Steeler

Release 0.16.0 Kia ora! Sky Dolly “Gregarious Gee Bee” (v0.16) has just been released. This release introduces new Sky Dolly logbook export & import plugins, incuding automated time synchronisation for formation flights based on real-world timestamps. New Features Sky Dolly logbook import & export plugins Improvements Automatic time offset synchronisation for formats that support real-world timestamps (such as the Sky Dolly logbooks) New “import mode” parameter for import plugins A new recent logbooks menu allows to quickly re-open previous logbooks Logbooks can now be opened via drag and drop (e.g. from Windows File Explorer) The Logbook and Location module now persist their settings (todo: Formation module) and provide a “reset” button to quickly reset the search filters Kia ora! Five new locations in New Zealand Various bug fixes & improvements For all details please refer to the complete CHANGELOG on github.com. Sky Dolly is open source. The latest binaries are available at: https://flightsim.to/file/9067/sky-dolly

Uh... my brain starts to spin: is this some kind of "back to the future" question? 😉 But seriously, the recorded flight dates (for the flight: start/end simulation time, including date) is purely "for your information" only: it does not - yet (*) - have any impact whatsoever on the actual replay. In fact, for replay: You can choose any "user aircraft" (on the MSFS "world map" main screen, before you start the flight) that you want. And yes, that really means that you can go as silly as replaying a flight recorded with a Cessna and have it flown (replayed) with a Boeing 747 And to answer your question about date and time: during replay you can select / change any desired date and time (and weather) as you see fit Or in other words: you can take any Sky Dolly recording, from today, yesterday or from a year ago and have it replayed in MSFS, at any (simulation) date & time of your choice. All that Sky Dolly essentially does is sending the previously recorded "aircraft simulation variables" (most importantly latitude, longitude, altitude + attitude + velocity, plus any other "simulation variables" that do have a "major visual impact" on the replay, such as flaps, spoilers, gears position...). But that is all completely independent on the date/time when those variables have been recorded. That being said, here is the resolution for the above (*) footnote: yes, I intend to also set the current simulation date and/or time in MSFS, according to the flight dates & times as recorded in Sky Dolly. Optionally, of course (I think the fact that you can change your date, time and weather at will is quite a convenient feature for many, so I want to keep that as well). The advantage of setting the time etc.: when you would seek on the timeline the time in the simulator would change accordingly. This is most important for video editors that want to "shoot the same scene from different angles": like this you have consistent lighting (sun) conditions (note that we cannot control the actual weather via SimConnect: so "the clouds always move on" ;)). Does that answer your question? Best, "Steeeler"

⚠️⚠️⚠️ IMPORTANT PATCH RELEASE: 0.15.1 ⚠️⚠️⚠️ Previous patch releases (< 0.15.1) like the 0.13.1 and the previous 0.15.0 would generate a logbook backup each time the application was started (and if the logbook option "Before migration of an older logbook" is enabled, which is the case by default). This has been fixed with the 0.15.1 patch relase. How to reclaim storage space: In Sky Dolly: File | Logbook Settings... | Show In File Explorer: Open the Backups folder Delete any logbook backups that are not required anymore (the file names contain the backup date) I am terribly sorry for this inconvenience 😞

Release 0.15.0 Paint It Black! Sky Dolly “Flamboyant Fokker” (v0.15) has just been released. This is a no-new-features release. Instead several 3rd-party libraries are upgraded, most importantly the Qt 6 framework. Improvements The new Qt 6 framework provides improved Windows 11 support and initial “dark mode” support Dark mode is still not enabled by default, however can be enabled via the command line with: SkyDolly.exe -platform windows:darkmode=2 or SkyDolly.exe -platform windows:darkmode=2 -style=fusion (the “Fusion” style currently looks arguably better) In both cases dark mode needs to be enabled in the Windows user settings Improved event state handling, specifically for “asynchronous events” like flaps (e.g with the PMDG 737) Bug Fixes Improved AI object lifetime management, especially in the case of failed aircraft imports When importing flights without waypoint data (e.g. in CSV format) the generated start- and end waypoints have now unique timestamps specifically in the case when only one position sample (“parked aircraft”) has been imported, preventing a “unique key violation” (= the imported flight can be properly stored) The “Show replay speed” option (defining the default behaviour when switching to minimal UI mode) is now properly restored from the application settings For all details please refer to the complete CHANGELOG on github.com. Sky Dolly is open source. The latest binaries are available at: https://flightsim.to/file/9067/sky-dolly

Release 0.14.0 For the Big Birds Sky Dolly v0.14 (“Ethereal Embraer”) has just been released. This release focuses “on the big birds”, namely improved 3rd-party aircraft support. Improvements Control surfaces such as flaps, ailerons, rudders, elevators and spoilers should work better with 3rd-party aircraft such as the PMDG 737 and IniBuilds A310 Note that while there are also some improvements for the Fenix A320 the latest release 1.0.6 does not report some “simulation variables” as reliably as previous versions Improved support for thrust levers, tailhooks and wing folding Improved light switch support Improved replay code for AI aircraft (“formation flight”), including animated ailerons, elevators and rudders, wing folding and tailhooks New location categories, including improved CSV import & export with Little Navmap v2.8.8 Addon, Cabin, Carrier, History, Obstacle, Oil Platform, Settlement When pausing recording the simulation is now also paused (“time to take a coffee, Capt’n!”) “Repeat flaps” replay option removed (due to improved replay code) Added new flight information simulation variables (dialog Flight → Conditions): Surface condition (normal, wet, icy, snow) On any runway On parking spot Increasing the replay speed now also increases the simulation rate (up to a maximum rate of 16x) The simulation rate is a power of 2: 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 8.0, 16.0 - the nearest simulation rate is chosen, given the current replay speed Note: certain aircraft may reduce or even fix the simulation rate to 1.0 (for instance the Fenix A320) Bug Fixes Among some other small fixes a most annoying bug has finally been fixed: Rudders, ailerons and elevators don’t “counteract” anymore for aircraft with “PID controllers”: they now move into the expected direction For all details please refer to the complete CHANGELOG on github.com. Sky Dolly is open source. The latest binaries are available at: https://flightsim.to/file/9067/sky-dolly

Dear community, I am happy to announce Sky Dolly v0.13 ("Dapper Daher") which introduces location import & export. This makes it not only possible to exchange user points with Little Navmap, but also allows to literally import all POIs, photogrammetric cities, airports and more from free POI databases such as Little Navmap - MSFS POI Database (hosted on flightsim.to). The engine state (start, shutdown, keep) can now also be stored together with locations, making it effectively possible to define your own custom starting points, for instance your own helipads. Locations can now also be conveniently filtered by keyword search, type (system, user, imported), category and country. In addtion Sky Dolly ships with 100 system locations, fine-tuned and validated GPS coordinates, most of which now come from https://flightspots.co/ (unfortunately this website notifies visitors that it will "terminate its radar services"). It has never been easier to reach or take-off from beautiful spots such as this one: Further improvements Reduction of exported Sky Dolly CSV file sizes (by rounding to two decimal digits - GPS coordinates are rounded to 6 decimal digits) The [Sky Dolly installation directory]/Resources/migr/Locations.csv file is now optional and can be deleted (it is used to migrate the system locations into newly generated logbooks) All aircraft types from the 40th anniversary update have been added to the aircraft selector combo box (when importing a flight); third-party aircraft are automatically added as they are recorded The Flight Recorder CSV importer now also imports the propeller lever position Keyword search text fields now have a clear button Performance improvements and bug fixes The complete changelog is available on github.com. Sky Dolly is open source. The latest binaries are available at: https://flightsim.to/file/9067/sky-dolly

Dear community, I am happy to announce Sky Dolly v0.12 which brings the software architecture of Sky Dolly one huge step closer towards "the final picture": the modules are now also implemented as plugins (just like the import/export plugins and the flight simulator connection plugin). This reduces memory usage even further (below the 10 MB RAM mark when the application launches in "minimal mode"), because the plugins - and so now also the modules - are unloaded from memory right after use. A new Location module is also introduced: Capture, manage and teleport to locations Locations may have attributes such as category, country, identifier and description A selection of default ("system") locations is provided, including a challenging visual approach to Santos Dumont (Rio de Janeiro - based on a real-world flight) Latitude/longitude coordinates may be copied from e.g. a forum post or Google Maps and pasted right into the Location module (with CTRL + V) Various formats are supported: decimals (with optional comma-separator) and DMS notation Note that locations can even be captured during a flight recording - nice. Further improvements Tables are now more efficiently updated "per row" When starting a new recording the user aircraft is now updated in the Logbook module as soon as it becomes available Various usability and user interface layout improvements and bug fixes The complete changelog is available on github.com. Sky Dolly is open source. The latest binaries are available at: https://flightsim.to/file/9067/sky-dolly

Dear community, I am happy to announce Sky Dolly v0.11 which brings a lot of "under the hood" improvements (among them reduced RAM usage), but also some new features and improvements of existing functionality: With the introduction of the GeographicLib (open source, third-party) the altitude differences ("undulation") between the WGS84 reference ellipsoid and the EGM2008 geoid are now properly calculated in the GPX and IGC import/export The CSV export plugin now supports a simple "position & attitude" format, suitable for flight path analysis e.g. in table editors The Formation module now allows to keep the aircraft to be recorded at its current position, by introducing a new Set relative position option A truly minimal UI mode (configurable in the settings) saves even more valuable screen space Further improvements Table columns can now be moved, tables have alternating colours per row AI object management (creation and deletion) has been improved in the Formation module, resulting in less aircraft flickering when e.g. switching the user aircraft Various usability and user interface layout improvements and bug fixes The complete changelog is available on github.com. Sky Dolly is open source. The latest binaries are available at: https://flightsim.to/file/9067/sky-dolly

Dear community, I am happy to announce Sky Dolly v0.10 which further improves import and export functionality, including two new plugins: GeoJSON export, including style properties style properties interpreted e.g by https://geojson.io) GPX export plugin, including the possibility to export real-world timestamps Suitable for GPX "photo tagging" of screenshots taken during flight recording Further improvements Import All files (of the same format) can now be imported from the selected directory ("batch import") Imported aircraft can be added to the same (formation) flight, or into distinct flights Export File existence is now checked before overwriting existing files The entire flight formation may now be exported, into separate files or - if supported - into a single file (e.g. KML and GPX) All export plugins support data resampling (1 Hz, 2 Hz, 5 Hz, original data, ...) The CSV plugin now supports export in flightradar24.com CSV format The IGC plugin now exports "K records" (every 20 seconds), including true heading (HDT) and indicated airspeed (IAS) The KML export plugin does not have any line segment size limitation anymore Various usability improvements and bug fixes The complete changelog is available on github.com. Sky Dolly is open source. The latest binaries are available at: https://flightsim.to/file/9067/sky-dolly

Dear community, I am happy to announce Sky Dolly v0.9 which revolves around more import / export functionality, namely: CSV: import of flightradar24.com and Flight Recorder files KML: import of flightradar24.com and generic KML files (having at least one gx:Track element) GPX: import of GPS echange format files, with mappable waypoints, routes and tracks as well as default altitude and velocity (the later being used in absence of elevation and timestamp data) IGC: International Gliding Commission file export, including "C records" which contain the waypoints (according to the flight plan in MSFS) The existing IGC import plugin now also parses the environmental noise level (ENL) if available and turns on/off the engine (propeller) according to a selectable noise threshold updates the waypoint ("C record") timestamps according to the actual flown path ("closest point") Further improvements The aircraft selection in the various import dialogs is now editable, with autocompletion The "Delete" key now deletes the selected flight in the logbook Logbook columns are only resized ("fit to content") upon initial flight loading; after that manual column resizes are kept The replay can now be "looped" The "indicated altitude" simulation variable is now recorded, for "analytical purposes" (e.g. the new IGC export plugin exports it as "pressure altitude") The complete changelog is available on github.com. Sky Dolly is open source. The latest binaries are available at: https://flightsim.to/file/9067/sky-dolly

Hello there from 2019: 2022 just brought you a possible solution, albeit for another flight simulator 😉 Since the very recent bug fix release Sky Dolly v0.8.6 now also features an IGC import plugin: the imported flight path can then be replayed in the connected flight simulator. Flight attitude (pitch, bank, heading) is reconstructed (in a basic manner) from the imported flight positions. Note that also the connection from Sky Dolly to the specific flight simulator is plugin-based - but I just rejoined the flight simulator world myself very recently (1+ year ago or so) and have not yet tried Prepar3D (for which you initially asked): but a plugin (via the SimConnect API) for Prepar3D would technically certainly be possible. Sky Dolly is open source: read more about it here in the forum about freeware:

Sky Dolly records your flight (for later replay in MSFS) and also provides a couple of export plugins, among them for the KML format. In fact, you may even import KML (currently as produced by flightaware.com, next (in the upcoming Sky Dolly v0.9 release) also flightradar24.com) or since very recently also IGC flight recorder files from real-world flights and have them replayed in MSFS (with some basic pitch/bank/heading reconstruction based on the imported position data).

Dear community, The latest bug fix release Sky Dolly v0.8.6 also introduces an new IGC file import plugin. IGC stands for International Gliding Commission and the file format is produced by flight recorders in (real-world) gliders. This plugin allows you to import such IGC flight recordings and replay them via Sky Dolly in MSFS. Note that pitch, bank and heading are reconstructed based on the imported position data and optional "additions" (as specified by the "I record") such as environmental noise level (ENL) are currently ignored (the ENL is parsed in the upcoming Sky Dolly v0.9, in order to detect propeller start/stop, which will also feature an IGC export plugin). Sky Dolly is open source. The latest binaries are available at: https://flightsim.to/file/9067/sky-dolly

Dear community, I am thrilled to announce that Sky Dolly v0.8 brings support for multiplayer formation flying. It currently does so via CSV import/export, and the ability to synchronise the aircrafts. Also refer to the announcement here: I hope Sky Dolly is useful and that you enjoy it as much as I enjoy developing this open source application 🙂

Dear community, I am thrilled to announce Sky Dolly v0.8 which introduces a new plugin architecture and multiplayer formation flying! While the SimConnect API does not give access to multiplayer aircrafts the CSV import plugin now allows to add the imported aircraft to an existing flight. The aircraft type can now also be chosen. In the Formation module each aircraft can then be time-shifted, by adding or subtracting a time offset. This synchronises the formation flight. Further hightlights A new KML ("Google Earth") export plugin with basic style options Filtering of the logbook by creation date, free text search, aircraft type, duration and formation New "fly with formation" replay mode (in the Formation module) Usability improvements For instance, by hiding the "replay speed" group box the user interface can now be truly minimised: Sky Dolly is open source. The latest binaries are available at: https://flightsim.to/file/9067/sky-dolly