I use FMS because Im a poor cheap *Expletive* who can afford much else.

I use my JR TX and really like the sim.

However, being a n00b to the hobby so to speak, I am wondering how realistic the flight dynamics are?

I realize that no flight sim is going to teach me everything to fly, and am working with an instructor, (As stated in other threads) soon as I have my AMA, another month or three at most, he will take me up on the club trainer till I have my bird flight ready.

What I have the sim for is practicing what I already know, and just plain playing around.

Oh and please dont tell me that because i cant afford this or that I shouldnt be in the hobby. Being broke all the time just means I take longer to get my ducks in a row, and am more careful with what I have..

I'm wondering the same thing about FMS, but cant really get any valuable input on the sims.

This is going to be a can of worms!!

First if you use FMS to simply learn control imputs for basic training it will
serve you quite well. If you want to be a 3D pro the answer is not so much.

Just remember that flying a sim is like going to the field and putting a paper bag
over you head with a small square hole cut out for viewing.

What I did with FMS was fly lots of different plane and practice landing doing a clover leaf pattern( ie:
takeoff right to left, bank hard right, bank hard left, line up and do a touch and go left to right, and
keep repeating till you have formed a 4 leaf clover. Fly lots of different models they are all a little different.
And practice flying both ways inverted. Also do low slow inverted passes with the Airbus it looks quite funny
inverted with the landing gear.

And oh yeah. Stand up when your flying with your antena up. I feels more like the real thing.

Not as bad as you think. That goes for ANY sim. Anything more than basic orientation and controls is nothing more than a game. In FMS, you hit the ground, you wreck and have to reinitialize the plane. In G3, you wreck, you see pieces fly off and it makes pretty noises, and you have to reinitialize the plane. The only advantage the more expensive sims can do that FMS can't is channel 5 and 6. As for being realistic, and flight dynamics. There is not an airplane on the market that will fly exactly like it does in a sim ... any of them. Sims assume perfect Cg, latteral ballance and wing incidence. I played with G3 for a while until I saw that a turbine engine aircraft pulled to the left just like a combustion engine and prop. None of them are going to react like a real plane.

As state above FMS just lacks the 5th and 6th channels...no spin props, control surface,smoke etc.
So the trick is the feel of your TX and how you set your TX up.

by clicking OFF the fix camera veiw, this also gives a greater or wider view.
use the numbers keys to adjust the camers.

you can open the .scn files with notepad and re set the pilot and model posistion to your liking.

FMS is free , so there's no product surport. It's users active.
It's not as user friendly as other sims..no quick edit table or menu ,but it's FREE..lol
But there's 1000 of models you can download and 1000 of sceneries you can make.

There's a parimeter editor add on in the 2.8 version. What dose that do ?
it allows you adjust the model physic.lol
mass, wieght, wing chord engine. prop size...and etc. etc.lol
but if you own another sim ..you're not going to look into that.

anyway it's not a bad thing to have untrim models in FMS. becuase I'll help you in flying
different types of planes and it'll help your reaction time incase something gose in real R/C flying.

it difficult to tell's what feels real..even in real R/C ..I simply set up my radio different then other people.
so when poeple say..that dosn't feel real...I don't really know what they're talking about.
In real life R/C..it take time for me to trim and set up my model to my liking to begin with.
My model is never going to feel the same as someone's else models..simply because of engine.prop combination
it wieghts different, it's trim different, the CG is different

you know as well as I do there's models set up to do 3d in FMS up the wazoo.
well, you can make a trainer torque roll in real life..just add more power and make it a little tail heavy.lol
will FMS help you in doing a torque roll ?? of course it will. it'sll help you in oriantations.

you're on the right track, a sim can never replace the real deal..there's too many factors.
I wouldn't fly a torque roll too close to me in real life . lol

yeah...hold the sticks with your thumb and index fingers gently,
when your flying a heli

the stock FMS dosn't look too good...but mine looks different..lol

(moderator edited for the general public.... kids and families come here)

I have yet to get my flight sim, so I haven't actually used any of them yet. Like you, I am just getting started and looking into all of this. On the other hand, I've spent a lifetime in software development and game design. It is very difficult, as you have said, to get information on the RC flight sims. I've looked into them a lot and decided on G3.5 for myself based almost entirely on my experience with software development knowing very little details about the sims, actually. For someone on a budget, who wants a sim primarily as a learning tool for RC planes I would actually recommend the FMS that you are asking about. It is very inexpensive and will do what you want it to do, help you learn to fly the real thing. If money is not a concern I would strongly recommend G3.5 for many software industry related reasons that I won't go right now.

Basically, if you want one cheap FMS appears to be the best choice, while if the money is not a concern G3.5 is probably the best choice. I would also add that I strongly suspect that Hangar 9's FSone will either be discontinued or extensively redesigned in the near future. Again, all of this is based solely on my experience with software development and I am a newbie to RC and have not actually used any of the flight sims yet.

It is not all or nothing - like paying $200 or only get free fms. You may look at ClearView from http://rcflightsim.com - at $40 is good alternative to expensive simulators.

Compared to the others, FMS is a piece of doo doo. You get what you pay for. Having said that, I practiced only with FMS and flew my trainer solo without anyone's help. Got it down in one piece after almost hitting a passing car. Promptly got an instructor! You can learn the basics, and I do mean basics with FMS. If you have already solo'd, you won't get much out of FMS.

FMS is great for practicing basic stick maneuvers, take-offs, landings, etc...however, a lot of it depends on the design of the plane you are flying. I have a SIG Kadet LT-40 and have downloaded the plane into my FMS. It is similar to my real plane, however, it does not glide as much as my real trainer. Since individuals design their own planes, a lot of it will depend on the designer.

Where I find FMS invaluable is when I can't get hooked up with my instructor (still on the buddy box) or when the weather does not cooperate. I can still fly and get "virtual stick time" and practice landings and take-offs. I don't think any of the sims will be all that realistic, but for what you pay, i think FMS is a GREAT program!

I need the LT-40 for my wife, can ya help me out? Can't find it anywhere on the web so far.

Ronnie-The Toolman

I tried a few of the sims before I settled on this one. I like FMS. It is the only one that is actually 3d which is nie for a change. Setting to chase camera and cruising is fun but doesn't help you much. The problem that I had with FMS is that it is just too easy. I messed around with G3 a fair bit as well as the demo for clearview and found them very similar. They are both pretty tough to control, which seems to make more sense as it is tough to control a real CP heli. So since I wanted to use my own tX anyway and clearview offers lifetime free upgrades instead of charging you for every little expansion pack that comes along, I went with cleaview. It can use all of the same background files as the rest of the sims. Has really good software to set up your controller and works on a modest system better than G3 even thougb they look very similar.


Caution with Clearview: It is very ineficient with your hardware and requires a very good machine to run smoothly. Make sure the demo runs well before you waste your money on it like me. I am very disapointed with the results and my computer is only 1 year old 1.8 gig with a gig of ram and a 128 MB video card.

Now there is a real breakthrough. Do you have to buy a special monitor to keep your desk from getting wet? Can you put the pc into the freezer and later fly off frozen lakes?

"I am wondering how realistic the flight dynamics are?"

In my opinioni: Not very.

FYI, I too tend to be, shall we say, militantly frugal; after using FMS for six months and then trying a commercial sim package's demo version, I found the latter noticably more 'realistic' in its dynamics; so much so that I immediately decided I would have to find a way to afford the commercial version. I am happy with what I got for what I spent; I was not happy with FMS despite spending nothing on it.

.

I fly g3 and FMS. G3 is of course a lot better than FMS if you want better graphics, better sounds, better interface, and maybe I guess a little better dynamics. To be honest I cant tell a lot of difference between the flight physics. The better graphics of a more expensive sim can mentally put you in a more dynamic rc world if you really get into it. But maybe that’s not what your looking for. If you just want a simple rc interface simulation between the electronic and dynamic world than the cheap FMS could be worth 0 or 200$. Depending on how you use it. It could save you hundreds. Bottom line any sim free or $$$ they all exercise your hand and eye coordination and muscle memory. And in our hobby with our squirely little toys that’s priceless.

I used FMS because I'm a tightwad and never felt like spending $300 on Real Flight. It served me just fine learning to fly a heli.

Has anyone has any problems with running FMS? I got it free with my Esky Co-Comanche. I ran setup and it installed fine - but I go to run it and get one of those generic Windows errors saying an error has occured, and that's it. Running XP media centre edition - though I'm running it on my iMac through Parallels.....wonder if there's a problem there.

k

FMS on XP needs a d3drm.dll in the system folder.

-- ggunners

sorry to be a deadhead - is that file going to be floating in another directory or do i need to get it from somewhere?
k

Just Google d3drm.dll. You'll find several links that will help you find it online.

Just remember to download to a different directory and then cut the file and paste it into \Windows\System32

-- ggunners

That is a valid point. However, sims like Phoenix and Realflight G4 make FMS feel like a joke. The physics in those two are leaps and bounds beyond FMS. It is possible it is at my current skill level, but I can not learn any tricks from FMS due to the poor physics.

FMS is good for takeoff's, landings, heli orientations hover training etc. Once you get serious into 3D manuvers for helis or planes FMS falls behiond here. The pricetag is reasonable to me for the amount of skills I have gained doing 3D type manuevers on Phoenix and G4.

hi mate
i did that, although the file was already there. I have read about not being able to run FMS under Parallels, only Boot Camp. But the beta of Boot Camp has been taken down - does anyone know where I can get it?
k

I think FMS is just fine for basic training or fixed gear or belly landing or just learning to be smooth and steady with the controls. Sure it doesn't allow for retracts or flaps, but I can tell you that on first flight with one of my new birds i flew in winds that were stronger than anticipated and crashed. I wondered if my lack of maintaining control in high winds was to blame so I duplicated those conditions (windspeed, direction) with an FMS model of that airplane and go the same results as in real life. So i practiced with different settings to test the limits of the plane and well, when I flew my repair flight, no problems. I say FMS is good to go for free or otherwise. Plus you can find tons of models out there.