Dodosim

You are on the right lines Stuart, No “Back Course” on the unit we’ve modelled. We haven’t locked all aircraft features yet so things are subject to change and I don’t want to give you incorrect information. We have successfully tested the unit with Flight1 Garmins and one of our commercial customers is interfacing it with a real GPS (non-Garmin). We will be installing a an AP equipped aircraft for a U.K. flight school this weekend. It is world helicopter day on Sunday so if you are visiting a local helicopter operator - keep your eyes open and maybe say hello. Things have been hectic with on-site installs and preparing 2 aircraft types for certification, one of which is a P3d V4 206. Something has thrown the climb rate out which we have to fix. Completion men’s that next week we will be free to shake down specific home-user components. Lots of little things like a gauge isn’t switching between metric/imperial/mixed readout

In case it helps anybody: One of our commercial customers had a massive FPS drop after updating P3d that was partly tracked down to P3d reassigning a projector as the sound adapter!

If you want to learn about flying or get close to the flying experience you need to have pedals - and if you ever intend to fly something you will have the correct “muscle memory” and vastly reduce incorrect control inputs. Even more so for helicopters. An experienced flight instructor once estimated a trainee pilot as having at least 10 previous lessons based on handling of the aircraft. The trainee had only ever flown hus home simulator. no need for anything expensive, my first pedals were the cheapest joystick I could find tied to the end of a stick with a nail though the middle.

Yes. You need a centering stick to use that as it works on deflection - but with the force trim a centering stick is no longer the pain it normally would be. It works like a real world 2 axis autopilot with SAS, ILS descent, intercepts etc. and depending on the mode(s) selected adjustments are made using the collective. The control head has 6 mode selection buttons. It is a bit tricky catering for all the possible hardware configurations out there compared to installing in a commercial setting with known hardware but we are trying to make it as flexible as possible. Non-pilots are going to have a bit of a steep learning curve with the systems if they make use of them, and maybe with not over-speeding the rotors, but turning the SAS on makes it easy to fly.

Hi Nyxx Already done 🙂 We had this back in the FSX version. The latest version goes several steps further. In the old FSX version it worked as a straightforward force trim that you will recognise from DCS. Press to disconnect the linkage, move the stick to desired position and release to establish new “centre” in the way a Huey or Astar etc does . The real 206 doesn’t have this feature but we thought it was worth including for sprung stick users. For the new P3d version this is now linked into a 2 axis Autopilot and Stability Augmentation System - so if you choose to have autopilot in your aircraft and then activate any of the autopilot’s modes the switch changes it’s funtion to setting target attitude for the autopilot. Turn the autopilot off and the switch reverts to standard force trim. The autopilot has “fly through” override and is currently optional, but the number of options is getting a bit ridiculous for file sizes so we might review that. Some of our commercial products have an additional fine trim beeper too, which may get included. Anybody that has flown the Huey style force trim will know it is a bit coarse (my first use of real world force trim was a definately a bit lurchy but you soon get used to anticipating it and smoothing things out). ...and a big thanks for the support guys 🙂

😋 AI is operating in Australian mode. I’m working up the detail in the VC textures right now. This always highlights any inaccuracy or ommisions in the 3d model so there is a bit of tweaking that accompanies that. Simon has been moving things on including finessing the autopilots for this and a couple of other projects in P3d v3 and v4. Some of our flight school customers have been testing and giving excellent info on the quirks and subtleties so we can get it to feel right rather than just carry out the functions. Unfortunately he suffered one of those horrible P3d crashes on closing where the program refuses to open from that point on so - that has been a bit of a nightmare.

Oh, the nav/gps switch has moved since this pic and it’s a compressed JPG so it’s a bit fuzzy.

Simon is locked in the basement at Dodo Mansions doing his black magic on a certified trainer but I’ve had a chance to do some damage on the 206. I’ve started on adding the SAS/autopilot controls to the VC. The 2 axis SAS was done for another aircraft but it makes the aircraft much more stable and easy to fly. I have written some of the VC animation/inputs for the extra systems code that Simon has created beyond normal P3d variables - but there are a lot and I’m nowhere near finished. This is our default panel layout and probably the image that people have referred to earlier in the thread (it has moved on but the layout is the same except autopilot added to top of radio stack). For cockpit builders - it should give you an idea of what is available to drive gauges or to cut your panel bezel. For VC or VR users - it is designed for FPS over eye-candy. I get 90 to 110 FPS with photo scenery on my test rig. Slightly better than default aircraft and I’ll try to keep it that way - but there is still some complexity to add and only basic textures.

Thank you Simicro. I think that depends on what happens with our vendor arrangements. We are thinking of handing the sales aspect over to a vendor so that we can concentrate on creating stuff. Having to have a support forum there might conflict with the commercial forum rules here. that and our outdated web site are on the list to sort out but it’s a bit of a hectic time right now.

Hi Jorge There are some very nice cockpits being built. The new version is built with cockpit builders in mind. There is a menu with options for things like: “Does your controller a simple joystick,..full replica with detent lock?” and walks you through moving the throttle to its critical 6% detent position and we calibrate to that. That way if your physical throttle lock isn’t placed quite perfectly at 6% of sensor’s travel it gets corrected and you won’t hot start and blow your turbine. Personally, for the main panel I prefer to have a bezel over a screen with the dials showing from behind. Partly because of reliability and simplicity but mainly because we have another single turbine in the pipeline and maybe a glass cockpit heavy, so swopping between them would just be a case of changing the bezel over. But, yes, the Lvars are available to anybody who wants to make a hardware annunciation panel and a few manufacturers have also requested them.

Some random notes on things that have been done in the P3d 206, it is very different from the old one. We we had a lot of requests for an autopilot so Simon created our own (separate from the P3d AP, ours is combined SAS and autopliot) Military customers required accurate behaviour for engine failure in the hover at zero airspeed. Hugely difficult in P3d but we got there and is now standard in our core code (at 6 ft you need to decide really quickly if it is engine or tail rotor failure and act accordingly). Too many physics and systems additions to list here. Rotor and engine overspeeds - pilot has to manage rotor rpm with the collective in powered and unpowered descents and aggressive manoeuvres. Auto rotations are as much fun/scary as they should be More contact breakers work in the roof panel and the radios have features that aren’t in P3d by default. Compatible with Flight1 GTN 750/650 but I haven’t put it into the model yet (works great on a 10 inch touchscreen). 2d gauges intended to be displayed through a bezel sat on a screen (making it easier to switch to another aircraft). It is hard not to sound like a brochure so I’ll finish there. I don’t know how long it is going to take to complete, we are only just starting wider beta testing. I don’t have any recent pics - but this was taken from a VR build we showed on Oculus and Flyinside at the UK Heli Expo. The textures weren’t quite finished but it shows all the gauges and needles are 3d models with no 2d displays.

Thanks for all the encouraging and very kind words. I’ll try to answer individual questions/comments later, I’ll check with admin here to make sure I’m OK to post work-in-progress shots. To let you you know what we are up to since I posted. We took on a new commercial project that isn’t a 206, unfortunately the project lead and our good friend lost his life so we have had a difficult few weeks and extra work we hadn’t allowed for. That project is moving forward and has already forced us to generate a new feature that will be going into the P3d 206 Pro lite and judging by the cockpit pictures above, at leat one simmer is going to be very happy to see it (hint, hint). Got to run, but I’ll post some more first chance I get.

Bob will be sorely missed. He was an unsung hero of the simming world, particularly in Britain and Europe. He gave many new developers their first leg up and was instrumental in getting many started and/or connecting the right people. He worked with everybody from Saitek to the first time hobby developer working in their back bedroom. Often a product would appear or a project take off and there was Bob, quietly making it all happen. Lots of the stuff we hold dear, he was their early on giving it a helping hand when nobody else believed. He had boundless enthusiasm for flying, simulation, it’s developers and community. He was fair, generous and understanding often to the point of being out of pocket to help, he offered us space on his air show stands when we couldn’t afford our own and too many kindnesses to list. I’ll miss his long rambling chats on the phone and probably expect him to amble round the corner of every hangar and development meeting. Rest in peace

Hello all I’m Mark Adams from Dodosim with an update - We were very sad to see Hovercontrol end. It was a great community and instrumental in both Simon and myself getting involved in flight dimming as a hobby and later as developers. We are currently looking for a new home for our support forum. If any of our supporters and friends from Hovercontrol want to make themselves known by personal message or whatever it would be great to hear from them. We have been extremely busy with commercial projects and all my hardware got taken out of commission in a disaster at Dodosim mansions. The good news is that we are back working on the home user 206 for Prepar3d V4. I need to check the moderators and forum rules here about what I can and can’t post about commercial projects as a developer. What we have been up to: The commercial version of the 206 is now in a number of aviation authority certified training simulators and commercial trainers. Another different aircraft is starting the CAA approval process plus we developed an aircraft that went into use with military rotary flight training. 206 home user version: The physics and systems are pretty much done as they are based on the commercial product. Home users have different demands and we are working through those - such as a high def model (not yet finished). This morning I’ve been working on what I think is the last 2d gauge (whisky compass) but I think I need to go back to some detail touches on a few. It is a completely different product to our 206 FSX and does more of those “impossible to do in the sim” than the original did. I need to check the forum rules first, but if it is permissible I will supply more info on progress and features in another post.