Realflight G3 Question - Video Card [Archive]

Rickochet

10-23-2006, 05:03 PM

Hi people, newbie here. I was into fixed wing RC 10 years ago and lost interest, but have new interest in electric helicopters.

I have doing some surfing on sim programs. I like the Realflight G3 program but have some concerns on sys requirements. I have a relatively new Dell desktop P4 but I am concerned that the Intel Extreme Graphics 2 video card may not work. The Realflight website had a link for compatible cards and it showed very few the might work. It listed my card as "not tested" but probably would work. I am not thrilled with coughing up 2bills for the sim program and then have to upgrade the video card.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Rick

swatson144

10-23-2006, 06:33 PM

Welcome to Helitown, Rick.

A sim is a great investment for most people. I can't fly a sim. I'd like to suggest maybe buying http://www.bphobbies.com/view.asp?id=A2366225&pid=W022984 and seeing if you like the whole sim thing. 30$ really can't go wrong. You can DL FMS and try it also clearview (~40$) is a bit more realistic than FMS. I really think the 30$ and FMS will get you started enough to know if you want to SIM or not.

My problem is that I can't track distance nor altitude. So it seems more like learning to fly a sim than learning to fly an RC aircraft. I've tried the 200$ sims at the LHS and it is all the same. I fly and all is well then the ground is there unexpectedly. I really don't seem to be alone in this so I thought I'd mention it. Several others have told me the same.

Having said all that I should be able to OT now. I too gave up flying about 15yrs ago. New kid and diapers formula etc :lol: I got started back in the hobby about 2yrs ago. Flying electric planes and about 1 year of helis. I suck as a heli pilot but BOY is it fun, haven't flown a plank in a year. Last time I touched one was to give it to a friend.

Steve

Rickochet

10-23-2006, 07:25 PM

Thanks for the reply Steve. Second time I saw the term "plank" today. I have been looking for a video game anyway and thought the the Realflight might be fun. I demoed it this afternoon at a local store flying a Blade CX. Lots of fun. I was running the Realflight demo as I received your email. It was an 80mb demo and said my graphics card was not quite up to snuff, but the demo seemed to work ok so I would assume the full program would work also.

What heli are you flying? The store dude was steering me toward a Blade CX coaxial.

I still have all of my old RC gear which includes on Futaba 6 channel digital proportional 72mhz unit. Not sure if this will work with anything.

Rick

Sleepstalker

10-23-2006, 07:53 PM

How much ram memory on your card ? as it is an Intel it must be an onboard chip on your motherboard if it is 256 meg with the latest direct X drivers you should be ok , you might have to knock your bit rate down to 16 from 32 and play the game in 1024 X 768.
If your video mem is only 128 meg I would say that is marginal and wouldn't buy the sim until I found out if you have a slot availabe on your motherboard for a videocard...it will be either an AGP slot or a pci express video slot either way you are looking at another $200-250 for a decent vid card.

Sleepster... 8)

Rickochet

10-23-2006, 08:01 PM

I have a Pentium 4, 512 ram, Intel Extreme Graphics 2 Card. It seems to run the sim demo just fine. Just been crashing the crap out of an Impala 30.

Sleepstalker

10-23-2006, 08:25 PM

Rickochet you have your main operating system RAM and also your video card has ram and uses ram If this video is onboard the motherboard...(not a separate card) it borrows an allocated amount of ram for its use . So if you have an onboard video chip on your mother board and have 512 of ram on your motherboard the onboard video chip will use either 32/64/128/ megs out of that system ram total of 512 . On a seperate video card it has its own RAM chips which help increase system speed during events like multitasking and high frame per second (fps) video games and SIMS.
hope the info helps...Sleepster... 8)
Oh yeah and if its the G3 demo you been running without a problem you should be fine with the full version... 8) Just remember to do a full UNINSTALL of the demo , REBOOT , and then install your G3... :)

clai

10-23-2006, 10:29 PM

Rick, I have a relatively new Compaq notebook which has a Intel Grahpics Media Accelarator (GMA)...sounds like a lot but it isn't intended to be a mean 3D gaming machiine. It's one of the integrated graphics chipset (Intel 945GM) that shares video memory with the main system memory.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, I'd downloaded the G3 demo and it works fine on my humble machine. So I went to the LHS and bought the real one. Being the cheapo grahics card it is, I don't get to see the real-time shadows (although it's turned on), but it's still fun to fly the sim. Of course, I'd crashed many times, since it's difficult to estimate the height at times.

Well, with Aerofly, I do get shadows that change in size as the heli get nearer to the ground. The only thing is that the shadows are square. Well, sqaure shadows is still better than none.

Cheers,
Charles

swatson144

10-24-2006, 03:45 AM

Rickochet

10-24-2006, 04:25 AM

Thanks for the info Charles. One reason I liked G3 is that is has the Blade CX coax heli I was looking at also (recommended by the hobby shop owner). I flew it at the store and liked it.

One interesting thing I did yesterday was to plug the charger in an old Futaba 6 channel FM controller that hadn't been charged in about 12 years. This morning it seems to be holding a 100% charge. I don't know that I would trust it for real flight but thought it might work with FMS or Clearview if I can find a cheap interface cord. The transmitter has a trainer plug in the top and a 6 pin DIN socket in the back.

I did some research on the Aerofly and it looks very nice.

Thanks

Rick

Rickochet

10-24-2006, 04:31 AM

What heli are you flying? The store dude was steering me toward a Blade CX coaxial.
I have 2 Coronas, 2 x400, a Hornet2, and a couple micro fps.

Some of the old Fut 6 tx will do a barely adequate job with helis. T6XA super etc.

The CX is nice and easy to fly but it'll teach you very little other than orientation (a big plus). What ever you get for the 1st probably won't be your last :-) .

Steve

Steve what is your recommendation for a first heli? When I was into RC planks I enjoyed the building as much as the flying. A big question regarding helis is not as much building involved. Maybe a lot of rebuilding, eh? :wink:

swatson144

10-24-2006, 05:52 AM

Steve what is your recommendation for a first heli? When I was into RC planks I enjoyed the building as much as the flying. A big question regarding helis is not as much building involved. Maybe a lot of rebuilding, eh?
It'd probably be best to start a new thread in the beginner section for that long and convoluted opinion fest :lol: . That way others looking behind you can find it and get the info, and choose from the inputs what would be best for them. On this thread it'd be buried.

There really isn't a single "best" depends on budget, space available, equipment on hand, your commitment to it, etc. :shock:

A great read on how to get started with a non coaxial can be found at http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html not much help in picking a heli, but great info on what is involved getting in the air and a training plan that works. It'll give you an idea of how much time will be involved.

Steve

Rickochet

10-24-2006, 06:04 AM

Thanks for the link Steve. Will start a new thread in the beginner section. I should have known better. I belong to a golf forum and that was like asking "Who makes the best golf clubs." Man, talk about an "opinion fest." :roll:

clai

10-24-2006, 04:45 PM

Rickochet

10-24-2006, 05:13 PM

My bad, I was flying another program that had the coax, can't remember the name. Flite Pro or something. I bought G3 and updated it to 3.0.448. According to the store dude 3.5 will have the coax and I think the Osprey, just not out yet. I am really having a blast with G3 mainly with the planks, not doing too well with the Impala trainer. Oh, well, first day.

clai

10-24-2006, 06:25 PM

Rick, I'd got the exact opposite experience with u, perhaps because I bought G3 primarily for the helis. I did manage to get the Impala trainer in the air the first time, but I was miserable with the planks. To say the least, taking off with them is easy, it's the landings that I find most difficult. More like crash landings :D.

Cheers,
Charles

Rickochet

10-25-2006, 05:08 AM

I flew planks about 12 years ago, got bored with them plus our local field closed. Heli's were the reason I got G3 also. Flying planks it was easy for me to jump back into it. The G3 is very realistic. The only problem is getting proper alignment for the runway when landing. I have been using the sod field airport. Will work on the Impala today. I am sure I will be an expert by this evening. :D With all the blades I have broken on the G3 I feel like it has already paid for itself.

Rickochet

10-26-2006, 07:21 AM

Thanks for the info Charles. One reason I liked G3 is that is has the Blade CX coax heli I was looking at also (recommended by the hobby shop owner). I flew it at the store and liked it.

I didn't know that G3 does coax helis, at least not in my version (3.0.448). U must have used the latest version G3.5, which I believe does simulate coax and tandem rotors helis as. I better go check Realflight's website to download the latest version, if it's there. :D

Charles, the sim I tried that had coax's was FS One. I didn't buy it because my video card was not supported. I just found out that the G3.5 Beta version is available to the public. You can find it at the Knife Edge website. I haven't tried it but it does show some coaxs like the Heli-Max Axe EZ.

clai

10-26-2006, 04:39 PM

Thanks, Rick for the great news indeed.. I will quick pop over to KE site and download the latest goodies... :-)

Rickochet

10-26-2006, 04:45 PM

Thanks, Rick for the great news indeed.. I will quick pop over to KE site and download the latest goodies... :-)

Maybe not such great news yet. I downloaded the 3.5 beta and it locked my computer up. Reverted back to the old version and all is well. The download was a 229 MB file and took quite a while on my 512 cable modem.

Maybe I got a corrupt file or it futher stressed my marginal video card. Let us know how it goes for you.

Rickochet

10-27-2006, 05:40 AM

Thanks, Rick for the great news indeed.. I will quick pop over to KE site and download the latest goodies... :-)

Update Charles, I went back and downloaded 3.5 again this morning and it works fine. I noticed that the program file was about 5 mb smaller than the one I downloaded yesterday. Have fun.

BTW I flew the AXE EZ coax a bit. Very easy, but gets boring very quickly.

clai

10-27-2006, 07:56 AM

Thanks, Rick for the update. Downloading the update now and it sure is taking a long time.. Maybe I should get a beer ... :-)

Cheers,
Charles

Rickochet

10-27-2006, 08:22 AM

Thanks, Rick for the update. Downloading the update now and it sure is taking a long time.. Maybe I should get a beer ... :-)

Cheers,
Charles

It's about a 225mb download in about 8 large files and a few small ones. Took about an hour on my 512kb cable modem at about 64bps. Have a brew for me, a tad early here. :D

clai

10-27-2006, 05:20 PM

It took me 2 tries to get the 3.5 Beta and a few gallons of beer the whole of last night. Guess the servers must be busy... Anyway, managed to get the latest version in the wee hours of the morning. Now going to bed to rest and perhaps to recover from the hangover :-)