Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Wishlist => Topic started by: Slade on July 04, 2017, 08:40:17 AM

Title: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: Slade on July 04, 2017, 08:40:17 AM
Request:
Please make it easier and faster to turn on autopilot.

I want to press the AutoPilot keys to make my plane go straight or climb without all this crazy fuss of getting the orientation...just...almost there...just...almost...just. ..just right.  There!  Finally got it!

What do you think, is this a pretty reasonable request?  If not help me understand why we need to wait so long?

Thanks for considering.  :salute
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: The Fugitive on July 04, 2017, 08:42:04 AM
What kind of trouble are you having? I just release the controls and hit the key and its on. I have pulled enough Gs to see some black out turning it on.
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: Slade on July 04, 2017, 08:46:31 AM
Quote
What kind of trouble are you having?

I've been flying I think for about a decade in this game.  It does seem to vary per plane.  Just takes too long.  Seems people can get used to anything.  Just plenty of room for improvement on this point is all. 

Sure if your plane is close to a state and orientation where the current settings are close to being autopilot OK its quick.  Otherwise it is a pain.  :furious


Thanks for your post.

Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: Shamus on July 04, 2017, 09:35:56 AM
The only time I experience auto pilot hunting is when the airspeed is too low.
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: FLS on July 04, 2017, 11:12:50 AM
If not help me understand why we need to wait so long?

Thanks for considering.  :salute

When you set an auto pilot mode the flight model is responding to trim changes. That takes time. You wouldn't want auto pilot to override the flight model.
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: redcatcherb412 on July 04, 2017, 12:00:52 PM
The only time I experience auto pilot hunting is when the airspeed is too low.

Have lost many a fully loaded TU2 turning it into a plow hitting autoclimb and too low in airspeed&altitude.
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: RedBeard on July 04, 2017, 05:05:33 PM
I suspect there are a number of factors that influence this.  One of which is whether or not combat trim is on.  Going from combat trim on to autopilot on seems to work rather quickly.  However, if combat trim is off and the plane is out of trim, then it may take a while for the autopilot to settle.
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: hitech on July 05, 2017, 09:16:25 AM
Your not describing your wish very well. Are you speaking of the time it takes for the pitch to steady out?

HiTech
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: ImADot on July 05, 2017, 10:17:00 AM
Slade,

Please describe your typical routine when engaging autopilot; what attitude is the plane flying, what trim settings, what airspeed, which autopilot mode are you selecting, etc.

I have never encountered any sluggishness when engaging the autopilot.
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: lunatic1 on July 05, 2017, 11:25:48 AM
I have the autopilot function mapped to my throttle
 :airplane:
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: Slade on July 09, 2017, 01:59:09 PM
Quote
Your not describing your wish very well. Are you speaking of the time it takes for the pitch to steady out?

1. First I ensure all my flaps are not deployed.
2. I press the X or or Alt-X keys to engage autopilot.

Sometimes it engages immediately.  MANY times it takes several tries having to get the plane to a state of relative "calmness" or stable flight before it actually engages autopilot. 

I do not condone making it "gamey" to engage it while the plane is at 500+ mph in a dive or similar.

Just quicker and less fidgeting with your plane, to get it just right, to have it turn on.

I hope that explanation is clearer.


Thanks for considering,

Slade  :salute
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: Ramesis on July 09, 2017, 02:24:28 PM
Request:
Please make it easier and faster to turn on autopilot.

I want to press the AutoPilot keys to make my plane go straight or climb without all this crazy fuss of getting the orientation...just...almost there...just...almost...just. ..just right.  There!  Finally got it!

What do you think, is this a pretty reasonable request?  If not help me understand why we need to wait so long?

Thanks for considering.  :salute

I have all 3 auto pilot modes programmed to buttons my stick/throttle  :aok
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: ImADot on July 09, 2017, 03:55:42 PM
Slade,

Could it be that your keyboard is sensitive and you are inadvertently double-tapping the X key?
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: RedBeard on July 09, 2017, 05:09:11 PM
Since he is talking about flaps, I'm guessing that he has just taken off and wants to immediately engage autopilot climb mode without accelerating to the climb speed first.
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: FLS on July 09, 2017, 05:31:10 PM
1. First I ensure all my flaps are not deployed.
2. I press the X or or Alt-X keys to engage autopilot.

Sometimes it engages immediately.  MANY times it takes several tries having to get the plane to a state of relative "calmness" or stable flight before it actually engages autopilot. 

I do not condone making it "gamey" to engage it while the plane is at 500+ mph in a dive or similar.

Just quicker and less fidgeting with your plane, to get it just right, to have it turn on.

I hope that explanation is clearer.


Thanks for considering,

Slade  :salute

Sounds like you may have a problem with your joystick. Any JS input after engaging auto-pilot will turn it off. Check for spiking.

X and Alt-X work right away for me. Shift X sometimes needs adjustment to get the angle I want.
 
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: FLS on July 11, 2017, 08:07:52 AM
Forgot to mention, I would also check for inadvertent rudder input if you're having trouble engaging auto-pilot.
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: haggerty on July 11, 2017, 09:39:37 AM
You may have no deadzone on your joystick and the game is detecting input, keeping the autopilot from engaging.  Do you ever have issues of autopilot turning off on you?
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: Saxman on July 11, 2017, 09:59:20 AM
Since he is talking about flaps, I'm guessing that he has just taken off and wants to immediately engage autopilot climb mode without accelerating to the climb speed first.

Yup, that's what it sounded like to me, as well. He either needs to change his climb speed to prevent the autopilot from diving, or wait until he's up to speed before engaging.
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: redcatcherb412 on July 11, 2017, 11:17:41 AM
Yup, that's what it sounded like to me, as well. He either needs to change his climb speed to prevent the autopilot from diving, or wait until he's up to speed before engaging.
That's exactly my problem, i'm guessing (wrongly)  i'm high or fast enough and hitting autoclimb. That's why I mainly GV, no instruments  :rofl. Of course the GV equivalent is setting across a clear field, hitting the latrine and coming back to being flipped over, stuck in a tree or driving blindly up to an enemy GV.
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: RedBeard on July 12, 2017, 08:22:51 PM
First off, kudos to HT for adding a non-realistic feature that so many of us love as a usability enhancement. 

Anyway, autopilots are not very smart.  They are designed to seek a particular equilibrium and that's it.  For autopilot climb mode, it is designed to seek a wings level particular speed (set with .speed or defaulted).  The only way it knows how to do this is to adjust pitch trim.  It knows that more down pitch will increase speed and more up pitch will decrease speed.  That's all the smarts it has. 

If you want to be as lazy as possible, you set the Auto takeoff preference.  When you takeoff, it will climb for a bit at a slow speed, but will eventually start increasing speed.  When it is close to the climb speed you can change to autopilot climb mode with little fuss.  The moral of the story is that smarts are in the pilot, not Otto.
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: Saxman on July 12, 2017, 09:33:04 PM
First off, kudos to HT for adding a non-realistic feature that so many of us love as a usability enhancement. 

Anyway, autopilots are not very smart.  They are designed to seek a particular equilibrium and that's it.  For autopilot climb mode, it is designed to seek a wings level particular speed (set with .speed or defaulted).  The only way it knows how to do this is to adjust pitch trim.  It knows that more down pitch will increase speed and more up pitch will decrease speed.  That's all the smarts it has. 

If you want to be as lazy as possible, you set the Auto takeoff preference.  When you takeoff, it will climb for a bit at a slow speed, but will eventually start increasing speed.  When it is close to the climb speed you can change to autopilot climb mode with little fuss.  The moral of the story is that smarts are in the pilot, not Otto.

(http://capnaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/otto-the-auto-pilot.jpg)

Oh come on, cut Otto some slack. Dude's got a tough job.
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: BowHTR on July 13, 2017, 08:14:50 AM
(http://capnaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/otto-the-auto-pilot.jpg)

Oh come on, cut Otto some slack. Dude's got a tough job.

Surely you can't be serious.
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: Saxman on July 13, 2017, 09:19:32 AM
Surely you can't be serious.

I am serious. And don't call me Shirley.
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: BowHTR on July 13, 2017, 09:20:42 AM
I am serious. And don't call me Shirley.

 :aok :cheers:
Title: Re: Enable AutoPilot More Quickly
Post by: FLS on July 13, 2017, 10:20:37 AM
I'll be frank. That's George.