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Aerofly FS 2 Robinson R22 Helicopter Released Today on Steam!

DrHotwing
Protege
For those of you who have been
patiently awaiting the release of the Robinson R22 helicopter the
wait is over! Today marks the release of the much anticipated R22,
the very first helicopter for Aerofly FS2.

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And just because the R22 is the first
helicopter release for Aerofly FS2 doesn't mean that it will lack
quality, quite the opposite actually. The quality and craftsmanship
that was put into the development of the R22 surpasses anything ever
developed before.



The Robinson R22 also has physics that
are so precise you would swear that you were flying the real bird,
especially in VR. With an Oculus Rift and Touch Controllers you can have one of the best experiences ever seen in a flight simulator to date. 



The Aerofly FS2 R22 was designed with
the professional and novice in mind featuring both a beginner mode
that provides more stability and balance when you fly allowing you to
fly while enjoying the surrounding scenery, and a professional mode
that handles just like the real life counterpart. Whichever
mode you choose you can be sure that you will have the experience of a
lifetime.

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Along with the release of the R22 comes
an update which adds over 120 new heliports to the mix. You will find many new
helipads in various locations on the map. Two of these new locations,
Fort Jefferson at the Dry Tortugas, Florida and the Downtown
Manhattan Heliport, New York are two examples that truly complement
this new addition.

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We are confident that the R22 will add
many new hours of excitement and exploration. How will you spend your
time?


26 REPLIES 26

RedRizla
Honored Visionary
When someone tries this out can they let use know how realistic they think this feels? I'm looking to purchase it if it's any good..

JohnnyDioxin
Expert Trustee
I bought and tested it last week after @Chazmeister 's rave (well, he likes it, anyway) in a couple of pm's. I didn't like it. I'm a long-time flight simmer - it's what I bought all my computers for in the early days and was rarely interested in anything else - I have many thousands of hours on various flight sims - mostly combat, but a few of the civvy ones including all those available today. I'm mostly a GA virtual pilot and twin props are my forté, though nothing beats bush flying - preferably in a twin prop!  😄   So this isn't based on airliner flying.

AFS2 didn't do anything for me at all (in VR only). I got a refund as the ones I have and use regularly, FSX and P3D3 I find better. More control (i.e. in the virtual cockpit), better weather, better terrain (I use FTX now) more to do, and much better add-on availability.

If you don't use other flight sims, AFS2 may be fine for you, but not for me.

Bring on Deadstick! Bush Pilot! Now that is one I am really looking forward to 🙂

I'm sure Chaz will be happy to tell you what he thinks are its good points.

PS - as for "real" I again didn't find it any more or less realistic, as far as physics or aerodynamics is concerned, than other sims, although the aircraft seemed to have less operable functions.

i5 9600k @4.5GHz; 16GB DDR4 3200; 6xSSD; RTX2080ti; Gigabyte Z390D Mobo
Rift CV1; Index; Quest; Quest 2

Chazmeister
Rising Star
Yes I enjoy it. If you don't already have something like FSX or P3D setup and tweaked to your liking then I would certainly recommend AFS2. It just works in VR straight out the box and requires almost no tweaking and faffing to get working or looking good. I run it at max graphical settings in VR on my 980ti with no performance issues that I can see. Put it this way, I recently tried the same with XP11 and that ran like a dog and stuttered like crazy if I tried to run it at similar levels, and I still didn't think it looked as nice.

That all being said, like most flight sims you need to download the different scenery packs to actually make it look like something. For AFS2 there is no global scenery packs that cover say all of Europe or America etc. The free ones available from IPACS at the moment only cover the west coast of the US. There are a couple of east coast dlc's for South Florida and eastern USA, but they're both paid. There are also some European ones but again they are all paid dlc's. So where you can fly is currently very limited in terms of global destinations. The scenery that is there is very good however. I got a much better feeling of actually being somewhere and flying over a genuine landscape than I did with my quick trial of XP11. There are caveats though. It looks great when flying over it all in a plane, even a light aircraft like the Cessna. For real low level flight aircraft like the new helicopter, not so much. I have done a quick summary of what I thought of the helicopter in another post but it's since been buried so I'll just copy and paste it here.

The Robinson R-22 helicopter has been finally added. Only had a quick go so far. By default it's set to easy mode, and it is quite simple and fun to get off the ground and fly around. Pro mode as expected makes it much more of a handful, but not impossible to fly, even for a complete novice.

My initial impressions are, that whilst the helicopter itself is great and well modeled etc, the sim itself is just not yet really setup for that kind of low level flying, as there just isn't the detail there to support it. Even in the Florida dlc area I tried it in, it's basic boxy building models and a few other things and a few trees here and there but that's it. There's no grass or ground detail and apart from the airports, the ground textures are far too low resolution at that close distance to look any good. In any of the planes it doesn't really matter, as before you know it you're a few hundred feet in the air and it all looks great and the only other time you're coming back down is to land at another airport. I can imagine it will be quite fun to fly along some of the canyons and mountain ridges and that sort of thing, but for exploratory low level flying, the sim just isn't cut out for that yet. At least not globally across the game anyway. Some of the Orbx scenery dlc's might be more suited to it as they have a much higher level of detail in that regard, like ground vegetation etc. But they're paid extras and quite pricey with it too.

Also I had a bit of bug with mine, where if I tried to select one of the new helipad locations in Florida, it kept crashing the game out. So I could fly the helicopter from any other airport, just not the new helipad location.


I have just downloaded some of the Orbx scenery, so I'll give it a go with that tonight. Their AFS2 scenery is currently 45% off in their end of year sale right now if you buy direct from them. You'll need to use their proprietary installer to install it, but it automatically detects where you have the game installed and it's very simple to use and actually downloads quite fast. https://orbxdirect.com/category/europe/afs2 , https://orbxdirect.com/category/north-america/afs2 . Given that their stuff is usually quite pricey, now is a good time to buy. I've just had a bit of a splurge myself and bought the Netherlands, Eagle County, Monterey and Palm Springs.

It's also worth mentioning that quite a lot of features are still missing from the game, in terms of interaction with the aircraft, cold starts and all that jazz, so if you're massively into twiddling knobs and all that stuff, then you may be disappointed. I mean, I'm sure there's probably enough knobs and switches for your average Joe to fiddle with, all the important stuff is covered, but you do get those who like every single button to be functional. Personally I've never been particularly bothered with all that stuff. The actual flying however, is very good. ATC isn't in it yet, although they're working on it. There's no ground or air traffic. The only lights you see at night are those of the airport runways. Water is still a static satellite image. There are trees, but the scale can seem a little bit off at times (too big), and most airports have some buildings and things and major landmarks are well represented, but there's no other ground foliage and unless it's a major city most others are flat and without 3D buildings. The ground texture looks very good when you're up in the air though and it also looks good at the airports on the ground, so you don't really notice the lack of 3D buildings across most of the map from a couple of thousand feet up. That is all with the default freebie terrains however. The IPACS paid dlc's remedy this to some extent with the chosen areas populated with 3D buildings and night lighting, and the Orbx ones go even further with ground traffic and foliage and even more detail. So it's not that the game can't do it, it's just not implemented on a global scale like it is with XP11 for instance.

Apparently all this stuff is in the pipeline and will be implemented at some point in the future. It's a bit like with Elite Dangerous, in that yes, they are planning to do all that stuff and it's on the roadmap, but it's just taking a long time to get there.

For the stuff I enjoy doing, which is flying light aircraft like the Cessna or the Baron, and hopping from airstrip to airstrip, it's great and trust me, even the free West Coast US area is plenty big enough and has some fantastic scenery. It really does look great. If you want to go flying over your home town however and you don't happen to live in the West Coast of America, then you're going to be out of luck. Similarly, if you're into long haul continental flying in the big birds like the Airbuses and Boeing's etc, then you might find it a bit limiting at present both in terms of the overall complexity of the cockpit instruments (only the basics are in there at the moment) and the choice of locations. So basically if you want to be an airline pilot flying a 737 from Heathrow to Cairo, then this isn't really the sim for you right now unfortunately. If on the other hand you quite like the idea of taking off on a long trip from LA to Colorado in a Cessna or Baron etc, to fly over the Rockies, taking in the sights of the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley on the way, then right out the box AFS2 will deliver a stunning experience of that with no extra costs. I'm quite sure the R22 will come into its own for those sorts of tours too, and I look forward to doing taking it out to do so, it's just that were you to set it down in a random field or patch of dirt somewhere, the illusion would be shattered somewhat right now.

Also worth mentioning that in VR, you can either just use your traditional joystick and pedals etc or whatever other sim gear you have, or you can now also use your Touch controllers to fly and interact with the cockpit. You can't use both at the same time though. Personally I stick with my HOTAS and use the mouse to interact with the cockpit controls.

Modding is possible, so if you want to add your own airports and import your own terrain textures, you can do all that. I had a quick look, but it's not for the faint hearted. Certainly "I'm" not going to bother with all that, so I guess I'll just have to stick with spunking up cash for scenery dlc's etc and hope that at some point someone will cover Gloucestershire.

All opinions are my own, yours may differ, etc, etc ,etc...




nrosko
Superstar

Brixmis said:

I bought and tested it last week after @Chazmeister 's rave (well, he likes it, anyway) in a couple of pm's. I didn't like it. I'm a long-time flight simmer - it's what I bought all my computers for in the early days and was rarely interested in anything else - I have many thousands of hours on various flight sims - mostly combat, but a few of the civvy ones including all those available today. I'm mostly a GA virtual pilot and twin props are my forté, though nothing beats bush flying - preferably in a twin prop!  😄   So this isn't based on airliner flying.

AFS2 didn't do anything for me at all (in VR only). I got a refund as the ones I have and use regularly, FSX and P3D3 I find better. More control (i.e. in the virtual cockpit), better weather, better terrain (I use FTX now) more to do, and much better add-on availability.

If you don't use other flight sims, AFS2 may be fine for you, but not for me.

Bring on Deadstick! Bush Pilot! Now that is one I am really looking forward to 🙂

I'm sure Chaz will be happy to tell you what he thinks are its good points.

PS - as for "real" I again didn't find it any more or less realistic, as far as physics or aerodynamics is concerned, than other sims, although the aircraft seemed to have less operable functions.


Do those virtual cockpits work with touch in FSX & P3D3 & do they support native VR?

TomCgcmfc
MVP
MVP
Good to hear this finally got a heli.

Is it still a dead, lifeless environment?

I mainly VR flight sim with xp11 btw.
i9 13900K water cooled, RTX4090, Z790 MB w/wifi6e, 32Gb 6400 ram, 2x2TB SSD, 1000W PSU, Win 11, QPro, Q3, w/Link and Air Link, Vive Pro1 with Etsy lens mod and Index Controllers

JohnnyDioxin
Expert Trustee

nrosko said:


Do those virtual cockpits work with touch in FSX & P3D3 & do they support native VR?


Sorry, I can't remember. I think a lot of the controls are operated with the keyboard and any controllers you have connected. The controller set-up was a bit weird, but much easier than, say, XP11.

The only problem with controllers was that I set up all my axes the same way, so I was a bit puzzled that some were reversed and others weren't, but you can change and test them very easily.

It just didn't offer enough, really, for me. I already don't fly all my sims due to not having time for them all and as this had nothing new (yes, it's built VR ready and the VR works well per se, but I have no issues using FlyInside, so that isn't enough) it was money better spent elsewhere - on IL-2 in this case. That doesn't have operable VC controls, either - but it's a whole league above AFS2 in aerodynamics simulation imho. In fact, I reckon it's probably about the best in recent years in that regard.

i5 9600k @4.5GHz; 16GB DDR4 3200; 6xSSD; RTX2080ti; Gigabyte Z390D Mobo
Rift CV1; Index; Quest; Quest 2

TomCgcmfc
MVP
MVP
Brixmis, you should try the free X-Plane 11 Demo.  This has native VR support and works very well imho.  Much more realistic than af fs2 (which I tried earlier this year from a Steam sale, then got a refund).  XP11 VR at 45fps looks a lot better to me than af fs2 at 90fps so maybe fps in a sim in not everything?
i9 13900K water cooled, RTX4090, Z790 MB w/wifi6e, 32Gb 6400 ram, 2x2TB SSD, 1000W PSU, Win 11, QPro, Q3, w/Link and Air Link, Vive Pro1 with Etsy lens mod and Index Controllers

Chazmeister
Rising Star

TomCgcmfc said:

XP11 VR at 45fps looks a lot better to me than af fs2 at 90fps so maybe fps in a sim in not everything?



Having just recently tried XP11 in VR I came away with the opposite conclusion. Some of the stuff that's missing from AFS2 like moving ground traffic, I thought would be quite good, but actually looked quite false and ended up making it all look a bit unreal for me. I did like that it mapped out all the real roads and stuff like that though. At least I could fly around my native countryside, even if the towns and cities looked nothing like the actual places.

Anyway, been having a short wiz about in the R22 in some of the Orbx scenery, which really does make a bit of a difference. Sure, ground textures are still splodgy once you get below 1000ft, but then pretty much all of them suffer from that. Well, apart from IL2, which has some great ground textures and detail, but I suppose a game like that needs it far more than a regular flight sim.

Also I was wrong. No moving traffic on the Orbx stuff, well bizarrely, apart from the odd airport worker model. So you've got a bunch of static dummies and then this one chap lively sweeping up the floor.

The Netherlands (somewhere in between Amsterdam and Rotterdam)
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Same view at night.
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You get the odd momentary half second pause once in a while, but other than that it runs pretty smooth, and I've got all the bells and whistles maxed out.
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Home of the sinister windmills. Seriously, they're really quite creepy hanging there in the sky. They're all like this too. Shall have to submit a bug report to Orbx.
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Monterey
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Land of the giants.
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JohnnyDioxin
Expert Trustee

TomCgcmfc said:

Brixmis, you should try the free X-Plane 11 Demo.  This has native VR support and works very well imho.  Much more realistic than af fs2 (which I tried earlier this year from a Steam sale, then got a refund).  XP11 VR at 45fps looks a lot better to me than af fs2 at 90fps so maybe fps in a sim in not everything?


I've had XP11 for some time - I don't have it currently installed. When OrbX have their nice new UK scenery available at a price I'm willing to pay, I'll reinstall it.

i5 9600k @4.5GHz; 16GB DDR4 3200; 6xSSD; RTX2080ti; Gigabyte Z390D Mobo
Rift CV1; Index; Quest; Quest 2