Confirm or deny if it can work on a Mac is the question. Answer is neither. We don't know because we've not done any testing with that setup. All of the development and testing has been on PCs so far.

Michael

What should I do for a simulator? Hope that HH surprises me with a Mac version =/ Oh well, looks like I will just get a plane rather than a sim for christmas

[1] To answer your question about stick input, this is an edit from
another post I made previously:

I think the videos can be used to judge the physics. The only input to
the airplane (motion) is through the sticks: elevator, ailerons,
rudder, throttle, etc. So if the physics were wrong but a sim video
looks right, then that motion could only be achieved by bogus control
inputs in the sim. Flying a sim with wrong physics and bogus control
inputs (to make it look real) implies that a pilot would have some
serious "negative training", i.e. puts in some very wrong stick inputs
to get out some correct looking motion in the video. That is harder
than getting the physics right in the first place. It also implies
that a pilot would be trained to mimic the motions of real airplanes
w/o the help of the correct physics - again this is super
hard. Airplanes in real fly the way they do largely because of the
physics (e.g. snap rolls, spins) - Newton's Laws of Motion at work. So
I think if an airplane looks right in a sim, it looks that way not
because the pilot is jamming in all sorts of weird inputs to make it
look real while constantly compensating for some bad computer
simulation (i.e. wrong equations/bad aerophysics) but it looks real
instead ... because Newton's Laws of Motion (involving the airframe,
prop, fluid and all) are properly modeled and heavily leveraged!

That's the wordy version. The short version ... if it looks, walks
and talks like a duck, it's probably a duck.

[2] The other questions relate generally to what do pilots
think. We've gotten a lot of feedback from many Horizon people, our
developers, beta testers outside Horizon and vendors to-be (who gotten
samples). From what I'm hearing, things feel right and that's my
experience too.

[3] I think developing an RC sim is very much like a full-scale sim
except we don't have to deal w/ the cockpit, navigation,
communication, certification and other things unique to full scale.
We did not have to deal w/ ALPA (thank goodness), but we did work very
closely w/ the people at Horizon and when things did not fly right
... we heard about it! My experience is to trust pilot input
(especially the ones who have flown for many years, e.g. 10+), but the
challenge sometimes is trying to convert that pilot input into
something I understand and can use from the aero/flight-dynamics side.

Michael

Tailslides are another tricky area. In the sim we model the flow
coming at the plane from any direction and any speed, so this includes
'backwards' flow in a tailslide. Mike McConville and Quique Somenzini
did all of the aerobatic lessons ... and looking back tailslides were
not included in the group. But having said that aerodynamics for
tailslides are modeled w/o any fudging and no one has squawked that
they look wrong or anything like that. I think they are basically
right. I spent time looking at flying the planes in all sorts of
unusual attitudes (it's a great acid test), and things appear to be
properly sorted out. Stalls fall in the same category of looking and
feeling right.

Yes, I've got a lot of optimism here (in case someone notices).
Very soon it's going to be out there. Many LHS's will have an FS One
Kiosk setup where people can have a go at it first hand and not have
to settle for my opinion and the details behind it!

Michael

MSelig: I may have missed your answer to my question in earlier posts but I was wondering if my 5 year old Dell Laptop would have even a prayer of running the Sim, even if its may be a little slow or whatever?? It was a good computer at the time but I don't know any details of its components--just that I upgraded it to Windows XP and it handles that fine with about 5 gig left open on the hard drive. Appreciate your help---I am excited to order the sim but not right now if I have to buy a new computer too! Thanks, Jim

I take it that you are referring to lessons that are in FS one. I would like more information on what will be available for tutorials/lessons in FS One for 3D aerobatics.

I've found the other simulators are very lacking in lessons when I last researched them. I am looking for something that will teach me advanced 3D, including showing stick positions.

Thanks
Malcolm

I hope you like the lessons in FS One. They were a lot of fun to do. Yes, the stick positions are shown as well as a running narration of whats going on. There are a series of lessons on snap rolls which is kinda like a real time version of the "Art of the Snap Roll" article I wrote last year. I also did a lesson on the snapping circle and knife edge slide. Quique did one on his rolling harier vertical 8. There are more as well, but my memory is bad at the moment.

Great news today, is FS One will be on Hobby shop shelves within a few days.

Jeez, guys, this has been some really good insider info 'cause it's been from THE INSIDERS themselves.

Thanks for dropping by the studio.....

The best thing to do is compare your computer specs w/ the specs listed on the FS One site.

The sim does require about 4 GB (4 CDs to install and uncompress).

Unless you spent an inordinate amount of money 5 yrs ago on the laptop, I'd speculate that
the chances of it working are slim to none because of graphics card limitations. A lot has
changed in 5 yrs ....

Michael

I received my FS One on Fri-10-6 and Ive spent the whole weekend trying to figure it out-AFTER 3 INSTALLS-I got it to fly airplanes ok but it still has HUGE problems with helis-I have a 4 month old Dell laptop with 2.8 gig dual core P-4,1 Gig ram and a 264 mem ATI card,40 gig HD-more than enough to run this HUGE program-helis are totally unrealistic,it wont load my JR9303 and overall its S-L-O-W
Personally,I think it was released too soon-It has LOTS of bugs

You did not ask any specific questions, but here are some things that
might help:

"S-L-O-W": If you mean slow on installing, yes. With 4 CDs on a
laptop it will be slow. This is partly due to the smaller diameter
drives. It takes longer to write to a small diameter drive vs a
conventional larger desktop drive. Practically all of the time to
install is the time it takes to write to the drive.

If you mean at startup when flying, yes. A lot of data is loaded at
startup, and this is especially true w/ heli's (aero). Again, with a
laptop the time to read from the disk is longer than a desktop.

If you mean when the sim runs, this could be due to a lot of
graphics-card related things. The sim is not slow and your computer
is not slow according to the specs. So turn off anti-aliasing. Turn
off sync to vertical refresh. Those slow things down a lot! We've
also had a lot of experience w/ Dell installed graphics drivers. They
install drivers that are dumbed down (and less capable) so that their
tech support side has an easier time of it (less features on the
Dell-specific drivers/less tech support questions to cover). Their
drivers run slower. So I suggest removing the old drivers and
installing new ones. To do this, you might want to consider using
"Driver Cleaner Pro" to get out all the Dell graphics driver stuff.
That was my own personal approach.

3 Installs: I don't know why this would be required. If you have
feedback on why you decided to do this, it might help in understanding
what happened. When the sim runs, it modifies the options file and
also when you calibrate the calibration file gets written. The
options page has a feature to let you get back to the original
settings. Some dump files get written, but they're not used. So I'm
puzzled w/ why you needed to reinstall (which is definitely time
consuming!). You can always reset the options and also recalibrate.
In effect nothing else changes on the disk.

JR9303: It's been tested w/ the JR radios, so I'm not sure what the
trouble could be here. I use the 9303 all the time w/ the sim. If
you can be more specific, that might help pinpoint the issue.

As you may know, I'm on the developer side and not involved with
day-to-day tech support, but I can try to help here are RCU "after
hours". I think the best bet is to call Horizon to get these things
addressed because that will be the fastest way.

I have a question: Did you get the version w/ the controller or w/o
the controller? I ask this because it's definitely more effort using
your own radio because of the setup time for a specific aircraft.
However, having said that, your JR9303 can be used to emulate *all* of
the functions of the TacCon controller - both sticks, knob, and all
switches. In other words, you can use your JR9303 *just like* the FS
One TacCon controller. In this case, you can use all the "software
radio" setups for all planes and helis. If you go this route, pick
the "FS One" transmitter group.

Sorry you had a tough time of it. I can help if you have questions.

Michael

Mike,

With the FSone controller, are there duel rates available? Flight modes? Can you use your own transmitter with the controller version?

Rob

P.S. On a personal note, I tried to send you a PM but it did not go through so i will say it here: I want to thank you. When I was in High School most of your work on airfoils came out. It motivated me to study math that was outside the realm of the traditional HS curriculum. At the time I though I was going to do some career in aeronautics... well thanks to you I found I had a nack for teaching myself mathematics and was fairly good at math (surprised me). Well fast forward... Now I have a Masters in pure mathematics and plan at some point to go back for my PHD. So thank you for helping me to find my path.

Rob

OK,Mike-lets take it as you brought it-
I mean slow when you start up or change aircraft-3 installs were not my choice but when the first two failed(planes wouldnt fly-elevator controls reversed)I had no choice
9303 -go thru all the setup and hit finish and it just freezes up

FS-One is out a nobody's posting opinions yet? I'd really like to hear some reports of how it matches up to G3.

I was in a shop up in Chicago on Sunday and they had 30 or so copies in stock, but the computer running the demo was down. [:@]

You'd think that if someone was showing interest in a $200 purchase that they'd at least try to get it running...

Just got new flight sim in today I am at a local hobby shop where we have a g3 set up in the store to play also we have the fsone on a computer also. I think G3 is 10 times better. And I personally dont even like g3 I believe reflex is the best one out there. I am going to most likely send all my fs ones back to horizon hobby.

Maybe this will be the first review. I have the 3 big flight sims. I have G3 with all the packs...Aerofly Pro Deluxe and just got FSone today. The flight dynamics in FSOne are right on the money. I have an Ultra Stick and the one in FSOne flies just like the real thing. The H9 Edge is right on the money too as is the Cessna 182. I have or have had all of these at one time or another. I think it is pretty good....and appearantly G3 and Aerofly are concerned as they are getting ready to release updates to combat FSOne. Currently I fly Composite-Arf 2.6 Yak and Extra and the H9 P-47. I think they put together a rock solid flight sim but...it is a little difficult to customize the radio for the 9303 or 10X.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the sim starts and you pick an airplane for the first time (make
a selection), the sim reads all the airplane graphics so that they can
be displayed in the list. That's what's taking long on your laptop.
It only has to read these graphics files once, so if you make a new
aircraft selection it does not have to re-read the files (it's faster the
second time).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Re - 9303 problem: Here's a new FAQ that Horizon is posting:

I am having a problem with my current calibration and re-calibrating
within FS One is not fixing the issue.

This is most likely caused by a controller mis-calibration. Try
deleting the .cal files within
C\:Program Files\FS One\RadioEquip\Calibrations,
after that recalibrate the controller normally within FS One. Move
all of the channels when recalibrating.

So take that step first. With the 9303, make a new airplane in memory,
and be sure that your 9303 is set to PPM modulation for that model.
After that set your 9303 channel assignments per the manual like this:

http://www.inertiasoft.com/forums/FlightManual-9303.jpg

After doing that, pick a plane, say the BVM Bobcat. Then pick the
transmitter. The program is setup to default to picking the FS One
TacCon Controller (you can turn this off in Options). Since it sounds
like you don't have the version w/ the controller, for now pick the Tx
from the "JR 8-Ch Emu + FS One" group. Pick the one listed for the
Bobcat. This is the emulator that will make your 9303 work like the
TacCon controller plugged into the FS One interface.

At this point you have the plane, and the simulator transmitter
picked, and your real 9303 setup w/ the right channel assignments and
PPM mode.

It's time to calibrate. Click on the calibration button and move ALL
channels. Move the right stick to its limits. Move the left stick to
its limits. Move the right slider to its limits, and leave it set in
the middle. Move the AUX2 switch up/down and leave it set in the
middle. Move the FLAP switch up/down and leave it set in the middle.
Move the GEAR switch back and forth and leave it to either side. Put
the throttle stick in the center. Do not move any trims. Click
"Next" repeatedly until you get to the end and you're done
calibrating.

At this point all the sliders in the sim on the Tx page should move
when you move the controls and switches.

Now you're calibrated, and the 9303 will work like the TacCon
controller and use the software radio setups in the sim.

The right slider will act like the resetPlus/instant up buttons. The
AUX2 switch are the flight modes, the FLAP switch will function like
the TacCon flap knob, and the GEAR switch simulates the gear switch.

Having said that, however, click on the "Flight Manual" button on the
fly page to see what the Tx controls do for the specific airplane
you've picked.

Second, since this setup emulates the TacCon controller, you can go
into options and check the "Auto-Load Radio/Controller" which will
automatically make the sim pick the correct controller for each plane,
and in this case it will be the FS One TacCon controller ... again
because your Tx is setup to emulate it.

This is all to get you going w/ your own radio.

If you want to use your own mixes on your Tx, then pick a different Tx
group, in particular the one listed as "JR XP9303 + FS One". In this
group, it lists different radio setups depending on the configuration
of the airplane, e.g. in the list "TRE2AG" means throttle, rudder,
elevator, two ailerons, and gear. Pick the baseline setup that
matches the plane you want to fly. This will properly map the
channels from your real Tx to the simulator controls.

I suggest first going the "emulator" route first. This will
use all the software radio setup in the sim and you don't have program
anything in your real Tx (except setting the proper functions to the
channels and setting the direction/reverse).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, if you have something reversed (e.g. elevator backwards) when
you use your 9303, then use the 9303 to reverse that channel. Once
you have the channel set for the right direction, you're good to go.

Michael

What kind of PC are you running FS-One on?

Well, I just had the opportunity to open up and install FSOne today, and am already going to 'not keep it'.

I wanted to use it with my Futaba 7cap, and the documentation says it comes with the cabling for JR, Hitec and Futaba.
But the Futaba cable is the older 5 pin Din connector, not the smaller square connector that is found on almost every Futaba radio these days.
Of course, for an extra $20, they will sell you the other 7 inch cable, but it is not available yet. So, for that price, it ends up costing the same as G3.

It has some interesting features, such as a HUD which will let you fly your plane when it is out of sight. But it make heavy use of the keyboard (and not the mouse) which is a bit onerous when trying to remember what function is on which key!

Poop!!!

Yes, there are dual rates, flight modes.
Yes, you can use your own transmitter w/ the version w/ the
controller.

The only difference between the two versions is that one includes the
controller in the box.

Some things worth mentioning are this. The sim comes w/ an Options
Menu setting that automatically picks the FS One Tx setup when an
aircraft is selected. Said differently - when a aircraft is picked
from the list, the sim will automatically pick the FS One TacCon
controller setup (`software radio') for that aircraft. This is needed
because the same "software radio" will not drive a glider w/ flaps,
ailerons, crow mix and also the MiG-15 for example. So the sim takes
some of the busy work out of things and automatically picks the Tx.
This option can be turned off in the Options Menu.

I mention this because it sure sounds like people are picking up the
version w/o the TacCon controller and using their own Tx. I'll add
that things will be easier w/ the version w/ the TacCon controller.
There's no doubt the learning curve can be steep when starting w/ your
own radio. Nevertheless, it's very doable as I outlined above
(previous post) w/ the 9303 and making that work like the TacCon
controller to the sim.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a different note - real glad to hear that the airfoil work got you
interested in the technical side of things. I myself have learned so
much from model airplanes! Right now I'm putting together an old NIB
Airtronics Q-Tee 049 "parasol" plane. When I was a kid I built 3 of
these, and they all did a very interesting flat spin. Once in a spin,
down elevator would accelerate the spin and make it go super flat. In
this condition, it was unrecoverable - controls had NO effect beyond
this point. The only way out was to fuel starve the engine which
worked because the fuel pick up was on the opposite side of the fuel
slosh in the spin. (For those who don't have experience w/ the old
Cox engines - they were full-one w/o throttle control.) Without prop
spinning, there's propwash, and the spin would stop. So it was a game
of chicken. How close could I get to the ground w/ the flat spin and
still survive by starving the engine (at the last minute)? I lost the
game ... but now I'm going to be back into it w/ an electric Q-Tee -
back in control!!! Thank you eBay.

Michael

Youre a great guy ,Mike,and your help is appreciated.BUT REALLY,dont you think all the directions you just had to give are ridiculous?
With any of the other sims,its like plug and play.Dont get me wrong,I LIKE Hanger 9 products and I like flying the airplanes on FS ONE.
But Im not here to spend over 200 dollars and then spend most of my time configuring and working the kinks out of someones(ANYONES) new system.
I stand by what I said before-This product is not ready to be marketed.It needs LOTS more R&D-If Im having problems with it(computer guru since 1984-COMMODORE 64,now build and sell custom computers)the the average guy will not be happy.

RoyLFlush -

I'm trying to help here, and glad to hear that you appreciate it. For
me your descriptions have been a bit sketchy so I put a lot of stuff
in my replies to you in hopes that it might help you (and maybe others
as well).

The sim is plug and play w/ the TacCon controller. Install the sim,
go to single player and pick a plane. The Tx icon lights up "not
calibrated", so click on it and calibrate. The calibration
instructions tell the user exactly what to do w/ each stick, knob and
switch. Go back and click the Fly button to fly. That's as simple as
it can get. To end the session hit "Esc". These same instructions
are included on the small install card/guide that comes w/ the sim.

The sim has a lot more capability beyond the plug and play side of
things and that's what I was getting at in the reply above. Ok, too
much detail perhaps, but I think some people might find it useful.

So to get your own radio working with FS One is more work (it requires
some setup on the real Tx side w/ the channel assignments and then
getting an appropriate setup on the sim side to accept those input),
and we think the issue you had related to the calibration file and
perhaps not having your Tx in PPM mode. I still don't know if any of
that fixed your problem (fixing things was my goal!).

The short answer to using your 9303 is what I have above, repeated
here w/ tweaks:

"If you want to use your own mixes on your Tx, then pick a different
Tx group, in particular the one listed as 'JR XP9303 + FS One'. In
this group, it lists different radio setups depending on the
configuration of the airplane, e.g. in the list 'TRE2AG' means
throttle, rudder, elevator, two ailerons, and gear (all of this is
listed in the Tx description box in the sim). Pick the baseline setup
that matches the plane you want to fly. This will properly map the
channels from your real Tx to the simulator controls."

Sorry, but you might have figured out my replies are general not so
short.

Michael

Any chance of a 10X transmitter set up for the FSone.

Thanks

Mike-I have the tac-con controller-Ive been flying all the airplanes on FS One-BUT only AFTER 3 INSTALLS-The helicopter side and the 9303 are another issue
I am going to my LHS tomorrow to HELP THEM to load the program in their computer-they were on the phone with you for hours over the weekend and got nowhere-they were talking about sending everyhting back but I told them I wanted to take a shot at it
2 guys at the LHS as well as 2 customers and myself have not been able to install and fly-
so far,Im the only one of four who have been able to get the thing loaded.Im the only one who has flown it

so the helis are no good so far on it?