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NHP/CSM Version 10 - quick reviewLast Updated : 24 June 1998 |
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V10 screen shots now on-line. See separate pictures page
First some bad news, the upgrade to version 10 will cost money. In the UK you will need to send in your old interface with 29.95 UKP to NHP/Revolution Models (follow the link from the CSM page). For this you will get the latest software plus a shiny new (purple and yellow, you won't lose it) interface. V10 also needs a more powerful PC than v9.1, Pentium recommended though it may run on o.k. on something like a 486/100.
Oh and despite what you may have heard elsewhere, the upgrade is definitely available in the US from Horizon Hobby. I don't know the exact cost but you certainly won't have to pay full price again. If you are asked to pay full price you should contact nicky@nhpltd.co.uk. NHP/CSM want to know if there is any ripping off going on.
Now the good news. It's worth the money, especially if you're a helicopter pilot, and paying for this upgrade will get you a load of future upgrades FOC. The charge is mainly 'cus of the new interface needed. CSM have promised that future upgrades will be downloadable from the website again, as all the previous ones have been. How many sims can say that ? (Great Planes have recently announced the first upgrade for RealFlight, still no helicopters but you can fly on Mars (?) and the upgrade costs $39.95)
GENERAL
The main screens are now a tasteful grey/black and yellow with a CSM logo visible. They look quite a bit smarter than v9.1 but are otherwise very similar.
The graphics are improved with better colours, graduations in the sky to give you some idea of altitude etc. as well as the ability to "paint" your plane/heli from within the sim. However they are still fairly clunky polygon graphics. Everything is very obviously built of lines and triangles and, on my PC at least, still tends to flicker and break up slightly from time to time e.g. "pylons" shimmer noticeably as the lines they are made of move, the edges of the runway twitch etc.
The background scenery is not much different in the supplied airfields though there seem to be more variations available if you want to create your own and you can also modify the colours of the various bits and pieces. Customising both planes and flying fields is now a lot easier, at least the instructions look a lot more straighforward .
Screen shots are now available on a separate pictures page.
You can now also load and save individual models (I would think Colin had stolen that idea from me if he I didn't know he was already working on when I first thought of it One fascinating addition is the night flying scenario. This uses a separate colour set for the model and of course the airfield (mostly black There are also a couple of additional views operating on F5 and F6 when you're flying. Follow mode and Height-hold follow mode. Basically these move your viewpoint round with the model. Again I guess they work for helis where you can "walk round" following the model but you can try them with planes as well for a laugh. If you don't get disoriented in a couple of seconds let me know the secret.
Unfortunately there is still no soundcard support. The buzzing noise through the PC speaker is all you get.
Transmitter calibration and setup is slightly easier. There is a new program TxTest which is pretty similar to the old InTest and shows bar graphs of all Tx channels. The delivered Txs are sort of generic this time e.g. Futaba 4 channel, rather than particular model numbers. But you can now save a transmitter setup with your own name which makes life easier.
I think it's fair to say that most of the flight improvements this time have been to the helicopter sim. Nick Salmon is raving about some stuff to do with gyros which I plain don't understand but which is obviously pretty impressive (see below). Overall there have not been any huge changes to the flight model and conditions of the plane sim that I have found yet(but see below).
Nick Salmon has done a review of the helicopter part of the simulator, where there are some very worthwhile additions, see below so I'll concentrate mainly on the fixed wing part.
Not really a lot of change to the fixed-wing part of the sim this time round, more stuff coming in later releases (and don't forget that the next upgrades will be FOC). The main addition seems to be the thermal activity (see below).
The check controls option now has a rather cute picture of a plane with the bits moving as you waggle the sticks but it does also give the actual deflections in degrees as well.
The supplied planes are basically the same generic set that were available for v9.1 and there seems to be little different in the parameters available to set them up (other than the ability to make up your own colour schemes). However it is now possible to set the wind direction (hurray!) and also thermal activity. So you can now practice cross-wind takeoffs and landings.
As you might expect the excellent flight model seems to be largely unchanged. The addition of thermal activity is interesting, though I know little about thermalling. For example I had a lot of trouble getting the Fournier Motor Glider to come down, it just wanted to keep climbing even with no engine. I can't say much about how accurate it is (it seems to give a permanent thermal upflow across the whole field, but you'll need to check this out yourself).
Thanks to Nick for permission to reprint parts of his review from rec.models.rc.helicopters. Nick knows a lot more about helicopters than I ever will so over to him :
If you were weaned onto a diet of Atari then you'll be disappointed
but the Graphics upgrade is still a very worthwhile one IMO... (It
makes me grin to think how many eXcellites are going to end up flying
Futura SEs........ Two heli graphics available as of now; A 'go graphics go' simple slimline
and a pretty detailed Futura SE... The SE seems to run fine on my P166...
Although it slows a little when really close in whilst running 600 x 800 on
my 17"... It is possible now to write your own heli graphic for SIM,
explained in 'Fileinfo.doc' which can be viewed with 'wordview' from
your Win95 CD if you don't have MS Word... Looks quite complex
polygonals but I may give it a try...
Many new options from the main menu, I won't give full details but
the aerodynamic modelling looks cool AND we got CSM ICG-360 HH
for the gyro with a SIM PC interface same as the real thing..!!!
Colin has added 'aerial circles' in shading on the blue sky so you can
judge 'crick in the neck' and when you are approaching the ground from
near above as in a 'windy auto'...
F3C practice field with *all* the markers and YEEHAH, you can change
the wind direction...!!! Might not sound much but it means you can
practice manoeuvres in a howling gale at 45Deg. to the flight line and
that's what we had at two AHA competitions last year......
Load / save models basically the same BUT you save models with a
filename prefix that you chose at 'Install' in seperate sub directories
to \CSM10 so you can easily exchange heli set-ups with a pal by disk
or transmission over the net as an Email attachment... (Or send them to me to be added to the Swap Web page - Steve)
'Setup' same except there's no gyro, in setup........
'Control check' instead of 'pitch gauge' with collective, throttle, cyclic
throws as paddle angles, tail pitch angle and gyro stuff; Yaw rate demand,
gyro mode & gyro gain... All what's actually being ordered by your Tx
so you can 'fine tune' the Tx exactly as you would 'in the real'...
Engine data, same... Colin's put a note re gearing losses need to be
allowed for by the user, thus you need to take a few percent off the
published power output for your engine to be realistic, unless you're
using Nitro AND a pipe... ICG-360 Data; Exactly the same as the PC Interface for the gyro itself...
Good training tool and probably useful to test out the effect of altering
various parameters on your real heli too...
Take-off; North / South instead of Nose / Tail in which is more appropriate
with alterable viewpoints...
Radio set-up is different but easy enough if you follow the instructions...
You tell it rather than it telling you which channels are which plus the
standard figures in the Tx specs or from TxTest...
Addition to 'simulation' in that you can specify data for a 'follow on'
viewpoint, ie hit '5' in SIM and you walk (Or run !) around with the heli,
hit '6' and it's 'come fly with me' on a spring... Select an airfield; Wide range of CSM's tunnels, mountains & pylons Etc...
PLUS...... NIGHT FLYING.........!!! Bloody good too, need a bit more practice
before I fit the night blades though......
And; You can change ALL the colours from within the program...
[Wonder how that'll fit in with re-loading my field scenery......?
Just checked and it's no problem... :-) ]
Neat style of bargraph RGB selection for every colour option in use
it looks like, be nice to see a little preview panel whilst altering
them though... (Mebbe I'm missing summat... Flight; Pretty good, same flight realism as v9 with a lot of added extras
(Although the scenery still sucks (G>) Really love the starry night flight
scenery option programmed in already though...
ICG-360 kicks ass and if you haven't tried it yet, you can in v10 SIM....
Now I can get on with practicing for Poting cup beginners although that
max' 10 metres for beginners compulsories is a little deterring to a true
beginner at '3D'... 'Bop about' to my hearts content at 50 feet but I
haven't really dropped down to 30 feet much yet...
+++
Minor gripes; (Give the man a break Nick... ;-)
1) No GV-1 or 'over pipe peak' options so RPM wander a bit more than
mine do for real with similar pitch curves but that'll be incorporated
eventually no-doubt... Perhaps some suggestions for drive train
losses appropriate to the various styles of belt & gearing...
2) No 'tail off for autos' toggle for those of suffering a non-driven tail
still... I've just now locked up my auto units as everything's free
enough for 185gm NHPs to drive the tail too on the F1-60s (Oilite
slipper on one.) but I won't be doing that with the light bladed '3D'
ships... I can mix it out with the 10SX so my fingers don't 'cheat'
but you couldn't with a lower end set...
3) Still no sound card support it seems but I just turn the dang
'buzz' off anyway; At the range I'm usually flying at it's not a lot
of help in the real 'cos the blades have slowed by the time you
hear it bogging so sharp eyesight is much more important... I quite
often fly whilst listening to music on either the computer's CD or my
'Discman' at the field... 'N' has changed to 'S' for the sound toggle
just to move it away from 'M' and the space bar I guess...
4) Can't think of one for right now but I know Colin has a mile long
'wish list' from his post on this subject last year... ;-)
+++
Finally; 30 quids worth for the upgrade...? IMO, yes; Handles
the latest computers and involves new hardware as well as more
complex software... True HH in SIM is a very valuable addition to
this R/C learning tool too...
Ciao...
HELIS
PLANES
Nick Salmon's (pre)view
Nick...
--
Nick M.V.Salmon. Southwest UK.
gbn01@dial.pipex.com
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R&D on MH Design's Extant Helicopters
&
Competition Flying.
Web Pages: http://www.ftech.net/~nick
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