A peak at FSXX group flying.

[Karl]

I've only watched the first few moments. Looks like it is worth a gander.

[Splithorse]

Ok....this made me think of when Alaska came out for Flight and how Wingman would lead flights from one airport to another.....we are so going to do this again.

[Waterman981]

That's basically what I was thinking... And many of us old timers are already Xbox Gamer tag friends. Both Cubs and Icons!

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

Thanks Karl. I agree with Split. I envy Squirrel and his buddies the freedom to discus FSXX as they are released from the NDA. Developers recently sent out an email to watermarked beta testers reminding us that NDA is still in full effect for us. Come August 18th, I'll have a lot to say about the sim. For now, tho, I'll just leave it at "this will be quite an adventure".

[Karl]

Come August 18th, I'll have a lot to say about the sim. For now, tho, I'll just leave it at "this will be quite an adventure".

The 18th is just around the corner. Kind of reminds me of waiting for Christmas. Looking forward to it to be sure.

[Splithorse]

ok...who else has a hand written calendar with x's leading up to drop day?

I wonder if the twitching I see in some of these videos is just the fact that it is being recorded and I wonder if more optimization has occurred since the preview release?

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

I wonder if the twitching I see in some of these videos is just the fact that it is being recorded and I wonder if more optimization has occurred since the preview release?

I get minor stutters in my beta 1.6.13 on a high end dual Nvidia 1080 gigabit internet system in ordinary flight. Stutters are minor and happen to me whether flying over Los Angeles at ultra settings or U.S. western desert at high settings. Stutters are not that bad. Stutters are widely reported in beta tester forums. Watermarks ARE very distracting in my beta. It appears the latest beta update has doubled the amount and duration of watermarks. Current beta watermarks make night flight a no-go for me, except for purposes of feature exploration or testing.

As far as bush flying, wheel contact with water results in a collision condition. If crash detection is set to off, the aircraft is flung into the air at cruise speed at low altitude. If crash detection is on, a crash occurs. Water shore lines defined in the sim do not always match the texturing. Therefore, a landing or taxi even near a bush scenery shoreline (or puddle) can result in unexpected results. Stay well clear of the shoreline when bush flying. "Water-skiing" with tundra tires does not work. The Icon A5 amphibian will not taxi into nor out of water like it did in Microsoft Flight 2012.

[Waterman981]

The lack of water skiing in that group video was disappointing. Hopefully with their ongoing development they can fix that. Awesome times in the cubs in Flight.

[ak416]

While disappointing, given my love of both the Icon and all things Cub-like, I can't really say that's surprising. FSX behaved similarly in that aspect, the only aircraft I ever felt comfortable enough to water ski with was the A2A J3. Though the Beaver and the Goose managed their amphibiousness just fine (well, fine enough). I don't really see them not fixing it at some point given how big of a part of aviation amphibious aircraft are. I'm going into this with the mindset that this is an "early access" game, an unfinished product that will improve and expand over time, but given some of the choices they made regarding Flight nothing would surprise me.

Multiplayer looks like a lot of fun, but I do have one question if you wouldn't mind, ROBERT DUNN 2 ...

Can we go kiting?

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

Multiplayer looks like a lot of fun, but I do have one question if you wouldn't mind, ROBERT DUNN 2 ...

Can we go kiting?

I do believe kiting can be made to work. Weather was set to "custom". It took some trial-and-error to set up wind conditions as I can't figure out how to delete the wind gust factor (only able to minimize gust strength and duration). Buildings are landable altho "crash box" dimensions do not exactly match building textures. Wind layer creation was set to ground level, wind speed set to 50 kts and gust effect was minimized (sort of). In the wind gust parameters, I had my best luck in gust minimization with a setting of gusts in the same cardinal direction as the prevailing 50 kt wind, gust frequency set at maximum (60 seconds (per minute, I THINK)), and wind gust strength set to 100%. I used the X-Cub with full flaps.

Sorry, my watermark and NDA requirements preclude me posting a video of my last, mostly successful, attempt at kiting. You can take my word for it, tho, that I looked no better nor no worse than the Microsoft Flight 2012 kiting efforts exemplified in your above video. Thanks for those memories, ak, and we'll have to try group kiting out early on in our FSXX exploration.

[Waterman981]

Multiplayer looks like a lot of fun, but I do have one question if you wouldn't mind, ROBERT DUNN 2 ...

Can we go kiting?

[ROBERT DUNN 2]

I love Squirrel's work, Waterman. I view quite a lot of Paul's videos.

Commenters note that Paul misinterprets the function of the wind gust settings. See my settings in my post # 10 above. The "Speed (%)" slider in the Weather parameter setting window goes from 50 (slider left) to 200 (slider right). Commenters (and I) believe Paul has programmed in lulls in the wind of half the prevailing wind speed with his setting of 50. Paul's Air Speed Indicator (ASI) in his video first half substantiate this error in gust parameter setting. Additionally, I believe Paul has set his gust frequency to 10 gusts per minute. I set my frequency to the max right slider value of 60, which I hoped would yield 60 gusts per minute or, constant gusts equivalent to the prevailing constant wind speed and direction.

In several places in beta FSXX settings, there is a helpful (?) guide panel on the side of a parameters window explaining how the various parameters function. This help feature is primarily in the FCS binding windows (controls). Weather parameter window has no such help feature. There currently is no effin' manual for the sim that I am aware of (as in "RTFM" advice I am often given).

Based on the results Paul achieved in the first half of his video above compared to my experimental success today of a more-or-less vertical landing on my mark on rooftops, I believe my wind gust settings were more correct for the purpose of "kiting" that Paul demonstrates and that ak inquired about.

I buried a link to this thread, starting with ak's post # 9 in a sub-reply somewhere in Paul's video comments.

[ak416]

I appreciate the very comprehensive experiments and replies to my mostly tongue in cheek question :P

Though I am glad that I asked because it's answered quite a few questions I had (crash detection on buildings, depth of the wind simulation, etc).

Less than two weeks to go now and the excitement is starting to build! I have been cautiously optimistic but the recent influx of "influencer" videos have given me a pretty good idea of where the sim is at currently and I can't wait to my hands on it and poke around for myself!