X-Plane 10 is here!

[mikeindevon]

The status of the x-plane PS1 link is that my Windows version produces a very smooth frame rate when PS1 is running on a separate machine, rather than under Win 7's virtual PC.  I get about 40fps on a core 2 duo with most rendering options on max.

There are still issues with the resolution of the data coming out of PS1 that can lead to scenery jerks at low speed : I am trying various filtering techniques to improve this.

There is another issue with the offsets required to align the ps and xp runways.  Although these have been worked out mathematically and check perfectly with Google Earth, it appears that ps doesn't fly exactly to the runway centre as defined in its own database.  I need to do some further analysis of this.  The software determines the destination runway quite well and applies the appropriate offsets, but I am coming to the view that these may need to be tweaked manually.

Of course both these problems will disappear with PSX, so in some respects it is wasted work if the new version is just round the corner.

At the moment the interface doesn't handle other features such as gear movement, sloping runways, weather, but if there is sufficient interest out there I can put a version up for people to see.  Let me know.

In any event I would recommend using x-plane version 9 for the time being as I haven't tested it against v10 yet.  Also there will likely be some frame-rate issues with v10 at this very early stage and it requires a beefy machine.

Mike

[Pierre Theillere]

Hi Stekeller, Mike, and Hardy!

- Regarding realism and details, I guess that only simulators that really focus on only 1 aircraft can reach "precision" level. I remember about "Flamming Cliffs" that was simulating the Su-25T... it was somehow known as the "PS1 of military flight"
- Good news regarding your developments on the PS <-> X-Plane bridge. Shame I no longer have any Windows computer, nor PS1 setup...
- The "bug" report about temperature influence on pressure / altitude gradient (lacking in X-Plane 9 and 10) was sent to Austin Meyer via his official "Bug Reporter's page" - http://dev.x-plane.com/support/bugreport.html - by the past I always got a reply after doing some reports via this page... let's hope so it's the case once again!

[Pierre Theillere]

Hi Hardy and folks!

Regarding the temperature / pressure relationship modeling, and after some e-mail exchanges between guys at Laminar Research (Randy Witt and Austin Meyer), I already got that reply, from Austin:
"this may be true, but i want to stick with our standard atmo model we have now"
So... PSx will remain (for some time) the only sim to be so precisely close to the real atmosphere: well done Hardy!

[stekeller]

Thanks Pierre:

I have always found Austin to be receptive and approachable. I have even met him a few times at Oshkosh and he will talk to anyone who comes up to him about X-Plane. He is a real pilot too by the way, and owns a Cessna Corvalis.

For those of you who are interested, the following link provides a long list of the enhancements implemented in XP10, some may be relevant for those wishing to link PS1/PSX to X-Plane:

http://wiki.x-plane.com/What's_New_in_X-Plane_10

- Stekeller
KORD

[Pierre Theillere]

Hi Stekeller!

You're fully right: Austin is quite friendly and easy to access! I recently met him for real in early november, first at the FS Weekend, then some days later during a lunch we organized with some other X-Plane aficionados at a restaurant on a small airport (LFPZ, St Cyr) near Paris. A guy even made a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXV4YAhcakU&feature=player_embedded sure you'll easily spot Austin... just try to guess which one I am... hehehe!
Ooooh, and thanks for pointing us to the details of "what's new in v10". Today 10.02 beta 2 was released...

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

btw FS Weekend.

Some sad news: Aviodrome, the host of the FS Weekend, has filed for bankruptcy. The park remains open for now, and there are several parties potentially interested in a takeover/go-around, but the future of the FS Weekend is uncertain.


Jeroen

[Phil Bunch]

I couldn't quite figure out from the Google-translated web pages what they provide.  Mention was made of flying in formation with some aerobatics/military prop trainers but another photo seemed to show a 747.

In any event, I'm saddened to see a good aviation-related site become financially stressed.  Hopefully the business people can figure out some way to restart the place.

--------

ps:  Have you visited Disney World in Orlando yet?  (insert many friendly grins here)

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

It's basically a small version of the Smithsonian  :-)

Lots of historical aircraft on static display inside and outside, some flying crates, some aviation-related activities associated with the nearby Lelystad aerodrome, and the usual activities to get people in and spend or donate money.

http://g.co/maps/29gtv


Jeroen

[cagarini]

Try Flight Gear 2.4.0 - It does model density altitude! I believe ELITE does as well...

Hi Hardy and folks!

Regarding the temperature / pressure relationship modeling, and after some e-mail exchanges between guys at Laminar Research (Randy Witt and Austin Meyer), I already got that reply, from Austin:
"this may be true, but i want to stick with our standard atmo model we have now"
So... PSx will remain (for some time) the only sim to be so precisely close to the real atmosphere: well done Hardy!

[John Golin]

Sliding off topic, but I found this via another forum.  A virtual tour of the USAF museum.

Amazing stuff there!

http://www.nmusafvirtualtour.com/full/tour-pkg.html

[Hardy Heinlin]

Try Flight Gear 2.4.0 - It does model density altitude! I believe ELITE does as well...

Density altitude is not what I mean. Density altitude affects airspeeds and engine performance, I think all sims model density altitude in some way.

What I mean is the variable distribution of the pressure altitudes. Imagine you're an ant sitting on a sandwich of layers. The sandwich is on a desk. The desk is the ground. The sandwich is the atmosphere. When you are on the top layer, your baro altitude reads, say, 50 millimeters. Your radio altimeter, too, reads 50 millimeters. Now, the air gets cold, the layers get heavier, causing the sandwich to squeeze towards the desk. You're still on the top layer, your baro altimeter still reads 50, but your radio altimeter reads 40 now.

What you see on the flightdeck is not really the true altitude, but the so-called calibrated altitude. It's calibrated for the QNH, but not for the layer distribution. An approximate true altitude can be computed with the Jeppesen E6B, for example. But it's only an approximation. Whether the layer system is squeezed or not, it's never equally squeezed.

ISA assumes a constant layer distribution at all temps.


Cheers,

|-|ardy

[Hardy Heinlin]

P.S.:

When the colder sandwich layers get heavier because of their increasing density, one could ask why the baro altimeter doesn't reflect this higher density, i.e. why it doesn't indicate a lower altitude accordingly.

It's because density is not the same as pressure. Five air molecules alone in a bottle can produce the same pressure as ten molecules would produce in the same bottle. The five molecules just need to move fast enough. The faster they are, the warmer the bottle.


P.P.S.: Re density altitude and engine performance. Five fast moving molecules produce the same pressure as ten slowly moving molecules; and the baro altimeter wouldn't indicate any difference. It's just a pressure indicator. The engine, however, needs something to burn. Five molecules provide less mass to burn than ten molecules do.

[cagarini]

Hi HH,

nice to chat with the Aerowinx group again! Long time no see here from Portugal :-) Looking (REALLY! Desperately!!!) forward for PSX!...

That's exactly the same density alt that affects engine performance, and yes, I knew what you meant... The same rule applies for pressure and temperature:

"From High to Low Watch Out Bellow" ....

Fired the ELITE demo (I no longer own any simulator - gave away all of it when I restarted flying gliders for real in 2007.... thinking I would never seat in front of a PC pretending I was flying some sort of airplane... How stupid of me! I couldn't foresee Angela Merkel or Sarkozy would come to existence and influence everything, everywhere, including glider flying.....) but back to our "argument"... fired ELITE and gave it a try. The demo only runs for 3' but I believe it's another no go! They do not model it as well.... Flight Gear does. Also, and version 2.4.0 brought yet new interesting features never before seen on any version of MSFS (although msfs includes layers od T, Td and could possibly be used for serious atmospheric modeling....) or xplane.... Read, if you have the time, this interesting article about soaring flight in FG 2.4.0:

http://www.flightgear.org/tours/soaring-with-the-ask-13/

I would test with the PSn of military sims - LockOn or BS2 from DCS - because they are doing an excellent job at designing very detailed simulators, but there is no demo available :-(

P.S.:

When the colder sandwich layers get heavier because of their increasing density, one could ask why the baro altimeter doesn't reflect this higher density, i.e. why it doesn't indicate a lower altitude accordingly.

It's because density is not the same as pressure. Five air molecules alone in a bottle can produce the same pressure as ten molecules would produce in the same bottle. The five molecules just need to move fast enough. The faster they are, the warmer the bottle.


P.P.S.: Re density altitude and engine performance. Five fast moving molecules produce the same pressure as ten slowly moving molecules; and the baro altimeter wouldn't indicate any difference. It's just a pressure indicator. The engine, however, needs something to burn. Five molecules provide less mass to burn than ten molecules do.

[Hardy Heinlin]

Nice that it's included now. I've tested only FlightGear Mac OS X version 2.0.0-pre3 and couldn't see any effect.

Greetings to Portugal!

|-|

[cagarini]

Just a link for additional info on the new FligtGear Weather model...

http://www.phy.duke.edu/~trenk/files/README.local_weather.html