Posts by madpat

  • Time skip for FS2

    With FS4 now being the leading desktop Aerofly version, FS2 is certainly feature complete. For various reasons, I can't upgrade to FS4.

    Nevertheless I'd like to ask if it would be possible to adapt the time skip feature for FS2 as well?

    Patrick

  • PS5 Game Controller Support

    Regarding controllers, I can recommend the Xbox Wireless Elite 2, albeit with dongle (with bluetooth, I experienced occasional connection losses, maybe due to BT headphones connected at the same time). The Elite 2 features four additional paddles on the lower side of the controller. Using software like reWASD, you can assign any button to these paddles (by default, they are just duplicates of standard controller buttons).

    I have aileron and elevator trimming on those paddles, and its great!

    The Elite2 has some other cool features as well, like adjustable stick force, and interchangable sticks.

    I have no clue what the PS5 controller features, but I doubt Aerofly can make use of the touchpad and the gyro, or does it?

  • Negative Discussions

    Well, I haven't read the Steam forum, but who tells you that these voices represent the entire customer base? Maybe the majority waits until FS4 is published and judge it then?

    I'm always surprised with how much negative energy these discussions take place, also in some threads here. No one is forced to buy or play Aerofly, no one's life is depending on it (probably and hopefully). I trust in the developers and that they make the best of their possibilities, and most certainly there will be things that miss or dislike. But this won't change my life into worse, so I relax.

    I almost feel pity for the poor guys at IPACS, I would have stopped developing games entirely because I would have taken some arrogance and ignorance in forums very personally. But they are professionals I hope and can stand it.

  • "Low" priced gaming laptops execute FS2 very well

    While "preparing" for FS4 by installing the latest AMD Radeon driver where Vulkan actually works with Aerofly (fingers crossed), I used the provided AMD software to find out why the frame rate after a fresh start is almost double to what it becomes after a couple of minutes into flying.

    I noticed that the VRAM memory clock speed drops quite a bit, but even more so did the GPU speed itself. Obviously this was temperature related - above 60 degrees the GPU is throttled a lot. My zenbook is pretty slim, and Asus certainly tried to avoid users getting burnt legs from a too hot notebook underside. I did some research and found the tool Ryzen Controller where I could change some parameters that allowed the CPU to boost the GPU for a longer time. GPU speed and VRAM speeds now stayed quite high, and Aerofly stayed between around 55 fps, and didn`t drop to 20 or something.

    In order to keep the temperatures in check I bought a notebook rack with integrated fans, and I keep a close look at the core and GPU temperatures, but with the cooling rack core temp stays below 75.

    This still doesn`t make my Zenbook a gaming device, but Aerofly runs sufficiently now. I bought the FS2022 for the iPad, but even with low settings Aerofly looks so much better on PC, let alone having a bigger screen, much more comfort in cockpit interaction with the mouse and the ability to assign trimming to my additional buttons/paddels on the Xbox Elite 2 controller.

    Looking forward to Aerofly FS4 now!

    Cheers,

    Patrick

  • AMD vs Vulkan: How did I solve my instability issues

    Hi

    I more or less regularly try to install newer drivers to see whether they work with Vulkan. Good news on my end: The AMD Radeon 21.12.1 Optional from early December 2021 works fine on my notebook! No CTDs so far! Can`t say the same for OEM drivers from Asus for my notebook - Vulkan won`t run here, just OpenGL.

    BTW: While trying OpenGL vs Vulkan I figured that cockpit textures look so much better with Vulkan. When I flew with the EC135 in OpenGL, I couldn`t read some switches (e.g. the lights), and I was sure I was able to read them before, since I new their meanings (texture quality set to low). But when I switched back to Vulkan, they were crisp and sharp, and I was still on the low quality settings! And still had higher FPS. Amazing.


    Patrick

  • AMD vs Vulkan: How did I solve my instability issues

    I have similar issues with this, on my Asus notebook with integrated GPU. AF ran best with the OEM drivers, any newer version from AMD itself created issues. Recently, Asus provided newer Radeon drivers for my notebook, which I installed. Most of the time it works, but CTD happens from time to time. I was also thinking of going back to the OEM drivers from last year.

  • Why are my threads trashed

    Wow, I have to admit I wasn't really sure this was a bot, so I was curious how it would react to "irony". Impressive, I have to admit. Good you deleted all of it, I promise I won't feed (reply to) any suspected bots in the future.

    Cheers,

    Patrick

  • Eurocopter: Message S/N Lights

    Just out of curiosity: When I select the Eurocopter ready to taxi, the message "S/N Lights" is displayed in green on the CAD. Following the startup procedure from cold and dark I can't find the switch that results in this message. On the collective, I found the switch for the nose/landing light, but that doesn't make the message appear.

    Does anyone know what this message is about?

  • Ireland question

    BTW: Is there a way to easily flatten some areas? I mean, all the more sophisticated airports are of course flat, and even the Canary Islands scenery from sim-market/ Taburet is mostly flattened where the airports are, so you can taxi on the images alone. Editing the elevation files?

    Thanks,

    Patrick

  • Ireland question

    I know I know, saw your notes in FSCloudport and did so quite a couple of times already. Or I edited the TSC file, e.g. to add a solid runway at EDXW Sylt with the airport from uli057. Doesn't make the taxiway flat though. I know that's a limitation of the current FSCloudPort version, which still is an amazingly easy to use tool! Feels a bit like modelleisenbahn :). But I am wandering from the subject....

  • Ireland question

    Thought so, but since the fscloudport runways are on top of runway images I guess I wasn't able to see that right away, and I did not make a before/after check (have all Ireland images in one folder, so hard to re-engineer now :)).

    Thanks for confirming!

  • Ireland question

    The update to the Ireland scenery at flight-sim caught my attention and I downloaded it. I expected flat airports with "Irelands HD Airfields", but they are the "normal" ones from fscloudport. So, taxiing is impossible sometime because there are holes or steps in the elevation. The Turbo Arrow is especially prone to crashing when trying to taxi on images alone, other aircraft seem to handle better. Also, spawning at two of the three parking positions in Dublin leads to, err, interesting effects.

    The HD airfields are images, not elevation, right? BTW: Yes, I installed the GB mesh.

    Apart from that: Very nice work, as usual. And much less demanding to my kindergarden notebook compared to Ohau ;).

    Thanks in advance,

    Patrick