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Post by Admin on Sept 5, 2022 14:02:15 GMT
So following release of the 737-200 panels it's time to resurrect panels for the IXEG 737-300, which was the aircraft I started out on nearly 5 years ago. Here's how things looked a few years ago, but these panels will take advantage of my newest graphics and I'm aiming to develop both EFIS and non-EFIS versions of the panel.
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Post by Admin on Sept 13, 2022 19:14:32 GMT
I've been messing with the IXEG 733 for a week now. The IXEG was the reason I got into X-Plane, and all these years later I'd forgotten just what a great aircraft model this is, it really has stood the test of time, and there's word on the forum that an X-Plane 12 version will be available. Here's an update on progress with making Air Manager panels for the IXEG, bearing in mind this is still early Work in Progress. The overhead is in the process of being converted to match the 733, it's probably about 75% complete at this stage. The glareshield is fully coded, what remains are cosmetic changes and updates. There's a day or so's work left to get the Captain side functioning fully, and then I can duplicate it for the FO. The centre pedestal will need most attention, there are quite a few panels which are significantly changed in the 733 versus the 732. To sum up I'm pretty happy with how things are going, so far so good and it's moving faster than I expected.
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Post by Admin on Sept 13, 2022 20:07:45 GMT
I'm feeling the urge to dust off some of my old livery paints for the IXEG. There are 50 or 60 of them to which the finishing touches are needed. Here's my old real-world competitor Channex - I do like this colour-scheme more than the Jet2 incarnations.
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Post by Admin on Sept 14, 2022 19:24:30 GMT
A little more progress on the Captain's panel - still 9 items left on the to-do list, but it works and it's flyable. Here's a comparison with 4 years ago.. I might stick to screenshots, the photo really doesn't do the panel justice!
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Post by Admin on Sept 15, 2022 18:49:47 GMT
The to-do list on the MIP is a bit shorter today, with a few major jobs done and some minor details added. Here's the ASI after a little cosmetic work, including adding scrolling "ticks" to the Mach and IAS readouts.
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Post by Admin on Sept 22, 2022 10:22:01 GMT
Well I've spent more time on this instrument than I should. Sorry for the terrible pun, but what is it with X-Plane aircraft developers and clocks? On the IXEG there are datarefs for the buttons and the second hand sweep. So chr and elapsed time functions have to be calculated within Air Manager, together with a function I'd be surprised if less than 1% of IXEG simpilots have ever used - the Day/Month/Year display. The clock time change knob (bottom right) is a dummy as I really don't see any need whatsoever for that in the sim - virtual knobs allow the simulator time in X-Plane to be changed directly. I was aware that time in X-Plane was dependent to a degree on frame rates, if they drop below 18fps then time really slows in X-Plane, causing a real issue for online flying. It seems, however, that Austin really has built time travel into X-Plane as a test sitting on the runway with higher than 50fps showed that 1 hour on an Iphone stopwatch (hopefully an accurate 1 hour realtime!) showed X-Plane time running 46 seconds fast, and Air Manager 5 seconds slow. The CHR function is linked to X-Plane/IXEG for synchronisation, but the Elapsed Time runs off Air Manager calculations, now corrected to add 5 seconds per hour! I doubt anyone will notice the variance in practice, but just in case I am aware of it.......
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Post by Admin on Oct 15, 2022 12:59:46 GMT
I want to try and minimize requirements for XTextureExtractor with these 733 panels, as native Air Manager instruments provide a sharper and better quality image. I can't see a way of avoiding it for the EHSI, though I'm going to try a composite solution for that gauge. In the meantime I've started with the EADI. V-speeds and speed limitations need to be added, but everything else works to the point of needing fine tuning. The first spin-off benefit is that with autopilot mode annunciator displays incorporated I can transfer that across to the mechanical instrument in the non-EFIS cockpit.
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Post by Admin on Oct 17, 2022 11:06:47 GMT
I've never been happy with the workings of the Metric Altimeter I'd built, based on Lufthansa's installation on their 737-300s. I sat down this morning and fixed it, and the change of baro setting is now smooth as silk. With this improvement you can now have 4 altimeters in the cockpit, all with independent baro settings.
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Post by Admin on Oct 18, 2022 15:49:23 GMT
If you're going to do something might as well do it right... I've been looking at the non-EFIS cockpit to make it as accurate a representation as possible of that operated by Southwest. Fortunately I have a copy of the operating manuals, but this is going to need a fair bit of internal coding to transfer across from the IXEG's EFIS configuration, and may not have full functionality, fingers crossed. I have to build (yet) another version of a Collins ADI to match the model Southwest used. I'm hoping Continental had the same config, but I daren't look at their manuals until I have the SWA instrument finished! As you can see from the chaotic ADI indications I haven't started on the logic code yet, but the graphics are sufficiently advanced to get cracking.
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Post by Admin on Oct 22, 2022 16:44:11 GMT
The overhead and centre MIP are now complete, apart from some very minor cosmetic issues. Meanwhile the graphics for the non-EFIS instrumentation is now also complete. Here's the Flight Mode Annunciator. Next I have to see how much functionality I can programme, taking account of the lack of datarefs out of the IXEG, and then we've the pedestal to work on.
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Post by Admin on Oct 22, 2022 18:54:28 GMT
Here's how the non-EFIS panel is progressing, basic functions of the ADI and HSI are hooked-up. This is with Delta's panels as the template.
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Post by Admin on Oct 23, 2022 15:41:54 GMT
I decided to try out this composite cartoon/photo instrument panel live in Air Manager and here's the result - YOUTUBE
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Post by Admin on Nov 2, 2022 10:20:51 GMT
Basic CDU functionality is now working within Air Manager, next step will be to improve the screen/font format and overall graphics. That should now allow me to extract LNAV and Vspeed data which will hopefully drive elements of the ASI and HSI.
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Post by Admin on Nov 3, 2022 21:06:59 GMT
Today it was the pedestal's turn to get some attention. The audio selector panels and Rudder Trim panel are now complete and fully coded. Radios and VHF nav are complete, and the fire panels shouldn't take too long. So here's the result of today's efforts.
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Post by Admin on Nov 5, 2022 14:33:52 GMT
I really must learn not to use the words "shouldn't take too long"!! I decided that the fire panel for the 737-300 needed to be a complete re-write of the unit on the 737-200. So here are the finished graphics for the Classic's version. I think about 10% of the imagery is the same, everything else is completely new.
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