Too many Problems with the Dauphin

[Guest]

Hello folks!Everybody seems to be completely happy with the new Dauphin, the good looks, the new switches, and how he and how he's not! But for the past 4 weeks almost every posting in this forum is related somehow to that helicopter, and in the gros of them there complains about certain features, things not working etc. Guys are happy that they get this thing in the air for the first time, guys, who appearently have been using helicopters in FS for years and years are now happy with "i got the rotor run-up but crashed immediately! It was great, thanks you did a great job Antti Pankkonen! This is lovely!"HELLO?!!! If this was a real helicopter it would have to be revised for the next 20 years to get all the details working correctly!I agree to that this is a really good looking helicopter, with a whole new bunch of inventions and new ideas. It's the fresh air i'd like to breathe around here.But i completely disagree to the rest. It`s got engine-runup, which most did not understand first. It has an autopilot, which has never ever made any efforts to work. It has a trimming device which makes you crash the second you look at it. It has so many new switches and gadgettos, which are placed everywhere around the cockpit. Great. I wish i could see them without referring to the manual or learning a few more pages of it.If I had a certain joystick which would permanently refuse to work on this helicopter, dudes...good start, but most of the work is yet to be done i'd say.Keep that ventilator above your head turning!Ballistero

[Guest Lindy]

Well, I for one have NOT been flying helos in FS for years. Actually just started a couple of months ago. I'm still learning how to LAND the things without cracking up! :-eek But I've got the Dauphin up and running. Yes, it took me a while but thankfully everything seems to be working fine, even if I had to spend some time reading the manual and fiddling with my joystick in the beginning. Granted though, I don't fly with the auto pilot. I find it VERY easy to hand fly.If this were a real helicopter, we'd all be spending loads more time on flight lessons!! :-lol -Lindy :-rotor :-wave

[Guest Aidi]

Where i think lots of the "problems" lie are with the fact that there are innovations incorporated that require attention to detail. Its a complex helicopter, but then you have to take into consideration the complexity of the Autopilot. Its capabilitys are like nothing that exists in Fs... or ANY FS for that matter. It takes some time to set it up and get it flying correctly.. and to the novice flyer in Fs2002, it's all too easy to say "Whoa this is way to complex" I spent 12 hours getting this working correctly, but oh boy, it was worth the time and effort (of which i have hopefully passed on to others who were struggling) I would probably agree with you more if the innovations in this heli were old hat... but there not. All new and quite unique. Since getting the dauphin.cfg working for my controllers, i have had more hours pleasure out of it than i care to mention. You can fly so accuratly, and put it down EXACTLY where you want to.I guess one of the other areas is that i dont like a pc or software to get the better of me!!! I was so determined to get this heli working if nothing else! The comments made above are only my opinions... What might be someones dream might be someone elses nightmare. http://www.avsim.com/vfr_center/avsim_sig.jpg

[Guest]

I hope you read that i think it is innovative, but nonetheless still need work to do. He had really outstanding ideas and managed to program it. Well done so far, but the mass of topics related to problems with it is an eyecatcher.Keep that ventilator above your head turning!Ballistero

[Guest Skymed]

Maybe I need more coffee...........Anyways. I applaud innovation, for without it our hobby would stagnate so quickly we would all go out and get REAL jobs :-))The Dauphin is an incredible leap forward, but with a total focus on, to me, Auto Pilot.The question begs to be asked. Why do we want an autopilot in a chopper in a flightsim? Don't that defeat the entire reason we fly choppers in a flightsim in the first place?The Dauphin is brilliant. A little flawed, but brilliant. But isn't it............"HEY.Look what I did? " as opposed to anything else?My 37 pence worth.Steve

[Guest]

I'm planning a flight from KSNA to KOSH. I've been trying to decide between three birds, and the Dauphin is leading the pack right now. I've never even considered doing that sort of a x-country hop in a helo...until now. That autopilot and I will become quite familiar with one another if the Dauphin is chosen. That's why I'm trying to find some information on Dauphin specs for fuel planning purposes. Anyway, not for nothing, just my own $0.02."Learn from your parents' mistake...use birth control."(I M A UCLA) BruinAddict *:-*DemetriousAsus A7V266 MBAthlon XP 1600+ (@ 1.53)512MB PC2100 DDRVisionTek Xtasy GeForce4 Ti 4400 (Detonator 29.42 WHQL)NEC MultiSync E1100+ 21"SoundBlaster Live! Platinum 5.1Cambridge DTT2500 Desk Top TheaterWestern Digital 7200RPM ATA/100 40G HD (Primary)Western Digital 7200RPM ATA/100 40G HD (Secondary)300W PSUWindows XP Professional (Both drives - Multiboot)DirectX 8.1("I am humorous and well versed in the subtleties of everything pertaining to nothing." - BA)

[Guest Calb]

Steve,B I N G O !!(you just knew that was coming, didn't you?)Calhover long and prosper

[Guest Aidi]

Hey Steve,Long time no see. Glad your having as much fun with this bird as I am.... Its frightning the amount of time you can spend flying this heli and not get the slightest bit bored!! Also makes you wonder what is around the corner for us heli flyers?http://www.avsim.com/vfr_center/avsim_sig.jpg

[jzimmermann 238]

>HELLO?!!! If this was a real helicopter it would have to be >revised for the next 20 years to get all the details working >correctly! LOL...ehhhh...HELLO?!!! I think you're naive to think that everyone can fly such systems from scratch in a simulation if they've never ever flown a similar helicopter in real life. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Antti's Dauphin and its systems, in fact having flown the real thing, I can tell you that they are about as spot on as is possible in FS2002.What is missing is some decent documentation that explains how these systems work, and how they interact with each other. A while back I put together a site with some documentation for Fly!, as people were having similar problems with the complexity of the aircraft in that simulation - http://www.rihiveli-island.com/flyguide/ If I can find the time I will put together some info for the Dauphin.;)Jerome

[Guest Lindy]

That would be really great, Jerome! It might help those of us with no helo experience gain better mastery of the Dauphin without tearing our hair out. :-hah-Lindy :-wave

[Guest emergency_pants]

I totally agree with you, Ballistero.I have neither the time or the inclination to tinker with this helicopter for an eternity, trying to get it to work. If it doesn't work properly, I don't touch it. Despite being a great model and probably a great airfile too, I removed it from my drive... it's not finished.As for the posts, I haven't been in this forum for some time because I got bored of seeing the Dauphin posts. Things haven't changed either. See you next month. LOL.Simon.

[Guest Airprox]

The reason it doesn't work? You didn't set it up properly.If you don't think it's finished... E-mail Antti and see what he tells you to do.I, like others, have spent the time reading the Docs, setting up the .cfg, and actually LEARNING how to fly the helicopter (including Autopilot operations), and like those others, thoroughly enjoy the experience.If you don't like it...fine, don't come here and complain about something that is FREEWARE. This sort of post must be soul destroying for people like Annti, and I have known of other people drop projects because of un-constructive critisism like this.Rant over.Alun :-newburn

[Guest]

Shall I sum it up to this point? okay, here i go:You dare to doubt this helicopter? shame on you. This is the "Hail to the King"-Section, criticism is not allowed.This is FS2002. You cope the aircraft file, you run the program: it flies. The damn thing flies. And your enthusiasm will not change my opinion: this helicopter came out too early. I don't want to spent/waste my time in reading docs and setting up cfg-files. The properly working cfg file has to be included, otherwise the helicopter is NOT WORKING PROPERLY!! Face it. I got enough things to read and to learn, that's what i'm a student for. I don't run FS2002 to become a helicopter pilot, i do it to relax. And yes, somebody wrote it down exactly the way it is: I expect to fly every single f****** one of those helicopters from a scratch, because every helicopter is just the same. There are differences, okay, but basically it's the same.Still nobody gave an explanation, why this forum is stuck with that helicopters for month now. Don't you read your own things??? Problems with the Dauphin, Joystick (!!!) not working ( now that's gotta be an airfile....), Problem with autopilot, prolem here, why doesn't it....You - in general - complain about every single detail of that helicopter. Everybody gives a bit. But you attack me harshly if i ask in total. That's a rather bigot point of view. Sounds like american way of thinking to me.disappointedBallistero

[Guest]

The Dauphin represents a great leap forword in helicopter flight in FS. It has most of the features MS left out and lets face it MS only left it in as a token jesture.What Annti has developed is a great achievement. All I read here is negative comments from people who have probably never rode in the back of a "real" Dauphin and seen the "real" operation of this ship. Yes there a few problems, but after reading the documentation (remember English is not his first language) and applying a little noggin, IFR flight under full rules is possible as is full ILS approach and landing, try a 400 mile flight in the default Bell.Perhaps if some of you were constructive, Annti's motivation to enhance a great "FREE" ship would be through the roof, as it is if he's thinking "forget it" it's our loss due to a few idiots who are very unlikely to have ever created anything to share with the chopper community and very unlikely to ever do so.Grow up or go home.George

[Guest Airprox]

British not American.I'm not interested in throwing insults around, or anything like that, and I apologise for the tone of my previous post, however, I beleive, at this stage, there is nothing else that can be done with this helicopter... therefore it was NOT released too early.I'll try and explain what I understand about the working of this aircraft.The joystick problems are not connected to the airfile, it is connected to the .gau file. The reason for this is to allow the helicopter to have a working Autopilot. As said many times before, MS didn't realy consider helicopters in FS, Antti has utilised the programming behind the .gau file to allow the autopilot to function, the aircraft controls are routed through the .gau file, hence the reason that different types of joystick need different info in the .cfg (similar to the way Windows/other programs need different drivers for joysticks/pedals etc. to work). This is a completely new approach to the way helicopters work in FS, and as such, yes I agree, it's not perfect (what in this world is?) but to say it was released too early (Shouldn't have been released at all??) is wrong. In my humble opinion!If you use FS to relax, then you are probably better off staying away from this heli. If your looking to take one step closer to realism, and for a new challenge in helicopter flying... stick with it.As for the forum being filled with posts about the Dauphin, well, lets face it, there wasn't really much going on in the forum before that was there?Once again I apologise for the tone of my previous post, I kinda went off on one.Alun