Captain Sim aircraft any good?

[Kalnon 160]

1 hour ago, C2615 said:

You can't fly them as the N1 and pitch as real word "unreliable airspeed" chart, and also the cursing N1/EPR/FF is way off from realworld table, so it's not realistic on this front.

It's been like this for XP11, but XP12 make it even worse, now FF767's fuel economy is on pair with 787....

Of course CS757/767 is as bad if not worse,  but at least I know how to adjust it to make at least close in normal flight condition.

XP's aerodynamic can be tuned as well, for example someone made 3rd party mod to FJS 737 and 727 to make them can be flown as chart down to +-0.01EPR on cruise.

 

Ok I see, that's very disappointing to me, especially for the price of those planes.  The reviews I read about the Flight Factor planes never mentioned those issues.  I have no idea how to adjust aerodynamics or flight models in either for X-Plane or P3D aircraft.  I know with P3D there is specific configuration files the planes have that can be edited but I have no idea what all that stuff means exactly when I open them up in a text editor and I don't know how to tell if the changes I make actually make the aircraft more realistic or not.  I do know how to change some things in the Prepar3D.cfg file but that's my limit so far when it comes to editing those kind of files.  I'm not even sure how to learn how if that makes sense.

I have the FJS 737, I didn't know there was a mod to make it more realistic, I got it on sale a while back, I'm definitely going to look into that and also see what else I can find.  I do have REP's installed on some of my GA planes like my JF Arrow III, Carenado Navajo and Thranda Beaver (my favorite bush plane of all time) , and a similar type of add-on for the default XP11 King Air C90, those add-ons are fantastic and really help a lot when it comes to the flight physics as well as proper engine management being modeled.  Speaking of which, why has no one ever made REP or improved physics/engine management type of add-ons for P3D planes?  A2A is pretty much the only exception.

[Kalnon 160]

@C2615 those FJS 737 and 727 mods you mentioned, I looked for them and it seem like they have disappeared.  I can't find them anywhere.  I did find an announcement by the developers for each one and they provided links to the files but they are gone now.  I can't find any download links anywhere for them that aren't broken.

[Kalnon 160]

I made a decision, I think I found the 757 I want to buy for P3D, this video has me completely convinced.  Check out what he says about the Flight Factor planes starting at 4:55, it made me realize I wasted a lot of money on "study level" junk.  I know the QW757 is a "light" plane but that doesn't bother me at all.  In fact, I own a couple other "light" airliners, like the JF/CLS DC-10 and JF/CLS 747-200 and I really enjoy flying them as much as I enjoy flying PMDG planes.  I don't mind "light" planes as long as they are well done like the QW757 is.  The CLS aircraft are underrated as well in my opinion.  I've read that they fly pretty close to real world performance specs and the flight physics are close as well, as is the same for the QW757 it seems.  Those two things are more important to me than having all the complex systems modeled.  I think in P3D, I will end up having more fun flying these cheaply priced, well done "light" planes than I would with poorly done "study level" wanna be planes like FF or CS seem to make.

 

[David Vega 348]

@Kalnon, congratulations on making your decision. Looks like a nice bird. 

 

[deeknow 10]

Nice one Kalnon. I had the QW for P3Dv1-3, don't think the later version was available for v4/5 at the time I bought the CS otherwise prolly would have stuck with it. Be interested to hear how it goes. Looking fwd to a 75x coming out in MSFS

[Kalnon 160]

Yeah I'm convinced that I'll have fun with it and at the end of the day study level plane or not, it's all about having fun and I have  fun with both types of planes.  In fact I think I found a study level airliner I want that has great reviews, the Coolsky DC-9 and they say it's better than the one by Sky Simulations.

Edit: I forgot to add about the QW757, in the video he mentions a 4K VC textures mod which he's installed and it looks really good to me, helps bring the old texture work up to modern standards.  He also added a link to it in the video description.

Edited May 12, 2023 by Kalnon

[Rogen 1,087]

6 hours ago, Kalnon said:

Edit: I forgot to add about the QW757, in the video he mentions a 4K VC textures mod which he's installed and it looks really good to me, helps bring the old texture work up to modern standards.  He also added a link to it in the video description.

Hey thanks for that tip re: the 4k VC textures, I've had the plane for some time without knowing about them.

I like that you can download and install cabin safety demos and there is also a PBR model to round it out as well.

[Kalnon 160]

1 hour ago, Rogen said:

Hey thanks for that tip re: the 4k VC textures, I've had the plane for some time without knowing about them.

I like that you can download and install cabin safety demos and there is also a PBR model to round it out as well.

 

No problem, that's why I decided to mention it is so more people can know about it.  I didn't know about the PBR model, that's fantastic.  The QW757 seems to be a well liked aircraft, makes me wonder what other mods are out there for it.

[Rogen 1,087]

8 hours ago, Kalnon said:

I didn't know about the PBR model, that's fantastic

Yeah, it is a great aircraft for very little price, the PBR model is available from https://www.liveries.nz/pbr-mods

There are a few other PBR models offered from this site, although be aware not all are free of issues.

For example the PC-12 PBR model has it's problems, but if you happen to have a PC-12 (by Carenado) the community improvements pack includes fixes for the model.

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/621885-pc12-fully-loaded/

Cheers

 

[Kalnon 160]

Thank you so much, that's extremely helpful information.

I do not have the PC-12 but I do have several other Carenado planes and a few Alabeo planes too, they have such a nice fleet of interesting aircraft to choose from.  Their piston engine planes are particularly good in my opinion, the Navajo is one of my favorites that I own.  I like there turbo prop airliners and jets too though seems like a lot of them have issues with avionics bugs and stuff but they are still fun to fly/.  I always wait for their year end sale and so I can save a ton on their planes so there planes are more than worth it. 😀

[Kalnon 160]

Speaking of Captain Sim planes, the only one I own is the good old FSX 727-100 and the 727-200 expansion pack.  I know that CS727 performance is off just like all their other planes but it was the very first 3rd party aircraft I ever bought for FSX back in the day and I flew the s*** out of it and I still sometimes take it for a spin.  I really wish I could find a 4K VC texture pack for it because it is pretty dated looking.

I just found a free mod that completely fixes the performance.  Maybe there's still some other interested weirdos like me that still use FSX to this day to go fly some of their favorite classics so I'll post a link. 

Quoted from the developer:

"This will give you realistic EPR values, realistic descent, accurate fuel consumption and allows you to set power for take-off, climb and cruise using real world power tables."

Download Link: https://www.captainsim.org/forum/csf.pl?num=1296889437/5

Edited May 13, 2023 by Kalnon

[pinkyjr 40]

Funny, the LevelD 767 aka The Legend was so much better performing and simulated than Captain Sim's, 15yrs before Captain Sim.

[BlueStar 323]

I owned the Captain Sim B767 and B707 and paid $10/each. I pretty much got what I paid for. 

The CS B767 kept crashing and just didn't perform well overall for me.  I went back to the LevelD B767 which I though was one of the best models ever made for FSX. 

In another life I flew the B707.  The CS B707 just didn't meet my expectations.  I went back to the HJG B707s which I felt was a better representation of the B707 for FSX.         

[deeknow 10]

@BlueStar you must be on FSX or P3dv1-3 as the LevelD doesn't work in P3dv5, is that the case? the CS767 actually performs OK in v5 which is most likely related to the 64bit performance improvements in the platform itself, possibly less so due to the CS underlying model, but either way it's now a decent aircraft in v5 which is what the OP was asking about. 

@Kalnon that's interesting re the FSX mod, sadly have uninstalled that some time ago, the 727 will be another great one to see in MSFS hopefully soon