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[FSX] [P3D V1] DHC-6-300 Wheels Alternative FDE and Engine simulation


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Ok Everyone!

 

Here are the files to my alternative FDE and engine system for the DHC-6-300. Please note these files are going to be minimally supported by me because I usually work 5 days a week, working 80 hours flying twin otters. With that said, installation is simple, the zip file is the same name of the aircraft where the files should be put.

 

READ THIS: http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/88611-updated-fde-to-twin-otter-updated-2842015/ <--this is the original post with the actual changes made and what they do.

 

Rule 1!

BACK UP YOUR Aerosoft_DHC6_300_WHEEL. Put it in a safe place because this is like taking the red pill, there is no going back.

 

Rule 2!

DO NOT distribute these files without my permission and Aerosoft's permission. I spent several weeks getting the tweaks right.

 

Rule 3!

YOU are test pilots by using this change. If you have problems, let me know EXACTLY what you were doing before the error, when it occurred and send screen shots/video. anything to help me and the other pilots reproduce the error.

 

I am not responsible for your use/misuse of these files or any harm that comes to it

 

Unzip the contents of the Aerosoft_DHC6_300_WHEEL.zip file into the Aerosoft_DHC6_300_WHEEL folder located in your Microsoft Flight Simulator X\SimObjects\Airplanes\ directory. When it asks you to either merge or overwrite, click yes and yes. That's it.

 

What these files do:

 

They simulate the DHC-6-300 using 4 bladed hartzell propellers and rewrite the turbine engine code to match observed temperatures, autofeather system, Fuel flow, torque etc. in our aircraft. It's as close as I can get it for now.

 

This will cause all the DHC-6-300's from aerosoft to use the same code, EVEN if the air and cfg changes are not utilized. THIS WILL CAUSE A MISMATCH IN PERFORMANCE. Meaning the DHC-6-300 floats, tundra etc any Aerosoft_DHC6_300_XXX will use the _WHEEL gauge code but will not use the cfg/air file changes because those are aircraft variant specific.

 

If this is not what you want. Copy the original TW_System folder from the wheel version to all the other 300 variants then copy & Rename the provided panel-ALT.cfg file to the other variants and rename it panel.cfg, making sure to overwrite the original (make sure to back up the original).

 

I will update this post as necessary to clarify any items that come up.

 

Have fun fly safe

 

**** NOTE FROM AEROSOFT *****

These files are to be regarded as 3rd party "Alternative" FDE's and Aerosoft can/will not provide any kind of support for issues occuring when using these files.

Since the altered files are legible property of Aerosoft, the agreement with Capt. Crash is that he is allowed to upload his files to this forum. This means that the files must not be distributed in any form by others or elsewhere.

 

The Aerosoft Twin Otter Extended is now 1½ year old and is regarded as a finished product. New features and updates are not planned for the time being.

At some point it´s necessary for a company like Aerosoft to let go of a project and spend their resources elsewhere. Therefore there are also no plans to include these files in possible upcoming hotfixes.

As a code developer I am still willing to make smaller hotfixes if they can easily be accomplished. I´m also willing to support Capt. Crash if he should need my help.

 

I want to thank Capt. Crash for his great contribution.

 

On behalf of Aerosoft.

Finn Jacobsen

  Aerosoft_DHC6_300_WHEEL.zip

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Capt Crash,

Thanks for your great work! One small hint for improvement: Could you please add something like a version to the file, as you might find additional improvements. And some type of change log file in the ZIP so that we know, what was modified would be great. Many of us have several liveries installed or adopted the files for home cockpits etc.

Alternatively this can be documented here whenever a new version will come.

Best regards

Reinhard

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Good we have a coach :excellenttext_s: how to fly this bird - i really like this Extended twin but never flown it for real so how are we to know . The Cessna 210 i did and i really knew about engine management flying it for real so i bought the Carenado version and flying by the numbers, it was not even close that was the end of that . I kinda thought they would support you here for the changes cause they are pretty good for their service when we have problems, cause all said and done this is a real fine model and i have no complaints -

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Ok I notice the shutdown is way longer than original version. It that suppose to run down over 3 minutes

I notice you haven't feathered the props before shutting down, which would make it shorter. Spindown is reported to take forever (okay, 'a long time') when start locks are fitted. (I don't know enough about how the governor system works to know how long the props take to feather automatically if you haven't selected feather.)

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Ok I notice the shutdown is way longer than original version. It that suppose to run down over 3 minutes

old shutdown

https://youtu.be/3GVpT_BIRIA

new adjusted files shutdown

https://youtu.be/s_FNJcJkvCI

When we shut down the aircraft, the props are feathered and that run down time is accurate. If you want an example of how long an unfeathered prop takes to spin down: https://youtu.be/oMhkCx7GcRI?t=61. That is a geared engine too which is direct drive, a free wheeling turbine like the PT-6A would take even longer. The spool times are accurate. Thanks for the help! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Here is our shutdown checklist:

Parking Brake: Set ( C )

Bleed Air / Air Conditioner: OFF (FO)

Generators: OFF ( C )

Power Levers: IDLE ( C )

Prop Levers: Feather ( C )

Fuel Levers: Stabilized Idle, OFF ( C )

External Lights: OFF (FO)

Avionics Masters: OFF (FO)

--END CHALLENGE RESPONSE--

the rest of the items are captain items like boost pumps and what not

There are no auto-feather mechanisms in the Twin Otter that are used outside of Take-Off. Once the auto feather system is shut-off, the only way to feather is with the prop lever. There is also no unfeathering accumulator, so there is no way to unfeather the prop in flight without reaching the minimum governing rpm to bring it out of feather via an air-start. The reason for this is the prop reduction gear box is lubricated by an engine driven pump which only works if the power section (gas generator) is running. The prop/gearbox turbine shaft is not directly attached to the Gas Generator (hence free turbine)

One error in the video, the prop lever only changes the fuel schedule to the engine on start up, not in flight. Prop levers full forward below 50F and 3000 feet pressure Alt to allow the second stage fuel nozzles to come on earlier. Above 50F or above 3000ft pressure alt: Prop levers feather to delay the second stage ignition to prevent a hot start.3-36.jpg So if you could unfeather the prop in flight, without the GG turning to get at least 80PSI of oil pressure you will eat the gear box and seize the prop in place. Our emergency checklist calls for the immediate feathering of the prop if the GG runs down due to shut down or failure to avoid severe gearbox damage.

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Captain crash

thank you kindly for taking the time to explain. Then it is 100% with me. I also understand it is free running. I am just so used to the very short engine stop time of old version.

Edit

Just did a flight and shutdown according to your checklist. Would you be so kind to watch and explain what I am doing wrong as the props still take forever to run down. I have not yet seen a real live video where the props run down so long. So obviously I am doing something wrong, the fuel was cut at about 22 seconds and the blades only stopped at 4:22, meaning the run down is basically 4 minutes. Please help me understand what I am doing wrong.

in this video you can see how quickly the engine stops

in real earoplane
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Stop the horses - Found the issue ..!

I think I sorted the problem. When the I closed the prop lever it did not go all the way back. When I click the prop levers and drag them still another 1 mm, then the engine feather and then the rundown is very short. Sorry for wasting your times. Just a computer pilot pleb..! Will have to make sure prop levers get properly closed. Seem to me the control to close the prop lever is not working so good. (was only bringing it to 0% but not in feathered position - you can clearly hear the engine being feather when you pulled back prop levers that little bit more back with mouse - 14-16 seconds mark). So when I use the mouse it seem I prop lever can go that very little further back to feather engine. So I will try and solve my prop lever control. (would prefer not to use the mouse as I have a simple pc "cockpit build" for the twin otter).

I am a happy chappy...!!

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When the I closed the prop lever it did not go all the way back

If you use LINDA or FSUIPC, this way is reliable (FSX event codes in comments):

function Feather_Left_Prop()
    _PROP_PITCH1_HI()    -- 66007
    _PROP_PITCH1_DECR()  -- 66006
end

function Unfeather_Left_Prop()
    _PROP_PITCH1_HI()    -- 66007
end

function Feather_Right_Prop()
    _PROP_PITCH2_HI()    -- 66012
    _PROP_PITCH2_DECR()  -- 66011
end

function Unfeather_Right_Prop()
    _PROP_PITCH2_HI()    -- 66012
end
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Problem is that feathering the props via hardware axid' in FSX is abit funky, often i need to put the levers a bit forward and then slam them back into feathered position.

Finn

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thanks Mark thanks Finn.

mark yes I will try your proposal.

-edit

Mark I am actually using Lua files to drive my controller, so I just added a line for each hardware controller (prop lever) in each lua script to force it all the way back.

eg left engine I added line. this force it into feather.

ipc.control(66006, -16384)

all working 100% now and all the time I was thinking it was feathered. :banghead1_s:

O'boy now it is working so nice.!

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I run into this with the baron sim in the redbird I manage. CTRL+F1 or an axis movement assigned in FS does not feather the prop, ALTHOUGH it may put the lever in the feathered position on the model. the additional ctrl+F2 command is required to send it into feather. FSUIPC is good at managing this.

Glad you like it Bliksimpie!

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Hey, this look like great work ! Is it simulating only for bladed Twin Otter engines ?

It should work with the 3 bladed props, but the CFG/airfile edits in place only account for the 4 bladed version. So any other 300 wheel variants will perform like a 4 bladed Hartzell prop aircraft. the performance is slightly different and the GG speed is slightly lower at idle. 3 bladed props are louder and bigger but perform a bit better. From the point of view of the sim pilot, nothing really changes.

The 3 bladed hartzell prop aircraft has an Idle GG of 51% vs 58% for the hartzell 4 bladed. The prop MOI is probably a bit different but ultimately it will still follow the same-ish book values. nothing of significance.

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It should work with the 3 bladed props, but the CFG/airfile edits in place only account for the 4 bladed version. So any other 300 wheel variants will perform like a 4 bladed Hartzell prop aircraft. the performance is slightly different and the GG speed is slightly lower at idle. 3 bladed props are louder and bigger but perform a bit better. From the point of view of the sim pilot, nothing really changes.

The 3 bladed hartzell prop aircraft has an Idle GG of 51% vs 58% for the hartzell 4 bladed. The prop MOI is probably a bit different but ultimately it will still follow the same-ish book values. nothing of significance.

I see.. Thanks for the answer !

A problem I saw is that for some reason when I apply power my engine Torque swings before going to the asked power. For example, I'll be at 85% of thrust and would lower it to 50%, it'll swing all the way down to the idle torque quickly before regaining power and setting itself to the demanded 50% Torque. Is that Normal or did I do something wrong ?

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I see.. Thanks for the answer !

A problem I saw is that for some reason when I apply power my engine Torque swings before going to the asked power. For example, I'll be at 85% of thrust and would lower it to 50%, it'll swing all the way down to the idle torque quickly before regaining power and setting itself to the demanded 50% Torque. Is that Normal or did I do something wrong ?

It sounds like your power application is too quick, we power up to 15-20 lbs of torque, let the T5 peak and start cooling then over 3ish seconds get up to take off power. In the airplane the power levers move around 18inches so there is a lot more movement than in a pc throttle, which means your small throttle movements are exaggerated in the sim.

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Umm nothing here on my problem , in fact 2 of us put the new files in and when we go to bring back the props to let's say 80% they oscillate back and forth real bad and unusable.-I'm running precision flight controls for throttles and tried setting them with FSUIPC but no luck at all -looks like i'm gonna have to go back to original .

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FSX is what i'm using and so is my friend and runs FSX also -- but re reading the 1st post he says to move them very very slowly so i'm gonna give that a whirl .

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On occasion when we have moved the prop levers quickly, the props hunt in the real aircraft too. FSX has a problem with forces when it comes to props, i'm still dialing in the prop_tc value which i think is the seconds per degree of movement (kind of a backwards unit to me). right now it's set to 0.008, maybe 0.006 might be better?

Edit: for those of you who want to try a different prop_tc value try 0.006. also, remember 96%np is max so before you firewall for take off, bring your prop levers back to 88%, that should give you 96%Np

[PROPELLER]

prop_tc                  = 0.006 //0.008
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On occasion when we have moved the prop levers quickly, the props hunt in the real aircraft too. FSX has a problem with forces when it comes to props, i'm still dialing in the prop_tc value which i think is the seconds per degree of movement (kind of a backwards unit to me). right now it's set to 0.008, maybe 0.006 might be better?

Edit: for those of you who want to try a different prop_tc value try 0.006. also, remember 96%np is max so before you firewall for take off, bring your prop levers back to 88%, that should give you 96%Np

[PROPELLER]

prop_tc                  = 0.006 //0.008

Can I just confirm that this variable is correct?

The commented out value (and original aircraft.cfg) is 0.00005 and taking it to 0.008 or 0.006 seems like a very big change?

At 0.008 any slight movement of my prop levers sends my plane wildly yawing. Set to 0.00008 it is perfectly well behaved.

I would be most grateful if you could confirm 0.008 - as supplied in the new files - is correct?

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I put it the way he said but still hunts way too much . I'm all about flying by the numbers but i put all the original setting back in cause i had it all backed up and just gonna fly it that way.

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Can I just confirm that this variable is correct?

The commented out value (and original aircraft.cfg) is 0.00005 and taking it to 0.008 or 0.006 seems like a very big change?

At 0.008 any slight movement of my prop levers sends my plane wildly yawing. Set to 0.00008 it is perfectly well behaved.

I would be most grateful if you could confirm 0.008 - as supplied in the new files - is correct?

I'll look into this on the 24th. I'm working until then and it looks like a 14 hour day tomorrow

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