@aenbacka: We will do our best, but at this time it's too early to say anything as a lot of things get a complete overhaul.
Well as a software engineer myself I know how complex projects can be, and everything takes its own time. And the list of required features keeps growing. Thanks a lot for all effort you do😀 And it has been very interesting to follow the VRM project and certification, great work!
Display MoreTo summarize some questions, assumptions and to correct some misleading statements:
- We are actively developing Aerofly FS for all platforms, no platform is neglected. Keep in mind our code base is almost the same for all versions.
- We do not prioritize any platform.
- The reason that mobile and desktop versions are not always in sync are manifold. On mobile we usually come out with a completely new version to avoid problems with new features not running on all hardware. On desktop we prefer a longer life cycle per version and rather come out with a major new version, when a lot of new features and content is ready.
- What you see in the mobile version now, will come to a big new version of Aerofly FS for desktop computers, but in a much improved manner, e.g. improved traffic, more regions and new aircraft models as well as flight model improvements.
- We are developing a professional version of Aerofly FS together with VRM, that is intended for helicopter flight training.
- VRM recently certified Aerofly FS through the EASA. Aerofly FS is the first simulator that can be used for training with a helicopter in VR.
- VRM intends to certify the H-125 helicopter next. The H-125 is so far intended for the professional version only.
- Advances either from the development of the professional version or from our consumer version will be integrated in the other versions if possible. It's our intention to keep a homogeneous code base across all products.
Thanks for the answers, very much appreciated. Concerning the SDK, is improvements coming to that as well. For instance, possibility to manipulate weather and other simulation conditions dynamically? This is what I personally would hope for.
It seems that the other models, e.g. H125 and the Kopter SH09 (now owned by Leonardo btw) have been developed under contract for VRM, and they have probably funded the project, so that is probably reason why it might not come to the consumer AF2 version? Which is very unfortunate indeed.
I've restored your posts and I'll talk to admin about it tomorrow. It's getting pretty late here but please just let me say this before you leave:
It's pretty frustrating to read what you have said especially when you have little insight into how much work went into making the Aerofly FS VRM version and how many extra hours were invested on that project.
We're not going to give up on Aerofly FS 2 especially now that it has been verified that the flight sim physics engine is even suited for professional pilot training. We've certainly learned a lot and as I said earlier the consumer version is also going to benefit from the VRM version.
I wanna chill in here and thank the whole team for creating this amazing simulator, I truly enjoy it😀 And in performance it currently beats all other platforms, especially in VR. So just keep up the great work!
Just a followup on the time change issue using the SDK; I was able to achieve setting the time of day using a plugin, however it required some checking of config files outside the sdk. The only way to change time is via the TimeChange event incrementally, and this change is relative to the initial time of day set in the simulator (and this one cannot unfortunately be set using the plugin sdk). Also, the increment is always 10 minutes, the supplied parameter value to the event does not seem to have any impact. Is this correct behaviour?
I think there would be a lot of potential in case the values currently set in the config files could be set by the plugin sdk as well. As currently it seems the values from the config files are read before loading a new flight.
I am planning and working on a hems scenario trainer system using Aerofly, and the extra control would be needed😀 Is there some particular contact for commercial projects?
The VRM version is a completely separate build custom made for the certification requirements.
That was what I assumed, thanks for the info👍 I hope at some point being able to try the Varjo VR headset with Aerofly, would be a great experience.
I wouldn't call it a weather API
You can change the visibility on the fly but clouds can only be set through the menu or main config.
Dynamically placing an object would be a nightmare for the performance I think. But you can use animations to move stuff around. I'm not sure what you want to change dynamically that you could not do by just switching locations for example.
Creating different scenarios sounds like you want to create some sort of mission selection?
I was watching a demo of the VRM Switzerland VR simulator platform (Robinson R22), which uses Aerofly FS2. The instructor seems to be able to set e.g., wind speed and direction and other parameters while the simulation is running. Is this using some undocumented feature, or is is a complete separate build?
Obviously the settings file is only parsed at startup. I was not able to have any weather interactivity while the simulation was running.
Yes that makes sense. It is unfortunate as I would like to have a working dynamic real weather engine.
Some years ago I tried to dynamically set weather via the SDK-DLL by downloading METAR data from the nearest airport and loading it into the simulation. Back then the SDK did not support changing weather data, so my plan did not work. I resorted to modifying the settings of the simulation before startup.
Yes I understood that the engine does not support update via dll. Does the simulator need to be restarted if the settings file is modified?
I wouldn't call it a weather API
You can change the visibility on the fly but clouds can only be set through the menu or main config.
Dynamically placing an object would be a nightmare for the performance I think. But you can use animations to move stuff around. I'm not sure what you want to change dynamically that you could not do by just switching locations for example.
Creating different scenarios sounds like you want to create some sort of mission selection?
Yes I am planning to create different scenarios / missions. And the user could select different mission prior to entering the flight. The difference between mission could be landing area type (confined, pinnacle etc). I did not find any method within the sdk to do this; is the only possibility to have an external tool modify the scenery / places files?
I'm not familiar with what messages Aerofly actually accepts from the outside. The current interface is designed to broadcast information out to applications like external moving maps. The value sent through Simulation.Time cannot be changed because it is the fundamental run time of the sim. So it's basically read-only and just a broadcast value, don't expect it to be received when you send it back. I'm not sure if you actually can change the time of day to a specific value from a DLL, please enlighten me what you want to do with that?
The key command for changing time incrementally has the message Simulation.TimeChange as far as I know, It's saved as <[string8][FunctionID][TimeChange]> in the gc-map.mcf file in the user documents.
Thanks for the info, now it makes better sense. I am mostly testing the capabilities of the SDK interface, and I intended to make it possible to start a flight automatically with the correct time of of day without having to set it manually via the settings. The TimeChange I did try as well, and it does indeed cycle the time as intended.
The weather api does only expose Visibility, is that correct?
Also, is it possible to dynamically place objects at a given location? I am working on a HEMS training scenery and for this it would be important to be able to generate dynmic scenarios.
Ah you want to set the time of day...
Hm, have you tried values from 0 to 1?
Make sure the message qualifiers are "event value".
I think the command Simulation.Time with a qualifier "step" does the exact same as pressing the T key or Shift+T per default to change the time of day.
Yes, that was what I have been trying:) It seems when watching the Simulation.Time value, that it always starts at 0 when loading a new flight, and is incremented each second. E.g., is it only possible to set the time relative to the initial one (set from the Aerofly FS2 time setting)? It is not possible to set the initial (start) UTC time?
Simulation time should eithe be time after simulation start in seconds or time of day in seconds, universal time UTC. 24 * 60 * 60 would be the max value for time of day at which it resets to zero.
Clouds cannot be changed by external messages as far as i know. The library that we use for the clouds does not support this.
I have been experimenting with setting the Simulation.Time message, but I do not see any change in the simulator. E.g., to set something like 15:30 UTC, I set the value of the Simulation.Time message to 55800 (seconds representing time of day). Is this correct?
Sounds promising....
Thank you, just got started on it yesterday. Still playing around with different sounds, lets see what is possible:)
Hi everyone,
Did have some spare time this evening, so I tried to work with some custom sounds for the amazing EC135T1 
Sound has been one of the areas I have hoped for some improvements, especially when comparing to the Rotorsim EC135 model. You can see a demo of the tests in the video link below (this is still very much work in progress).
Simulation time should eithe be time after simulation start in seconds or time of day in seconds, universal time UTC. 24 * 60 * 60 would be the max value for time of day at which it resets to zero.
Clouds cannot be changed by external messages as far as i know. The library that we use for the clouds does not support this.
Thanks for the info, very much appreciated!😀
What messages in particular need further explanation?
In particular, the Simulation.Time message format. And what is the difference vs. TimeChange? Also, is it not possible to access the weather parameter such as clouds via the plugin API (considering the parameters can be set through the configuration file)?
Hello,
I have been looking into developing some custom plugins for the sim based on the C++ dll example however, I am unable to find any documentation of the different messages (parameter meaning) supported. Is this type documentation available?
Been hoping the same too. The custom livery would be a very nice addon for the EC135 indeed. So I hope a paintkit of some kind could be added.
I am working on developing a custom HEMS training scenery around EFTU (Turku, Finland), and for this I would prefer a custom livery (FinnHEMS) for the EC135.
Can such a livery be externally developed, or does it require complete modification of the model?
