Flight Unlimited 3 on Windows 10

[patrikmore 10]

@xiphactinus

I'm glad you managed to install the game. Water is mainly blue.

1. For a good visual rendering install dgvoodoo2 (just you have to copy files) with these settings for DirectX: VRAM 512 MB, Anisotropic 16x, antialiasing 4x and "Fast video memory access". (optional: also installed ddfix 1.5.13 specific for FU3, for better glow at sunset, do not forget to apply settings for FU3 found at the end of ddfix.ini).
2. For a stunning visual rendering install Reshade 4.7.0 with these settings (For compatibility with dgvoodoo2 you could have to rename dxgi.dll as d3d11.dll): Techniques=Pirate_Vibrance,DELC_Sharpen,Pirate_Bloom,prod80_03_FilmicTonemap,Unsharp

[patrikmore 10]

PILOTING

TAKE-OFF AND LANDING

TAKEOFF

There is nothing complicated here. Ask for permission to take off. Then we move the Throttle to about 90% of the maximum. After the plane takes off from the runway, make sure that the angle between the nose of the plane and the horizon (hereinafter referred to as pitch) is approximately 10-15 degrees. If the aircraft is gaining altitude steadily, retract the landing gear.

LANDING WITHOUT ILS (Instrument Landing System)

As for the landing, it very much depends on the type of aircraft and the runway.

To begin with, consider landing on a runway that is not equipped with an ILS (Instrument Landing System).

Set the throttle to about 40% of maximum and extend the flaps and gear.

Just before touchdown, reduce the RPM completely on Trainer, Arrow, Fokker and Stemme, or almost completely on Renegade, Mooney, Windhawk, and pull back on the yoke just a little to slightly raise the nose of the aircraft above the horizon so that the lane is touching the rear landing gear. Perform braking with wheel brakes.

The BeechJet introduces a new technique for landing. If you’re not descending as quickly as you’d like, you can use speed brakes during the final approach. Speed brakes will create some drag (wind resistance) of their own, reducing speed, but also making the plane descend quicker. You could also pull the nose up (increase angle of attack), and slow the plane down as well.

When runway is in sight, at 7 miles or so from the airport, adjust Vertical Speed, adjusting the trim. Quit the ALT mode on autopilot, then push the yoke a bit to achieve aiming the runway, manually trimming the plane to the rate of vertical speed you want. Once you are in the right descent rate, hit VS to lock your descent rate.

Applying speedbrakes on descent, and applying flaps down on final approach, will bring the BeechJet to land at speeds of only 120kts. When landing, it is imperative to use the flaps, and also you have to set the throttle to 60%. Deploying the speedbrakes during flaps down approach is usually a bad idea. In this state, it will be equivalent of opening a big hole on the wing, thus losing a lot of lift.

On the ground, the aircraft slows first by application of speedbrakes, and at the same time by decreasing engine throttle, brought to idle. Then apply reverse thrust (reversers button) to unlock the reversers, and deploy the reversers by accelerating throttle to maximum. When the air speed drops to 40-50 knots, set engine throttle to idle again, and press reversers to lock the reversers. Finally use wheel brakes.

[patrikmore 10]

LANDING WITH ILS (Instrument Landing System)

Without this elementary system, it is practically impossible to land any large airliner. We will not understand its structure, but immediately move on to how it operates in the game. Switch on the map mode M and select the airfield you plan to land on. If it is equipped with an ILS system, in the window that appears you’ll see runways with their ILS frequencies Turn off the map and enter the frequency related to the desired airport, in the NAV1 radio.

The GDI (Glideslope Deviation Indicator) is the primary display for the ILS. The two stripes on the GDI will indicate which side of the ILS beam we’re at. If the vertical arrow is to the right, then you need to turn right. If it is on the left side, then you need to turn left. If it's at the top - you have to gain altitude, because you are going too low, or at least not descend. If at the bottom - quickly go down. Your task is to ensure that both arrows - horizontal and vertical - are in the center. By continuing to keep the arrows centered, you will ideally enter the runway and be able to land without any problems. This system is especially important to use on large aircraft and when flying in low visibility conditions.

TAKE-OFF AND LANDING FROM SHORT RUNWAYS

When taking off, it is important to remember two things: firstly, on short runways, you need to use the flaps, and secondly, first move the throttle to the maximum position, and only then release the wheel brakes. The landing is a little more difficult. As you approach the runway, your speed should already be about 5 knots slower than normal for a single-engine aircraft. The flaps should be extended to their maximum. As soon as it touches the ground, turn off the engine and engage brakes.

[patrikmore 10]

These are my settings for joystick and keyboard applied to FU3

 

 

 

"Up Arrow" remapped to "NumPad 8" on keyboard    (Look Up)

"Down Arrow" remapped to "NumPad 2" on keyboard  (Look Down)

"Left Arrow" remapped to "NumPad 4" on keyboard  (Look Left)

"Right Arrow" remapped to "NumPad 6" on keyboard (Look Right)

 

 

;SETTINGS IN FLT3.CFG for rudder and throttle

 

joy_device 1

; 3    Z axis                  rudder left and right (Left and Right arrows)

rudder_device 1 3

; 6  rotation around Z throttle device (Up and Down arrows)

; Up and Down arrows are remapped NumPad 8 & 2 for my Lexip joystick

throttle_device 1 6

 

 

;SETTINGS IN JOYKEYS.CFG

 

 

 

; uses joy 1 to assign both brakes to joystick trigger - a la MSFS

joy_1 console func left_brake_on && func right_brake_on

joy_1_up console func left_brake_off && func right_brake_off

 

 

; uses joy 2 to apply jet reverse thrust  -- same as kp_*

joy_2 Reverse_Thrust

 

 

; uses joy 3 to look left

joy_3 console func Look_Left || func Look_Left_Done && func Look_Ahead

 

 

; uses joy 4 to look right

joy_4 console func Look_Right || func Look_Right_Done && func Look_Ahead

 

 

; uses ` ("\" in spanish keyboard) to Communicate

` Communicate

 

 

; Uses W for Autopilot VS - Hold Vertical Speed
w Autopilot_HoldVerticalSpeed

 

 

; Uses R for Autopilot NAV - Follows VOR Radial

r Autopilot_ToggleNav

 

 

; Uses T for Autopilot HDG - Locks Heading

t Autopilot_HoldHeading

 

 

; Uses Y for Autopilot APR - Approach on ILS beam

y Autopilot_ToggleApr

 

 

; Uses U for Autopilot ALT - Locks Altitude

u Autopilot_HoldAltitude

 

 

; Uses I for Toggle AntiIce

i Toggle_AntiIce

 

 

; Uses S to toggle SpeedBrakes / Spoilers  -  same as kp_/

s SpeedBrakes

 

; Uses S in capital letter for Autopilot SPD - Locks Air Speed
S Autopilot_HoldAirspeed

 

;  uses space for toggle between IFR cockpit & VFR cockpit

space console func Camera_IFR_Cockpit || func Camera_VFR_Cockpit

 

 

; uses N to show green lines taxi path at unfamiliar airport -- Alt F12

n Show_Taxi_Path

 

 

; tab (TUNE) key to auto Tune radio -- same as Alt f

tab Auto_Tune_Radio

 

 

; uses NumPad 8 & 2 (remapped Up & Down) for throttle - same as kp_+ & kp_-

; NumPad 8 & 2 keys are triggered by Up and Down lever on Lexip joystick

up_rep_5 Throttle_Increase 2

down_rep_5 Throttle_Decrease -2

 

 

; uses \   } in spanish keyboard   for navigation lights

\ Toggle_Navigation_Lights

 

 

; Uses Z to trim up (nose up)

z_rep_10 Elevator_Trim_Up 3

 

 

; Uses X to trim down (nose down)

x_rep_10 Elevator_Trim_Down -3

 

 

; Uses C to Center trim

c Elevator_Trim_Center

 

 

; uses V to restore flaps position

v Flaps_Up

 

 

RESULT (IN MY CASE) OF KEYBOARD WITH REMAPPING APPLIED

 

bs                    Toggle_Auto_Trim

tab                   Auto_Tune_Radio

enter                Repeat_Message

esc                   Exit_Screen

space               toggle between IFR cockpit & VFR cockpit

'                       Toggle_Beacon

;                       Toggle_Anti_Collision_Lights

I                      Source_Self

O                     Source_Next_Ground_Object

P                     Source_Next_Plane

S                     Autopilot_HoldAirspeed

X                     Increase_Field_Of_View

Z                     Decrease_Field_Of_View

\                       Toggle_Navigation_Lights

`                      Communicate

a                      Autopilot_OnOff

b                      Toggle_Parking_Brakes

c                      Elevator_Trim_Center

d                      Increment_Time_Of_Day

e                      Start_Engine

f                      Flaps_Down

g                      Toggle_Landing_Gear

h                      Toggle_Carb_Heat

i                       Toggle_AntiIce

j                       Panel_Main_Backlighting

k                      Toggle_Taxi_Lights

l                       Toggle_Landing_Lights

m                     Inflight_Map

n                      Show_Taxi_Path

o                      Target_Next_Ground_Object

p                      Target_Next_Plane

q                      PCL

r                      Autopilot_ToggleNav

s                      SpeedBrakes

t                       Autopilot_HoldHeading

u                      Autopilot_HoldAltitude

v                      Flaps_Up

w                     Autopilot_HoldVerticalSpeed

x                      Elevator_Trim_Down

y                      Autopilot_ToggleApr

z                      Elevator_Trim_Up

ctrl_d               Decrement_Time_Of_Day

ctrl_e               Shutdown_Engine

ctrl_p               Pause

ctrl_z               Toggle_Zoar_Mode

alt_g                Mayday

alt_x                Quit_Game

up                    Look_Up

left                   Look_Left

right                Look_Right

down               Look_Down

pageup            Miracle_Up

pagedown       Miracle_Down

Edited October 10, 2023 by patrikmore

[DearGown 0]

I have a crappy laptop with Win 10. I believe I installed the DX fixes a while back for another game, or removed, dunno. Prior to seeing this thread, I was not able to run setup.exe but the game works well enough just by copying the folder FLT3 to the hard drive and running the executable directly. Switching apps can mess up the view, but if it happens while flying you can call the map with M and then exit the map and the view will be restored. My main issues is that the taxiway lines and ground textures did not appear after landing at SeaTac, though they show up if you start from there.

any ideas? Also, how can I get the airport diagrams?

[patrikmore 10]

In this forum thread you have the answers. Look for a game version without bug. I had a problem with sound crash. Install like this: With the disc in the drive (could be virtual), identify its drive letter. Replace X with the appropriate drive letter in the command below:

• press ⊞ Win+R to open a Run window and enter X:\setup.exe -lgntforce
   
• Install dgvoodoo2 (skip ddfix install) copying 3 files. For stability just put 512kb vram, anisotropic 8x, FSAA 4x.
• Optional: install reshade 4.70

 

[DearGown 0]

Does dgvoodoo2 only affect this game?

[patrikmore 10]

Dgvoodoo2 in the manner of it is "installed" (files copied in game folder) only affects this game. (but you can do the same thing with other game folders) it is what is called "a wrapper". It convert DirectX 6 output to DirectX 11 output.

Edited November 3, 2023 by patrikmore

[DearGown 0]

great, thanks, I will try it out, nothing to lose 🙂

[DearGown 0]

Dgvoodoo 2.83 isn’t supposed to work, right? I used it and my mouse is confined to a smaller area of the screen 

[DearGown 0]

I got the mouse to work over the entire screen, but I am getting frame rates in the 20s (still better than before DGVoodoo) , unless I set display driver to none in the game, which causes artifacts. I have tried various voodoo settings, nothing save for SVGA card gave me good frame rates, and the SVGA card makes for square clouds. Any ideas?

[DearGown 0]

On 11/2/2023 at 8:55 PM, patrikmore said:

 

• press ⊞ Win+R to open a Run window and enter X:\setup.exe -lgntforce
   
• Install dgvoodoo2 (skip ddfix install) copying 3 files. For stability just put 512kb vram, anisotropic 8x, FSAA 4x.
• Optional: install reshade 4.70

 

Even with the argument  I can’t run setup

DGVoodoo has four files for direct 3d, no?

I haven’t seen VRAM options under 16MB in DGVoodoo CPL

[patrikmore 10]

20 hours ago, DearGown said:

Even with the argument  I can’t run setup

DGVoodoo has four files for direct 3d, no?

I haven’t seen VRAM options under 16MB in DGVoodoo CPL

Setup of the game is when game is on CD or virtual CD drive. Three for FU3.

The game doesn't use D3D. Just copy ddraw.dll and another dll file from x86 dgvoodoo2 folder. VRAM has to be 512 kb on dgvoodoo2 directx.

Sorry not 512 KB but 512 MB.

Edited November 6, 2023 by patrikmore

[DearGown 0]

I had it mounted as a CD.

512MB is what I am using. 

oh well, at least the game is playable, guess I shouldn’t be too picky over a few FPS.

[patrikmore 10]

About FPS, some laptops have two graphic cards. This can be fixed:

1. Go to Settings, then -> “Gaming”.

2. On “Xbox Game Bar page” go to “Related Settings” -> “Graphics”.

3. On drop down menu, select -> “Desktop app”.

4. Browse to your folder where Flight Unlimited III is installed (Flight3) and select (double click) “FLIGHT3.EXE”.

5. Once selected, click “Options”, and then select “High Performance”.