Reinstalled the Old Aerosoft Twotter

[Tom Clayton]

I've been looking for some more diversity, so I reinstalled the old Aerosoft bird that was discontinued. I still have the option to install from Orbx, but I also have the backup that I saved when I uninstalled it a couple of years back.

I have mixed feelings about it. It flies nicely. With a 25 kts headwind at Kahului, I landed at probably around 35 kts ground speed. But it's the instrumentation that gets to me. It has two different and conflicting autopilot controllers, but it is completely missing any kind of DME for radio navigation. Add to that the fact that registrations are baked in and the lack of paints for the cargo versions, there's just not that much to entice me to fly it.

If there are any painters here that still have it, I'd love to discuss some repaint possibilities.

 

[eagleFMJ]

I wish BlackSquare would take on the the Twotter!

 

[Daube]

You might want to give a try to that mod for that Twotter: https://flightsim.to/addon/106069/twotter-revived-beta
There's a discussion about it on the official forum: https://forums.flightsimulator.com/...-mod-for-aerosoft-twin-otter-msfs-2020/764913

EDIT: I have never tried that mod because I do not have the JustFlight Twotter. However, the discussion is quite huge because this mod is now accumulating quite a big amount of improvements over the time. I do not have the details but the "history" of updates on flightsim.to might give a good view of the various fixes that were added over time... along with the discussions on the forum of course

 

[joe bob]

I notice the Flightsim.to file is listed as MSFS 2024 but in the forum thread there is mention of 2020. Does anyone know if it is 2020 compatible?

 

[Paul K]

I wish BlackSquare would take on the the Twotter!

Amen!! The idea was mooted on Avsim some weeks back, and I mentioned it on the Just Flight forums, as they publish Black Square. I think it would be BS's biggest seller.

I am flying the stock Aerosoft FS20 DHC6 in MSFS2024 at the moment, so far without any issues other than very dark prop discs. I'm following the Twotter Revived mod's development very closely, and it wont be long before I jump in.

 

[eagleFMJ]

Amen!! The idea was mooted on Avsim some weeks back, and I mentioned it on the Just Flight forums, as they publish Black Square. I think it would be BS's biggest seller.

I am flying the stock Aerosoft FS20 DHC6 in MSFS2024 at the moment, so far without any issues other than very dark prop discs. I'm following the Twotter Revived mod's development very closely, and it wont be long before I jump in.

I haven't tried her in 24 yet, but this mod has me curious now. I will test it out today. Do you think the prop discs are fixable?

 

[Tom Clayton]

It does look like at least part of it will work in 2020. I'll try the camera and prop textures this evening - I hope. Depends on how I feel after work.

 

[Daube]

I notice the Flightsim.to file is listed as MSFS 2024 but in the forum thread there is mention of 2020. Does anyone know if it is 2020 compatible?

Oh, good catch... I didn't pay attention and didn't notice the mod was made specifically for MSFS2024, sorry about that
As Tom said above, some parts might be compatible with MSFS2020 but that's going to be more complicated than I expected...

 

[Paul K]

I haven't tried her in 24 yet, but this mod has me curious now. I will test it out today. Do you think the prop discs are fixable?

I'm only flying a direct copy + paste from MSFS2020 into my MSFS2024 Community folder - I'm not using Aurel42's 'Twotter Revived' mod yet, though I am following its development closely. The prop discs are darker than they should be, but not too bad, so they can be overlooked for now. I have a PNG prop blur file which might serve as a replacement, if I can determine which default file to replace. If it works, I shall pass a copy on to you.

 

[eagleFMJ]

I'm only flying a direct copy + paste from MSFS2020 into my MSFS2024 Community folder - I'm not using Aurel42's 'Twotter Revived' mod yet, though I am following its development closely. The prop discs are darker than they should be, but not too bad, so they can be overlooked for now. I have a PNG prop blur file which might serve as a replacement, if I can determine which default file to replace. If it works, I shall pass a copy on to you.

Thanks!

I ran it in 24 yesterday, everything seems fine so far did a pretty long route across all the Hawaii islands. I tried the included (alternate) prop blur mod but it still seemed too dark. Also hiding the yoke, then it would not un-hide. I tried some alternate paints and the one i tried worked but it's my understanding that you need to make sure the modded twotter folder loads after the repaints as per the fs.to description. I have the turbine duke also so I was able to take advantage of the sound mod as well, it's a very good fit and all seemed to work great.

 

[Tom Clayton]

Doesn't the Twotter come stock in one of the versions of 24? I thought I read somewhere that it's the same Aerosoft plane tweaked for the newer sim and that's why it was pulled from sale for 20.

 

[eagleFMJ]

Doesn't the Twotter come stock in one of the versions of 24? I thought I read somewhere that it's the same Aerosoft plane tweaked for the newer sim and that's why it was pulled from sale for 20.

Tom, yes you are correct its the same bird an updated version by the original developer + IniBuilds.
https://forums.flightsimulator.com/...t-with-links-to-official-info-for-each/741340

De Havilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otter

Hans Hartmann / IniBuilds

Looking at this link tells more https://forums.flightsimulator.com/...-mod-for-aerosoft-twin-otter-msfs-2020/764913

I will be trying out both as I own the Aerosoft version and have the Microsoft version too. I guess one can never have too many otters? lol

Thanks for making me aware of this I had no clue till you said something.

 

[keithb77]

If so there's not much left of the original...

 

[aurel42]

Hey, I'm the author of the Twotter Revived mod mentioned in this thread. I'd be happy to answer any questions and provide support if there are issues. The mod is exclusively for the Aerosoft Twin Otter for MSFS 2020 in its Community-version (purchased from Aerosoft or 3rd-party stores, not from the in-game Marketplace), and all the interesting stuff only works in MSFS 2024.

It has become quite hard for me to really describe what the mod is. If it was a mod for other games, you'd call it a "total conversion".

It's still work-in-progress, and I expect it to be years until I call it done, but the systems that I would call close to being done are, as far as I know, in many aspects significantly "deeper" than those of any other GA add-on out there (my custom code is open source and open to scrutiny). To quote myself: Not because I'm a genius who breaks the paradigm, but because I have no life and no economic pressure and I'm standing on the shoulders of giants. I'm doing all the stuff that no commercial developer can afford to do. Like throwing out complete stock sim systems and re-implementing them more authentically based on real-world specifications and research.

Example: Black Square gets a lot of praise for the realistic feel of their instruments, and rightly so, but to produce commercially viable products, they have to use what MSFS gives them and massage it to look right.

My approach is inspired by the Aerosoft Twin Otter X Extended for FSX/P3D, an aircraft that came with several bespoke systems that worked around sim limitations: if a sim system can't do what I need, or doesn't do it right, I will take ownership of the system and improve on it until I don't need to massage the needles, because the data the gauges show is actually physically correct (or at least plausible.

The feedback I'm getting from simmers and pilots is quite appreciative, so I feel I'm on the right way, or at least headed roughly in the right direction. Would love to hear your feedback.

 

[Paul K]

Hey, I'm the author of the Twotter Revived mod mentioned in this thread.

You are doing a fine job ! Well done so far, and best of luck with it.

 

[Tom Clayton]

My biggest wish is that there were more paints for the different variations. I prefer the four-blade cargo version, which only comes with one paint. And even on the .to site, I could only find one more.

I found that the baked-in registration is actually on a decal sheet. I tried modifying it with my preferred "N721TC" tail number, but it ended up torn in the sim. I may just delete it and then add my reg to the paint somewhere. I also want to recolor that yellow scheme into something with some blues like I've done for several other planes.

 

[DennyA]

Hey, I'm the author of the Twotter Revived mod mentioned in this thread. I'd be happy to answer any questions and provide support if there are issues. The mod is exclusively for the Aerosoft Twin Otter for MSFS 2020 in its Community-version (purchased from Aerosoft or 3rd-party stores, not from the in-game Marketplace), and all the interesting stuff only works in MSFS 2024.

It has become quite hard for me to really describe what the mod is. If it was a mod for other games, you'd call it a "total conversion".

It's still work-in-progress, and I expect it to be years until I call it done, but the systems that I would call close to being done are, as far as I know, in many aspects significantly "deeper" than those of any other GA add-on out there (my custom code is open source and open to scrutiny). To quote myself: Not because I'm a genius who breaks the paradigm, but because I have no life and no economic pressure and I'm standing on the shoulders of giants. I'm doing all the stuff that no commercial developer can afford to do. Like throwing out complete stock sim systems and re-implementing them more authentically based on real-world specifications and research.

Example: Black Square gets a lot of praise for the realistic feel of their instruments, and rightly so, but to produce commercially viable products, they have to use what MSFS gives them and massage it to look right.

My approach is inspired by the Aerosoft Twin Otter X Extended for FSX/P3D, an aircraft that came with several bespoke systems that worked around sim limitations: if a sim system can't do what I need, or doesn't do it right, I will take ownership of the system and improve on it until I don't need to massage the needles, because the data the gauges show is actually physically correct (or at least plausible.

The feedback I'm getting from simmers and pilots is quite appreciative, so I feel I'm on the right way, or at least headed roughly in the right direction. Would love to hear your feedback.

I appreciate the background on this! I had passed it by thinking "why would I want to reinstall the old 2020 version when there's an improved 2024 version?" but now that I see what you're doing here, I'm definitely going to check it out! Sounds super cool.

 

[aurel42]

I had passed it by thinking "why would I want to reinstall the old 2020 version when there's an improved 2024 version?"

From my point of view, there never was an improved version in 2024.

Yeah, sure, one can argue that the new DHC-6 can, by now, be used in career mode. That's probably important for someone out there.

The visual model has been redone and modernized to use 2024's "SimAttachments", but I find it less appealing than the 2020 version. The model was done by iniBuilds and it feels like it has been done in a rush (we know iniBuilds can do way better) and only some of the defects of the first release were patched since. (still present: flat textures, the crazy floor mat, the wobbly prop spinners, not to mention the leg still sticking through the fuselage, two years after release)

And the SimAttachments feature was apparently used to add generic C172 floats to the Twin Otter, which feels like sacrilege. Also, I no longer recognize the gauges. The 2020 version used clearly identifiable Bendix/King units, the new model appears to use a set of "generic" gauges?

Under the hood, it's pretty much a 1:1 port of the 2020 model, because it's the same developer. Just like the Aerosoft add-on, it was built for easy accessibility, which is fair. But it's not what people who knew and loved the FSX/P3D predecessor were looking for.

So, yeah, I would have loved to mod a 2024 plane instead, that would have spared me so many headaches. But I despise the state the visual model is in. In a fit of hubris I actually tried to contact Jörg Neumann about modding the Microsoft DHC-6 if its visual model was brought up to par, but ofc I never received a response. For some reason, nobody (currently) at Aerosoft or Microsoft wants to talk to me about the Twotter. To this day, I do not know who currently is the rights holder for the 2020 add-on, and I've tried many times to find out.