Posts by John Hargreaves

Just getting up and running after buying AFS4 in the Steam Winter sale. I have quite a few hours in AFS2 and one of my favourite things was landing the R22 on city rooftops. It was great practice for precise take offs and especially landings in tight spaces. The ground effect physics as you approached the building was exceptional.

In AFS4 however, all the buildings seem to be non solid so you sink through them if you try to land and there is no air cushion when you get close to the surface either. Is this a feature that has been removed on v4 or is there a way to enable solid structures somewhere?

Do they generally do any kind of cross platform discount if you already own the XP11 version?

Quote from Paulish59

“Apparently the French nicked the design to put one up in Paris. Same as that statue from New York, they made a smaller copy and put it just along the river from the Blackpool tower replica.”

Is this irony? The French were commissioned to build the Statue of Liberty.

Why yes it is. Actually Blackpool Tower was inspired by the top section of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, not the other way round. And yes, the original statue of Liberty was French, but I think the one you are thinking of in Paris, on an island in the Seine, I checked and it dates after the one in New York. So in some ways not as ironic as I first thought.

Anyway, bit more on topic, LarryLynx please don't get too irritated by requests for features on the Lynx. It's a sign of how good it is that people want to make it more accessible, and all of the limitations are in the sim, not with the Lynx itself. I've waited years for a proper Lynx to come along, and it's massively appreciated that we now have one. The problem is ours in that most of us are bumbling amateurs who just want to get in and fly, but you made it clear right from the start what the Lynx was, so nobody can complain.

Quote from slipstream

Jan please help as I absolutely hate the cold and dark cockpit in VR. It’s a nightmare.

I find it really difficult to operate all the switches in VR too, I spend most of my time trying to connect with a switch only for my finger to slide right through as if I'm some kind of frustrated ghost. It might take 10 or more attempts, moving around to find the invisible clickspot that will trigger the switch. The hardest bits are when a switch is quite close, like the levers, it just seems to confuse the sim and it can't predict where the connection point is.

Everything works in 2D as expected, so I'd guess it's something to do with the VR implementation of the sim. At the moment it's too frustrating to fly due to this, and I don't have any interest in flying in 2D any more, so unfortunately I've had to park this beautiful machine for the time being. An engines running option would be appreciated by many I'm sure.

I totally understand Larry Lynx moving onwards and upwards, I mean no criticism of his work. He has done what he set out to do and let this amazing project go free, maybe someone else will be able to devise a solution.

Quote from slipstream

great pic. I love Blackpool tower.

Apparently the French nicked the design to put one up in Paris. Same as that statue from New York, they made a smaller copy and put it just along the river from the Blackpool tower replica.

I've just had a 550mb update in Steam, but there is no information on the news page, anyone got any ideas what it is, just routine stuff or something more?

I'm up and running using the dirty slacker's method of engine start, and having fun flying the Lynx around. The thing I'm struggling with most is starting the No.2 engine, the lever nearest to the pilot, in VR. It takes me ages to get the sim to connect to the starter button, I'm pressing with the VR controller and the mouse, but it just doesn't seem to lock on to the hotspot. I'm finding that if I move my viewpoint back and into the middle a bit, I can see, reach and operate most of the switches with the mouse (VR pointer is not very effective and often flicks the switch the wrong way). The left hand starter button clicks ok, but the right side is closer to my eyepoint and is harder to lock onto. How are you guys doing this in VR? has anyone found a reliable technique to click the buttons or is it something I'm doing wrong? I'm guessing it's more of an FS2 issue than a Lynx one.

Also, at one point I thought I'd try something, so I got up a bit of speed and height, dropped the collective and rolled it at the same time (logic being that if the pitch was up it would suck me to the ground when I was upside down), and it performed a 360 roll perfectly well. Can a Lynx do this in theory? I've heard they are agile machines, but it's pretty cool if it can.

Anyway, I've not had that long to fly it (work gets in the way) but it's a great addition to the sim, thanks once again for your efforts Steve, it's an extremely impressive achievement given the resources available to you..

Quote from Novawing24

Would be very interested if you share a clean paint kit for the future.

Big +1 from me

I wonder if a project like this has encouraged IPACS to develop a more complex helicopter modelling system that will allow for some of the deeper stuff going on in the Lynx and beyond.

Quote from RiftFlyer

Congratulations on the release larrylynx

I use a Valve Index and full size helicopter controls. I ‘wear’ one controller on my left hand for switch interaction and can still use my physical collective and cyclic. I’d love to take the lynx for a spin. I’ve been trying to do the startup in this helicopter but haven’t been able to manage it yet. The manipulators just don’t respond as expected and the alignment of the virtual hand in relation to the manipulator is off. With my hand positioned over one switch the one next to it will sometimes move. If I get the correct switch it’ll often return too its alternate position when I try to release it. Levers are an even bigger hassle. I’m not suggesting this is a problem particular to the lynx. I don’t want to go back to using a mouse as my SimPit is away from my computer desk. As good as the VR performance in Aerofly is the manipulator interaction could learn a lot from x-plane. How are other people interacting with this aircraft in VR?

I'm using a Reverb and I'm having similar trouble. It's like being a ghost in the world, you can see the thing you want to touch but your virtual finger goes right through it. I'm guessing this is just how AFS2 does VR interaction, but it does make the process quite frustrating. I wonder if it's a WMR thing? How are the rift users doing with cockpit interaction?

Managed to get her (quick)started and airborne, pootled around Monterey a bit then landed nicely. Biggest issue was getting a grip on the switches and levers in VR, that was a bit frustrating, but that's more to do with the sim than the Lynx I'd imagine.

Anyway, it's a monumentally impressive achievement and a lovely machine, thank you so much for your effort Steve, you should be very proud of your baby.

Thanks ever so much for putting this together Greg, and thanks Steve for looking the other way. It does mean that more people will get to experience your work, so it's in a good cause

Don't forget how long it takes to figure out what an AFCS or a ASE might be, and where it is, and how the sim allows you to interact with it, if you aren't familiar with those things

It's going to take us a while to catch up, but we are enthusiastic amateurs who appreciate what you have created and we can see it's worth the effort. Just forgive us the dumb questions that will be hitting this thread in the next few weeks.

I've been waiting for years for a proper Lynx in any flight sim. I remember one for FSX years ago, but it was quite a simple version compared to this one, other than that I don't think it's ever been done properly.

Thanks Nexus, I'm sure that will help, although I've never used voiceattack personally. The main thing that confuses me about your video is that it can be tricky to see just what's happening, as there is no visual indication as to which switch you are operating. If anyone out there has the inclination/capability to do a video startup tutorial that shows which button is which I'm sure that would benefit many people. It's not something covered in any youtube videos that I can find, unlike say an R22, so it's a tricky procedure to learn.

I've been trying to run through the list in 2D, flicking backwards and forwards between the manual and AFS2, but some of the buttons are obscured and the mouse look spins round when you look at the overhead panel if you aren't careful, so I've been going dizzy this afternoon.

It's bound to take time to learn but that's half the fun.

Any tips on doing the startup procedure in VR? I'm thinking to print the manual out on paper then lift the headset and peep at each step. Seems a bit clumsy though but I can't really think of another way. Is there a more elegant solution anyone has thought of?

Down Loaded Content can be free or paid, it's just extra content that can be downloaded, we'll see what the team come up with. Sounds intriguing.

Sorry for the on topic but Meigs Field is currently 50% off in the Steam Halloween sale

Thanks very much for the guidance chaps, plenty to think about there. Fabian, I will probably take up your offer, I'll PM you later when I have chance to look into the whole thing.

I just bought this scenery on the strength of this thread, but there seems to be quite a few discrepancies with placement of cultivation/autogen.

Just a few examples from my first few minutes flying around:

The Grande Playa on Fuerteventura, one of the most open areas of golden sand dunes outside the Sahara, is covered with pine forest in the scenery.

The Timanfaya national park in Lanzarote, which in real life is a massive desolate area covered in solid lava and looks like the surface of Mars, is in the scenery covered again in lush green forest, which extends inside the craters of many volcanoes.

The south coast of the Lanzarote scenery has several unfeasibly enormous autogen factory type buildings that extend out into the sea.

I must admit for a paid scenery I was a bit disappointed with the accuracy. I wonder are there any plans for updates to the cultivation at all?

I have this and it's pretty good, mainly because unlike some other sims the buildings are all solid, so you can land anywhere. Great fun pootling around in a helicopter, or trying to land a biplane on the roof of a shopping centre. If you like that kind of thing