Clipper does not move in water

[beroun]

Hi there,

Not too much into sea planes but have uploaded Mike Stone's Boeing314 Clipper. For some reason the aircraft does not move in water - full throttle and no motion? Tried different panels, still no take-off. Different sea planes take off from this seaport OK, So it must be something specific with Mikes Clipper.

Probably some trivia?

Any clue?

[jgf]

A major failing of FS2004.  There seems to be too much "friction" to the water;  unlike RL you cannot move easily under partial throttle, even with small floatplanes it usually requires full throttle just to get moving, at which point you suddenly jump to 40kts.  Also means there's a good chance you will crash on landing no matter how slowly and softly you touch down.

 

I believe a "fix" involves tweaking the contact points;  I've not done this myself though have gotten some edited cfg files that certainly helped, at least could take off and land, even "taxi" (though much too fast still).

 

With some aircarft turning off collision detection seems to help.

[beroun]

Tried to tweak the contact points in line with a similar sea plane I have (which moves in water OK). But no luck, the Clipper looks like tied up - no movement with full throttles.

I can actually sometimes get it to move when slewing (Y) a bit in either direction and hitting Y again. Weird. Mainly because all other sea planes I have take off OK?

All other Mike Stone's aircraft are excellent, so surprised to see this flaw. Also jfg, do not have the collision detection turned on.

 

[defaid]

Hi Peter.

 

I wonder what plane you downloaded, and from where.

 

I thought I'd have a look at what is available in the library here. For Mike Stone's Clipper, I found four useful downloads: two complete aircraft and two updates. I found no problem taking off with all these variations on his B314.

 

Dave Torkington's Dixie Clipper -- full aircraft

Don Brynelsen's Island Queen -- full aircraft

"Boeing 314 Clipper Upgrade" by Bob Chicilo -- replacement b314.air & aircraft.cfg

"Boeing B314 Pacific Clipper NC18602" by Evan G. Butterbrodt -- another replacement aircraft.cfg

 

***

 

Dave Torkington's Dixie Clipper has a clean panel with magnetos & battery, but no generators. Without altering fuel or payload, it lifts itself out of the water at around 108 kt if trimmed very slightly nose up. I think it may climb slightly better than Don Brynelsen's Island Queen which I also tried. For sound, it aliases the stock DC3 sounds so if you've deleted that aircraft, you won't hear much.

 

The Island Queen has more informative engine gauges. It also takes off perfectly well. I do miss the semblance of a proper startup though - Ctrl+E doesn't really do it for me, and it's necessary to watch engine rpm while continuing to hold the keys down: I was misled by the manifold pressure gauges and ended up with only three engines running. On the other hand, it automatically extends full flaps when you start the engines and rises onto the step at about 85 kt. With a tad of nose-up, it takes off at about 97 kt. It has its own sounds but some of the wavs are really badly clipped, making it horrible in cruise.

 

Third trial, having opted for the Island Queen, was to add Bob Chicilo's upgrade: a reworked b314.air file, an alternative aircraft.cfg file and some revamped effects. Copying the aircraft.cfg across (per the readme) is a mistake as it doesn't have the correct repaints listed so I pasted the relevant text into the existing aircraft.cfg. The spray & wake are much improved but the plane now needs a lot more nose up to part company with the water.

 

All three iterations so far handle too much like the stock C172 for my liking. Even with 100% fuel though no payload, they are all very sprightly. On such a large and old aircraft I'd expect a lot more inertia but maybe I'm just getting used to that C-130... A 75° bank and still climbing just doesn't seem right.

 

Final trial was with Evan G. Butterbrodt's alternative aircraft.cfg file. A two second glance showed vastly increased moments of inertia so I was hopeful of more realism once airborne. I didn't want to mess about with textures so same routine: copy the text & paste into the existing aircraft.cfg. It needs even more nose-up to unstick. It also has a better rate of climb. It still has a surprisingly light response to inputs but isn't nearly as neurotically twitchy. Now, if only it had a VC...

 

For sound, in the end I opted for a set of Rolls-Royce Hercules. I don't recall where it came from - might have been Aeroplane Heaven, First Class Simulations or Wings of Power. Possibly even a library download. It's warmer, relatively gentle on the ears in the cruise... and unbelievably loud at full chat.

 

***

 

My favourite combi is below but, as I wrote, all these taxi, take off and fly.

 

Base aircraft included in Don Brynelsen's Island Queen (iqb314db.zip)
Bob Chicilo's effects & improved b314.air (b314up.zip)
Evan G. Butterbrodt's improved flight dynamics in aircraft.cfg (b314_02.zip)
Avro Lancaster RR Hercules sounds

 

D

[Tom Gibson]

I also have a replacement FDE from FSAviator available.

 

http://www.calclassic.com/b314.htm

[hjwalter]

Well Guys, out of pure inquisitiveness I downloaded this "B-314 Island Queen", in fact only to see if my FS9 water was just as "sticky" or "massive" as mentioned in this thread.

 

However, the plane immediately did everything it was expected to do from my water areas, even it's water rudder worked correctly but when going through it's aircraft.cfg file I found many errors, especially in it's contact point section. E.g. wheels were specified but this plane does not have a landing gear. One of it's textures is even specified as a PDF file. Never seen that before.

 

Anyway, after quite some deletions, streamlining, corrections and tweaking in it's aircraft.cfg file (and panel), the plane at least performed a little better. I saw no issues with sticky or tough water.

 

I'm now looking for a more realistic panel from that era and if found I will most probably tweak this very old (maybe ex FS98 ?) plane further (as defaid did) and keep it in my collection.

 

Regards

 

Hans

 

 

 

 

[Tom Gibson]

There is a Ken Mitchell panel linked on my page above.

[lastivka]

Boeing B-314 Virtual Cockpit

For those wanting to have the B-314 Clipper with a Virtual Cockpit, there is an FSX converted version with a VC by Erwin Welker. By applying a patch, you can revert it to an FS9 version with a VC!

Erwin's version can be downloaded here:

https://www.flightsim.com/files/file/202514-fsxp3d-v3-boeing-314-clipper

The FS9 patch can be downloaded here:

https://simviation.com/1/search?submit=1&keywords=Boeing314Clipper.zip

 

Boeing B-314 Sound

A sound package for the B-314 Clipper was made by Aaron Swindle from Skysong Soundworks (sb314_sound.ZIP though I can't remember where I got it from). The sound package was included in the FS2002 of the Sikorsky S-42A:

https://www.flightsim.com/files/file/48931-fs2002-pan-am-sikorsky-s-42a/

and was also included in Michale Pooks' mod of the Clipper:

https://simviation.com/1/search?submit=1&keywords=FSX_B314Clipper_Panel_and_Sound_Update.zip

 

Paul

 

[hjwalter]

Tom Gibson,

 

I found and downloaded your advised DC-4/6 v6 panel but because I've had some very bad eperiences with auto-installers I custom installed your panel into a non-FS9 "working folder", after which I copied/pasted the completed panel into my B-314 folder. However, when I now open the B-314 cockpit with the new panel I get an error message, which refers to one or more missing sound files.

Included with your downloaded panel there is a separate sound folder but without any references to it in your panel.cfg file, where such reterences are usually situated.  According to your "Readme" these sounds are linked to one or more gauges ...... BUT ...... in that very special case, where should this sound folder or the .WAV files themselves, be positioned ?

 

I thank you in advance for any trouble taken.

 

Regards

 

Hans

 

 

 

[Tom Gibson]

Normally the entire folder goes into your main Sound folder.

 

I did not mention a DC-4/6 panel, but instead a custom 314 panel from Ken Mitchell.  There are no sounds in that panel.

[hjwalter]

Thanks Tom for your reaction. I'll try placing the sound folder in my main sound folder tomorrow.

 

Hans

 

[hjwalter]

Tom,

 

Problem solved. Thanks for your help.

 

Hans