How to watch a replay of your flight (or landing in particular)

[WebMaximus 334]

Often I think it would be great to be able to watch a replay of a flight and in particular to be able to watch a replay of your landing. However I've noticed when using the built-in feature for this in FSX it doesn't work out that good...

 

First of all the current state of the NGX will be transferred into the replay so for instance if I shut down the engines before looking at the replay (which I normally do since I do all my flying online and also with FS2Crew) the engines will not be running in the replay. Also any ground connections like the GPU will also be visible in the replay which does look rather funny but not exactly what I want. Of course it's easy to fix this by simply removing any ground connections before starting the replay but would be nice to have a replay feature that is a little bit more intelligent. Also missing in the replays are the animations of the flaps, the use of spoilers when touching down etc etc.

 

So...what are you guys using when you want to watch a replay?

[jongreen 57]

FS Recorder. Its excellent.

[Bert Pieke 1,362]

Pause the sim just after touchdown, ALT/Options/Replay.. watch with the outside view enabled.

 

After that, un-pause the sim and do the taxi.

[WebMaximus 334]

FS Recorder. Its excellent.

Sounds familiar, will check it out.

 

Thanks!

Pause the sim just after touchdown, ALT/Options/Replay.. watch with the outside view enabled.

 

After that, un-pause the sim and do the taxi.

 

Not very popular to pause the sim when flying online

[Bert Pieke 1,362]

 

Not very popular to pause the sim when flying online

 

"As real as it gets.."  ^_^

[Javiz 28]

'Replay expert' here.

I don't think i have ever done an FS flight without (several) Replays of the take-off and landing. Doesn't feel 'complete' if i don't. I even think that if FS did not include a Replay mode i probabely wouldn't have bothered. You can image how happy i was with 'Active Camera' in FS9 and before. ( i moved heaven and earth to get Anticyclone to make AC compatible with FSX, didn't work.... )

This may sound strange to you but remember 'it takes all kinds' . As much as i am a wannabe pilot i am also a dedicated aircraft spotter. I just like to look at them, be it a Bleriot XI or a 777 and anything in between. Be it a model or the real thing.

I can understand that flying on line is not the best circumstance to stop the sim to watch a Replay . One of the reasons i never fly online myself.

If you care enough to watch a Replay of your flight ( take-offs and landings are the most interesting of course) i can advice you to make that a special flight off line. You could do circuits or very short flight from A to B. I could show you how to setup a special Camera Definition so you can stand along the runway at various positions watching your plane take-off, approach and land. Just like in the movies.

 

Btw, if you do it like this all anims like gear, flaps, spoilers, thrust reversers, etc. do work fine in Replay mode, both with inside and outside view.

Let me know if you want me to elaborate on the subject. If you have not seen your immaculate approach and landing of a 747 while, miraculously, standing along the runway, like a very fortunate aircraft spotter, you haven't seen nothing yet ! B)

 

cheers,
jan

[WebMaximus 334]

Hi there Jan!

 

Very kind of you to offer your help and I clearly see how into planespotting you are both IRL and in FS.

 

I on the other hand value the realism flying online with all that comes with that (ATC and "real" traffic around you) more than watching replays so I'll have a look at FS Recorder and hopefully that will let me do what I want...simply have a way to watch a landing etc after I finished the flight and disconnected from the online network VATSIM in my case.

 

Thanks anyway and happy flying :smile:

[Gregg_Seipp 419]

'Replay expert' here.

 

I don't think i have ever done an FS flight without (several) Replays of the take-off and landing. Doesn't feel 'complete' if i don't. I even think that if FS did not include a Replay mode i probabely wouldn't have bothered. You can image how happy i was with 'Active Camera' in FS9 and before. ( i moved heaven and earth to get Anticyclone to make AC compatible with FSX, didn't work.... )

 

This may sound strange to you but remember 'it takes all kinds' . As much as i am a wannabe pilot i am also a dedicated aircraft spotter. I just like to look at them, be it a Bleriot XI or a 777 and anything in between. Be it a model or the real thing.

 

I can understand that flying on line is not the best circumstance to stop the sim to watch a Replay . One of the reasons i never fly online myself.

 

If you care enough to watch a Replay of your flight ( take-offs and landings are the most interesting of course) i can advice you to make that a special flight off line. You could do circuits or very short flight from A to B. I could show you how to setup a special Camera Definition so you can stand along the runway at various positions watching your plane take-off, approach and land. Just like in the movies.

 

Btw, if you do it like this all anims like gear, flaps, spoilers, thrust reversers, etc. do work fine in Replay mode, both with inside and outside view.

 

Let me know if you want me to elaborate on the subject. If you have not seen your immaculate approach and landing of a 747 while, miraculously, standing along the runway, like a very fortunate aircraft spotter, you haven't seen nothing yet ! B)

 

cheers,

jan

 

I love this post.  Yep, takes all kinds and that's a great kind.  I have been tempted by FSRecorder myself...so many add ons. 

 

 

 

I on the other hand value the realism flying online with all that comes with that (ATC and "real" traffic around you) more than watching replays so I'll have a look at FS Recorder and hopefully that will let me do what I want...simply have a way to watch a landing etc after I finished the flight and disconnected from the online network VATSIM in my case.

 

I spoze you could just disconnect and they'd chalk it up to an FSX CTD.  Bonus points if you scream and yell "Oh the humanity!!" before doing so. It would, at least, give them something to talk about.

[WebMaximus 334]

 

 

I spoze you could just disconnect and they'd chalk it up to an FSX CTD. Bonus points if you scream and yell "Oh the humanity!!" before doing so. It would, at least, give them something to talk about.

 

Yeah, that would really be something :LOL:

[doorstep 45]

 

Let me know if you want me to elaborate on the subject. If you have not seen your immaculate approach and landing of a 747 while, miraculously, standing along the runway, like a very fortunate aircraft spotter, you haven't seen nothing yet ! B)

 

cheers,

jan

Go for it.

[WebMaximus 334]

Did some testing of FS Recorder now and although still not perfect with an advanced addon like the NGX a huge improvement over the default playback in FSX!

 

So cool finally being able to watch both the flaps, spoilers and reversers in action during replay :biggrin:

[Gregg_Seipp 419]

 

 

Did some testing of FS Recorder now and although still not perfect with an advanced addon like the NGX a huge improvement over the default playback in FSX!

 

Can you give us a mini-review?  I have sat on my hands on that add-on for quite a while.

[WebMaximus 334]

I have only did some very brief testing so far and I think the best way to find out what's it's all about is to download and install it to see for yourself. The installation is very quick and easy and once done you'll get a menu inside FSX called FS Recorder.

 

What I've found so far is that it comes with lots of very cool features. For instance you can record a flight and then you can replay your recording but tell FS Recorder that it should replay your recording as an AI aircraft meaning you can actually "fly together with yourself" so to speak. Must say I'm impressed by all the features included especially considering it's freeware.

 

However my main goal was to be able to watch my landings and have all animations working during the replay like the flaps, spoilers, reversers and so on and this seem to work just fine after my first test. What I also like to do is to "experience" my own landing as a passenger using the wing views and with FS Recorder this works really nice. For example you will see the small input adjustments and corrections looking at how the ailerons move reflecting your inputs during landing. Very cool indeed and gives you that sensation of realism since this is exactly what you see IRL as a passenger when you're lucky enough to get a window seat close to the wings.

 

Reason I said still not perfect is for instance if you start your replay after you put the a/c in a cold and dark state it will also be cold and dark inside the cockpit during replay. Would have been very nice if FS Recorder actaully showed you the exact state the a/c was in during recording but this is a minor problem since you can either make sure to start the replay before you put the a/c in a cold and dark state or if you like me mostly like to watch the replay from spot view or from a passenger's perspective using wing view it doesn't matter the cockpit is cold and dark during replay. I also noticed some other things, for instance if you start the replay with the flaps in their UP position they will move into landing position but it takes a while for them to go from UP to 30 or whatever you had them at for landing. Would have been great if they were in the correct position right away when you start the replay. Also noticed if you have the GPU connected when starting replay it will also be connected during replay meaning you will have the GPU hanging next to the a/c in the air but again...not a big problem...just make sure you don't have any ground connections like the GPU before you start the playback.

 

Will do some more testing but overall I'm very happy with FS Recorder and what it will let me do so thanks again for reminding me of this great addon! I did check it out a couple of years ago but at that time if my memory serves the moving parts like the flaps etc didn't work at all flying advanced addons like the NGX so that's why I dropped it that time. Great to see these things now work with the NGX!!

 

Now I'm off for a return flight from LEPA-ESSA and I'm already looking forward to watch my landing :wink:

 

Yeah...one more thing I forgot to mention that is really cool. You're also able to render an actual video which will be saved in wmv format. Sad though is you won't get the audio recorded but only the video as I understand it. Have to do more testing of this feature though. When I tried it I also noticed how the FPS dropped to a point where FSX wasn't playable but that might be because I didn't use the feature in the correct way. What would really be great would be if you could render a video from an already existing replay but maybe that's not even technically possible. Like I said, will have to learn more about this feature and what's possible and what is not.

[doorstep 45]

Yes I remember that is why I stopped using it.  It does have a bite on your fps.

[InTheAir 44]

Yeah...one more thing I forgot to mention that is really cool. You're also able to render an actual video which will be saved in wmv format. Sad though is you won't get the audio recorded but only the video as I understand it. Have to do more testing of this feature though. When I tried it I also noticed how the FPS dropped to a point where FSX wasn't playable but that might be because I didn't use the feature in the correct way. What would really be great would be if you could render a video from an already existing replay but maybe that's not even technically possible. Like I said, will have to learn more about this feature and what's possible and what is not.

IIRC, the feature is designed to be used during playback of your recorded flight. That's the beauty of this feature, it will render out your playback at the highest settings you can set in FSX at 30FPS. The drawback is that it will take a while depending on the muscle of your computer as it will render every frame at 30 FPS no matter how long it takes.

 

I don't have any experience trying this but did read up on it a while back. ... that and I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night! lol

[WebMaximus 334]

Just tried it and it worked really good but as you say it does take some time and also the fact that you won't have audio in the video takes away pretty much of the exprience when watching the video.

 

Did some more testing with the NGX and I'm a bit confused because this time when watching my landing the spoilers and reversers didn't move during playback. The difference I can think of is this time I chose to save the instant replay as a file and then play that file instead. Other animations like the flaps and gear worked during playback though.

[Javiz 28]

Here are two great examples of what can be achieved with FS Recorder. Maestro Ted Wolfgang (Tufun at SOH) showing the 'Record, Replay and Record Again, etc.' method. This video features a formation of 3 PBJ's (B-25 Marines version) : http://youtu.be/u01F6IWbp7o

 

And this vid shows 3 B-17's in formation being joined by 2 P-51C escorts. ( checkout their first appearance at 4:00 ) :  http://youtu.be/eExcjoDguoc

 

Ted added sound later. Watch in full screen HD if you can. Fantastic work if you ask me.

 

cheers,
jan

[WebMaximus 334]

Very cool videos and clearly shows the power of FS Recorder and what you can do with it especially if you're in to making FSX videos!

 

Speaking about videos someone else in another thread said that to make videos where you will also have the sound (which you won't by only using the rendering feature in FS Recorder) a great way to accomplish that is to use a combination of FS Recorder and FRAPS where you use FRAPS to capture a running FS Recorder playback. Using that method you'll get both all the advanced features and possibilities in FS Recorder and still get the sound using FRAPS.

 

Back to what I wanted FS Recorder for (simply playing back my landings with all animations and systems working in the playback) I thought I had things figured out yesterday, that you need to make sure both the engines and the hydraulic systems are running/on before you start the playback. It worked fine a couple of times but then every now and then and I couldn't really tell the difference between the different runs again the flaps for instance didn't move and same thing with the spoilers not deploying during replay so I don't know really what to think. I guess my conclusion for now will be that FS Recorder is a very powerful and in many ways impressive program but it doesn't work 100% with advanced addons like the NGX or maybe I'm doing something wrong.

[Von Rondstadd 14]

combination of FS Recorder and FRAPS where you use FRAPS to capture a running FS Recorder playback.

Do you mean this?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H2isoOlCkc

 

Robert

[WebMaximus 334]

Do you mean this?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H2isoOlCkc

 

Robert

 

Without having viewed the whole clip seems to be it yes. This is the thread where someone mentioned this method.

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/407822-tool-for-recording-flights/

 

Checked out the video some more now and seems to be a very good guide for anyone who would like to try this method.

[blocks_off 5]

Often I think it would be great to be able to watch a replay of a flight and in particular to be able to watch a replay of your landing. However I've noticed when using the built-in feature for this in FSX it doesn't work out that good...

 

First of all the current state of the NGX will be transferred into the replay so for instance if I shut down the engines before looking at the replay (which I normally do since I do all my flying online and also with FS2Crew) the engines will not be running in the replay. Also any ground connections like the GPU will also be visible in the replay which does look rather funny but not exactly what I want. Of course it's easy to fix this by simply removing any ground connections before starting the replay but would be nice to have a replay feature that is a little bit more intelligent. Also missing in the replays are the animations of the flaps, the use of spoilers when touching down etc etc.

 

So...what are you guys using when you want to watch a replay?

As you've tried, FSX recorder works for me. I am not commenting on videos, but one tip I hope will be useful and ensures most of instruments for landing are as you would see them during the original landing. I begin my FSX recording say when on final. When landed and just before / or just after I vacate the runway I stop the FSX recorder. I also save the FSX flight here too.

This way I can replay the flight the next day and so on by just reloading the FSX flight and reloading the FSX recording. 

Regards

Carl

[WebMaximus 334]

That's a great tip, thanks Carl!

[Mike777 135]

Looking a little more closely at what's going on, the trick is to load the panel state in the NGX that corresponds to the situation at the beginning of the recording.  FS Recorder saves the situation automatically in Documents>Flight Simulator X Files, if set to do so.  NGX panel state files are also saved (pretty sure by FSUIPC) in ... Flight Simulator X\PMDG\PMDG 737 NGX\PanelState folder.  So if you 1) start the FS Recorder playback (which will load the situation at the beginning of the recording) and 2) load the corresponding panel situation file (using FMC Menu>PMDG Setup>Load panel state) you should have fewer problems with the replay.  That's what it looks like to me with a little experimenting.  This should eliminate the need to make sure the aircraft has all systems on before the replay begins, as loading the correct panel state should take care of engines or other systems off issues.  Some things still may need manual intervention, such as lowering the gear with the G key when the FS Recorder data tells the aircraft to lower the gear.

 

Mike

Also want to mention that a beta version of FS Recorder does create silent videos.  The standard version does not.  So if you want to make actual videos with sound, you need to use FRAPS or a similar video-making program to record during an FS Recorder playback.

 

Mike

[WebMaximus 334]

OK, so I did some more testing myself and by saving a NGX panel state right after vacating the runway when I still have all systems/engines running and then make sure I always load this panel state before I load a FS Recorder recording I think I got almost everything working really good except for one thing...

 

At touchdown the spoilers deploy just fine but when vacating the runway they don't retract in the replay but I have to do this manually. And to be honest I don't really understand how this is even possible that I can make things happen like retracting the spoilers during a replay...to me that's like being able to travel back in time and change stuff that already happened in past time  :lol:

 

A minor issue but would still be great if I could find some way to have this last thing work too. Anyone else succeeded in this?

[WebMaximus 334]

Couldn't resist playing around a bit with the cameras in FS Recorder and just figured out how to set up 2 cameras using the 'Free mode' type exactly where I usually stand when I'm out at ESSA spotting aircraft IRL so now I've "spotted" myself when landing and must admit it was a very different and cool feeling