Well I just ordered the G4 sim off of Towerhobbies. Just curious as to how realistic this thing is. And also, I now there are websites to which you can download different airplanes, so if you know of a cool plane please let me know the link to it. Hopefully with some sim time I can be more prepared for my next plane(Aeroworks Edge 540) which I plan on getting in the next couple months.

I see you've decided on the Aeroworks Good Choice indeed.

It's about as realistic as a simulator lol. I think it's a great tool to improve on your flying. You'll be much more prepared and it's definitely a great tool when your mind says "hey, I wonder what would happen if I did this".

I use it a lot for my orientations, now I can do a knife edge in and direction without having to worry about which way I need to move the rudder.

I think you'll find that it was worth the money spend.

planes and fields can be found here http://knifeedge.com/forums/downloads.php

Among sims, G4 is one of, if not the most, realistic of them available at the price. It's all opinion though. However, flying the sim vs flying for real is not exactly the same by any stretch of the imagination.

The differences are on the sim you don't need to turn your head to follow the plane. You don't see the ground in your peripheral vision. Takeoffs and landings, even with wind and turbulence turned on, are much easier than in real life. And there is no 'pucker' factor, ie. you have no fear of crashing your plane- this is the biggest difference by far. If you get in the habit of pretending that crashing on the sim is a very costly and serious event, than you might not develop bad habits.

That being said, it's a great tool and will teach you stick movement in relation to the plane and how to do all the fancy stuff. It's no substitute for an instructor and a buddy box, but it's a great additional tool to learn how to fly!

To get a bunch of additional planes, heli's and airfields FOR FREE, download RealFlight Add-Ons Volumes 1, 2, 3 & 4. Go to their [link=http://www.realflight.com/free-g4-add-ons.html]add-ons[/link] web page and you can download, again, for free!

The repackaged Add-Ons volumes are only compatible with G4 version 4.00.051 or later. IF your G4 is an older version you can update it from the realflight.com. These add-ons will not work with RealFlight G3/G3.5.

Add-Ons 5 will also be re-packaged for G4 and released for free when it is ready.

I want to buy G4, but I have to order it in as no one in Japan sells it[:@]

As long as you add some wind velocity and turbulence, you'll see pretty much realistic flying. Keep in mind that every sim provides models trimmed to perfection. The top sims are backed by ARF retailers who want to showcase their products. They don't stick those airplanes into their sims with less than perfect CGs and throws etc. Like we'd probably wind up with at the local club field. Where we'd almost never have zero wind and no turbulence.

One problem with the RealFlight sims is that their flying fields are too smooth. You really won't get too much bouncing on landings if any. They need to work on that. Landing in the sims isn't going to teach you much of anything.

I know I have learned a lot from the sim, but I still have 3 crashes under my blet that the sim does not simulate well enough, it does not truly give you mechnical problems at random. It does not replicate ground effect and tree effect and or turbulance as well as real life. I don't feel it helps that well with depth of field of vision and distractions.

But it can be a great tool.

Jon

It is a great tool, especially relationed with orientations, just keep in mind that it is not the real thing. I fly at an elevation of 4,000 ft and the power of our planes is very different than the ones at the RFG4, one more think G4 has enlisted perfect planes which does not need trim so thinks in reality can drastically be different.

hey nightmare, once I download a plane from that link you gave me, what do I do after that?

Just click on the import link under "file" once you have RF open. Then just browse for the file and the program will upload it for you. It will then show up in a custom aircraft folder.

I've just been given a copy of Great Planes Real Flight Deluxe. The date on the disk is 1999.... and the controller has an old school 16 pin joystick connetor which NOBODY has anymore on ANY computer, much less a laptop....

What can I do about this? I can't spend $300 (or even $200) on new software especially if this one is free. Is there a "serial to USB" connector/adapter box for this thing? And does anyone have a clue what "version" of Real Flight this might be? (could it be the "original" one?)

I REALLY want to use this software, it'll get me out of my FMS "rut" Can anyone help me out on this or give me a suggestion (or even files to help me get this package up to speed and usable?) I'm going to contact Great Planes and see what they can do for me first.

We'll see if the "great" company lives up to it's name!

You might go directly to the source of support, KnifeEdge, the developers and ask. And the simulator forum here on RCU is a good choice, since your question is not really one for a beginners forum.

http://www.knifeedge.com/forums/

You can import the g3.5 add on models/sceneries into the G4.
It takes a little while to get use to the software. Adjusting the model's parameters, camera..etc

It helps me a lot in practicing new manuvers. I had a heck of a time with a torque roll in real life becuase I
had to do it at 2-3 mistakes high. But with a sim I'm able to see the model closer and make corrections better...or actaully not over correct.
Plus I had a bad habit i needed to correct..adding control input but not power when the model falls from a stall. It helped me in that aspect
becuase I was able to anylize what the heck I was doing wrong over and over again with a sim. Bascailly get more stick time instead of
gluding back sticks times.

yeah....bascailly oriantations..becuase the rudder and elevator gose backwards when the bottom of the model is facing me.

I nevered expected a sim to emulate any of my models exactly..beucase my 4*s dosn't flies/feels like anyone else's 4* to begin with anywho.lol
Plus all of my 4*s don't flies/feels the same..even if I did use the same TX to control them.

So to me..going from the G4 or anyother sims is sort of like getting the feel of a different model.

I already knew how to fly and land without a sim..yeah the ground effects or landings are not the same..oh well better than nothing
like it was back in the days.lol

One option is to get a "port-replicator" for your notebook. You would have to look for one that has a game port though (probably online). You might be able to find one of those for around $60. Probably not the answer you are looking for but it should allow you to use the software.

Well Found someone Selling Realflight G4 in Japan cost is about $370 [:@] ... Seen on the net that in the USA it is about $199 ...

So today I down loaded the demo and can say I crashed about 20 times. Getting the plane in the Air is easy, keeping it up there with out crashing is a nightmare at the moment.

Is it me or has everyone that has never flown crashed and burned this much in the first 1 hour??


Think I need to order the Program as using the keyboard is a hassel.

I have finally switched to Real Flight G4. It is a great simulator. However , I find the landings little too forgiving .In fact in many cases if you made a shallow dive onto the ground at high speed , the plane just bounces off ! In fact in many ways I still like my old Real Flight G2.

The default setting for gear strength is far too forgiving to accomodate newbies...

Just go into the physics editor and set the gear strength to about 8-10% or so.

What's a "Tree effect"?

In G4 you can set thermal emitters to introduce turbulence at specific areas.

I find this very useful. Our field has the runway on a plateau, and during slight gusts, the updrafts and downdrafts from the runway edges will suddenly push a plane up or down. I can set an emitter off to one side of a runway with a high degree of variance to simulate this.

Couple this with the wind variation settings and you end up with a fairly realistic wind environment.

Re: Depth of field.

Actually the sim helps with this a LOT.

Since you get no actual depth perception in a 2D simulator, you can get used to NOT relying on depth perception at all.

At distance mine is horrible anyway. Thanks to the sim and the corresponding lack of depth perception in the sim, I've learned to use landmarks as aids when flying and landing. So this has helped immensely.

does anyone know if you could hook up the G4 and run it thur my HDTV?


thanks
Joe

For the beachbrada:
The G4 is a toy as are all of the RC flight simulators.
It will help you overcome the orientation problems of flying away from you and towards you, plus it is fun.
Is it the same as flying a real RC plane ??
No it is not.
For the record I gave my brother G3 and I have G4, neither one of us play with it very much.

For Harleysr1:
If you can connect your computer to your HDTV, the G4 will display just fine.

heck, if you feel like sellin it or givin it away, let me know, all I have is FMS with an E sky controller, I lile useing my sim, cause I dont get to fly MAYBE one a week, between work and school, I don't have a lot of time and when I do get to fly like today, it was too windy[:@] and the guy that was gonna train me, said it would not be any fun, just trying to fight the wind

Many new PCs have HDMI output . I have used the HDMI output from my PC to connect to HDTV and works perfectly. Real flight G4 graphics work great on HDTV.

nm figured it out

I love the G4 sim and just upgraded to g4.5 for free and what a difference in realism. Planes with wheel skirts tend to bounce when taking off on grass fields and if you get the g4 the g4.5 is free and takes 10 minutes to download and is a automatic install. Also you get more planes and fields. I just went to knifeedge and downloaded the escapade as mine is almost done so I have been practicing on that alot. As stated above, make sure to use wind, and what I do is change the direction of the wind NOT knowing the direction of change I made. I did not use an instructor this sim helped me solo my alpha 40 with a 46ax and its not a game so do NOT treat it like one, pretend if you crash your plane that you ruin yours in real life. Take if very serious, I have spent 2 hours per day everyday on the sim and it has helped me alot. Helps you with controlling the plane when coming at you as everything is reversed. IMO it is the best 250$ or so you can spend. It will save you many planes, that I assure you. Practice and more practice. Try and get 2 hours ed if you can, try different planes, wind speed, direction of wind, flying fields and always try and hit the runway unless you fly on grass as I do most of the time, then download 4.5 from GPS website for free.

OPJOSE,
How do you adjust the gear strength. I looked all over the settings on RFG4 last night and could not find anywhere to do this. I am currently working on soloing, and would love to make the landings more realistic as I have found you can really plop a plane down on the sim with no damage where it would destroy my real plane.

"edit" the plane.

In the plane editor enable "advanced" properties.

Now either click on the gear itself on the plane ( to select that sub-assembly ) or select it on the lower left hand window.

On the lower right hand window scroll down until you find the strength percentage. You can adjust this for each part or object in the sim.


Here is my rule of thumb.

If you were to take a REAL plane and hold it 10 feet in the air, then let it plop down level, most would break their landing gear off.

I use this as a test for the fidelity of the breakoff strength on a G3/G4 model.

e.g. Fly the plane from takeoff quickly straight up, then cut the engine holding full up elevator.

The plane should plop back down.

If the gear doesn't break off, I weaken it until it does.


Often I set the gear strength way below this to force me to grease all of my landings.

This gets reflected in real world approaches and landings.