Discussion Phoenix is now available.

[RickDelten]

Originally Posted by Ade

they are switching servers at the moment. Also with all the improvements to the graphics and physics the old videos just dont do the sim justice. Some new videos will be up soon.

As for AFPD, so you have a non hacked version that supports devices other than the AFPD dongle?

Ade

Its common knowledge that AFPD can be used w/G2 and G3 controllers.
Isn't it a rule of the forum that this guy mentions hes selling "Phoenix" on his website? LINK

[slipstick]

Originally Posted by RickDelten

Isn't it a rule of the forum that this guy mentions hes selling "Phoenix" on his website? LINK

No I don't believe there's any rule that vendors have to state that they are vendors every time they mention a product.

Of course if he was actually involved with the manufacture of the product that would be different .

Steve

[Malc C]

Originally Posted by slipstick

Of course if he was actually involved with the manufacture of the product that would be different .

Steve

To quote a statement in a post on RC Helispot (full topic http://www.rchelispot.com/viewtopic.php?p=98387#98387 )

yes i do have a vested interest in the sim. I helped develope it.

Which would explain Ades enthusiasum for the sim. However I don't think that Ade has ever made any attempt to hide his involvement with Phoenix, and IMO hasn't broken any rules. His input to most post are supportive and he acts as a channel to provide feedback from the users to the programmers via the forums.

[Ade]

It is common knowledge i help them with models and dynamics. I have mentioned it serveral times. If they allowd signatures here it would be more obvious.

flyingaid is my website.

Phoenix is better than anything else on the market, i didnt let them release it until it was!

Thanks for letting me know about AFPD never knew that, even my long term AFPD fantatic flat mate didnt know! He know uses Phoenix btw.

As i have said. Phoenix are working on a dummy TX not sure when it will be ready but it is in the pipeline. The aircraft designer is on its way, 1.02a which addressed a lot of peoples wants and desires as well as improving the lighting, graphics and some small issues people found in the dynamics. They wanted to get the update done so concentrated their efforts there, now its done i am sure ADK will be along in the next month or two with online multiplayer following soon after.

Ade

[bcc1955]

I am very interested in this simulator but am probably going with XTR due to the lack of support for Windows 2000. Unfortunately this looks like the wave of the future and I will eventually be coerced to "upgrade" my system software.

[billyzelsnack]

Anyone manage to get Phoenix to work with an Esky or Eflite TX? I have a very nice signal from both TX's on the scope, but it never says that it is detected and turned on.

[Ade]

bcc1955, its not that phoenix doesnt work on win2k it is just untested. so it may well work. I suggest you drop a mail to support@phoenix-sim.com for more info. At the end of the day win2k is getting very old in the tooth now. I used to love it too but dropped it a couple of years back as even then support was starting to dwindle. Maybe it is time for you to move on too? You dont expect a sim to work on 6 year old hardware why ask the same of the OS?

Billy, Phoenix has been tested on the esky tx's. Are you using the phoenix esky adapter? if you continue to have problems drop an email to support@phoenix-sim.com

Ade

[billyzelsnack]

Hi Ade.

I was emailing them, but I have not received a response in awhile. I think I annoyed them with all my questions or something. Hopefully they are just on holiday or at a trade show and will get back to me soon.

They sent me a little wiring diagram to build an adapter, but I actually think it is either incorrect or that not all Esky TX's are the same. The signal pin the diagram wants is just plain not the signal pin on my TX according to what I can see on the scope.

Anyway. Anyone have their Esky TX working with Phoenix? If so, would you please put a meter on the adapter and tell me how it is wired?

[Ade]

The plan is correct to the transmitter they have tested, that doesnt mean yours is the same tho as you already know!

What is the difference between the plan and your tx? Have you tried connecting it as per your findings?

I know phoenix are busy with ADK and making dongles. never seen the boys work so hard!!

Ade

[billyzelsnack]

From looking at back of TX.

1 2
34

Diagram specifies signal as pin2. However, if you look at the scope pics, pin1 is the more familiar sim cable signal.

My adapter connects signal to phoenix lead tip. Skips the center lead section. Connects ground to last lead section. The diagram specifies the lead as such.

The signal I connect to lead tip is from pin1.

The interface is detected fine. It just ignores the fact that I have the TX plugged in and asks me to do that or turn it on. Sometimes when I plug it in the heli will shoot off and I'll get all hopeful. Though I can't control it. Looking at the config screen it shows most of the stick meters at 100%, but they never change.

I've tried it also with my Blade TX. Pin1 on it gives the same looking signal as the Esky (other pins are ordered different though).

[Malc C]

Ade, I must admit that for a developer of a new bit of software its a tad nieve not to check out the compatibility with older operating systems. Yes XP has been around for a few years now and unlike previous trends from Microsoft it's not been replaced with newer OS at the rate MS changed back in the late 90's when we went through from win95, win98, win98se, winME and win2K all in an 18 month period, but to advise people to upgrade their OS just to play a sim IMO is not the way forward.

There are still a lot of people running older OS's on PC's that meet the minimum spec for most sims. In reallity it should of been part of the beta testing to confirm what operating systems the sim will run on. Maybe its time that Phoenix either did some of their own testing on different OS's or "employed" some beta testers and update the webpage accordingly with the results.

Billy: I'm no expert, but those traces don't look like a normal PPm signal. The trace from my JR TX is attached, and you'll notice that there is a gap between the last channel and the first. This is because the normal PPm signals consist of pulses 1ms - 2ms wide for each channel, repeated on a 20ms frame. The signals in your traces are a continious steam so the interface probably can't detect the frame rate and hence doesn't recognise that there is a TX attached

[billyzelsnack]

Malc. There is a gap, it's just off to the right and not visible at this scale.

However.. I just noticed something and checked the scope again. Your gap is low! My gap is high!

Thanks for taking the time and grabbing that pic.

[Ade]

do you have another tx you can try with it? If not can you borrow one?

Ade

[Malc C]

The fact that my JR trace has a positive going pulse rather than a low (ie a logic 1 rather than logic 0) shouldn't make much difference unless the PIC has been coded to look for positive pulses between 1ms and 2ms. If the PPm is negative going it might be staying high for more than 2ms between pulses and thus causing the PIC to interperet that as no pulse being seen and thus no TX connected.

; ->|<---Init.--->|<-Ch.1->|<-Ch.2->|<-Ch.3->|<-Ch.4->|<-Ch.5->|<-Ch.6->|<-Ch.7->|<---Init.--->|<---
;
;   +--+          +--+     +--+     +--+     +--+     +--+     +--+     +--+     +--+          +--+     
;   |  |          |  |     |  |     |  |     |  |     |  |     |  |     |  |     |  |          |  |
; __|8 |__________|1 |_____|2 |_____|3 |_____|4 |_____|5 |_____|6 |_____|7 |_____|8 |__________|1 |_
;

From my experience with these interfaces, most PICs are coded to detect the edge trigger within the expected time frame, so it doesn't matter if its +ve to gnd or gnd to +ve as its the transition that its looking for. This is why they work fine with JR (postitive shift) or Futaba (nagative). I can't work out the timing of the trace on your scope, but it might be worth checking that the pulse width is between 1 and 2ms

[Zaragon]

It would be worth checking that you have a good ground signal as well so that the interface gets a good reference. Don't rely on the connector shell being grounded as it may or may not be.