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  4. Back in 2020–2023 or so, I was very interested in Flight Simulation.

Back in 2020–2023 or so, I was very interested in Flight Simulation.

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  • tml@mementomori.socialundefined

    Back in 2020–2023 or so, I was very interested in Flight Simulation. Specifically, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. (The current version is 2024.) My favourite way of using it was in virtual reality.

    I attempted to build several add-on aircraft for it. Interesting historical military aircraft, mostly. Occasionally I even thought I might have a chance of producing something people would pay money for.

    Each time, the start was fun and promising, but the further I got, the more important small details I noticed that I honestly did not have any chance of ever getting "good enough"... and the enthusiasm waned until I realised I had given up. (Hey, it was a fun hobby anyway, lots of rabbit holes to dig yourself into, I am not sad. Like books describing various jet engines in history, as developed by Rolls-Royce, General Electric, etc.)

    The competition in the add-on market is very demanding. Small companies or individuals that make the best virtual reproductions of real aircraft often have access to actual existing such aircraft. In museums if it is a historical aircraft, or in-use ones. (And Microsoft itself and its contractors of course have lots of funds to purchase hands-on investigation of the aircraft they are modelling.)

    Anyway, here is a screen grab video from November 2021: https://youtu.be/3U-1vCWvsjE . My model of the glorious XB-70 Valkyrie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_XB-70_Valkyrie. You see the landing gear extension and retraction sequence, and the wing tip rotation. The main landing gear moves in a very interesting way.

    Sure, it looks okay-ish from a distance, but if you would inspect it closer, you would notice lots of problems. Not to mention the cockpit and other accessible space inside. To get those "good enough" one would need to have access to the single remaining aircraft (of only two built), in the USAF Museum in Ohio for careful measurements and photography.

    Sure, there are nice photos and videos of it online, including cockpit interior. But it is not easy to determine good enough angles and dimensions from such. In photos you see various equipment typically only from one camera location anyway. To be good enough for VR use, one needs to model all sides of a thing, more or less.

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Back in 2020–2023 or so, I was very interested in Flight Simulation.

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    mau@poliversity.itundefined
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    informapirata@poliverso.orgundefined
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    cybersecurity@poliverso.orgundefined
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