The A2A Simulations Community

Now, the canopy on the P-47 opens all the way or closes all the way. The B-17G windows you can control, you can open them to your desired position. I would like to have the canopy cracked a little while I taxi over to the run up area. I believe it would be a nice feature to have in the 51', it would have a more realistic feeling while in the 51'.

_________________

The reason we have not done this so far is to stay in compliance with FSX's standard open and closing of the canopy. One thing we stay away from is adding complications with possible bad side effects for a small gain. We'll revisit it and see if we can do something like this and maintain solid compatibility.

Scott.

_________________
A2A Simulations Inc.

Great idea to move the canopy with the mouse!!!!

You could also add then in the Controls panel "open/close" for the guys who want to open it with one click.

In addition to what Scott has said, and just in case you run into this while taxiing the Jug in FSX, there is a bug in FSX that causes a canopy to close immediately after it's opened and cycle open/closed if you park too close to a refueling target trigger at an airport. It drove me nuts until I discovered it WASN'T a bug in the airplanes. The solution is to just park a bit further away from the fuel station.
Dudley Henriques

The number of times I have had that problem and didn't know what was causing it.... Thanks Dudley

_________________
"Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese"
- G.K. Chesterton.

i7 2600K, 8GB Vengeance RAM, Asus P67, GTX 580.

Drove me nuts until one of the Aces team told me about it.
Glad to help
D

The concept of using the mouse to open a canopy is indeed possible. The Katana does just that. You can click on the canopy, and "drag" the canopy open or closed. I don't know, of course, HOW it is possible, I just know that it has been done.

I must admit, it is a feature of the Katana I really like. It's sort of like grabbing the canopy with your hand and pulling it open or closed. It just adds that little bit more. Let's hope Scotts' investigations produce something similar. I have faith that A2A will succeed.

_________________
Tony

Intel core i7-2600 3.40GHz, 16GB DDR3-1600 Ram, GT430 1GB Graphics, Windows 7 Premium 64bit, FSX Gold Acceleration. REX 2.0 overdrive, TrackIR 5, Saitek X52Pro, CH Rudder Pedals, Saitek Cyborg X.

It would definitely be a cool addition. Maybe it could be made optional somehow, either on the fly, if possible, or be something that one could chose during the installation.

_________________
Happy Landings
- Patrick

Well I guess in the case of the P-51 it would be click and drag in a circle clockwise/anti-clockwise to open/close... That'd actually be a pretty neat little feature, then you'd really feel like you're cranking it open.

_________________

It might be cool to add it as a joystick axis is you've got a spare. Heck, Saitek and CH products keep coming up with so many new options and products, why not ask them for a canopy crank? I know I'm dreaming but if we've got Cessna trim wheels and such, why not a canopy crank?

_________________
All the best - Flyboy4612
Private pilot/tail-dragger endorsed

I believe that the recent Flight1 / Aeroplane Heaven P-51D has a rotating canopy crank.

_________________
I like Thunderbolts! (Link to MySpace tribute page)


120th Fighter Wing, Montana Air National Guard

I just had a recollection about the side window in the A2A Bf-109, and booted up FSX to make sure I was remembering correctly. Yes, the side window in the 109 can be pulled back manually a fraction at a time. Since this is existing, and old, software then perhaps this progamming is the solution. I'm not a 1's and 0's guru so I'm just throwing this idea out to more knowledgable folks, which is a LOT of people.

Oh yes, Dudley, it took me a while to figure out what was going on with all canopies near the fuel pumps. It was the audio aspect of it that drove me crazy.

John

_________________
i7 2600, 8GB, Nvidia 420, 1.5TB, W7, TrackIR-5

The issue as I understand it is that the canopy you are talking about opening is the main exit, not a little side window.

People will expect to hit shift-e and the canopy will open. It's a given in FSX that this is what happen. However that is a Boolean function, not a variable - exit is only ever OPEN or CLOSED. There are no intermediate stages. Therefore, what is easy with a secondary window such as a little slide one in the Bf109 (the exit is the main canopy, not the slide window) or the side windows on the B-17 (the exits are doors in the fuselage, not the pilots' windows) becomes a lot more complex when you have to have it able to have it recognised as a boolean option for FS's purposes and also be able to shuffle it about at intermediate stages.

Not quite so straightforward.

Ian P.

The Katana opens and closes it's canopy using the <shift>e key press as normal. But you can ALSO click on the "catches" left and right to "unlock" the canopy, and then click and DRAG the canopy open. Or click and drag it closed, then click the locks left and right to lock it shut. It opens with the drag of the mouse, so you can open it slightly, half way, just under or over half way, or anywhere in between closed and fully open. It's a pretty cool feature, but if you are inclined to just press <shift>e that will open fully, or close fully too.

Now I'm not being bitchy, or derogatory in any way, but if they can do it, A2A can do it I'm sure. We are talking the best developers of FSX aircraft here

_________________
Tony

Intel core i7-2600 3.40GHz, 16GB DDR3-1600 Ram, GT430 1GB Graphics, Windows 7 Premium 64bit, FSX Gold Acceleration. REX 2.0 overdrive, TrackIR 5, Saitek X52Pro, CH Rudder Pedals, Saitek Cyborg X.

Guys,

There is no mystery or question about being able to do this. We discussed this back when we did the Accu-Sim P-47 with the sound system playing the physics of the passing air, suction, etc. when you opened the canopy. When we did the B-17, we then completed this system using the side windows.

The exit open / close behavior in FSX can be glitchy. It may work the first nine times, then on the tenth when you are clicking other things at the same time, something doesn't work. It has something to do with the way the open / close command is passed through the FSX internal code, then reported to the variables that control this. On our B377, for example, it took an hour to get cargo and exit doors working 90% of the time, but weeks of testing and tweaking to get it to 100%.

So just keep in mind. Reliability is our top priority. We'll try this again on the Accu-Sim P-40 and see how it works.

Scott.

_________________
A2A Simulations Inc.