Gauge From Hell

[davidbr22]

Hi All: Interesting problem. I can't disable gyro drift in the 1049G.

What I've done:

Disabled in FS9 settings - edited Aircraft config and changed gyro precession on yaw = 0.0  and gyro precession on pitch = 0.0, edited air file and changed gyro to false.  Reinstalled 1049G 3 times and FS9 3 times.  The gyro drift still works.  Here's the really weird part --- have the exact same setup on another computer, Windows 7 Ultra 32 bit and all I did was disable in FS settings and that was it. The problem is the other computer with Windows 7 Professional 64 bit. I disable gyro drift on occasion when I don't want to reset it every 5 minutes. If anyone has a solution, I'm all ears.

Thanks in advance

Dave

[davidbr22]

Forgot to mention about installs. Installed FS9 in compatibility mode with XP sp2, XP sp3 and no compatibility settings. Ran FS9 in compatibility modes sp2 and sp3 and none. Nothing changed regardless.

[Tom/CalClassic]

Is the gyro drift disabled on aircraft other than the 1049G on that computer?

[davidbr22]

Hi Tom --- Yeah, it's just the 1049G or any plane that uses that gauge, like the 749 or 049. I tested all default planes and one other, no problem. Also noticed something else today. If I rem out the gauges in the panel config, on 2d and VC panels, the 2D panel removes everything and leaves a hole where the gauge and knob was. On the VC panel, the gauge is gone (big hole in panel), but the knob remains and if you hold your mouse over it, you get the info window that will show gyro drift is still working. Press d, it resets to zero and will change, the plane will bank to get back on course and after a bit it will show either a minus or plus. In short, on the VC, the knob is acting like it's the gyro gauge. I took the cab from the original VNCON 20 panel, the FSDezigns 049 and associated the gauge to either one of those cabs and it's still the same because that knob is associated with something in the L1049G cab. Also replaced the original cab after downloading 1049G again. The bottom line is, this gauge has a mind of it's own or it's possessed --- just kidding on it being possessed, but having doubts.

[Tom/CalClassic]

Hi,

The knob's code is embedded in the model, so there is nothing you can do, sorry. Just keep pressing d...

[davidbr22]

Well, that explains alot. Thanks for the help Tom, at least I know its not possessed.
Dave

[Defender]

Hi,

It's perhaps a bit unfair to describe any of Hansjoerg Naegele's gauges as a "Gauge from Hell". After all, gyro drift is entirely realistic and gauge set up is just one factor that affects FS9's drift rate. It was all properly tested and the drift judged acceptable . I've just run a test on a L1049G and it took over an hour for the Drift Correction to exceed 1 degree! Is that what you get?

The same drift rate also affects the L1049's AP and that is exactly the same gauge as used in the DC-6/7 series.

It seems to be fairly well recognised that Microsoft's Gyro Drift check box doesn't actually work to completely eliminate drift. There was some discussion a couple of years ago here,

calclassic.proboards.com/thread/4669/directional-gyro-drift

As Tom says, regular use of the "D" key is a standard procedure.

Best regards

Bill

[aeroart]

Hi Dave,

Just a thought: maybe the airplane didn't install properly. Since you were able to fix the problem in another a/c, might it be worth un-installing the 1049 and re-installing it?

Art

[davidbr22]

Hi Bill --- Well, what was happening was a gauge that was going nuts. The gauge was recording drift that was anything but normal and I literally had to press D every 10 or 15 minutes because it would be 3 to 6 degrees off. Thus the reference to "gauge from hell". I installed this plane and the upgrades enough times to know how to do it in my sleep. Then, I downloaded one more time, deleted the current 1049 and associated files, and now it's functioning normal. I think the problem was during the previous downloads, I used a download accelerator which may have caused a problem, because last time, I didn't use it. Regardless, it's working normal now and I made 3 copies of this plane as a backup. Thanks to everyone for trying to help solve this.
Dave

[Defender]

Hi Dave,

Glad you're happier with it now. I did some testing in the meantime and for some odd reason the location of the aircraft seems to make a difference. Might somehow be linked to magvar.

This drift does seem to originate from the Drift knob which as Tom says is intgrated with the actual model file. Seems that about 4 or 5 degrees an hour might be what you would normally find with these L1049's. I recall reading somewhere that 1 degree every 15 minutes was indeed a normal real world situation unless apparently the aircraft had a"flux gate" system which helped to eliminate or greatly reduce drift, as in fact Tom's aircraft and Manfred's L1649A behave.


Best regards

Bill
     

[Defender]

Hi again Dave,

Using the aircraft.cfg settings from the Starliner seems to be a solution. Back up the aircraft.cfg and make the following edits,

[direction_indicators]

Amend to read,

//1 Type: 0=None, 1=Vacuum Gyro, 2=Electric Gyro, 3=Electro-Mag Slaved Compass, 4=Slaved to another
//2 Indicator number of slaving indicator if Type = 4
//direction_indicator.0=1,0
direction_indicator.0=0,0 //1,0
direction_indicator.1=3,0

Add the following new [] section,

[magneticcompass]
compass.0=1

[autopilot]

Add a line,

direction_indicator=1

It works on the L1049 but I haven't tested it on the L049. When you use the "D" key once the direction gyro knob tooltip will go to 0.0. After a minute or so it may go to + or - 0.10 but will quickly automatically revert to 0.0 and keep going like that for the duration of the flight. If you're starting from saved flight you might have to recycle the AP on/off.

It's still realistic. As I said before, drift was probably intentional as it correctly reflected earlier gyro systems but it seems that from around the mid 50's flux gate systems eliminated most drift.

Best regards

Bill 

Edit: I've just noticed that if you alter heading with the AP bank knob, the direction gyro card will still show the old heading and the correction knob will show the amount of your heading change until you reduce the drift to zero again with either the "D" key or the gyro knob. However, it doesn't now affect the AP which will still follow your new heading even if you ignore the gyro correction. The RMI card also shows the new heading without any correction.     
   

[Tom/CalClassic]

Thanks Bill for the detective work - very helpful.

[davidbr22]

HI Bill: --- Well, at this point I have to laugh, at myself. I honestly thought a file was damaged during a download and thought the problem was solved after the last download. In your previous post you mentioned location, which I suspected and quickly dismissed. The last time the gyro went nuts I tested it at 2 different locations which is when the problem occurred. After my last install that I eluded to earlier, the gyro doesn't budge and is disabled through the FS settings. Why it does that now and not before, is a mystery. In fact, thinking something has to be wrong because it's disabled, I deleted the last install, reinstalled, and it's still acting like it's disabled. I saved your last post about using the 1649 for future reference. Your help with this matter is greatly appreciated and in my opinion, you went above and beyond. Once again, thank you for everything.
Dave

[Defender]

My pleasure - the joys of being retired!

Well I bet you have to make the Starliner edits one day. Out of curiosity I did a fresh download too and I still get exactly the same result, with and without the FDE upgrade, about 2-3 degrees per hour going NW out of Seattle and about 4-5 degrees per hour going NW from Prestwick. Just as a check, where exactly are you when you get zero drift?

Bill 

[davidbr22]

Hi Bill --- The route is KLAX - KPSP - KJFK. It's no drift the entire route.
Dave

EDIT: I forgot to mention that with Win7 64bit, if I don't run FS9 in compatibility mode (XP Sp2), things get goofy. After all the re-installs, I forgot to change that. In retrospect, when I go through what I did step by step and test after each step, it was changing the compatibility mode that did it. As stated, the gyro drift remains at 0.00 everytime I check it. As I age, the light bulb that comes on when you remember something, is starting to be problematic. I need to insure enough current is running to make the bulb work properly. 
Dave