GREAT PLANES REALFLIGHT DELUXE
PRODUCT REVIEW - PART 2
by Mike Mas

FLIGHT GROUPS

The flight group menu allows you to save the airport, aircraft and environment data under a specific name to be recalled. Changes you make during a flying session will be saved to the present model when you quit the program.

Make a copy - Copies all of the settings from one flight group into a new flight group.

Delete group - Deletes the selected flight group and its associated characteristics.

Rename group - Renames the currently selected flight group saving all models and specifications.

File Cache - These options allow you to pre-cache the files that RealFlight will need to run on your hard disk. Make sure that your Cache file is at least 60 MB for this option to function correctly.

AIRCRAFT SELECTION

The "Aircraft Selection" menu allows you to select from any of eleven helicopters or ten model airplanes. The helicopter models range from .049 power, electric, .30, .46, .60 to full blown body ships and even a 4-stroke helicopter. You can copy any of the default helicopters and then modify them.

Make a Copy - Used to copy a model. In order to modify a default model, you must first copy and rename the model. Delete

Aircraft - Delete the selected aircraft. You can only delete models which you have created.

Rename Aircraft - Rename the selected model. You can only rename helicopters that you have created. Edit Aircraft - Edit the selected aircraft. This is the selection that brings you into the "Edit" menu.

AIRPORT SELECTION

There are five Direct 3D airports and one Internal 3D Airport that you can choose from.

Adair at Corvallis - This is the panorama from a local flying field near Corvallis, Oregon. A smaller field with tall trees. The clubhouse and pits layout is a scale representation of the actual airfield.

Columbia River Gorge - The Columbia River has carved out fantastic land formations throughout time. This scene near Hood River Oregon is on the Washington State side of the Columbia River. Fly around the industrial base or the remote homestead that is common to this area.

Idaho Tower - This remote location is taken from a National Park in Idaho. Rock formations here have been formed over millions of years. This airport offers some rock formations that block the runway as well as some remote high-gain satellite dishes.

Pendleton Station - The rolling hills of Pendleton, Oregon offer a scenic rolling background.

Distant Hills - The Willamette Valley in western Oregon is the grass seed capital of the world. Offering a distant view of the Cascade Mountains, this scene is visually complex and will try to hide your aircraft in its trees.

Internal 3D Technology Airport - Currently, there is only one airport that you can fly at with the Internal 3D Airport. It offers a single runway, windsock, and mountains and clouds in the distance.

ENVIRONMENT PAGE

The environment menu page allows you to simulate windy conditions which may be found at your local flying site. Conditions including direction, strength and velocity are selectable. A nice feature is the "Smooth / Gusty" selection slider. This allows you to have high winds that occur in either smooth or gusty conditions. Also available is a "Variable Direction" setting so the wind conditions may change during flight. Depending on the model's size and weight, they can be greatly affected by the wind conditions and or gusty conditions.

TERRAIN EDITOR

With particular airports, such as Rainbow Canyon, RealFlight creates mountains, valleys, and computer generated scenery. You can actually fly down the valleys and amongst the mountains. This page lets you customize the appearance of your surroundings. RealFlight is capable of creating some fantastic landscapes limited only by the PC and video card being used. You may increase the Mountain Width, the Grid Density and use 24 bit sky textures. If you have a slower machine, you may have to settle for a coarser grid that does not extend as far.

HELI SETUP PAGE

In order to open the "Heli Setup" page, you will first have to copy a model in order to modify its parameters. At the top of the Heli-Setup page is some general information of the selected model. The tabs at the top of the page allow you to navigate to other menus. The visual scale is adjustable, so if you like to see your machine appear a bit bigger or smaller this value may be altered. I like using standard measurements, such as inches and ounces, etc. If you like, you may use the metric selection. The "Radio Type" is an important selection since it allows access to the radio edit menus. By selecting "My Own Computer Radio" or "Software Radio" you can enter the appropriate menu selections.

TAIL ROTOR PAGE

All the attributes for the tail rotor system may be found on this page. You may choose clockwise or counterclockwise rotation. Next, you may choose where the tail rotor is located in relation to the helicopter's main shaft. If you like, you can speed up or slow down the tail rotor speed by changing the ratio. Finally, the tail rotor diameter and deflection may be selected. At the bottom of the page is the "Airfoil" section, here you may choose from a number of NACA airfoils.

GYRO PAGE

The gyro page allows you to select a gyro for your helicopter and modify its settings dependent upon which gyro that has been selected. I was impressed by the gyro page since there was such an extensive amount of variables available. You can select from a constant or dual rate gyro. A "Heading Hold" gyro is also available with low and high ATVs, range, heading hold gain, mix, rate gain, and delay. There Is even a pirouette rate in degrees/second available. The heading hold activates the heading hold gyro. While in heading hold, the gyro will keep the tail pointed in the same direction until you input a different command.

ENGINE PAGE

This determines the engine that you select to power your helicopter. This menu is designed so that you can easily and quickly select a different engine for your helicopter. If so desired, you can edit and create your own engines. This menu also includes a fuel supply option so you can run out of fuel, just like your real helicopter. If you're a miser and you're trying to save fuel, you can adjust the "Fuel Consumption" ounce per minute values. The lower section of this menu offers additional attributes so you can select the actual engine sounds, like an OS .46 or OS .60, etc. Also available is the head speed governor settings, engine to main rotor gear ratio, cooling fan diameter, and torque adjustments.

FUSELAGE PAGE

The fuselage page allows you to alter the properties of the fuselage. The menu is self explanatory, you can do most anything you want with this menu to include changing the fuselage design to modifying the front and side drag coefficient levels. At the lower portion of the menu - the skid width, length, and location can be changed.

CLUTCH PAGE

The clutch parameters will change the engine rpm at which the clutch will engage and begin turning the main rotor. By clicking, "Has One Way Bearing to Main Shaft" option, should the engine fail or go below a certain rpm, the main rotor will turn freely from the engine.

Fully Disengaged RPM - Engine RPM less than this amount will not engage the clutch.

Fully Engaged RPM - Engine RPM greater than this amount will fully engage the clutch.

TAIL FINS PAGE

Allows you to modify tail fin attributes. You may even eliminate them all together. Both the vertical and horizontal fins may be altered. You may also "slide" the surfaces fore and aft on the tailtube by changing their position.

HUB PAGE

The "Hub Page" offers all the parameters for adjusting the behavior of the main rotor hub. The first selection is whether you choose the standard "Solid Axle" type or "Dual Flapping". For those of you like myself, who cannot see spending $500 on an optional dual flapping rotor head, RealFlight gives you one for free. Numerous attributes may be altered such as; hinge diameter, lead-lag diameter, X&Y of the hub location.

In the "Flap Info" menu, you can adjust the static coning angle, delta offset, maximum flap angle, and dampened flap. Weight, deflection, and actual blade input arm length values may also be altered.

SERVOS PAGE

The "Servo Page" lets you modify and configure servo assignments when using the RealFlight Transmitter Interface Adapter. You may set the speed in seconds/60 deg. on five channels.

MAIN ROTOR PAGE

Parameters for the main rotor system are contained in this menu. Not to be confused with the main rotor blades menu, this page sets the main rotor height, cyclic roll and pitch deflection, and minimum and maximum collective deflection. Under the "Blade Type" section, you can choose a type of blade for your model. If you like, you can copy and rename a set of blades which you can custom make to your own liking. If you really want to get spoiled, at the bottom of the page you can select what type of actual sound your blades make as you zoom thru your aerobatics. If you're not happy with the overall sound, you can choose the proper amount of engine sound verses blade noise. Let me just comment, we're not talking about a constant whirr of the blades, as you add cyclic control you can actually hear the rotor disk and blades working!

EDIT BLADES

This page controls the blade configuration parameters. Keep in mind that in order to access these dialog boxes, you must copy, rename and then edit the blades. I love the blade section, here there's an opportunity to really play with some blade styles. The first selection is the blade length. If you wanted a "taper blade" all you would have to do is select the blade "Tip Chord" and "Root Chord" and change the values. The blade weight, which is so important to model helicopters, may be altered extensively. You may even select where the weight is located in the blade in relation to the tip of the blade. If you're not happy yet, you can even change the "Wash Out" angle. The center of the menu offers the ability to control the actual blade flex of the main rotor system. Is this thing getting too technical? Finally, if all that other stuff wasn't enough, there is an "Airfoil" section where numerous NACA airfoils may be selected.

PADDLES

The "Paddle" attributes may be changed beginning with the total flybar and paddle diameter. This is a nice feature since flybar length seems to be a rarity nowadays on our real models. Next, you can change the paddle length, height, chord, weight, angle of incidence, along with roll and pitch deflection. At the bottom of the menu is the "Airfoil" section where a number of NACA airfoils may be selected.

MISCELLANEOUS

This page allows you to modify some miscellaneous parameters in RealFlight Deluxe. This page also includes a performance section which provides all the final specifications for your helicopter.

SERVO SETTINGS PAGE

The servo settings page adjusts the outputs of each servo. This menu allows you to set the ATV for each function.

Also available are the dual rate, sub trims, and expo settings.

MODES PAGE

By clicking on the "Edit Now" button from the "Heli Setup" page, the mode assignments page allows you to select active modes and the condition in which they will be activated. The following parameters are available; Servo mixing, Mixing curves, Mixing, Gyros, and Governor. This menu allows you to configure the switches for hold, autorotation, tail, etc.

MIXING PAGE

The mixing page allows the creation and application of mixes to improve flight performance.

High - The percent of the "From" channel to apply to the "To" channel when the "From" channel is above 0.

Low - The percent of the "From" channel to apply to the "To" channel when the "From" channel is below 0.

Offset - This offset value is added to the result of the mix.

GYRO PAGE

The gyro page allows you to select a gyro and modify settings dependent upon which gyro has been selected.

Piezo Gyro - Activates the piezo gyro. This gyro behaves similar to the constant rate gyro, but uses an electronic crystal to detect changes in the yaw.

Piezo Gyro Modifier - This value is usually 100% indicating to use the gain supplied by the radio. If you want more gain than the radio allows, increase this value.

Constant Rate - Activates the constant rate gyro. This uses a mechanical gyro to detect changes in yaw. Its gain is not adjustable during flight.

Dual Rate - Activates the dual rate gyro. This is an improvement on the constant rate gyro, allowing you the ability to switch between two pre-set gains during flight.

Heading Hold - Activates the heading hold gyro. This gyro functions as either a piezo gyro or a heading hold gyro. While in heading hold, the gyro will keep the tail pointed in the same direction until you input a different direction.

Low ATV - The minimum ATV for the heading hold gyro. This is the amount of allowable physical tail rotor deflection the gyro can provide for clockwise helicopter yawing.

High ATV - The minimum ATV for the heading hold gyro. This is the amount of allowable physical tail rotor deflection the gyro can provide for counter clockwise helicopter yawing.

Range - The amount of yaw the gyro will allow before re-setting the position it is trying to maintain. Using a smaller amount (like 10 degrees) will cause the helicopter to weather vane in forward flight.

Pirouette Rate - The maximum rate at which the helicopter will pirouette.

HH Gain - The amount of gain for the heading hold portion of the gyro. This will not change the maximum yaw rate, as determined by the rudder channel, but rather determines how quickly it changes the tail rotor's pitch. Too much gain results in a "hunting" effect, too little gain slows the helicopter's response.

Rate Gain - The amount of gain for the normal "rate" portion of the gyro. Higher values will slow down the maximum yaw rate and eliminate unwanted accelerations.

Mix - The mix between the heading hold gyro and the constant rate. This value is the percent of heading hold.

Delay - The maximum angular acceleration used for heading hold corrections. Large values cause the helicopter to respond faster. Lower values make the helicopter "smoother".

PICTURE RESOLUTION

Resolution - The resolution page will determine the sharpness of your picture and your physics.

The parameters on this page will allow a variety of options for maximizing RealFlight to your computer system. Selecting the ideal resolution for your computer requires a delicate balance between quality and speed.

Physics Resolution - Adjusts the speed that the computer calculates the physics equations. Values below 100% are useful if you have a slower computer. Values above 100% are useful to smooth-out ground handling.

DIRECT3D

Direct3D Page - Activated if you have chosen "Direct3D Technology" in the "3D Technology" page.

Technology Type - Choose the Direct3D technology that you want to use.

Direct3D HAL - This is the hardware accelerated driver. You should almost always use this if it appears as an option. If you do not have a 3D card installed in your computer, then this option will not be available.

RAMP - This is a software only driver that uses monochromatic lighting calculations to speed up rendering. This is usually the best choice if you do not have a 3D card. (Must use a 3D card for Helicopters)

RGB - This is a software only driver that uses the RGB components of light to color the objects. The screen will look a little better, but the frame rate will be slowed slightly.

MMX - This will only appear if your computer has an MMX processor. This is visually a high quality driver, but is usually not as fast as RAMP.

Gouraud Shading - Smoothly shades the aircraft and other airport options making them look less like polygons. This will slow down the rendering slightly. If turned off, the objects will look "flat".

Texture Mapping - Texture mapping applies photographic pictures on top of the polygons. For instance, it makes the "shack" airport option look like it has real wood siding. This option is required if you want to use the photographic panoramas (PhotoField). Your video card may not accelerate texture mapping.

Bilinear Textures - This makes the textures that are close to you, like the runway textures, much, smoother and less "blocky". Using this option will make the picture look nicer, however this may slow your computer down. Your card may not support this option.

Dithering - Blends the pixels together to produce a smoother image. Using this option will make the picture look nicer, but might slow it down. Your card may not support this option.

Specular Highlighting - This will make the surface like the canopy reflect the sunlight, and "flash" at certain angles. Using this option will make the picture look nicer, but might slow the system down. Your card may not support this option.

MUSIC SOUND

Music and sound effects add another dimension to simulation flying. You can choose to fly to background music or you can listen to the ambient sounds of a local flying field. If you want some random "jeering," then turn on the random effects. If you have a slow sound card or a slow machine, you may not be able to turn on all of the sounds.

Play Engine Sounds - Select whether or not to play the engine sounds. Engine sounds are an important part of the simulation; they give you an audible indication of aircraft speed and distance.

VirtualRevolution - VirtualRevolution engine technology makes the engine sound correct at both idle and full power and everywhere in between. This sounds the best, but can require more memory and will slow down the frame rate on slower computers.

Play Background Music - Select whether or not to play CD-quality background music. This can slow down the rendering speed. Use only if you have a fast computer.

Play List - Select which songs and ambient background tracks to play.

Random Effects - Frequency of the "random" sound effects. Adjustable with the slide bar.

Play Opening Song - Select whether or not to play the introduction song.

Play Crash Sounds - Select whether or not to play the crash sounds when the aircraft crashes.

Play Dialog Effects - Select whether or not to play the sound effects while navigating the dialog boxes. Play Wind Sounds - Select whether or not to play the wind sounds when wind is enabled.

CONTROLLER TYPE

This is where you select the controller that you wish to use to control RealFlight. Most of the time, you will choose RealFlight Joystick (Automatic). If you use a 3rd party joystick, it should appear here as well. If you own the RealFlight "Transmitter Interface Adapter" and have entered the interface's serial number during the installation program, this option will appear here as well. Choose the one that matches the LPT port (printer port) that it is on. For example if it is on LPT 1, then choose RealFlight Transmitter Interface (LPT 1). If you are using a 3rd party transmitter adapter that connects to the joystick port, select the RealFlight Joystick (Automatic), and not the RealFlight Transmitter Interface.

Stick Mapping - This indicates the type of joystick that you will have connected. If you have purchased the Futaba controller version of this software, make sure that the "Transmitter Mode 2 (USA)" is selected. This option does not appear if you own the RealFlight Transmitter Interface Adapter.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Minimum System Requirements
Windows 95/98
Intel Pentium 200 or equivalent processor
Microsoft Direct 3D compatible high performance 3D accelerated video card with a min. of 4 MB video RAM
30 MB available hard drive space
16 MB RAM
4x CD-ROM drive
Super VGA monitor

Optimum System Performance
Pentium II 300 and above processor
Microsoft Direct 3D compatible high performance 3D accelerated video card with a minimum of 8 MB RAM
16x CD-ROM drive

Retail Price GPMZ4050 / with controller $349.95

Technical Assistance
Further assistance may be obtained by accessing the WEB site (http://www.realflight.com/deluxe.html) or calling by 217-398-8970. You can also send RealFlight email questions to rfsupport@greatplanes.com as well.

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