Soaring in FS9

[congo]

Hi all,

I developed some soaring scenery for FS2002, it worked great and was a pretty good simulation for sailplanes.

I dropped the scenery into FS9, and to my amazement, it looked and felt so much better with the improved clouds/weather.

I was about to upload this scenery last week, then I figured I might be able to refine it.

I used Eastern Australia as the Location, (this is where I soar in real life), over a broad area, overlaying the landscape with varied thermal sceneries.

The thermals are created by a program called CUMULUS!, which produces random, dynamic thermal effects from a variable command parameter. The program uses SCASM to compile the data into ready to use .bgl files for flight simulator.

Is turns out very realistic and in my opinion, is suitable for Cross Country training in soaring flight.

The potential for multiplayer flights is immense, with soaring offering a very competitive sport within the FS2002/04 framework.

There are a variety of excellent sailplanes available for Flight Simulator. Their perfomance ranges widely as do the real ones.

I'm trying to get a feel for how much interest the FS community might have for this branch of Sim-aviation  ;)

If you have any comments or suggestions please don't hesitate to reply.

[ozzy72]

Hey Congo I'd be interested. There are some superb gliders available now for FS9, and I've been spotted bombing around in them recently

Ozzy

[Gixer]

Hehehe, Im a glider nut too! I got loadsa scenery for fs2004.  Not sure its dynamic though, i.e. the thermals dont generate and dissapear.

If you dont have it go and get emma field! the glider features in that are cool! U can winch up or aerotow.  

As every one knows Wolfgang Pipers gliders rock! I have also converted Max Roodveldt's ASW28 and Grob twin Acro to work in FS2004 without any errors appearing.

I'm sure I told you about my site before
http://www.geocities.com/gixer_fs2004/homepage.html

has some thermal scenery, some of it I made some of it I obtained off the net.

My re-paint for the ASK-21v3 by Wolfgang Piper. Its in the colours of the club I fly with online.



There are a few that fly gliders in the club, but most fly props.

http://flydeervalley.com

[Billerator]

Yeah I'd give it a go.

Only a few weeks ago I tasted gliding for real, it was great, might have to sign up for more  :D .

It does get very hot inside though, I was nearly all wet when we landed, maby that was from the nerves of flying it though  ;D .

[congo]

Well, not a huge response, kinda predicted.  

Thanks for the comments.

Gixer, emma field is payware from lago, how do the aerotows work? Is it worth it?

I downloaded oethermik (Austrian thermal scenery)  from your site and was thermalling 2 metres off the runway with full brakes out!

While that is a lot of fun  ;D it's not very realistic and not what I had in mind.

I have downloaded quite a few thermal scenery files in the past, and to date, haven't really been impressed with anything yet. I'm not saying it's not out there, it's just I haven't found it yet.

I'll go ahead and plod along with development of my scenery.

Cumulus! is quite different from Thermik as a thermal generator. It places thermal "cells" around the landscape which cycle randomly, The lift is dependent on hour of day, lift is unmarked at first, then cloud forms as the cells mature, and lift dissipates while cloud is still present, so you can arrive at a cloud and find nothing as in real life. The cells interact with each other if overlapped, causing a variety of effects much like real weather.

In Cumulus thermals, the lift does not extend to the ground, it is useful only around 500' AGL upwards into the cloud. Lift profile is modelled and variable, although there is possibly room for improvement there. (there isn't enough sink!) Thermal height and spacing is variable within the scenery.

Cumulus! has it's limitations of course, and I plan to include "blue" thermals with another thermal generator to overlay the scenery in conjunction with the Cumulus! thermals. I hope to make the invisible thermals quite weak, (if that's possible) and also prolific. In this way, I hope to simulate "scratching along" until a good thermal can be reached, as in real soaring.

Location for my scenery can be modified. Ideally, it would be in an area where soaring is common, not covered by other sceneries, plenty of short grass fields within reach, out of main airways and some interesting terrain. Terrain altitude variation presents problems in developing thermal scenery and is tricky to simulate accurately. So far, my sceneries have been over relatively flat ground.

So, Thx Ozzy, Billerator and Gixer for your comments, I'll keep you posted and try to get it sorted.

[Gixer]

The aero tow is ok.  It would have been better if they had made a button to make the glider release instead of having to visit a menu to deactivate it.  Its not super realistic though. I think basically it keeps you a certain distance behind the tow plane and at a set speed.  I seemed to be able to go quite high above the tow plane when being towed??

The winch is a little better I find, plus more of a challenge to reach the first thermal.  The thermals at emma may have been done with cumulus.  They dont produce any lift in late the evenings etc.

That Austrian scenery is a bit crazy lol, cant remeber where I got that one from, I just like it coz the scenery there is real nice and i like flying through the valleys.

I hope your scenery development goes well  ;D Think I might get that cumulus prog and have a go.  Is it easy to use? I did read a little about it but got a bit cerfuzzled by all the formula.  

[ozzy72]

Just a thought, but has anyone tried the simulated glider launch from 2k2 in FS9? Its available at http://www.simviation.com/fsgliders_7.htm if you want to give it a go. I'm at work and can't
Could be just the ticket

[Gixer]

Yeah it just plays a vid Ozzy, then the vid stops and you fly from the end position. You have no input as to ur climb rate etc.

[congo]

You can fly really high over a towplane, it "upsets" them, forcing them into a steep dive by pulling their tail up!

Quite a danger in real life, a tuggy is generally a nervous type who will release you very quickly if you start to climb, no matter what situation YOU are in, he has to save his own skin...........

In Australia, we low tow, to give a better climb rate,