da Rock

The following is pulled from the huge FSOne thread that's been mostly about technical problems. I've pulled it because I'd like to see it as a standalone topic. I think its worth the focus. ...........

In the terrific new FAQ, there is a helpful section on thermal flying including a Blue Dot cheat map of the thermals in just one of the thermal sets. Otherwise it's totally up to you to find them.

I've flown the Ascent model there since that's a plane I'm familiar with in the real world. It's tough for me to find and to climb in the thermals even if you know generally where they are. They seem so tiny compared with the size and turning ability of the plane. If I fly high where the thermals are larger in diameter, I lose track of where I am down on the ground, where the map is useful, so so far I cannot find the thermals when I'm at high altitude.

I've used the Variometer, both audio and on-screen. It definitely works, it helps, and the thermals do exist. But realize I likely cannot afford one in the real world. So I don't feel like spending too much time learning and practicing on something that I cannot afford. Actually the same goes for the bombs and the rockets in that game part of this simulation. But I digress...

So far I've not managed to see the visual signs of touching, entering, or leaving a thermal with the Ascent. Neither in person when another person was successfully thermaling, nor in this great simulation. Perhaps the Ascent is just not that good a plane for this type thermaling?

Anyone here played with the FSOne thermaling much or enough to have an comments or suggestions on using it?

da Rock

So far it looks like nobody else has tried to thermal in FSOne. BTW, does it have bungee or winch simulated?

HK182

I don't have much experince thermaling, but the glider does bump around a bit when I somehow manage to hit one, and yes, the sim does have winch launches as well as a high-start.

da Rock

I explored FSOne at the LHS the other day.

The highstart works decent. Didn't try the winch. Had enough trouble figuring out how to get the highstart to "throw". Once I found that out, I'll be darned if I could find one sniff of lift. Never saw the glider lift a tip or run headon into it. Nothing......... Guess there wasn't any lift that day.

FSOneDev

Be sure to select a wind setting that includes thermals. If you do, there will be thermals out there...

da Rock

I was using the kiosk demo setup and didn't see any manual around it. So I couldn't scan the book to get any ideas ahead of time. Just stepped up and started clicking stuff.

What would I do next time to select wind settings that have thermals?

I'm looking forward to trying it out.

HELI-JOKER

My Feedback: (21)

Ive dialed in some thermals and flew off the cliffs-it was a ball!

MSelig

darock -

Gasp ... you did not pick a wind setup. No wonder you had zippo thermals.

On the Kiosk that you tried out is a hard plastic flip book that goes through a lot of scenarios, and I think one includes some wind settings.

For thermal soaring, there's an FAQ here that goes through an example setup. You could print out this FAQ and give it a try at your LHS:

I'd like to try thermal soaring. What's a good example setup for that?
http://www.inertiasoft.com/fsonefaq/#Q1019-FS1

The alternative is to use the manual. On each window in FS One is a green question mark in the top right (see first image below). Click on this and it covers what's on the page. This is the manual and it installs w/ the sim and it's accessible from each page. Clicking the question mark will go to the part of the manual specific to that page. (We still want to add more - like how to setup your own Tx, but for now the FAQ list above covers a lot about setting up one's own Tx, e.g. JR, Airtronics, Futaba, gamepad. Getting the version of the sim w/ the TacCon controller avoids the extra work on setting up a Tx.)

For the Single-Player Freestyle setup, clicking on the question mark tells you to select the things you want: aircraft, flying site (pick one of 25 panos or one of 5 3D sites), takeoff type (pick ground takeoff, hand launch, hi-start, or winch), sun/sky (pick one of 40 skyscapes for 3D sites), and then there's wind (pick a setup - there are over 200 to pick from, including many thermal setups). The manual has links, so clicking on "wind" will take you to the wind part of the manual.

When the sim is running (i.e. you're flying), press the '/' key to see what the keyboard does. Also, the Kiosk should have a color coded key map (card) that shows the same info that you get w/ the '/' key when flying.

Screen grabs of the manual are included below.

Michael

da Rock

Thanks for the info. I plan to swing by that LHS today and will set the "wind" to give some thermals.

I'm quite pleased to hear that thermals are in the sim. I'd say there is now a good chance FSOne might be coming home with me today.

But I would offer a very very mild suggestion that the title "wind" could be "wind/thermals" and it'd be obvious where to find them, at least for "first look" demo users. But truth is, if I'd been more interested in buying at that time I'd have looked in the manual first and found how to set them. As it was, I was just passing the kiosk, no manual was available, and I missed whatever was in the hard plastic pages because I didn't take the time to read them close enough.

whatever........

The reason I'm going to the LHS today is one of the PRIMARY REASONS sims are soooo good. It's going to be cold, windy, and most importantly, it's going to be drizzling today. So I plan to hang out at KCs awhile. BTW, that brings to mind another really unimportant suggestion for improving FSOne. As long as you guys hid thermals in the wind settings, could you also include a temperature setting in the wind settings???? After all, a lot of us like to fly when it's nice and warm, and it'd be more fun for us on days like today to be able to fly in shirtsleeves.

And when are you guys going to wise up and put a drink machine in the clubhouse of some of your "realistic" flying fields? You claim realism, don't you?

STLPilot

My Feedback: (21)

Does FSOne slope soar?