Features I miss from one sim to another...

[greggerm 312]

Here are a few of the things I miss from one simulation family (MSFS) to another (X-Plane)...Slew ModeWhen working with XP scenery design tools like WED 1.1b4, it is a royal pain to have to start the sim and taxi or fly to the area I am working on to check alignments and make sure things look good. In MSFS, I can quickly SLEW right over and check it out... in XPlane, no such mode exists that I can find. I can't seem to figure out a good alternative to slewing when working on scenery in XP's demo. Ideas?Greater than 6x AccelerationTime acceleration appears to top out at 6x in X-Plane. This greatly extends the real-world amount of time I'd need to invest in a long flight, as compared to MSFS's 16x (with autopilot). Some would ask "why accelerate time if you're flying a flight simulator", but do you really want to stare at a featureless ocean as you fly transoceanic for hours upon hours? Doesn't have much use in the demo, but with the real product it would be a noticeable loss. Alternatives?Mouse wheel dial/setting manipulationYou cannot use the mouse wheel to "roll" a dial in X-Plane. This intuitive feature of MSFS is almost a no-brainer, and I'm puzzled why they haven't implemented it in X-Plane. Can this be added in by a 3rd party or is this a core item that would need to go to Laminar?Autorudder?My "feet got amputated" last month when my CH Pro Pedals finally pooped the bed. Since I haven't received spousal approval to reinvest, I'm attempting to fly in BOTH platforms with a yoke only. In MSFS, it's easy to check off the auto-rudder button and get on with it (*avoiding crosswinds!), but I have not been able to determine what settings, if any, would be comparable on the XP10 demo. My turns are about as coordinated as a drunk on New Year's Eve. Can you advise me on keeping the ball centered while I wait for the Household Subcommittee on Husband's Hobbies to meet and (hopefully) approve my pedal purchase request? (I've tried assigning both roll and yaw to one axis, but it doesn't seem to allow it)~ ~ ~If you know of any adjustments or suitable alternatives to these items in the XP10 world, please let me know!-Greg

[anthony_d 32]

I certainly agree about the mouse wheel & slew mode.I wouldn't mind it if commands / buttons were context sensitive. Taking the mouse wheel example. Use it for dialling knobs in one context, and then using it to zoom in / out in another context.Loading up a new plane whilst leaving the location unaltered. It's rather annoying when I'm on the ground for x plane to move me back to the runway / default ramp when I've loaded up a new plane.Having a decent in-sim map view which I can use to look up details for any part of the world - not just the scenery tile that's loaded. (That said, I've recently downloaded XPUIPC and Plan-G - an excellent combination!).Detailed relief and coastlines seen more than 25miles away - not the blurry stuff we have right now.

[GoranM 3,772]

The "slew" mode is better in X Plane. Select Local Map. You are able to click on your aircraft in the Local Map and drag it anywhere you want. Set the altitude to a good level or it will crash into any mountains that are in the area and are higher than the aircraft location. If it is set at altitude, set the airspeed to one that will not allow the aircraft to stall.Time acceleration...As far as I know, anything higher than 6x would cause porpoising. I think it was like that in FSX as well.Dial settings for most later version payware has manipulator technology. Click and drag the mouse and it adjusts any setting on the dials. Look for the double arrows or hand icons.Actually not aware of an autorudder in X Plane. You could always try to email Laminar and ask Austin to include it. Failing that, just set the rudder to a couple of keys.

[Simmo W 24]

Greg, yes I miss the slew feature too. But a rough workaround u can use is- once your plane is loaded, get into map mode, then on the right increase your altitude by, say, 1000ft. Make airspeed 150kt (unless u like stalls!), then u can drag your plane across the world (slew).

[Simmo W 24]

Haha, I wondered why I hadn't seen goz reply!

[Pascal_LSGC 298]

Slew mode : press C key. It's called free view if I'm not mistaken. Then, use forward key with directional ones. Don't know which ones are default.Mouse wheel: agree, that would be a very useful feature. However, keep in mind X-plane is developed on Mac, they have usually no mouse wheel, so maybe we have the smallest common denominator's rule here.

[wb5okj 26]

Greg if your rudders are gone make sure in the axis assignments no yaw is assigned. The sim will do, or is supposed to do better if it doesn't sense a rudder input. Haven't tried this out, but I believe I saw this in one of the manuals. Worth a try to check.

[tf51d 284]

The "slew" mode is better in X Plane. Select Local Map. You are able to click on your aircraft in the Local Map and drag it anywhere you want. Set the altitude to a good level or it will crash into any mountains that are in the area and are higher than the aircraft location. If it is set at altitude, set the airspeed to one that will not allow the aircraft to stall.Don't know how you can say it's better, FSX has this exact functionality, and it's map display covers a larger area the size of the US, then you can scroll in any direction to get to any part of the world. I don't know what the range is in XP10, as I don't have the full version yet, due to performance and hard drive space issues on my system, but with the local map in XP9, you can only zoom out a few hundred mile radius. You can move outside the area, but you have no graphic representation outside the initial area.FSX represents graphically the whole world. You can also independently move to tower view around. You can also slew with the main game, either by the arrow keys, the joystick axis, or by setting mouse yoke option while in slew, by the mouse. I haven't found any functionality in XP that does this.Time acceleration...As far as I know, anything higher than 6x would cause porpoising. I think it was like that in FSX as well.This is model specific in FSX Some models allow higher levels without porpoising. Dial settings for most later version payware has manipulator technology. Click and drag the mouse and it adjusts any setting on the dials. Look for the double arrows or hand icons.This is one of the worst features I see in XP, Some FSX models also have implemented this user interface as well, which I find very user unfriendly. I prefer the mouse wheel option better, barring that selecting with the mouse buttons. I see why this can't be implemented on XP though, since XP natively runs on a MAC which default mouse only has 1 mouse button with no mouse wheel.Actually not aware of an autorudder in X Plane. You could always try to email Laminar and ask Austin to include it. Failing that, just set the rudder to a couple of keys.

Edited January 31, 2012 by tf51d

[GoranM 3,772]

Why would you want to slew a distance that is greater than the immediate area? The only reason I can think of slewing is to practise some kind of an approach.Just select the new airport, or, select the airport and how far away you want to be from it, on what heading, at what altitude and at what speed. I honestly have not seen this kind of functionality in FSX. I guess it's subjective. I prefer it this way. Click and drag, set alt and speed, and good to go.

[anthony_d 32]

I've found slewing is the easiest method to position the aircraft when it comes to marking out parking positions in airport design applications such as AFCAD.I haven't tried WED, but I'm guessing that there are instances where you'll want to see the relationship between an exact position in x-plane and the same position in WED in real time. For that purpose slewing is essential.

Edited January 31, 2012 by anthony_d

[GoranM 3,772]

Ok, well that's something completely different. Going by what has been posted, it seems the area being covered in slew mode, in x plane, is an issue. "FSX has this exact functionality, and it's map display covers a larger area the size of the US, then you can scroll in any direction to get to any part of the world. I don't know what the range is in XP10, as I don't have the full version yet"In THAT case, I can't see any kind of benefit of slewing across vast distances

[themose 11]

Is there anything for Xplane like EZDOK - that add adds pints of depth to FSX

[falloutgamer65 0]

Is there anything for Xplane like EZDOK - that add adds pints of depth to FSX

x-planes default camera system is a lot like EZDOK.

[themose 11]

Falloutgamer - I think we'll have to agree to disagree on that one mate.Unless you can point me to a tutorial, video or something that shows otherwise..

[greggerm 312]

The "slew" mode is better in X Plane. Select Local Map. You are able to click on your aircraft in the Local Map and drag it anywhere you want. Set the altitude to a good level or it will crash into any mountains that are in the area and are higher than the aircraft location. If it is set at altitude, set the airspeed to one that will not allow the aircraft to stall.

As others sort of mentioned, this method is fine for simple repositioning of an airplane for one-time use and flying, but for scenery editing and adjusting, the lack of a slew mode is a real pain in the rear end... that being said...

Slew mode : press C key. It's called free view if I'm not mistaken.

It's not perfect, but that might be the closest thing to it. I spend a moment trying it out last night, and while I could figure out the left/right and up/down translations, I didn't quite figure out the "rotate" commands and forward/backward. While the airplane doesn't move in free view like it does with MSFS's slew, this doesn't matter because all one really needs is the viewpoint to move. You can scoot all around an airport quickly and easily with this free view and see your scenery edits to validate all is well. I'll have to spend more time with that to figure out if you can get a full 6 degrees of motion and rotation - thanks, Pascal!