JYW

The AI narration really put me off.... not just that it's an AI voice, but listen to how it pronounces BeyondATC at 6:16 (click the link below to go straight there). A perfect example of AI slop. So many of these 'groundbreaking game changers' are appearing now, from devs with no track record and with vibe coding rife. Let's see how much this costs. As a community we would do well to be cautious and do our due diligence.

The min_castoring_angle and max-castoring_angle parameters relate to setting a 'loose' or free-moving range within the nosewheel. Clearly this is used heavily for planes with free-castoring nosewheels (like Cirrus, Diamond, Vans 'A' models, etc). There is no data I can find that suggests the PC-12 has any 'free' range, where the nosewheel can loosely move on it's rotational axis. As far as I can see, the nosewheel is mechanically linked to the rudder pedals and has a linear range of movement. Perhaps SWS are using these castoring values in some way related to the aileron-rudder interconnect. I've no idea. But to my sensibilities, this drifting and skidding across it's trajectory is not something seen in the real aircraft. Let's also (respectfully) remember that when the PC-12 was released for 2020, the flight dynamics were nothing short of insane! (coming in on approach with no wind, almost sideways, floating like a balloon with no inertia). Yet, they claimed a PC-12 pilot had said it was a perfect depiction of the real plane. Thankfully in time, the FDE were improved and as of the last version of the plane for 2020, the FDE feels very convincing. There have been many discussions lately on how challenging it can be to interpret real world motion dynamics, to pixels that move on our screens. I am not disparaging SWS and really enjoy their products. I'm just pointing out that it is perhaps naive to assume that because SWS currently have the 2024 PC-12's ground handling set up this way, that this means it's realistic and represents how the real aicraft behaves on the ground. Coding FDE is something of a black art - mostly because, for the majority of parameters across the flight_model.cfg file, MS publish only a short, single line description. There are dozens of discussions on the FS Developer forum, where devs are trying to better understand what each parameter does in the sim.

Where did I say I didn't trust anyone here? You think that you saying "I mostly fly GA and I like it" is a sufficient measure of likely quality? 😄 That's cute - even for you. I would simply like to see the addon, in use, with GA aircraft. It's odd that you can't understand something so basic as that and somehow turn this into "yOu cAn'T tRuSt mE bUt yOu tRuSt yOuTube 😩😫".

Well I hope he does. Because being able to see a range of people show what this product does, is more important than holding grudges.

In one sense I agree, and rarely take notice of Youtuber's recomendations and opinions. But the most useful aspect perhaps, of watching products on YouTube, is simply to see the product in use. That's why I'm still holding out. Until I can see it in use, and see that it provides more than RealTurb's (far too subtle) effects on GA aircraft, I just can't bring myself to spend the money. Sometimes it seems like about 25% of all the addons I bought just didn't provide what they promised IMHO. If I see some good convincing turbulence effects with GA aircraft with this program, I'll snap it up in a heartbeart.

You can completely fix this issue, if you're confident to make a small change to one of the PC-12's CFG files. If you browse to this location, and open the flight_model.cfg file :- Community\sws-aircraft-pc12\SimObjects\Airplanes\SWS_Pilatus_PC12LG\common\config\flight_model.cfg ...and search (ctrl+f) for the entry; min_castering_angle = Now changes the values of min_castoring_angle and max_castoring_angle to these :- min_castering_angle = 0.001 max_castering_angle = 0.01 You will lose all of that swinging, swaying and skidding tendency.

I've personally never seen much effect from A2A's turbulence slider, other than the occasional jerky 'bump'. Do you feel you get good, convincing turbulence from it? I think if/when I pick this up, I'll dial the A2A turbulence slider down to off and get only the effects from this new program.

First post from dbw1 echoes my experience at the time :- 😉 (There were reports on Reddit too)

I agree in principal, but there's one thing that some of us do in the real world, when about to disengage the AP, and that's to 'feel out' the controls. This is done when the AP is on but about to be disconnected. As I do this in the real world, I also emulate it in the sim. In fact that aspect is the only reason I raised it for discussion.

Thanks for the explanation Michael - makes sense! The A2A custom APs are unprecedented and the lack of small movements on the control stick is almost inconsequential for all the benefits that your true AP simulations bring. 👍

That sounds good. We've all had enough of completely overdone, exaggerated turbulence effects! (Looking at you Asobo). I would absolutely love to hear from someone that can try out a light GA aircraft (any) with UTL, and report how it works with light aircraft.

I don't have any of those most recent addons. In general, I have all of Gary's UK releases and about 3 or 4 of his US releases (in the Chicago area, where I have a virtual flying base). I would describe quality as mixed. Some are at a really high level and others (like Isle of Man) are a bit lacking. Still, he's a good reliable source for UK airports, especially mid-size fields where I fly to/from a lot. I don't see UK2000 as being 'top drawer' but they're perfectly acceptable to me and performance is always not an issue.

The standalone (for just the PC-12) was broken on release but they may well have fixed it now. Still, not worth the risk - I can't see any point or advantage in using the standalone installer, that won't then provide any updates. Versus the Installer app that can be used for all release and beta updates.

Yes, it will pop off at full deflection, but there's no movement of the stick (at least for small movements). This is a hugely small thing in the grand scheme of things though 😊 With A2A being perfectionists, I hope they'll explore what's possible. What do you think Michael? @some1 Even though A2A are using external flight models and custom APs, would it be possible in theory, for small movements made to the yoke/stick to have animations?

There's another limitation with external FDE that I hope A2A will address one day; In the vast majority of aircraft in MSFS, with the autopilot on, you can move the controls and see that you can overpower the AP, even just with small 'nudges'. Try this with A2A's Comanche, Aerostar and Legacy - moving the stick/yoke does absolutely nothing. There is no variation of attitude or bank. The control input is completely ignored. Just for clarity, A2A are my absolute favourite developer in the sim and I spend 75% of my sim time in one of the three A2A planes. But I would love them to address this, as it's a net weakness over planes that use MSFS's internal FDE.

The whole premise of discussion forums is that people discuss products and give opinions. You're really outraged that some people think this is a gimmicky waste of resources? Their opinion is that it's garbage, yours is that it's fantastic. What's the problem?

No. If you want the incremental updates, you need to buy from SWS and to download their installer app. You also need to subscribe to the beta program in your account there. When you buy it from SWS, you get a standalone installer - don't use that - it's broken. Instead, download their installer app and that is where you will get the incremental beta updates, as they come. I'm still on the fence about this native 2024 update. I'm underwhelmed by it as there is so little 'different' from the 2020 version. Except the flight dynamics are a little funky again (as they were when it released for 2020 years ago), IMHO. I do think it will get there and be great again.

I'm interested but I will wait until it's in a stable condition, without the licence/auth problems, or connections to weather data. I'm not fancying a whole load of problems with a new addon, and I'm not someone who wants to be in Discord 6 times per day, grabbing latests versions. I use Discord only when my (sim) life depends on it 😄 I've been a long time RealTurb user but, as I'm in a phase where I only fly GA, it seems a little weak with light aircraft. Even on max settings (which were reduced from 200 to 150 in a recent update), the effects are very light, even where turbulence is present. RealTurb was much better with heavier aircraft IMHO.

Look forward to hearing what your think of it 👍

I have a few airports from Spinoza. Whilst they look quite good, they are always performance-heavy. San Carlos (KSQL) is a good example of this. I note that this (and other Spinoza addons) are 2020-compatible, meaning they are not MSFS2024-native and thus can't use new LOD tools to improve performance. I hope they will soon start to develop 2024 SDK products, to provide better performance and updated features in the sim.

What does that even mean? 😄 That's definitely not English human grammar. I'd say AI or Alien. 👍😉 I like to know who I am buying from. These AI sites are always so anonymous. However, after some digging and exploring their privacy page, I discovered the dev is a sole proprietor; Youri Berentsen (T/A: Beren Softeware), based in the Netherlands.

This version is a good step forward. They've fully fixed the graphical artifacts this time (even when using Medium texture res, although I'm back on high now). There's a definite improvement in friction. But they're still using some odd values for the castoring nosewheel section, so I've kept my mod there. I have no doubt they'll get there with this, and it's a great, immersive package.

I'll check it out, cheers!

If anyone who feels the ground handling of the 2024 PC-12 is a little too 'loose' (like a free castoring effect) would like to try an alternative, here's a quick tweak you can make. Back up your flight_model.cfg file first:- Browse to: Community\sws-aircraft-pc12\SimObjects\Airplanes\SWS_Pilatus_PC12LG\common\config and open the Flight_model.cfg file. Search for the following parameter:- min_castering_angle = Change this parameter, and the one below it, (max_castoring_angle) to :- min_castering_angle = 0.001 max_castering_angle = 0.1 This removes all 'castoring effect' from the nosewheel and keeps it tracking straight. All other ground dynamics remain unaffected, eg. if you go into a corner too quickly, you'll still lose traction. It's just the free movement by a few degrees that will be removed.

Ok, I figured out the problem with the graphical glitches. I usually fly with texture resolution set to high in MSFS. Yesterday I was testing out the Fenix A320 V3 in heavy scenery and had temporarily set texture resolution to medium (still looks great in the Fenix). When I changed texture resolution back to high, the texture glitches in the PC-12 don't appear. So that was an easy fix, but having said that, there shouldn't be nasty glitches like that with the PC-12, with the medium setting. Most aircraft interior textures don't look too different between medium and high. (external aircraft textures always look really poor with medium). I've also made some tweaks to the ground handling which have, in my humble opinion, made it 10000% better than it is now! 😊 I will share these here tomorrow, for people that want to try them. All the 'skidding' and 'sliding' on the ground is gone with these tweaks (although steering is still a quite sensitive). I've also reduced the torque factor settings for take off which means the PC-12 tracks much more straightly down the runway on take off. There are some very odd settings in the flight model file for this aircraft.