Flight Simulator X and High-G Studios

[Badge]

I thought what better place to announce this than on the giants even though it isn't rc related. For some years now I have wanted to develop a payware set of aicraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator and now with X set to launch I it was about time. So several months ago I started getting some guys together each of whom had the various skills needed to complete a product. Together we have just formed High-G Studios with the mission to create the most realistically flying aerobatic aircraft ever seen in the simulator.

We have set our sites first on a 3 vairent package of the Cap 232 (231EX/232 and hopfully 580 if Matt approves) as our first release. Our aircraft will feature many amazing new technologies. Other aircraft will follow. I will have a lot more to add as we go along in the coming weeks but I thought this would be a great place to find other like minded Flight Sim fans like me and get you over on our forums pitching any questions and ideas that will make our product even better.

Besides the aircraft I have also been working on my version of the RedBull Air Race series to give those who purchase our aircraft a purpose other than just flying it around and impressing their friends like so many other payware products out there. We wanted something new and unique to the Flight Sim world and I think this is just what it needed.

Visit our forums at http://www.highgstudios.com/Forum I just installed them last week and Im not ready to launch our site just yet but I think everyone will be blown away with what we have in store. If by any chance any of you have worked with modeling, guage designing, programming etc let me know as we still have room on our team for a couple more members.

[MrKiwi]

Cool, I tryed flight simulator X yesterday at Fleet Week.

[Lowkey3D]

Anybody try the demo on the microsoft site. 800Mbyte download.

[Badge]

The demo wasa pre beta release and it wasnt all that great. The sim wont really come to life until DX10 video cards hit teh shevles as well as Windows Vista early next year. That will take the sim leaps forward in the way it looks.

Many people don't realize the industry that has been created around the Flight sim. So many aircraft/sceneries and other goodies have been designed to make the sim as realistic as possible without stepping foot in the real plane.

The aircraft I fly all the time simulate all the sytems of their full scale counterparts, I go through all the checklists for engine startup/shut down and everything in between. Each switch is clickable etc in the cockpits. Here are 2 of my favorite design teams http://www.precisionmanuals.com/ and http://www.leveldsim.com/sevensix_home.asp to give you an idea how real you can make your sim.

I fly on a service called VatSim where hundereds of pilots are on at any given time. Real people man the control towers at major airports and you MUST use all the same radio chatter etc while communicating.

[Neogenesis]

14 gig install for Flight Sim X?............That's getting a bit nutty. But I know I'll end up buying it........I always do.



Neo

[Mudsurfer1234]

I just hope the physics are better for aerobatics then they are in FS 2004. Try and do a snap roll with rudder, plane gets pulled backwards like it's on a rubber band.

But i guess for the big jets, you dont need fancy physics.

[Badge]

Yeah and unfortuently its the same way in FSX which is why we are working to design much more realistic aircraft. Microsoft just doesnt do the testing and coding required to make even the most basic of aerobatic maneuver come out right.

[teryn]

I would recommend taking a look at X-Plane instead. www.x-plane.com. Much better approach to the physics and reality (not just a bunch of lookup tables); more of a simulator than an arcade game like FS. The planes in FS, even more than X-Plane, are only as good as the guys that make them (how well can tehy fill a lookup table?) and still a lot holes even then. I've seen very few planes perform realistically across the spectrum in FS. Just because it looks great doesn't mean that if flies correctly or is real.

[Ion01]

The problem with FS is the programming. They basically use if-then statements to determine how an aircraft flies. Like if you push forward on the stick at this speed then the plane does this, type of thing. X-plane uses physics like the numerous rc simulators do however the rc-sims physics appear to be more accurate than the physics in x-plane, and they should be as they cost a lot more! I am probably going to purchase FSX but not for aerobatics unless Badge and his buddies can make some they fly realistically. I have flown the demo and it is much more accurate than it has been in the past but it is best for learning to fly real aircraft and deal with ATC and navigation and things like that. Those type of things are where FSX really shines.

[teryn]

The problem with FS is the computational foundation and methodology that Microsoft uses, not the programming. The if-then statements that you refer to are the loopkup tables in which aerodynamic parameters are entered, interpreted by the sim, and integrated to produce the motion. You can have a geometry that looks like an elephant and if the tables are entered for a plane, it will fly like that plane, regardless of what it looks like. That's why I said above that it can look great but fly like crap (like most do, except in straight and level flight - flight that's governed by linear aerodynamics).

X-Plane uses blade-element theory METHODOLOGY in which it uses the GEOMETRY to calculate the core of the aerodynamics. This is where the creator's (Austin Meyer) genius lies. In this way it is more accurate because it takes the subjectiveness of user input more out of the loop (compared with FS). BTW, I am not just sitting here spouting off sexy words and conjecturing. I have my own blade-element and momentum theory code that I wrote to predict thrust and torque on propellers. So I am acutely aware of this subject and aerodyanmics in general and work with this stuff every day. I would be more than happy to back up any of my claims.

You are right about the RC simulators being a bit more accurate. Speculating, in my opinion, this is because the mathematical models are tailored to predict the 3D specific non-linear effects more accurately AND additional assumptions due to the low Reynolds number aerodynamics - programs like Aerofly do an INCREDIBLE job. On the other hand, X-Plane has to model any conceivable airplane at any flight condition so it is more general in its computations compared with simulators that operate on specific flight regimes.

There are going to have a hard time in the nonlinear portion of the envelope if they want to have a plane fly right in FS. The creators have to be very aware and skilled about what they are doing - and be able to back up the numbers they are putting into the tables with measured or experimental data. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to find look up table parameters that govern properly that portion of the flight (yes I have looked at the parameter list and I know what's involved). Right now the best representation of the aero that I have seen is with Aerofly or FS1, which gets things more right than X-Plane and much better than FS. The only perfect way is to fly the real aircraft.

	Quote: Originally Posted by Ion01
	The problem with FS is the programming. They basically use if-then statements to determine how an aircraft flies. Like if you push forward on the stick at this speed then the plane does this, type of thing. X-plane uses physics like the numerous rc simulators do however the rc-sims physics appear to be more accurate than the physics in x-plane, and they should be as they cost a lot more! I am probably going to purchase FSX but not for aerobatics unless Badge and his buddies can make some they fly realistically. I have flown the demo and it is much more accurate than it has been in the past but it is best for learning to fly real aircraft and deal with ATC and navigation and things like that. Those type of things are where FSX really shines.

[TRuss]

I would really like to see someone develop a simulator for game consoles. PS2 soon 3 and Xbox 360. With adapters for our Tx to plug into the console. This would be much better for me anyway. I know we are discussing non RC sims, but I've always wanted to bring this up.

[FlyDude]

I have FSX and the Extra300S is much improved! It rolls and loops alot better thatn FS9 and has nice looking smoke too. I was thinking about making planes for FlighSim too.