I set 12.00 (noon) and then pick San Francisco and then start the flight I will be in SF at noon. If I set noon and then pick LOWI and start the flight I willl be in LOWI at noon. Quite logical.

    When you switch location during a flight the time stays as it is indeed by default (so if you change from SF at noon to LOWI while flying it won't be noon in LOWI) however, this is optional! You can select an option to keep the exact same local time (in P3D it is at the bottom of the location selection screen) and so in that case even while in flight going from SF to LOWI will keep you flying at noon.

    The suggested compromise would be nice but I still think being able to simply set the local time is the most logical thing to do. If other sims can do it, AFS2 should be able to do it too. ;) I am 100% sure specially newbies are totally confused by how time is taken care of in AFS2 right now.

    Nah, if your default flight is in Seattle then your local computer time (e.g. daytime) is used, even though I am in Europe and that would mean Seattle would actually have night time. But it sets local time at default airport to your current local time. Then if I switch to Europe before the flight it will still load night time. That's why I had to change the default flight to another location, otherwise I'd never have the correct local time at the airport I want to fly at. So it would have been better to set the current UTC instead of current local time. At least my FSX gold edition does that, don't like that is always changes my flight time. But even then, I prefer to fly at daytime, even if my local time says 11pm. Now I have to select that I don't want local time every time I want to use the simulator. I don't like that, I prefer having the time where I left of, maybe with an option to set it to real time (current UTC), sunset, sunrise, mid-day or night.

    This is all very confusing and its not as elegant, which is the reason why Aerofly just keeps the time that you set it at and it only increments it during your flight. Then if you start the sim later that day you will still have the time that your set it at which I think is much more intuitive if you want to continue your flight for example.

  • 3rd Party Aircraft.

    Quote from slipstream

    Although once you have these complex aircraft set up for departure you can save the complete state, so you can jump in next time and not have to worry too much.

    Though this doesn't work consistently with all addons. And sometimes you save the mixture off and then hop into an aircraft that doesn't have that lever and then the engines never start at all. Been there, done that, doesn't work well. We should do that better :)

  • 3rd Party Aircraft.

    I don't think all of our users would want the default planes to be as deeply simulated as PMDG aircraft or other study level aircraft out there, they'd be overwhelmed by the complexity and would never be able to start the aircraft. When I put the aircraft onto the runway it should always be fully functional, fueled up sufficiently and I don't want to repair the propeller first, change the oil because I haven't flown over a year or clean my wings before I can take off. These are nice features for add on aircraft but don't really belong in a default aircraft. And its true, I do have great plans for our aircraft for the future but we also will make sure it is not such a steep learning curve by providing assistance and shortcuts for beginners so that everyone can have fun even with growing complexity. So we aim to have both, deep complex systems for the advanced users and simple to use assistance for beginners to manage these complex systems.

  • Time Of Day

    Local time can't be default because that is affected by where you are fling to and from and mess up the settings. Even MSFS based sims seem to use the UTC time as a value, if you switch the location from USA to Europe you are changing local time but UTC stays the same. Same with Aerofly.

    What I think would be good is having symbols of the sunrise and sunset on the slider, so that you know, for your current aircraft position, when you can expect the daylight or night time or sunset and sunrise. That would be a good compromise I think.

    Just set it to 1500 or 1600Z, this will give you sunlight on the Westcoast and Eastcoast of the US. and Switzerland at the same time.

  • What does mean C/P ?

    This is the copilot indeed. This overlay allows you to stabilize the aircraft, any aircraft, and make it fly more to the left, more to the right, up down and along the route (center button). The basic functionality should work now so that if you press the default key assignment "c" any aircraft can be set on a form of autopilot, even if the aircraft doesn't actually have an autopilot like the gliders or the war birds.

  • VOR in a c172

    I can't see any reason why it should not work? I'm in the Steam version in the default C172 with the 117.9 FMG tuned, if I turn the OBS course the needle changes and the flag flips as its supposed to do. The 234 radial showed me very little deflection at reno international airport, almost centered even. Could it be that you flew past the full deflection and it never changed then?