Spartan Executive - FSX Native

[Jafo]

This is where I was at when I left off last fall on the Spartan paints. I can't put a finger on why, but I've never been satisfied with it enough to release it. Something with the look of the painted areas just doesn't sit right in my mind, wasn't sure what so it's been on the back burner.

Looks like the red needs some spec....

 

[Willy]

Looks like the red needs some spec....

It does. I got to looking closer in the sim and figured it out. I was trying out an idea on how to do better metal flake and it didn't quite work out.

Trying to figure where I stashed the pdn files I was working on for it. While I'm in the wait mode, I'm mucking about with a new wood panel for it. Still a work in progress, but the wood itself is pretty much there. The rest of the wood work in the vc is looking at getting redone as well. The panel was too dark for my tastes to begin with.

 

[txnetcop]

Milton this is exciting stuff! Thank you
Ted

 

[Milton Shupe]

Just about ready for a beta test here. Just need to add the pilot and make the yoke hide-able.

In that process, I am converting all my old FS9 custom XML to FSX native XML format and that is slowing progress.
But, a necessary investment before more aircraft can be converted.

 

[Willy]

I was just wondering about this one about a half hour ago. Thanks Milton!

 

[Milton Shupe]

It does. I got to looking closer in the sim and figured it out. I was trying out an idea on how to do better metal flake and it didn't quite work out.

Trying to figure where I stashed the pdn files I was working on for it. While I'm in the wait mode, I'm mucking about with a new wood panel for it. Still a work in progress, but the wood itself is pretty much there. The rest of the wood work in the vc is looking at getting redone as well. The panel was too dark for my tastes to begin with.

The FSX native version will have specular highlites to bring your red nose to life.

The dark original panel was actually a copy from a RW version.

The wood panel will look great once you get some shading going under the glare shield and around the edges, maybe under some of the protruding items on the panel.

 

[semo]

I hope you had a great vacation, Milton. But it sure is nice to have you back.

 

[Milton Shupe]

I hope you had a great vacation, Milton. But it sure is nice to have you back.

Aw, thanks Semo. Being there with 3 siblings was great fun; they are a lively bunch. Driving 2 days each way, the pits. Still trying to recover.

Working on getting the pilot and yoke visibility working correctly now so we can get this Spartan out of the hangar. Anything this simple should work the first time; not!

 

[txnetcop]

Milton this is going to be EPIC! I still fly this baby today several times a month!
Ted

 

[Milton Shupe]

Milton this is going to be EPIC! I still fly this baby today several times a month!
Ted

@Ted, well-l-l-l epic may be a bit strong


@everyone:

I just finished up everything I know to do at this point so will start assembling the beta package, upload it, and send out some copies for a swamp test.

If any of you have time to do a thorough testing of the package, PM me and I will forward a link.

Thanks

 

[Milton Shupe]

Beta sent out ... now we wait ...

 

[blanston12]

I tested the spartian in P3D V3.4, here are the things i noticed.


1) bit of a pet peve of mine, in P3D the primary descriptor in the aircraft selector is the title= line from the aircraft.cfg. I know in FSX its never shown to the pilot so it does not have to be readable. So to find the aircraft I had to look for 'Executive VC'.


I think it would be nice if you changed the lines that read


title = Executive VC


to:


title = Spartan 7W Executive VC


2) In the VC if you hover over the throttle lever it shows as a tool tip, 'Engine 4 Trottle Control'. The prop lever shows 'Propeller 1 Control' which is what you would expect.


3) In the VC if you click the 'Display/Hide Fuel Panel' button and it does not do anything. The GPS and Radio buttons do hide/show the way you expect.


4) Flys pretty nice, don't know how she should perform so I will just describe what happened when I tried to do some aerobatics. She barrol rolled easily, twice I tried to do a loop and it went ok until I got the nose pointed at the ground and then I could not get her to come up past about 80 degrees down, before the flight ended.


5) VNE seams a little low. Twice while doing high speed passes over the airport I got aircraft overstressed. I would probably increase max_indicated_speed to 240, just to give it a buffer before the flight ends prematurely. Its currently at 225. Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge states max speed is 223kn.

Overall I like it alot, and the only thing that will push her out of the hanger, is your next version.

 

[txnetcop]

Well I found pretty much the same thing as Blanston 12. The fuel gauge is readable in the virtual cockpit and by pushing F7 key it comes up. She flies and looks just beautiful! The one thing I thought the original Spartan did was the back table came up and I could not get it to do that. However I can't remember ever flying an aircraft from the back seat LOL! I did go through the start up procedures as well. Beautifully done Milton! The flightsim community would be hard pressed for great freeware aircraft if you were to leave this hobby. Thank you for your labor of love! We are very fortunate to have the developers(freeware and payware) we have in Sim-Outhouse!

Milton I have the same socket 775 system as you do, as you know, except I did buy a used QX9775 CPU on EBay real cheap O/C'd to 4.5ghz. The frame rates stayed in the high 60s with the Nvidia GTX 285 and Orbx scenery and real weather...now back to desktop flying.
Ted

 

[Milton Shupe]

Adjustments made based on reports; will await further test results.

 

[Roger]

Hi Milton,
No issues to report in Dx10 (with Fixer). All animations seem ok but one issue is the panel light and cabin light do not function with the panel switches. This maybe missing fx files.
Otherwise exceptional and I especially like the cockpit glass!

 

[Milton Shupe]

Hi Milton,
No issues to report in Dx10 (with Fixer). All animations seem ok but one issue is the panel light and cabin light do not function with the panel switches. This maybe missing fx files.
Otherwise exceptional and I especially like the cockpit glass!

Thank you Roger.

RE: Cabin light-there is a cabin light switch next to the panel light switch. For some reason (as I have experienced in many of my projects) cabin lights seem to be funky with a delayed presence. That is what I experience here. Turn on the switch and it may take 5-10 seconds for the lights to appear. There are in the electrical section, have an appropriate light setup in the lights section, and uses a smaller fx_cabinlites fx I created to not overwhelm everything at night. The light works here most of the time with and without a delay.

RE: DX10: could you expound on the issues that the fixer corrects. DXT3, or 8-bit textures?

 

[Milton Shupe]

All the issues reported so far have been addressed. Thanks for your help in getting this package ready.

 

[Roger]

Hi Milton,
the Dx10 fixer has a tool to correct 8 bit textures but so far I haven't found any texture that need correcting.

 

[Milton Shupe]

Hi Milton,
the Dx10 fixer has a tool to correct 8 bit textures but so far I haven't found any texture that need correcting.

Ah, great; I do try to avoid 8-bit textures since I found out about the DX10 restriction.

 

[Milton Shupe]

In case you are wondering (and haven't read the docs), there is a yoke hiding mechanism.

Click on the base plate around the base of the yoke stem at the floor.

Unfortunately, I left out the texture for that base plate so it is hard to see but the tool tip will show if you point to it.

The pilot "goes to lunch" when the Battery switch is set to Off position.