ORIGINAL: FSOneDev
Chris,
Nice review. Thanks for posting your opinions and being objective.
Here are a few notes (for more info):
1) You *can* rip a wing off in FS One as a result of aerodynamic loads. Go to Options/Physics and reduce the "strength factor" to a lower value, perhaps something like 0.2. Then, as you fly, if you pull some Gs, you'll be able to break your wings off due to aero loads.
2) If the aircraft cartwheeled without breaking, it is possible that some other user may have selected indestructable aircraft (in Options/General). This prevents crashes from breaking your aircraft.
3) For gear breaking off, the Edge 540 has rather strong landing gear and we currently modeled it to remain intact in crashes. The Funtana 90, however, includes breakable gear. We can make some adjustments after getting user feedback from the customer base. Basically, the technology is in place to support it, but most of our beta testers preferred that gear would stay on the aircraft, so that's what we implemented, with the exception of the F90.
4) As far as having a view that shows the ground is concerned, FS One does include a "ground-biased" view. Go to Options/General and you can change the Primary and Secondary Views (which are controlled with the F1 and F2 keys). Try one of the "Shifted" views.
5) You are correct that many of the aircraft are Horizon models, but not all. Try the Bobcat and MiG-15 jets. The MiG includes polished chrome and you can see reflections.
6) Spins -- It's actually a bit surprising to hear that you felt the spins were lacking in FS One. There is some really advanced aerodynamics going on in FS One and we actually have video of real models flying and doing spins that we compared to the models in FS One. There was excellent match in flight behavior as we did side by side video comparison between the sim and video of actual aircraft.
7) 3D Aerobatics -- What were your thoughts about high-alpha aerobatics, torque rolls, etc.? Most people at the Toledo show felt that FS One was better than other sims in this flight regime.
8) Frame rates -- It's interesting to see 60-70 FPS for G3 and 90 FPS for FS One. Also, keep in mind that you can adjust video/graphics parameters (Options/Graphics2) to adjust performance and model graphical quality to meet your computer's capabilities. FS One will work on a wide range of computers as a result -- for example, users with slower computers can "dial down" their graphics settings so they can still get high frame rates.
9) Ground handling -- Some fields in FS One have more pronounced "bumpy" ground. It's possible that the field you flew at was relatively smooth. The accurate ground handling is very apparent in FS One. For some fields, you can see a very significant difference between grass and pavement, for example, including a bump as the aircraft crosses the grass/pavement edge.
10) Games -- You might want to try some of the games that FS One has to offer and see what you think. The "Bomb Drop" game is a lot of fun. You can drop plastic bombs and fire bottle rockets.
11) Lessons -- FS One does have lessons. Go to Flight Training (under the Single Player listing of the Main Menu). There are some very interesting lessons that are performed by (and narrated by) Mike McConville and Quique Somenzini.
I hope this extra info is helpful.
Thanks for the compliment and the info!
#2 It depended on how hard I crashed. I was trying to do the Bill Hempel flight with the Edge, and I was trying to rip the wing off on the runway. So I was in knife edge flight. Sometimes it would break, sometimes it wouldn't.
#3 I've seen pics of the real H9 540's gear delaminating. with the kind of hits that I was giving it, it wouldn't break. This, IMO, is not realistic.
#4 That's good! I didn't really play around with that.
#5 Pretty cool! However, I would like to see some more designs that are more than H9's typical offerings. Sport planes are always a favorite of mine. I guess I like to pust their limits.(like torq rolling a Kaos)
yes, I'm crazy
#6 Like I said, it's probably because I didn't set the model to fly the way I do. Like I said, I'm a freak.
#7 The "Z" CG was off on the Edge. When I do flight models for G3, that's the key issue that I look at. When I put together a real model airplane, that's what I ajust the most. It will improve the flight characteristics of the plane. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening that much. As far as the 3D moves go, I wasn't able to see the plane well enough from my vantage point. If I was able to see the ground in the sim, that might have helped, but I was also not standing near the screen when I was flying. As far as what I tried, it seemed ok. Just not my setup. The biggest problem for me was the expo. I personally can't handle any. There must have been like 60-80% in the setup.(20% is almost unfliable for me. I like to "feel" the plane)
#8. G3 can be a "pig" when it comes to your computer. G3.5 is a little better though. However, on my personal setup, my vid card is NOT near enough for G3.5, however it runs it anyway.(and pretty good at that)
#9 I was flying at a photofield. G3 has these problems as well. G3.5 has corrected it a little bit though. My concern is that when you drag the wing on pavement, you can drag it.(50grit pass) When you attempt that on grass, you WILL cartwheel.
This is an issue that I would like to see fixed in all sims.
#10 I didn't get a chance to try them, and I doubt that I will get to fly FSone for a while. However they do look fun. G3, however, has more games. I suggest that ya'll invent more for the next patch.
[8D]
#11 That sounds great! G3 has prerecorded "sessions" as well, or you could ask a top rated pilot on multiplayer how to do something and they will, often times, help you with it. However QQ and Mike Mc doing these "sessions" is a sure winner!
Again I haven't gone over FSone with my fine tooth comb and likely won't until it's old news, so my opinions may not portray the reality of FSone. Thanks you FSOneDev for your helpful info! I really appreciate it!
50%.