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DirkBoehm

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Posts posted by DirkBoehm

  1. Hi,

    just a short comment.

    There's no trial version of Condor.

    Nevertheless I own a Condor license and did never regret. I use both (FSX and Condor) for soaring but with slightly different attitudes.

    FSX I use for flightseeing, exploring great scenery, trying out different planes and having fun with missions (special thanks to all mission developers here).

    It's a pleasure that one could go out for soaring worldwide in a couple of seconds, having all types of weather conditions.

    Another reason (for me) to use FSX is navigation. I love to fly IFRR - I Follow Roads and Rivers - With FSX graphics, details and Addons it's possible and kind of realistic. Say far more realistic then with the comic-like-graphics[TM] Condor offers.

    Condor I use if I'm in the mood for a little competition. Especially for competition Condor offers same planes for all (as they are approved by Condor-Dev-Team), FAI handicap system, different types of tasks, a good weather-engine for soaring (although it's always flying-conditions there - no rain, wind with a max of 50km/h), hundreds of tasks downloadable from a database wehere you can search for tasks with different properties (as estimated flight time, difficulty, type - e.g. mountain or thermal flying) and so on. Additionally one doesn't have to prepare an event weeks before it takes place, inviting those few pilots and hoping they participate. There are races out there in the web you can join almost 24/7.

    I'm pretty sure FSX is getting closer every week and Condor has it's limits, too.

    You just have to know what you need the simulator for and then chose the one suiting best for you. That's not easy , I admit that.

    Cheers,

    Dirk.

  2. Hi Karen,

    a little addition from my side:

    I've been using Vista64bit Ultimate for a year now. There's some minor issues, it's quite RAM consuming but it works pretty smart here. And with switching DirectX10-Preview on I gained about 5 to 10 % frame rate - even with all those shadows turned ON.

    If you have special questions about Vista64 just let me know.

    Cheers,

    Dirk.

  3. Hey guys,

    great idea. Is there someone who can host and wants to fly some Multiplayer-Misson-Glider-Races? Preferably 20:oo UTC - 01:oo UTC? on weekends possibly +1 or +2 longer.

    I'd really love to try that out. But give me some time to react. I'm not online every day/night and - special thanks to my boss here - need some time to save a little time window in my schedule.

    Dirk.

  4. Hi,

    how's this for a looping ? :big_boss:

    gaviewer_00.jpg

    It's a recording of an FSX looping as displayed in an aerobatic viewer...

    One thing's for sure - we need a lot of new - decent - airfiles... :smoke:

    :cheers2:

    Max.

    Respect, Max! :clapping: That really looks great.

    :cheers2:

    Now we need a Fox - or some glider with similar performance, which should be able to spin and slip and... ! Uh, any designer out there?

    Dirk.

  5. Here a sneak preview of the upcoming life cloud feature.

    Guess which work and which are going to die.

    Cheers, Peter

    Hi Peter,

    thank you so much for implementing this feature. I'm really looking forward to this one.

    BTW: Another idea of improvement came into my mind while watching your preview pics:

    What about optional cloud shadows? As I'm getting lower and lower I'm usually orientating myself by the use of the shadows when flying Condor[TM]. Is there a way to get them?

    Cheers,

    Dirk.

  6. Hey Pals,

    call me an ignorant, but I won't worry too much about that.

    Why? Hmm.... here's my Top 6:

    1st

    There has always[TM] been a M$ FS

    2nd

    Better times will come... don't exactly know when, but they surely will. Just relax a bit. :winks:

    3rd

    How old is this MSFS 9er now? Haven't there still new addons beeing released lately (e.g. Active Sky Advaced)?

    4th

    On how many computers is FSX running at full max settings now?

    5th

    Have you been to all interesting soaring sites in FSX? I haven't and I'm sure there's plenty of hours of fun left for my FSX.

    6th

    Hey, those ACES people have been fired, they did not exactly die.

    Just my xx Cents.

    Cheers,

    Dirk.

  7. Your wife should also forbid you to drink beer during long flights :cry:

    Cheers

    Bert

    Good point Bert! I'll add that as a "rule" to my Thread up there, if you don't mind :thanks:

    Dirk, as I'm sure you know, the official pee bag for virtual flying is the "pause" button,...

    Pause Button? Where's it located in virtual cockpit of the DG-808? And what the hack should I do after pressing it? Jump out of a fully functional aircraft? No Way! :D

    Dirk.

  8. Hello Dirk. How goes the battle? Just wondering if you took a break from it, or if you came to an unexpected snag. Would love to see a good winch launch system in FSX.

    Scott

    Hi Scott,

    sad but true: I'm stuck in real life issues for month now and no end in sight. I've still in mind to finish the project this winter - after our roof is repaired, my three additional projects (for the job I'm beeing payed for) are finished. Can't remember when I had a week with less then 6 (12 hour +) days wasting just for the darn money :winks:

    I'll keep you informed as soon as I'll resume developing.

    :cheers2: Dirk.

  9. LOL well done - not exactly a record time but so long as you enjoyed it! FYI I'm in the process of tweaking the Mifflin missions to use the new SOAR DG808S - at the moment we're in the twilight zone where the pilot may or may not have the SOAR DG installed and this affects the default DG808S performance...

    Ian

    True words you spoke Ian.

    My time wasn't the best. I have to admit that I followed the wrong ridge up to Lock Haven, Piper Memorial Airport. The upwind jump then did cost some time, but... After I realized that I followed the wrong ridge I was so confused that I went for real safety on my way back to Mifflin, resulting in obligatory "low" pass about 1200ft above usual height. :embaressed:

    I really should do some more practice:

    To keep you informed, here's my next desaster. Mifflin Day 5. I have earned the reward. Yes. But better do not ask for my time. :whistling: I crossed the finish line after 4:19:32 - And rushed down for a quick land. Think I never needed a toilet more than in this moment (according to your SimSoaring Rule: My wife has forbidden any pee-bag handling in my home office).

    If we forget about this little problem, I have to admit that your Missions (all of them) are great. The way you are imitating radio sound and quality is really stunning. Awesome. (BTW: Is it a secret, how you produce those?)

    I enjoyed all 5 days in Mifflin and I'm really looking forward to your next missions.

    If you get around my place, don't hesitate to remind me that I owe you some beers. :respect:

    :cheers2: Dirk.

  10. Has anybody success with lates version of Pihelgas Aerotow module? I cannot get it to work, it seems as if it does not recognize the request for the tow plane.

    The menu does not show up and the tow-plase behaves totally as usual.

    regards,

    Peter

    Nope. But I have to admit that I haven't tried. If you need me to test it out, let me know. I think I should land at Mifflin in about 1 1/2 h later. Damn long, this Day 5 task

    Dirk.

  11. LOL - 6. Only throw out the pee-bag when over another gliding airfield.

    Ian

    Hey, nice one Ian! :big_boss:

    And important in RL, too. Even more important, I should say.

    Well, to be honest, I have a quite satisfactory hardware equipment for virtual soaring, but I still don't have neither any liquid nor any olfactory devices installed. Now I know: I never will install. :angel:

    However, No. 6 adopted. :thanks:

  12. Friends, pilots, soaring-men,

    lend me your ears! I come to bury Caesar not to praise... Stop. That's wrong somehow.

    Those of you knowing Shakespears original will agree that this is one of the best starts of a powerful speach. Well, that could be the reason, why I messed this up.

    Starting from scratch:

    Everyone will agree that some rules are neccessary for a community to live peaceful together and still survive long enough.

    For virtual soaring, I started to write down some personal rules, coming from experiance and common sense. As for others not needing to make same errors while virtually beeing up there in dangerous altitude, I consider it important to publish them here.

    Feel free to complete them with our own personal rules, as those are as important for others to survive, as are mine. I think we can make a really funny thread out of this... did I write "funny"? - I meant "informative" instead. :embaressed: :whistling:

    Rule 1:

    Don't write emails or explore the internet while flying close to a ridge. This can be extremely dangerous! :embaressed:

    Rule 2:

    If you're wondering why your plane is falling like a brick... check gear, spoilers and flaps. Effect can be a great relieve when you get that spoilers back in :lightbulb:

    Rule 3:

    "Every cloud has a silver lining" - When you're flying right throug a cloud in multiplayer, the silver lining could be reflections on the wing of another pilot ignoring that gliders fly under VFR. In that case he's most probably flying towards you. A collision might be the result. :blush:

    Rule 4:

    "Think positive - flaps negative" is not always a good idea. Especially when you're already near Vne.

    Rule 5:

    Tow pilots are stupid. Be happy that they are. It's always a good idea to have an idiot to blame when you're flying awfully again. :yahoo:

    Rule 6 (by "fosterlewis"):

    Only throw out the pee-bag when over another gliding airfield.

    ...

    Hope you now know how important this thread could be, if developed in the right direction.

    Please help to save virtual lifes.

    :cheers2:

    Cheers,

    Dirk.

  13. A few months ago there was a buzz aboout a new glider being developed by Aerosoft for FSX. Does any one have any new information on it or was the project file 13ed ie droped, dumped, etc. I found that the links to the development pictures no longer work. I hope they are still moving forward on this as there seems to be a bit of a famine on new gliders for FSX. I'm looking forward the the ASTIR.

    Hi,

    a short look into Aerosofts official forums discovers: THIS

    Using the SOAR search function here returns: THAT

    But be careful... reading both threads is highly addictive. Can't wait to put my hands on Ian's C4.

    Dirk.

  14. anything you'd add?

    As we now (or in closer future) have IGC-File loggings, Sim_Probe, CumulusX! and quite a good set of races... What about ASIs with Großkinski-Style flap rings for at least some of our high performance gliders?

    Shouldn't be too, difficult for you, as you can "read out" speed polars with your C4 directly, or did I miss something?

    Think positive - flaps negative :winks:

    Dirk

  15. p.s. I should comment relative to Dirk's post:

    sim_probe would probably need to address this issue if needed but as a ridge-pilot with over half my total 1200 hours flying the Appalacian ridges I don't think the effect is significant relative to other factors. Firstly as a pilot you much more notice the crab angle (yaw) as you fly down the ridge, giving the impression you are always flying slightly away from the ridge, and this swamps any wing-up/wing-down effect you describe. But mainly in real life the turbulence is so strong anywhere near the ridge that there is no way you could feel one wing vs. the other. If you slow down to reduce the pain then you are much higher above the ridge with a high crab angle, and if you get down to the ridge at 100+ knots (as per FSX generally) you are bouncing around so much you're more concerned about not putting your head through the canopy than a differential between the lift beneath each wing. In FSX so far we've only modelled *very* little turbulence in the simulated ridge soaring we do, and it's probably most pilots wouldn't be comfortable with the 'real-life' ratio of lift to turbulence.

    cheers - Ian

    Hi Ian,

    thank you very much for clearing this up for me. As I've written above, my only experience as "PIC" (ridge soaring and thermal gliding) comes from RC world.

    Peter, with this new information, I think you can cancel that point in my priority list.

    :cheers2: Dirk.

  16. Hi Ian,

    sounds like it was a lot harder to implement than we thought on first sight. But I'm glad you went through it. this Discus(es) will be a definitive "must have" in my hangar. Can't wait for them. Please be sure that the C4 is not the smallest factor for that. :yahoo:

    Glad to hear that you're planning a new mission, too. Although still i'm not through with mifflin.

    BTW: Let me know if you need ideas for new missions :winks: I could hand you some coordinates for a challenging task or two, if you are interested.

    :cheers2: Dirk.

  17. If you're interested, this 'little' project is moving along... [snipped the rest of this post]

    Hi Ian,

    great to hear that sort of news. :respect: I had a phone call from Joachim yesterday. He just informed me about the actual (overall) project status. I'm really looking forward to flying these gliders. But I have to admit that I'm quite curious now. :embaressed:

    The sound you made. Would it be available to new (additional) gauges as well? Will it be additional to original FSX sound or will it replace original vario sound?

    Have you had to make a lot of compromises? What about the "multiple waypoint problem" - have you found a way to get around this one or did you have to cut it down to "just the next waypoint"?

    :cheers2: Dirk.

  18. Hi Peter,

    I'll put hand on your priority list and partly comment my decisions:

    #    Priority    Comment / Explanation
    1    6    Sure a great feature but quite seldom in real life. Honestly, how often do you fly using wave lift in comparison to thermal or normal ridge lift?
    2    3    Where would get terrain info from? Sim_Probe or Slope-Databases? In both cases much more realistic than now -> Great.
    3    7    For me it’s minor priority because I usually shoot myself up with slew mode to 1000-1500ft AGL as multiplayer mode messes up when too many tow planes are flying
    4    8    It would be enough for me to make the tow plane fly some kind of patterns (without getting too near to ground or even crash into some hills around
    5    9    No(!) priority for me. I don’t mind getting towed by the Maule M7 all time.
    6    1    It would be great if one could decide if it is worth to head for a cloud - Therefore it's necessary to see if a cloud develops or if it’s in a dying stage. 
    7    4    If you could add different lift/sink effect for right and left wings too, it would be easier to "feel" where the centre of the thermal is. 
    8    5    Nice way to add some realism. Nothing more.
    9    2    I’d love to have the clouds look far more realistic than now. It’s too easy to see the borders of those clouds, too.
    ..and I have some further questions:
    #    Question
    1    Where would get terrain info from? Sim_Probe or Slope-Databases?

    Back to #7 - detailed description of what I meant with my comment:

    Following experiance is simplyfied - I know that but necessary to explain my experiances while RC-soaring and as real-life saoring passenger (regretfully not as pilot). If you measure the lift inside a thermal while flying right through the centre you would usually first measure sink, then slight lift getting stronger as you move towards the centre of the thermal. Right at center you have maximum of lift. As you increase distince to the centre again, the lift rate decreases again untill you find roughly same sink as in the beginiing of our tour through the thermal.

    If you fly a tangential route with your left wing inside the sink area surrounding a thermal, left wing drops (as it is exposed to sink) and your plane is forced to bank left. In this stage you can simply add left rudder and increase bank and you'll enter the thermal.

    If you fly on an intersecting route through the thermal, your inner wing is exposed to stronger lift then the outter, which results in a banking force again. This time the plane tries to bank up with the wing that points to the centre.

    With this information it would be much easier to centre in a thermal lift then now.

    Again another simplification - this time while having fun at ridges:

    As you increase your distance to a working ridge, you get less lift. As you usually fly parallel to the ridge, it's your lee-side wing (the one that's closer to the ridge) that gets more lift, resulting in a banking moment (away from ridge) again. The steeper the ridge the stronger is the difference of lift between both wing tips.

    Hope you see my point. If not, just let me know for I'll explain it in a PM or e-mail in german... or simply give me a call.

    Dirk.

  19. oops.

    Ian

    ...and another one... Day 3 this time.

    1) in the briefing I was told about a start height of 6000ft - and was shocked to jump into flight at 3000ft ... instantly had to find another route than expected. Think you really need Mic and me as beta testers :winks:

    2) Think you mixed up something with the expected time to fly again. Shouldn't it be 2:40 instead of 1:40? :embaressed: or was it just me, flying like crap this time?

    Could be true with point 2), cause I really was performing like a rookie. But still ... I got around. It took me some years of my life and 2:20h but who cares? :whistling: :yahoo:

    :cheers2: Dirk.

  20. Day 2 Trial 2: Finished... slow but still in one piece: 1:54:18

    Why couldn't someone have warned me that getting back to the ridge at TP2 is NOT the tricky part? :D

    Wow. Great Task Ian!

    BTW: Who's that new voice congratulating me after finish. I wasn't really prepared to find someone new at radio after finish... and had a *&%! of a job to get my DG back to ground :whistle:

    :cheers2: Dirk.

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