pacosancas

Hi all,I'm currently working on an ATR 42-500, based on my previous 42-300, which will have some enhancements, apart from the obvious differences with respect to weight, engines and propellers:- New flight dynamics.- New propeller dynamics, now the performance at full rpm will be better than before and closer to the cruise rpm settings.- Re-worked visual model: new engine nacelles, textured props (6-bladed), corrected taxi lights (now not linked to the ground steering).- Power management system with automatic torque function for take-off, MCR, climb and cruise (as the real 42-500 and the 72 series have)- Condition levers with automatic rpm position (same as the 42-500 and the 72-)The livery which I'll choose for this release is not yet decided, probably a colorful one such as Air Littoral (http://www.atraircraft.com/mediac/customersgallery/images/IMG0049_jpg.jpg), but suggestions are accepted. All repaints will also be welcome same as to the 42-300. The repaints already made for my ATR42-300 version 2 will also be valid for the 42-500, with the exception of the propeller textures.I would like to have it ready for end of this month, before I leave on vacations, let's see if I manage...Paco

I think I had something like this when loading a mission in CFS2, and it was due to something missing in another folder... I'm not sure and I'm not now at home, so I have no way to check it. What I'm sure is that it wasn't ordinary scenery, just bits of scenery which were used to display things like ground vehicles and so on. Maybe your problem is something totally different. What abaout a complete FS reinstall, making a backup of your addons first?Paco

Be aware there is a newer version, FSC_ATR42_300v20.zip is version 2, as far as I remember. The flight dynamics still need to be separately downloaded in the link you mentioned due to an error I accidentally introduced in the avsim upload.I'm still wonking on better flight dynamics as I'm not satisfied.Paco

Yes, I don't know what is the intention MS had with these sensitivity modes, but the default one (without the line you mention) makes the sensitivity sliders behave not adjusting sensitivity, but rather introducing a delay in the yoke response: setting slider to minimum still will give full deflection on the control surfaces, but with a large delay, which makes the aircraft even less controllable than with sliders at max. Another funny thing, it seems that this is not valid for all setups (maybe it's joystick-dependant?), as I have also heard of people who report the opposite (they need to add STICK_SENSITIVITY_MODE=1 or leave it as default). Can someone confirm this?Paco

Hi again,I must do a check with the source for my checklist, as I do not remember now if in the real plane the idle gate is set to ground idle before or after touchdown. I guess it might be before, as the flight idle position shouldn't allow the levers to go into reverse.But in any case, if you have a certain torque, say 15%, putting the idle gate into ground position will not reduce this torque. The difference is only when the levers are put all way down to idle position, which in flight will always mean 0% torque. Your interpretation is correct as far as I know. Paco

Mr."J" Please take some time to test by yourself, it's not so difficult, take the default King Air, for examlpe, place it at an airport at sea level, set the temperature to something like 45

Oh, yes Mr. "J", the text solution works on my system and on many others, it is fully repeatable, and flat clouds can be caused by the framerate counter as well as the ATC window. The fact that it doesnt' happen to you doesn't mean it is a hoax, please consider that you might not always be the owner of the Truth. It just means that someone has taken his/her time to investigate the problem and its solution, and also has invested her/his time to post it here trying to help other people.Paco

Hi,The idle gate (in real life) sets the lower limit that the power levers will go. It has two positions, ground idle (the levers are allowed to go all the way down) and flight idle (the levers are stopped from going all the way down, which results on a higher turbine rpm -and therefore a higher torque- at idle). In the FS model, the levers will visually move the same, but the effect on the turbine rpm will be as described (FS does not have a separate variable for the idle gate, so I had to program its function into the trottle levers gauge). The default King Air does not have a separate idle gate lever, but has the same functionality in the condition levers; they have three positions: fuel shutoff, low idle and high idle.So basically it does not alter Propeller rpm (well, at slow speed in the FS model it does, as a side effect), but rather the gas producer (turbine) rpm. I am not familiar with the c-130, but my guess is that the high/low setting can be two things: either the idle gate as described, or the condition/propeller levers with two positions for the propeller rpm's. (remember, the prop levers on a constant rpm propeller do change the rpm at which the propeller rotate, not changing gear -such thing cannot be done on an aircraft-, but rather varying the blade angle -beta-. The effect is similar as shifting gears on a car.)Paco

Hi,First, make sure the idle gate is on ground idle position; FS leaves it on flight idle when you start with ctrl+E, and that gives much more throttle than desired.Still the plane will have a noticeable amount of thrust with both engines running, more than enough for taxiing. The real plane also suffers from this, and it is not unusual to start taxiing with only one engine runing, and then start the other one before taking the ruway.If you have the oportunity to see a real 42-300 at your local airport, you will notice if it starts taxiing with both engines running, that it will literally jump forward as soon as brakes are released, with no need to apply throttle. This is what I tried to simulate. If you don't like it, there is a way, if you have aired.exe, open the .air file and go to record #1503. Reduce all values in the first column, this will give less thottle at ground idle.The difficulty in steering may appear if you apply full pedal to either side, as this will only work at almost zero speed adn with the aid of differential brakes. This it because of the large steering angle, 85 degrees to either side. It is advisable not to apply full steering while taxiing, but only half steering angle. If you still dislike it, this can be changed in the following line in the aircraft.cfg file:point.0=1.000, 35.000, 0.000, -13.6000, 1574.803, 0.100, 0.518, 85.0, 0.2500, 1.500, 0.900, 8.000, 8.000, 0.000, 0.000, 0.000Just change the value 85.0 for a smaller figure. The problem will then be that you wont be able to perform 180degrees turns in runways less than 200m wide! ;-)Paco

Hi,Version 2.0 carried a re-worked air file, it's available here in the library (FSC_ATR42_300v20.zip). In my page eureka.ya.com/pacosancas there is a new aircraft.cfg file which fixes a problem which made the plane go up or down when suddenly changing condition levers.If you follow Mr. Cartwright's advice of using the default dash7 air file or any other air file, the pwr mgt gauge will become unusable (not to mention that you will not fly a turboprop but rather a model airplane). The propeller sections in the air file have been carefully calibrated according to the airplane specs and procedures. Just follow the instructions and set the correct NP for each part of the flight.Paco

Hi,I need to do some more work on the propeller tables in the air file. If you use NP=77% at speeds aboove 140 KIAS, you will find it matches the specs with a small tolerance. The problem is at higher propeller rpm, then it is very underpowered (what happens acually is that the propeller is using a pitch angle too low at those speeds). Paco

Hi,In fact, the location of the center of gravity is altered from the real plane, it has been located a bit aft and a bit lower than the real plane. FS seems to be wrong in modelling certain aspects if the correct position in entered for the CG: the airplane would fall backwards when ending a pushback, or would bounce out of control when applying brakes at speed; for that reason I lowered the CG a little. Also, in order to get a smoother rotation at takeoff, the CG is a located a little backwards compared to the real plane. The effect you mention can be solved as you say, or also by lowering the CG position a bit, but this may produce anopther undesirable effect: when propeller pitch is suddenly changed in flight, the plane is often going into an uncontrollable dive. To correct this last effect, I have made another modified aircraft.cfg which lowers a bit the position of the engines, available at eureka.ya.com/pacosancasPaco (F. S

Hi all,I uploaded yesterday to my site eureka.ya.com/pacosancas an upgrade patch to version 2.01, which corrects several issues. Unfortunately my service provider espacio@ya.com has shut down access to my site until "they investigate" the reason for so many visits in so short time (this is ilegal from them, as I have not broken any law by posting my freeware flightsim addons). I'm out travelling now, so I won't be able to upload the files anywhere else until I come back in about 10 days. Please accept my apologies.F.S

Hi,There are a few things I would like to correct on the VC, i will try more rounded posts, although rounded items are usually a problem with respect to frame rates. I'll give it a try. In any case, the mods I'm talking about will mean a rather deep re-work on some parts, so it's not for the near future, perhaps it will come together with the ATR72.Paco

Hi,The elevator sensitivity is OK with my yoke at home and with the settings I have in FS and FSUIPC, but I admit these settings are not standard at all, and it can be different on a different setup. I will in any case make an update in my webpage with some other fixes as well - as the diving that can happen when the propeller pitch is suddenly cahnged.One advice if you plan to adjust the sensitivity, or the elevator parameters yourself: don't do it with FSedit, use a text editor instead. FSedit has an undocumented feature: when run, it will not only edit the aircraft.cfg file, but will also alter any settings in the air file which the program finds not to match the MS standard. The air file for this aircraft has many tailor-made sections for the propellers, which will be spoiled by FSedit.Thanks for your feedback,Paco

Hi all,Aniette has discovered an error in my last visual model for the ATR, the port and starboard textures for part of the fuselage are mirrored.It has happened twice during the development of the aircraft's visual model. First it was the vertical stabilizer, now it has been the foward fuselage section: port and starboard textures are the same but mirrored, althoug I designed it with different textures to allow non-symmetrical textures (typically those having text).I believe that must be a bug in gmax. When I saw that happening in the tail surface I thought it was my mistake and corrected it. The nose area I positively know that was OK one week ago, when I was trying some repaints for a VA, and I placed text in the nose sections, which was showing OK on both sides. I didn't touch the nose area since then, but other parts, so i think it must have been Gmax removing the texture mapping on one of the sides.I'll post a corrected mdl file at eureka.ya.com/pacosancas as soon as possible.PacoPS by the way, there is a mistake which is indeed my fault in the readme file: it is not Sur Air livery, but Avianova livery. Sorry for that. I took the wrong readme file from the repaint I'm making for them.

Hi, It has happened twice during the development of the aircraft's visual model. First it was the vertical stabilizer, now it has been the foward fuselage section: port and starboard textures are the same but mirrored, althoug I designed it with different textures to allow non-symmetrical textures (typically those having text).I believe that must be a bug in gmax. When I saw that in the tail surface I thought it was my mistake and corrected it. The nose area I positively know that was OK one week ago, when I was trying some repaints for a VA, and I placed text in the nose sections, which was showing OK on both sides. I didn't touch the nose area since then, but other parts, so i think it must have been Gmax removing the texture mapping on one of the sides.I'll post a corrected mdl file at eureka.ya.com/pacosancas as soon as possible.PacoPS by the way, there is a mistake which is indeed my fault in the readme file: it is not Sur Air livery, but Avianova livery. Sorry for that. I took the wrong readme file from the repaint I'm making for them.

Hi again,I uploaded the file yesterday to the avsim library. Should be available soon.Happy flying and repainting.Paco

Hi,I have so far not succeeded in making anyh automation with xml gauges, just display values or use the pre-defined nouse clicks.The .gau format does permit to program the function you're talking about.Paco

Yes,I was doing the last tests yesterday and discovered a problem when applying brakes after touchdown. It took me until 02:00 in the night to find out what the problem was, that's why it was not uploaded yesterday. Paco

By the way, I will some day make an ATR72-500 based on the ATR42 (in fact I already have some parts and gauges made). In Iberia/Air Nostrum colours.Paco

Hi,AFAIK, Iberia Regional/Air Nostrum operates several ATR72-500, and recently they got some Dash-8, but still continues to oeprate the ATR'sPaco

The only way I know is increasing the propeller's MOI in the aircraft.cfg file. The probelm is that it will also affect the response of the engines to sudden demands. It also doesn't seem to affaect much the spool up time, but has a greater influence on the spool down when shutting down engines.Paco

Hi, It's just a few items I'd like to finish before releasing: textures for the VC seats and VC lighting are to be finished. Hopefully, if I manage to be back home soon this evening, I'll be releasing it today to avsim and at eureka.ya.com/pacosancasUnfortunately I'll have to leave some items for a future patch: a new set of radio gauges, for example. Paco

As far as I know, it is the propeller rpm, the ratio Nh /NP and the engine positions which will primarily inlfuence. There is also an enrty (I don't remember which one) in the air file which produces a curious effect when changing it: while the prop rpm actually increase, the frequency of its sound is reduced.Paco