StormILM
December 22nd, 2014, 16:49
Just Bought the Razbam Harrier over at Flightsim.com and now having flown the model, I wanted to make my own separate observations regarding previous concerns regarding the V/STOL capability. First and foremost, I know this has all been brought up before and with respect to the authors of both current FSX Harriers, I make no jabs at either regarding quality or "what should be" in regards to either model nor do I wish to fan old flames here. The purpose being as an end user who regularly tweaks my payware and freeware models, I simply wish to improve on what I think is an excellent rendition of the Harrier and hope some shared knowledge can help not just myself but other users.
That being said, I generally like the Razbam AV-8B FDE and sounds but there's no question that the Hover capability could be greatly improved. As a reference, I fell back on my experience with my old Iris AV-8 in FS9 and Rob B's Hover Gauge for that as well as using Dino's F-35B and getting input from a friend who has both the Wilco Harrier and the Razbam Harrier. The general hover and hover transition behavior of the Razbam Harrier is the heart of the issue and from studying the model and gauges, it appears that the method used to get a hover/transition is considerably different from Rob's method and is accomplished via an XML gauge coding (The XML coding is in the RAV8BP_UFC file within the RAZBAM_AV-8B_Plus.CAB file (in the main panel folder). and additional engine entries in the aircraft config file. The other issue is that there is XML coding which controls the engine RPM & spool rate which in turns controls the engine sound. I noticed that during transition and hovering, the engine RPM & spool rate (& sound) are "limited" by the XML coding which during hovering the engine sounds as if it is at high idle on the ramp when it should should be quite loud. The other issue aside from the rough transition & hover behavior is that there is significant RPM & Thrust lag which IMO makes precise control in transitions, hover, and power cut very difficult. From all that I have been able to ascertain, the current gauge & config method would be nearly impossible to tweak to the point of being able to get around the known limitations of FSX to smooth out the transition & hover performance. This being noted, my friend and myself tried a couple of variations of the RCB gauges with the Razbam Harrier which if the RAV8BP_UFC file was commented out and the engine section of the config file being editied, the RCB gauge influenced hover & transition worked perfectly but with the RAV8BP_UFC file disabled, many systems were disabled as well. My question is, does anyone with good XML knowledge as well as the RCB gauges know of a way to easily disable the Razbam XML hover coding (within RAV8BP_UFC file) which will allow the RCB hover gauge to work properly while allowing the other gauges & systems to also work properly?
Again, this post is intended towards finding a workable solution to enhance the hover experience of the end users of this nice model. Any ideas, knowledge, or research would be greatly appreciated.
That being said, I generally like the Razbam AV-8B FDE and sounds but there's no question that the Hover capability could be greatly improved. As a reference, I fell back on my experience with my old Iris AV-8 in FS9 and Rob B's Hover Gauge for that as well as using Dino's F-35B and getting input from a friend who has both the Wilco Harrier and the Razbam Harrier. The general hover and hover transition behavior of the Razbam Harrier is the heart of the issue and from studying the model and gauges, it appears that the method used to get a hover/transition is considerably different from Rob's method and is accomplished via an XML gauge coding (The XML coding is in the RAV8BP_UFC file within the RAZBAM_AV-8B_Plus.CAB file (in the main panel folder). and additional engine entries in the aircraft config file. The other issue is that there is XML coding which controls the engine RPM & spool rate which in turns controls the engine sound. I noticed that during transition and hovering, the engine RPM & spool rate (& sound) are "limited" by the XML coding which during hovering the engine sounds as if it is at high idle on the ramp when it should should be quite loud. The other issue aside from the rough transition & hover behavior is that there is significant RPM & Thrust lag which IMO makes precise control in transitions, hover, and power cut very difficult. From all that I have been able to ascertain, the current gauge & config method would be nearly impossible to tweak to the point of being able to get around the known limitations of FSX to smooth out the transition & hover performance. This being noted, my friend and myself tried a couple of variations of the RCB gauges with the Razbam Harrier which if the RAV8BP_UFC file was commented out and the engine section of the config file being editied, the RCB gauge influenced hover & transition worked perfectly but with the RAV8BP_UFC file disabled, many systems were disabled as well. My question is, does anyone with good XML knowledge as well as the RCB gauges know of a way to easily disable the Razbam XML hover coding (within RAV8BP_UFC file) which will allow the RCB hover gauge to work properly while allowing the other gauges & systems to also work properly?
Again, this post is intended towards finding a workable solution to enhance the hover experience of the end users of this nice model. Any ideas, knowledge, or research would be greatly appreciated.