Autopilot hopes

[Moe 6]

I asked about autopilot a couple years back and go a fairly solid ain't going to happen when the guys were beginning to tweak things enough to get repaints and some results importing FSX aircraft. Stonelance and others were getting bombarded with requests and shamefully I was no better in asking for things like importing FSX scenery, Cessna 172, and autopilot. At that time anything seemed possible but as we now know no all is realistically possible. We got the repaints, new weather, brighter textures, the FSX default scenery, but for all those successes we did not get the aircraft and understandably so considering the difficulty the guys were having trying to do it. I consider this overall to be a win and am very thankful for the work put out .

 

Back then one of the things I asked about was autopilot. At that time the answer was likely not. Since then I believe code of likely FSX origin might have been found in MS Flight for things like traffic, ATC, and autopilot. So knowing that perhaps that code is still there and much more has been learned and tweaking methods refined. What do you think the chances are of getting an autopilot in the future, Even if just a simple heading and altitude hold. I understand there is a trick to get keyboard control to behave like a heading altitude hold but I have never been able to get it to work like that for me. With the whole world to explore now an autopilot would be a very nice add on.

 

Moe

[KavindaJD 31]

Dovetail may need to implement that to appeal to a wider audience (i.e the casual flight simmers and the hardcore flight simmers). Parts of FSX definitely needs to be integrated into their new Flight Sim, so that it doesn't end up like Flight - with many taking a step back since some of the fundamental "bits and bobs" required in a flight simulator was discarded.

 

      In short - you will NOT see "traffic, ATC, and autopilot" in Microsoft Flight anytime soon, you may see it in Dovetail's new simulator; that is if they decide to spend some time on Microsoft Flight. Dovetail have been reluctant to share their progression with the "yet to be released simulator," so it's all a big mystery right now...

 

Stick to the pitch trim and lets hope the ride isn't as bumpy as it seems....   

[rhumbaflappy 113]

This may sound stupid, but I do use autopilot. Use the mouse, center the circle, lose the mouse. The plane will stay on course and at elevation for a while... autopilot. Depending on the weather, some aircraft can hold it together for quite a while.

 

With a lack of slewing, I sometimes use the map ( M ) to get from place to place quickly. Steve's sim data editor can also plae an aircraft at a location accurately.

 

I know, it's not real autopilot or slewing, but it helps.

 

Dick

[KavindaJD 31]

Just found it today - the new sim will be called "Dovetail Games Flight Simulator (DFS)" 

[Moe 6]

There was so much demand there and all over the place. 35+ pages of guys arguing for what they want Dovetail to do. I think Dovetail would have done better to create a poll with say 40 things and you get to pick 5 that you want the most. Would have made the data collection more efficient and able to move on to programing. Imagine some poor shmuck at Dovetail reading all that and making some sense on direction.

 

I do know this. I will be buying and supporting whatever they put out.

 

Moe

[stonelance 136]

If there is autopilot code in Flight, it isn't compatible with its new flight model, otherwise we would have enabled it

 

I think it is possible that someone could write an external autopilot, where they use the data from the SimDataEditor output, and then use that to feedback into controls for the airplane, but some of the pieces to do that aren't in place (I think the data interface to the sim is mostly one way right now).  I don't think you'll ever get one in Flight without a bunch of work.

 

Using mouse mode to hold a course is probably your best bet.