DHC3 De havilland Otter T - Turbine Mods

[BendyFlyer]

I have undertaken a number of minor changes to the critical files used in the VirtualCol DHC3 Otter Turbine variety. This has been the subject of a variety of problems for various users who would like a functional Turbine Otter. The aircraft engine/propeller data and braking has been modified in the cfg file. The power curves and propeller curves have been amended in the air file and new textures created for the VC to show appropriate Turbine control limits and setting positions. Instructions are provided in the zip file to explain the method to set the power levers etc. They have been tested by me on my system and work just fine without any problems. These changes are only a stop-gap (maybe) until VCol release an update for the model. The notes in the download package which is the Warbirds Libary under FSX-Other are self explanatory. It was not my intention to rebuild the aircraft which is not bad but had a lot of irritating glitches.

A couple of things. First turboprop behaviour on the ground in FSX has always been and always will be a problem and is the way that the FSX data engine works which cannot be changed. Second, the Turbine Otter was not a factory build but the result of a number of third party engineering companies replacing the original piston engine with P&W PT6 engines as a result there are a number of versions and a lot of non standard builds.

This is the new VC with aircraft on the ground, at appropriate idle settings and brakes off.



Finally some users may experience problems relating to feathering and beta use on their setup. I have my basic FSX settings for realism set to 75% for P-factor and Torque only and the remainder set at 100% (As per the FSX bible-the rest of my rig has been checked and set to the recommendations of this Bible and as a result I generally have a smooth bug free and trouble free FSX experience) and I am using FSUIPC and a Logitech joystick/keyboard combination. I have a number of different button setting mapped to my stick and I guess for every user it is a matter of preference and what works.

It all worked fine for me - enjoy. Now I can return to the C-47 and other things related to round engines.

[BendyFlyer]

A small addendum - the aircraft config file only applies to the wheel version of the otter. The panel file, air file and textures to all three, wheel, float and skis. You will have to cut and paste the contents of the engine and propeller section of the new aircraft config file into the appropriate sections of the wheel and ski versions. There is also a fix for the contact float points in the DHC3 Otter Piston thread which should be applied to the float version.

[ziggy]

Thanks for doing this!

It works great!


Cheers,
Greg Z

[gaab]

Hello BendyFlyer,

I have a question concerning the textures : neither DTXBmp (all pictures are "invisible") nor DDSView (invalid file header) could open the pictures...

Could you check on your side ?

Thanks - Gérard

[BendyFlyer]

GAAB when you look at the folder in the model directory, where there is a model folder, panel folder and there is one in there called Textures, plus the other livery texture folders.

When you open that folder there is another folder inside also called textures and it seems like they are all copies of what is in the texture folder main, but they are not. The folder textures replaces that sub folder called textures and the single bmp texture file for the cockpit goes in the main texture folder replacing the texture with the same name there. I have no idea why they did it like this but it seems to be a shading thing, anyway the sub folder has DDS DXT5 files and the main folder has different texture files. It caught me out for a while that is why I just copied the sub folder and the replacement texture file for the main texture folder. I know it is confusing but that is the way they have it and believe it or not all the textures in the subfolder are named the same as the main texture folder but the texture file types are different. IF you do that it should work fine.

GAAB VirtualCol work in FSX in a weird way, like the way the textures are multiple copies but different for the main texture folder but different file types and sizes. The same with the rotating beacon flashes red inside the cabin and you cannot get rid of it without turning it off altogether, not that I mind doing that. But that is a problem I generally only see in port overs which makes me suspect this model actually is not a native FSX model but a rebuilt port-over. Anyway hope the above makes it a bit clearer.

Just to make another point I checked the files with a half hour flight in Alaska and did a shutdown, start, take off and cruise to a landing with another shutdown all without any problems other than you have to be quick with the mouse to control the torque and the prop but then again that is now more like the real thing, so after many hours with real PT6 aircraft the trick is not to go full throttle but to advance the power until you get about 70% torque and then finess the last bit to get maximum torque below redline otherwise it will go over the redline quickly, that is no different to the real thing actually you had to be very careful with the power levers as they can go to 125-145% torque very quickly, in real life that mandated a strip down of the hot section if that happened and generally got your fired as well. Why is it like that well P&W figure there may be a situation one day where you actually want emergency power and it wont break the engine to do it.

[falcon409]

I appreciate the fact that you've taken the time to try to tame this airplane. The fact that it doesn't work for me is probably more due to my setup, than anything although I haven't found anything different in your general usage instructions, even down to the realism settings. I do have one other Turbo Otter that has worked perfectly ever since I first installed it. That is the DHC-6 Twin Otter Turbo from PAD (Amphib version). They did the Series 400 version about 7 years ago and while I can't verify any of their settings as correct for that airplane, looking over the entries in the cfg and airfile would suggest that they are working with information for the Turbo engines. The airplane never creeps with the brakes off, idles easily, has a ground handling gauge that allows for your preferred taxi speed and reacts to the reverser on landing as it should. Again, I don't know anything about the numbers used for this airplane, I just know it's a Turbo and it doesn't have the inherent problem of being unable to sit still at idle that this payware single engine version does.

[BendyFlyer]

Falcon409 - thanks. It is the best that can be done legally and without infringing copyright. One can only hope that VirtualCol would have put some effort into tidying this up because they went to a lot of trouble with the textures and basic design (there is some basic errors in the frame design which also cause the textures not to sit correctly as well) AS it likely to be the only Otter than comes around for awhile I was more interested in the Piston Engine model. I am not sure why it does not work well on your system but that is FSX for you sometimes.

I could never tame the FSX default King Air either, it had the same problems, wanting to accelerate away and not sit at idle properly, in the end spent the dollars and purchased the Caranado BE200,which funny to say does do what it is supposed to but the BE90 which I also have still has some of the issues about not taxying or idling properly without wanting to gallop off as well. I used to fly King Airs and they were a delight and never a handful but you were always conscious that this was a heavy aeroplane and once on the roll you could taxy forever without touching the brakes just a little beta every now and then. I still regard the BE200 as the best light twin ever made, no vices, climbed well, got up to good altitudes, good cruise, good range etc. comfortable reasonably quiet and very well equipped and you could finess it into and out of a very short rough strip without a fuss, anyway that is another story altogether.

[updraft]

Hi BendyFlyer,

Thank you for your mod which is working fine for me.

Except, that my VC panel is not showing any switch designations anymore, just black labels without any writings.

Has this possibly to do with your vcol_dhc3_ckpit.bmp format change from original DXT5 2048x2048 to your replacement
vcol_dhc3_ckpit.bmp with DXT1 1024x1024 ?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Best regards

Ernst

[falcon409]

Hi BendyFlyer,
Thank you for your mod which is working fine for me.
Except, that my VC panel is not showing any switch designations anymore, just black labels without any writings.
Has this possibly to do with your vcol_dhc3_ckpit.bmp format change from original DXT5 2048x2048 to your replacement
vcol_dhc3_ckpit.bmp with DXT1 1024x1024 ?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Best regards
Ernst

I noticed that too, as well as the yoke texture being missing.

[BendyFlyer]

Updraft and Falcon409 - that problem has me stumped as you can see from the above screenshots the textures work fine on my system. Have you made backups? it would probably be best to revert to the original textures but just try and remember the lever settings for the beta and ground idle settings. I have no idea why but the VirtualCol Otter has a really weird texture setup that I have never come across before. A quick check is also might be have you put in the update for the Otter that VirtualCol published? Other than that I do not have an answer why that would be. One last thing might be to do a quick check on the file permissions I provided and uncheck the read only tag if it appears like that on your system or the whole Virtual Col Otter model, that may do it but I am sorry I have no idea why you would be getting that. The single texture file is a DXT1 1024x1024 16 bit bmp file. I just ran the Otter again, no issues and checked the files were the same which they are. Sorry for any inconvieniance

[bobmay]

Just adding my two cents worth to this thread.

Firstly thanks to Falcon409 for his kind words regarding the PAD DHC-3T

Secondly a heads up regarding DXT-1 textures. It seems that DXT-1 textures are not supported by Windows 10 so that explains why some simmers (on Win7 and before systems) have no probs while others have some textures not displaying. I am working my way through our older models and converting DXT-1 to DXT-3 but I have not found them all yet.

Bob May
PAD

[BendyFlyer]

Well Bob that may explain a lot of other funny stuff with sim problems, not just this one, I am using Win 7 64bit and will do till it expires, then I will give up flight sim and go back to Linux.

[BendyFlyer]

Falcon, what about using Piglets Pilatus Porter instead of the Turbine Otter. It is a great model with an excellent VC and well behaved. Just as much fun for rough back of beyond flying. I will stick with the Piston Otter or the Aerosoft Twin Otter on floats which is great.