Rediscovering Flight Sim

[ardypilot]

Absent VR (which I will wait for) TrackIR is a must-have.
Hugely adds to immersion and awareness.
You can set it by using the response curves to suit your taste.
Buy it, there are no alternatives really.

Thanks Charl, thats the only push I think I needed. Just need to wait for more stock to arrive.

You might like to check out these SmoothTrack Videos before investing in a TrackIR 5 for the sim.

Thanks for the links! I have got Opentrack and Smoothrack running together- found it a little jumpy but thought that was just the limitation of the software. I'll have a go at tweaking it. I'd be interested to hear how others are mounting thier smartphones in relation to thier screens? I was just propping mine up on a business card display stand which tilted the phone back a little and probably isn't ideal!

Currently for the elevator I've set both sensitivities to -45%, the dead zone to I think about 8-10% and the neutral point in the middle at 0%. I found about -60% elevator sensitivity felt more natural but it exaggerated the acceleration effect so I ran into the same problem with overpitching in the flare when making big corrections with the stick. On the other hand at around -15% the acceleration effect was pretty much totally gone but the elevator was also too sensitive making the aircraft very "pitchy". The dead zone seems to affect the points at which the acceleration occurs - hence why I've set it to more than what I need just to get rid of any spiking occurring with the joystick.

Good explanation- thanks. I had gotten used to the the -60% elevator and just mentally prepared and accepted there would be over pitch on every landing unless I flew a flatter approach profile. I had a go at your -45% setting with the Carenado 182 and found it was constantly bouncing around even with an 8% deadzone. I just can't seem to win- think I'll go back to FSUPIC settings again.

Are force feedback joysticks still a thing / does FS2020 have the ability to work with them? That might have to be another future investment if they are...

[Charl]

You know, I just realised I expressed an opinion about hardware clearly destined for MSFS 2020... which umm, I DO NOT own!
(It's the best of the ones I have tried on previous sims.)

I assumed it would work there, and it does:

Watch on youtube.com

[Radar88]

Are force feedback joysticks still a thing / does FS2020 have the ability to work with them? That might have to be another future investment if they are...

Yes that's if you have a spare approx $3k - 6k in the hand to invest and import into NZ from Switzerland or if you manage to win big on Lotto.

FFB Technology is expensive to develop and their is still a small niche market for FFB however it's more commonly referred to and marketed under a different naming format as a Control Loading System (CLS, also known as Electric Control Loading)

The Swiss company Brunner are they only ones who have invested in the Control Loading System Technology and supply a small growing niche market of flight sim enthusiasts.

Watch on youtube.com

Watch on youtube.com

Why aren't Force Feedback Joysticks widely made anymore?

[cowpatz]

You will need to invest a small fortune though!

[iwik]

Yes and worth every cent. I have had two of these, a diy one and a commercial one.
Flight illusion do one and Buggiesbuiltforfun has DIY version which is very good.
IRIS DYnamics bought one out as well and i believe is available from Sportys .
I currently use the IRIS Dynamics FFB Yoke.
Les

[ardypilot]

Yes that's if you have a spare approx $3k - 6k in the hand to invest and import into NZ from Switzerland or if you manage to win big on Lotto.

Jeepers, maybe not then! Hopefully this sort of tech comes down in price in the future...



As November rolls around, I've just replaced my real world chart set and have a copy of the 2019 Visual Navigation Chart book surplus to requirements. Might be handy for simmer who likes flying VFR? The majority of airspace hasn't changed and remains accurate. Drop me a private message if you'd like it- its worth $93 but just want the cost of postage covered.

EDIT- Charts claimed. Will have some more to get rid of this time next year!

[ardypilot]

Just found a fix for the joystick sensitivities that makes the sim a LOT more playable.

Instead of using the slope function of FSUPIC 7, I read a suggestion where you revert back to linear axis mode (just delete any slope entry lines in the FSUPIC.ini file), and then double the maximum and minimum values of elevator/aileron/rudder inputs so that 100% joystick deflection only results in 50% of the travel of each range, eliminating the big spikes or acceleration of control effect towards the top and bottom of each range that has been discussed in this thread.

Eg:

Code: Select all

Rudder=-16384,-750,750,15648

Becomes:

Code: Select all

Rudder=-32768,-750,750,31296

The MS2020 beta of FSUPIC 7 is still available to download here, although I believe the payware version will be coming later in the week.

[Adamski]

The MS2020 beta of FSUPIC 7 is still available to download here, although I believe the payware version will be coming later in the week.

The new/full version is already out. Existing FSUIPC users get a discount, so make sure you log in with your old account details when you buy.

[FlyingKiwi]

That's good to know, I'll give that a go at the weekend.

[cowpatz]

Andy has MSFS update #6 fixed your joystick sensitivity issues?

[ardypilot]

Andy has MSFS update #6 fixed your joystick sensitivity issues?

Hard to tell. Updated to v1.1.11.0 this morning and just experimented with some circuits at NZAR in the default C172, first with FS2020 controlling the sensitivity settings, set up with -45% on the pitch axis (landing on the seal) and then with FSUPIC7 controlling the sensitivity settings set to linear and limiting the input range to 50% for pitch (landing on the grass).

I screen recorded this for context, and would be interested to see if others are experiencing the same as me in terms of how much the aircraft bounces around around the pitch axis. Hopefully you'll notice in the VC view how little the yoke is being moved for how much resultant vertical movement occurs, although unfortunately you can't see or hear me moving the trim wheel to try and settle the nose.

Watch on youtube.com

This was with real world weather- SW at consistent strength 18 knots according to the METAR, but felt more like double that in my experience.

[Naki]

Yep I'm getting similar pitch axes issues....thought it might of been the aircaft I was in (MB-339) which i just bought or turbulence

[ardypilot]

Good to see the exec producers from Asobo talk about two big fixes to the sim that came out in this weeks update, being control sensitivity and autopilot behavior on yesterdays Twitch live stream.

Firstly the perceived control pitchiness with a coding update released for all 30 default aircraft. It was explained how the initial design was for maximum possible precision across all speed ranges so joysticks could make best use of their travel ranges, which resulted in twitchy flight models and gave users more control that was needed. This has now been adjusted down by 20 to 30% so that you can't pull more G's than each aircraft is supposed to, along with updating the overall stability of the aircraft so that flight paths are less effected by turbulence. A couple of hot laps in the default 172 around NZAR with conditions I had previously tested confirm this! :D

Autopilot roll rates have also been adjusted for smoother intercepts and vertical pitching- as they were much too snappy before. Maybe a little on the docile side now on the aircraft I've tested AP with, but certainly an improvement from the horrible jerks when engaging modes that we first saw.

Also was pretty happy to see a decent update of DEM terrain mesh for continental USA in the latest world update. This map of the updated areas and the res that they are scaled to has been published for those of us who like exploring low down close to the mountains. Thankfully future world updates will include the likes of Alaska and Hawaii in higher res mesh once the data becomes available from Bing according to the twitch stream too. The UK will be the next region to get this treatment in January.

[Chairman]

I took one of the default planes out from NZQN and it did seem better than last week, which was orders of magnitude better than when I last tried it a few updates ago. What planes are you flying ? I picked up the Carenado Mooney last week which is nice but this patch seems to have broken it.

[tomkilpatrick]

Good to see you're back Andy! I hope everything's going well with you.

I've gotten back into it all since the lockdown, and have since started flying online a fair chunk with VATSIM.

All in all, I'm in two minds about MFS2020. Visually it's absolutely stunning, and a huge leap in terms of overall immersion. Unfortunately, the systems modelling isn't quite to my liking, so I'm sticking with P3D - at least until PMDG and Aerosoft port everything over.

[FlyingKiwi]

I did a flight yesterday with a decent 25kt westerly, flying up the east coast was bumpy as expected but definitely didn't create the same massive pitch excursions as I was getting before the last patch. So that seems to have been improved considerably.

[ardypilot]

What planes are you flying ? I picked up the Carenado Mooney last week which is nice but this patch seems to have broken it.

Default C172, Baron, Bonanza, TBM950 all with positive results. I've recently picked up the Carenado 182 and Seminole. The 182 has a great sound pack and handles close enough to real life, but the Seminole still bounces around a bit too much for my liking.

Good to see you're back Andy! I hope everything's going well with you.

I've gotten back into it all since the lockdown, and have since started flying online a fair chunk with VATSIM.

All in all, I'm in two minds about MFS2020. Visually it's absolutely stunning, and a huge leap in terms of overall immersion. Unfortunately, the systems modelling isn't quite to my liking, so I'm sticking with P3D - at least until PMDG and Aerosoft port everything over.

Same with you mate. Never tried VATSIM but might be give it a go one day if I get a decent chunk of free time. Any good guides out there for newbies? Also looking forward to some study level airliners being released, don't imagine we'll see anything before mid next year at the earliest with the late release of the SDK.

[tomkilpatrick]

Same with you mate. Never tried VATSIM but might be give it a go one day if I get a decent chunk of free time. Any good guides out there for newbies? Also looking forward to some study level airliners being released, don't imagine we'll see anything before mid next year at the earliest with the late release of the SDK.

Pop over and have a squiz at VATSIM Getting Started page, which should give you most of what you need to know. The VATNZ "What's this all about?" should also be a hoot.

I used to be on the ATC Training Team, so I can give you a heads up with sorting everything out if you wish - just flick me a message on Facebook and we'll sort it out over Discord.

[ardypilot]

Had the morning off today whilst a big cold front passed over the North Island so fired up the sim to see how well it was represented, taking the TBM from NZTG over to NZNP. I was pretty impressed at the results, with the thick frontal storm band defined clearly on both the weather radar and moddeled by dense vertical cloud formations along the main trough, with speckled cumuliform build up behind it, with the wind even backing behind as I popped out into the clearer air at NP.









On a site note, I see Sim/World Update 3 is only a few days away and will include worldwide water-masks along with new mesh for the UK and a bunch of points of interest over there!

[cowpatz]

Yes the weather seems very well simulated in those shots.
I was hoping that the front would have brought more rain, but alas, it barely dampened the surface....