First evaluation

[Peter Bremer]

I had a short test of the G5 instrument suit, it looks nice, but not good enough yet:

• The rotation knob skips very often a menu selection, nearly unusable
• Movements on the displays are not as smooth as I would expect, refresh rate too low, while rest of sim is smooth and 48 fps
• Baro unit can not be set to hPa (at least I could not find how to)
• Holding the rotation button to fast forward the heading bug moves far too slow

I could not get the following to work:

• Selecting altitude for AP, heading or course via the menu, could not be selected by pressing the knob again in the menu while the option selected in menu. See page 16 and page 9 of the official Pilot's Guide revision D, July 2019

Missing are (as far I have seen):

• Horizontal CDI bar indicator on PFD, see pages 18 and 27 Pilot's guide
• 
• VDI is implemented only on HSI, should also be on PFD, see pages 18 and 28 Pilot's guide
• 
• RNAV annunciations in HSI, see pages 23 and 31 Pilot's Guide
• 
• Bearing pointer menu is incorrect and missing features, see page 25 of Pilot's Guide
  Aso unclear what source of bearing pointer is, not shown on display
•      
• OBS menu on HSI when 430 in OBS mode, see page 31 Pilot's Guide
• 
• AP bar on top of PFD
• Vspeeds (Vne, Vno, Vs0, Vfe, Va, Vx, Vy, Vg, Vr) on speed tape, see page 14 of Pilot's Guide
• OAT (selectable in degrees Celcius) and thus missing TAS and wind indicator
• 

Edited January 12, 2020 by Peter Bremer

[Coop]

Hi Peter, thanks for the write up!

Re rotation: Please file a bug and include your log.txt file here so we can dig into this.

Re refresh rate: The G5s run at 20fps by default in an asynchronous process (avionics IRL run at low refresh rates). This is user-configurable in the config file (see g5_fps_a and g5_fps_b). Details on the config file here.

Re: knob spin speed, we can address this with the rotation to sensitive issue as well - it might be with certain systems it reacts differently so we will add something to the config file.

Re: Changing values in menu - this is not replicable on my end. Clicking the knob brings up the menu, rotate to select item of choice, then clicking to select datapoint to adjust. From there rotating the knob should change the values. Currently pressing and holding to sync is not implemented, but planned.

Re: CDI and VDI on PFD: currently being added.

Re: RNAV annunciations: X-Plane does not provide the information regarding GPS status for these annunciations, so this is a limitation of the simulator.

Re: Bearing - bug logged

Re: OBS mode - currently there doesn't seem to be sufficient datarefs provided by X-Plane to interface with the 530/430 to know that it is in OBS mode.

Re: AP bar - under consideration. This does add significant complexity for aircraft with non-standard APs

Re: V-Speeds. We are working on implementing via textures. Currently the speed tape is customized for the proper red, yellow, and green ranges. It should be simple to add V-Speeds onto those.

Re: OAT, TAS, and Wind Indicator. These are on the to-do list - these are really new features to the G5.  

[Peter Bremer]

6 hours ago, Coop said:

Hi Peter, thanks for the write up!

Re rotation: Please file a bug and include your log.txt file here so we can dig into this.

Re refresh rate: The G5s run at 20fps by default in an asynchronous process (avionics IRL run at low refresh rates). This is user-configurable in the config file (see g5_fps_a and g5_fps_b). Details on the config file here.

Re: knob spin speed, we can address this with the rotation to sensitive issue as well - it might be with certain systems it reacts differently so we will add something to the config file.

Re: Changing values in menu - this is not replicable on my end. Clicking the knob brings up the menu, rotate to select item of choice, then clicking to select datapoint to adjust. From there rotating the knob should change the values. Currently pressing and holding to sync is not implemented, but planned.

Re: CDI and VDI on PFD: currently being added.

Re: RNAV annunciations: X-Plane does not provide the information regarding GPS status for these annunciations, so this is a limitation of the simulator.

Re: Bearing - bug logged

Re: OBS mode - currently there doesn't seem to be sufficient datarefs provided by X-Plane to interface with the 530/430 to know that it is in OBS mode.

Re: AP bar - under consideration. This does add significant complexity for aircraft with non-standard APs

Re: V-Speeds. We are working on implementing via textures. Currently the speed tape is customized for the proper red, yellow, and green ranges. It should be simple to add V-Speeds onto those.

Re: OAT, TAS, and Wind Indicator. These are on the to-do list - these are really new features to the G5.  

Hi Coop,

 

Thank you very much for your quick response. That gives a lot of confidence in the future of the product.

 

Rotation: Whih log.txt file do yoe mean, the standard one of X-Plane? Then I will file a bug report.

Refresh Rate: I will try a higher setting. Certainly for the PFD the refresh rate of 20/s is too slow as it creates too much in lag in control.

Rotation/Knob spin and pushing button 2nd time for selection: Please note I use the sofware only version with on screen control with mouse, not with RealSimGear hardware.
Does that explain why you can not reproduce?

Both CDI and VDI on PFD: That is quit essential, because that is the main idea of a PFD, during approach you only need to look at one instrument.

RNAV annunciators: Are you sure it is not available form X-Plane? As far as I remeber the X1000 does it corrrectly. I will have a look myself as well to the docs.

Bearing: The possibility of having two bearing pointers is a relative recent addition to the G5 firmware.

OBS: will look at the docs myself as well

AP bar: understood, for me not that essential; Vspeeds and OAT (i.e. + TAS and wind) are more important.

 

In your response I miss one important one for me: Baro unit in hPa. I would suggest to make it a menu option or perhaps via the CFG file, iedm for OAT, Fahrenheit or Celcius.

 

Based on your response for me personally the priority list in which the issues should be solved:

1) Baro setting in hPa possible
2) Skipping menu selection while rotating knob
3) Second button press on selected menu should give option to change value, not just exit the menu
4) Fast rotation of heading bug should be possible when holding the rotation arrow with the mouse. The heading bug is continiously used in flight and big changes occur often.
5) Both CDI and VDI on PFD, as this is an essential feature of such a system, certainly when handflying an aircraft
6) Vspeeds
7) Bearing indicators
8) OAT (TAS, wind)
9) AP annuciators, and if possible RNAV annunciators and OBS mode detection.

 

How are software updates distributed? Is it automatic when starting the sim, or should Ido something by hand?

 

Thank you very much in advance,

 

Peter.

 

 

 

Edited January 13, 2020 by Peter Bremer

[Coop]

Re Log.txt, yes just the main log file of X-Plane.

Re Rotation, I only use a mouse as well, I don't have their hardware (yet  )

Re: RNAV annunciators. The X1000 has it because it is a built in part of the simulator so it can access non-exposed data.

Re: hPa. Forgot to mention that one - millibar units are already in internal testing. Will be in the next update.

 

When updates are ready, you will get an email to your address on file. To install, you would re-download the installer and run it.

[Peter Bremer]

Pleas find attached the requested log.txt file and a video I made of the

• rotation issue: skipping a menu item on one click
• menu selection issue: after selecting the menu item with a middle button click after rotation it exits the menu instead of selecting it for changing the value

As the video does not show the mouse, I will tell what I did:

• 00:00:02: clicked once on middle of button, menu appears
• 00:00:03: clicked once on right rotation, menu quickly skips one item and is immediately at 'Altitude'
• 00:00:06: clicked once on middle of button, menu disappears instead of selecting the altitude value for changing its value

(Framerate for G5 is set to 40 in this video.)

Log.txt

[Peter Bremer]

Also tried the framerate for the G5 at 40 with a flight:

Much better for accurate flying than 20 and more reaistic to real movement of instrument, especialy PFD!!

Edited January 14, 2020 by Peter Bremer

[Peter Bremer]

Any news on an update?

[Cameron]

6 hours ago, Peter Bremer said:

Any news on an update?

News is usually worth posting. When we have news, we post news.

[Coop]

6 hours ago, Peter Bremer said:

Any news on an update?

We got a pretty big restructuring in the works to make the G5 work better in different configurations. When everything is working well, we will let everyone know

[Peter Bremer]

Still did not get any news on an update. Is there one available?

[Cameron]

 

[Peter Bremer]

23 hours ago, Cameron said:

 

Yes, I know, but on the forum there are some rumours on updates, but nothing by the promised mail.

Based on this type of answering and the still bad performace of the simulation, I am afraid I did not spend my money well.

There is a better one out rhere as APP which is much closer to the real thing and connects well to X-Plane.

[mg1]

I understand the "no news means no news" statement, but hoping this is still in the works  The improvements will make a big difference, so hoping this hasn't been shelved.  Just knowing it is still coming would be helpful.

[Harshad]

Ignore my comment - I'm still testing the bearing pointer and may have got it to work

Edited February 22, 2022 by Harshad