My HDD upgrade last year took away a lot of time. Now the time drainer will be installing the latest version of Steel Beasts Pro Pe together with the new version 0.9.0 of UCR, then testing what works and rewrite my multiple controller tutorial as needed.
I haven’t even booted into win 10 for the last couple of weeks.
I am also ramping up for my DIY controller projects, including reignigting the 3D printer in a box so I can print ABS project. Currently the electronics are torn to pieces.
I think I spend more time tweaking and searching and installing and messing around than I do actually flying. I’m trying to convince myself to settle into something. But then something shiny comes along. All this talk about a WW2 type fly-in had me loading up the P-51 last night, trying to learn how to start it, and drooling over it in VR.
Know your feels… I’ve gotten about 5 flights in in total this year.
Well… He could argue that both the median and the modus of the (our) flightsim population gets about 7.5 hours of simming time per week. Therefor, if he gets an hour of flying a day plus bonus minutes to do the landing, he’s still not simming more than the typical simmer
I’ve actually always wondered how you felt about this! I know you never really felt warm for the WW2 scene. I personally always enjoyed it but not preferred it over any other era. In VR, the warbirds are really WOW for me though, and the up and close clombat is fantastic in VR. Did VR make you enjoy WW2/early era’s more than the 2D age?
Before VR less than 1 hour per week. Post VR, 14+ hours a week. Game changer for me as I waited for this tech for decades. Even with all the warts it currently has.
I think much of my aversion to WW2 action is that the planes, by and large, do require near constant attention and input. Modern aircraft, you can engage roll and attitude hold, drink a beer, peruse a Chuck’s Guide, answer an e-mail. But with the WW2 planes, once you add the throttle for takeoff, you are pretty much obligated to be hands on the stick and throttle for the duration.
The VR experience definitely makes it more enjoyable - a greater gain in enjoyment I’d say than that gained by flying a modern aircraft in VR versus 2D simply because you spend so much time looking outside in WW2 aircraft. Last night I was really enjoying just…well…flying. And it was really cool watching three other Mudspikers above me all rolling in in trail of each other for rocket and gun passes.
So yes, your conclusion is absolutely true - VR greatly enhanced my appreciation for the WW2 aircraft.
In IL-2 Great Battles the “Left Shift, A” key combo will keep the planes flying straight and level if you are trimmed fairly reasonably. Some planes do fly better hands off than others and on occasionally it will just shut itself off.
Maybe it is finally time to use the 9-year old “autopilot” I’ve been raising.
“Here…hold this here like that…this like that…keep the horizon level…and if it has a rising sun, shoot it down, if it has a star, well…don’t shoot it down…I’ll be back in a minute…”
My daughter was able to hold a not too nervous plane reasonably level shortly after her fourth birthday.
But one has to keep attention spans in mind. They won’t hold it there for long.