Virtavia Martin SP-5B Marlin released!

[Ferry_vO]

Get yours here: http://secure.simmarket.com/virtavia_martin-sp-5b-(p5m-2)-marlin-fsx.phtml

Other vendors will surely add it to their inventory in the next days.

[Roger]

Thanks for the hu Ferry!

[YoYo]

Hello???!!!
Anybody in home? No any "the user" screenshot and opinion after the first touch? :wavey:

[icycle]

I have it, and its a little "quirky" for me. Visuals are excellent, but having issues with artificial horizon & autopilot not working - at all. Also, once I land on the water, plane will not accelerate beyond 90 knots, and as a result, cannot take off. Sent a note to support. May have to try to delete & re-install.

Bill

[tommieboy]

.....Also, once I land on the water, plane will not accelerate beyond 90 knots, and as a result, cannot take off....

After you land on the water, try holding down the Ctrl key and press the F4 key, and then see if you can take off. Might be a prop pitch setting issue.

Tommy

[icycle]

I think I narrowed down the issue I am having, to something in the gauges....

On a whim, lined out the Autopilot gauge that came with the plane in the panel config, and dropped in the Alphasim B52 AP (very old, but functionally similar). Lo and behold, when loading up in FSX, the Artificial Horizon works, the Autopilot works, the flaps work (a little thing "missing" that I had not noticed before), all up to 1-2 minutes, or 1000ft, and then there is a quick "stutter", and Artificial horizon cuts off, the autopilot cuts off (can't be re-activated), and the flaps stop working!

Crazy things that seem unconnected, but all seem to fail at once. Tried deleting & re-installing a couple of times, and no change.

All pretty silly actually...

Bill

[tommieboy]

.....the Artificial Horizon works, the Autopilot works, the flaps work (a little thing "missing" that I had not noticed before), all up to 1-2 minutes, or 1000ft, and then there is a quick "stutter", and Artificial horizon cuts off, the autopilot cuts off (can't be re-activated), and the flaps stop working......

Just checked this morning, and my artificial horizon and flaps work as expected. I haven't gotten around to testing the autopilot yet.

Tommy

[YoYo]

Manual for this model: http://www.virtavia.com/temp/Virtavia%20SP-5B%20Marlin%20Manual.pdf .

[tommieboy]

.....I haven't gotten around to testing the autopilot yet.....

OK, just spent about half an hour running the autopilot (via the 2D pop-up panel) through the basic features; heading, altitude changes, level flight, etc. and all seems fine on this end. Works the same whether the 2D pop-up panel is access from within the VC or the exterior views.


Tommy

[dvj]

Where are the screenshots? No one?

[TARPSBird]

Leaving NAS Sangley Point, Philippines.

[fsafranek]

Crazy things that seem unconnected, but all seem to fail at once. Tried deleting & re-installing a couple of times, and no change.

After Bill's emails to Phil at Virtavia we all ran a series of additional tests on the AP (both the included and substituted others) and could find no issues. Baffling but isolated.
:ernaehrung004:

[icycle]

Frank,

Sent a follow up to Phil(support) this AM. Was able to "fix" with a little thought. Isolated the issue as something "electric", as some of the gauges were inop, as were the flaps. Out of curiosity, opened up the Albatross aircraft.cfg file, and noticed that all of the entries had "0" for minimum voltage (3rd entry). All of the entries for the Marlin had values, some of them high.

On a whim, changed all electrical entries for min voltage on the Marlin to "0", and viola the Marlin now works fine!!

Puzzling, but now it seems to work. Never had an issue like this, for all the other dozens of aircraft that I have (embarrassed to say how many that I actually have, not even my wife knows).

Bill

[dvj]

Just download and went for a quick spin.

- it's a weird looking bird, but great textures.
- flight model seems overly sensitive for such a big aircraft.
- many 3D switches in the VC that look great but don't work. I assume that functionally would come with a later update? One could only hope because the VC is quite nice and is just begging for more functionality.
- rides a little high on the water. So did the Albatross. This can be adjusted
- Sound set not as good as it could be for a big prop like this.
- great for patrolling around FTX, southern Alaska.


d

[mal998]

Regarding flight characteristics here is an excerpt from the Pilot's Flight Manual The aircraft was fairly easy to fly. The Marlin has been designed to be flown with the Realism slider turned full on(full right).

6257
click on the photo

[mal998]

As far as the Marlin riding in the water she rode fairly high as is clearly shown in this photo:

6259
click on the photo

[Ferry_vO]

- rides a little high on the water. So did the Albatross. This can be adjusted


I found a few photos online of the Marlin in the water, and all show the aircraft resting on just one wingtip float.

[mal998]

While researching the Marlin, I came across remarks made by a former Marlin pilot regarding the fact that it was not unusual for the aircraft to carry fuel in only one bomb bay tank. This not only resulted in the aircraft sitting float down on one side but also required the pilot to make adjustments on take off in order to keep the bird straight. I'll try to locate those passages.

Having said that if you would like to duplicate that condition, open up the aircraft.cfg and locate the fuel section. Once you've done that remove the comments // from only one of the external tanks. That will make the aircraft heavy on one side. Be careful taxiing and taking off.

[dvj]

DX10

http://fsfiles.org/flightsimshotsv2/images/2014/04/03/gyukN.jpg

[tommieboy]

This is a hard bird to get some nice photographic angles on, but I guess that's what makes it different. The prop texture is from my Martin Mars Coastal Command repaint with a bit of tweaking.

Tommy


http://home.roadrunner.com/~tommieboy/MMR_987.jpg

http://home.roadrunner.com/~tommieboy/MMR_988.jpg

http://home.roadrunner.com/~tommieboy/MMR_982.jpg

http://home.roadrunner.com/~tommieboy/MMR_981.jpg

[tommieboy]

A few more images......

http://home.roadrunner.com/~tommieboy/MMR_992.jpg
http://home.roadrunner.com/~tommieboy/MMR_984.jpg

http://home.roadrunner.com/~tommieboy/MMR_983.jpg

[noddy]

And I thought this years F1 cars were ugly.

Cracking shots gents.

[tommieboy]

DX10....

Wow....that self-shadowing looks so clean and sharp! On my old rig with DX9 that self-shadowing would have sand paper edges.

Tommy

[fsafranek]

I saw the email just now. Great detective work.
:ernaehrung004:


Frank,

Sent a follow up to Phil(support) this AM. Was able to "fix" with a little thought. Isolated the issue as something "electric", as some of the gauges were inop, as were the flaps. Out of curiosity, opened up the Albatross aircraft.cfg file, and noticed that all of the entries had "0" for minimum voltage (3rd entry). All of the entries for the Marlin had values, some of them high.

On a whim, changed all electrical entries for min voltage on the Marlin to "0", and viola the Marlin now works fine!!

Puzzling, but now it seems to work. Never had an issue like this, for all the other dozens of aircraft that I have (embarrassed to say how many that I actually have, not even my wife knows).

Bill

[YoYo]

dx10

http://fsfiles.org/flightsimshotsv2/images/2014/04/03/gyukn.jpg

lovely !!!

[TARPSBird]

My screen shots always pale in comparison to other people's. My big gripe is I'd like to get rid of the jagged edges on the aircraft's surfaces. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[YoYo]

My screen shots always pale in comparison to other people's. My big gripe is I'd like to get rid of the jagged edges on the aircraft's surfaces. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Which GPU (graphic card)? Perhaps You must turn on AntiAliasing and Anisotropic.

[TARPSBird]

Which GPU (graphic card)? Perhaps You must turn on AntiAliasing and Anisotropic.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti

[mal998]

As for the electrical issues reported earlier in the thread, I have modified the settings and presume that the Boss will do the same on the release version. If the issue shows itself again please let us know so we can apply the proper fix.

That was heads up trouble shooting by Bill. Thanks!

[dvj]

Glacier patrol

http://fsfiles.org/flightsimshotsv2/images/2014/04/04/lqw4L.jpg

[dvj]

http://fsfiles.org/flightsimshotsv2/images/2014/04/04/MYHhJ.jpg

[tommieboy]

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti

I have a much older card than that and can take some pretty good scene captures. Even though I set up Anti-aliasing (and a whole bunch of other settings) in the graphic card's setup software, I still have to check the following boxes in FSX Settings - Display for Anti-aliasing to work:

Filtering: Bilinear
Anti-aliasing

Not sure why I have to do this, but it was the same deal with my old ATI card / software too.....:banghead:

Tommy


http://home.roadrunner.com/~tommieboy/MMR_980.jpg

[mal998]

Lovely pictures all!

[dvj]

One last post for today.

http://fsfiles.org/flightsimshotsv2/images/2014/04/04/Yx4rF.jpg

[TARPSBird]

YoYo & tommieboy, thanks for the suggestions. I turned on Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic filtering in the FSX settings and that helped quite bit to eliminate the jagged edges. I'm going to do some more experimenting, I have to admit I don't have a good grasp on what the filtering does or doesn't do.

[tommieboy]

......I have to admit I don't have a good grasp on what the filtering does or doesn't do.

Join the club.......I have always struggled with optimizing the graphics settings with every card I have ever installed.

Tommy

[YoYo]

YoYo & tommieboy, thanks for the suggestions. I turned on Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic filtering in the FSX settings and that helped quite bit to eliminate the jagged edges. I'm going to do some more experimenting, I have to admit I don't have a good grasp on what the filtering does or doesn't do.


No problem, here, on SOH is more suggestions: http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?49661-Anti-alias-and-filtering-in-FSX .
It depences from resolutions too and power of computer, for example I have AntiAliasing x4 and Anizo x16, sometimes too use SuperSampling (before on resolutions 1920x1080).
Always it has impact for FPS too. You can setup it direct on soft of Graphic Card and/or in FSX settings.

[usafvet]

Is there a possibility of getting some JASDF paints/textures for this fine bird? They usually were quite dazzling and bright.

6445
6444

RAAF:

6446

USN Test:

6447

VXE6:

6448

[usafvet]

Ok, I am stupid, I have no AP and radio, Art. Horizon locked. The third entry for the electrical is.....A,B,C?

A B C
light_beacon = 0, 10, 19

[icycle]

Don't worry, you're not stupid, it took me a fermented malt beverage (or two) to stumble on a potential solution to a similar issue I had.

Each entry in the electrical section of the aircraft.cfg is laid out with three entries: 1st is for "Bus Type", 2nd is for "Max amp"(erage), 3rd is "Min(imum) Voltage". So I simply changed ALL the "Min Voltage" entries(3rd entry in each line) to "0".

So your example of
light_Beacon = 0, 10, 19,

change the "19" to "0", so it reads

light_Beacon = 0, 10, 0

do that for all entries, and see if it works. It fixed the issue for me.....

Bill

[expat]

Is it just me that sees a family resemblance? :)

http://thlog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/The-Muppets-Beaker-iPad-case.jpg

http://fsfiles.org/flightsimshotsv2/images/2014/04/04/lqw4L.jpg

[tommieboy]

I've up loaded an alternate prop texture to avsim's library; search for the following file:

martin_marlin_alternate_prop_texture_v1.0.zip

It's a lot more subdued, but still looks great with the default prop animation.

Tommy


http://home.roadrunner.com/~tommieboy/MMR_974.jpg