fsx-ms Best helicopter for FSX?

[el_kab0ng 29]

I personally hate these types of subjective questions, but figured I'd solicit community opinion on what the best helo might be for FSX. The sort of attributes I look for are high fidelity, proper flight dynamics, complexity of systems, etc. So far, the best helos I've found in these categories are Cerasim AC, but I was wondering if there's anything else? I've looked into dodosim, but compared to Cerasim, the fidelity just wasn't there. Milviz has a decent 407, but it seems quite buggy and the flight characteristics a little unrealistic.

 

Thoughts?

[Alan_A 1,650]

What was missing for you in the Dodo?  I only ask because by consensus (and also in my experience) it's the best available for both systems fidelity and flight dynamics.  Which doesn't mean you have to agree, of course.

 

You're probably aware of this already, but for the record - the Dodo offers five stages of realism, selectable via a dial on the overhead panel.  At the lowest levels, it's equivalent to default, and then it adds more realistic flight and system characteristics as you step up.  A nice feature, BTW, that I wish others would emulate.  If you still have the Dodo on your system, you might want to check those settings.

 

Graphically it's not great - I understand they're working on an HD VC, but I don't know where that stands.

 

Other than the Dodo, the Cerasim helos are the best I've come across for FSX.  

 

You might also want to check out Fred Naar's freeware program, Helicopter Total Realism (HTR), which improves flight dynamics on a wide range of FSX helos.  It's available over at Hovercontrol, which is a great resource.  

 

None of them is the equal of the best X-Plane helos - the X-Plane helo flight model is much better than the FSX one.  I'm not a huge X-Plane fan but for rotary wing flight it's outstanding.

[vortex681 806]

I second the DodoSim 206. It's definitely the closest to a real helicopter that's available in FSX - I'm a retired RW helicopter pilot so I have some experience! I agree that the graphics are quite dated but the flight model is much better than anything else I've tried (but still falls short of the real thing in a number of areas). As Alan said, make sure that the difficulty switch on the overhead panel is set to 5 to get the most realism.

[el_kab0ng 29]

And therein lies the problem with Dodosim: the VC/graphics are dated. It ruins the experience if the fidelity isn't there for me. I blame PMDG for alot of that perception, really. In any event, you guys pretty much validated what's on the market for us at this time and there's nothing new that might have been missed. I appreciate the feedback.

[ahunterG95 0]

Have a look into the aircraft that Milviz did with Nemeth Designs.... Nemeth Design has quite a few of their own too. There is about four of them that Milviz and Nemeth Designs did. I have no real world experience so I have no real clue about flight dynamics but if your after great VC's and over all detail they are basicaly at the level of Cerasim. I wish A2A could to a chopper. It would be imposible to go past it!

[Poppet 710]

I did post a thread on the A2A forums about a helicopter a while back as I thought it would be obviously be amazing. 

 

https://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=48089

[jcomm 5,939]

Don't want to sound as I will necessarily sound saying this, but,

 

if you really want rotary wing experience, forget about FSX / P3D or even X-Plane ... None does anywhere even near what DCS World UH-1H, Mi-8 or Ka-50 provide you.

 

In the old fs9 times I did use DODSIM Bell 206, which also has an FSX ( probably P3D too ) compatible version. IMO it is probably the closer you can get, but nothing that compares to the flight dynamics and overall physics and systems modeling provided by DCS World helicopters.

 

Regarding X-Plane 10, something really weird has happened to the rotary wing FDM IMO... A kind of torque bug for the helos, although not related to torque :-)... I gave up using helos in XP10...

[Skysurfer7 34]

 high fidelity, proper flight dynamics, complexity of systems, etc.

Thoughts?

 

Like jcomm said, forget about anything else, go to DCS World if you want RL helicopter realism.

 

[Mickeyj 35]

I fly FS choppers since day one of FS 98 so i have lots of experience in the virtual RW section. But FCS Huey killed me I needed a few patterns to get used to it but it is still a challenge to fly it. Lookin forward to the new Nevada map

 

Anyway the topic is for FSX choppers. Im fan of all Cerasim MilViz and the Dodo. Nemeths AS350 is quite challenging. The Huey rocks too. Not to forget the Chinook the AW109 and the S64. The AS355 isnt that good although it looks quite nice. The MD902 and the BK117 are nicely done but feel somewhat strange in the FDs.

 

Last not least the best Huey for FS, i dont have it, should be the Aerosoft Huey X. Heard a lot of good things about it. Gotta get is some day

[Griphos 138]

I think part of the confusion stems from your use of the word "fidelity" to mean something like high quality visuals. Fidelity normally refers to realism, not graphics quality. The Dodo graphics are quite dated, but there is no other helo in FSX that even comes close to its realism.

 

The Aerosoft Huey might be a distant second.

 

If you want fidelity and high quality graphics, skip FSX and get the DCS Huey. The new terrain engine and Nevada map should be out soon. There's probably no more realistic and visually pleasing helo simulation out there.

[jcomm 5,939]

And... speaking of helos, and DCS and Nevada Map:

 

http://www.avsim.com/topic/376846-what-is-dcs/page-29#entry3332486

 

It's a 3rd party production, not ED native, but looking REALLY gorgeous :-)