The Dauphin flies! Finally!

[blave 0]

I had spent over an hour trying to get this thing off the ground the day it was released; no joy. It took me quite a while just to figure out how to move the fuel flow levers, and until the troubleshooting page at http://www.hut.fi/~apankkon/fsim/help.html was set up I had no idea where the engine start buttons were.The revised gauges file that the author provided is the final key; I installed that just a few minutes ago. Note that I seem to have to spool up the engines gradually using the fuel flow levers to be successful.Once I got that sorted, I was able to fly. Certainly this is one of the more challenging helos to fly in FS2002, but Antti has done an absolutely outstanding job on the package - the best since the Bell 47 freeware a/c was released a while back. I've only flown it for a few minutes so far but plan to dig into the autopilot later.BTW I'm using some (excellent) MD500 sounds; the Dauphin "1" sounds that I have with a Coast Guard helicopter for FS2002 are too annoying to fly with... But judged on my close-up experience with just such a ship starting up and lifting off at the Moffett Air Expo show today, perhaps those sounds are accurate! The fenestron tail rotor makes an amazing racket... I shall have to try the Dauphin sounds that have been mentioned here.FWIW I have the realism slider in FS2002 set to max, and my flight control setup is CH Janes Combat Stick, Pro Throttle, and Pro Pedals (all gameport devices). I did not have to change the dauphin.cfg file to get these to work.Dave BlevinsKRHV

[Guest]

Well, I never have been able to get it to work with my controls setup, )Saitek X45 with Throttle and CH Pro Pedals) so what I finally wound up doing is this:Start the Aircraft and get it runnning to full RPMThen go and Change to another aircraft, doesn't matter whatThe Dauphin saves the last setting that it was at, so you can go back and reload the aircraft and the engines will then be still running, then I just use my controls through FS2002, and never even worry about that Dauphin config file.The aircraft flies well, and most folks should probably practice :) as it CAN be difficult at best.I fly with ALL of the sensitivities to the max, one click on the null zones. And ALL of the realism settings at max, except for the General which is at One Click less than Max...Eric...

[Guest Airprox]

The problem with not setting up the dauphin.cfg and running the joystick through FS2002 is that you won't be able to use the autopilot. It is worth spending the time setting it up and performing all the start up procedures (aparently, not doing proper start up is on of the reasons people have had problems with the collective) as the autopilot is fantastic, auto-hover hold, terrain following ALT hold, etc. etc.Alun

[Guest]

Well, it wasn't just the collective that was the problem. It wouldn't use any of the controls at all. I would move the cyclic and about 1-2 seconds later it centers itself, same with the collective and the anti-torque pedals. Move them and they just zero out again. It's really irritating. However, I wouldn't use the autopilot anyway. I think that it's more fun to fly the helo, rather than watch it fly itself. My opinion, of course. LOL :(

[Guest Dominik Mann]

Well, after lots of trials and errors I also got this bird working at last. I've never really been a fan of MSFS helicopters, but the Dauphin is, finally, one that even I can get (and, more importantly, KEEP :( ) airborne without causing any virtual damage to man and material. One question, though - why does FS automatically pause for a brief moment when extending or retracting the landing gear?Now if I only knew how to make my personal custom livery for her...

[Guest]

I believe that is a bug in FS2002. It does it with all the helicopters that have Re-Tractable Gear...

[Guest Airprox]

This is true, but it must be pointed out to those who do not normally fly helos that normally you would have to pause, raise/lower gear, unpause, then carry on flying. I think Antti is the fist person to program the heli to automatically pause/unpause when the gear is toggled. Much better, and a Big Thank You to Antti for work around.Alun

[Guest Lindy]

Yes, that automatic pause/raise/lower gear is great. And thanks to another user, I was able to get that function into the GMAX Bell 222 which also has retractable gear. Like another user, I'm not really interested in the auto pilot either. I can get the helo in the air, and the config must be "seeing" my mapped buttons as the raise/lower gear button works, the brake button works. But just what in the world is the "beep_trim" supposed to do? It's mapped in the config as my POV0 and I've left it that way. Are you supposed to call up the beep_trim bmp (shift 6) before it will work?But my major gripe about the new Dauphin is not with the flying, or the difficulty in setting up (well, indirectly it is, in a way). I can't read the frickin instruments!!! :-lol I called up the overhead panel (shift 4) and had the devil of a time locating the switch to turn on the NAV computer. The print is either too small, or it's a little blurry/out of focus or the letters/figures just blend into the background. And forget about trying to read any of the instruments actually located on the panel. Nothing to be done about this I suppose. But I wanted to mention it -- not all of us have young eyes. :-hah (I have a 19" monitor BTW) But at least I CAN get it into the air and back to the ground. I have a nice personalized livery for it so I'm definitely going to keep plugging away at it until I understand how everything works, even if I have to get a magnifying glass to see!!!-Lindy (Ms. Magoo) :-wave

[Guest Airprox]

Lindy,Glad to see your flying the Dauphin! Right... Beep-trim... you use this when the FADEC (autopilot) is engaged, and you are in hover(HOV), and you have Ground speed (G.SPD) enabled, using the beeptrim allows you to move the helicopter around acuratley, by small amounts. I don't have a POV hat so I have to use the 'pop up' screen and the mouse, I don't think you need the pop-up to use the POV hat.As for been able to read the labels on the panel, I have the same problem. Try increasing the resolution your using in FS (Display options) and also, when you call up the pop-ups you can resize them as you would a normal window, with the mouse. This will make them easier to read. (you should be able to resize in the panel.cfg, but I haven't tried that yet!!!)Hope this helpsAlun

[Guest Lindy]

This is a great helicopter.... I LOVE it. But it's NOT one for a beginner to practice with..... too easy!! ;-) I e-mailed Antti (sp?) about not being able to read the gauges. He mentioned the resolution and I will try that. I use 1024x768 -- I'll bump it up and see if that helps. He also mentioned he's working on a revision too. Busy guy!!I might re-map my buttons to give the POV to my panning view... that's what I'm used to and I miss it. Also the Dauphin doesn't need nearly as much constant forward pressue to fly as any of the other helos. Someone mentioned about not being able to get his yaw axis to work. But if I remember correctly he was not using pedals, although we both used the same stick (Saitek Cyborg 3D USB Gold). I'm using my USB stick w/analog pedals that are plugged into the gameport.... everything seems to work fine. I've gotten into bad habits though.... using my moving map GPS to the exclusion of NAVaids. I have to re-learn all that stuff! :-roll-Lindy :-wave :-rotor