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Issues and wishes I've come across so far


MatzeH84

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First of all, it's really great to finally have a decent DC-8!

As a lover of classic aviation, this was what I was waiting for pretty long.

I have come across some things that I wanted to share with you:

 

Fuel system:

-the crossfill valves are not functional.

-crossfilling, like Mains with the Aux or vice versa, or from the center, doesn't work.

-tank #3 quantity doesn't decrease during flight.

 

Engines:

-during engine start, fuel flow is already showing even though the fuel lever is still in cutoff

-EPR should be selectable per engine, not for all at once

 

Autopilot:

-the animation of the main switch is very slow, it would sure look much better if this would be sped up

-IAS/ MACH modes can't be selected (which are pretty essential modes during climb)

 

Sound (internal):

-many switches or levers don't have associated sounds; fuel levers or the flap handle are good examples. To 'hear' the notches on the flap lever when selecting the flaps via an axis is a great help during flight, but there are many more examples.

 

Lights:

-the beacon looks weired with its double-flash. Shouldn't there be an old-style rotating beacon?

-the upper white tail light is half embedded within the tail fin.

-no wing illum lights

 

General:

-mousewheel logic isn't straight. Sometimes scrolling up will move a switch or lever up, sometimes down ('wrong' direction for example on the landing/ taxi lights, fuel panel levers)

-inside textures could be greatly improved by giving the cockpit a more 'used' look

-any chance to get the cabin temp, drive and hydraulic shutoff levers left of the FE panel functional?

 

Panels:

-It would be great to have the CDUs as 2D popups. Especially the FOs CDU is hard to access in the VC.

-The AP panel would also come handy as a popup, due to its location in the center pedestal

 

As a question, I know that the long nacelle JT3Ds were capable of in-flight idle reverse on the inboard engines (as the spoiler is available on ground only); does that also count for the shutter door type nacelle (then it would be missing)?

If I can help with testing etc, feel free to contact me. I have countless hours on classic addons and the CIVA INS.

 

Keep up your great work!

Matthias

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Welcome to the forum, Matthias,

 

1 hour ago, MatzeH84 said:

Fuel system:

-the crossfill valves are not functional.

-crossfilling, like Mains with the Aux or vice versa, or from the center, doesn't work.

-tank #3 quantity doesn't decrease during flight.

 

These problems suggest to me that you many not have installed XMLTools, or not installed it successfully, which is necessary for the panel (and most of the systems to function properly).  The fuel panel is fully functional except for cross feeding, which is not used in normal operations. Tank selection (other than cross feeding)  and fuel transfer between tanks is fully simulated.  You need to distinguish between cross feeding, fuel transfer, and tank selection as they are all different things and it's hard for me to know specifically what you think doesn't work.

 

41 minutes ago, MatzeH84 said:

Engines:

-during engine start, fuel flow is already showing even though the fuel lever is still in cutoff

-EPR should be selectable per engine, not for all at once

 

The small is amount of fuel flow before fuel is turned on seem to be how FSX and its derivatives work.  I could code something to mask it, which I think is not a bad idea, but not a priority just now.

 

There are pros and cons to EPR bugs being capable of separate settings.  It would be more realistic, but kind of a pain to set them all and also it would add three click spots to the model which I was very happy to be able to avoid.  The 32 bit version is now just one click spot from enough to cause graphics corruption. This limitation may be gone in 64 bit, but I am not ready at this point to start introducing more differences between the two than strictly necessary.

 

51 minutes ago, MatzeH84 said:

Autopilot:

-the animation of the main switch is very slow, it would sure look much better if this would be sped up

-IAS/ MACH modes can't be selected (which are pretty essential modes during climb)

 

IAS/MACH hold were not usable modes for these aircraft.  This is in the manual, (both the real one and the Aerosoft one) and has been previously discussed on the forum. 

 

As for the speed of the switch you may be correct.  When I tried the switch in a real DC8 I recall I had to push against a powerful spring which I think later made me give it a slow animation. I'll consider speeding it up. 

 

1 hour ago, MatzeH84 said:

Lights:

-the beacon looks weired with its double-flash. Shouldn't there be an old-style rotating beacon?

-the upper white tail light is half embedded within the tail fin.

-no wing illum lights


The beacon is made to look like the video footage I have of a 50 series taxiing at night in a Just Planes Fine Air video. 
The wing flood lights are not modelled as I can't think why anyone would need them.

 

I could move the upper tail light a little to better match the lower one.  But they are both intended to be slightly embedded in the fuselage. 

 

1 hour ago, MatzeH84 said:

inside textures could be greatly improved by giving the cockpit a more 'used' look


They were all new once.  Some people won't like the degree of wear and tear no matter how it looks, so I won't be changing that. 

 

1 hour ago, MatzeH84 said:

-mousewheel logic isn't straight. Sometimes scrolling up will move a switch or lever up, sometimes down

 

At some point I may try to make this more consistent, but not a priority right now.

 

1 hour ago, MatzeH84 said:

any chance to get the cabin temp, drive and hydraulic shutoff levers left of the FE panel functional?

 

No, because it was decided at the beginning of the project that normal operations only would be simulated and these controls (aside from setting a couple of levers as part of the pre-flight) are not used in normal operations. And see the comment above with respect to the maximum number of click spots. 

 

1 hour ago, MatzeH84 said:

As a question, I know that the long nacelle JT3Ds were capable of in-flight idle reverse on the inboard engines (as the spoiler is available on ground only); does that also count for the shutter door type nacelle (then it would be missing)?


The inboard engines will reverse in the air by clicking on either of their reverser handles.  This is in the manual and can also be done on the ground.  If it doesn't work then you haven't successfully installed XMLTools -- see above. 

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Regarding the fuel system, I replied to another topic with more in-depth informations. This is a major issue for me, that currently renders the plane unusable.

Plus, please consider a working crossfeed system, it would add immense value to this aircraft.

 

Engines, EPR bugs was just an idea. Masking the fuel flow would be great however. Though not a top priority issue..

 

AP: Allright, I'm with you here.

 

Lights: Wing flood should would be used below TA/ 10k ft additionally to the landing lights (which may depend on the airline), so some effect would be not too bad. Makes good screenshots from the outside even better!

 

Sound: I saw that the flap lever indeed HAS sound, but only if you use buttons or the mouse to operate it. If you use an axis, the lever has NO sounds. Would be great if you could look into this, as it's a nice help to determine the positions by ear.

 

Panels: Any tendency on 2D popups for the CDUs?

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3 hours ago, MatzeH84 said:

Lights: Wing flood should would be used below TA/ 10k ft additionally to the landing lights

 

The wing floods are lights near the top of the fuselage that illuminate the upper suface of the wings.  They cannot be used in any way as landing lights.  There are wing mounted landing lights on the underside of the wings that are simulated.  The wing floods would be to allow visual inspection of the wings at night, presumably for ice or some kind of suspected damage, or for ground operations at night if some kind of work was required on top of the wings.  None of those things are simulated. 

 

Dynamic lights don't work for this as they shine through the wing and illuminate parts that shouldn't get light as well as the ground under the wings.  Light maps could be done, but it's a lot of extra textures and development time for very little advantage. 

 

3 hours ago, MatzeH84 said:

he flap lever indeed HAS sound, but only if you use buttons or the mouse to operate it. If you use an axis, the lever has NO sounds

 

I will look at this.

 

 

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You'll have to tell me how you are using an axis to raise and lower the gear. I don't see any axis assignment for this in my control settings. 

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Of course they cannot be used as landing lights, however, they are usually used to make the aircraft more visible to other aircraft on ground and in the terminal area. The landing lights do their job in front, and the wing lights on the sides. You'll see DC-9's / MD-80s for example using the ground illum and wing lights, which add 2 lights per side .Same on the 737.

 

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-Transport-International-ATI/McDonnell-Douglas-DC-8-71-F/874740?qsp=eJxVjs0OgkAMhN%2BlZy7%2BhBhucvGoB1%2Bg6Y6wEWHTbYKE8O7ugjHx1pmvnelMMvSGt92nAKooglVaKiiw8itSNRN7FeWH1Ry9bGuncr8rfuCCHvqPnpjGQV26p943raXAOKjVUzIcG84iCAb39a/qoBkhytrd5F%2BOeYTeNnUok3Q%2Bho7XFBj7jpblAzH1QG0%3D

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled-Jet-Aviation/McDonnell-Douglas-DC-8-72/1034060?qsp=eJxVjrEOwjAMRP/FcxdAqlA3ujDCwA9YztFGlCRyLEFV9d9JS4XE5rtn33kiicHwttuYQA1lsEpPFSVWfmZqJmKvony3lrOX79qx3u%2BqHzgjQP/RA%2BMrqiv3FHzXWwnMUa0di%2BHYcBJBMrjNv6iDLghZ1u5u%2BeWwjNDrpuoinc9p4DUFxn6gef4AMc9AbA%3D%3D

 

If it's too much effort, no problem. It just would be a 'nice to have' addition. As a 'simple' user, it always seems easy, especially as other addons (NGX, Maddog..) feature these lights as dynamic.

 

I operate he gear using a switch, but the flaps by axis, assigned through FSUIPC. But also P3D offers a 'Flap Axis' assignment, which should work the same way.

 

I really appreciate your responsive support!

 

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I somehow misread flap lever for gear lever.  I'll look at the flap sound issue using an axis, but need to get some other things sorted first. 

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