Feature suggestion: Toggle for radar pod to also toggle the radar screen
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First off, my congratulations to Nick from @Black-Square and Boris from Boris Audioworks!
I've bought both the Bonanza and Baron, so far only hopped into the NA Bonanza for an 1 hour trip, and...
I'm literally blown away be this plane. The attention to the smallest detail is staggering. Absolutely love how the compression of the engine vibrates the plane realistically, how the needles shake. I was mind boggled about the attention to the texturing and modelling both on the exterior and interior. How can fabric on a computer screen even look so good? Those 4 (or 5...) different interiors do truly look absolutely amazing. Carefully arranged by an beechcraft interior designer in 1970s and 80s, and brought to life again for MSFS 2024.
Real story: I spent a good minute, just repeatedly pressing and depressing the autpilots FD button, just to observe the flight director bar bouncing up and down, seemingly in perfect sync with this satisfying, almost tactile, "click" sound of the button.About the radar screen: Maybe it would be nice, if it could be toggled together with the radar pod? Just a thought though...
What an accomplishment! Hat's off to both of you!
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Thank you so much for your comments. That has to be one of the most detailed accolades I've received yet, haha. Your fascination with the details are exactly what I hope for when I create them. Since this has been requested several times already, here's the story:
Originally, it was not an option to remove the radar display unit, because it was home to the failure system in the Analog Series. When considering this for the Professional Series, I simply didn't prioritize it, because the time investment to retroactively do it would be substantial. There is actually a large hole in the panel behind the radar unit, so it would take rearranging a lot of texture space, and then rebaking the ambient occlusion, then doubling the number of radio configurations so they rearrange themselves properly when the radar is removed. Of course, for Black Square detail, the electrical system would also have to reflect this change, along with showing/hiding the circuit breakers. Not to mention, at the end of the day, it will leave the panel with a lot of empty space, which is something I try to avoid in my aircraft.
Of course this doesn't mean that I won't get to it some day soon, but I just wanted to provide an explanation. In fact, sometimes just writing all the steps makes it a little easier for me to imagine spending a day doing it. I hope my explanations of aircraft development don't ever read as excuses. I just like to share these stories with everyone so I don't look like I'm ignoring what might appear to be a very easy change, and also hope to provide some sort of entertainment for those who like reading about how their favorite aircraft are made.
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Thank you for taking the time to explain, and sharing some the complexity that would come with it.
It makes total sense, and really was just a thought on my side, born out of seeing the available option to remove the pod, nothing more.
I'm perfectly happy either way! -
I second all the positive comments made by Seb76, these aircraft are amazing! I was also wondering why the removal of the radar pod didn't remove the radar screen in the panel, then I figured what you explained above might be the reason. I guess the same goes for adding the tip tanks, where you don't get separate fuel gauges for them? It would make the aircraft even more perfect as they already are. As a big fan of your work I can hardly wait what will be next. But first, on to some serious simming in the Bonanza and Baron.
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More praise in coming!
I am taken by the way Sync Props takes it's time 'syncing'. It's not virtually instant like every other twin I have.
I love the way engine starts keep you on the edge of your seat! Phew, they started!
On the subject of radar pods. Does the Baron have one tucked away somewhere?
Anyway, I've a couple of engines making music in my ears as I type. Better go see what they want.
Great, great work. -
I second all the positive comments made by Seb76, these aircraft are amazing! I was also wondering why the removal of the radar pod didn't remove the radar screen in the panel, then I figured what you explained above might be the reason. I guess the same goes for adding the tip tanks, where you don't get separate fuel gauges for them? It would make the aircraft even more perfect as they already are. As a big fan of your work I can hardly wait what will be next. But first, on to some serious simming in the Bonanza and Baron.
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Thanks for the praise everyone, but I'm sorry that this one feature eluded me due to other priorities. The Tip-Tank/Winglet dynamic selection is already done for the next update, though.
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Got this one done today too, everyone.
Much like the hot-swappable tip-tanks, this was a real mess to unravel. That's nobody's fault, to be clear. It can just be difficult to create unintended features that I never anticipated when designing the aircraft.
Textures affected: 20
Model files re-exported: 36
Animations changed: 72
Ambient Occlusion re-baked: 1
XML files edited: 4
Blender crashes: 10 (yes, I incremented it every time)
MSFS 2020 crashes: 1
MSFS 2024 crashes: 5
Effort for just MSFS 2024's LOD system: ~80%Total time to remove a radar head unit: 8 hours.
I'm always happy to make changes when they makes my aircraft more enjoyable for everyone. You guys brought me two real challenges this week, though! I can't wait to see you enjoying them both in your screenshots
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I’m confused. Can we now remove the wx radar screen in the cockpit if we remove the pod? Do I need to edit a file or something if so how ?
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I’m confused. Can we now remove the wx radar screen in the cockpit if we remove the pod? Do I need to edit a file or something if so how ?
@fakeflyer737 Yes, that's what I just implemented, but you will have to wait for the v1.1 update (probably next week). If it was as simple as editing a file, it wouldn't have taken me the entire day to implement
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So when you say double the radio configs, can we now have dual gtn 750's ? Asking for a friend lol
@Kestrel21 I don’t think so, I believe he meant every radio configuration now has a partner version where there is no radar screen.
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@Kestrel21 I don’t think so, I believe he meant every radio configuration now has a partner version where there is no radar screen.
@Iconography That's correct. Just backend changed to make removing the radar screen possible. We're planning on releasing this update next week, btw.
