No birds in thermals, no animals at all

[Zylx]

I recently found a site that has a bunch of freeware sailplane gliders, I've read in the learning center that birds are supposed to fly around the thermals when the option to view thermals is set to "Natural" but I'm not seeing any birds flying in them at all.  I first loaded a flight with the thermals option set to schematic so I can see where they are, then I switched it back to Natural but no birds to be seen anywhere even though there were thermals all around me.

I also noticed in the learning center it mentions there's animals roaming around the landscape but in the three years that I've been using P3Dv5, I've never seen one, ever.

Why am I not seeing birds in thermals and why do I never see any animals in the sim at all?

[blaunarwal]

I think this is because animals are placed at a point in the scenery and not generated where thermals are or food is available for them.

You can add some birds in the vicinity of the runway and they fly around there and scare you, but they do not interact with your plane, crashing into the cockpit.

If one creates thermals in a scenery, he could also add birds there. However these are not single birds, rather flock of birds. And another problem is, they are animated in a specific height, can not go up with the thermals but follow their animation model.

There is probably only a few sceneries, where animals are placed in default scenery. Mostly this must be sceneries with missions we had in FSX, e.g. somewhere in Africa where you had to fly to in the mission.

What I often see are birds at airports, dolphins in the water close to runways at the sea. I once made an boat track for whales, going from Alaska down to Baja California in Mexico. I think I never encountered the humpback whales. It's hard to spot them in the sim too. 

[Zylx]

10 hours ago, blaunarwal said:

I think this is because animals are placed at a point in the scenery and not generated where thermals are or food is available for them.

You can add some birds in the vicinity of the runway and they fly around there and scare you, but they do not interact with your plane, crashing into the cockpit.

If one creates thermals in a scenery, he could also add birds there. However these are not single birds, rather flock of birds. And another problem is, they are animated in a specific height, can not go up with the thermals but follow their animation model.

There is probably only a few sceneries, where animals are placed in default scenery. Mostly this must be sceneries with missions we had in FSX, e.g. somewhere in Africa where you had to fly to in the mission.

What I often see are birds at airports, dolphins in the water close to runways at the sea. I once made an boat track for whales, going from Alaska down to Baja California in Mexico. I think I never encountered the humpback whales. It's hard to spot them in the sim too. 

Okay I see, so the animals are only seen in specific areas and seem to be rare to find.  I wonder if I never see any because I use Orbx scenery instead of the default scenery too?

I do remember that one FSX mission where you fly a doctor in the Bell 206 to a sick Rhinoceros, that one was in Africa (I forget exactly where).

For the thermals though, I'm not seeing any flocks of birds at all in them at any height.  The only way I can find thermals when I'm in a glider is to have it set to Schematic instead of Natural which really ruins the view when gliding.  Your supposed to see the birds in the thermals when it's set to Natural but I see none at all.

Edited August 9, 2024 by Zylx

[blaunarwal]

5 hours ago, Zylx said:

For the thermals though, I'm not seeing any flocks of birds at all in them at any height.

As said, the birds are not autogenerated, becaues there's a thermal. A scenery designer has to put the bird flock there. You need to create scenery e.g. with Whisplacer.

Edited August 9, 2024 by blaunarwal

[Zylx]

4 hours ago, blaunarwal said:

As said, the birds are not autogenerated, becaues there's a thermal. A scenery designer has to put the bird flock there. You need to create scenery e.g. with Whisplacer.

Okay I understand now.  I thought I read somewhere that I just have to enable the thermal setting to Natural and the birds would show up in the thermals.  Maybe I misunderstood.

[blaunarwal]

Would be great if a talented person would programm an addon mode for sailplanes, simulation all these things. But it didn't happen since FSX. I remember when I flew Flight unlimited III, it had a sailplanes too and one could fly along mountain ridges to get lift. It was in its time fantastic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_Unlimited_III

Too bad, they never became a real competitor for Microsoft flight simulator.

Edited August 9, 2024 by blaunarwal

[G-RFRY]

The Birds.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/154944674@N05/53817292625/in/dateposted-public

 

[Zylx]

On 8/9/2024 at 10:47 AM, blaunarwal said:

Would be great if a talented person would programm an addon mode for sailplanes, simulation all these things. But it didn't happen since FSX. I remember when I flew Flight unlimited III, it had a sailplanes too and one could fly along mountain ridges to get lift. It was in its time fantastic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_Unlimited_III

Too bad, they never became a real competitor for Microsoft flight simulator.

It is very disappointing that I can't have the birds to help me find thermals, it makes it much more difficult to find them.  For FSX Cumulus X was also an amazing addon for sailplane gliding but it doesn't work with P3Dv5.  I wish some smart person would update it to make it work in P3Dv5.

If you ever want to go super realistic with sailplane gliding, there's always Condor: https://www.condorsoaring.com/

It's the most realistic sailplane glider experience there is for PC.  I have been thinking about trying it for a while now and I probably will eventually.  They have a good community on their forum, I went there and asked a bunch of questions about the simulator and they where super friendly and helpful.

It only comes with a single scenery area but there's lots more scenery areas that you can download for free made by the community.  That's probably the one single downside to that simulator is there's no single, complete world to fly in, it's all in separate scenery areas.  They do have a lot of gliders to choose from which you can buy separately, the basic bundle only comes iwth a few gliders.

[Zylx]

One question I do have is, what is the purpose then of the Thermals options menu setting for Natural in the options menu do then if it doesn't make the birds in thermals appear?

[blaunarwal]

11 hours ago, Zylx said:

One question I do have is, what is the purpose then of the Thermals options menu setting for Natural in the options menu do then if it doesn't make the birds in thermals appear?

You're right!

https://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv3/LearningCenter/settings/world/weather_settings.html

I wonder if this is true for v5 or v6.

They write, that birds show up at thermals. I couldn't find any thermals so far, neither with birds nor schematic.

[Zylx]

On 8/11/2024 at 1:17 PM, blaunarwal said:

You're right!

https://www.prepar3d.com/SDKv3/LearningCenter/settings/world/weather_settings.html

I wonder if this is true for v5 or v6.

They write, that birds show up at thermals. I couldn't find any thermals so far, neither with birds nor schematic.

In order to find thermals you need certain weather conditions.  Things like warm temperature day, sunny and no overcast, a decent amount of wind and most importantly you need to have cumulus clouds and it's best that they are scattered around and not bunched up in one area, but spread out, like a partly cloudy day or scattered clouds, then you'll find thermals using schematic mode under the clouds usually.  I just don't know why I'm not seeing the god for saken birds in them when I switch to Natural mode lol.

I just went and asked Microsoft Co Pilot where the best places to find thermals and this is what it said (it agrees with other sources I've read about finding thermals).:

Thermals, my friend, are pockets of rising warm air. Picture them as nature’s elevators, lifting gliders to new heights. Here’s where you’ll find them:

Dark Plowed Fields and Asphalt Parking Lots: These sun-absorbing surfaces heat up quickly, creating strong thermals. So, if you spot a freshly tilled field or a sunbaked parking lot, consider it your thermal hotspot. Just imagine—your glider riding those invisible escalators!

Rocky Terrain: Rocks soak up sunlight during the day and release it as warmth. The air above rocky outcrops can become buoyant, forming thermals. So, if you’re soaring over a rugged landscape, keep an eye out for these rocky thermals—they’re like hidden trampolines for gliders!

Open Countryside and Desert Lands: Wide-open spaces, especially in arid regions, are thermally generous. The sun heats the ground, and the air above it rises, creating those precious updrafts. Deserts, with their vast expanses, are like thermal buffets for glider pilots.

Near Sources of Heat: Buildings, roads, and even industrial areas emit warmth. Glide close to them, and you might catch a thermal ride. Just think of it as cozying up to a giant radiator in the sky!

Observing Cloud Movement: Sometimes, clouds give away the game. Watch how they form and move. Cumulus clouds—those fluffy, cauliflower-like ones—often indicate thermals beneath them. They’re like celestial breadcrumbs leading you to lift.

BTW if you happen to be interested in gliders, here's a site with a bunch of free sailplanes made by a guy named Wolfgang Piper, this is his website: https://www.fsglider.de/p_e.htm

One thing I just thought of though is that in real life, there's not always birds in thermals for glider pilots to see so i guess it's kind of realistic not having them even though it makes finding them more difficult (I just look for those cumulus clouds and the things to look for like Co Pilot said.  Sailplane gliding in flight simulation is underated imo, I find it a lot of fun, I especially like the challenge of trying to fly cross country in a sailplane without landing out, it's more challenging than you think.

Edited August 15, 2024 by Zylx

[blaunarwal]

I found thermals, using the schematic display. Then, when I got them, I changed to natural but didn't see any birds. They are a bit small and maybe difficult to see. I checked the AirObjectVisuals.xml file if there's the right guid referenced and it's the falcon used from animals.bgl. Checking this file, also seems ok.

Inspired by this thread I came over  Wildlife+ by Richard Barry, Ivar Danielsen in 2016 here on Avsim. I tried to assign one if his birds to AirObjectVisuals.xml and didn't see this bird either. But then I added the whole program and it is great to have so many animals to show up suddenly. I remember, when i tried this program first, maybe in 2016 or even before, it was to heavy for my computer then. But today, it seems no problem at all. 

 

[blaunarwal]

I found thermals, using the schematic display. Then, when I got them, I changed to natural but didn't see any birds. They are a bit small and maybe difficult to see. I checked the AirObjectVisuals.xml file if there's the right guid referenced and it's the falcon used from animals.bgl. Checking this file, also seems ok.

Inspired by this thread I came over  Wildlife+ by Richard Barry, Ivar Danielsen in 2016 here on Avsim. I tried to assign one if his birds to AirObjectVisuals.xml and didn't see this bird either. But then I added the whole program and it is great to have so many animals to show up suddenly. I remember, when i tried this program first, maybe in 2016 or even before, it was to heavy for my computer then. But today, it seems no problem at all.