Helicopter flight model: DCS World VS "insert title"

[Snottus]

Hello fellers,

 

 

TL;DR: Are there any other sims out there that has a comparably good flight model and fidelity to that of DCS World?

 

I've flown DCS for many years, mainly Black Shark and Huey. I guess I'm a helicopter nerd.

 

Lately, I've been browsing the web, trying to find other sims that have realism and fidelity comparable to that of DCS, in particular the flight model.

 

I've played the Arma series and Take On Helicopters a Lot, but they're quite arcadey and don't really offer a whole lot in terms of realistic flying. Fun tho.

 

So I've looked at

 

- Flight Simulator X (with HTR)

- X-plane 10

- Prepar3d

- Combat Helo (I know this hasn't been released yet)

 

Which leads me to the following question - has anyone here tried any of the above mentioned games? And could you offer opinions as to how good they are, in terms of realism, fidelity and flight model, when compared to DCS?

 

 

Addendum: I tried searching this forum, and I've Googled quite a bit, but have as yet been able to find sufficiently good answers to actually purchase any of these games.

 

EDIT: Derp, thread moved to different sub-section, which, when I searched, had several similar threads. Please excuse a moments dumb.

Edited May 23, 2014 by Snottus
Dumb.

[xxJohnxx]

FSX is quit decent on airliners and GA stuff. I wasn't able to find a nice helicopter though. The default flight dynamics for helicopters are not that good, and the addons are meh compared to DCS.

 

Perpar3D is about the same as it uses the same engine.

 

I don't know about X-Plane. Never gave the helicopters in there a spin.

 

In my opinnion DCS is the best helicopter simulator out there to my knowledge. Some FSX AddOns come close, but DCS is still the best for that sort of stuff.

 

Best regards,

 

John

[Snottus]

Thank you very much for the feedback.

 

I've asked around other places too, and many support X-plane as having the best FM. I looked at a

of an R22 from Dreamfoil, which, at least from what I could tell by looking at the vid, looks quite realistic.

[Exorcet]

Using only the basic packages for FSX and X-Plane 9, I feel both are inferior to DCS's AFM flight models. I suppose to be fair FSX could be said to have less need for accurate edge of the envelope flying, sort of, but it feels a bit overly simplified even then. I had a small turboprop airliner bouncing up and down when I maxxed out AoA. I had a strange and short experience with X-Plane. The plane maker thing never actually fit on my screen so I couldn't set all the options. This might explain why some of my aircraft just seemed weird, but part of it felt like physics limitations (like doing drama less back flips in fighters). I also tried some of the small GA planes that came with X-Plane 9 and they felt more or less like FSX.

 

Despite the short comings I enjoy FSX for the World Map, ATC, and civil aviation. I want to like X-Plane a lot but I've had trouble with that.

 

 

EDIT - I sort of went off on a helicopter ignoring tangent. I fly fixed wing mainly. I've tried FSX helicopters. They're decent, but I prefer the Ka-50 and UH-1. I've never used helos in X-Plane.

[PLP]

Thank you very much for the feedback.

 

I've asked around other places too, and many support X-plane as having the best FM. I looked at a

of an R22 from Dreamfoil, which, at least from what I could tell by looking at the vid, looks quite realistic.

 

My trust in xplane lasted a few minutes until I looped a supersonic B52... (long time ago with xplane9 out of the box though)

 

I think a general flight model (I mean one calculated on the fly from plane geometry) will not be able to beat DCS's PFM/AFM which are apparently fine-tuned over a year with help of RL pilots for a long time.

[Winfield_Gold]

I found Take On Helicopters (TOH) to be quite challenging.

It's made by Bohemia Interactive and the flight dynamics like the UH-1

 

There was rumor that the choppers in Arma 3 would have the same flight dynamics yet again I was disappointed to find how arcade like arma 3 was for the aircraft.

For expert mode, don't use rudder pedals, much more difficult to control

[Need-To-Know]

Note - The developers of ARMA3 have helos next on their updates/DLC list. Do not know if they will ever be like DCS helos but there should be some improvements. They call it: RotorLib Flight Dynamics Model (FDM)

https://www.bistudio.com/english/company/developers-blog/460-arma-3-roadmap-201415

 

I added a Helos mod to open up older helos for Arma3 just so I could add the Huey. Not soo big on flying it but fun to see it after spending time in DCS Huey. I usually hand it off to the AI to fly me into LZs.

[Snottus]

Thanks all for the feedback so far.

 

A couple weeks back I flew a Robinson R22 Beta II, together with an instructor. I got to try flying the aircraft myself, briefly in hover (damned hard) and afterwards some flying around the airport.

 

Several places on the web I've seen the Dreamfoil R22 recommended strongly for X-plane, so I downloaded the X-plane 10 demo and installed the Dreamfoil R22 - I just have to say I'm amazed at how accurately it portrays the real thing. And I'm not the only one.

 

For anyone interested in trying the R22, I strongly recommend X-plane 10 and Dreamfoil's R22! I'd definitely say it has a comparable flight model and fidelity to that of the Huey in DCS.

[Skulleader]

Hello,

 

Maybe I can help you, for many years I've used FSX and for FSX the best helicopter is the Bell 206 Dodosim but against the Huey, Mi-8 and KA-50 the Bell 206 Dodosim is maybe good for the start process but for the FM all the helicopters of DCS are BETTER and THE MUST TO HAVE !!!

 

With FSX you can found all the copters of Nemeth Design but these addons are just beautiful, the FM is wrong and not real.

 

So I can say easily that the best helicopters simulator of all the time is DCS, these 3 helicopters are awesome, beautiful and incredible...

 

I hope that I can help you, bye. Skull

[Irregular programming]

Sadly there hasn't been any real attempts at doing good helicopter flight models lately. Take on helicopters looked promising but seem to have settled for a simplified model.

 

We will see when and if DCS gets beaten but it hasn't happened yet.

[EagleEye]

Several places on the web I've seen the Dreamfoil R22 recommended strongly for X-plane, so I downloaded the X-plane 10 demo and installed the Dreamfoil R22 - I just have to say I'm amazed at how accurately it portrays the real thing. And I'm not the only one.

Absolutely!

 

What most other heli sims (at least) lack is the damage model you can find in DCS. No other (entertainment market) sim can beat DCS FM together with the DCS DM, IMHO.

[Snottus]

Absolutely!

 

What most other heli sims (at least) lack is the damage model you can find in DCS. No other (entertainment market) sim can beat DCS FM together with the DCS DM, IMHO.

I've spent several hours flying the R22 by Dreamfoil now, and compared to the flight-hours in a real R22 I've had, I just have to say, again, that I'm amazed at how well they've adapted the aircraft into X-plane. Strongly recommended for anyone wanting to try the R22.

 

But, you're probably right concerning the damage model. I haven't examined the DM in X-plane/Dreamfoil, or its lack thereof, but at least for flying and handling the aircraft, the R22 they've made is very authentic.

[Buznee]

Another good one is FSX Dodosim Bell 206. They have modeled most of the heli dynamic effects including settling with power, torque induced yaw, transverse flow effect, retreating blade stall, loss of tail rotor effectiveness and much more. It looks like they are working on the uh-1 but may have lost interest since Belsimtek beat them to the punch. Still a great flying heli. System modeling is well done as well.

http://www.dodosim.com/fsx206dynamics.html

 

Hover control has a great collection of helis for FSX as well, probably not as good physics though as the dodosim. But nice looking and okay systems modeling.

http://www.hovercontrol.com/

 

Nemeth designs also makes some great FSX helis

http://www.nemethdesigns.com/

Edited June 15, 2014 by Buznee

[Devrim]

I found Take On Helicopters (TOH) to be quite challenging.

It's made by Bohemia Interactive and the flight dynamics like the UH-1...

Please. I've bought TOH, played only a couple 10 minutes and uninstalled. No need to say more... :doh:

[Chernaren Refugee]

Please. I've bought TOH, played only a couple 10 minutes and uninstalled. No need to say more... :doh:

+1. Its still just Arma. Nowhere near a flight simulator.

[badaboom]

I've spent several hours flying the R22 by Dreamfoil now, and compared to the flight-hours in a real R22 I've had, I just have to say, again, that I'm amazed at how well they've adapted the aircraft into X-plane. Strongly recommended for anyone wanting to try the R22.

 

But, you're probably right concerning the damage model. I haven't examined the DM in X-plane/Dreamfoil, or its lack thereof, but at least for flying and handling the aircraft, the R22 they've made is very authentic.

:thumbup:

 

I couldn't agree more,Dreamfoil also has a new Bell 407 that's Outstanding IMHO

[Skulleader]

Hello,

 

Yes the Bell 407 of DreamFoil is very beautiful, the 3D model, the cockpit are incredible but if we can compare it with the Huey or Mi-8 of BST I'm sure that the winner is Belsimtek.

I've always a great fan of the FSX Dodosim but after bought the Huey and Mi-8 I can say just one thing: BST is a great team and they offer us the best flight simulation with the Huey and Mi-8...

 

I wait the feedbacks of the other members.. Skull