Fill-In your Wants for the future versions of X-Plane10...

[jcomm 5,974]

Now that the 64 bit version has been released, and although it is still a baby, I thought it might be nice to organize a list of features we would like to see implemented / corrected / removed, whatever, from future releases of X-Plane10.

 

I have initially separated the list into a few sections, but please feel free to add / modify... I didn't have time to think of a poll-like thread, sorry :-/

 

 

FLIGHT DYNAMICS:

================

- Correct the huge / irrealistic roll due to torque on prop aircraft;

- Try to properly modell slipstream effects on prop aircraft, accounting for yaw to the left (on CW rotating prop aircraft) and requiring right foot, when at high power settings, and depending on aircraft design / structure as per Plane-Maker

- Fix whatever is causing most aircraft to drift and weathervane on slight x-wind components the moment the parking brakes are released (might it be the side friction?)

 

TURBOPROP ENGINE MODELLING:

=============================

- Fix the FF on free-rotating turboprops

 

JET / TURBOFAN ENGINE MODELLING:

================================

- LP N1 windmill, just as it already happens to HP N2...

 

WEATHER:

=========

- Fix the low visibility curtain effect

- Add Fog / Haze

- Allow for cloud layer thickness bellow 2000'

- Fix the abrupt wind shifts when transiting between scenery tiles

- Add more cloud types/art

- Add winds aloft (hard task, I know...)

- Add T / Td, at least let Td be set, and in the future consider using it in your calculations (aerodynamics, engine performance, etc...)

 

SCENERY:

=========

- Better autogen / landclass

- Seasonal textures, and even better, a progressively snow covered terrain when we have precipitation in the form of snow...(like in FSX)

- Less blurr in the distance at higher altitudes

 

WORLD PLAUSIBILITY:

===================

- Proper Sun rise/set times depending on date and location.

- Moon phases

 

AI:

==

- Find some soft way of modelling AI aircraft, and also some more plausible use of different aircraft types depending on airfield type

[GoranM 3,772]

I'm going to set aside some time for you one day, Jose, so we can go through the flight model points you made.

I can fix all 3 of your points (regarding the flight model) in Planemaker within about 30-45 minutes. They are definitely flight model adjustments and not necessarily (directly) sim related.

[FIVE-BY-FIVE 453]

In-Flight food services, i get hungry on long flights :lol: ........."I want my peanuts after takeoff"

 

Seriously jcomm's list is perfect and that's what i want.

[jcomm 5,974]

I'm going to set aside some time for you one day, Jose, so we can go through the flight model points you made.

I can fix all 3 of your points (regarding the flight model) in Planemaker within about 30-45 minutes. They are definitely flight model adjustments and not necessarily (directly) sim related.

 

That's a great offer Goran :-) I'm willing to accept of course ;-) Believe me, should your be able to prove it's "just" that, I would be the happiest X-Plane10 user, but I would also ask Austin to spend some more time in manual part of the technical aspects of using Plane Maker...

[Macpah 46]

Jcomm's list:

+1

 

I'm going to set aside some time for you one day, Jose, so we can go through the flight model points you made.

I can fix all 3 of your points (regarding the flight model) in Planemaker within about 30-45 minutes. They are definitely flight model adjustments and not necessarily (directly) sim related.

 

I would be thrilled to hear more about what you can do to fix these 3 flightmodel issues.

This is not the first time you're stating this. http://forum.avsim.n...ag-wagon-pilot/

Are you ever gonna tell us, Goran?

[mrchrsrider 66]

Jcomm I second your list, X-plane 10 especially with 64-bit has so much potential and is a great sim. I cannot wait to see the future.

[Longranger 148]

Are you ever gonna tell us, Goran?

 

Why do you ask him? Simply give the Beechcraft Duchess a spin. It speaks for itself. Not so flashy as the Carenado B58 but it works without any plugins so it works great in 10.20b1 64 . Now I simply have to wait for an update for the DC.3. By the way, is there a way to get rid of Gizmo or make it compatible with SASL? Nearly every new plane now uses SASL...

[GoranM 3,772]

That's a great offer Goran :-) I'm willing to accept of course ;-) Believe me, should your be able to prove it's "just" that, I would be the happiest X-Plane10 user, but I would also ask Austin to spend some more time in manual part of the technical aspects of using Plane Maker...

 

I'm working on a turboprop aircraft at the moment, and the redline for the engine is 25 000 RPM. That gave me a lot of torque roll. I ended up in a 60° left bank right after take off. After a bit of tinkering, it's just about perfect.

 

I would be thrilled to hear more about what you can do to fix these 3 flightmodel issues.

This is not the first time you're stating this. http://forum.avsim.n...ag-wagon-pilot/

Are you ever gonna tell us, Goran?

 

It would take very long to explain. There are definitely some add ons out there that have minimal to no torque roll. Just go through the flight model or do a search in the X Plane wiki. (I've never been very good at "teaching" things)

[anthony_d 32]

Here's my list:

 

Rendering

- Detailed Rendering Distance should be increased from the present 25 mile limit to go all the way to the horizon for relief and coast line.

 

Weather

- I hate the way I fly below the cloud base only to suddenly find myself in 10 meter vis fog, despite the fact that I haven't even entered the clouds. It's very much a bug, and should be fixed ASAP.

 

- Visibility should be layered. If the visibility is 10 miles below the lower cloud layer, you normally have clearer visibility above that layer. Furthermore, if it's hazy weather down below, you should be able to see that haze layer before you dive into it.

 

- On the subject of visibility. It's often set too low. Some METAR stations have a max reporting distance of 9999m. So I wonder how it's possible to actually render visibility greater than this distance.

 

- Real weather shouldn't just be derived from METAR reports. It should be compiled from a variety of sources including satellite images, pressure charts and weather radars. The gaps between the METAR reporting stations are often very large, and quite often the weather changes dramatically in a very short distance, especially in mountain ranges.

 

AI traffic

- I don't feel that LR should devote much more time on this. There's a third party developer who's developing something that should knock the socks off anything we've seen before in a flight simulator.

 

Systems:

I'd like to see a greater range of configurable options available in planemaker without the need to resort to plugins. E.g.

- Things like multiple hydraulic circuits (as opposed to multiple pumps on the same circuit), gradual depletion of hydraulic accumulators when relevant consumers are used with pumps switched off.

- Aircraft failures / degradations which are related to the way you fly your aircraft. I'm guessing that red-lining the engine isn't so good for the engine. In real life such treatment will eventually result in adverse consequences - whether that's complete failure, or reduced performance.

- With that in mind I think that a "wear and tear" index could easily be derived from the output/logbooks/X-Plane Pilot file. This file automatically logs all your flying hours in each plane including airports visited etc.. A high wear and tear index results in a greater chance of failures happening on wear and tear items.

[jcomm 5,974]

+1 to all of Anthony's items!!!

 

On the subject of failures, add the pitot drain hole blocked effects, as they are really different from those of a totally blocked pitot... (just came to my mind...). X-Plane models the same "failures" in the dynamic and static systems as FSX... we need more :-)

[horani 43]

AI traffic

- I don't feel that LR should devote much more time on this. There's a third party developer who's developing something that should knock the socks off anything we've seen before in a flight simulator.

 

May I ask kindly which add on are you referring to?

[Bugor 0]

 

May I ask kindly which add on are you referring to?

 

I think he's referring to the world traffic plugin:

 

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=60922&st=0

 

The latest video preview is on page 7 which is pretty cool.

 

 

 

[Alec 370]

I wish LR would fix the stability issue with most Flight Models. There's a topic in this forum featuring a long discussion about this, you disturb the aircraft for a second with half elevator deflection and return it to neutral and watch the airplane go from it's trimmed stable flight to a roller coaster never to stop, this makes most planes a nightmare to hand fly, since this stability affects all phases of flight. In Real Life an aircraft with these characteristics wouldn't dream to be certified by the FAA, unless they used some FBW system, like the MD11 does because of some undesirable flight stability characteristics. I know GoranM will tell me he can fix it in 10 seconds, but the top addon for X-Plane, the CRJ-200, has this issue, and every aircraft I have tried also demonstrate this.

[GoranM 3,772]

I wish LR would fix the stability issue with most Flight Models. There's a topic in this forum featuring a long discussion about this, you disturb the aircraft for a second with half elevator deflection and return it to neutral and watch the airplane go from it's trimmed stable flight to a roller coaster never to stop, this makes most planes a nightmare to hand fly, since this stability affects all phases of flight. In Real Life an aircraft with these characteristics wouldn't dream to be certified by the FAA, unless they used some FBW system, like the MD11 does because of some undesirable flight stability characteristics. I know GoranM will tell me he can fix it in 10 seconds, but the top addon for X-Plane, the CRJ-200, has this issue, and every aircraft I have tried also demonstrate this.

 

 

I had a look at the CRJ flight model. This is in no way a criticism to JRollon (whom I consider a friend) or any other developer.

The CRJ's inertia (RoG) is set to default X Plane values.

It's likely the other aircraft you speak of also have the RoG set at default values.

This plays a HUGE part in how the aircraft handles in the way you describe.

The RoG is a delicate area to be fooling around in and, if you don't know much about it, is best left alone.

As an example, fly Morten's Piper Archer around a little bit. That aircraft does have manually entered RoG values and it flies beautifully!

I'm in no way criticizing your thoughts, but when it comes to this area that you are pointing out, there really is nothing to "fix". This is evidence of X-Planes versatility and flexibility in making extreme changes to certain areas of the flight model. That's why I have to laugh when I read posts that say "X-Plane is good at calculating ball park figures".

The RoG alone can have countless (several thousand) adjustments in it's various combinations made to it. Add to this the low speed and high speed "Phase-Out" figures that can be entered and any stability figures that the developer wants to enter for control surface damping constraints and/or autopilot constraints, and you're looking at one helluva tool to adjust just the inertia of the aircraft and control surfaces.

Austin has always said, the tools are there and the wiki is there. The rest is up to the developer.

And I can honestly tell you, the wiki covers absolutely everything.

[anthony_d 32]

Systems:

I'd like to see a greater range of configurable options available in planemaker without the need to resort to plugins. E.g.

 

I forgot to add:- More interaction between systems.

 

e.g. When your air conditioning packs are on, more air is being drawn out of the engines which subsequently reduces engine performance (especially during takeoff). I'll guessing similar effects go for cabin heating systems. There's got to be function behind such items that you see on your checklists.

 

All that said, I'm impressed with what goes on behind the simulated electrical systems. You switch a light on, and the current goes up. I sometimes wander if it's possible to draw too much current and get an overload condition that:

- causes high battery / alternator winding temperature

- causes voltage drop and dims the lights

- do it for too long and see some breakers trip, or indeed have an electrical fire..