A2A B-17G

[Tomas Linnet]

Hi Peter

Yesterday the 91st Bombardment Group flew the 1st mission using JoinFS, several members have done the switch to P3D but they all kept FSX Boxed as this was the only sim for flying multiplayer sessions. But as you of all people know this has changed!

We were a mix of P3D and FSX boxed users. we did have some problems with seeing the aircraft correctly. Some were reporting flashing landing lights, some saw lights from other aircraft even if all lights were off(WWII bombers don't use nav lights...) and one use saw bent props. the bent prop is part of the A2A Accu-Sim package, so suppose this is outside the normal FSX/P3D broadcasting. Would it be possible for you to look into this?

Other than that the session went smooth, with very few stutters and jumps. since the B-17G is quite detailed there is always as small delay when going from the VC to a external view.

Cheers
Tomas
Proud JoinFS Supporter

[Peter]

Hi Tomas,

thanks for the update, much appreciated.

You will see some odd behaviour from an aircraft, flashing lights included, if you fly with ATC Mode enabled. Is it possible for you to check and confirm with your pilots whether they had ATC Mode enabled in the JoinFS settings? That would explain that one. In the next version I'm going to display a warning each time you run JoinFS in that mode because I can see it happening quite a bit. I've even done it myself

Which plane model did you see lights when they were supposed to be off, was it an A2A? I have most of those so I'll be able to check that.

The bent prop (and also damaged engine smoke) can happen when the aircraft moves unrealistically due to bad network transmission, which stresses the aircraft and causes damage. I'm going to try a couple of things to avoid this from happening.

Thanks for your support!

Peter

[Tomas Linnet]

.

[Tomas Linnet]

we flew 6 A2A B-17's and 1 A2A P-51D Military. 3200nm away there was another guy flying. I'll point the rest of the 91st pilots to here.

I do know now that at least one of the pilots in the session had the "Enable ATC Mode" box ticked. And he was one of those I saw as lights on.
Thank you Peter, we will test this and let you know.

-Tomas

[Seatime]

I (Seatime), was one of these 91st Pilots. we were all using the A2A Simulations B-17, most with Acusim, but I was using the Pre Acusim version because of my eyesight problems, (strong Bifocals, very hard to read the gauges).

- Traffic
I had the ATC Box checked in order to see Traffic on my GPS. The ability to see Traffic is a huge help in re-locating your position in the Element if you loose sight of the aircraft you are flying off. We try to fly somewhere between .0 and .1nm to grasp the feel of reality.

- Lights and Bent Props
With the ATC Box Checked, I did not see any Light anomalies at any time during the 3+ hour flight. I did see the Bent Prop issue, sometimes Engine 2, sometimes engine 2 and 3. When I did see the prop issue, it was with all aircraft, not just my own. When the bent prop was visible the gauges indicated the engine(s) were operating normally. It just did not do the screen shots any good.

We have been flying many other Aircraft including the Jahn/Visser C-47 V3 in close formation in our USAAF California Training Tour, with no anomalies at all, props or lights.

We find JoinFS good and stable at these minimal formation distances. Well Done Peter!
(Seatime), Steve Scott
http://www.91stbombardmentgroup.com/

[Peter]

Thanks, Steve.

You can have ATC Mode on, but the aircraft won't be quite as accurate in flight. If you don't really notice it then that's fine. I would like to ask though, would it be too annoying if I made a warning message appear every time you start JoinFS, about the ATC Mode? If so, I shall leave it as it currently is.

Interesting about the bent prop on all aircraft. I wonder if the same model is used across all instances? I think that attempting to prevent the damage from occurring on the network aircraft should make this much less of a problem.

Peter