So, I have PF3.

And the flight plans need a fair bit of work to function properly where's RC4 just takes my flight plans and needs no additional configuration to function correctly.

Why does PF3 need so much pre flight work?

5 hours ago, Boomer said:

Why does PF3 need so much pre flight work

Just got  pf3  and  pre  flight  time  is  just the  same  amount  of  time  I  had  to do  with rc4,  all depends  if  you  want  a  accurate  flight  plan  to  go  with your  sids  and  stars  alts  etc to  what  you  want  it  to do, if  you  don't  just select  the flight  plan  and   connect  to you  sim and  let  pf3 calculate everything  for  you

7 hours ago, pete_auau said:

Just got  pf3  and  pre  flight  time  is  just the  same  amount  of  time  I  had  to do  with rc4,  all depends  if  you  want  a  accurate  flight  plan  to  go  with your  sids  and  stars  alts  etc to  what  you  want  it  to do, if  you  don't  just select  the flight  plan  and   connect  to you  sim and  let  pf3 calculate everything  for  you

Disagree.

RC4 takes my flight plan (say for example generated by SimRoutes)and figures out decent and approach paths/altitudes etc.  PF3 does not without adjustments with PF3 itself.

 

Example:  Im 60 miles at FL280 from touchdown and it tells me to drop to 3500 and Im cleared ILS etc.  RC4 gives me a proper decent path and vectors etc.

18 minutes ago, Boomer said:

Disagree.

RC4 takes my flight plan (say for example generated by SimRoutes)and figures out decent and approach paths/altitudes etc.  PF3 does not without adjustments with PF3 itself.

 

Example:  Im 60 miles at FL280 from touchdown and it tells me to drop to 3500 and Im cleared ILS etc.  RC4 gives me a proper decent path and vectors etc.

Agreed. Has happend to me as well. 

Many times, I experience being guided too low or too high. Also, I find it hard to know where you are on your flightplan in PF. I like RC4's waypoint display with next waypoint and distance to it. 
Have also experienced a couple of times in PF, that I get told to contact approach or center, which then responds, but afterwards becomes quiet - and I don't notice it, until I wonder when my next instructions is coming... 

Anyway - to each their own. I do really like PF accent and region controls ... really cool to hear french controllers in France or french pilots from Air France.

1 minute ago, Anders Gron said:

 I like RC4's waypoint display with next waypoint and distance to it.

Try running pf3_display during flight.

1 hour ago, Boomer said:

Try running pf3_display during flight.

Nice... Thanks for that.

5 hours ago, Boomer said:

Disagree.

RC4 takes my flight plan (say for example generated by SimRoutes)and figures out decent and approach paths/altitudes etc.  PF3 does not without adjustments with PF3 itself.

 

 

Actually PF3 makes a very good job of interpreting a raw fpl thrown at it as it were. So it is likely that your fpl was faulty. The majority of simmers don't have a clue of how to produce a real fpl and rely on various add-ons, web sites etc which themselves are often incorrect because they too are programmes and not real people. So some of the fpls I have seen are rubbish. I can tell you that 99 times out of 99.3, users on the PF3 forum who say "I couldn't do this or that". Or "PF3 didn't do this or that" end up being told to read the manual!! The most common mistake is not listening to or paying attention to the ATC instructions. Or ignoring them and then complaining. I am fully aware that maintaining a "listening watch" takes a while to achieve but that's what is expected of you in the real world. At least PF3 is being updated more often than once a year and is officially supported by the developer and not having to rely solely on the support of one enthusiastic user.
 

4 hours ago, vololiberista said:

Actually PF3 makes a very good job of interpreting a raw fpl thrown at it as it were. So it is likely that your fpl was faulty. The majority of simmers don't have a clue of how to produce a real fpl and rely on various add-ons, web sites etc which themselves are often incorrect because they too are programmes and not real people. So some of the fpls I have seen are rubbish. I can tell you that 99 times out of 99.3, users on the PF3 forum who say "I couldn't do this or that". Or "PF3 didn't do this or that" end up being told to read the manual!! The most common mistake is not listening to or paying attention to the ATC instructions. Or ignoring them and then complaining. I am fully aware that maintaining a "listening watch" takes a while to achieve but that's what is expected of you in the real world. At least PF3 is being updated more often than once a year and is officially supported by the developer and not having to rely solely on the support of one enthusiastic user.
 

Then why does PF3 let me get to within 40 miles of my landing airport at FL280 and then tell me to descend to 3500 and cleared for an ILS approach ("rubbish") whereas RC4 properly steps and vectors me down to the outer marker from 75 miles out?  RC4 seems to figure it out without any STAR.  Why would PF3 need one?

I am not saying I don't like PF3, afterall I just bought it and am trying to figure it out.  And yes I fully read the manual a few times now.

When I can I will post some flightplan examples.

Cheers.

10 hours ago, Boomer said:

Then why does PF3 let me get to within 40 miles of my landing airport at FL280 and then tell me to descend to 3500 and cleared for an ILS approach ("rubbish") whereas RC4 properly steps and vectors me down to the outer marker from 75 miles out?  RC4 seems to figure it out without any STAR.  Why would PF3 need one?

I am not saying I don't like PF3, afterall I just bought it and am trying to figure it out.  And yes I fully read the manual a few times now.

When I can I will post some flightplan examples.

Cheers.

It is more likely a problem with your fpl or the way you have set PF3 up. If you think it should do something that it appears not to be doing then postthe log in the PF3 forum and we can have a look at what may be missing.

2 hours ago, vololiberista said:

It is more likely a problem with your fpl or the way you have set PF3 up. If you think it should do something that it appears not to be doing then postthe log in the PF3 forum and we can have a look at what may be missing.

Wilco.

Another bonus for PF3 users (sorry RC4!) is that another update has been released this evening! Currently vers 3.4.0

42 minutes ago, vololiberista said:

Another bonus for PF3 users (sorry RC4!) is that another update has been released this evening! Currently vers 3.4.0

Excellent, I'll go grab it then.

This is excellent news:

"

CHANGED

the chances of getting a 'no speed restriction' call during your departure

from 25% to 50%. Also, if you're using a 'heavy' callsign then you will always get the

call (subject to certain conditions - please see the updated user guide in your

PF3/Help folder)"

11 hours ago, Boomer said:

CHANGED

the chances of getting a 'no speed restriction' call during your departure

from 25% to 50%. Also, if you're using a 'heavy' callsign then you will always get the

call (subject to certain conditions - please see the updated user guide in your

PF3/Help folder)"

That is still under development as it were. The beta team is still discussing it as some of the parameters are not necessary.

My favourite change though is the ability to change your arrival gate on the fly. You can even do it as you approach your designated gate and find it occupied.

On 29.04.2017 at 2:25 AM, Boomer said:

Then why does PF3 let me get to within 40 miles of my landing airport at FL280 and then tell me to descend to 3500 and cleared for an ILS approach ("rubbish")

Boomer, did you figure that out?

Thanks,

Dirk. 

PS: I had PFE and I bought PF3 when it was released but never had the courage and time to actually install it. A principal feature I'm looking for is saving flight situations (scenario) on the ground before take off, which ATC/PROX can not. RC4 can't deal with fxml files in general (and unfortunately I can't find fxmltoflt converter). So I'm left with PF3 if saving/loading situations is available.

 

No, I haven't figured out why PF3 needs so much flight plan attention to work properly whereas RC4 just figures it out.  Maybe because RC4 was written by real controllers?  RC4 may not be updated anymore, but then, it doesn't really need any patches or updates so it's a moot point.