Flight Simulator 2004 Control Issues

Thanks for your reply, Noi:

Yes, I have reinstalled several times, and the trim is centered, however
with both sticks with the FS9 default aircraft my rudder does not seem to
want to stay centered, however with add on aircraft like the package I just
got it seems to work a lot better. I'm sure it must be something I'm
doing...I just can't figure out what Thanks for your time!

"Noi" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 09:43:21 +0000, SouthBayGuy without thinking wrote:

Did you uninstall and reinstall FS9? Checked rudder trim?

Thanks for your reply, glatherm:

Well no it won't fly straight and level, really. Without the A/P I am
constantly having to readjust power/trim, and still find myself climbing
or descending about 300fpm. It's either my poor skills as a sim pilot
after all these years, or none of the joysticks i've tried will
calibrate
exactly correct on this computer of mine. I still tend to think it's a
combination of my lousy flying and the default flight models and
whatever
bugs are present in FS9. I'm tending to believe what I do about the
flight
models because I got the "Perfect Flight General Aviation Adventures"
add
on from the internet the other day (because it has a citiation in it)
and
although the graphics on the planes and panel's aren't up to MS, the
planes handle much better.

Thanks for the tip on the Mooney I'll try it!

Regards to all

"glathrem" wrote in message
...
If you turn AP off and center the joystick, will it fly straight and
level?
Sounds like the AP is compensating for a slightly down stick. I have
the
3 axis sidewinder and it works fine, except that FS9 pushes buttons on
it's own occasionally. I do see the quick turbulence bump you have once
in a while. That Mooney Bravo is a bummer. It won't fly straight unless
you continuously switch fuel tanks. It only draws fuel from one tank at
a time and quickly becomes unbalanced enough to turn. Would be a really
nice
plane
except for that. My system is not much better than yours; 1.8ghz,
Nvidia
64mb (geforce4), XP sp1, 512 ram...... I most of the time maintain
20FPS
with most sliders maxed out (the sliders important to me anyway).


"SouthBayGuy" wrote in message
link.net...
Hello Everyone:

I was hoping that someone with more experience than I could help me
with some questions/problems that I have with MS Flight Sim 2004. I
have
owned
all of the FS since 4.0, and the one that has worked best for me has
been
2002. A couple of weeks ago, I got 2004, and am quite happy with it
as
an
"upgrade," more for the "little things" (more choices in ATC, better
GPS,
etc), but have had some problems that are either brand new, or seem
to
have
gotten worse in this version.

First, my system;
Compaq 1.6 GHz Pentium 4
512 mb RAM 433mhz bus
80gb 7200 EIDE HDD 80gb Maxtor external HDD (USB) NVIDIA Geoforce
2MMX
64MB video (yeah yeah, I know) Windows XP Home SP1 with all the lil
"patches" Saitek Cyborg EVO Joystick

This system can run FS2004 fairly well, good frame rate, not the best
scenery detail of course, but I use FS mostly as a recreational
thing,
to
do
the flying that I cant afford, and am not skilled for yet, in R/L. I
have
taken some flight training in the past, it's been a long time ago,
but
I
do
know what it's like to fly a real 182, etc. With my older video card
I've
found that the best thing to do is leave it at whatever the program
puts
at
the defaults--that gives the best performance for me.

Now, to the issues:

1. Rudder control-Both my joysticks (I also have the MS Sidewinder
2.0
that
frankly I'm disappointed with), have twist for rudder. It is VERY
DIFFICULT
to taxi, to keep the plane on the taxi line and even more difficult
to
track
the center on take off and landing rolls. This occurs in all planes
but
is
worse in the Mooney Bravo. Is this just part of the flight model,
..cfg
file,
whatever? I don't want to invest in custom rudder controls and have
the
same
problem..that would be very depressing! Also once in the air, the
planes especially the light gen av aircraft, wander a bit as far as
heading
(the
Mooney is worst at this).

2. Auto Pilot Problem-Now THIS is the thing that is frustrating. When
I'm
flying any of the lighter aircraft, really anything other than the
airliners, when the A/P is set for altitude it keeps the trim so nose
high,
the airplane can't pass 80 knots or so. This is especially bad in the
172
182 and Mooney. The twins do it to an extent; it doesn't really
happen
in
the jets because you can set the A/P to maintain IAS. Is there ANY
way
to
stop the A/P from setting the trim so nose high? I've also noticed
that
when
flying along in A/P that periodically the plane will suddenly act
like
it
was hit by a gust (even with wind turned off), slip, raise and fall a
bit,
then try to go back to the heading and altitude (and of course roll
the elevator trim way high! UGH!).

The Mooney for seem reason, just seems downright unflyable. Am I
doing
something wrong, do I have to alter a config file or something? It
just seems, from my limited real piloting experience, that real
aircraft are about 20 times easier to control. Anyway thanks so much
for taking the
time
to read my post. I would appreciate any help or advice anyone could
give.

Thanks!

"SouthBayGuy" wrote in message
link.net...
Hello Everyone:

2. Auto Pilot Problem-Now THIS is the thing that is frustrating. When I'm
flying any of the lighter aircraft, really anything other than the
airliners, when the A/P is set for altitude it keeps the trim so nose
high,
the airplane can't pass 80 knots or so. This is especially bad in the 172
182 and Mooney. The twins do it to an extent; it doesn't really happen in
the jets because you can set the A/P to maintain IAS. Is there ANY way to
stop the A/P from setting the trim so nose high? I've also noticed that
when
flying along in A/P that periodically the plane will suddenly act like it
was hit by a gust (even with wind turned off), slip, raise and fall a bit,
then try to go back to the heading and altitude (and of course roll the
elevator trim way high! UGH!).


I have found there to be a "bug" in the 172 autopilot (KAP-140) as well.
Whenever I engage the autopilot, which I usually only use in HDG or NAV
mode, it takes pitch authority even though I don't have ALT hold set. I get
around this by toggling the ALT hold on and off whenever I engage the
autopilot. I usually don't use the ALT modes, so you may want to try
toggling ALT ON, OFF, then back ON and see if you still have the problem.

Thanks for your reply Jim:

I will try that! I generally use ALT/NAV/ and in the jets ALT/NAV/IAS
because I tend to like to take a lot of long flights-east coast to europe,
europe to asia west coast to oceania etc, in real time, not multiple
sessions, so if I'm away from the computer for awhile i.e. sleeping or
whatnot, the plane can continue to its destination or next stop if refueling
is needed. If I'm still snoozing it will circle the airport till I get back
to it (unless it flames out or runs out of fuel hehe).

Regards to all and thanks so much for your help!

"Jim Hendrickson" wrote in message
news:uWNvb.5142$dO2.4437@lakeread03...

"SouthBayGuy" wrote in message
link.net...
Hello Everyone:

2. Auto Pilot Problem-Now THIS is the thing that is frustrating. When
I'm
flying any of the lighter aircraft, really anything other than the
airliners, when the A/P is set for altitude it keeps the trim so nose
high,
the airplane can't pass 80 knots or so. This is especially bad in the
172
182 and Mooney. The twins do it to an extent; it doesn't really happen
in
the jets because you can set the A/P to maintain IAS. Is there ANY way
to
stop the A/P from setting the trim so nose high? I've also noticed that
when
flying along in A/P that periodically the plane will suddenly act like
it
was hit by a gust (even with wind turned off), slip, raise and fall a
bit,
then try to go back to the heading and altitude (and of course roll the
elevator trim way high! UGH!).


I have found there to be a "bug" in the 172 autopilot (KAP-140) as well.
Whenever I engage the autopilot, which I usually only use in HDG or NAV
mode, it takes pitch authority even though I don't have ALT hold set. I
get
around this by toggling the ALT hold on and off whenever I engage the
autopilot. I usually don't use the ALT modes, so you may want to try
toggling ALT ON, OFF, then back ON and see if you still have the problem.

Unfourtunately this didn't help...as soon as I ENGAGE the A/P...it starts
dialing the trim UP UP UP...Even with just NAV set. It must be a problem in
my system somewhere :0(

"Jim Hendrickson" wrote in message
news:uWNvb.5142$dO2.4437@lakeread03...

I have found there to be a "bug" in the 172 autopilot (KAP-140) as well.
Whenever I engage the autopilot, which I usually only use in HDG or NAV
mode, it takes pitch authority even though I don't have ALT hold set. I
get
around this by toggling the ALT hold on and off whenever I engage the
autopilot. I usually don't use the ALT modes, so you may want to try
toggling ALT ON, OFF, then back ON and see if you still have the
problem.

On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 07:05:47 GMT, "SouthBayGuy"
wrote:

2. Auto Pilot Problem-Now THIS is the thing that is frustrating. When I'm
flying any of the lighter aircraft, really anything other than the
airliners, when the A/P is set for altitude it keeps the trim so nose high,
the airplane can't pass 80 knots or so. This is especially bad in the 172
182 and Mooney. The twins do it to an extent; it doesn't really happen in
the jets because you can set the A/P to maintain IAS. Is there ANY way to
stop the A/P from setting the trim so nose high? I've also noticed that when
flying along in A/P that periodically the plane will suddenly act like it
was hit by a gust (even with wind turned off), slip, raise and fall a bit,
then try to go back to the heading and altitude (and of course roll the
elevator trim way high! UGH!).

If you have too high a rate of climb then the a/p will try to maintain
that rate and the airspeed could bleed off until the plane stalls. If
you manually override the autopilot's default rate of clime and reduce
it, that might keep the airspeed high enough to prevent the autopilot
from having to raise the nose so high.

Your description of the problem really sounds like the plane is flying
too slowly for some reason. The throttles could be limited from their
full setting. The spoilers could be deployed. There's lots of things
that could slow the plane like climbing too fast. It sounds like too
slow airspeed is the problem.

Thanks for your reply Dave:

You raise some great points...I'm still fiddling with it, and it does seem
to be a LITTLE better I'd like to thank you and everyone again for their
suggestions I appreciate the help!

Regards to all

"Dave J." wrote in message
...
On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 07:05:47 GMT, "SouthBayGuy"
wrote:

2. Auto Pilot Problem-Now THIS is the thing that is frustrating. When I'm
flying any of the lighter aircraft, really anything other than the
airliners, when the A/P is set for altitude it keeps the trim so nose
high,
the airplane can't pass 80 knots or so. This is especially bad in the 172
182 and Mooney. The twins do it to an extent; it doesn't really happen in
the jets because you can set the A/P to maintain IAS. Is there ANY way to
stop the A/P from setting the trim so nose high? I've also noticed that
when
flying along in A/P that periodically the plane will suddenly act like it
was hit by a gust (even with wind turned off), slip, raise and fall a
bit,
then try to go back to the heading and altitude (and of course roll the
elevator trim way high! UGH!).

If you have too high a rate of climb then the a/p will try to maintain
that rate and the airspeed could bleed off until the plane stalls. If
you manually override the autopilot's default rate of clime and reduce
it, that might keep the airspeed high enough to prevent the autopilot
from having to raise the nose so high.

Your description of the problem really sounds like the plane is flying
too slowly for some reason. The throttles could be limited from their
full setting. The spoilers could be deployed. There's lots of things
that could slow the plane like climbing too fast. It sounds like too
slow airspeed is the problem.

I had similar over-sensitive rudder problem with FS2004 on the same
machine that did not have the problem with FS2K. I use the MS
Sidewinder joystick.

When I tried changing the rudder sensitivity inside FS it barely made
any difference to flight, although I noticed in slew mode, my ability
to turn with rudder was very much affected by the setting change.

On XP with Sidewinder it stores profiles per game so you can have
adjustments to sensitivity and settings on a per-game basis (is that a
Sidewinder thing, or is it part of XP's joystick calibartion tool?).

One thing that helped, was playing with the joystick profile outside
of FS. I seem to remember there was some way of picking a previously
created profile for another game (?) when you select the profile you
want to use with FS2004, and either making sure I used a separate one
for FS2004 or the same one as FS2K which used to work fine (I cant
remember which way round it was) made a difference.

I Think the rudder thing is a bug. I have a Cougar HOTAS set up with elite
pedals. Usually when I start a take off run the first time I get run away
nose wheel steering and have to reset the flight and then all is well. I have
no problem after this when taking off from Meigs or Phoenix Sky Harbor,
however if I try to take off from the Flagstaff, AZ airport I am all over the
place and can hardly keep it on the runway. This is not P factor as sometimes
the plane yaws to the right and jet aircraft do it as well. I seriously think
this is a bug that has not been addressed by MS. Too many people having this
trouble.

Are you centering your controls prior to take-off? If not then that's the
problem, operator error.

Dashi

"Twilson" wrote in message
...
I Think the rudder thing is a bug. I have a Cougar HOTAS set up with elite
pedals. Usually when I start a take off run the first time I get run away
nose wheel steering and have to reset the flight and then all is well. I
have
no problem after this when taking off from Meigs or Phoenix Sky Harbor,
however if I try to take off from the Flagstaff, AZ airport I am all over
the
place and can hardly keep it on the runway. This is not P factor as
sometimes
the plane yaws to the right and jet aircraft do it as well. I seriously
think
this is a bug that has not been addressed by MS. Too many people having
this
trouble.

You're supposed to center the controls??? ~DOH!!!! :0)


"Dashi" wrote in message
...
Are you centering your controls prior to take-off? If not then that's the
problem, operator error.

Dashi

"Twilson" wrote in message
...
I Think the rudder thing is a bug. I have a Cougar HOTAS set up with
elite
pedals. Usually when I start a take off run the first time I get run
away
nose wheel steering and have to reset the flight and then all is well. I
have
no problem after this when taking off from Meigs or Phoenix Sky Harbor,
however if I try to take off from the Flagstaff, AZ airport I am all
over
the
place and can hardly keep it on the runway. This is not P factor as
sometimes
the plane yaws to the right and jet aircraft do it as well. I seriously
think
this is a bug that has not been addressed by MS. Too many people having
this
trouble.