Conference 501clb::games

    I have a complaint with FS-95.  Actually, I think I had more or less
    the same problem with the old FS (V5?).  Perhaps there's a solution
    someone can point me to.
    
    The MAP display:  This display isn't bad for navigating around an
    airport.. The runways are easy enough to see.  If I hit "-" a bunch of
    times, it shows a much larger area in the window.  If I hit it enough
    times, I can clearly enough see my position on the face of the earth. 
    But its at the in-between settings that I can't see much of anything. 
    For example, taking off from Boston, I would really expect to be able
    to get a view where I can see the coast of Mass, from perhaps Cape Ann
    to Cape Code.  But instead, working from the runway view up to bigger
    areas, I can't hardly see anything recognizable.  It all gets dark and
    fuzzy, unitl I increase the area to the point where I can see most of
    the earth, at which point, it becomes usable again.
    
    I really have somewhat similar problems with the longer distance views
    out the front window.  Flying out of New York, east bound, I would
    expect to be able to pretty clearly see Long Island, and the Conn.
    shoreline, but instead its an unrecognizable mess out there.  I can see
    what's pretty close clearly enough, but the distance is just not
    recognizable.  Often, I've clearly been able to see lots of open water,
    where I know in fact there's lots of land.  It make navigating
    visually, very difficult.  And I'm not up to navigating by instrument.
    
    Am I doing something wrong?
    
    -	stp

    No.  Its really a shortcoming of the graphics engine.  If you've
    cranked up all the settings that control the graphics (and they are
    liberally spread all through the GUI, to make it challenging), then
    there isn't much else you can do.  Regarding the out of the window
    view, make sure the graphics card resolution you've selected does not
    have haze effects.
    
    FS4 (the current one is 5, right?) had a feature that was adjustable
    with various shareware tools to set the bounding area of a particular
    scenery file.  That is, you could create the scenery, then adjust the
    range that the scenery first becomes visible.  This didn't mean the
    scenery WOULD be visible, but until you reached that circle, the
    graphics objects would not be drawn.  Within the circle, even if they
    weren't visible out of the cockpit, they would show up on the map
    except at the lowest zoom factor.
    
    I'm not sure if this is still true in the current version, which has
    revamped the scenery handling significantly.  However, with a few
    exceptions like mountains, it turns out that even in 40 mile
    visibility, the out of the cockpit view is pretty limited by curvature
    of the Earth.  Runways, unless you're approaching them from a "final"
    position can be very hard to find until you are on top of them.
    
    FS is a little sloppy in that things tend to "pop" into view.  But that
    models reality pretty well.  Things don't "pop" into view, but they
    tend to etiher be there from the observer's point of view, or not, and
    the distances in FS tend to be about right.  If there's any atmospheric
    obscuration like haze at all, its easy to go from not being able to see
    an object, to having it covered by the nose of the plane, causing you
    to miss it altogether.  Its real embarrassing to miss a waypoint in a
    Cessna because you are directly over it, but it happens.  %-]
    
    As for the map, well it sucks.  What else can I say.  The older
    versions handled the mapping stuff MUCH better.
    
    jeb
    

    Thanks for the words of... reality.
    
    I've almost never been in the cockpit of a plane (except on one
    Missionary Air flight into Kosrae, FSM, where we had no co-pilot), and
    thus can't really compare FS to reality.
    
    Being an inexperienced pilot, and not knowing the instruments, its hard
    to fly this thing very far.  I agree, the map a couple of versions ago
    was quite useful.
    
    - stp

    Flying strictly by ground reference is called pilotage, which is the
    most basic navigation technique.  Though it seems obvious and
    intuitive, its actually a skill you must learn, because you see things
    from a different perspective at 5000 ft.  And as you noted, the
    sparseness of much of the FS scenery makes it of limited use.
    
    You may also have heard "dead reckoning' (actually "ded" for
    "deductive").  Quite simply, this involves knowing your speed, your
    direction and any factors that my affect those two (like wind, the
    affect of altitude on speed, etc), and by simple calculations
    determining where you will be at a given time.
    
    Real pilots include details such as time climbing to altitude, etc. 
    But for flight sim, you can very simply look at about any road map,
    determine the distance, and then calculate the time to get there at the
    airspeed you use for cruise (around 120 knots in the 182, or about 140
    mph.
    
    The tough part, admittedly is the course.  FS actually models reality,
    in that the magetic compass heading reflects magnetic north, rather
    than true north.  So even if you try to guesstimate a course heading,
    it will be off by the magnetic variation, which in New England is about
    16 degrees west (which means you add 16 degrees to your calculated
    heading based on true north).
    
    However, unless you plan to leave the simulator running all day on
    autopilot (with the fuel depletion option turned off), even the 16
    degree difference probably won't get you so far off course that you
    won't recognize your destination when your watch tells you it should be
    close.
    
    An easy test is to leave from Meigs (which has been kept open!  Yay!)
    and depart northwest, directly over the city.  Its almost impossible to
    miss O'Hare, even though initially there are no landmarks to guide you. 
    Use that as a test case.  Calculate the time, then fly it (it only
    takes around 10 minutes or so).  Then build on your success for other
    landmarks.
    
    Eventually you may want to start using navigational aids.  This is of
    mixed value, because the navaid database is a little bit skimpier, and
    there are areas of low coverage. But by examining the charts that are
    depicted in the back of the manual, you can dial in the frequency of a
    nearby VOR on the nav side of the comm stack (radio).  Then twist the
    OBS (one of the two dials with two needles, and a flag that will mostly
    say "off").  Once you have cause the vertical needle to center, and the
    flag to change to "To", you will be reading on the face of the
    instrument the true heading to follow to your destination.  The book
    explains it in more detail, but in reality its quite simple, and can
    help improve your navigation considerably.
    
    I have to admit that one thing that intrigues me about FS is its
    accuracy.  You can find problems without looking hard, but its
    fascinating how well they did on something that isn't used in a
    commercial capacity.
    
    jeb
    

    BTW, I'm pretty terrible about tending to such matters, but I receive
    new sectional charts, the charts aviators use for pilotage and ded
    reckoning flight planning, about every six months.  I typically have
    two or three laying around.  Coverage is available for the entire US,
    but I only get the "New York Sectional" which covers from Harrisburg,
    PA to Rockland, ME.  If you like flying in that area, the sectional
    helps you appreciate how the world looks to a pilot, and gives you an
    idea of how accurate the scenery really is.
    
    Send me mail, and first come first serve I'll mail old charts.  Combine
    my sloth with the six month cycle, and you may or may not ever hear
    from me.  With free stuff, you get what you pay for.
    
    More frequently I get a bimonthly publication called the Airport
    Facilities Directory, or AFD.  It doesn't have pictures, but has all
    the technical data on all airports in CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ,
    NY, PA, RI, VA, VT and WV, including latitude and longitude (the new FS
    uses lat/long instead of their own coordinate system), altitude, runway
    numbers, etc.
    
    If you don't want to wait for me, you can call Sporty's Pilot Shop at
    1-800-LIFTOFF (543-8633) and ask for a free catalog, or the New York
    Section and/or the Northeast US AFD.
    
    jeb