3 hours ago, Ron Lefebvre said:

Short answer is no it does not compare to the Comanche. It is also an unfair comparison as far as I am concerned.

They do compare! They are both products for entertainment! LOL They both have tear and wear. Comanche has good visualization of maintenance/engine via tablet while Cows don't. Supposedly Dimond will get failure too in next update. I have never flown DA-42 with but it does feel like twins I flew. 

So I have been reading up on this release lately and from the reviews I have seen so far, it seems to be a very good release for MSFS.  However, while I was reading the reviews, I ended up with more questions than answers.  I saw that the team announced this for XP 12 first, but during development, they switched priorities and decided to release it for MSFS first?

And I have a few questions about their G1000.   According to this pre-release writeup about the Cows back in August:

Quote

It is a new development team that consists of four developers; Mitchell (3D artist), Jacob (Programmer), Boris (Sounds: FMOD & WWise) and Peter (3D, branding & admin). Their first product for the X-Plane 12 Simulator is a Diamond DA-42, later to be also ported to the MSFS platform.

...

...

Notable is the major feature of the custom Garmin G1000NXi. This avionics package has been recreated using manuals, first hand experience and Garmin software. This means it can be as accurate to the real Garmin as possible. Everything that the real Garmin can do, our Garmin will also do. A big proclamation, but it will be very nice to move on from the standard installation of the Laminar G1000 default installation. Here is an excellent video demo of the G1000NXi's capablities.

So my questions are:

1. Is the MSFS version using the Working Title G1000 NXi or their own custom Cows G1000?

2. This pre-release write up claims their team consists of 4 people, and only 1 is a programmer. Supposedly, the Cows G1000 can do everything the real G1000 can do?  How did they build the G1000 from ground up and it can do everything the real G1000 can do, with only 1 programmer? I believe it even took a team at Working Title to do the G1000 NXi. So this lone programmer, Jacob, at Cows not only programmed everything else for the plane, but on top of programming everything else for the plane, he also programmed a fully functioning G1000?  Huh?

(if this Jacob guy did all that, and did it in the timeframe he was given, Working Title should hire this guy, LMAO)

3. If the G1000 they built is so good, why not sell that as a separate add-on for XP? This would be the best G1000 for XP, why don't they don't sell it as a separate product?

Edited February 11, 20242 yr by abrams_tank

They are using the WT G1000

Edited February 11, 20242 yr by Zangoose

11 minutes ago, Zangoose said:

They are using the WT G1000

Thanks for that information!

Honestly I think this addon has just about everything right. It's brilliant! What I really like as well is that this time last week I only had a vague idea it was being developed. I think I'd seen something on MSFSAddons a while ago and then forgotten about it. None of the usual relentless teasing, promises and hype - it just appeared and ticked all the boxes from the very start. It's up there with the best of the best for me. 

10 hours ago, Ron Lefebvre said:

Old guy.

Wish the panels were higher res. Probably has more to do with MSFS then the addons.

They always seem blurry to me unless you zoom up. Might be realistic, but its not great on a computer screen,

Ron

I had a similar problem Ron.  I bought a Tobii head tracker and now I just lean in a bit.  Everything comes up big and sharp, and it seems so natural, for looking around as well.
I don't get on with VR too well as I don't like things on my face / head, so this was the best solution for me because you can still see the keyboard, mouse, and other controls.

4 hours ago, abrams_tank said:

So I have been reading up on this release lately and from the reviews I have seen so far, it seems to be a very good release for MSFS.  However, while I was reading the reviews, I ended up with more questions than answers.  I saw that the team announced this for XP 12 first, but during development, they switched priorities and decided to release it for MSFS first?

As @Zangoose stated above, the MSFS version is using the WT G1000. That's actually why the MSFS version was released first. The XP12 version is taking longer to develop specifically because they are having to develop the G1000 NXi for it. As to "why don't they release it as a standalone product" that's a question only the devs at COWS can answer.

I have purchased (and am enjoying) the MSFS version of their DA-42 but I'm also looking forward to their XP12 version which will also be a day one purchase for me.

8 minutes ago, Malaromane said:

As @Zangoose stated above, the MSFS version is using the WT G1000. That's actually why the MSFS version was released first. The XP12 version is taking longer to develop specifically because they are having to develop the G1000 NXi for it. As to "why don't they release it as a standalone product" that's a question only the devs at COWS can answer.

I have purchased (and am enjoying) the MSFS version of their DA-42 but I'm also looking forward to their XP12 version which will also be a day one purchase for me.

Thanks for the information! This makes a lot of sense. If they are spending more time developing the G1000 NXi for the XP 12 version, then that explains why the XP 12 version is delayed. I didn't think it was that easy to develop the G1000 NXi to full functionality.

 

Put in several hours on it yesterday.

Top notch aircraft, well worth the asking price.

Only ? I noticed was it moves around quite a lot in the air.

Had a cross wind of 15 kts at 10,000' & it was bouncing, & twisting about the CofG in the horizontal plane, a bit more than I anticipated.

Does it move about IRL?

T45

30 minutes ago, Treetops45 said:

Put in several hours on it yesterday.

Top notch aircraft, well worth the asking price.

Only ? I noticed was it moves around quite a lot in the air.

Had a cross wind of 15 kts at 10,000' & it was bouncing, & twisting about the CofG in the horizontal plane, a bit more than I anticipated.

Does it move about IRL?

T45

Looking at the form of the plane, with its wings in particular, I would say it would move around more than say a C172 in equivalent turbulence. 

What turbulence setting are you on?  I have to use medium now due to the  continual tossing around in most aircraft.  It gets tiresome for me as I tend to hand fly VFR most of the time in these types of aircraft.  Sometimes I even select low turbulence just to enjoy a nice evening flight.

Edited February 11, 20242 yr by bobcat999

The work WT has done is making life a lot easier for devs and this is just another example of it. As the default features in MSFS get more and more robust, it will continue to be a very attractive platform for third party developers.

1 hour ago, Treetops45 said:

Had a cross wind of 15 kts at 10,000' & it was bouncing, & twisting about the CofG in the horizontal plane, a bit more than I anticipated

Its slender wings are to 'blame' for this.

They have quite the span, and gusts catching the outer areas of the wing will throw it around the yaw axis.

(The smaller DA40 is very nervous in turbulence as well, due to the same reason)

4 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

Looking at the form of the plane, with its wings in particular, I would say it would move around more than say a C172 in equivalent turbulence. 

What turbulence setting are you on?  I have to use medium now due to the  continual tossing around in most aircraft.  It gets tiresome for me as I tend to hand fly VFR most of the time in these types of aircraft.  Sometimes I even select low turbulence just to enjoy a nice evening flight.

My original comment related to the VI.

Hadn't had a look at the Turbulence setting for a long time & found it was on "Realistic"

Have now dialed it back to Medium, but interestingly before then, , when it was on Realistic, I took out the TDI and it was very stable in a 25 kt tail wind.

Then took out the VI and it was rocking around in a 13 kt head wind.

Need to put more hours in to see if there is a difference in stability between the 2 versions of the DA42.

T45

In addition to Into-the-Blue-Simulations and V1-Simulations always love 320 Sim Pilot's takes.. he's flown the DA42 IRL too. He really liked the flight model and handling. He tried a one engine shutdown/failure and felt the simulation of the whole situation along with the details around the prop and feathering behaviour was very realistic.

Some of his final quotes:
- "Overall COWS have done a really good job"
- "Sounds are really super"
- "Handling is super, great job with that, flies really nicely ... stalling is fun ... taxiing, takeoff and yaw is really well done especially the ground handling"
- "Asymetrical flying is particularly a treat"
 

 

Edited February 11, 20242 yr by lwt1971

This is really well done, my only minor gripe so far is that the click spot on the starter key is a bit hard to find for the left engine.

Really other than that I’m quite enjoying it!