Milviz King Air is RELEASED

[charliewards 11]

I watch YouTube videos but for me, they aren’t as helpful when I’m at my computer and in the cockpit. I like to read docs on my iPad as I’m flying more than playing a video.... then pausing, playing, pausing etc etc. 

Documentation doesn’t have to rival “War and Peace” in length. But I expect something more than a checklist, please. I can wait a bit.

In the meantime, I hope to not read more petty and nasty messages about this plane. It’s the holiday season... be happy!

[JB3DG 225]

11 hours ago, odourboy said:

I smell a business opportunity here. Write a manual. Sell it online as an add-on to an add-on.  Make a gazillion dollars! 🤗

Since this got brought up, it’ll help bring some perspective. The various free PL-21 manuals to be found online are often missing quite a bit of info. We bought the full manuals from RC for, wait for it (drumroll), a whopping $850 (PL-21) and $650 (FMS) a piece.

9 hours ago, Karelpatch said:

This situation is really weird. A manual doesn’t have to be hundreds of pages long. 
I don’t understand why a dev would create such a quality and complex aircraft for so long and not be eager to describe all about it in a manual. 

 

13 minutes ago, charliewards said:

Documentation doesn’t have to rival “War and Peace” in length. But I expect something more than a checklist, please. I can wait a bit.

In the meantime, I hope to not read more petty and nasty messages about this plane. It’s the holiday season... be happy!

And this brings me to the next point as to why said manuals are so expensive. There is so much going on in these systems that the real manuals are indeed hundreds of pages long. Someone had to be paid to write them in the first place. And given the magnitude, it definitely wasn’t a single person and it didn’t take them just a week.

Edited January 3, 2020 by JB3DG

[pinepix62 63]

No manual, very disappointing. I stopped buying the Carenado products because of poor documentation. I purchased this plane after the performance concerns I had was was confirmed not to be a problem by members on the forum and with the understanding that documentation will follow. Sometimes you just want to verify something while flying and to do that using videos is not practical at all, particularly with the unique FMS on the 350i.

[Ricardo41 5,948]

10 hours ago, Karelpatch said:

A manual doesn’t have to be hundreds of pages long.

Exactly, nobody is asking the developers who write a Tolstoian-length book. But, at the very least,  a simple tutorial flight - that shows at least on a basic level - how the different systems interact, would probably cut down on the number of support requests.

I know that the trend has been for some time to do YT-video, but most of them are not very good. There are notable exceptions, for example, Q8Pilot, Aviation Pro, etc.

Furthermore, how would I "fly along" a video tutorial, unless I 1) constantly alt-tab out of P3d, watch it on my smartphone or on a second monitor. I prefer to print out a tutorial flight, put the print out next to my keyboard and follow along.

[Christopher Low 5,352]

Tutorial PDF documents like (for example) Tutorial #1 and #2 for the PMDG 737 NGX are what I prefer. In other words, I like to be taken through procedures "step by step", so that I know exactly what I am supposed to do. I much prefer tutorial documents that I can print out, because I am not able to fly in the simulator and watch a tutorial video at the same time.

Edited January 3, 2020 by Christopher Low

[SAS443 1,721]

For this particular plane, a more detailed manual would be a nice addition.
Most simmers are not that acquainted with how to properly operate turboprops, let alone a design that stems from 60s/70s. The King Air is a high performance aircraft, that rivals smaller luxury jets at shorter distances, but you operate the engines  "old school" by the book and according to the performance tables (which Milviz have provided in a sticky post on the forum).

Power mgmt is very basic: You are either torque-limited or temperature-limited. Whichever reaches its limit first determines the available power. Not an N1 reference-value from the FMS which the autothrottle sets for you during takeoff roll.

The supportforum also has many questions regarding FMS and lack of speed / altitude targets on flightplan LEGS and expects a VNAV complete flight supervision. Some users seem to have purchased this bird and thought that just b/c it has an FMS it can be operated just like an Airbus or Boeing with sophisticated vertical path guidance and speed mgmt.

Sorry if I came across as grumpy. It is not my intention at all.

Best wishes

 

[Indy511 686]

On 1/2/2020 at 7:59 AM, Milviz said:

There are now several videos available on our YT channel.  There will be no further documentation.  Only videos.

On 1/2/2020 at 8:42 AM, Milviz said:

We will do the videos because they are easier to do and understand.

YT videos don't always cut it for those of us who are hearing impaired. And the YT captioning is hard to follow if you're watching on a second device and operating the aircraft at the same time.

 

Edited January 3, 2020 by BillS511

[regis9 4,011]

2 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

Tutorial PDF documents like (for example) Tutorial #1 and #2 for the PMDG 737 NGX are what I prefer. In other words, I like to be taken through procedures "step by step", so that I know exactly what I am supposed to do. I much prefer tutorial documents that I can print out, because I am not able to fly in the simulator and watch a tutorial video at the same time.

My exact thoughts.  When the NGX first came out it was all new to me and I followed those tutorials repetitively until I could do it with out the support docs.  Now flying the NGX(u) is like muscle memory to me but those initial step by step tutorials made all the difference.

I’ve been able to figure out the basics of getting the King Air up in the air but I know I’m just scratching the surface.

Edited January 3, 2020 by regis9

[Milviz 919]

We will be doing a couple of written guides on how to use the FMS.  They will, with luck, be in the next HF (which should be out this weekend).

For the SP, which will be out before the end of the month, we hope to have more documentation in place.

[barramundilure 152]

9 minutes ago, Milviz said:

We will be doing a couple of written guides on how to use the FMS.  They will, with luck, be in the next HF (which should be out this weekend).

For the SP, which will be out before the end of the month, we hope to have more documentation in place.

Thank you for reconsidering the situation.  

[CaptKornDog 282]

That's very good to hear you are reconsidering, @Milviz.

[Karelpatch 29]

6 hours ago, Milviz said:

We will be doing a couple of written guides on how to use the FMS.  They will, with luck, be in the next HF (which should be out this weekend).

For the SP, which will be out before the end of the month, we hope to have more documentation in place.

This is awesome. And something we probably don’t say enough: you guys are awesome to deliver great products to the community. 

[Slayer 190]

As a tester(and customer) I can offer this (not to take any sides or make excuses)

This aircraft sim is very realistic. The depth of the systems Milviz have put into this product is incredible, it can compete with real world simulations of this particular aircraft.

These are my of observations and opinions:

1) Just about all of these aircraft in the real world come with different options that are ordered by their owners. So some military versions or some corporate fleet may have different options installed compared to others; there is no fixed standard version unless someone were to order an aircraft that is stripped of all options (unlikely) Even if you have real world experience the options presented here may not match what your organization ordered. Milviz tried to offer a "generic" version that would cover most of the commonly used options

2) Real world manuals cannot be provided due to copyright issues...real world manuals cost hundreds of dollars and would put this product out of the range of most simmers. You can't really compare it to PMDG products as the companies that produce the equipment and this aircraft (probably) don't really feel it's in their best interest to release their documentation for a simulation product. As a company, Milviz has to be very careful about fair use and  infringing copyrighted materials ( and lawyers and export laws and........) Milviz is trying to provide you with what they can legally so that you can fly and enjoy this aircraft.

3) There are some bugs,  as to be expected with any simulation of this depth. The Milviz staff is working very hard to find and fix them as soon as possible. Some "bugs" are actually how the real world systems work. I've seen it brought up many times during development " X should do X" and then a systems developer or someone with RW experience steps in and says no, "Thats how it works in the real thing". This bird does have a steep learning curve for the minutia BUT you still can get it up and flying for some enjoyable flights....IMO that is half the fun of sims, learning the intricacies and "gotchas"

 

For $80 bucks it's a good deal if you want a realistic simulation of this aircraft. There is nothing like it out there for this airframe ... period.

[rightseat 277]

 

11 hours ago, Milviz said:

We will be doing a couple of written guides on how to use the FMS.  They will, with luck, be in the next HF (which should be out this weekend).

For the SP, which will be out before the end of the month, we hope to have more documentation in place.

I bet it's tough (and time consuming) writing manuals when the original ac's manuals will be copyrighted. Running that gauntlet will be exhausting, I'm sure.  

On a positive side note, I'm still really pleased with the KA. The coding seems very efficient because I'm getting amazing fps on a 2.3 ghz laptop! 

 

Edited January 4, 2020 by rightseat
spelling

[fakeflyer737 991]

have they mentioned whether or not we will have the ability to upgrade for FS2020?