AIM - rcparkflyers
News and Notes: Great Planes Real Flight G3
I had a very nice talk with Alex from Real Flight/Great Planes. I had a few questions regarding the simulator so I gave them a quick call and was very happy to get in touch with a live technical person. I told him I had done some homework by looking at their website but wanted to get a few items clarified. The following are the 3 items I had questions about...
- 1 Kill Switch
I like practicing my deadstick landings so I can get more comfortable with the plane just in case that unplanned for event occurs. I know from the menus you hit the "K" well searching for that while flying can be a little disconcerting. I asked Alex if there was a way to put that on the controller.. Nope.. Well that's a bummer. So I guess I'm stuck with hitting the "K" key or using a better controller. Maybe I will color the key for quick recognition. - Follow behind or as they call it Chase mode
I had used my friends G2 previous to getting my G3 and was able to follow the plane around from behind it. Well I wanted to do that with the G3 but could not figure out from the menus. Well it turns out I was always flying in real picture mode - PHOTO - as opposed to the computer generated scenes. The default is the real picture mode, as Great Planes has figured that is the best way to have the program launch and be assured of the program starting successfully.
Wow. Went to one of the other fields and I was buzzing around all over the place. This will really help the kids. Going to the computer generated scenes opens up more features. I know, I know, READ THE MANUAL! - Planes that are hard to see
Well, all the planes are pretty cool. I took one, I can't remember which and made the size twice as big. Wow, now I can see it. But the plane did not act right...
Ok, well what about changing the color scheme. Particularly on the E3D model. The blue and yellow design are too similar on both side of the wing. Ok so I poke around the menus and did not find anything.
I asked Alex about the difficulty of seeing the plane. He said to change the PHYSICAL size(which I did and told him that) and then change the FLIGHT(I think that is the right feature) characteristics... OH!! well that makes since. You have to bump the Flight dynamics if you are going to change the Physical structure.. DOH!
Then we discussed the colors. He explained how to edit the color scheme by exporting the proper file TGA file and using either Adobe or Photoshop to change the scheme then resave it into the CS folder. Cool! I am going to try that. In the mean time I found some planes and color schemes on the Great Planes G3 site that I am going to try this weekend.
All in all the usage of the Great Planes Real Flight G3 simulator has been a really great purchase. I can definitely see my progress. Not so jumpy on the sticks, not too many confused thumbs either coming toward me or inverted. I have a ways to go but there is noticeable progress. Even my 8 year old daughter and 5 year old son is utilizing the simulator and they are getting the hang of it.
Written By: jacq on Thursday, June 15, 2006
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