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-0303-

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About -0303-

  • Birthday 01/01/1995

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    DCS

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  1. Though all documentation supports DCS AH being erroneously modeled, all the proof one needs is simple common sense. The DCS AH lacks self correction, it drifts and therefore it's useless. Doesn't matter if it's cageable or not (manually correctable in clear skies). In zero visibility neither is correctable. Unless doing acrobatics one never need to correct the AH because it self corrects. Even after acrobatics it'll correct itself, it might just take a few minutes. I think the vast majority of DCS users fly in clear skies and ignore the AH because they never need it. The AH behavior annoyed me from the very beginning but for the longest time I thought I was missing something, that I just didn't "get it". I couldn't, didn't want to believe DCS had modeled it wrong. Until I thought about it and realized this behavior is stupid on it's face and can't possibly be correct. ED team can not not know this, the AH function must be 101 elementary for any professional or serious pilot because the AH is one of the six basic flight instruments. I'd prioritize this bug over hundreds of minor graphic flaws.
  2. To unbury the lede the DCS AH does not work correctly in any old plane up to and including the F-86. This because a key modelling of Artificial Horizon (AH) self correction is completely missing rendering the DCS AH useless for any real world simulation. It drifts and it shouldn't. ~ It is not true that WW2 Artificial Horizon (AH) technology lacks correction. The correction mechanism is the pendulous vanes that continuously self correct toward the gravity vector. Bench example of actual P-51 AH self correction. Un-mute. It's true that small momentary errors are induced by a 180 degree turn (for example). But adding an additional 180, ie doing a full 360, the opposite error will cancel the first error out. So forever turning will not skew the AH erroneously. The actual error is caused by the centrifugal force acting on the inertia of the free-hanging pendulous vanes. If one performs a 180 turn and then flies straight and level, the small AH error will quickly self-correct by the pendulous vanes. Actually it's wrong to think of it as having to fly straight and level to self correct. The pendulous vanes works continuously at all times though they can be momentarily overcome by violent maneuvers. It's obviously insane to have to fly perfectly straight and level for AH self-correction. An additional important limitation applies to WW2 era AH (and in to the 50's). For mechanical protection the AH has built in mechanical stops at +-60 pitch and 110 roll. In practical terms the AH will go bananas, coco-for cocopuffs at every roll or looping. DCS AH doesn't do this. It should. This real life Spitfire video shows this. Roll at 17:01, 27:15, 31:40, 32:40, 37:50, 38:47, 39:08, 39:40. Also note self-correction (full 90 degrees) over 9 minutes from 18:05 - 27:00. This video training video explains much of this. How it works, momentary errors caused by turns (180, 270, 360), by acceleration or deceleration. Also mentions the 60 and 110 degree mechanical stops. First 11:25 minutes covers vacuum driven (WW2) AH. This bug is more than 10 years old (in that thread read kablamoman). Not just P-51 as mentioned, every old old plane up to and including F-86. Testing this is easy in a plane with a cageable AH: Cage AH, roll 30, 60, 90 whatever, uncage, roll level. Fly straight and level for some minutes (10 min should be enough). If it doesn't self correct it's wrong. Tested P-51, Spitfire, Bf109, F-86 myself. All fail.
  3. I just managed to drain the P-51 battery. When battery drained (propeller stopped spinning) the gear indicator green dims to near nothing on pushing starter. Also fuel pressure goes to zero, meaning pump looses power when starter engaged(?). Adding ground power & hit starter prop spins, gear lamp dims very slightly. Nice. I made a video three years ago about a Spitfire ground power bug. Comparing with P-51. Insert texts explain. I just repeated the video steps. Everything works just like three years ago. P-51 good, Spitfire gets no ground power (unstartable). Last version Open Beta 2.9.2.49940. Ed/add: Re-verified (Spitfire) with drained battery doesn't start with Autostart nor after a repair command. It doesn't repair. Maybe if I prang a wingtip to force repair? ... maybe some other time.
  4. Low resolution and settings got ~7% fps improvement. Maybe more outside cockpit. Would need to downgrade / re-upgrade to make more than an approximation.
  5. It's green in the DCS Spitfire manual. It's green in my video from 2021. Pilots notes says green: Pilots notes, IX, XI & XVI Not just me ... Recycling NineLine's screenshots from the "oil dilution" thread.
  6. Is it just me seeing this? ~~~ Turned yellow after the October 19 Beta update "DCS 2.9.0.46801 Open Beta" "Updated cockpit textures" I believe. Recycling old screenshot from November. Latest version "DCS Open Beta 2.9.1.48335" still yellow.
  7. Obviously it's ridiculous to have to maintain a high rpm on the ground in order for the Artificial Horizon (AH) to work correctly in the air. If it works, it's just a band aid to prevent AH going wrong even before the wheels leave the ground... ~~~ ~~~ Ye olde classic or "steam gauge" AH have two functional attributes, the lack of either makes it useless. DCS lacks the second. I've run tests for hours without self correction (Spitfire and/or P-51). 1) A spinning gyro to keep it rigid in space. 2) A self correcting mechanism that continuously corrects it towards the gravity vector (pendulous vanes). A misconception I struggled a bit with: Centrifugal force of continuous turn will bias the AH. No it won't. A 180 turn will bias it. An additional 180 to full 360 will bias in the opposite direction, canceling the bias out. ~~~ ~~~ How to test A proper test is simple. Whenever you notice the AH is misaligned just fly straight and level for 10 minutes (enough for a real Spitfire). If the AH hasn't substantially or completely corrected itself, it's wrongly modeled. Using speedup (CTRL Z) is fine. A plane with cageable AH is quick and easy to deliberately misalign for testing purposes: Bank, cage, uncage, roll level. An uncageable AH is more work. Either fly around for 15 - 60 min until it's misaligned or ... A quick (somewhat) and dirty test. Spawn runway, shut engine off / on until AH is misaligned "enough". Four cyclings is often enough for 30 or even 60 degrees off. Now, lock brakes, open all cooling flaps, set RPM enough for good suction, use speedup, run and watch for 10 minutes or hours. Any properly functioning AH will correct itself within minutes. See any number of real life videos. ~~~ ~~~ As Kablamoman says, this seemingly is a problem with every DCS "steam gauge" plane. Just re- tested the Spitfire. Engine cyclings took AH to 45 degrees off. Running two (2) hours, it did not self correct, it got worse, nearly 90 degrees off (see pic). RPM held at 2000, but engine broke and quit at two hours, hence zero RPM in pic. Test start at 8:36, note clock left 10:36 'ish. I got the Spitfire reported 2 years ago. spitfire AH test 2 hours from 45 to near 90.trk
  8. Confirm, I see this on Spitfire. Spawn engine off twilight. Kosher installation, no mods.
  9. I found an account of the P-51 trip (this must be the one or a very similar). I pretty sure I read another account where aid from ground and P-51 range was mentioned (commenting had it been a Piper Cub or similar, time would've run out). I don't remember the King Air escort. Anyway, my point was that zero visibility is no joke and DCS Artificial Horizon (AH) is bugged and useless for anything more than a few minutes dipping through a cloud. The P-51 AH not used it seems (substituted by escorting King Air AH I presume). If he lost the King Air he would have needed it. A P-51B, with 75 gallon drop tanks even. Article copy locked, text copied from https://archive.ph/FRN66 and article photo taken from Twitter. vintageaviationecho.com/operation-berlin-express/
  10. I renamed the "DCS.openbeta" folder. It worked. I really ... really ... didn't expect that to work. Don't see how it did. Holding my breath it's not a hardware glitch that comes back. The throttle doing perfect in TM Device Analyzer, seemingly working fine except for an levels offset indicated software rather than hardware I guess.
  11. Thanks, no, I haven't. I read about that problem and avoided it like the plague. Wouldn't know how to start WINDOWS calibration.
  12. <Sigh> Still have boost doesn't drop to zero when HOTAS levers pulled back problems. TM warthog still shows everything works right in TM's Device Analyzer. Analogs hits the right numbers at endpoints and all buttons work. This identical to before running the recalibration program). HOTAS sync off: -Spawn Spitfire RWY. HOTAS Boost & RPM pulled full back. -Boost shows ca -6.2, RPM shows 1000. Spitfire stationary. -Touch HOTAS Boost & RPM lever (both still full back) -Boost jumps to -3, RPM jumps to 1200. Spitfire rolls. HOTAS sync on: -Spawn Spitfire RWY. HOTAS Boost & RPM pulled full back. -Boost shows -3, RPM shows 1200. Spitfire rolls. Disconnect HOTAS: -Spawn Spitfire RWY. -Boost shows ca -6.2, RPM shows 1000. Spitfire stationary. Using keys (+-) increases boost and drops it to -6.2 again. Things seems to work as they should. (Image: 1366x768 PNG. Long dash (-6) shows Boost as about -6.2) Spitfire Boost & RPM normal idle on spawn RWY. HOTAS disconnected. Boost -6.2, RPM 1000 ~~~ ~~~ What is going on? Edit: Bugged TM Warthog throttle signals a higher level than TM's Device Analyzer says it does? Looks like a TM Warthog throttle problem if it happens only to me. Also that it started spontaneously and that things works fine with HOTAS disconnected (keys only) suggests broken Warthog throttle. Again, TM's Device Analyzer shows everything is fine with the throttle. Maybe I should make tracks. Then I'd might need a volunteer to test for same results. Too tired to do tracks tonight. Also need to test other planes.
  13. Note on calibration. Calibration tools to be found in this thread. Used TM Warthog throttle calibration for the first time above (post 2). Recalibrated the joystick a lot (every time I disassembled it). Throttle program is from 2010, it says to go to (lift-up-pull-back) OFF position instead of IDLE (written labels on device) when calibrating the two big levers, which I did. Disregard. On second thought I'll probably redo it using IDLE instead. The IDLE position did say zero (0..1023) in the TM Device Analyzer software before I re-calibrated ... as if this was what the factory had actually done before delivery. Including the lift-up-pull-back in the full range isn't something I really want. This is better used as a switch, especially for jets (F-86 use this for example). Device Analyzer software shows just the same as before my recalibration. Ie IDLE position shows 0 (of 0..1023). So the calibration program seems to work correctly as it it instructs you to proceed.
  14. It's checked. Funny, I just look at that, was about to make a reminder in the bug thread as 'synchronize with HOTAS' has not worked for two years at least. I just spawned the Spitfire with RPM lever at minimum, rpm went high, touched the RPM lever, RPM dropped. Posted the reminder. Edit: Deleted reminder as throttle might be bugged. Unchecked now as it doesn't work anyway.
  15. EDIT: Still have boost doesn't drop to zero -6.2 when pulled back problems. When I wrote "Idle" I meant full back, NOT the "IDLE" lift-up detent. I never used IDLE for props, hardly ever for jets either which I rarely fly. Just occurred to me, while running the throttle calibration, I should try that. Having started calibration I must finish though. Opportunity to test before calibration is gone. Calibration done, now ... Nope, still 1500 RPM on spawn. IDLE detent, still 1500 RPM. ~~~ ~~~ But wait, that's interesting ... possibly YAY! not a throttle problem... Pulling RPM lever full back (not IDLE dent), now RPM drops to 1200, testing IDLE dent, still 1200. EDIT: Just spawned again, RPM slightly under 1000 (980 maybe). Note, bugged HOTAS sync now off. I've always had RPM level at max starting / spawning prop planes. Never seen (Spitfire) RPM go to 1500 before. Is 1200 the typical (correct) Spitfire RPM directly on spawn with zero throttle and full RPM? Doesn't seem unreasonable to me but I don't own a Spitfire. ~~~ ~~~ I see three possibilities (while typing): A) DCS have changed engine programming. Except why did it start during a "session", not straight after an software upgrade? Why didn't it happen on the very first spawn-to-rwy, but on every spawn-to-rwy later? True I did upgrade just before but I managed to spawn a ~5 times before it started to happen. The intermittency "might" be DCS programming, engine temps etc, I did do repair at least twice instead of spawn. B) It has always been like this for everyone else but something happened with my throttle to make it suddenly see the error of it's ways.
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