Bad performance saab 340

[jcmc1405]

Hi. I am running x plane 10.35 and I am having really bad performance with the saab. First off, I never manage to takeoff with the power setting given in the charts (Even with ECS and A/I off). I always end up pushing the throttles all way up before I overrun the runway. But not only that, the climb performance is even worst, at about 12.000 feet it starts climbing at 200 F/M if torque settings are set according to charts. So I have to climb with the throttles at the maximium value I can, without exceeding temperature. Cuissing happens exactly the same... If I set the maximuim cruise it starts loosing speed to about 130 knots... I follow every single step in the checklist so I do not know what is happening. Id provide pictures but I dont know how to take them.

 

I have also noticed that the right tank fuel is being burned faster than the left fuel tank, even when both Fuel flow indicators show exctly the same values.

[JGregory]

Sounds like you have the condition levers too far forward.  Make sure the levers are in the last detent (MAX), and NOT past that.

[jcmc1405]

I am pretty sure that The condition Levers were in max position. And even if they weren't. That does not explain why my left tank is being consumed slower than the right tank. Both fuel flow indicators were indicating the same.

[Goran_M]

Could you make a video of what is happening with the takeoff run and the fuel tanks?

[jcmc1405]

I will try. I am not sure of how to do it though...

[JGregory]

I am pretty sure that The condition Levers were in max position.

A few other people have reported not being able to attain full power, and it has ALWAYS been because of not having the condition levers in the proper position, even though they thought they were.

 

That does not explain why my left tank is being consumed slower than the right tank. Both fuel flow indicators were indicating the same.

It wasn't supposed to.  My response was in regard to your so called "performance" issues. Let's deal with that first.

Edited May 11, 2015 by JGregory

[jcmc1405]

Ok I totally agree with you. One thing at time. I will try to record a flight I am about to do from SKMD to SKCG and post it here. Maybe then we can identify the real issue.

[mmerelles]

A quick advise.

 

be sure to point the camera view to the condition levers before moving them. Then start moving them until you see a visual detent (clic) over the MAX position. be sure not to overshoot the MAX position otherwise the condition levers will enter in T/M mode which is not simulated and the plane has almost no trust to climb/accelerate.

 

question, do you use xplane -time compression- during your flight? it happened to me (not only the saab but any aircraft) that activating time compression while in cruising leads into fuel imbalance.

 

Once you are higher and moving faster the condition levers HAVE to be retarded a bit to achieve maximum performance, you can not keep them at MAX position for the entire flight, the plane will be producing lot of torque but no speed. Use the charts for several cruising configurations. 1300-1350 rpm is a good balance.

 

hope this helps

[jcmc1405]

I just finished the video. No, I do not use time copression. The fuel imbalance problem was again present. The plane had a better performance this time (because it was 5 celsius degrees colder I think) So I was able to takeoff safely with the correct torque setting. I usually climb at 1320 RPM. The plane climbed nice and slow (500-1000 FPM) until 16000 feet and then stopped climbing. I think it would be better to show the video but it is 30GB... It will take 5684 minutes to upload acording to youtube...

Edited May 11, 2015 by jcmc1405

[Mario Donick]

That does not explain why my left tank is being consumed slower than the right tank. Both fuel flow indicators were indicating the same.

How are your FPS?

Sometimes aircraft system's logic brakes when FPS are too low.

[mmerelles]

great will be waiting for the video.

 

Just curious, what speed are you climbing at? at those altitudes the plane will not climb at 170+ kias! You should probably be at 150 kias aprox. which is more than 220 TAS 

[jcmc1405]

Lol I can not leave my computer running for 4 full days just to upload a video... And about performance, it was 10-15 Frames per second all the time. The sim was running pretty smooth. my climb speed was 138 knots (climb L mode)

[Mario Donick]

And about performance, it was 10-15 Frames per second all the time.

15 FPS is way too low for X-Plane. You need to have at least 19 FPS for real-time simulation.

That it felt smooth to you is because X-Plane slows down the simulation when it's below 19 FPS. This way the animations are visually still smooth, but the in-game time is slower than real. Side effect is very often that systems don't work as intended, and fuel imbalances are a common issue then.

I suggest you reduce your graphics settings until you get 19 FPS.

Or you could try autolod which automatically decreases visibility of objects to ensure a given FPS.

[jcmc1405]

I get more than 20 FPS with every aircraft I own, this is the only exception... Video recording also decreased drastically my fps because they are usually above 20

[Mario Donick]

I get more than 20 FPS with every aircraft I own, this is the only exception... Video recording also decreased drastically my fps because they are usually above 20

 

Video recording is of course an issue that worsens the problem.

 

My suggestion is the following:

 

Go to a town with dense autogen, for example Los Angeles, New York or Paris. Put yourself in the Saab. Set weather in a way that you have three cloud layers, incl. at least one overcast and one stratus. Set visibility to 20 sm.

 

And then adjust your rendering settings that even under these conditions you get 19-20 FPS -- you will get much more FPS then in less straining conditions and are on the safe side.

 

If don't know if you use SkyMaxx Pro, but I suggest you do, because performance of X-Plane's default clouds is not good. SkyMaxx Pro can give you between 5 and 15 FPS more (that's an estimation based on my own experience; depending on your system and your settings, of course. But even in low settings SkyMaxx Pro looks very good).

 

If nothing else helps, don't use HDR, esp. not when making videos. On my system, I use HDR for screenshots and when flying just for fun, but I switch off HDR when making videos.

Edited May 11, 2015 by Mario Donick

[jcmc1405]

Video recording is of course an issue that worsens the problem.

My suggestion is the following:

Go to a town with dense autogen, for example Los Angeles, New York or Paris. Put yourself in the Saab. Set weather in a way that you have three cloud layers, incl. at least one overcast and one stratus. Set visibility to 20 sm.

And then adjust your rendering settings that even under these conditions you get 19-20 FPS -- you will get much more FPS then in less straining conditions and are on the safe side.

If don't know if you use SkyMaxx Pro, but I suggest you do, because performance of X-Plane's default clouds is not good. SkyMaxx Pro can give you between 5 and 15 FPS more (that's an estimation based on my own experience; depending on your system and your settings, of course. But even in low settings SkyMaxx Pro looks very good).

If nothing else helps, don't use HDR, esp. not when making videos. On my system, I use HDR for screenshots and when flying just for fun, but I switch off HDR when making videos.

I really appreciate your help. But I don't think I will be able to set up my system the way you are telling me, I just tried using the button "set all rendering options for maximum speed" and that way the higher FPS I get is 27. In other words, my computer is trash. This is what I get for buying expensive add ons for such a trashy system. Edited May 11, 2015 by jcmc1405

[Mario Donick]

I really appreciate your help. But I don't think I will be able to set up my system the way you are telling me, I just tried using the button "set all rendering options for maximum speed" and that way the higher FPS I get is 27. In other words, my computer is trash. This is what I get for buying expensive add ons for such a trashy system.

 

Could you post your exact specifications, please? You said you are usually above 20 (when not recording), and so I'm sure we could also optimize your settings for the Saab. My computer is very weak (NVidia GT530 2 GB, 8 GB RAM, i5), and the Saab runs fine.

[jcmc1405]

Just tested it with maximum speed settings and performance became way better. Also no fuel imbalance. Bad news is that now I have a expensive add on I can not use in my system...

[jcmc1405]

My system is a Sony vaio laptop. Intel core i5-2410m. Amd radeon 6630M. 4Gb ram (can be expanded to 8 but I think it's pointless)

[JGregory]

Yes, unfortunately, all your problems are related to bad frame rates.  Which texture set did you install for the Saab?

[jcmc1405]

I installed the low resolution texture set. So, to sumarize what I found here. I lost $50 in a plane that's not usable in my system (and likely to stay that way since my family is having a very hard economical situation). Anyways, I really appreciate your help.

Edited May 11, 2015 by jcmc1405

[Mario Donick]

Just tested it with maximum speed settings and performance became way better. Also no fuel imbalance. Bad news is that now I have a expensive add on I can not use in my system...

 

I installed the low resolution texture set. So, to sumarize what I found here. I lost $50 in a plane that's not usable in my system (and likely to stay that way since my family is having a very hard economical situation). Anyways, I really appreciate your help.

 

I'm not sure if you should give up that early. Your graphics card is 10% faster than mine, your CPU is roughly the same, the only thing worse than my computer is that you only have 4 GB RAM.

 

So if I can use the Saab without problems, you should, too. The following are my rendering settings:

 

 

Please note I have HDR enabled, but thanks to SkyMaxx Pro and Autolod I STILL get 20 FPS most of the time, esp. when in the air.

 

Can you please post your settings in the same way?

[jcmc1405]

Ok I will try those settings and autod. But yeah I was really disappointed when I loaded the aircraft with rendering options to max speed and only got 27 FPS. And after the engines were running it dropped to 19-22

[jcmc1405]

Do you guys think it's worth it to upgrade my RAM to 8GB?. Several people have told me that it's a waste of money...

[Mario Donick]

Ok I will try those settings and autod. But yeah I was really disappointed when I loaded the aircraft with rendering options to max speed and only got 27 FPS. And after the engines were running it dropped to 19-22

 

Don't necessarily try my settings, but find the optimum for your system. That's why I asked you to post a screenshot of your settings, so we can look at it together. (To make a screenshot, press SHIFT + SPACE. It will be saved in the X-Plane directory.)