PLEASE TURN WORD WRAP ON AFSD 4.xx FINAL Release notes ---------------------------------- See the [CHANGES] section at the end of this file INTRODUCTION ------------ AFSD 4.xx is fully compliant with FS2004,FSX and P3Dv1, v2 & v3 AFSD automatically checks the simulator version which is running (either FS2004 or FSX) and acts accordingly It only manages data for jet, prop and turboprop aircrafts..sailplanes and helicopters are not supported It requires you reconnect in case you change of aircraft type while it's running..this ensures a proper actualisation of aircraft data I never had time to write a complete documentation but, since AFSD is mainly intended for designer use, it should not be a concern ; note that data displayed are always described with small yellow "tool tips" Thanks to Ron Freimuth, Ian Kerr, Pete Dowson, Yves Guillaume, Jean-Pierre Bourgeois and some others developers who helped me developing and improving this tool REQUIREMENTS AND FSUIPC COMPATIBILITY ISSUES (IMPORTANT..Please read) --------------------------------------------------------------------- AFSD is a Win-32 program that will not change your registry (except for the uninstall keys for the installable version). It is also available as a portable version It requires Peter Dowson's FSUIPC.DLL module is installed in the proper FS module directory. - For FS2004, the minimum requirement is FSUIPC 3.99 - For FSX and P3D, you will have to install FSUIPC version 4.942 or higher Note that, depending on sim version, P3D and FSX Steam Edition may require more recent versions (see Pete Dowson site) FSUIPC registration is not needed, all programs having a free and full access to the FSUIPC interface. You can use AFSD with any supported version of the simulator as far as you have the corresponding FSUIPC modules installed NOTES ON AERODYNAMICS CALCULATIONS ---------------------------------- AFSD aerodynamical calculations are performed using 6DOF equations of motion from current sim data See for details (a) Zyskowski MK. Aircraft simulation techniques used in low-cost, commercial software. AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference and Exhibit, 2003 (b) Roskam J. Flight dynamics and automatic flight controls. Part I. DARCorporation, Lawrence, KS, 1995. See also AFSD_developer_notes for some specific FS calculations LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS ------------------------------ - Aircraft with more than 61 payload stations will not be read correctly..however this will only affect the weight and payload data and will not affect aerodynamics results, - Some atmospheric variables are not actualized by FS (and by AFSD) at a faster rate than once per second. - In FS9, changing payload data and/or fuel quantities, may not be taken into account by FSUIPC until the last OK command is pressed ; since, at the opposite, gross weight is immediately actualised, a wrong ice weight can be displayed until the payload/fuel box is closed ; this is a FSUIPC restriction. This limitation do not apply to FSX. CHANGES ------- 4.43 ---- - Corrects a bug (wrong dll offset) in ground friction calculation for P3Dv4 4.42 ---- - FSUIPC4 minimum version requirement for FSX-P3Dv1-3 raised to 4.942 (using the latest available version is always recommended) - Adds P3Dv4 (FSUIPC5) compatibility - Some other minor changes 4.41 ---- - Corrects a long standing calculation bug in Air pressure (Atmospheric data); other variables were not affected - Developper notes 4.40 ---- - Corrects aircraft analysis without any Delta CDo due to mach tables (430 & 154A) - Corrects some wrong error messages - Some other minor changes 4.38 ---- - Prevents portable version to be executed from a protected directory 4.37 ---- - Corrects version number display - Corrects decimal separator incorrect retrieval on some locales (RTL languages) - Corrects AFSD.cfg save path in portable version 4.36 ---- - Minor changes 4.35 ---- - Adds P3D v3 compatibility 4.34 ---- - Few minor changes for FSX Steam Edition compatibility - Friction and Braking coefficient retrieval for ground dynamics is now only available for FS9, FSX-SP2, FSX-SE and P3D v1&v2 (other FSX versions are not supported) - Revision history notes (this document) 4.33 ---- - Corrects a bug reading aircraft data without "general aerodynamics" section (0x1101) 4.32 ---- - Takes into account maneuvring flaps (indirect calculation of CLdf,Linear and CDi while CDdf is not readily available) - Adds compatibility with P3D v2 for friction coefficient calculation - A portable version is now available (An AFSDLogData folder will be created in installation directory as well as the AFSD.cfg file) - Few other minor changes 4.31 ---- - Change in configuration file name and location (previous settings will be kept) - Changes program information/update screen - Donationware mention (very unobstructive..) 4.30 ---- - Adds compatibility with P3D - Some minor changes in turbine engine displays - Some air file table changes - Extend reading of friction/braking coefficients from SIM1.DLL (CAUTION: real values may be different if set by new FSUIPC Lua scripts) 4.21 ---- - Changes IAS speed calculation mode (see included AFSD_developer_notes) - Corrects Vstall calculation - Adds several parameters in Weight & balance (leading edge and 1/4 chord position of MAC used for CG calculations) - Some other minor changes 4.20 ---- - Restores thrust vector offset effects that are active if correctly defined in aircraft.cfg [GeneralEngineData] as thrustanglespitchheading (SDK mispealed it as thrustanglepitchheading..) - Now precisely calculates theoretical CDi from "linearized" CL in aircrafts with and without winglets (contribution of Yves Guillaume) - Corrects excess thrust calculation in some cases - Removes experimental CDi calculation that is not anymore needed - Corrects some wrong friction surface coefficients in FS9 and a few calculations in ground dynamics module - Implements automatic surface condition detection in FSX for ground dynamics (this will require FSUIPC version 4.859d or higher) Updated FSUIPC4 modules are available here: http://forum.simflight.com/topic/66139-updated-modules/ - Corrects a few items in Table readings - Revises aircraft data display - Some other minor changes 4.11 ---- - Refines some aerodynamical calculations (ground effect) - Corrects a few bugs introduced in 4.10 4.10 ---- - Disables thrust vector offsets data for FSX aerodynamical calculations that are INACTIVE in the sim - New calculation of FS induced CDi according to real equations used by FS9/FSX. Credits to Yves Guillaume who sorted out the way FS performs this calculation See for a full documentation: http://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=170811 Note that it still doesn't apply for aircrafts equipped with winglets (FS CDi calculation has still to be determined - use experimental CDi instead by now) - New calculation of LINCLALPHA and AoACL0 (ZEROLIFTALPHA) from CLw vs AoAw table or via FSUIPC (FSX, FSUIPC version >= 4.859) - New experimental CDi calculation form and processbased on CDi = a*(AoA-AoACL0)^2 with least square AND min-max linear approximations - Addition of a ground dynamics module. Thanks to Yves Guillaume for providing relevant offsets for friction coefficients in SIM1.DLL Note that some indirect calculations (rolling and/or braking frictions) may be incorrect with significant wind Ground conditions must also be defined by user in FSX (but not in FS2004) - Many small bug fixes and other minor changes 4.02 ---- - OS requirements raised to Windows XP or above - Default Log path and initialization file settings (Note AFSD.ini file is now stored in the appropriate Users subfolder) 4.01 ---- - Display changes - Corrects true IAS calculation in some special cases - Checks and restricts use for aircrafts with a maximum of 4 engines 4.00 ---- First 4.xx version with as compared to AFSD 3.xx: - Major improvement in aerodynamical calculations taking now into account 6DOF equations of motion - Changes and improvements in "model" CDi estimatation - Full rewrite of speeds/accelerations page - Some changes in sign conventions (engineering notation) - Changes minimum FSUIPC version requirements for FSX (FSUIPC version 4.80 or higher) - Some other minor changes Let me know of any error you could detect and please feel free to suggest any improvement you could feel valuable Hervé Sors hsors@hotmail.com http://www.aero.sors.fr