GMVitus

hahahaha! Shout out to all the dinosaurs here! Not sure if I should be sad or happy for having missed that wonderful era of punch cards. My first experience programming was Turbo Pascal on a 80386SX with 8MB(?) extended RAM - and it was a "laptop". 😮 Do you remember these things (found through a google search)?

Here's another one: more engines! It'd be great if wee could develop something with more than 4 engines.

Hello Microsoft, Apart from the things that have already been mentioned, here's what I would like to see: 1. The same freedom when it comes to publishing and marketing our add-ons. 2. Access to the sound engine, so we don't have to come up with our own solutions. Including the option to loop a sound an adjust volume and pitch dynamically. 3. The ability to override engine and system variables - i.e. a more complete simConnect, with an extensive documentation.

Hi Skywolf, Thank you for your contribution! Man, I whole-heartily agree with everything you write! That leaves only one aspect to comment on: You're not the only one to suggest the A2A glass and I am torn. I read through their SDK and to my disappointment noted that it is currently not possible to simulate windscreen wipers with their module. So now I need to choose: either I spend some weeks developing my own system, or I remove the animation code from the manually-operated wipers of the Vega and implement the A2A glass. Ooor I implement the glass, but the wipers are kinda pointless... tough... And to answer your question: back in the day the checklist wasn't "invented" yet! As far as I recall, the first checklist came with the B17. That being said, I did write up a checklist that comes with the Vega, however abnormal procedures are not covered. I think for most aircraft from that era the official procedure is: if something goes wrong, try your best and pray. 😁

Hi guys, Thank you for the feedback! Mark, it is quite evident that you are not alone in your preference when it comes to the ship you want to commandeer. When you look for anything flightsim related, I do find that there is an overwhelming bias on modern aviation. That is perfectly fine, I am more than happy to cater to a niche of the niche and I am absolutely convinced that the niche is big enough to make a living, provided that the product is right and the word is out. Tony, I don't even think that this is a problem endemic to the flight sim scene. From my point of view this is just regular business, no matter where you look. The problems are always the same, no matter what you try to sell: you need a good product and you need to find your customers. And if you fail in either of those, your project fails. So much is true no matter in what area you do business in. One thing I disagree with though is that doing the same as everybody else is the solution. I am convinced that the Vega has an edge in the market that most developers can't compete with right now and that is entirely due to the fact that I spent so much time developing the physics engine. And while the complexity might not be a feature that convinces everybody - especially when it comes with a price tag - it is certainly something that resonates with a lot of people. Oliver, Thank you for your insight. Wow, that sounds rough...... The mere existence of companies like PMDG, A2A, Carenado, Aerosoft, Milviz, etc. show that there is a business opportunity in the market. Imho it is a question of finding the right product and find the customers for it, too. I think you and me both are in this for the love of aviation. Whether or not small me can turn Wing42 into a viable business is to be seen 🙂 John, I think you're cherry-picking your examples. I can easily give you counter example from the "real world" where money-first-product-later is entirely normal. For example: did you ever contract someone to build a house? I bet he wanted to see a big chunk of money before he even started. I am a professional engineer and in my field it was normal to get paid an initial lump sum to start the development process. The remainder of the price was paid on delivery. But now take my product in comparison: a customer who bought the aircraft when the early access was launched would've paid 25 Euros for the add-on. By the time the development is done the price will be almost double that, however those early customers won't have to pay the difference - as would be normal in ANY OTHER INDUSTRY. On the other hand I honestly believe that the price of the Vega always reflected the value of the product at the time of purchase. I'm glad you like the website! It is that nostalgia I want to tap into 🙂

Hello Avsim! I would like to share some of the joy and some of the agony I experienced over the past few years working on the simulation of ONE add-on for flight simulator. This is partially a bit of a personal story, a bit of shameless product placement and a rant. I started working on the Lockheed Vega about three years ago. The decision to work on that particular aircraft was driven by my passion for vintage aviation and the idea that the simulation of an aircraft like the Vega would be simple enough to complete within about a year time. Boy, was I wrong. While the essential bits of this iconic aircraft - the 3d model and textures - were completed rather quickly, the simulation of the systems is an entirely different matter. The reason being, that I couldn't be satisfied producing an aircraft that just looks good and flies well - I knew from the start that it is the systems simulation that transform a good aircraft to an outstanding add-on. I launched Wing42 about a year ago and with it released the Lockheed Vega as an Early Access product. I received some criticism for that decision, being told that Early-Access is "money-grabbing" or "pay-for-beta". I whole-heartily disagree! While it is true that the sales I make with the Early Access definitely help financing the development, my main motivation to go down that path was to tap into the hearts and minds of the users and through the interaction with the customers shape the product as close to perfection as I am able to. And let me tell you: the feedback I received through this process has been way beyond my imagination. I can confidently say that the Wing42 Vega would've never gotten to this level of realism without the feedback and criticism gained through the Early-Access program. The overarching goal of the development is to provide the user with an experience, rather than just an aircraft. I am trying to replicate the experience of operating an aircraft in the 1920s as closely as the platform allows. This immersion into the past is what this add-on represents - at least to me, and I hope for my customers too. To facilitate said immersion, I tried to replicate operating procedures well beyond the actual flying of the aircraft. With version 0.85 I implemented an interactive ground crew together with a dialog interface. The interface is used to instruct your rampie to install the various ground equipment available and he will respond to you and inform you when the instructed tasks are completed. Apart from the programming of this interface, I also commissioned some artwork to give "Heinrich" a face and I spent considerable time recording the different responses. Another example of how the Vega tries to immerse you into the 1920s is the design of the various 2d panels that come with the add-on. The goal with the UI/UX is to incorporate design features of that time and give every interface the look and feel of a piece of paper. As an example for that, have a look at what I am working on at the moment. The upcoming version 0.90 of the aircraft will feature the new "Aircraft Desk" which is used to interact with aircraft log and engine log as well as provide some feedback on the wear & tear of the airplane. I am currently working 70-80 hours per week on this and many other new features, in the hope to get it done by the beginning of June. So far I received overwhelmingly positive feedback from my customers. I can't recall a single one who was unhappy with his purchase. The feedback that I get from users is mostly suggestions of things they like to see in a future update, or a report of some feature that doesn't work just yet. Despite that, sales have been abysmal lately. I am under no illusion that by itself, this project would ever be able to recuperate the immense expenses that I sunk into this add-on. But my hope is that the technology that I created in the process of developing this aircraft can be transferred into future products as well and in that way transform Wing42 into a viable business. However, I am still a bit disheartened by the lack of interest by the community as a whole, therefore I'd like to end my ramblings with two questions for you: 1. What do you think is the reason for the disregard of the add-on in the wider flight sim community? 2. I welcome any suggestions how to boost the profile of Wing42 and the Lockheed Vega. Lastly, I want to thank all of the supporters of my work and everyone who already purchased the Lockheed Vega. I am certain you will be blown away with the release of the next update and I'll do my best to deliver as fast as possible. Kind Regards, Otmar

...and released! I hope you like it!

There's a new developer's blog post up on our website. It's about the development of my sound engine for the Lockheed Vega with a quick demonstration. Read up on it if you're interested to see what's coming soon: https://wing42.com/en/news/dev-blog-9-audio-crisis

Update for version 0.04 now available! www.wing42.com

Hey guys, The update to version 0.04 of the Vega is on it's way and will probably be available by Friday this week. With the update, the price will increase to 30 Euros, so purchase the aircraft now to benefit from the lower introduction price. I put together a youtube video to highlight some of the things that are coming with this update:

Hey guys, Shane (AUS flight simmer) did a first review of the Early-Access version of the Vega 5, if you're interested:

Thanks Pedro! While I didn't specifically test it, the Vega will work just fine on P3Dv4.1. In fact, I haven't updated my SDK since version 4.0.28.21686 yet, so even 4.0 would run just fine. But as always: send me an email or post in our forum if you run into any trouble with the aircraft and we'll find a solution.

Woooow, thank you for saying this. You made my day!!

Vibrations are already included. The gauges wobble (check out the youtube channel!), the cowling shakes, the airframe vibrates, etc. Buuuuuut it's not the final version of the wobble yet. Stage II of the wobble will come when I finished calculating properly the combustion process in the engine (spark timing, fouling, carburetor,...) 😉

Hello Bob, thank you for saying that, much appreciated! And thank you so much for your support. I honestly believe the product, as it is right now, is well worth the money I'm asking for and any future update is a net-gain for anyone who purchases the aircraft right now. It was extremely important to me that the Vega was delivered without any game-breaking issues, with an accurate flight model and fun to fly. It took me two years to get her to the stage she is in right now and it is my hope that anyone who flies her can see the value. And yes, I am very passionate about this aircraft. I invested a lot of time and money into her, how could I not be? 😁 My intention is to release new updates in one to two month cycles, each one tackling a new aspect of the system simulation and adding a new livery with every update. But I really can't promise this timeline. Some features will require a lot of time to develop and the update-cycle will be affected by this. For minor things, or intermediate bug-fixes I will publish hot-fixes in my forum. I tried this approach during the testing face with my testers and it worked well. What I am working on right now are two things: 1. I try to come up with a better solution for the wheel chocks and fix the visibility issue of the tie-downs (they don't show up due to some code-screw-up on my part). I'm yet to find a good solution to fixate the aircraft in one position on the ground without causing issues and suggestions how to tackle this are welcome! 2. Heat exchange. I already built the foundation for the oil system. All the components (lines, connectors, tank, screen, filter, pressure valve, etc.) are modeled and with the help of the https://www.physicsforums.com/, I came up with a great way to calculate pressure and flow in a multi-grid system. There's still some issues with it, but overall it's pretty robust. But since the viscosity is a function mainly of temperature, I now need to calculate the heat exchange between the engine's part and the oil. This is a huge task and will require some time to finish, but it's well on the way 🙂 aaaah see what you guys are doing? Once you get me started on this project I can't stop talking 😆

Hey Brian, yes, the same. Life pushed me away from the sim for a few years but I'm back working on the Vega since 2016 and once she is in it's final release, the Electra will follow. She needs some more polishing up though, as the technology progressed.

I just like to point out that I am not justflight. But I understand your stance, if it's not for you, it's not for you. 😀

Hey raex-flight, Otmar here from Wing42. There isn't many reviews out there I know of. But you can get a very good look at the plane by watching a live stream of "the Sky Lounge". Edson took her for a spin about a week before release. You can find it here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/268632181 I know of a few people who want to write reviews as well, I'll let you know as soon as something's out. Hello djbully, I can answer that question for you. In short: because there's people out there that really like to take part in Early-Access and I like to give them a chance to do so and have a say in the development. I am myself a customer of a number of Early-Access programs and I enjoy them thoroughly. I can understand that this is not everyone's cup of tea, and it's a perfectly fine decision to say no to the offer and wait until it's finished. It is my honest opinion that the Vega is at a stage where it is a lot of fun to fly already. The visuals are great, performance is excellent, flight characteristics are extremely accurate and you'll find some really nifty animations and system simulation already. There are a few minor issues that you need to be aware of, and there are a lot of features that are yet to come. But I think that all of this is reflected in the price. I hope that answers your question. Tell me what you think! 😀 Cheers, Vitus aka Otmar

Hello folks! It is time for me to undertake a campaign of shameless self-promotion; and what better place to do so than in the fine community of avsim! I've never posted here before, however some of you will know me from other places like fsdeveloper, flightx or soh. For the past two years I've been working on the implementation of a Lockheed Vega 5 for FSX, FSXSE and P3D that I will release as a commercial product soon. My plans are to release it in early-access at a reduced price, because I hope that I can utilize the know-how and experience of other flightsimmers to make this product the most realistic Vega in Flight Simulator. I do have a background in engineering as well as software development, so you can expect a ludicrous amount of detail when it comes to system simulation. A lot of those systems are already in place, such as a new electrical system (complete with surge protection by means of melting-type fuses), vacuum system (calculating the spinning of gyros, considering airflow and friction in the bearings), barometric system (utilizing nothing but raw ambient atmospheric data to simulate the response of the diaphragm in altimeter, vsi and asi), etc. Some systems are still being worked on such as the oil system (calculating pressure changes in every single part of the engine, build up of slug, etc.), engine combustion and ignition. Those will be gradually implemented in future updates after the initial release. I also started a Youtube channel in order to provide some more information, here's the first video I put out (be gentle please): I hope you like what you see. Furthermore, I'd like to pick your brain - I'm grateful for any suggestions, criticism and praise! You'll find a lot more information on my website, you'll also find a link to the first WIP version of the manual in my forum. Regards, Vitus

Gnagnagna.That means: no real weather for the next four months... what a pity.Well, thanks anyway.RegardsVitus

Maybe I am the only one who tries to connect via a proxy!? ;-)Anyway... Can't I just download the actual weather somewhere and install it manually?RegardsVitus

Hello again,triple checked it.Seems that you haven't got a clue, eh? ;-)RegardsVitus

As I wrote, the same setting works fine with the browsers (IE and Firefox). I just use the Windows Firewall, I set up the "exception" for the XEngine and even if I switch of the firewall, the download failed.RegardsVitus

Aye, the lines are in the ASX.cfg file. And when starting ASX the foloowing lines are shown:11:35:36: Proxy server configuration specified, using server: alb-cache.massey.ac.nz:808011:35:36: Download failureAny ideas?RegardsVitus

Good morning,The proxy section says:ProxyServerAddress = alb-cache.massey.ac.nz:8080ProxyServerUserName = ProxyServerPassword = The same as the settings in the browser.RegardsVitus