The A2A Simulations Community

Hi all,

Following the original suggestion from severniae in this very forum (http://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=24290) we are setting up a friendly race and navigation contest on Saturday July 23rd 19:00 UTC.

Overview
In teams of 3 or 4 A2A B-17s, the players will fly from a given airport to a previously unknown location using dead reckoning navigation only (see below). The first team who manages to get all its members safely on their designated parking places at the destination wins Well actually the team who has the more fun truly wins

Location
Somewhere in Siberia... with two custom departure and arrival airports

Navigation
To maximize the fun the flight plans (a specific one for each team) will be disclosed on the run as each waypoint will provide the location for the next one with a heading and distance + a code digit so that we can track easily what the sequence of waypoints was for each team (thanks Ron for the idea). See picture below with a 001°/149nm indication and a "9" as the code.



We will have light winds for the first trial but some little "traps" will be placed along the way like fake waypoints slightly off-track or at wrong distances and leading the unwary navigators towards side tracks.

Fuel, cruise altitude
Each team will have total freedom to choose its strategy for maximum speed: initial fuel, cruise altitude and power settings. The distance to be flown will be provided with greater accuracy in time but you can expect around 700 nm. We all know that cheating spoils the fun but just in case the teams will have to provide a screenshot indicating their on-board fuel at each waypoint. Also all pilots should save their hangar file and current progress before joining so that they can start with fresh engines. Then we could give a time bonus for each engine NOT overhauled during the contest (accu-sim must be ON of course)

Organization

• FSX files (bgls for all waypoints, departure and arrival airports): will be provided 24 hours before the race
• FSX multiplayer: direct connection through Hamachi (virtual local network)
• Radio comms: teamspeak3
• "What if my FSX/PC crashes on me on the run?": The session host (flying on a fast bird) will intercept your group and you'll be able to respawn "in the air near the host" again.
• "I want in I want in!": fsx.elington@orange.fr

Happy flying,
David

P.S. a practice package is now available, send an e-mail to fsx.elington@orange.fr

Very nice idea ! I'm in. Thanks Elington !

The kind of bird in the picture ???

Cheers, Romain.

David;
I Want In! I Want In!!!

_________________
Charles

I'll try and get lost lol

_________________
Ron
B-17 AIRFRAME 710 HRS PLUS AND CLIMBING




GIGABYTE X58A-UD5 MB, INTEL I7 950, 12GB DOMINATOR-GT DDR3 RAM, WIN7 64, GIGABYTE SUPER OVER CLOCK GTX 560 TI 1GB GGDDR5 1000Mz, CORSAIR 850W PS, NOCTUA NH-D14,
TRACKIR 5 & TrackClipPro

You already ARE lost.. I heard Thursday Island sank and the new one is going to be called "Gilligan's Island" ;-}

_________________
Charles

I also propose to save the hangar file before joining and start the flight with fresh engines. That way all pilots could freely mistreat their accu-simmed engines and we could give a time bonus at the end for each engine NOT overhauled during the race...

Woohoo we got a facebook reference!

_________________
Lukas

David;
Would using a "different" B-17 (default?) result in not having to save Hangar (Aircraft.cfg?) Files..
In other words, use a "disposable" B-17 for this event.. Is that possible??

_________________
Charles

No....there is only 1 dat file for the B-17G. What I do is create a folder for each of the repaints
that I fly and save the dat file for that A/C in its own folder after a flight.

Prior to a flight I copy the saved dat file for the A/C I am going to fly back to the A2A/FSX/B17 folder.
(That folder path is under "My Documents" in Xp....something similar in Win7 I believe)

You could create a shortcut to that folder for ease in getting there before/after a flight for the
copy/save operation. A simple batch file for each of the 17's you want to save could do the
job for you as well. I just haven't gotten around to writing them for the 2 or 3 paints that I fly.

_________________
Paul


i5-2500K @4.3Ghz OC - GA-P67A-UD7-B3 - 8GB Corsair 1600mHz

Gypsy;
Okay, I believe my FSX B-17's are set-up a bit differently than other folks.. I have the WOPII B-17G AND the AccuSim B-17.. Two different folders in the SimObjects/Airplanes Folder.. I did this because there was something I liked in the WOPII B-17 that was different from the AccuSim B-17. But it's been so long since I flew the WOPII B-17, that I cannot tell you what was different.. Guess I need to be doing some "test flying" the WOPII just to see what I can see....
I found the dat files.. In "My Documents" in folder A2A>FSX>B17>B17log.dat and a B17log..old.dat. We did some flight where it was suggested to "copy/save" the original dat file in case of an accident, or something.. I forget why, now. I guess I could change back to the old dat file and see what I can see..
Just realized, I guess THAT My Documents>A2A>>>B-17Log.dat file is "THE" only Dat file for BOTH the WOPII and AccuSim B-17's
I've trashed so many B-17's doing crazy stuff (like trying to land on 3500' jungle air strips) that neither airframe or engines have very many hours on them

_________________
Charles

I spent some time last evening and created 2 batch files for my system here that loads/saves the appropriate DAT files
for the 4 aircraft (B-17G) that I regularly fly. They are currently over on my Win7 desktop (dual boot here) and I'm posting from
my Xp boot so I can't get to them at the moment to post them here as a sample.

Once I post them you should be able to easily modify them for your setup to load/save the WoPII and Accusim versions
so that you keep them separate. I created a simple menu in the DOS window to select the aircraft I wanted to load
or save. I did some basic checking to try to insure that the DAT file that is being saved is for the aircraft that
"created" it.

_________________
Paul


i5-2500K @4.3Ghz OC - GA-P67A-UD7-B3 - 8GB Corsair 1600mHz

Paul;
That would be "way cool" as the younger (than me) set says..
I generally only fly the 91st BG 401st BS Proby Paint with the AccuSim, but have about forty "paints" for the other guys. The WOPII set-up are just a "plain" silver and an olive drab birds.. no markings of any consequence..
On the Dat File set-up, all I ask is Keep It Simple.. I don't know squat about DOS files.. I'm strictly a "point & click" guy.. and even at that, I need instructions on what to point and when to click ;-}
Using two separate dat files for (what I thought was) two separate set-ups, sound like the right thing to have.. I appreciate your efforts.. Way beyond my scope..
Charles.

_________________
Charles

First post updated:
- example of a waypoint with the "code letter" (thanks Ron)
- practice track available (fsx.elington@orange.fr)

Happy flying,
David

And talking about racing:
(please don't ask about the power settings )

224 MPH @ FL240 means True Air Speed = 330 MPH = 286 Kts !

(Hoping I'm using correctly the E6-B).

Well done, This speed outperforms the B-17 performances charts !

BR, Romain.