What’s new in the latest release?
Introduction
It’s been 2 years since version 10.1 of Heli-X, and they’ve just released version 11. So what’s new?
Before we start, take note that this is a free update, so if you’ve already got a license you can get the latest version, otherwise you can run it in demo with a few models and airports, but you won’t be able to save anything.
https://www.heli-x.info/cms/download-2/
Simulation Menu
We’ll start by going through Simulation menu, In the Airport selection screen there is a new checkbox list so you can filter by type. If you haven’t tried any of the 4K fields yet, MVA-Almere-NE2 is amazing looking, definitely worth checking out that one first, even if just to see how well 4K looks on screen.
The next few menu items haven’t changed until we get down to Type which is new.
Type only works on one model at the moment as far as I can tell. On the Goblin Raw 700, it has Standard, Light and Light 3D, which correlates to the 3 models in the models list.
When I ask Jan Niklas Pump about this, he said it allows different physics configurations on airframes. Their plan is to update the physics on all the models, but not lose the original physics that pilots might want to keep. Using Type they will be able to have the original and also any new setups that come out, which I think is a clever way of doing it.
The only other change in this menu is Reset Controller, which does what you’d expect.
Configuration Menu
Under the configuration menu there are some changes in the Controller configuration. A display for the switches, and buttons screen has some extra functionality, and as mentioned in the release notes, there are a lot more functions that can be configured, mostly training and environment values.
Wind/brightness has been named to Environment Settings. It now has gravity which affects the floatiness, which is something that people have been asking for.
Another new setting in environment, is magnetic force and direction. This appears to pull the model in the specified direction but I’m not sure how useful this is for helicopters. Perhaps it’s a fixed wing thing, but I’d be interested to know, so let me know in the comments.
Rescue has a new value called Climb Speed which changes the climb rate during rescue.
In the Global Settings there are quite a few changes. You can now set the crash duration which is just the length of time it lies there before resetting.
In the OpenGL tab, you can now set the max FPS so as not to overload the graphics. I’ve set mine to 100, but not played with any lower or higher yet.
In the VR tab they’ve removed 3D mouse in normal window, and added FXAA filter and what to show in mirror window.
The Sound Configuration has a few extra options for beep sound and global volume.
Shadow configuration has 2 more settings, shadow map size and shadow split maps, which will have to do with all the work they’ve been doing on making shadows better.
Rotor transparency and canvas size remain the same.
Record/Play
The Record/Play menu works exactly the same. The only differences I can see is that the save/play/play control menu items are now disabled when they can’t be used.
Multi Player
Now under Multi-player I would have expected a see few more changes, as they’ve now added a standalone app to run your own server, but actually Start as Server is still there. However when you do start server, the options are slightly different and on start it actually runs the external app anyway.
They have added Allow change of Scene and Open GUI, which is the browser management page.
On joining the session the pilot window only has 1 columns of checkboxes for hiding and showing remote pilots. This also seems more reliable when hiding pilots, as previously they would just start showing again on their own.
Training
In the Training dropdown menu, there are 2 new options, fixed stick and zero crossing.
Fixed Stick Training is where you can select a channel and give a fixed input, similar to subtrim on the radio, This could probably used for pirouette training, which I;ve seen some people swear by.
Zero crossing is where you can turn on sounds for when the sticks cross the centre. It sounds interesting but not sure if it has any benefits for heli training. Let me know in the if you can think of a reason.
Under Helicopter Training they appear to have removed Tail Training and Funnel Training. These were just slip meters, so you can still enable them under the HUDs menu if you want to.
Under the Plane Training they’ve removed Tail Training as well, so again you can enable it under HUDs anyway.
HUDs
In HUDs they’ve added a clock. Perhaps this is for VR so you don’t have to take your goggles off to see the time. Who knows?
View Menu
In the View menu there are quite a few changes. You now have position pointer configuration so that you can change the size and colour of the pointer.
Show centre point is a new option. This now shows coloured dots whenever elevator or aileron is used. This could be useful for highlighting when you inadvertently add inputs. Along with that is a configuration menu to change the colour and deadband.
There is also a special HUD option that shows the difference in where the model is pointing compared its heading. Perhaps a fixed wing?
And another new View option is VR GUI mode which has a few options.
Shortcuts menu
Shortcuts has a new Clear favourite start position, as well as a Heli Schule Gonzalez option which shows the sticks, and 3 of the text HUDs, Pitch, Bank Angle and Slope Angle.
These are the values that Daniel seems to use most often in his training. If you’ve watched Simone’s training video with him, you can see how they use it to work on funnels and turns. I’ll link to that video in the description so you can check it out.
These items can be cleared from the screen through the HUDs menu.
Options Menu
And under the Options menu it looks exactly the same. However there have been changes to the New Models, Airports, Scenes, Utilities and Flights, in that these can be downloaded in the background.
So now when getting a new version and facing a 30 minute update to download the airports, you can still sim while it does it for you and logs it to the screen so you can see how it’s getting on. Very smart.
Release Notes
So that’s it for the menus. Let’s go through the release notes to see if there’s anything we’ve missed.
It now has native support for Windows with ARM processor. This has been gaining traction, so it’s a good move for Heli-X to support it.
From what I can tell, the java runtime engine has been updated, as well the graphics libraries.
They’re also claiming better performance and better contact with ground (like during sliding autos, whereas before the model almost immediately levelled out and stopped.
Wheel and Plane physics improved.
Graphics improved, in particular the shadows, and they’ve added more shadow options which we saw.
Full screen mode more stable, Monitor frequency can be defined.
Wind simulation improved.
Text HUDs can be made smaller (useful in VR mode)
They also mention Resources can be deleted, which is good if you’ve downloaded the 4K airports and need to make space.
Joystick configuration improved
WLAN connection with VBar more stable. I haven’t actually tried that yet, as I gave up on it a while back, so I might try that again.
Improved graphics in VR and New GUI modes and GUI can be used also in mirror window
They also mention that Multiplayer more stable. One thing I’ve always liked about the multiplayer is the ability to see what sessions are up and how busy they are from the website. It saves me from running the sim and joining just to see if anyone is around.
Conclusion
They’ve been working on version 11 for a few years, so it’s great to see it out of beta finally. If you’ve purchased the previous version, this update is completely free.
They still have some minor bugs on fields to do with the ground changes that have been implemented, such as Battice where the model wants to flip over before spooling up, but I’m hoping that they can now spend some time on new models again.
Although they’ve continued to bring out models during the development of this version, there have been a large number of new ones released in the past few months, and it would be great to see some of those show up.
Personally I’d love to see the Tron Gemini and Dnamic, especially the new Pro version on Heli-X.
All in all, a fantastic update to a brilliant helicopter flight simulator. And let me know in the comments if I’ve misunderstood anything or there’s anything you find that hasn’t been mentioned.
Also I’ve put all the links we’ve mentioned in the description below.
Until next time.
