Progress on Greg Pepper's S-51 update

[OBIO]

This morning, I opened my e-mail to find a completely new set of flight dynamics for the S-51...done by Michael Davies, the same gent who brought us the amazingly nice-to-fly FDE of the AS S-55. I dropped the new dynamics into the S-51 and AWAAAAAAAAY I went. The helo is much more nimble, much SLOWER, and much more in line with being an early, small helo. Still has all the great qualities of the S-55 (stable, nice hover, easy to take off and land).

To make this update even more expansive, I took the MDL tweak one step further and gave it full on reflective textures. Now we will be able to do nice bare metal skins for the helo....which is NICE.

I will be doing some tweaking to the sound pack for the S-51. Not sure what changed in the air file that would effect the sound pack behavior, but most of the rotor sounds are gone..so I will have to whip up some magic and see what I can come up with.

OBIO

[p3aewguy]

Looking forward to this upgrade. I love flying the S-55.

Dave

[Quicksand]

Good news, indeed, OBIO. :applause::applause::applause:

[Morras]

I second that what quicksand and p3aewguy (http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/member.php?u=5833) said! Would really like to do some SAAF repaints for the s-51:woot:

[Mick]

... Not sure what changed in the air file that would effect the sound pack behavior, but most of the rotor sounds are gone... so I will have to whip up some magic and see what I can come up with.
OBIO

This issue came up a not long ago in this forum. Someone posted about it and as a result I was able to make a sound set work with a helo that it wouldn't work with before.

Then I promptly forgot whatever it was that I thought I'd learned...

I seem to have a dim recollection that it might have had to do with the engine type in the GeneralEngineData section of the aircraft.cfg file. Check that section in the original cfg file and the new one and if the engine type doesn't match, that's it. Whatever it was, all that was required was one simple change.

If it's not engine type, we know that someone here has the answer, so maybe you could post the question and hope they'll see it and respond.

I wish I could better recall exactly what I read, but I've wracked my brain to no avail...

[t.creed]

any updates on the fde tweek for this s-51..??

rgds
t.creed

[michael davies]

Sorry guys, totally missed this one.

Not sure on the sounds, as far as i know its the same engine type as the S-55, and yes it is the engine type which determines how the sounds are played and it is quite critical to the helo in use.

For helos there are four types that can be used and I'll lay them out and explain as best I can, pros and cons.

Ok the default helos use two types,

type 3 which is helo turbine
type 0 piston engine

Both of these need corrolating sound cfgs to match each engine type.

MS really dropped the ball with the type 3, it does not support start or stop sounds and locks out many animations like spoiler, flaps, wing fold etc etc, of course why would helos needs these animations doh, oddly developers like these axtra animations for natty things like extra panel openings, winches and such forth, still there not to be. Type 3 also has specific gauges that work with it, torque and rotor RPM are two off the top of my head, ohh and rotor brake does not work.

Type 0 is the psiton variant, unlike type 3, MS got most of it right, it does support start and stop sounds and if I recall correctly, its been a long day !, support extra animations, and the rotor brake does work, type 0 is perfect for piston engined helos and supports them in every way, like type 3 it also needs a specific formatted sound cfg to get the most from it.

Ok, now it gets messy, what happens if you want start and stop sounds with a turbine helo, with a type 3 you cant, so many figured theyd change it to a type 1 which is a fixed wing turbine, that works for many aspects, it adds back the start stop sounds and the extra animations, but again no rotor brake and worse yet some gauges fail to function correctly, mostly linked to the rotors and some engine parameters, after all it is a jet has has no such appendums.

The other solution is the turbo prop, a helicopter with fixed wing in reality, it has a turbine and it has a rotor ( prop). This also fixes the start and stop sounds and adds back the animations, rotor brake works and most guages work fine too, the holy grail one would assume, however they are very fickle, usually CTRL + E fails to start the engines and many back ground gauges are needed and cfg tweaks to make it more reliable, read trick the fixed wing FDE to behave like its standing on its tail and taking off vertically.

All four types of cfg need specific sound cfgs to match.

The Alphasim S-55 was originally a type 0, which is correct as its a piston engine so its the right type of file to use, this is the basis that I used for the S-51...I think ?....runs and checks.....yes it is :) phew !. So it will need the corresponding sound cfg to get all the start and stop sounds to work. Tims original files he sent over are also a type 0 so if the sounds worked for that file then they should work for the new one ?, I dont have the sounds right now so cannot tweak the cfg to get it working again.

I suspect and its a long shot here, that the sounds are going to be triggered by rotor or engine rpms, these seemed to be playing up a little and the engine is close to stalling when hand fulls of collective are applied, it might be that there is not enough overhead spare rpm or power to trigger the sound cfg to work correctly, if I punch the old figures back in then it'll go too fast and be too powerfull.

I'll need a copy of the sound set to be able to set up the cfg accordingly, its not the first time this has happened, its easy to blinker on one aspect and then find it screws something totally irrelevant elsewhere. The other option is fiddle with the cfg and alter the way the sounds are triggered, sometimes easy, other times not.

Need the original sounds and more data as to whats gone missing etc to help more effectively.

Again, sorry for the lack of previous action, totally missed this thread, thanks to Mr T Creed for bumping it to catch my eye !.

Best

Michael

[OBIO]

Michael,

I found out what the problem was with the rotor sounds.....and it had nothing to do with your new FDE for the S-51. It was a simple error on my part. I had the sound aliased to a work in progress sound pack that I am tweaking for the stock R-22 Robinson helo...and not to the S-51 sound pack I put together. Once I found that, I realiased the sound to the S-51 sound pack and all is well. Full start up and shut down sounds for the Pratt and Whitney R-985, full rotor sounds. Every thing is hunky dory!

I will be shooting a copy of the newest mdl tweak to sirgalahad, who is working on some skins for the S-51 as well, then I need to go in and create alpha channels for the paints I have done. I will be uploading the repaint kit (layered Photoshop 5.0 format...can be using in any Photoshop version 5.0 and up and in Paint Shop Pro as well).

OBIO

[t.creed]

thanks guys..!! :ernae:
rgds
t.creed