So MSFS supports custom flight models?

[abrams_tank 7,477]

So an interesting discussion arose in the A2A & QualityWIngs thread, and I think this deserves a thread of its own.  I have read in the past that Microsoft/Asobo won't allow 3rd party devs to override the flight model in MSFS.  Maybe they said that in at Twitch Q&A before - I can't recall, since there were so many Twitch Q&As already.  

But obviously, some 3rd party dev aircraft/helicopters are obviously using their own custom flight model.  For example, the freeware H135 is using a custom flight model: https://www.flightsim.to/file/8970/airbus-h135-helicopter-project.  Remember, MSFS doesn't even officially support helicopters yet, but yet we can fly the freeware H135 right now.

Now I don't think that Microsoft/Asobo should close this avenue that allows the H135 to do what it does.  That would anger a lot of people that are flying the H135.  Are there other aircraft that are using their own custom flight model in MSFS? And what does Microsoft/Asobo exactly mean when they won't allow 3rd party devs to override the flight model in MSFS?

Edited August 12, 2021 by abrams_tank

[eltair 23]

Disclaimer: While I am a software engineer, I have no experience developing software for flight simulation.

One thing I've learned from working in the cybersecurity domain for many years it's that anything is possible. If you've ever played with tools like cheat engine you'd get a taste of this as you can find important memory locations in another process and manipulate them.

However, with MSFS you don't need to do hacks like the above for many aspects of the simulator due to simconnect which makes it easy to access many important variables in a supported way. I'm not super familiar with what's available here, but I have seen external tools which let you slew the aircraft anywhere you like instantaneously. I can imagine that with a bit of clever engineering, you could run an entirely external simulation and then update these slew variables to keep the aircraft in the correct position. This could be extremely crude (I'm not sure of the accuracy of these variables or the frequency at which it is reasonable to update them).

There may be other approaches as well that still utilize the built in flight model in some basic way while you continually update parameters to stay in sync with the external model.

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

There are two paths that 3rd party developers can use. One option is to create add-ons in full conformance with the MSFS SDK. The alternative is to access undocumented features. These may be in the SDK but there is no guarantee that they will work correctly. Alternatively, they may be features embedded either in the sim or one of its libraries. This is how REX injects weather in MSFS. But addresses in modules change with every new MSFS version. That is why it takes REX some time to issue a new version of WeatherForce. They have to hack into the sim and find the new entry points for routines. Asobo won't allow anything to be sold in the.marketplace unless it conforms to accepted use of the SDK. 

[gdjak 176]

Yes, you absolutely can override the flight model. Here's a template project: https://github.com/tml1024/flying-brick

[abrams_tank 7,477]

8 minutes ago, jabloomf1230 said:

There are two paths that 3rd party developers can use. One option is to create add-ons in full conformance with the MSFS SDK. The alternative is to access undocumented features. These may be in the SDK but there is no guarantee that they will work correctly. Alternatively, they may be features embedded either in the sim or one of its libraries. This is how REX injects weather in MSFS. But addresses in modules change with every new MSFS version. That is why it takes REX some time to issue a new version of WeatherForce. They have to hack into the sim and find the new entry points for routines. Asobo won't allow anything to be sold in the.marketplace unless it conforms to accepted use of the SDK. 

This is why if one day, Asobo closes the avenue that the freeware H135 is using and makes it useless, that would anger a lot of people that are flying the H135.  If the H135 is bypassing the SDK, it's possible that whatever the H135 is doing, it may be shut down by Asobo one day.

Having said that, people are also saying the DC-6 for PMDG is also using a custom flight model.  I don't have the DC-6 and even if I did, I'm not knowledgeable enough about the DC-6 anyways, so I can't comment on that.  But if PMDG is also using a custom flight model for the DC-6, then PMDG should be conforming to the SDK (well, PMDG works closely with Asobo) so this also has me thinking how PMDG is using their custom flight model in MSFS.

[Romeo_Tango 143]

Think I can guess why A2A have not released anything for MSFS yet.

[jcomm 6,020]

Just out of curiosity, MFS can also be used as a "Visuals Generator" for Aerowinx PSX, which is ran totally outside of MFS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U32qnZdu_l4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM2dnDsz1NA

 

[Republic3D 1,232]

The Fenix A320 will use external flight model, won't it?

It would suck if Asobo/Microsoft banned any 3rd parties from overriding their own.

[Fielder 3,750]

Every plane has a flight_model.cfg file which is the flight model. You can hack it in notepad. For instance simple changes to change stability all 3 axis. Change the default weight balance (a slightly more forward balance will reduce fishtailing on the runway when landing, but will also increase fuel usage, just like in real life). You can also change how much torque will effect yaw. There's lots of others.

No plane purchased in the marketplace, premium or deluxe default planes have an accessible flight_model.cfg file. But all add-on planes bought outside the market place, and all standard MSFS edition planes do.

A week after first purchasing MSFS I spent an entire day off work hacking controller Sensitivity (aileron, rudder, elev) in the 20 standard edition planes. (A later Asobo MSFS update added these adjustment right into their Sensitivities window so I no longer need to do this).

I still slide the weight forward on some few planes where I feel they float badly on landing or fishtail too much on inexact landings. More than they should, more than in real life. I am just setting them to behaving more realistically. Only a very few planes need this, e.g. the Cessna Birdog bush plane.  Once I have flight_model.cfg in notepad, it only takes me about 30 seconds to do this (increase the second digit by 2 in all the station_load lines, this slides the 'loads' forward 2 units which I think are feet).

I think most all of the default planes float a tad on landing (tail heavy), but I don't change that because it's not too bad and may just be my imagination.