Pete F

Yeah maybe I'll get an external battery pack at some stage, but I learnt that they generally don't need to be a specific brand ripoff, and many USB-C PD capable powerbanks will power them just fine. I saw a local review on Youtube of one where the guy powered it for something like 12-18 hours straight! You'd just need to have some arrangement to hold the battery and it would be completely portable. Seems that arrangement is good enough for Apple with their VR headset. In the meanwhile I just plugged the supplied 18W power adapter and cable into the headset and it maintains it at 100%. Happy Days 🙂 The connection to the PC is via the QuestLink app. The client is installed on the desktop and away it goes. It's not perfect, and when I turn my head quickly I can see some latency, but for commercial airline type stuff it seems ok. I have the connection on 100 MBS, and I think that's getting up there! The resolution of the A330 Pro isn't exactly stunning, and that's a bit of a disappointment. It's "almost' there but not quite. It looks much better on the monitor. There's absolutely no doubt Virtual or Mixed reality is the way it's going from a training perspective, so that may get better, but I haven't seen an overwhelming amount of enthusiasm from Aerosoft toward the A330, so if that end is the sticking point I'd say it's stuck. Another thing to consider is the headsets can be used for other purposes. I'm not a gamer at all, but I occasionally watch Netflix, Youtube, etc. and a movie on the Quest 3 is supposed to be fairly awesome. I'm just installing now ... not sure when I'll get to use it, but at least it's there 🙂

The consideration now is to get a wireless charging dock and extended life battery. That way I can store and charge it, and also get decent cycle time. However it looks like the Meta battery doesn't allow data passthrough ie if you use the battery you can't use the Link cable, and visa versa. I have no idea what they were thinking when they came up with that! Aftermarket alternatives may be able to provide data passthrough, and that's something I'll look into. In the meanwhile I'm now trialling it wirelessly and so far it seems ok. The Quest 2 worked well in that mode and I didn't notice any latency, at least not for this type of flight sim. If that works I'll be able to add a battery pack. Initially I was getting some dropouts, but have pushed the data rate up to almost 200 MBS and it seems to be solid. The only real issue now seems to be what I'm guessing is some form of lack of anti-aliasing. Not sure if that's the issue, but it's quite annoying and not seen on my monitor (which mirrors the VR image). It's seen as as high contrast lines effectively jumping around slightly on the VR image. It could also be a lack of resolution, but I don't recall the Quest 2 being as bad as that. I've gone through all the P3D VR settings and they don't seem to make any difference. I don't see this on other apps etc being pushed through to the VR headset Any thoughts on this? Edit: OT, but as another observation and aside for anyone going down this path, the O3 VR headset going to sleep will cause P3D to hang/crash.

Yes I also bought a PC Link Cable at the same time. It looks like a No Brand model but was recommended. Says USB 3.2 Gen 1 Cable I'd been using the Quest 2 wirelessly and that was working quite well, with just an occasional dropout. The 90 degree USB-C connector on this cables is good, and seems to be designed to lock in to the Quest 3 so the connecter doesn't fall out. The reason I wanted to use a cable was to get charging, but that doesn't seem to work from the USB-A connectors, even when the Q3 is off. So with only 2+ hrs life, that's disappointing

I sprung for the 3, and yes it did pretty much set up straight away, being recognised by the Oculus app as another device. It just needed the usual connecting to the network etc pretty much like any device needs these days The quality is indeed much better than the 2, though not as good as I'd hoped, but there may be some tweaks still available. When used as a standalone product away from P3D the quality is VERY good. In fact for my eyes I find it easier to use the desktop through the Quest 3 VR than the focal distance of my monitor. Unfortunately that Windows computer only gets used for P3D so that won't help me, but I can foresee a day in the not too distant future where computer monitors or VR devices will be the option. For anyone else wanting to go down this path, the only big issue I've had so far was the Quest 3 seems to push the pass-thru mode as a great feature, and one that's enabled by default. I couldn't find a way to disable that when linked to the computer, and that was very frustrating as it would constantly switch back to pass-thru. But it can be disabled when standalone, enabled in "immersive" mode, and that seems to carry through when linked to the PC/P3D. Using VR devices is definitely getting very close to at least a full-flight sim experience (sans motion obviously), as it models some real-life nuances we deal with in the real aircraft. For example from the left hand seat in the A330, the pilot needs to lean over to see the switch positions of the transponder. The VR experience allows that leaning to happen. Other than that, there seems to be a few bugs with the Quest 3 firmware, and hopefully they will get ironed out. The edges of the screen can sometimes go "funky", when connected to the PC. It has crashed P3D a few times too, and that was definitely a Quest 3 or Link problem. So yeah, it turned out great 😉

Sorry this may be a question that gets asked a lot, but the field is constantly evolving and I couldn't find and recent posts. I've been using P3D professionally as a study tool with Aerosoft A330 Pro. It's a good combination and mimics the real aircraft reasonably well. I've now been looking to take this to the next level with VR and borrowed a Quest VR headset to see if it works. After the usual fluffing around I got it to work quite well and I think this will be a great step forward. The main issue was the focus and resolution, which made the experience a bit clunky, somewhat difficult to read the FMA etc, and required zooming in/out more than desirable. I'm now looking for a better VR headset to use with P3D and wanted to find out what others were recommending? I can't claim the price isn't a consideration, but this is for personal professional use, so quality is going to be the #1 consideration. I wondered if the Oculus 3 would be an improvement over the previous model? I really don't want to be spending any time setting this up, as I just want to get on with my training, and thought the Oculus 3 would be a plug n play upgrade

Ok I believe I determined the solution to this. The function is "Throttle (decrease quickly)". Not exactly the most intuitive description to get reverse on a 230 T passenger jet, but never mind 😉 Go to Key Assignments > Controller > T.A320 Copilot [not sure if that always says copilot, mine is set for LHS] > Throttle (decrease quickly). Double click will enable the auto "Change Assignment" function. Slide the Thrustmaster thrust slider to REV and it will assign Button 17 to that function. It looks like Idle REV is all that's available, but that's not unusual SOP in real life in any case, so upon landing at least things will look normal and the PM will be able to make SOP calls

The thrustmaster Airbus sidestick has a basic thrust lever axis, with a detent switch and ability to select reverse. However it doesn't appear to be operational by default. The thrust levers begin moving from the detent position, but I wonder how I'm able to utilise the REV function below the detent upon landing? Using P3D v5 with Aerosoft A330 Pro

P3D V5 running Aerosoft A330 Pro. The app is constantly crashing with event viewer indicating XAudio2_4.dll unloaded. This is a persistent problem that I'm consistently having with this setup. Last time I found the Sound button was unchecked, even though the sound was working. I checked the box and it's been working since, but periodically I go through this whole frustrating process again. It renders the application completely useless and is merely an exercise in frustration to have it crash every 5 minutes. I use it as a study tool and the machine is used exclusively to run P3D and A330 Pro. Being intermittent it may be that it's scenario specific and things like that audio setting was simply a red-herring with nothing to do with why it constantly crashes sometimes, but not others. I don't know anything about running Windows but would be very grateful if I could get some assistance or ideas on why P3D is crashing like this and/or if there is some type of driver I need to update. The log seems to provide no doubt that this file is the problem, just not sure what to do about it

There are other apps and documentation that loads within the Aerosoft folder (which I wasn't aware of). One of those is the A330 Configurator app. In the General Settings there's a selection for Navigation Data Source. Navigraph is an option. The solution wasn't immediately obvious, as the Navigraph data loads exactly as expected manually, it just doesn't auto-populate the data when booting. I only subscribed to Navigraph in the past few months and didn't notice anything. Just like the real aircraft, changing databases will drop all existing flight plan data so it's always checked and cycled if required at first commencing FM loading

Yes, it seems like that side of things is working now, but I've been away and will get a better chance to test it properly over the next few days. I'm pleased that's been resolved as it was a real pain, especially with the crashing

I joined the Aerosoft forum, the joining process is in itself an exercise in frustration, and put this issue up on the supposedly support monitored forum. I didn't receive any support or reply from Aerosoft (or anyone lese for that matter). I thought this may be a relatively easy fix, as there seems to be some specific file locations for the various databases and it may be possible to use a hack for the appropriate database. However that's not something I know anything about. This app consistently crashes, which I know to mitigate by saving versions of the scenario so I can pick up where left off. However a database change means the entire flight needs to be reloaded into the FM, and that's extremely frustrating.

Is that an external forum? Yes I do wonder if it's always done this. The original database is old enough that it presents a problem in that many arrivals and departures have changed. Loading a saved scenario and then activating the new database of course means that saved flight plan is dropped. Quite annoying

Ok a new database has come out since I've been away (2310) and I loaded it with the Navigraph FMS Data Manager. It loads Aerosoft Airbus A318/../A330 and FSiPanel (another excellent app I use). The new database loads as expected, and both current and previous Nav Cycles are seen. However when I reboot P3D A330 Pro, the Active Database defaults back to the original build database of 1913, with 2010 as the second database

Aerosoft A330 Pro Change Nav database to the current database through FM DATA > A/C STATUS > Active and Secondary databases.

I subscribe to the Navigraph Nav data for P3D V5 and A330 Pro. Each time I start P3D it defaults to the original database build, and I need to change databases. That's not a big deal if I'm doing a full pre-flight, as this is part of the pre-flight check. Often I'll want to just quickly re-boot and IP to a location (I use this app for work), and it's annoying/inconvenient to have to swap databases as, just like the real aircraft, it will drop the loaded flight plan. Is there a way to either make the latest database the default, or at least manually select that file to be the default database and then when the new database I can just make that change for each nav cycle?

I believe the A320 has a few more options available in terms of available aircraft. Both links were in relation to the A320, however it's the A330 I fly. As an aside, I'm not sure if the comment in that link about broken toilets being our biggest issue came from a developer, but I certainly hope not! What is true is it would be difficult to simulate ALL possible failures. However it may be possible to simulate the more commonly trained failures (eg engine failures) In regard the cost, I'm not sure the assumption a developer would "lose money" on this feature as valid. Pilot training is a very topical area within the industry at the moment, with technology like this extremely affordable, particularly when comparing to the cost of running full-motion simulators for airlines and training providers. There's no reason those same developments shouldn't trickle down and out to the general public, as that's the P3D model. Back on topic, the RealTurb add-on would be highly useful if it can simulate windshear with the A330 Pro model. While not a "failure" per se, it's definitely something we train for extensively and would be a useful tool to have available. I'm interested if anyone has any experience with that.

Yes I must admit I find the suggestion aircraft manufacturers don't like it is a tad hard to believe, particularly for P3D, which is specifically intended for "Simulation, Training and Learning" under the terms of our licence. Our procedures trainers we use in pilot training also accurately model failures to the limits of their design. My recollection was this was an Aerosoft limitation, and failures were simply not modelled in, however that's just more of what Dave was alluding to. Covering the full suite of ECAM failures would be difficult I'd imagine, especially if they affected aircraft performance. But many of the more common ones could likely be easily modelled. The other issue is the aircraft's software changes, so another layer of complication. I don't know how these various layers of Add-ons work within the P3D engine; I don't write the music, I just play it. However there is definitely a market for training and study software that sits below the level of Full Flight Sims and can free the Full Motion Sims to do what they do best. Indeed there may already be some form of Add-on etc available for the Aerosoft A330 that may help bridge that gap, hence the reason for my post.

Can I confirm Aerosoft A333 Professional with P3D v5 doesn't support any form of failures? I use this as a study tool. I've tried manually shutting an engine down and it doesn't seem to model that scenario at all. However there seems to be a huge number of add-ons available, and I make great use of FSiPanel for example, which one of the forum members very kindly made me aware of. I wondered if there may be something similar to simulate a bad day at the office?

Yeah I did have to confirm I had enough fuel before heading off to bed 😉 As it happened I had 30 tonnes on, so we're good so far! Ok thanks, I don't use RAAS so won't miss it. I got up during the night, mainly because I haven't flown for a few weeks and missed staring at the screens at 0330 😛 I can heard my mate is still coughing away and annoyingly adjusting his slide table randomly, so looks like everything is behaving itself. Of course it may be something that happens in a certain flight phase, but I'm going to call this a pass.

Sorry I don't know. I fly the A330 in real life and this is just a tool I use for work. I've had it running for over an hour now with that Audio Box ticked and it seems to be behaving. I'll leave in the takeoff position with the engines running all night and see if it's still running in the morning

I'm just wondering if anyone could help me with my sim crashing? It's always done it but was more of an annoyance, but I'm currently flying circuits and can't even get a single circuit flown without it crashing. This is P3D 5.4.9.28482 Simconnect and Aerosoft A330 Pro. I honestly don't know the first thing about Windows machines nor these flight sims, and just use all this for work. A Google search tells me to check the Windows event log, and that seems to suggest XAudio2_4.dll is unloaded. I'm going to assume that something is calling for that driver and when not found it crashes. That's about as far as I've got and I have no idea what I can do to fix that problem, assuming that's indeed the problem? That machine doesn't get used for anything else other than running P3D, and it's had this issue (albeit not as frequently) since day 1. Any help on a fix would be very welcome Edit: One thing I had noticed and seemed odd, is the Options => Sound box is unchecked, despite the sound being on. If I check the box, there's no audible change, and if I then uncheck it, the audio mutes. Since posting I tried flying a circuit with no audio, and that seemed to be fine. I rebooted the machine and re-started P3D and the box is again unchecked by default (audio is however heard). Not sure if any of that is related and/or somehow normal, but figured it may be related

Ok subscribed to that now, and all seems to be working. I don't need charts so no idea if they're working as I use my own and won't ever look at theirs. FWIW FSiPanel has a bug that causes it to crash when altitude is manually selected at a waypoint. In this case it was the same as the existing altitude. The IPs it provides are often a bit ordinary, but we get that in the real sims sometimes too, and a second IP will normally fix that. Developer was going for ultra-reality there it seems 😉 I only have a couple more hours to play with this before i need to go do the real thing, but it's certainly been very valuable

Ok thanks, I'm surprised about that as my database runs 17Jun21 - 15Jul21 Do I need to subscribe to Navigraph for that?

Ok thanks. One thing I couldn't get to work is: Select Fix => Select STAR. That does nothing Pilot Custom WP => New WP => Pick NavAID/Fix => [new window] Search. The number of fixes it's finding is extremely limited. eg currently shooting RNP approaches into VCBI and it will find BIKOK (on STAR) but not much else. It does see KAT vor

Ok, I was getting the error message in FSiPanel "FSUIPC free or paid version is required for this aircraft. please instal it" I've downloaded a "demo" version from Simmarket and everything seems to be working, but honestly am way out of my depth with this type of thing. I don't normally even use a Windows machine so this is all very foreign. Is the demo time limited and should I buy this app? I've just done a couple of re-positions to test this and FSiPanel really was a great recommendation. Thanks the very quick replies here. I'll have a better play with it tomorrow but I think it's going to do much of what I wanted. I do see my Nav database is out of date, but that's something for later and it's not too bad.