v1.1 - Early Bug Fixes & Sound Improvement

New Features:

Significant improvements to engine sounds, from startup to shutdown, with new references and simulated behavior, including… Reworked startup, bassier lightoff, secondary injectors, combustor rumble, fuel introduction, new bassier turbine spooling with different whine layers, rebalanced interior propeller noise, including entirely new beta sounds and transition.  Read below for some of the specific new features, and the bugs that led to suboptimal sound in v1.0.

Added the full suite of MSFS 2024 water effects to the Caravan Amphibian, including prop wash, float splashes and spray, 3D bow waves, and water rudder trails.  Also added new parameter to increase effective water depth, so the floats will not collide with the subsea topography in heavier seas.

Found an undocumented feature that can be used to improve the appearance of external lighting in MSFS 2024, making them more visible in daylight.  Finally!

Added secondary injector feedback and new sounds to make use of the existing engine variables in all Black Square turbine aircraft.  Watch ITT and Ng accelerate when the secondary injector ring activates on the engine visualizer around 35% Ng.

Added bleed air heating sounds when opening the bleed air valve and increasing the temperature select knob, based on video from a contributing Caravan pilot.

Improved the cabin temperature logic and behavior based on operator feedback regarding the cabin mixing air pull handle functionality, and the heating ability of the bleed air in various modes of operation.

Reduced ITT by a constant factor, based on operator indication that Caravan POH maximum cruise power tables are not defined by the ITT limit, but a suggested derated value for engine longevity.  This should allow for more energetic climbs at previously ITT limiting altitudes.

Added tiling normal map, fixed UV’s, and changed scratched plastic texture to improve the appearance of the glareshield material, upon user request.

New fuel pump sound.  The previous fuel pump sound was mistakenly included from another aircraft.  The new sound better represents the start-stop behavior of the pump in the NORM switch position before the engine’s mechanical pump is maintaining pressure.

New engine sound samples and behavior for starting with the window or doors open.

Improved condition lever low/high idle behavior, with improved sounds.  The condition lever will now only affect the minimum idle gas generator speed, and not also the maximum, and the difference in idle Ng speed is clearly audible.

The generator will now automatically activate when disengaging the starter after a successful engine start.

The KAP 140’s default vertical navigation mode is now vertical speed when the autopilot is first engaged.

Improved KAP 140 mode annunciation to ensure that no modes are displayed when the autopilot disengaged.

Increased stall warning sensitivity very slightly, to provide just another 1-2 knots of stall anticipation.

Increased starter motor spooling rate based on contributing Caravan pilot feedback.

The fuel flow needle will now indicate exactly zero when the instrument is powered, and “OFF” otherwise.

 

Bug Fixes:

Removed MSFS engine torque “assistance”, adjusted engine thrust angle (an often unknown feature of real aircraft), and propeller torque effect to increase left-turning tendency.  This also means that more trim will be required for power changes in cruise, as per contributing Caravan pilots.  This was confused by drastically different behavior in MSFS 2024 compared to 2020 due to a seemingly undocumented flight model change.

FlightFX has found a solution to missing/altered sounds in Black Square aircraft for users of their P.180 Avanti.  An update to the P.180 can be expected soon.

Overhauled beta range behavior to match performance (and aid sound) of other Black Square turbine aircraft.  RPM drop after beta activation is now only momentary, and beta activation sounds are more aggressive, as a result.  The beta range sound itself has also been improved with new recordings.

Fixed possible spontaneous engine failure in MSFS 2024 due to a configuration parameter being used by the MSFS 2024 native “wear & tear” system in an undocumented way.

The water rudder may have invisibly failed to extend or retract due to an undocumented change in MSFS 2024.  Previously, users may have experienced a perceived lack of water rudder authority, or perceived abundance of aerodynamic rudder authority, depending on how the aircraft was loaded.

Investigated battery overheating.  This resulted from low propeller RPM with the previous propeller beta behavior, as MSFS incorrectly associates generator output with propeller RPM in free turbine aircraft, as opposed to gas generator RPM.  As a result, this will no longer be a factor with the improved beta behavior in v1.1.

Fixed state saving options on the Cargomaster due to sequential numbering error.

The cabin heat mixing valve visualization was reversed on the tablet visualizer.

A single character error caused unexpected electrical behavior when toggling the pitot heat and stall heat.  This may have prevented the pitot heat from functioning when both were activated, causing stuck airspeed indications.

Due to the very high stance of the aircraft, a high-pass filter was always slightly applied to the sounds while the aircraft was on the ground, reducing the dynamic range of all engine sounds.

Possible fix for a possible issue where some users reported one float sitting lower in the water than the other for the Caravan Amphibian.  This appears to have been caused by one of the gear remaining invisibly extended and able to interact with the subsea topology, despite all gear parameters appearing as retracted in the debugger.  This should also prevent the aircraft from jumping or “standing up” when the gear are extended while afloat.

Restored variable that drives some sound changes due to voltage drop or increased battery internal resistance, such as during cold weather operations.

Removed autopilot rudder PID constants to disable erroneous rudder control by the native autopilot during certain lateral control modes.

Fixed copilot door not affecting engine sound leaking in from the exterior.

Adjusted per-angle flap drag coefficients to help slow the aircraft at less-than-full flap settings.

The STBY ELEC PWR INOP annunciator light failed to illuminate for some conditions, notably when the standby alternator switch was off during startup.  Also, added the standby alternator to the start-of-flight sequence so that it is on when loading on a runway or in flight.

Previously, placing the starter switch in the off position would de-energize the engine ignition, even if the ignition switch was in the on position.

A small code error meant that emergency power lever maximum fuel flow was limited to ~70% of the actual maximum.

Air conditioning fans could run at low speed when the ventilation switch was in the off position, if the air conditioning fan switches were in the HIGH position.

Previously, the hot battery bus bar did not appear to be powered on the live schematic page of the tablet visualizer, unless the battery master switch was on.  This has been fixed, along with some other hot battery bus live schematic behavior.

Fixed a sound loop that may have caused a spool-up sound to repeat during very cold operations at low gas generator RPM.

Fixed flap degree text not changing in the MSFS 2024 HUD, due to incorrect parameters automatically inserted by the MSFS 2024 compiler.

Fixed continuous stall warning horn activation when a pitot blockage failure was triggered.  This resulted from the custom CAS injection in the Caravan Professional.

Fixed a few typos in the manual, and in the cockpit decals.

Thanks for posting that, it’s an impressive list!  That’s my evening plans sorted for tonight 😀

Yes, decided to take the rest of the day off. 

Jeeeeese lol

That's a lot of work and done so quickly after release!

Any chance of some more paints Ryan, with the grey metallic cargo pod seen on GTRVO? That looks better to me than when the body colour is used. Plus I like that you can see a little wear. 

Great update by Black Square.  To be fair, I didn't have any issues with the release version and absolutely loved it.    Now, with all these bug fixes and new features, it's even better.

 

22 minutes ago, JYW said:

Great update by Black Square.  To be fair, I didn't have any issues with the release version and absolutely loved it.    Now, with all these bug fixes and new features, it's even better.

 

Agree. Although the state saving fix will be greatly appreciated.

Great fixes to an already great plane

 

4 hours ago, JYW said:

Great update by Black Square.  To be fair, I didn't have any issues with the release version and absolutely loved it.    Now, with all these bug fixes and new features, it's even better.

 

I am happy to see the autopilot fixed..  And the engine sounds are the Cherry on Top 🙂

Well, between this and ATRGuy’s mostly positive review, seems like a must have TODAY 😁

5 hours ago, UrgentSiesta said:

Well, between this and ATRGuy’s mostly positive review, seems like a must have TODAY 😁

You can't go wrong with this plane, it is one of the best so far.....

Really nice update, a great plane got even better.

21 hours ago, St Mawgan said:

Yes, decided to take the rest of the day off. 

You deserve it! Any idea when this will show up on Simmarket?

59 minutes ago, ricka47 said:

You deserve it! Any idea when this will show up on Simmarket?

I do, but I am nothing to do with BlackSquare 😉

But just looking at SimMarket now, it does look like v1.1 is there. 

Why no bundle available on Simmarket and how is it that the price on justflight for an individual package is more expensive compared to Simmarket?

19 minutes ago, Shomron said:

Why no bundle available on Simmarket and how is it that the price on justflight for an individual package is more expensive compared to Simmarket?

Regarding the bundle, you need to put both the passenger and cargo in the cart and then you will get the discounted price. For that to happen you need to purchase both at the same time.

 

Regarding the price, Im also wondering the same. The bundle in sinmarket is at $55.78 while in justflight it says $64.99