1 hour ago, FlyIce said:

Thanks for get me the answer - saving me the trouble and time to figure out this is another bug. Shame on Asobo.

Not really a “bug” - MSFS C172 pilots based in parts of the world that use hPa certainly wouldn’t think so. Not sure why they didn’t model an altimeter that has both in/hg and hPa scales, but they didn’t. I assume the 172 they used to make the 3D model was based in Europe.

2 minutes ago, JRBarrett said:

Not sure why they didn’t model an altimeter that has both in/hg and hPa scales,

they did, for the C152 and C208B as I showed before

 

but changing the Units of measurement under Settings/General/Language has no effect on the altimeter, and that I would consider a bug.

Reminds me of some the standby instruments. In some of the aircraft (PC12 for example) the standby instrument is in In/HG and cannot be changed, whereas the PFD has a setting where you can change the units.

23 minutes ago, Farlis said:

whereas the PFD has a setting where you can change the units.

where is that in the default PC-12?

26 minutes ago, turbomax said:

where is that in the default PC-12?

Hard to describe, it took me a while to find it. On the middle lower monitor there a page 2 which will give you the avionics setup menu on the monitor above it. There you can change stuff like Altimeter units, Flight director style, etc.

13 hours ago, turbomax said:

but changing the Units of measurement under Settings/General/Language has no effect on the altimeter, and that I would consider a bug

I don’t see why it would (or should). The altimeter emulates an analog instrument. There are multiple 3D graphic elements that make up the instrument that would have to be switched to go from hPa to in/hg. That is not as simple as changing a readout for something like a digital fuel gauge to read in either kilos or pounds which probably can be done by changing a singe numeric constant in the code.

Probably the best bet would be to put a request in the “wishlist” section of the MSFS official forums to change the analog C172 altimeter to a dual-readout version like the one in the C150/152. That would be far easier than trying to dynamically swap out a 3D analog instrument based on MSFS “units” settings for the aircraft.

Once the default aircraft are made downloadable (which is supposed to happen in an upcoming patch), assuming the files are not encrypted, I’m sure someone will come up with a mod to change the altimeter to a dual readout unit if Asobo is not willing to do so.

A “bug” is a mistake or error in the program. In this case, it seems obvious that the specific C172 that they used to model the cockpit instruments was based in Europe, and had an hPa altimeter. It is what it is. For US-based simmers I suppose that would be seen as a problem. For literally the rest of the world outside of North America hPa is the standard.

This happens in r/w aviation too. I used to maintain a Dassault Falcon 50 that was originally based in Europe, and its analog standby altimeter was an hPa-only unit. Some flight crews didn’t like that, but replacing it with an in/hg version would have cost almost $20,000, which the aircraft owner was unwilling to do.

Edited December 16, 20241 yr by JRBarrett

26 minutes ago, JRBarrett said:

That is not as simple as changing a readout for something like a digital fuel gauge to read in either kilos or pounds which probably can be done by changing a singe numeric constant in the code.

But it is possible. Some 3rd Party creators have aircraft where you can simply replace instruments by the click of a button.

12 minutes ago, Farlis said:

But it is possible. Some 3rd Party creators have aircraft where you can simply replace instruments by the click of a button.

Yes, it can be done, but the aircraft designer would have to make provisions to do that. IF Asobo did in fact implement two different versions of the analog altimeter, and switching is not working, that would be a bug.

I doubt very much that they did so however. I think they just included the altimeter that was in the r/w C172 they used for the 3D model, which happened to be an hPa version. The easiest solution would be to change it to a dual-readout model - then everyone would be happy. Asobo could do that (if asked) or a 3rd-party “modder”’if the aircraft does become edit-able at some point.

1 hour ago, JRBarrett said:

A “bug” is a mistake or error in the program. In this case, it seems obvious that the specific C172 that they used to model the cockpit instruments was based in Europe, and had an hPa altimeter. It is what it is. For US-based simmers I suppose that would be seen as a problem. For literally the rest of the world outside of North America hPa is the standard.

Just to clarify I wasn't saying using hPa altimeter is a bug, rather it's a bug that we can't switch between hPa and inHg in FS2024's basic C172.

Altimeter in FS2020's steam gauge C172 shows both hPa and inHg, which is perfect. Don't understand why Asobo changed it in FS20204. 

4 hours ago, JRBarrett said:

I think they just included the altimeter that was in the r/w C172 they used for the 3D model

you honestly believe they chose a different r/w C172 for MSFS2024 with a different altimeter instrument from the one they used in MSFS 2020?

in light of the many other bugs in the C172 I highly doubt that. using hPa altimeter despite selecting US units of measure is only one of many other bugs. otherwise, why offer metric and US units selection in the first place?

GPS zoom buttons inop, altimeter scale turning in wrong direction, GPS lighting, missing Voltage meter, false altimeter reading when using local QNH, Carenado's Cessna aircraft listed as variants/repaints of Beechcraft etc. etc - too many to list them all.

Edited December 16, 20241 yr by turbomax

4 hours ago, turbomax said:

ou honestly believe they chose a different r/w C172 for MSFS2024 with a different altimeter instrument from the one they used in MSFS 2020?

in light of the many other bugs in the C172 I highly doubt that. using hPa altimeter despite selecting US units of measure is only one of many other bugs. otherwise, why offer metric and US units selection in the first place?

“Belief” has nothing to do with it. All you have to do look closely at the panel of the steam gauge 172 in 2020 vs. 2024 to see that they are different.

For one thing, the 2020 version has a dual scale altimeter. If Asobo had just ported the 172 Classic from 2020 to 2024, why would the same altimeter not be in the 2024 version?

There are other differences too. If you look closely at the bezel surrounding the turn coordinator in 2024, the paint is scratched and chipped. In 2020 the bezel is pristine. There are many other subtle differences

That is the reason why I am convinced that the cockpit of the 2024 version of the 172 Classic is based on a new 3D scan of a different r/w aircraft than they used for 2020.

The simplest and most logical explanation is that when Asobo made a new 3D cockpit scan of a different 172 than they used in 2020, it was probably an aircraft local to them, and being a European aircraft it had an hPa altimeter and that is the way that they built it - it probably simply didn’t occur to them that NA MSFS users would want an in/hg instrument.

Yes, they could have come up with a complex scheme to dynamically swap out the 3D art assets and internal coding of the altimeter based on whether imperial or metric units were chosen in the sim, but why on earth would they go to all that trouble? If they wanted to have an altimeter that was useable both for North America and the rest of the world, it would have been much easier to have just used a dual-scale instrument as they did in 2020.

The fact that we are “stuck” with an hPa altimeter in the Classic 172 was probably just an oversight on Asobo’s part

The primary reason for having the choice between using imperial or metric units is to change the units of measurement on the aircraft loading menus - not to reconfigure the art assets of 3D gauges.

 

 

14 minutes ago, JRBarrett said:

The primary reason for having the choice between using imperial or metric units is to change the units of measurement on the aircraft loading menus

they got even that wrong. the METAR in the EFB shows hPa even if I have selected US units of measure. 

and yes I see the panel is slightly different from the FS2020 version. considering all the other C172 bugs that I mentioned .... I guess I will just have to wait and see. 😃