Sean Moloney

>Oh, and I thought I'd be extra pedantic and check the>tailplane whilst altering the pitch trim to see if the visual>model reflected changes in trim accurately - lo and behold it>does!! For the first time ever in FS an aircraft actually>displays changes in trim in the tailplane correctly!!!>>JamesJames, I'm so glad you noticed! That took a fair bit of programming to achieve ;).Sean.

That's right, the same thing happened when FS2004 was released. Rob's spinning flight models require a delicate balance between widely different air file parameters, so that tends to mean new releases of FS spoil the spin. The good news is that after much work Rob has been able to get spinning and side-slipping to work in FSX, even better than was possible in FS2004!Also, for those who haven't visited our site, there is an "Upgrade Path B"... This upgrade restores all of the features lost in the change from FS2004 to FSX, but also adds a whole lot of new features not possible in FS2004. We hope to have the "Upgrade B" SF260 ready for release sometime in the next few days. We will be charging for it though as it was a huge amount of work. There's more info regarding this on our site.

Hi Guys,I think this is a valid question. As Bill says above the way to create these gauges certainly is no secret and a bunch of developers on this forum and in the MSFS simming world in general know how it is done. I guess my question is, in light of that, why are we (RealAir) the only developers making gauges this way? The Spitfire's been out for nearly 18 months now, the FS2004 SDK has been out even longer. If there is a limit to the number of gauges that you can place into a panel, then the technique still works very well for GA types. The simming public has certainly been very favourable of the results.All the best,

Thanks Orlaam! I'm very happy to hear that. Rob hinted on this in another Avsim post... we're seriously considering a certain light pressurised turbo-charged twin with a very well equipped IFR panel as our next project. We think we could make a really good attempt at an IFR tourer with these gauges, and Rob could work on accurately modelling asymetrical thrust and all the other nasty traits a twin has when one engine is stopped.

Hi Tom,When I create the graphics for our aircraft it is always a top priority to make all the VC textures clear and free of pixellation when viewed from the pilot's perspective and the Scout 2006 aircraft are no exception.I've attached a screenshot for you to look at. Note the placards on the window are clear enough to be readable (although the viewing angle makes it a little hard to read). The Spitfire actually has a narrower cockpit if that is any help.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/143609.jpg

Hi Steve,As a basic run-down the Citabria and Scout cruise at about 115kts, and the Decathlon cruises at about 130kts. For a full list of performance figures including weight, MTOW, and range have a look at the page below (this is the manufacture's website):http://www.amerchampionaircraft.com/newac/newmain.htmThere is only one pilot visible in the exterior models, but like our other aircraft the pilot's head and arms are animated. His head always looks into the direction of flight and scans left/right and up for traffic, and his arms move with control inputs.

Hi CWD,"I've been lead to believe the 3D gauge technology used by RealAir in their Spitfire, SF. 260 and new taildraggers and some other developers isn't really workable on cockpits with many instruments like heavy iron would require."I must say that sounds like somebody making exuses. In my experience that's not the case. The big problem is how much more work it is to get these gauges working properly and displaying correctly, with an airliner this extra work would be magnified due to the sheer number of gauges, which might not seem worthwhile to a commercial developer.The other biggie is it would be very difficult to create "glass" gauges in this way, it's really best used for old-style analogue gauges.

Hi Bob,Send me an email and I'll sort out the issue you're having. To email me go here:http://www.realairsimulations.com/about_us/index.phpThen click on the "Email Sean" button. Sorry for not providing my email here, just don't want to get my email address onto a SPAM list.Sean MoloneyRealAir Simulations.

Hi folks,We closed the site while we updated the SF260 pages, the site's back online and the 2005 SF260 is indeed on sale. Zevious you sneaky devil, you managed to buy the upgrade before it was officially released! :-)BTW the upgrade is 10 euro, not 10 USD.Cheers, Sean MoloneyRealAir Simulations.

Hi Guys,The Spitfire panel at the moment is very similar to a recently restored example with new(ish) com, nav and transponder radios. Zevious hit the nail on the head -- we felt this would better suit the civilian nature of FS2004. But... we've pretty much come to the conclusion that we need to provide a perfect 1944 example as well, so we'll be adding a gunsight as an option.Cheers,

Hi Andru,>>Does that mean you

Hi Joel,I have just made a patch available on our site that when installed will set RealView to be off by default. With this patch installed, RealView is still available for use, but you have to turn it on at the start of each flight.I also uploaded a patch to our site last night that replaces the turn coordinator on the minipanel with an airspeed indicator.Cheers,Sean.

Hi Shane,It can be fixed, but it has to be done in gmax and a new mdl file compiled...Cheers,Sean.

Hi Shane,Apologies for not replying to your email sooner, but with Easter and the Scout release I've been very busy this last week.Regarding the Spinner issue, there's not a lot I can add to Rob and Larry's comments, but I promise our next release will have a prop-shaft!Cheers,Sean.

Hi Simicro,I plan to create hand drawn graphics again for all parts of the Spitfire, but will put as much work into making them as photo-realistic as possible. The advantage with hand drawn graphics is it's the only way to get exactly what you want.Additionally, the Spitfire will bypass gmax altogether, and be made completely in 3DS Max (gmax' big brother). This will have several advantages when it comes to texture creation so I'm looking forward to working on this one!Cheers,Sean.

I can confirm that it is possible to communicate with L: variables written in makemdl.parts.xml and compliled with the FS9 MakeMDL via XML gauges. So custom animations can be easily contolled by standard XML gauges in many more ways than previously possible... This also means custom animations and 3D clickable gauges can control XML gauge functions.I've never tried my hand at scenery design so I don't know how these techiques will work with scenery. I haven't tried the FS9 MakeMDL with FS2002 either, but I'd bet it doesn't work.Cheers,Sean MoloneyRealAir Simulations

Thanks to the new FS9 MakeMDL. This has set my mind reeling with possibilities!I'm sure many others have figured this out too, but I thought I'd share the technique, below is a rather sketchy rundown:The recently released FS9 gmax SDK comes with a new version of MakeMDL. This new MakeMDL is accompanied by a file named "makemdl.parts.xml", and both files are installed into your gmaxplugins folder. If you open "makemdl.parts.xml" you'll see the familiar XML code, very similar to the code found in FS XML gauges.This file contains coding for all the new gmax tags. The coding for each gmax tag is contained within the XML tags . The name you should give your gmax part in order to create an animation in FS2004 is contained within the XML tags .But, you can also add your own XML code to this file in order to animate any 3D part according to any FS9 variable. The name you put between the tags is what you name your gmax part, and the code you write below the tags will control the conditions which animate the part. I won't go into the actual XML code as it's fairly self explanatory if you know the XML gauge format.Once you've written the new XML animation code, save the XML file and go into gmax, and name the part you want animated with the name you wrote between the XML tags. Now compile your gmax model with the FS9 MakeMDL. The code you wrote in makemdl.parts.xml will now be part of your aircraft's MDL file. Open up FS2004 and if you wrote the code properly, your 3D part will animate according to the rules you specified!Animation possiblities are now almost limitless! Yippee!Cheers,Sean MoloneyRealAir Simulations

He he...That's a good idea Alastair :-) We might have to get a real decathlon pilot to record some genuine screams, by taking an unsuspecting passenger up and pulling some surprise manoeuvres on them!Seriously, both aircraft are quite different to fly. The SF.260's great for high speed aerobatics and touring. With a 182kt top speed it's touring potential is up there with piston twins, just as long as you don't have too much luggage to carry....The Decathlon's great for VFR flight, and the view from the cockpit makes it a good choice for looking at your favourite FS scenery. The ground handling's more fun than the SF.260, especially with the optional "advanced" flightmodel.The gauges in the Decathlon VC panel are a little clearer, and can be zoomed in closer than with the SF.260 before losing clarity. The other neat thing with the Decathlon VC gauges is that they reflect sunlight like glass gauges should, this looks the best when you're spinning, as you can see the light reflections move across the gauge glass as the plane rotates.Cheers,

Hi Mark,You can still use any repaints you've already downloaded.But, the FS2004 SF-260 has a different folder structure and different entries at the top of the aircraft.cfg file, so the installation instructions that came with the repaint probably won't be much help.If you're used to installing repaints in FS you won't have any trouble in making the necessary changes.all the best,

Hi Torben,The email should have arrived almost instantly. My only guess as to why you haven't received the purchase email or an answer to your support question yet is that your mail server is blocking our emails for some reason. Send me an email with your full name, and the email address you used to order the Decathlon and I'll send you the download link.Best Regards,

Hi Marshall,On our site, navigate to "MSFS Aircraft", and click on the "Buy Now" button on the SF.260 Information box.The direct link to the purchase page is:http://usd.swreg.org/cgi-bin/s.cgi?s=4054&...&v=0&d=0&q=1&t=Best Regards,Sean Moloney,RealAir Simulationswww.realairsimulations.com