On 7/23/2022 at 7:53 AM, Phantom88 said:

Some News

 

We received a lot of questions about the Custom Scripting Engine, which we mentioned in our kickoff post. Therefore, we will now go into more detail.

Basically, X-Plane provides a large number of functions by default. For the average addon this is often sufficient. For us, however, it was clear from the beginning that we wanted to implement things in the C421 that X-Plane does not provide. Therefore we looked at different options at the beginning, such as:

Xlua: A variant of Lua adapted for X-Plane, which is also used by standard X-Plane aircrafts like the 737. It is characterized mainly by its rather simple approach. Even less experienced programmers or even complete newbies can achieve good results after a short learning curve. Disadvantages, however, are a limited range of functions and only moderate performance.

In contrast, SASL is available as a comprehensive, professional tool, with which almost all wishes can be realized. However, deeper programming knowledge is required for this. The market knows only a small number of resources who are familiar with this and there is no one in our team. Bringing in external programmers is often difficult as well. While they can learn quickly, they often lack the aeronautical understanding to adequately implement an instrument or logic.

Basically, we wanted both: an easy-to-use scripting language with an extensive feature set. So we had to create this ourselves. To explain this in detail would go beyond the scope. But simply speaking, it is an upgraded XLua variant that has been integrated into the syntax of the scripting language wren, which can be compiled into all three supported X-Plane operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux). Of course we did not start from scratch but used common callbacks like AfterPhysics or FlightStart. Therefore a migration of a xlua script is not too complex. But thanks to our several additional functions we are able to solve complex issues quickly and efficiently without the need of a highly skilled coder.

A few examples:

We can store data in different preference levels via a simple module. For example, we can store user-specific data in the output/preferences path, which can still be available after uninstalling the aircraft, so that an update or reinstallation can fall back on the previous settings. Or we can store configurations of the aircraft within the livery, such as the choice of landing lights. As mentioned in the kickoff, the C421 comes with either 1 or 2 retractable landing lights in the wings or retrofit LED lights on the front engine cowling. The user can save this configuration per livery and repainters can also pre-configure this for users.

We can extend or override standard X-Plane commands. This is useful when we want to simulate an instrument with a custom display that includes functions beyond the X-Plane native functions. For example, in the GTX330 Transponder. By means of the X-Plane Commands the transponder mode can be controlled and the code can be entered – so far nothing new. However, the GTX330 has modes that use the same buttons (=commands), but have completely different functions. For example, a countdown time can be set with the number buttons. Without our code, the transponder code of X-Plane would always change. We can now suppress this situationally. On the other hand, we can always ensure that the customer can continue to use all of X-Plane’s standard commands and does not have to map all of his hardware to his own commands (at least as long as X-Plane provides a command for the corresponding button).

Furthermore, we can display content not only on an instrument, but also in the entire X-Plane window. We use this, for example, to display the breathing mask if the pressure control is not set properly.

In addition, there is an extensive in-game debugging, with which we can analyze the code in real time and also reload it within seconds, without having to use X-Plane’s own reload function. A really comfortable way.

We also implemented the activation logic developed by Stairport, as already successfully used in products like shadeX and ProCam. With this, we not only have an automatic integration to large online stores like x-plane.org or Aerosoft, but we can also perform an automatic activation in the background for Steam users.

In terms of performance, we have achieved great values, but they have become somewhat worse in the meantime, simply because we now have an incredible number of calculations in this aircraft. However, our modular approach also allows us to disable partial scripts when they are not needed at all. So depending on the situation, performance can vary slightly. However, hopefully hardly any user will notice this in normal use. On our test system, we got about 80 fps with all code disabled, and still about 77 fps with all code enabled. Of course, we are still working on making all the code as efficient as possible.

There would be many more examples. However, with this post we don’t want to praise ourselves, we just want to give you a glimpse behind the scenes. It is important to mention that there are other ways to achieve our results (cue SASL). However, we would not have been able to implement this with our know how in the speed.

We are still missing modules that we would like to incorporate in the long run. We are working our way from instrument to instrument, let’s see what is still to come.

 

 

 

That all sounds very break through. Is detailed piston operation and failure ala A2A possible? Like

Plug fouling

Shock Cooling

Internal engine wear and damage.

Lean of Peak

And other piston situations.

I love the Alabeo C421 in P3D but I would love it even more with under the skin similation and out of the box one engine out dynamics. Which hace been after modded. 

On 7/23/2022 at 11:49 AM, jcomm said:

Wow, that's quite a description of the upcoming 421 ! 

Phantom88, I seem to remember you from these forums as a "normal" user 🙂 Are you into development to now ?

😁😁

Hello Old Friend!!!! Thank You kindly for remembering me.No...not in development ....just a casual observer thinking of returning to XPane when the new version arrives😁😁

2 hours ago, Phantom88 said:

just a casual observer thinking of returning to XPane when the new version arrives😁😁

Me too 🙂 !!!

 

Me three

I never left x-plane. Too much fun with the current version. 

Status Update

 

Cessna 421C for X-Plane – Status Update 1

 

For some time, the C421 XP project had to be put on hold to allow other projects to be completed.

But recently there has been significant progress.

Additional tank
Our reference aircraft has an auxiliary tank in the left wing baggage compartment. This is now implemented with the correct logic. This is special because there is no fuel gauge for this tank. So if you want to use it, it should be completely filled up. In the air, it can then be manually switched on, whereby the fuel flows over into the left main tank. If the tank is empty, there is a corresponding indicator on the annunciator panel.

Annunciator Panel
According to the manual, the C421 has several special conditions for displaying various warnings. Not all of them could be implemented with the X-Plane bord means. Therefore we decided to code all warnings individually. This has been completed in the meantime. As you can see on the screenshot, not all warnings work. This is intentional, because not all of them are functional as well, since they are not available in all aircraft.

Battery load saving
To make the simulation of the aircraft a bit more realistic, we now continuously save the battery state – per livery. When the aircraft is reloaded, the battery state is automatically set. So you have to be careful with everything that loads the battery. Fortunately, there is also a ground power unit. Visually this is not yet implemented. In the future, the state of the battery will also be saved. Then you should not turn on the main switch before closing the simulator. Otherwise everything will remain dark when you start the next day.

Animations
We added more animations, like the panel compartment, where we can put our tablet. There will be another detailed report on the latter. The sun visor can now be operated as well.

Night lighting
We are currently working on a usable night lighting. Currently the aircraft is being developed on X-Plane 11. Therefore our possibilities in lighting are limited. The C421 has a separate panel that can be used to control various lights on the panel. However, in XP11 these will have to be globally on or off, as we can’t get them to blend reasonably. Only the flood lights will be real 3D lights, but dimmable. In XP12 the whole interior lighting will be completely reworked.

3D glitches & textures
There are several mesh and texture issues in the current model (can you spot them in the screenshots?). We will sort them out over the next time. However, the behavior of the PBR textures in XP11 is massively different than in XP12. We will do our best to achieve a high quality result in XP11 as well. But it will look even better later in XP12.

Tablet / Options / Virtual Pilot
We are already working on the tablet, the menus and related functions. The final feature set is not yet set. The virtual pilot, who controls the systems according to the official procedures, can do everything from cold&dark to taxiing.

Schedule
The end of the year will be turbulent again, several important projects are coming to an end. At the moment we are thinking about starting an Early Access at Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

19. October 2022

I'm excited about the possibility of flying this airplane in X-plane.  I have the Alabeo model which is good, but I have to use P3D, which is also a good sim.  It would be nice to have the option to fly this in X-plane.  I own a 421C and have glass in it.  It would be nice to have the G600 and GTN750 as an option in the sim, let me say a dream.  I use my sim to maintain proficiency.  Check out the photo of my plane.  I also have the one aux tank in the nacelle.  https://share.icloud.com/photos/0dezvPf972TarUJNfKuHUfacg

I checked the Flightsim Studio link for an update several weeks ago and it was a bust. It is still a bust, so, is this project still happening? 

7 hours ago, Les Parson said:

I checked the Flightsim Studio link for an update several weeks ago and it was a bust. It is still a bust, so, is this project still happening? 

ggod question 😕

15 hours ago, Les Parson said:

I checked the Flightsim Studio link for an update several weeks ago and it was a bust. It is still a bust, so, is this project still happening? 

Given that this is the same studio that's currently working on the E-Jets release for MSFS, I'm guessing that this project is either dead or on hold at best. But that's pure speculation on my part.

Interesting….I don’t see it mentioned anywhere on their site…I was hoping this would be a beta release for XPlane 12