True that! I guess I didn’t fly the FBW version enough to determine if its way was “easier” or even easier to just forego and get on with.
Personally, I usually only fly modern tubleliners for practice, so I can certainly appreciate the virtues of just kicking the tires and lighting the fires.
Disappointing really. MS had hinted that helicopter force trim would be included with this update. Helicopter autopilot functionality was hinted at also. Cowan had been hoping for a laundry list of helicopter improvements so that he could better dial in his models.
If you’re looking for the best new thing, I think I found it. Flying Iron Simulations.
I got the Lightning and I love it. Now Hellcat fever has taken over me. I spent over an hour touring and doing touch and go’s.
There is only one way of putting this. It’s the best thing I have ever flown in a Sim. The rough feel of the pit, the beautiful weathered paint jobs and That Noise! That wonderful rythim of the 2800 cubic inch beast. Nothing ever got me like this. Throttling this thing around the tarmac or in the air makes me feel as though I’m in charge of a killing machine w Authority.
Last night I got the 109. It’s as nice as the other two. Tonight I’ll try a flight.
They are making the A-7 for DCS… I WILL PREORDER. They are That good.
In the last few days everything has come together. The Crystal is an amazing piece of hardware. I cleaned up my PC and tuned in my VR. When I got the Ironworks Lightning my VR wasn’t working so good. But after getting the Hellcat things began to get groovy. I got the Messer… It’s glorious. Here’s what I thought.
The whine of the DB-605 starts as I close the canopy.
I’m in this claustrophobic tiny pit. A 20 mm between my ankles… A blip of the throttle and she lurches forward… She threatens me, it’s too light, too much power. Inside, the pit shakes and I make my way to the runway carefully locking and unlocking the tail. We hold the stick full right and shove my boot (ok my sock) full right rudder. The trick is to release it as she raises up. Once again, I’ve survived the takeoff. Back off to about 2200rpm and trim for a climb. Radiator to Auto, no issues. She’s happy. The altimeter winds up like its on a spring. The ground disappears. Rain smears my windscreen and only the HSI gets me through the clouds. Now the sun makes the instruments gleam. It’s beautiful… At 3km we head across the Channel. I’m darting in and out of orangy clouds. She’s doing 500kph and I’m not even trying … What a Rocket! There’s Dover! I’m a tad over 600 in a dive but I don’t want to chance loosing it. We climb back up through a hole in the clouds and make our way back through the canyons of clouds.
The landing demands all your attention but proves to be much easier than taxi. Eventually I learned how to use the tailwheel and got sassy when I parked bringing it around in a spirited sweep. Hahaha!
Cut it off, open the cramped canopy and breathe… I’m exhausted yet grinning from ear to ear.
Today’s Sim Update 15 Beta build (1.37.4.0) contains stability fixes to address sim crashes and instances of black avionics (which have been the top reported issues from the Sim Update 15 Beta). Unfortunately, while making comprehensive changes to improve these two issues, a handful of new issues were introduced:
1.37.4.0 Known Issues
Aircraft with floats are unable to take off/land on water.
Reverse thrust is not functional on certain aircraft.
When launching a glider, releasing the winch causes the sim to crash.
While often we would not release a build to the flight groups with such obvious issues, we need community feedback on the stability fixes as soon as possible to understand if the changes were successful or if we have more work to do. The next SU15 Beta build (planned to release to the flight groups next week) will include fixes for the above three known issues. We will not release Sim Update 15 until the above known issues are fixed.
If this significantly impacts your sim experience, as a reminder, you may leave the Sim Update 15 Beta and return to the current public build at any time by following the steps outlined here: Welcome to the Sim Update 15 Beta
Thank you for understanding and participating in the Sim Update 15 Beta!
General Bug Fixes
Various crash fixes across the title.
FPS display memory usage now displays allocated virtual memory rather than used physical memory pages. This more accurately reflects the memory effectively used by the simulator
Fixed an issue where the model matching for AI traffic would spawn more than usual non-optimized traffic models resulting in performance and memory regression.
Fixed an issue that could cause a white circle to appear during gameplay
Improvements to reduce the probability of avionics randomly turning off on Xbox
Fixed some localization bugs
Navigation/Traffic
Fixed some navdata packages not correctly loaded
Activity
Fixed achievements for live events
Glass Cockpits
Changed parameters of Glass Cockpit update logic to keep refresh rate more fluid in lower framerate situations.
Garmin G3000 / G5000
Fixed an issue where the LNAV could compute incorrect guidance in certain situations with Low bank mode active.
The HSI to/from indicator now displays the correct indication while the active navigation source is FMS instead of always indicating TO.
Garmin G3X Touch
New Features:
Added active flight plan display to the maps on the MFD NRST pages, MFD Traffic page, MFD Waypoint page, and Direct-to menu.
Added the ability to toggle the standard turn rate bank angle pointers on the PFD roll indicator.
Added the ability to configure the layout of the COM/NAV radio buttons, audio panel button, and transponder button on the CNS data bar via new options in the display Setup and data bar Setup menus.
Bug Fixes:
Attempting to remove or activate a flight plan leg in the MFD FPL page will now trigger a confirmation dialog.
The Load Approach button in the Select Approach dialog is now disabled if loading an Approach would also automatically activate the approach.
When opening the Select Approach dialog without an Approach already loaded/activated, the selected airport will no longer be initialized to the last airport in the flight plan unless it is also the last Waypoint overall in the flight plan.
Opening the Direct-To menu from the MFD FPL page will now initialize the Direct-To menu’s selected waypoint to the focused waypoint in the MFD FPL page, if one exists.
CDI scaling now uses the correct (VFR) values When navigating using the internal flight plan.
Fixed an issue where the PFD Bearing Information displays were not visible.
Fixed an issue where the HSI to/from indicator was rendered beneath the course deviation indicator instead of above it.
Fixed an issue where the HSI to/from indicator was not displayed When the CDI source was GPS.
Fixed the display of vertical mode annunciations in the PFD AFCS status box.
Added missing font characters for certain measurement unit types.
Garmin GNS430W / GNS530W
Fixed an issue where the flight plan pages would not display the flight plan if the GNS was configured to use a non-default flight planner ID.
Aircraft
General
Improvements to ground handling and ground collision physics for the C172 and the Cabri G2.
Helicopters
Improved functionality of multi-engine helicopter governors and engine trimmers (see SDK for more details)
Boeing 787-10 / Boeing 747-8i
[747] SYS: Fixed an issue where the engine gen control lights would flicker “OFF” on full engine power because of engine combustion issues caused by fuel starvation.
[747] SYS: Adjusted pressure of the stabilizer tank pumps to prevent the center tank from emptying during transfer.
[747] SYS: Tune engine model for more realistic idle RPM and ITT.
Known Issue: In low framerate situations the FlyByWire and Autothrottle works less reliable
Cabri G2
Corrected an issue that would cause the engine to fail to start when using the AUTOSTART key on the Cabri G2.
CubCrafters NXCub
Fixed an issue where the MFD engine page amps gauge was stuck reading zero.
Fixed the color of engine gauge text labels when the gauge value is within a red scale range.
Fixed minor formatting issues with MFD engine page gauges.
CubCrafters XCub
Fixed an issue where the MFD engine page amps gauge was stuck reading zero.
Fixed the color of engine gauge text labels when the gauge value is within a red scale range.
Fixed minor formatting issues with MFD engine page gauges.
House Atreides Ornithopter
Dune Ornithopter: fixed the landing gear initialization during RTC when starting the mission from the runway in Free Flight
Fixed landing gear animation bug when touching the ground with raised landing gear
Ornithopter gears state are now properly displayed in multiplayer
JMB VL-3
Fixed the color of engine gauge text labels when the gauge value is within a red scale range.
Its hard not find a bit of comedy in this update: “we fixed performance….but half of the avionics and uh…water, don’t work right anymore.”
Fascinating (and no doubt maddening to the devs) how oddly interconnected those things are.
In any event, given my limited sim time these days, these sort of adventures in birthing new versions of the sim are why I sit out the beta process. Ill let folks braver than I forge ahead.
If you are playing on PC, outdated packages in your community folder may have an unexpected impact on the title’s performance and behavior.
If you suffer from stability issues or long loading times, move your community package(s) to another folder before relaunching the title. How to install a new update safely
Known Issue
On Windows PC (Microsoft Store), if you sign-out from the social menu while in the sim, the sim will not progress past the initial loading screen. This does not occur on Xbox or Steam.
Workaround: Relaunch the sim, or, to sign-in with a different account, sign-out of the Microsoft Store, then sign-in to the Microsoft Store with the desired account and launch the game.
General Bug Fixes
Various crash fixes across the title.
Fixed a bug where the replay ingame panel was unintentionally appearing in the toolbar by default.
Throttle range expanded to fix reverse thrust issue.
Improve usage of available flight aware data to feed live traffic in the sim
Increase the maximum number of flight visible in free flight.
Improve spawn condition of air traffic planes to Increase live traffic on airport
Improve AI behavior of live traffic planes on and around airports
Glass Cockpits
Further optimized glass cockpit update logic to better adapt to different framerate situations.
Garmin G3X Touch
Added support for GDU reversionary mode.
Fixed the display of HOLD legs in the MFD FPL page.
Fixed an issue where the dialogs opened by the MFD engine page Fuel Calculator tab always used units of gallons regardless of the Fuel Calculator units setting.
The FPL Source button in the PFD Options menu is no longer shown when the G3X is not connected to any external navigators.
Fixed an issue where flight plans imported from the world map could sometimes have waypoints in the incorrect order.
Fixed broken needle animation on engine circular gauges when the gauge’s minimum scale value was not equal to zero.
Aircraft
General
Fixed 2 bugs that were introduced with the ground handling improvements:
Incorrect / broken water or float collisions.
Inaccurate high speed impacts on aircraft with retractable gears.
Cabri G2
Fixed an issue that could cause the Cabri G2 to fail to start after a Ctrl+E
Cirrus SR22T
Added and tuned new ground handling parameters
Adjusted engine parameters and ECU logic to account for fixed intake density mixture behavior
CubCrafters NXCub
Adjusted various EIS and MFD engine page gauges to better reflect real-world engine limitations.
Corrected fuel tank capacities (24.5 gal total/23 gal usable per tank).
Fixed a formatting issue with the fuel gauge in the MFD engine page’s Fuel Calculator tab.
Added Vx speed bug.
Adjusted the engine’s max rated horsepower value from 180 to 215 to match the published specifications of the CC393i.
CubCrafters XCub
Adjusted various EIS and MFD engine page gauges to better reflect real-world engine limitations.
Corrected fuel tank capacities (24.5 gal total/23 gal usable per tank).
Fixed a formatting issue with the fuel gauge in the MFD engine page’s Fuel Calculator tab.
Added Vx speed bug.
JMB VL-3
Adjusted various EIS and MFD engine page gauges to better reflect real-world engine limitations.
Fixed a bug where CHT in the EIS and MFD engine page was displayed in degrees Fahrenheit instead of degrees Celsius.
The FUEL PUMP switch is now ON when loading a flight on the runway.
SDK
Fixed issue where use_intake_density_on_mixture would cause mixture to lean when MAP exceeded sea level
Fixed issue where use_volumetric_fuel_flow could show fuel flow if engine was spinning even if fuel was not available
SimVars
Improved indexing for multi-engine helicopters in SIMVAR_ROTOR_GOV_SWITCH_POS and SIMVAR_ROTOR_GOV_ACTIVE.
Aircraft editor
Added missing parameters and fixed unwanted deletion of parameters
WASM
Wasm Vfx API : Fix crash when spawning a vfx on sim object that is not fully spawned
If you are playing on PC, outdated packages in your community folder may have an unexpected impact on the title’s performance and behavior.
If you suffer from stability issues or long loading times, move your community package(s) to another folder before relaunching the title. How to install a new update safely
Glass Cockpits
Garmin G3X Touch
Fixed the display of glidepath and VNAV indications from external navigators on the PFD VDI
Garmin GNS430W / GNS530W
Fixed various issues with glidepath guidance when the GNS was configured to use a non-zero LNAV or VNAV index.
Fixed incorrect CDI auto switch guidance being sent to the G3X.
Aircraft
General
Fixed issue with differential braking being inefficient with new ground contact physics.
Airbus A320neo (V2)
Fixed - Turn on WX Radar and PW when spawning on the runway.
Fixed - Oil pressure needle should be red when in red range.
Fixed - F should be white as with the S, not green.
Fixed - Possible to freeze/break the flight model and avionics from MCDU source menu.
Fixed - WASM CRASH – MCDU.
Fixed - Normal managed DES and you go OPEN DES speed goes to 250kts should just reflect the DES speed .
Fixed - Sounds too loud during taxi and take off and then drop off to become too quiet in cruise.
Fixed - When selecting reverse on axis on EFB setting, It is not saving in config file.
Fixed - Updated strobe light effect brightness.
Boeing 787-10 / Boeing 747-8i
Fixed issue where the LNAV autopilot mode would immediately become the active mode instead of armed on the ground.
SDK
Renamed Helicopter engine related keys to match their define.
World Hub
The World Hub submissions which were included in the previous Sim Update 15 pre-release test build (1.37.9.0) have been removed from 1.37.11.0 and will now be released alongside the next NavData update in April.
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