I'm thinking about un-checking the aircraft stress causes damage option under realism in FSX to avoid having midair crashes caused by overspeed in turn caused by sudden windshifts. <br /><br />Will doing this do any harm to the failure modeling in the NGX?

Shouldn't do.

Great, thanks for the prompt reply!

<Insert obligatory post about how Active Sky 2012 prevents wind shifts from occurring in the first place (by the way: it actually does).>

I do have AS2012 although I'm currently using OpusFSX as my wx engine but with AS2012 textures, I find this combo very good! There are several options also in OpusFSX to fight the notorious wind shifts in FSX and most of the time it works pretty well but sometimes I still get wind shifts and there's nothing as frustrating as having a long flight end up in a crash message due to wind shifts!

 

So...to be better safe than sorry I'll try unchecking the mentioned option in FSX.

The NGX modelling isn't reliant on this tickbox. Airspeed alarms will still work (ie overspeed, stall etc), the only thing that will happen is that the aircraft won't spontaneously stop functioning and stop mid-air when the wind shift happens.

 

Wind shifts are of course unrealistic anyway (at least in the way FSX handles them... a sudden change of wind direction or speed in an instant without even a hint of turbulence or gas/air inertia. Those oxygen/nitrogen molecules have to go somewhere, but in FSX they don't really exist.)

 

So think of "Disable aircraft stress causes damage" as "Disable unrealistic simulations of air causing game crashes".

think of "Disable aircraft stress causes damage" as "Disable unrealistic simulations of air causing game crashes".

 

That's a good one!

I have checked the option and as already said, NGX failures are not related to that checkbox.

However, like in RW if you find wind gust pushing the airspeed in the upper red band, then lower speed to air turbulent air penetration speed.

 

Do follow the recommendations to uncheck the option on the weather page concerning turbulence (can't recall the exact text of the option on screen as I am at work).

 

You won't get the S-turn problems, wind shift's are less - smoother, but still overstressing in terms of high speed or G loading is something to watch out for.

I have checked the option and as already said, NGX failures are not related to that checkbox.

However, like in RW if you find wind gust pushing the airspeed in the upper red band, then lower speed to air turbulent air penetration speed.

 

 

I'v seen a 120kt tail wind turn into a 120kt headwind in 0.1 of a second in FSX before (Using real world weather).

 

a 240kt instant change in indicated airspeed without any warning (Clear blue sky and no turbulence one moment, 200+ knots overspeed in clear blue sky with no turbulence the next) is not possible in the real world.

 

It is in the sim.

 

I'v seen a 120kt tail wind turn into a 120kt headwind in 0.1 of a second in FSX before (Using real world weather).

 

a 240kt instant change in indicated airspeed without any warning (Clear blue sky and no turbulence one moment, 200+ knots overspeed in clear blue sky with no turbulence the next) is not possible in the real world.

 

It is in the sim.

In FSX you uncheck the option that is weather related to avoid these spikes and S-turns.

Also note that people use FSUIPC for weather smoothing (reducing these spikes). I personally don't.

The weather software that I use(ASE) softens this already. However, I do need to watch turbulent air penetration speed as with ASE I have setup turbulence with clouds.

Therefore you can check the "Aircraft stress causes damage" to add to realism.

Besides that, NGX failures are FMC managed.

 

BTW, VERY severe downdrafts do exists in RL (see National Geographic - aircraft investigations series) but the incorrect behavior of FSX regarding these wind changes can be undone by unchecking the option as mentioned here above.

For what it's worth, I turned off crashes about 9 years ago now, and I wouldn't ever turn back.

(sounds like a true testimonial, doesn't it?)

 

Seriously, though, the crash tolerances in the sim are not the best, so I just turned it all off.

I see no point to having them turned on. Restarting a 9 hour flight 8 hours in because FSX thought i snapped my plane in two is not my idea of sim heaven.