Quickmarch
Posts posted by Quickmarch
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Thanks for trying, Joe.
That did not do the job - there's obviously a bunch of other stuff that needs tweaking. There was some improvement in that if I use the mouse scroll wheel to click, I get some functionality but still not up to the level of FSX. That feature is not even shown in the menus, so I'm not sure what is going on.
Time to return everything to default and start over. Also time for more research.
Note that the specs at the bottom of this page are all in error as I've got #1 computer at the shop getting repairs to the Mother board. The GPU and CPU specs are lower than stated here - 1070 Card, i7 Chip, less memory, etc. I'm expecting the other computer back in a couple weeks.
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March back again....
After a lot of time spent researching this I'm no closer to a solution, I'm beginning to think that I'm getting old and stupid. 2020 appears to require the use of a "gamepad" - I Purchased 2020 from Steam, so that's the platform I'm using. I can get my, ancient, Saitek Pedals, Yoke and Quadrant to work (the trim wheel was a nightmare despite the fact that I do know how to prevent Windoze from turning off my USB ports). That's where it ends.
I was very much under the impression that the new sim was going to work in VR similar to using TrackIR. I keep thinking that I should be able to "look" in the VR headset at, say; an instrument, "hold" the view as long as I'm looking at it, zoom in if needed, then have the vr display return to the default cockpit view when I move my sight line back up to the windshield.
I reloaded FSX, requiring that I haul a previous computer out of storage, to try to remind myself how the system used to work. When in the virtual cockpit, depressing the Right Mouse Button (RMB) and scrolling (I use a trackball) around allows me to look around the cockpit. When I let go of the RMB the view remains where I left it. The zoom function is operable by scrolling the mouse wheel in and out. I have a button on my joystick (or the Saitek wheel/quadrant) programmed to take me back to the cockpit default pilot's position view.
This does not seem to be achievable in MSFS2020. I've tried the "Legacy" setting and a lot of other messing about in the 2020 "Controls" menus and just cannot seem to stop the 2020 mouse-driven activity that drives me to distraction: I cannot seem to scroll around the cockpit. the visual moves around but reverts to "straight ahead" almost immediately. If I'm not really careful, clicking on the mouse button(s) crashes the VR.
In fact, I'm having fun with the old FSX system and I'm contemplating dumping 2020 completely and re installing P3D and FSX.
Anyone offer some advice?
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Hello Joe,
Glad to be back.
MSFS may need a bit more time to mature. I'm far more interested in the VR aspect. At this writing, it looks pretty good. It doesn't really work very well so I'm paging through the issues and solving one at a time.
- Trim issue, close to solved. I have it working after a fashion: Changing the slope of the controller "Extremity Dead Zone" has made some major improvements in the amount of travel needed to affect a trim change. I'm set to 60% which results in a pretty flat range. "Reactivity" set to 50% and all other settings at 0%. Just needs a bit more tweaking.
- Also, something I learned a long time ago and reproduced here in case others experience the same problem. While your trim is idle, windoze turns off the power to the port, requiring a bit of jiggling to wake it up. Just what you need on a trim wheel.
Open "Control Panel/Device Manager/Universal Serial Bus Controllers/USB Root Hub". Double click on the suspect hub (you'll have to identify the particular USB port), then click on the subsequent "Power Management" tab. Uncheck the box beside "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".
- I routinely go through this list and uncheck that box on all ports - the computer is plugged in to the mains, so why worry that one of the 5V ports is still "ON"?
- Next is the navigation equipment: Garmin 530/430 in the C172. I use an Oculus Rift 2 and the buttons on the nav equipment, including the autopilot panel are near impossible to read. Gotta work on the memory.
Cheers,
March
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I'm Back !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Got tired of racing cars so I thought I might give the (new to me) MSFS 2020 a go.
Ohhh boy - nothing has really changed on the set-up front.
I dusted off the flight controls - Saitek Pro Flight Yoke, Saitek Throttle Quadrant, Cessna Trim Wheel, and CH Pedals. For now, I'm just using the Cessna 150 for testing and set-up.
To start with, I had to toss the CH Pedal assembly. I'd sort of forgotten that one of the reasons I went racing is that the pedals/brakes really didn't work anymore despite hours spent dismantling and cleaning the pots. At some point, you have to recognise that you've worn them out. I bought a new set of Logitech G Pro Flight Pedals. They seem to work OK.
I've been down this rabbit hole before so I do know to make sure that I don't have multiple bindings for the same device active at the same time.
What doesn't work is the Trim Wheel. Took it apart - no apparent reason for the problems. This assembly uses an optical encoder (I was prepared for another potentiometer arrangement) so no excuses there and nothing to clean/adjust. I can get MSFS to recognise the gadget, but it works poorly - not very precise. Initial movement yields gobs of trim then it seems to smooth out. Yes, I have unticked the box in Control Panel USB Power Management settings. Any attempt to fine-tune things in the MSFS "Controls" doesn't have any effect. The GUI (slider representation) works a treat. Makes it look like I'm going to have wonderful control over the trim. Not so in reality. No sign of any improved drivers or such. In fact, it sort of looks like the manufacturer and the industry, in particular, would rather we all forgot that this widget was ever made.
The Flight Yoke needs to be dismantled because it sticks in both axes - I hope it just needs a cleaning and a touch of silicon grease. If not, I guess it's going to take a visit to Honeycomb to throw a bit more money at the problem.
The only thing that works well is the throttle quadrant. I'll leave that alone.
I bought Pete Dowson's FSUIPC7. It's not clear how that applies to MSFS 2020 so that can sit on the shelf for the time being.
Next is to try the SPAD.next route - seems to be highly recommended - any comments? One thing right off the bat - their website makes heavy use of this phrase: "Content for this page is not yet finished. Please come back at a later time". Maybe I need to pay attention to the writing on the wall and avoid buying anything until that warning goes away.
It's fun to re-make acquaintances. Thanks Andrew, for the review on the Honeycomb stuff.
One last thing: I've ordered an i7 chip to replace the i5 currently in the motherboard as well as some more fans. I've noticed an uptick in temperatures while experimenting with MSFS 2020.
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Thanks for the reply, @Tim_A,
This family are not serious users of the internet. We have a 550 Gb monthly limit of which we regularly consume about 50%. My d/l speeds are approximately 60 - 70 mbps.
We, in Canada, are envious of all other countries in the world where the population doesn't get raped while using the phone/internet. Our phone and bandwidth charges are insane. I think it has to do with the fact that we are still paying for a hard-wire system that used to be touted as "The Best In The World". The only people we know with a land line are in their eighties. My wife and I abandoned the landline in 2007.
A 100GB download would have an impact. But, it wouldn't put us anywhere near our monthly allowance.
My biggest concern is going to be internal component throttling, so I've tried to buy the fastest components that the motherboard will handle.
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Hi Mutley's,
March is coming (back) out of the closet - been racing cars since April with PCars2 and Assetto Corsa. I'm in the process of upgrading my system for Assetto Corsa Competizione and It looks like I might need to go a bit further in order to load and fly FS 2020. Car racing is quite cool in VR where Flight Simulator fails completely due to the problem of switching things on and off and dialing things up and down while completely blind. One good thing that's come out of the current C-19 clusterf*%^.
Latest specs are : i5-10400|MSI MPG Z490| RTX2070 8Gb|32GB DDR4 3200MHz|Win 10 Pro. Needless to say that spec is backed up by serious SATA and M.2 SSD's along with case cooling and dedicated CPU Cooler ( I did not go liquid - just can't bring myself to take that step). This spec replaced the previous i7-4770 3.4Ghz|MSI H87M-E35|GTX 1060 6Gb|8 GB DDR3 666MHz|Win 10 Pro. The i7 setup ran the race sim with no issues until I tried Competizione - I got big time stutters in every corner with more than a couple cars on the track. - totally unusable.
I've yet to actually bite the bullet and buy FS 2020, so wish me luck and pass along any additional wisdom before I do.
Cheers,
March
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MSFS 2020
Any first impressions from the MH crew? I just received the ad on my iphone via my email connection. Looks like the software is downloadable. I can't because I've barely enough bandwidth to read the ad. I'm out on the boat doing some serious social distancing - been gone all summer, but I'll be home around the middle of August and keen to try out the new simulator.
Any chance that we (that's the Royal "we", Joe) might need a separate forum to deal with this new version of MSFS? I mention this because the current MH FSX forum is really ancient.
Comments, Joe?
I'm a great one to talk - I've been absent from flight simming in general and MH for quite a while now but it may be time to crank up the old i7 and have a look.
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A little humour here in deepest darkest Canada:
Political cartoon published in a local paper on St Patrick's Day - picture of a leprechaun beside a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, gesturing towards it, obviously offering it.
Caption: "Gee thanks anyway, but I really want some toilet paper " (tissue on the other side of the pond).
Cheers,
March
Also, someone forwarded a picture of the Corona Lisa (Mona in a gas mask).
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I'm not at the point where I want to put it back in the box...yet.
It is quite good for VFR flying as long as you leave the nav gear alone. Dialing in a course or a heading on the HSI is nigh on impossible. The radios are tune-able in a lot of sims with a popup that allows using the "hands" to move the frequencies. Unfortunately, this means you have to pick up one of their controllers - a bit difficult when you're blind and hanging onto a yoke with your left hand and a throttle quadrant with your right. I'm still looking into this and haven't given up. I'm thinking that it might be possible to map the electric trim switches to the heading bug and course selector.
Take the Extra 300 for a burn
. Also fabulous for soaring.
The more I read on it the more I think I jumped a bit too soon (story of my life). The developers were working with the guys who developed "Leap". But as is often true when a couple of children get involved in the adult world, they screwed the pooch holding out for the big score. Instead they wound up selling for a fraction of the original valuation. Sadly, this also temporarily took the tech off the market. Wikipedia lists the company as "Defunct, 2019". See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_Motion. Sold to "Ultrahaptics", a UK company.
Rumours are that this tech is heading towards being built in to the next gen VR headsets. Look up "Ultraleap", but exercise caution - my (Malewarebytes) anti-malware software tags the website as potentially dangerous. See also: https://www.magicleap.com/
Cheer up, mate. It's coming.
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I'm back. I bought the Oculus Rift S, FSX-SE and Flyinside FSX.
First Impression: Nice toy.
Lots of fun for a VFR experience. I really like the 360 degree aspect. For me, it makes it easier to fly the aircraft by hand. All aspects are a similar experience to the real thing. The spatial orientation is so superior to the 2d experience.
I'm using a Saitek Yoke and Quadrant, Trim Wheel and CH Pro Pedals. Everything easy to use, even blind, except maybe the Trim Wheel which is horribly inaccurate - that will be solved with a bit more tuning. Not a biggie anyway because the electric trim switch on the yoke seems to work fine.
IFR - useless. That is, unless you tend to do your IFR flying by hand. I'm still searching for a way to tune radios and navigation instruments. "FlyInside" has made a decent attempt to address this problem and I'm hoping that, with time and practice, I'll get their tuning technique down pat. Radio tuning is actually quite easy.
I'm sure I'll find lots of tips and tricks but at this time trying to tune the CDI or the heading bug on the HSI is all but impossible. I'm just flying the Stock 172 and the Sim Cockpit Yoke is in the way of any serious attempt. Flicking that bug one degree at a time is getting old - fast. FlyInside allows the use of a mouse pointer inside the sim but I haven't found a way to use that effectively. I should mention that I use a Trackball - lots of thumb squiddling to move across the screen. If I set the mouse pointer acceleration to a level where I can accurately keep the pointer on the knob, it takes ages to traverse.
Cheers,
March
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I've loaded Amazon.ca several times but I haven't pulled the trigger. Best Buy is out of the running because they have no stock (in Victoria, Canada)
I do not want to get into second-guessing the developers. You know the routine: BUY! No, wait a bit, maybe an improvement is waiting in the wings.
Right now the choices are not that hard to make - Oculus Rift S or Vive. The price of Vive is over the moon for something that may get dropped pretty quickly. I've got the hardware so no need to spend big bucks on another PC.
Let's see how it goes - "Click".
I'll be back!
March
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I hear you, Brett,
I was just curious how this was going to be received. Seems to be a non-starter (so far)
Cheers,
March
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I just received an email from Aerosoft advertising a (new?) interactive (game?) called OnAir: Airline Manager - something along the lines of Air Hauler. Appears to be based primarily in Europe.
They are offering a two week free trial here: https://www.onair.company/download/publish.htm
I do recall Mutley doing an interview. Any one else care to comment?
Cheers,
March
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Atta boy JG - only they'll have to call it 'Aftershock'.
My wife saw this on the local news - while launching/retrieving his boat a guy forgot to put it his hybrid SUV in park and it rolled into the salt water. When they hauled the truck out of the water it burst into flames - flames that the local fire department couldn't put out.
Cheers,
March
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While I have your attention:
Three elderly ladies are sitting on a bench outside the nursing home when an older gentleman walked by.One of the ladies yelled out, “Hey, I bet we can guess how old you are!”
The old fellow said, “There is no way you can guess my age! I look great for my age.”
One of the women said, “Yes we can!”
“No, you can’t!”
“Can! Just drop your pants and undershorts and we'll tell your exact age.”
The gentleman was embarrassed, but wanted to prove they couldn't do it. So... he dropped his drawers and let it all hang out.
The ladies asked him to turn around a few times while they looked from different angles, then had him jump up and down twice.
They then whispered back and forth for a minute, and finally one said. “You're 87-years-old.”
The fellow was stunned. Standing with his pants down around his ankles, he asked, “You’re right. WOW! How in the world could you tell?”
There was a pause, then one woman answered “Last week we were all at your birthday party.”-
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Thanks for that, JA - inquiring minds MUST know, and now we do. Fascinating stuff!
Cheers,
March
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Time is like a river. You cannot touch the water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again. Enjoy every moment of life. As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in the Nova Scotia back country. As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I got lost and, being a typical man, I didn't stop for directions.I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to the men for being late.I went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't know what else to do, so I started to play.The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played before for this homeless man. And as I played "Amazing Grace", the workers began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together. When I finished, I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head was hung low, my heart was full.As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers say, "I never seen anything like that before, and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."Apparently, I'm still lost....it's a man thing’’.
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LAST RIDE ON MY HARLEYWhile riding my Harley, I swerved to avoid hitting a deer, lost control and landed in a ditch, severely banging my head.Dazed and confused I crawled out of the ditch to the edge of the road when a shiny new convertible pulled up with a very beautiful woman who asked, "Are you okay?"As I looked up, I noticed she was wearing a low cut blouse with cleavage to die for..."I'm okay I think," I replied as I pulled myself up to the side of the car to get a closer look.She said, “Get in and I’ll take you home so I can clean and bandage that nasty scrape on your head.”"That's nice of you," I answered, "but I don't think my wife will like me doing that!""Oh, come now, I’m a nurse," she insisted. "I need to see if you have any more scrapes and then treat them properly."Well, she was really pretty and very persuasive. Being sort of shaken and weak, I agreed, but repeated, "I'm sure my wife won't like this."We arrived at her place which was just few miles away and, after a couple of cold beers and the bandaging, I thanked her and said, "I feel a lot better but I know my wife is going to be really upset so I'd better go now.""Don't be silly!" she said with a smile. "Stay for a while. She won't know anything. By the way, where is she?""Still in the ditch with the Harley, I guess."
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Is that not a Dassault Falcon 7X? I'm not really conversant with European Business Jets, but I think the "Corvette" is a twin jet. Please correct me if I've got this wrong.
All that said; thank you Jan Kees for another in a long line of beautiful repaints.
Cheers,
March
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Quite the sight, seeing this monster landing on RWY 27 - 6998 X 200 ft.
Cheers,
March
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We've been having some extreme weather events in parts of BC recently. Lots of snow! Yech!
Travel Services has issued a travel warning due to snowfall and bad road conditions.They suggest that anyone traveling in the current icy conditions should ensure they have the following:Shovel
Blankets or sleeping bag
Extra clothing including hat and gloves
24 hours worth of food
De-Icer
Rock Salt
Flashlight with spare batteries
Road Flares or Reflective Triangles
Full gas Can
First Aid Kit
Booster cablesI looked like an idiot on the bus this morning.-
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Agree with @allardjd on the DuckDuckGo search engine. It is one of the choices in the Brave list of search engines. Yes, I do use a paid version (Pro) of CCleaner.
Thanks Joe, I'll look into Vivaldi
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There's a new kid on the block - called "Brave".
It's a browser that is very similar to Chrome but cuts out all (or most of) the advertising and tracking that we're saddled with on Google. Unfortunately, it isn't friendly to MH. It does strange things if you try to reply to a post.
Too bad because I'm always looking to get rid of things that track my activities - I do nothing nefarious, just the principal of the thing. So, it's back to the VPN and Google Browser for me.
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Thanks All,
I got ORBX FTX working again with absolutely no help from their "forums" - yikes! - they're unpleasant to deal with. So if this happens again I should be able to use the Airport Elevations Correction.
Meanwhile, problem solved with a reinstall of ORBX and the new P3Dv4.3. I also notice that there is a P3Dv4.4 just out, I believe two days ago. I've downloaded it and I'll give it a whirl with the ORBX scenery.
Oculus Rift S G1000 button clarity
in Microsoft Flight Simulator
Posted
New on this subject:
The problem seems to be the use of "Legacy" mode /General Options/Accessibility/User Interface. Turning that "off" enables the other switches/choices to (sort of) work.
I say "sort of" because I'm still trying to track down how to get the mouse wheel to zoom in and out as well as a few other things.
I'll post more on this subject as I learn.