Request for improved FS2004/FSX STAR WARS sims

In recent years they were made more aircraft sims from category STAR WARS. This message will be posted hoping that I’ll find someone who is able to perform the accurate simulations. I have no idea about how to make a simulation program. If I knew, I would have corrected myself the programs to obtain the correct simulators.

Tim Conrad's Eta-2 Actis is good .. but the flying apparatus must have the VTOL (vertical take off landing) capacity as it has the Bruce Fitzgerald's X-Wing (also the Glenn Crowell’s FS9 Hammerhawk Starfighter).

Furthermore, all the aircrafts from STAR WARS must be in the “high speed” (supersonic or even hypersonic) category. There are several sims in FS2004/FSX which have this capability, for example the Massimo Altieri’s North American X-15C (FS9).

My request goes to those who know the ways to achieve or to modify a simulator program: pls. try to correct the simulator ETA-2 Actis (made by Tim Conrad) so it can have the VTOL capability (hover flaps) as it has the X-Wing (B. Fitzgerald).

On the other hand, the X-Wing (Fitzgerald) still has a speed limit too low (1.8 Mach) but the FS2004 and FSX programs allow max. speeds on the order of 3-4 Mach. Therefore, both the Eta-2 and X-Wing must be supersonic (even hypersonic) and VTOL !

This modified sim program would be only for personal use, not for commercial purposes or to be shown somewhere as a personal achievement !!!

I cannot ask this to Conrad, or Fitzgefald, Altieri, Crowell, because they have no obligation to correct their own simulators or to make new ones. Only if it is anyone among the enthusiasts who is able to process the simulator software, he might achieve some Sim models more accurate.

Among the STAR WARS sims I would mention in particular:.

FS2004 Kuat Systems ETA-2 Actis Jedi. This Flightsim FS2004/FS9 let go includes both Obi-Wan Kenobis and Anakin Skywalkers Interceptors, Virtual Cockpit with tailored gauges, and appropiate paint scheme, pilots, and astromech droids. Made by Tim Conrad.

FSX Star Wars Incom T-65 X-Wing. By Bruce Fitzgerald. This model has a max. speed of Mach 1.8; good high altitude performance, manueverability and G tolerance, hover flaps; animated R2D2; animated S-Foils that are tied to spoilers; dynamic VC; detailed external model; custom sound. Compiled with FS2004 SDK; tested in FSX with Acceleration, WinXP DX9.

FS9 Hammerhawk Starfighter. Full VTOL capability. Concept and design by Glenn Crowell. Built mostly in Anim8or, textured and animated in gmax. Most textures from scratch. Custom afterburner treatment

NORTH AMERICAN X-15 by Massimo Altieri. This model was created with FSDS2. Many hours of work were dedicated to the internal virtual cockpit and illumination effects. FSDS2 easily allows animated parts and so there are a lot, included opening canopy, moving pilot head, airbrakes, rocket flame etc. The aerodynamic and the engine features are much different from other aircrafts. You can easily reach MACH 3.5 and high altitudes in seconds and still land quite easily.

sim,

I 'dabble' with these 'type' of dynamics (for 10 years now). Obviously you never have modified any flight dynamics. But you realize that any 'good' FDEs will eventually find their way to where the 'payware' bunch will snatch them up and USE them. And that is why you don't find improved dynamics for these types. Reality (sucks).

Chuck

As you might imagine, the FDEs for one ac can be used for another ac. The Harrier FDEs uses 'hover flaps' (as you call it) and not a gauge to achieve VSTOL. Well, almost vertical landing. Here is video of Harrier landing on an oil rig helipad. With less fuel, and a headwind of 10 kts, one could do even better than this.

Link:

Chuck

The previous post video was of Harrier in FSX Accel. Here is a video made in 2010 of the Harrier in FS9. I don't have these FDEs anymore as my hard drive went 'unable to access'. The files are still there, but it costs $200 for a lab to 'recover' them. But I keep working on them so one of these days I will find the missing 'tweak' for similar performance (1200 kts yet lands at 3 kts).

Link:

Chuck B

Edit: I downloaded the above ships and will work on them this weekend. Will let you know how it went. Maybe a video.

sim,

Just curious-are you a good helicopter pilot? Helps with the spaceships and VSTOL aircraft, especially those with 'hovering flaps'.

For everything 'outerspace' key in Bruce Fitzgerald, Lazarus, Tim Conrad, and Erwin Welker (names) in Search at FSCom and Simviation. FSX has more options, as FS9 is limited to 99,999 ft. Some of these files go back to 2010 but they are still 'good', but are not your run-of-the-mil installation (ie: rcb gauges, AICarriers2, etc).

Chuck B

Chuck,

Kinda like the FDE's for the BSG Raptor that you did for me a while back...

Alan :cool:

Thanks Buddy. I was flying it today, in fact. Due to this post. Had it up to 99,999 ft in no time flat going 800 kts still. It won't load (due to model) in FSX. I need to 'polish' a few things as it's hard to handle due to over power. So it's not perfect. But still fun. Will work on it tamale as I am done for the day. I KNOW I can tame it yet still go Mach 4.5 and land at 3 kts. Maybe zero fuel? Change the flaps? Use a different air file?

Chuck B

Yes and No.

I can fly pretty good the helicopters with this FS9 VTOL Control gauge for Helicopters (generic version) made by Rob Barendregt (Email: rc.barendregt@planet.nl) back in 2007:

"This package contains a VTOL control gauge for FS9 Helicopters, that works

around some FS9 limitations and/or incorrect flightdynamics, which makes it

hard to control them; especially at low airspeed and when you have your Realism

sliders set above minimum.

It provides:

- Smooth and stable VTOL capabilities, with pilot-controlled ascent/descent

rate, longitudinal and lateral speed, heading, pitch and bank.

- Works also in windy conditions (windspeed

- Does NOT influence the aircraft's normal flight characteristics: the gauge

is only active when the airspeed is below 25-35 Knots IAS.

- Adds an Autohover/Autopilot function.

It requires prior installation of FSUIPC:

- FSUIPC.dll (v3.5 or newer, registered or unregistered).

If not yet installed, you can download the lastest version of FSUIPC at:

http://www.schiratti.com/dowson.html

What this VTOL/AP gauge essentially does: when VTOL-control/AP is activated, it

overrides the normal FS aircraft flightdynamic calculations, so complete control

of the aircraft is done by intelligent gauge code (with input from the pilot using

the normal flightcontrols like rudder, ailerons, throttle and elevator axis).

This version has been successfully tested with the following freeware FS9 helicopters:

- The default FS9 Bell 206b Jetranger

- Tom Woods / Mark Adams Apache AH-64 (file AH64_v2.zip at ?????)

- Thomas Piriou's AS350 (file as_350ba_airbus_industrie.zip at http://www.avsim.com)

- Lasse Lindh's Bell OH-58D KIOWA (file Bell_OH-58D_Kiowa.zip at http://www.swedbird.com)

- Vladimir Zhyhulskiy's Boeing CH-47 Chinook (file ch47zh.zip at http://www.flightsim.com)

- Rory Kelly's Eurocopter Tiger (file Eurocopter_Tiger.zip at ?????)

- Brian Franklin's Westland Wessex (file wessexrn.zip at http://www.flightsim.com)

- Jordan Moore's Bell Huey (file Huey_FS2004.exe at http://www.hovercontrol.com)

- Sikorsky CH34 (file chocktaw.zip at http://www.flightsim.com)

- Puma (file pumahc1.zip at http://www.flightsim.com)

- EC135 (file ec135jad.zip at http://www.avsim.com)

- EC120b (file ec120b.zip at http://www.avsim.com)

- Cicare CH7 (file cxa_ch71.zip at avsim.com)

And more :-)

And with the following payware:

- Alphasim's Seaking

- Alphasim's Apache

- JustFlight's Schweizer 300 bci

DO NOT use the gauge with:

- In general: with helicopters that have applied their own "tricks" in model or

gauges to solve these control problems.

Like:

- Jordan Moore's Bell 412 EP.

Reason: incompatible, and this model is excellent by itself (and doesn't need it)

- The default FS9 Robinson R22 (descent part doesn't work properly).

Reason: incompatible, due to throttle axis interference between my gauge and model.

Note also, that there are some other Autopilot/Autopilot gauges around; although my

VTOL gauge can be used in such panels, make sure you don't activate both of them at

the same time. Because the result will be unpredictable.

Installation

============

(FOR BETATESTERS: THE GAUGENAME HAS CHANGED IN THIS FINAL VERSION !!)

Step-1: In your main ...\Flight Simulator 9\Gauges\ folder, create a subfolder

rcb-gauges (if it does not exist yet).

Step-2: Move file VTOLControlHeloV22.xml to this folder

....\Flight Simulator 9\Gauges\rcb-gauges\

Step-3: Move file dsd_xml2ipc.gau to folder ....\Flight Simulator 9\Gauges\

If this file allready exists, keep the version with the latest date.

Step-4: Open the file ....\Flight Simulator 9\Aircraft\"your-aircraft"\Panel\panel.cfg

with Notepad and add in the [Vcockpit01] section:

gauge30=rcb-gauges!VTOLControlHeloV22, 0,0

gauge31=dsd_xml2ipc!xml2ipc, 0,0

NOTE: - Make a backup of the original panel.cfg first !

- Use Copy/Paste to avoid typing errors !

- Should gauge30/31 allready exist, use alternative numbers.

Numbers need not to be sequential, just unique in a panel section.

Step-5: (if you want the Auto-hover/Auto-pilot function to work).

Open the file ....\Flight Simulator 9\Aircraft\"your-aircraft"\aircraft.cfg

with Notepad, and search for the [brakes] section. If not found, add it.

Make sure it reads like:

[brakes]

parking_brake=1

toe_brakes_scale=1 (or any other value not equal to 0)

Functionality of the gauge

=========================

A lot of (addon) helicopters I know in FS9 are very difficult to land on a small

spot, or hover with low airspeed, especially (but not only) if you have the Realism

sliders set to more than "easy".

This invisible gauge, derived from a gauge I made for VTOL-capable jet aircraft

like Harriers, solves this problem by overriding FS9 FDE variables.

The gauge automatically activates when:

- The helicopter is BELOW 1000 ft RadaAltitude AND airspeed becomes less than 25 knots IAS.

- The helicopter lifts off the ground.

It automatically deactivates when:

- Airspeed becomes greater than 35 Knots IAS.

- The helicopter touches down.

When the VTOL gauge is active:

- Throttle axis controls vertical speed.

- Elevator axis controls pitch, and therewith longitudinal speed (forward/backward)

- Aileron axis controls banking, and therewith lateral speed.

- Rudder axis (or if you don't have a seperate rudder axis: rudder keys/buttons)

controls heading.

Autohover/Autopilot.

Anytime in flight when you set the Parking Brake, the VTOL gauge goes into Autohover/

Autopilot mode; when set, the helicopter:

- Maintains current attitude (bank/pitch).

- Maintains the current airspeed, (true) heading and barometric altitude.

This works both in normal flight (Autopilot) and in zero-airspeed flight (Autohover).

Like the other features of this gauge, this function is based on forcing FS9 variables

to calculated values; so it works diferently than a normal Autopilot in FS9. You may

notice very small changes in attitude and altitude; this is intended and deliberately

coded, because no variance at all would be very unnatural :-).

Notes:

1. Make sure that your stick/yoke/pedals are calibrated/centered properly.

2. For Autopilot/Autohover I used the FS9 ParkingBrake function. Maybe not the most

logical one :-), but this is one of the few functions that works for any helicopter

without any side-effects, and without the need to add a visible gauge to your panel.

Disadvantage of using the ParkingBrake is FS9 warning functions:

- When in the air, FS9 constantly gives the warning "ParkingBrake enabled".

Remedy: Under 'Aircraft-RealismeSettings", disable the FlyingTips.

- The red "ParkingBrake" message when ParkingBrake is set.

Remedy: in the [sIM] section of your FS9.cfg, add the line:

SHOW_BRAKE_MESSAGE=0

3. At liftoff, the ParkingBrake is automatically released to prevent an immediate AP

activation when the ParkingBrake was set.

4. If you have rudder pedals with combined toebrakes: be carefull not to move the pedals

when the AP is On: in FS9, even a slight activation of a (toe-)brakes will release

the ParkingBrake !

5. The Realism sliders have NO effect on flight behaviour when the VTOL gauge is Active.

More "Realistic" Realism sliders results in greater difference using this gauge or not.

6. When VTOL is active, wind is taken into account; i.e.: with pitch and bank at zero,

the helicopter "floats with the wind". Use elevator and ailerons to compensate wind

speed/direction if you want a zero-groundspeed touchdown.

7. Of course, at the moment the VTOL gauge kicks in/out, you may notice some transition

behaviour in flight characteristics which can't be avoided :-)

8. Drawback of this VTOL method: some engine meters (like Torque) may give inaccurate

values, especially when the Autopilot is On. Because they react to Throttle position

changes, while actual control is done by the gauge.

******A VERY IMPORTANT note about Vertical Speed control*********

=================================================================

To control vertical speed during VTOL, I need some criterium as measure to calculate

vertical speed. This version uses the assigned Throttle axis (== "Collective") from

your stick/yoke as measure, using a "flatten" algoritme to prevent sudden changes in

vertical speed (because the Throttle axis has no delay).

However, the position of your Throttle lever at which a specific helo will liftoff c.q.

gains altitude, greatly varies. So keep this VTOL gauge generic, the gauge is self-adjusting;

i.o.w. at first liftoff during a flight, it will adapt itself to the given flyghtdynamics

of that particular helo.

HENCE, IT'S VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU FOLLOW THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURE DURING FIRST TAKEOFF:

- Very gradually, increase your throttle lever untill the helo lifts off.

Which is good flying practice anyway :-)

- After that, the gauge is calibrated for the rest of the flight.

Credits, Copyrights and Disclaimer

=================================

This package is a freeware, and installing & using this is at your own risk !

It is available for your personal use, and, without my explicite permission, it may

NOT be sold, modified, re-distributed, re-bundled and/or uploaded to another website

or bulletin board in ANY shape or form.

Thanks to:

- Rex Galway, for thinking with me on this VTOL-for-helicopters, and all his testeffort.

- Doug Dawson, for his great "XML2IPC" gauge, which allows me to interface from my

XML code to FSUIPC.

- Peter Dowson, for creating/maintaining FSUIPC.

- All those addon developpers that have made such wonderfull helicopters.

And last-but-not-least:

I surely don't pretend that this gauge makes helicopter flying more realistic; after

all, it's just a neat "fake" to overcome FS9-limitations and/or given flight dynamics

in some addon's that have "shortcommings".

Nothing more, nothing less.

But it DOES make flying of many simulated helicopters in FS9 a lot easier"

Quote: ''My request goes to those who know the ways to achieve or to modify a

simulator program: pls. try to correct the simulator..''

Here you go:

''FSX Gauges: Rob Barendregt's RCBBsa-20 SpaceFlight gauges: Spaceflight V2.0: This freeware package adds new launch & spaceflight features to Bruce Fitzgerald's spaceshuttle Atlantis, but can be used for other spacecraft as well.''

Chuck B