Eagle Rotorcraft Simulations is proud to present the Enstrom 280FX helicopter

[euroastar350]

Ladies and gentlemen,

For the first time in the history of the flight simulator series has an Enstrom helicopter of any version has ever been produced, either as freeware or payware. Eagle Rotorcraft Simulations is proud to present to the world the very first Enstrom helicopter, the 280FX for FSX Acceleration. Check Avon Brochure (https://www.ladysavings.com/publix-weekly-ad/?avon/) and Builders Warehouse Specials (https://www.ladysavings.com/publix-weekly-ad/?builders-warehouse/). The package will be online in a few hours while we build the installer and upload to the various sites (avsim, simv, flightsim.com and HC) Watch those sites:ernae:

[falcon409]

Many Thanks Euroastar. It's a beauty. Gonna get a lot of air time. . . .I can already see that, lol.

"Looks like it's time for a sticky"

[jeansy]

Many Thanks Euroastar. It's a beauty. Gonna get a lot of air time. . . .I can already see that, lol.

"Looks like it's time for a sticky"

+1 sticky

[euroastar350]

Paintkit to come in a few days, watch for that as well.

[TomSteber]

:applause::applause::applause::applause:
Might just have to skip work today!
Oh, better not.

[TomSteber]

Will it be uploaded here as well?

[kilo delta]

Excellent news! :applause:


Available to d/l at Simviation > Here (http://simviation.com/1/search?submit=1&keywords=ers280fxfsx.zip&x=0&y=0) <

[TomSteber]

Downloading! :jump:

[Dain Arns]

It's up at FlightSim.com now too, if you want a slightly faster download rate...

[Thunderbolt]

The VC is pressing the frames down to 5-0.

[DaveKDEN]

Fantastic quality! No probs with fps in the VC here.

[Bruce Thompson]

No probs here either.

Thank you Eagle Rotorcraft for this great model.

Bruce

[falcon409]

No framerate problems here either and I don't have a top notch system for sure. Only problem I'm having is that it seems to want to fishtail at times when I get close to the 96kts limit. Also upon landing, the fishtail get's quite violent. Very much like I experienced with FS9 Heli's. I don't have a lot of heli's but the ones I have don't have that same anomaly.

Anyway, here are some shots from a brief flight around the Seattle area. Also, notice the difference between GEX and PNW textures. It dawned on me as I was flying that I had forgotten to activate the "North America" textures again after a recent texture test I ran. I paused, took a quick shot, saved the flight and then closed FSX. . . .activated the PNW scenery and then took another shot when I loaded the flight again.

Great job on the heli. . .whatever the problem, I'll get it worked out, but having some great fun flying in the meantime.

[heywooood]

I am having the fps drop in the VC here...

its a really nice helo though, so I would like to keep it

seems to be an interesting fps impact - looks like the drop occurs when the fov includes the rotors, looking down to the floor or just below the rotor animation gets the fps up where it should be - external views are not affected and are quite smooth.

strange

Win 7 AMD athlon II x4 635 proc. @2.90Ghz 4gigs ram ati5800 series GPU

[Hughes-MDflyer4]

I am having the fps drop in the VC here...

its a really nice helo though, so I would like to keep it

seems to be an interesting fps impact - looks like the drop occurs when the fov includes the rotors, looking down to the floor or just below the rotor animation gets the fps up where it should be - external views are not affected and are quite smooth.

strange

Win 7 AMD athlon II x4 635 proc. @2.90Ghz 4gigs ram ati5800 series GPU

This is a very interesting problem. The funny thing is that the model is very FPS friendly on my system even though I don't have an excellent/extremely powerful computer.


Regarding the handling/FDE...

Once we figure out how to use the Bell 206 FDE in a piston engine helicopter and everything work as its supposed to, we'll be uploading a patch with extremely improved handling.

[vonstroheim]

The VC is pressing the frames down to 5-0.

yes i noticed this too... looks like some VC textures are too big... In the Enstrom_280FX_ST/panel folder, I've reduced VC_1.bmp to VC_5.bmp from 1024x1024 to 256x256 and that does the trick...

[doublecool]

What a Great little Helo :applause::applause::applause:

Thanks so much, Wonderful little beast :jump:

[Dain Arns]

As a long time FSX helicopter driver now, I gotta disagree on the handling, Gents.
I just think you fixed wing guys are being too hard on the control inputs. :icon_lol:

I just flew the Shark around the Las Vegas area for a couple hours, it handles good IMHO.
No fishtailing to report here.
Remember it is a light helicopter, and as such is responsive like the R-22 or R-44.
Light helicopter, light touch.

Also, don't have your realism sliders cranked all the way to the right.
You know that's okay for fixed wings.
But it does silly things to the helicopter flight profiles in FSX
It's okay to back them down to under at least 75%.
My general setting is a couple notches back from 100%
All the rest I set at 50% for helicopter flights.

Just some free advice to make your FSX helicopter experience more fun, take it if you want.:naturesm:

[falcon409]

yes i noticed this too... looks like some VC textures are too big... In the Enstrom_280FX_ST/panel folder, I've reduced VC_1.bmp to VC_5.bmp from 1024x1024 to 256x256 and that does the trick...
Actually you can consider 1024x1024 textures to be the norm in FSX. If you want BIG, try my 4096x4096 textures on the revamped FSX T-33. . . .talk about detailed.

[heywooood]

Actually you can consider 1024x1024 textures to be the norm in FSX. If you want BIG, try my 4096x4096 textures on the revamped FSX T-33. . . .talk about detailed.

yes - 1024x is considered light by FSX standards....

well - something is causing it, but I'm hanged if I know what it is

[Lionheart]

Congradulations Eurostar!

Looks good man!

:ernae: :applause: :ernae:

[vonstroheim]

yes - 1024x is considered light by FSX standards....

These 5 VC textures bitmaps are the very small all white background squares in the panel, behind the gauges, so no need for 1024x1024 textures here, really, I'm even sure 128x128 should be enough!

Now i can fly this wonderful Enstrom everywhere with the same FPS as the default R22... Thanks and bravo to Euroastar350 and Eagle Rotorcraft Simulations!!!

36520

[vonstroheim]

...well - something is causing it, but I'm hanged if I know what it is

News update: in the panel.cfg file, remove the line "texture=$VC_Main_3" in the virtual cockpit section... this is the texture behind the "whiskey" compass... ok you lose the compass by doing this, but this little line was eating away almost 10fps for me! it's a good trade-off...

36593

so maybe no need to scale down theses 1024x1024 texture bitmaps... but those 2 tricks can help...

happy flying!

[heywooood]

Perfecto!

that fixed it for me - thanks for working that out man:salute:

[falcon409]

Yep, same here!:applause:

[mmann]

Yes!! That just gave me an extra 10 (much needed) fps. Thank you for discovering and sharing that info with us.:salute:

Regards, Mike Mann

[Stefano Zibell]

It's a good trade only because we have that nice little GPS on the vc, or else we wouldn't know where we're going. :icon_lol: It wasn't unplayable before, but it is smoother now.
I'll thank you with a nice screenshot! :ernae:

36645

[spatialpro]

I sure hope they release an official update for this, to make sure everyone gets the performance fixes...

[euroastar350]

All issues are being noted and we'll be coming out with a fix. Stay tuned.

[flaviossa]

Interesting that i got ZERO drop in fps with the original package ... It´s perfect in here. Tested looking to all angles inside the vc, up, down, left, right, outside, etc ... Go figure!

[spatialpro]

One thing I'd really like to see in an update is reflective glass in the VC. For instance, I like the versions will no doors, but there is no visible difference looking out of the open door and through of the pexiglass.