New Condor Tips Document

[Paul Remde]

Hi,

I have created a Condor Tips document for new Condor Competition Soaring
Flight Simulator users. It is available here:
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/condor.htm

Let me know if you experienced Condor users have any corrections or
additions for the document. I'm relatively new to the software.

Good Soaring,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com

[noel.wade]

On May 5, 10:12 pm, "Paul Remde" > wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have created a Condor Tips document for new Condor Competition Soaring
> Flight Simulator users. It is available here:http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/condor.htm
>
> Let me know if you experienced Condor users have any corrections or
> additions for the document. I'm relatively new to the software.
>
> Good Soaring,
>
> Paul Remde
> Cumulus Soaring, Inc.http://www.cumulus-soaring.com

Not bad for a first shot at making tips, Paul! Good stuff - Condor
has taken awhile to get popular here in the USA but the Europeans have
embraced it and I'm excited about more of us in America taking
advantage of all it has to offer!

One suggestion: In your tips document, mention to people that Condor
shouldn't be too tough to fly. If the controls seem too sensitive or
are "off", they should check the "Input" configuration tab and adjust
the sensitivity of the joystick axes.

Take care,

--Noel

[Paul Remde]

Hi Noel,

Good point. I've been playing with the sensitivity a bit myself. I'm
curious how you have yours set.

Paul Remde

"noel.wade" > wrote in message
...
> On May 5, 10:12 pm, "Paul Remde" > wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I have created a Condor Tips document for new Condor Competition Soaring
>> Flight Simulator users. It is available
>> here:http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/condor.htm
>>
>> Let me know if you experienced Condor users have any corrections or
>> additions for the document. I'm relatively new to the software.
>>
>> Good Soaring,
>>
>> Paul Remde
>> Cumulus Soaring, Inc.http://www.cumulus-soaring.com
>
> Not bad for a first shot at making tips, Paul! Good stuff - Condor
> has taken awhile to get popular here in the USA but the Europeans have
> embraced it and I'm excited about more of us in America taking
> advantage of all it has to offer!
>
> One suggestion: In your tips document, mention to people that Condor
> shouldn't be too tough to fly. If the controls seem too sensitive or
> are "off", they should check the "Input" configuration tab and adjust
> the sensitivity of the joystick axes.
>
> Take care,
>
> --Noel

[noel.wade]

On May 6, 5:06 am, "Paul Remde" > wrote:
> Hi Noel,
>
> Good point. I've been playing with the sensitivity a bit myself. I'm
> curious how you have yours set.
>
> Paul Remde

I wish there was some magical setting; but every joystick is a little
different. :-/

The biggest "universal" thing I've found is that the CH Pro Pedals
tend to be very sensitive, so with them I tend to lower the
sensitivity slider down to only a couple of notches above the minimum
to prevent yawing the nose way too much.

Oh, one other thing to mention in the Tips document: If the screen
seems jittery or the glider seems to respond in a stuttering or jerky
manner, you need to lower the graphics settings to get better
performance.

Enjoy!

--Noel

[Paul Remde]

Hi Noel,

Thanks for the tips!

Can you clarify the comment below. What do you mean by "lower the graphics
settings"?

Paul Remde

"noel.wade" > wrote in message
...
> On May 6, 5:06 am, "Paul Remde" > wrote:
>> Hi Noel,
>>
>> Good point. I've been playing with the sensitivity a bit myself. I'm
>> curious how you have yours set.
>>
>> Paul Remde
>
> I wish there was some magical setting; but every joystick is a little
> different. :-/
>
> The biggest "universal" thing I've found is that the CH Pro Pedals
> tend to be very sensitive, so with them I tend to lower the
> sensitivity slider down to only a couple of notches above the minimum
> to prevent yawing the nose way too much.
>
> Oh, one other thing to mention in the Tips document: If the screen
> seems jittery or the glider seems to respond in a stuttering or jerky
> manner, you need to lower the graphics settings to get better
> performance.
>
> Enjoy!
>
> --Noel

[MickiMinner]

Condor soaring is GREAT. If you can't really get up in the air, then
CONDOR is the next best thing. I tried unsuccessfully to get condor
to participate at the Memphis convention, and to get a on-line
competition going at the contest...but most people had no idea what I
was talking about. At this years convention in New Mexico, I talked a
little bit to Noel, about trying to set up an American on-line soaring
simulator contest again....especially now that CONDOR is making more
headway here in America. I contacted the creators of Condor in
Slovenia, and they were VERY receptive about helping those of us
interested in America. So, everyone get their winter soaring
simulator software and joysticks in place....it's a great way to fly
when earth-bound!
Micki Minner

[HL Falbaum]

OK---I'll ask---
What joystick is recommended for Condor.
My Gravis Eliminator was not very good with a large dead spot in the middle.
I took it apart to see if I could improve it---made it worse.

Saitek, Logitech, and Microsoft all seem to have good ones on paper at
least.

Favorites?

--
Hartley Falbaum


"MickiMinner" > wrote in message
...
> Condor soaring is GREAT. If you can't really get up in the air, then
> CONDOR is the next best thing. I tried unsuccessfully to get condor
> to participate at the Memphis convention, and to get a on-line
> competition going at the contest...but most people had no idea what I
> was talking about. At this years convention in New Mexico, I talked a
> little bit to Noel, about trying to set up an American on-line soaring
> simulator contest again....especially now that CONDOR is making more
> headway here in America. I contacted the creators of Condor in
> Slovenia, and they were VERY receptive about helping those of us
> interested in America. So, everyone get their winter soaring
> simulator software and joysticks in place....it's a great way to fly
> when earth-bound!
> Micki Minner
>

[Bruce]

Video cards are generally limited by computational power and data transfer
bandwidth. (bus speed)

Hi Paul

You can generally improve the smoothness of display by increasing the frame rate
- and hence perceived quality.

Way to do this is to reduce the computational task by lowering the display
resolution (of what condor renders, not the screen) The task of rendering a
screen is a geometric function of three resolution parameters. Since the number
of pixels to calculate is a function of horisontal resolution X vertical
resolution a modest drop in resolution dramatically reduces the number of
calculations required per frame.

Often better is to lower the colour depth. Many LCD screens have limited colour
gamut anyway - so the default 32bit per pixel colour depth is largely wasted.
Dropping to 24 or 16 bits per pixel does not particularly reduce colour
perception, but it can substantially reduce the data transfer requirement. (and
the calculation complexity) Go back to the higher setting for your photos...

So setting 1024x768x24 is faster than 1024x768x32 is faster than 1280x1024x32 etc.

In general a video card with dedicated video RAM and decent OpenX support is all
that is required for Condor. If you have shared RAM - try to limit the data
throughput to increase frame rate till it is smooth.


Cheers
Bruce


Paul Remde wrote:
> Hi Noel,
>
> Thanks for the tips!
>
> Can you clarify the comment below. What do you mean by "lower the graphics
> settings"?
>
> Paul Remde
>
> "noel.wade" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On May 6, 5:06 am, "Paul Remde" > wrote:
>>> Hi Noel,
>>>
>>> Good point. I've been playing with the sensitivity a bit myself. I'm
>>> curious how you have yours set.
>>>
>>> Paul Remde
>> I wish there was some magical setting; but every joystick is a little
>> different. :-/
>>
>> The biggest "universal" thing I've found is that the CH Pro Pedals
>> tend to be very sensitive, so with them I tend to lower the
>> sensitivity slider down to only a couple of notches above the minimum
>> to prevent yawing the nose way too much.
>>
>> Oh, one other thing to mention in the Tips document: If the screen
>> seems jittery or the glider seems to respond in a stuttering or jerky
>> manner, you need to lower the graphics settings to get better
>> performance.
>>
>> Enjoy!
>>
>> --Noel
>
>

[Paul Remde]

Hi Hartley,

I currently use a 10 year old Microsoft Sidewinder II joystick. It is OK but
I don't think they are available as new any more.

I was curious to see how a force feedback joystick would work so I just
ordered the one found here:
http://www.amazon.com/Saitek-Cyborg-Force-Flight-PS27/dp/B00068P3O4/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1209862489&sr=8-1

I look forward to having increased pressure at high speed. I don't know if
it will be worth the money but I just had to find out. It should arrive in
a day or 2. I'll let you know what I think of it.

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com

"HL Falbaum" > wrote in message
. ..
> OK---I'll ask---
> What joystick is recommended for Condor.
> My Gravis Eliminator was not very good with a large dead spot in the
> middle.
> I took it apart to see if I could improve it---made it worse.
>
> Saitek, Logitech, and Microsoft all seem to have good ones on paper at
> least.
>
> Favorites?
>
> --
> Hartley Falbaum
>
>
> "MickiMinner" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Condor soaring is GREAT. If you can't really get up in the air, then
>> CONDOR is the next best thing. I tried unsuccessfully to get condor
>> to participate at the Memphis convention, and to get a on-line
>> competition going at the contest...but most people had no idea what I
>> was talking about. At this years convention in New Mexico, I talked a
>> little bit to Noel, about trying to set up an American on-line soaring
>> simulator contest again....especially now that CONDOR is making more
>> headway here in America. I contacted the creators of Condor in
>> Slovenia, and they were VERY receptive about helping those of us
>> interested in America. So, everyone get their winter soaring
>> simulator software and joysticks in place....it's a great way to fly
>> when earth-bound!
>> Micki Minner
>>
>
>

[noel.wade]

Bruce -

Your advice is generally good; but those rules of thumb are changing
as graphics cards have evolved over the last few years.

Screen Resolution and Color Depth affect graphics performance mostly
when the graphics card doesn't have much memory (such as with cheaper
PCs that have "Integrated" graphics chips or "Shared memory").

Furthermore, most of today's LCD screens are actually designed to work
at 1 optimum resolution. Using lower resolutions will cause the
screen to look blurry or blocky (in Windows and other 2d applications,
not just during 3d rendering).

The geometric complexity of a scene (i.e. the number of three
dimensional shapes in view) is more critical to performance with
today's modern 3d graphics cards.

So the first thing to do is to try to lower the amount of trees and
objects being rendered. Also lowering the visibility (drawing
distance) or lowering the terrain or texture detail can help. "High
End" smoothing (such as anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering) can
also add a big slow-down and should be disabled if the computer isn't
performing well.

Most of these display/graphics options are visible from within the
Condor settings / configuration screens.

Take care,

--Noel
(Former computer-game developer) :-)

[Kloudy via AviationKB.com]

HL Falbaum wrote:
>OK---I'll ask---
>What joystick is recommended for Condor.
>My Gravis Eliminator was not very good with a large dead spot in the middle.
>I took it apart to see if I could improve it---made it worse.
>
>Saitek, Logitech, and Microsoft all seem to have good ones on paper at
>least.
>
>Favorites?

Saitek x52

incomparable.

I've had Condor for a couple of years. It was fun. I even tried to create my
own landscape.
looks like some interest growing in the states.
Maybe I'll dig it out again. : )

--
Message posted via AviationKB.com
http://www.aviationkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/soaring/200805/1

[Brian[_1_]]

I have both the old sidewinder II and the Sidewinder Force feed back.
I found the Force Feedback to be novel at first but after playing for
a while I find it more annoying than anythng. I usually prefer to play
with standard sidewinder which I have found to be a very good
joystick.

Let us know what you think of you Force Feed back stick after you have
had a chance to try it out.

Thanks

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL

[Bruce]

Hi Noel

I bow to your superior knowledge. The 3D complexity is probably more important.

Unfortunately many of the folk who have these kinds of problems have the three -
five year old shared memory video cards...

Consider my business oriented notebook (1680x1050 resolution and a slow GPU)
great for fine text and flowcharts, lousy for gaming. - only answer is to reduce
display resolution. I know - time for that new HP.

I will have to check on Condor - the other soaring simulator I own is SFS4 PC -
that has the neat trick of allowing you to reduce the rendered resolution but
leave the screen at native resolution. Works by reducing the rendering workload
although the image does deteriorate.

One of the generalisations in economics is that expenditure rises to consume
income. My first PC had 128K of RAM and a 20MB hard drive and I ran an entire
business off that, but found the 8Kb Hercules CGA graphics too slow for any
games to be fun...
My current video setup on the gaming PC has 512MB of dedicated fast RAM, and we
are still complaining about the video speed.

Cheers
Bruce

noel.wade wrote:
> Bruce -
>
> Your advice is generally good; but those rules of thumb are changing
> as graphics cards have evolved over the last few years.
>
> Screen Resolution and Color Depth affect graphics performance mostly
> when the graphics card doesn't have much memory (such as with cheaper
> PCs that have "Integrated" graphics chips or "Shared memory").
>
> Furthermore, most of today's LCD screens are actually designed to work
> at 1 optimum resolution. Using lower resolutions will cause the
> screen to look blurry or blocky (in Windows and other 2d applications,
> not just during 3d rendering).
>
> The geometric complexity of a scene (i.e. the number of three
> dimensional shapes in view) is more critical to performance with
> today's modern 3d graphics cards.
>
> So the first thing to do is to try to lower the amount of trees and
> objects being rendered. Also lowering the visibility (drawing
> distance) or lowering the terrain or texture detail can help. "High
> End" smoothing (such as anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering) can
> also add a big slow-down and should be disabled if the computer isn't
> performing well.
>
> Most of these display/graphics options are visible from within the
> Condor settings / configuration screens.
>
> Take care,
>
> --Noel
> (Former computer-game developer) :-)

[mattm]

Paul,

a great resource to develop your skills in Condor is the Condor Task
DataBase at http://condor.ephemeride.com/home/1/

They have their own badge progression that you can fly by yourself,
uploading the flight track when you're done to claim
the badge. There's also daily scores ala OLC and the "XC Challenge"
which has a list of fun flights to do.

At some point when you think you can stay up without the thermal
helpers turned on, try flying the various online
contests such as SpeedBattle and Monday Night Soaring. In both cases
you will fly along with (real life) good
competition pilots and learn quite a bit in the process.

I think that doing all this over the winter helped me improve quite a
bit when I flew a real contest for the second time
in my life this spring. I do have to add that just flying the
simulator by itself isn't going to help you as much as having
specific goals you want to accomplish in the simulator. Also find
yourself a good coach, either in person or by reading
the great books of soaring (e.g. Reichmann, Moffat, etc). It is just
as easy to reinforce bad habits as it to build good ones
if you're not careful.

[noel.wade]

I totally agree with Matt's comments!

When they see Condor, the first question out of most people's mouths
is "Does it have my home airport?"

But I've come to the conclusion that the LAST thing you want to do in
Condor is fly your home airport! It will never match the real life
location 100%, and changes to the real-life landscape over time won't
be reflected in the computer. Plus, it will encourage people to fly
via ground-references; which most instructors and books DIRECTLY
caution against doing!

Learning to fly the traffic pattern by launching from a bunch of
"foreign" airfields will teach pilots to use visual angles like we're
all supposed to. Its much easier to do this with a student in Condor,
than to actually take them to a couple of different airfields in real
life - illustrating another great way in which Condor is a valuable
learning tool.

I stopped flying Condor after I got my glider endorsement (I was
already a PPL SEL pilot). But then after I read all of the various
Cross-country books and manuals I returned to Condor and found it to
be a GREAT tool for learning how to safely stretch a glide (and find
out what happens when that doesn't work out), how to figure out which
clouds or markers to go for, how to set a goal and work towards it,
and how to center thermals (Condor thermals are a little more stable /
ideal than in real life - but that consistency actually makes for
really good practice at centering thermals if you set the strength to
be weak and the width to be moderate or narrow. If you can keep the
vario steady throughout an entire circle, you know you've nailed
it).

I recently discovered how much fun the Speedbattle tasks are, and how
flying these tasks online can really help my real-life flying. In our
real-life club we deal with weak weather conditions and so XC flying
is very casual - we launch and then see what conditions will permit,
and work our way slowly along from marker to marker. It was very easy
for me to never get far from the airfield as a result. With a pre-
determined Goal, the Speedbattle tasks and other online competitions
FORCE you to head out on course and make the most of what you can
find. Being on the computer, there's no risk to being daring and
trying different techniques. And Speedbattle lets you try each task 5
times - so you can fly it in different ways and see how the outcome
varies based on your tactics and risk-level. There are benefits to
flying these online tasks even if nobody else is logged into the
Speedbattle servers and you fly it solo.

This practice has fed back into my real-life flying and made me a
better cross-country pilot. I'm still SLOW in my real-life flying;
but I'm making better distances and having more fun! I just posted my
first real-life flight to the OLC, in fact. Its not too impressive on
the surface, but considering that I was dealing with 3000 to 4000 foot
cloudbases and only ~4 knot lift, I'm pretty happy with the flight:
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/gliding/flightinfo.html?flightId=-1550701213

Take care,

--Noel