I received a very exciting email over the weekend. As rumoured OrbX have been working on FTX England, and you can now pre-order the DRM free DVD edition from Flightstore.co.uk for dispatch on 21st December, or download it right away from The FlightSim Store.
The product covers all of England (not Wales or Scotland) but is not compatible with photorealistic scenery like GenX, so you'll have to make a choice. This is not a problem for me because, as I've mentioned before, I think FTX is far superior.
Monday, 26 November 2012
Monday, 19 November 2012
VoxATC only responding second time
Last week my VoxATC was playing up, or so I thought.
Anything I said to ATC was not being recognised the first time, but if I repeated it VoxATC would accept it on the second go and respond correctly.
It turned out that my microphone was playing up and VoxATC was actually not receiving anything that I said.
It took me a while to work this out as I had ruled out a faulty mic, figuring that if VoXATC heard me the second time the mic must be okay.
It seems that a little known (to me at least) feature of VoxATC is that if it doesn't recognise a message the first time, you can say anything the second time and it will accept it.
One thing the whole episode did make me realise was that, despite VoxATC's occasional quirkiness, flying without it is pretty pants now. It's become an indispensable part of the whole experience.
Anything I said to ATC was not being recognised the first time, but if I repeated it VoxATC would accept it on the second go and respond correctly.
It turned out that my microphone was playing up and VoxATC was actually not receiving anything that I said.
It took me a while to work this out as I had ruled out a faulty mic, figuring that if VoXATC heard me the second time the mic must be okay.
It seems that a little known (to me at least) feature of VoxATC is that if it doesn't recognise a message the first time, you can say anything the second time and it will accept it.
One thing the whole episode did make me realise was that, despite VoxATC's occasional quirkiness, flying without it is pretty pants now. It's become an indispensable part of the whole experience.
Saturday, 10 November 2012
How to complete Rod's VOR lesson
I've been working through Rod Machado's flying lessons, partly as a refresher but mainly to get to the commercial pilot and ATP lessons.
As anyone who has tried these lessons will attest, they are a mixed bag. Some are very simple to complete while others seem to end for no good reason, despite following all of Rod's instructions. Often the messages on the screen contradict Rod, and the whole thing becomes very frustrating.
The one I have found most frustrating so far such is Rod's VOR lesson, which had me calling the poor guy every name under the sun for several days.
I must have tried to complete this damn lesson over twenty times. Every time I would fly past the VOR and head north as instructed but Rod would fail to tell me to turn west for the next leg of the flight. After a few minutes I would hear the dreaded, "Since that's not going too well..." and have to start again.
I finally managed to complete the lesson last night, and this is how I did it.
The trick seems to be lining up on the VOR while Rod is giving you his initial spiel at the start of the lesson. Take a look at the map and see where the VOR is located, just north and between the two runways. While Rod's flying adjust your heading bug to about 030 and wait for the VOR to centre before setting the bug back to 360. Also verify your position visually so that you're located directly south of where the VOR is shown on the map. You should do all this as soon as the lesson starts and aim to be back on 360 or pretty close to it by the time you take control of the aircraft.
You can now fly the lesson normally. Ignore Rod and any on-screen instructions to turn left or right. Track directly north making small adjustments to keep the VOR centred. You'll know if you've done it right because as you pass over the VOR the needle will swing quickly to the right before the To From flag flips.
The needle will centre again then start to drift slowly off centre once more as you move away from the VOR. Keep making small adjustments to keep the needle centred until your DME shows about 3nm.
If you've done it right Rod will tell you to make a left turn, and the rest of the lesson should work correctly.
Take that, Rod.
As anyone who has tried these lessons will attest, they are a mixed bag. Some are very simple to complete while others seem to end for no good reason, despite following all of Rod's instructions. Often the messages on the screen contradict Rod, and the whole thing becomes very frustrating.
The one I have found most frustrating so far such is Rod's VOR lesson, which had me calling the poor guy every name under the sun for several days.
I must have tried to complete this damn lesson over twenty times. Every time I would fly past the VOR and head north as instructed but Rod would fail to tell me to turn west for the next leg of the flight. After a few minutes I would hear the dreaded, "Since that's not going too well..." and have to start again.
I finally managed to complete the lesson last night, and this is how I did it.
The trick seems to be lining up on the VOR while Rod is giving you his initial spiel at the start of the lesson. Take a look at the map and see where the VOR is located, just north and between the two runways. While Rod's flying adjust your heading bug to about 030 and wait for the VOR to centre before setting the bug back to 360. Also verify your position visually so that you're located directly south of where the VOR is shown on the map. You should do all this as soon as the lesson starts and aim to be back on 360 or pretty close to it by the time you take control of the aircraft.
You can now fly the lesson normally. Ignore Rod and any on-screen instructions to turn left or right. Track directly north making small adjustments to keep the VOR centred. You'll know if you've done it right because as you pass over the VOR the needle will swing quickly to the right before the To From flag flips.
The needle will centre again then start to drift slowly off centre once more as you move away from the VOR. Keep making small adjustments to keep the needle centred until your DME shows about 3nm.
If you've done it right Rod will tell you to make a left turn, and the rest of the lesson should work correctly.
Take that, Rod.
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
GoFlight GF-LGT
I bought my first GoFlight module last week, a GF-LGT. I picked it up on eBay for under £40 which I'm very pleased with as the new ones are around £190!
Admittedly mine is the older model, black rather than grey and without the rudder and aileron trim or extra 3-way switch. As I have only ever used elevator trim and have plenty of switches this seems like a good trade off :)
My GF-LGT has an elevator trim wheel and a big ole landing gear lever linked to three LEDS (green is down, red is transitioning, off is up). It also has a switch for flaps.
I've decided to go with the older black GF modules as they are cheaper to pick up second hand and will match my MIP which will also be painted black.
After building and configuring several switch panels myself I was impressed by how easy it was set up the GF-LGT. After mounting the module in my MIP I dug out a USB cable and connected it up, then downloaded the latest GF software from their site.
I ran the GF config programme which detected the module and displayed a picture of it with dropdowns against each switch. All I needed to do was select the appropriate function for trim, gear and flaps and I was good to go.
Previously my gear, trim and flaps were mapped to the switches on my yoke. It's much more satisfying to slap a big lever up to raise the gear, and seeing the LEDs change from green to red gives me an absurd amount of pleasure. I really need to get out more.
Using the trim wheel is far more precise than the yoke switch, and gives a much greater degree of control. It really is a joy, and very close to the real world Cessna trim wheels I'm used to.
The flaps switch is a bit meh though. It's a feeble little thing which seems to be configured in reverse, so UP lowers the flaps and DOWN raises them. I'm sure this is easy to correct but the switch itself will always be naff. The GF-LGT-II has a proper paddle lever for the flaps but I'm sure this is still just attached to a two way momentary toggle switch.
What I would like is a lever that can be physically positioned in a detent for each flap setting, so you can see at a glance which position your flaps are in without having to display a gauge on the instrument monitor. Of course this poses problems in a generic cockpit, as some light a/c only have two flap positions while larger aircraft have five or more.
A project for the future might be to make a lever like this, or perhaps adapt a throttle quadrant for the job. I'm sure some imaginative labelling and profile specific axis mapping in FSUIPC will cope with all types of aircraft.
For now though I'm very pleased with my bargain purchase. I'll keep using the flaps switch (it's no better or worse than my existing one) and the elevator and gear lever (and LEDS!) are fantastic.
Highly recommended.
Next: GoFlight radio and transponder avionics modules.
Admittedly mine is the older model, black rather than grey and without the rudder and aileron trim or extra 3-way switch. As I have only ever used elevator trim and have plenty of switches this seems like a good trade off :)
My GF-LGT has an elevator trim wheel and a big ole landing gear lever linked to three LEDS (green is down, red is transitioning, off is up). It also has a switch for flaps.
I've decided to go with the older black GF modules as they are cheaper to pick up second hand and will match my MIP which will also be painted black.
After building and configuring several switch panels myself I was impressed by how easy it was set up the GF-LGT. After mounting the module in my MIP I dug out a USB cable and connected it up, then downloaded the latest GF software from their site.
I ran the GF config programme which detected the module and displayed a picture of it with dropdowns against each switch. All I needed to do was select the appropriate function for trim, gear and flaps and I was good to go.
Previously my gear, trim and flaps were mapped to the switches on my yoke. It's much more satisfying to slap a big lever up to raise the gear, and seeing the LEDs change from green to red gives me an absurd amount of pleasure. I really need to get out more.
Using the trim wheel is far more precise than the yoke switch, and gives a much greater degree of control. It really is a joy, and very close to the real world Cessna trim wheels I'm used to.
The flaps switch is a bit meh though. It's a feeble little thing which seems to be configured in reverse, so UP lowers the flaps and DOWN raises them. I'm sure this is easy to correct but the switch itself will always be naff. The GF-LGT-II has a proper paddle lever for the flaps but I'm sure this is still just attached to a two way momentary toggle switch.
What I would like is a lever that can be physically positioned in a detent for each flap setting, so you can see at a glance which position your flaps are in without having to display a gauge on the instrument monitor. Of course this poses problems in a generic cockpit, as some light a/c only have two flap positions while larger aircraft have five or more.
A project for the future might be to make a lever like this, or perhaps adapt a throttle quadrant for the job. I'm sure some imaginative labelling and profile specific axis mapping in FSUIPC will cope with all types of aircraft.
For now though I'm very pleased with my bargain purchase. I'll keep using the flaps switch (it's no better or worse than my existing one) and the elevator and gear lever (and LEDS!) are fantastic.
Highly recommended.
Next: GoFlight radio and transponder avionics modules.
Friday, 19 October 2012
A2A's B377 Stratocruiser
In my ongoing quest for realism I tried out A2A's Boeing B377 Stratocruiser, with Accu-Sim.
Eventually I think I'll hit the point where the realism starts to become too much for a simulator and become tedious, at which time I will have found my level.
As a real world pilot I do want a high degree of realism. With a C172 this is fine, as running through a few short checklists is not too time consuming. Even my beloved DC-3 is do-able, but when flying something a complex as the B377, which had a four man crew, compromises must be made.
For example, I printed off 18 pages of B377 checklists, which involve all four crew members. I haven't sat down and run through every item yet, but with only an hour or two in the evening to actually fly, I don't want to be spending half this time hitting switches.
Fortunately A2A offer an add-on called Captain of the Ship, which gives you full interaction with your crew and allows you to hand off tasks to them. I haven't tried this yet, but it looks like a good option to maintain a high level of immersion and still get off the ground in a reasonable time.
The B377 is also the first four-engined aeroplane I have flown. Initially I was planning on limiting myself to single- and twin-engined types but I have changed this policy allow myself to fly pretty much any aircraft, which means also changing my switch panel designs to accommodate four engines.
I had a crack at reconfiguring my panel designs over the weekend, and it looks like I will need a second Bodnar card in order to support four of everything instead of two. I am currently trying to split it all into two sets of panels so I can do one set immediately and the second when I buy another card.
This is the revised engine start panel, which will allow me to control the mags and start up to four engines. I'll have to write a LUA script for FSUIPC to make this work.
Eventually I think I'll hit the point where the realism starts to become too much for a simulator and become tedious, at which time I will have found my level.
As a real world pilot I do want a high degree of realism. With a C172 this is fine, as running through a few short checklists is not too time consuming. Even my beloved DC-3 is do-able, but when flying something a complex as the B377, which had a four man crew, compromises must be made.
For example, I printed off 18 pages of B377 checklists, which involve all four crew members. I haven't sat down and run through every item yet, but with only an hour or two in the evening to actually fly, I don't want to be spending half this time hitting switches.
Fortunately A2A offer an add-on called Captain of the Ship, which gives you full interaction with your crew and allows you to hand off tasks to them. I haven't tried this yet, but it looks like a good option to maintain a high level of immersion and still get off the ground in a reasonable time.
The B377 is also the first four-engined aeroplane I have flown. Initially I was planning on limiting myself to single- and twin-engined types but I have changed this policy allow myself to fly pretty much any aircraft, which means also changing my switch panel designs to accommodate four engines.
I had a crack at reconfiguring my panel designs over the weekend, and it looks like I will need a second Bodnar card in order to support four of everything instead of two. I am currently trying to split it all into two sets of panels so I can do one set immediately and the second when I buy another card.
This is the revised engine start panel, which will allow me to control the mags and start up to four engines. I'll have to write a LUA script for FSUIPC to make this work.
Monday, 15 October 2012
Centre pedestal progress
Finding time to work on the hardware side of things is difficult, particularly now that the evenings are dark. I need a proper workshop with electricity. One day, maybe...
I did manage to grab a couple of hours on Sunday morning to work on the centre pedestal. I had already cut out the sides, which are now fixed to the base. The throttles are mounted and I think it's looking pretty good. I'll live with it for a week before adjusting the throttle position (they need to come down a little) and adding a front and top.
I did manage to grab a couple of hours on Sunday morning to work on the centre pedestal. I had already cut out the sides, which are now fixed to the base. The throttles are mounted and I think it's looking pretty good. I'll live with it for a week before adjusting the throttle position (they need to come down a little) and adding a front and top.
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Blocky gauges problem - Solved
I've been having problems with gauges looking torn and pixellated when I dragged them to my second monitor.
It turns out that in FSX Settings I had that monitor set to 1024x768, instead of its native resolution of 1680x1050, so no wonder the gauges were looking big and nasty.
I feel pretty stupid as I had set the correct resolution of my main view display, but after adding the second monitor I hadn't thought to use the dropdown to select the new monitor and set the correct resolution on that one as well.
Still, it's working fine now :)
I spent a couple of hours last night configuring the new RealityXP Flightline T gauges on a custom panel with a black background in the default C172. I was trying to get them to display at 8cm x 8cm so I could cut some holes in a plywood mask to allow them to show through.
Because of its age FSX assumes all monitors are 4:3 and consequently round gauges appear oval unless you edit their size in the panel.cfg.
After some experimentation I got the basic six FLT gauges displaying correctly in full screen on the second monitor. They're still not perfect, with some minor tearing on some of the instrument markings and lettering, but they are a big improvement on the default gauges.
Next step is to create a generic default panel that will work for all the single engine aeroplanes in my hangar, then do the same for the twins.
It turns out that in FSX Settings I had that monitor set to 1024x768, instead of its native resolution of 1680x1050, so no wonder the gauges were looking big and nasty.
I feel pretty stupid as I had set the correct resolution of my main view display, but after adding the second monitor I hadn't thought to use the dropdown to select the new monitor and set the correct resolution on that one as well.
Still, it's working fine now :)
I spent a couple of hours last night configuring the new RealityXP Flightline T gauges on a custom panel with a black background in the default C172. I was trying to get them to display at 8cm x 8cm so I could cut some holes in a plywood mask to allow them to show through.
Because of its age FSX assumes all monitors are 4:3 and consequently round gauges appear oval unless you edit their size in the panel.cfg.
After some experimentation I got the basic six FLT gauges displaying correctly in full screen on the second monitor. They're still not perfect, with some minor tearing on some of the instrument markings and lettering, but they are a big improvement on the default gauges.
Next step is to create a generic default panel that will work for all the single engine aeroplanes in my hangar, then do the same for the twins.
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