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Sky Dolly

Sky Dolly records and replays your flights. The flight data ("simulation variables") is automatically persisted in a logbook which allows you to sort and filter your recorded flights. Various import and export formats such as GPX, KML, JSON or IGC ("international gliding organisation") are supported....



...

Steeler

14,505 | IX Senior Captain
За

Sky Dolly - The Black Sheep for your Flight Recordings

About

Sky Dolly is an external, stand-alone application that let's you record and replay your flights in Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS). It can also simultaneously replay previously recorded aircraft during recording, making it in effect possible to "iteratively record your own formation flights".

Recording supports multiple sample rates, from 1 Hz up to "auto" ("as data becomes available"). In any case the aicraft position data is interpolated (with cubic Hermite splines), resulting in a smooth flight path.

Recording and replay is done by storing so-called simulation variables that represent the aircraft state. Sky Dolly connects with the flight simulator via the SimConnect API, a standard API introduced with FSX back in the days.

Modules

A plugin-based architecture makes Sky Dolly extendable with new functionality, while at the same time reducing the memory footprint (RAM) to a minimum. The following plugins - or modules - are currently available:

  • Logbook - all your flights are automatically stored in the logbook and can be loaded with a single mouse-click. In fact, the underlying storage is an SQL database (SQLite), making powerful filter queries possible
  • Formation - this module let's you control your aircraft in the formation, set relative positions to each other, or simply join interactively an existing formation flight. Recordings with over 30 aircraft didn't slow down the simulation in any noticeable way (*)
  • Location - the location module let's you quickly teleport to the selected location. Besides the position you also get control over the engine state (start, shutdown, keep), making it possible to define your own custom take-off points (for instance custom helipads). Sky Dolly comes with 100 system locations, all finetuned and with verified GPS coordinates. You can easily capture or add your own user locations, e.g. paste any GPS coordinate with CTRL + V into the location table

(*) See known "aircraft jitter" issue below

Import & Export Plugins

Various file formats can be imported or exported:

Flight data:

  • CSV (import & export, including formats from flightradar24.com and Flight Recorder and a simple "position & attitude" format)
  • IGC (International Gliding Commission - import & export)
  • KLM (import for flightaware.com, flightradar24.com and generic KML, Google Earth export)
  • GPX (import and export of the GPS exchange format)
  • JSON (GeoJSON export)

Locations:

  • CSV (import & export, including Sky Dolly and Little Navmap formats)

For instance you can literally import all world update POIs and airports and more from e.g. here: Little Navmap - MSFS POI Database (made available by Rysatko here on flightsim.to).

Preview Release

Note that this is an early pre-release version 0.14. While it should run stable and all its present features should work as intended it is far from feature complete.

Database Backup and Optimisation

Database backups can be automatically scheduled (once per month, once per week, never, ...) and are done after exiting the Sky Dolly application (where they may also be skipped). Before migration an update is also done. All backup options are now in the File | Logbook Settings... dialog.

By default the backup databases will be located in the same folder as the original "logbook", in a "Backups" subfolder, but can be changed when the Backup dialog shows up.

As flights are recorded and deleted the database file may grow considerably. Unused file space will be reclaimed at some point (by SQLite), but in case many flights have been deleted the database file can be optimised, by the "Optimise" command located in the File menu.

Earlier Releases

In case you want to still use the previous Sky Dolly versions (e.g. 0.12 or 0.13) you may download all previous releases from the github release page (the ZIP archives are identical to the one available here).

Source Code

The source code may be found at:

  https://github.com/till213/SkyDolly

Additional usage information (README) and a complete CHANGELOG is also available in the github.com source repository. You may want to compute the SHA-256 checksum of your downloaded ZIP archive and compare it against the SHA-256 checksums published on github.com, to verify the file integrity of your downloaded copy.

Reporting Problems

Problems can be reported here:

  https://github.com/till213/SkyDolly/issues

A free github.com account is required though. "Small issues" may also be mentioned in the comment section below.

Installation

  • Unzip the ZIP archive to any location of your choice
  • Run SkyDolly.exe
  • Optional: you may associate Sky Dolly "logbooks" (files with the extension *.sdlog) with the Sky Dolly application:
    • in File Explorer: right-click on the logbook file and choose "Open with..."
    • Select the SkyDolly.exe application
    • Make sure to enable the "Always open with..." checkbox
    • The default logbook is located at: "c:\Users\[Your Username]\Documents\Sky Dolly\"
    • One the *.sdlog files are "associated" with Sky Dolly you can double-click on those files and a new Sky Dolly instance will start and open the selected logbook

Basic Usage

  • Start a flight in Flight Simulator 2020
  • In Sky Dolly, press the "Record" (key R) button
  • Stop the recording (either hit key R again, or ESC for "stop")
  • Press the "Play" button (spacebar)
  • Seek the play position (left and right arrow keys, page up/page down keys)
  • Adjust recording sample rates in the settings menu (also during recording)
  • Show flight information (key F)
    • Hint: press the same key F again to close the flight information dialog
  • Show the recorded "simulation variables" (key V)
    • Same here: press key V again to close the simulation variables dialog
  • Minimise the user interface (key M)
    • Hint: Before you minimise the user interface you may also want to hide the replay speed group, in the View menu
    • As the "minimal UI" as a "fixed layout" the replay speed group currently cannot be shown/hidden once in this "minimal UI" mode
  • Switch between the various modules with the function keys (F1, F2, F3, ...).
Load a Flight
  • Select the desired flight in the logbook
  • Press the "Load" button (or double-click the row)
  • Note: double-clicking its "Title" column will edit the title
Add Aircraft to Existing Flight ("Formation Flying")
  • Switch to the Formation module (press F2)
  • For each aircraft to be recorded press the "Record" button (press R): the plus (+) sign in the button icon indicates that aircraft will be added to the existing flight
  • That's it!

Note again that the existing aircraft will be replayed during recording, so you know exactly where to fly ;)

  • To start a new flight simply switch back to the Logbook module (press F1) and press the record button

You may optionally load an existing flight in the Logbook module before switching to the Formation module. Once all aircraft have been added start replay, pause and seek in the timeline as usual.

  • Aircraft may be deleted from a flight (but which keeps at least one aircraft)
  • The last recorded aircraft becomes the "user aircraft" (the one being followed with the camera in MSFS)
  • Before adding a new aircraft you may set its position relative to the current "user aircraft"
  • You may switch the "user aircraft" at any time - also during replay!
  • Want to fly for yourself together with the formation? Simply select the "Take control" option in order to take control of the recorded user aircraft. Or choose the "Fly with Formation" to join the formation with the currently loaded user aircraft (so you can also join "single aircraft formations" in an ad-hoc manner).
Recommendations
  • Disable "crash detection" and "engine/stress failure" options in Flight Simulator 2020 for replay

Known Issues

  • While the current Sky Dolly v0.14 improves support for 3rd-party aircraft there are still known issues, for example:
    • Spoiler handle position is not properly reported (during recording) and hence cannot properly replayed
    • Some light switches do have "dependencies" between each other, hence single switches cannot easily be toggled alone (or at all)
    • Some simulation variables such as the flaps handle position are updated "in real-time" (e.g. PDMG 737) and hence may temporarily get "out of sync" when seeking quickly back and forth - with repeated seek operations - on the timeline; however during replay those handles should settle again at some point (with the next change event)
  • The stock helicopters from the "40th anniversary update" are not yet fully supported: while position replay works fine, not all flight controls (handles) are fully recorded. Most importantly, both stock helicopters fail to be created when trying to instantiate them as AI aircraft (server exception 22 = "create object failed"), making them "invisible" in formation flights
    • Asobo has confirmed that "helicopter traffic" is not yet supported by MSFS: this implies that helicopter models (as of the "40th anniversary update") cannot be spawned as AI aircraft either
  • Aircraft in formation flights - so-called AI aircraft - tend to "jitter" when flying nearby. This also seems to be related to the speed at which the aircraft fly ("the faster the more jittery"). On the other hand the number of aircraft in the formation does not seem to have an impact (the "jitter" effect already appears with 2 aircraft in the formation).
    • I do have some ideas how to improve on this, but can only tell once implemented whether my idea will be succesful. In either case I will let you know in which release I succeeded or failed.
  • Flights imported from flightaware.com (KML) or flightradar24.com (CSV, KML) often have altitudes not aligned with the MSFS scenery, so aircraft either are below or above the runway when taking off or landing. This is still an open issue and not yet addressed by the most recent v0.14.0 release, but it will be addressed together with extended "flight augmentation" in an upcoming release ("still on the roadmap")
  • In general while error handling of mal-formed imort files is in place the actual error messages are extremly "generic": "File could not be imported". More detailed error messages may be added in a future update, but for now:
    • Make sure that you have selected the proper "flavour" (data source) for a given format
    • For instance depending on whether a KML file comes from flightaware.com or flightradar24.com the position data is stored in different "KML elements"
    • The generic KML format tries to find a "track" element, but if no such track element is present then the same generic "File could not be imported" error message will be shown (for now)
    • In general: if no "position data" (latitude, longitude, optionally altitude) could be found the generic error message will be shown (and also if a "parser error" due to a malformed document is encountered, e.g. an expected number is not in the expected format etc.)
replay recorder flightpath kml igc csv logbook gpx geojson location
Details
Съвместимост
Sim Update 11
Категория
Applications
Първоначална версия
February 28, 2021
Последна актуализация
2 day(s) ago — 0.15.0

Version

0.15.0

Размер на файла

27.87 MB

Downloads

35,711

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  • Актуализиран до версия 0.15.0

  • Актуализиран до версия 0.14.0

  • Актуализиран до версия 0.13.1

  • Актуализиран до версия 0.13.0

  • Актуализиран до версия 0.12.0

  • Актуализиран до версия 0.11.1

  • Initial File Release

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© Steeler - All rights reserved. Всяко повторно качване или разпространение на този файл без предварителното писмено съгласие на автора е забранено. Този Flight Simulator 2020 Mod е създаден от Steeler and shared in Utilities » Applications за Microsoft Flight Simulator.

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User Reviews

4.67/5 - Based on 73 reviews

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JKustom

9 hour(s) ago / Благодарности от Steeler

You Need A really Good You Tube tutorial. The ones I have seen aren't vary good.

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Jafajjones

3 day(s) ago / Благодарности от Steeler

A fantastic addon for FS2020, absolutely extends the overall experience. Apologies if the answer to this question is in the documentation or previously asked, is Sky Dolly intended to allow a user to import and replay a flight from another user logbook.

Thanks in advance

Mike

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Steeler 3 day(s) ago

The <tl;dr> answer:

https://github.com/till213/SkyDolly/issues/75

😉

Yes, I intend to add another import/export format that will use the same "logbook database format" (SQLite) as the "logbook" of Sky Dolly itself (and after that also "multi-selection, such that multiple flights can be exported etc. - but one step after another...)

The current format of choice is the "Sky Dolly" CSV format: it exports (import) pretty much every "simulation variable" that has been recorded for the given aircraft - but being a simple, "non-hierarchical" "row by row" format you'll loose additional "flight information" such has runway condition etc. - but you can exchange aircraft data between Sky Dolly logbooks.

However another (rather huge) disadvantage of the "Sky Dolly CSV" format: you can't import CSV files generated with previous Sky Dolly releases: I simply don't check the available columns and convert accordingly, because the CSV format was always just an "ad hoc format" introduced in the very early days of Sky Dolly, before the "logbook" (= SQLite database) format existed. So you'll get a crude "can't import" errr message instead.

The "logbook" is of course incrementally updated to the current release, and the same will then be true for this export/import format.

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Steeler 3 day(s) ago

And yes, the idea is really that several pilots record a formation flight - each on their own PC - and then exchange the recorded flight data and import it into a "master logbook": with the "add to flight" option you can then re-create the recorded formation flight.

With the upcoming "logbook format import/export" the aircraft timestamp offsets can then also be automatically calculated and set, as this format will also contain the exact (local) time/date timestamp when the recording started (whereas the CSV format only contains the timestamps in milliseconds, starting from 0 - so you have to manually adjust timestamp offsets in the "Formation" module as needed).

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Lokapix

4 day(s) ago / Благодарности от Steeler

Incredible little tool! I haven't heard of it until recently and just tried it out. Finally I can take a look at my landings!

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Steeler 4 day(s) ago

I am glad to hear that you like Sky Dolly 😊

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DizzyG3015

9 day(s) ago / Благодарности от Steeler

organized and useful tool. However FBW a320 may randomly turn cold and dark during replays

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Steeler 8 day(s) ago

Thank you for your feedback regarding the FBW A320 and your rating.

Yes, this is a known issue with the FBW A320 and other 3rd party aircraft that have custom implementations for parts or entire subsystems such as hydraulics, engine etc.: those aircraft do not react properly (or at all) to the recorded „simulation variables“ as sent via SimConnect (the official API to connect with MSFS and other/previous flight simulators). Some aircraft do not even properly report certain „simulation variables“ (during recording).

That said, I am working on improving certain aspects (specifically gears, flaps, throttle levers…), essentially by sending „events“ instead of „simulation variables“. But to set expectations right: I had mixed results, depending on the aircraft (I am focusing on PMDG Boeing 737, Fenix A320 and Asobo A320neo, the later for reference).

I will reveal more details and pending issues together with the release of the upcoming Sky Dolly v0.14.

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Steeler 6 day(s) ago

I will include the (stable) FBW A320 in my „test hangar“ and have a closer look at this „turning cold & dark“ issue.

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EllinasFlight 3 day(s) ago

have in mind that most FBW A320 users,forget to replenish their fuel,in the replay,therefore the aircraft goes cold and dark

It's not a matter of Sky Dolly

The replay flight,is aknowledged as another flight with no fuel into it

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DizzyG3015 2 day(s) ago

I doubt that because I think i have tried that several times but I will check it again

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Steeler 2 day(s) ago

As for the fuel: I will probably record those variables in the future as well, so when you "seek back in time" your fuel tanks should be refilled.

However I don't think that is the issue here: Sky Dolly supports "cold & dark" starts: well, in a simplified manner anyway. It will simply send an "auto-start" event (and "auto-shutdown" event correspondingly) when it detects that the engines are running.

The trick question is of course: "when" are the engines running? One part of the equation is the "combustion" simulation variable which essentially indicates that the engines (including propellers) are running.

Now I remember that I observed that for some aircraft (not the FBW A320 which I haven't tried just yet again) that "combustion" value went "off and on" again, very quickly. Repeatedly, like every other minute or so (at random intervals). The "interruption" was so short that the engines were "re-started" so quickly that during flight you wouldn't notice (but I got the messages in my "debug log").

So it could also be that this simulation variable for the FBW A320 occasionally goes to "off" - perhaps because the FBW A320 uses its own engine simulation altogether and updates this simulation variable only "as a side effects", out of courtesy for the SimConnect API - but perhaps not as reliable.

Anyway, this is just a wild guess, but I will keep an eye on this.

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kylane

12 day(s) ago / Благодарности от Steeler

Awesome tool. Will be watching with anticipation the jittery formation fix.

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Steeler 8 day(s) ago

Well… me too 😊 The „AI aircraft jitter“ problem goes back to the beginning of the SimConnect API (introduced with FS X), according to older developer forum entries.

It was in such a forum reply where I read about a very promising technique to resolve this issue. Whether that same technique will still work with MSFS will remain to be seen (once implemented).

The next update (v0.14) will all be about improved 3rd party aircraft support, but the „aircraft jitter“ is very much on top of my to do list after this!

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Winglet555

13 day(s) ago

"no valid connection plugin has been found in the plugin directory"....what doin now, pls ?

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Steeler 13 day(s) ago

This happens if the connection plugin cannot be loaded, most likely because there is a problem with the SimConnect DLL.

Other SimConnect addons that you might have installed (in the past) might have left global SimConnect configuration files that interfere - somehow - with other connections. Search your computer for SimConnect.ini or the like.

If that is the case then e.g. Flight Recorder (also here on flightsim.to) will also refuse to connect respectively even load - did you try it?

Unfortunately how to solve this is beyond my knowledge (except to find the culprit that prevents a local SimConnect.dll to load).

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Steeler 13 day(s) ago

Here is the original issue someone raised in the past, with the exact same description as yours:

https://github.com/till213/SkyDolly/issues/12

Have a look, maybe you find some pointers to find the problem.

Unfortunately I don‘t know how or if the original poster has ever resolved the issue - but it turned out that he had indeed some „global SimConnect (*.ini or *.cfg or *.xml - see issue) lying in his c:/Windows (!) folder. How it got there he had no clue.

(Note: Sky Dolly does not create such config files)

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Steeler 13 day(s) ago

The official SimConnect docu may also help to troubleshoot perhaps:

https://docs.flightsimulator.com/html/Programming_Tools/SimConnect/SimConnect_CFG_Definition.htm

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Steeler 13 day(s) ago

So first:

Make sure that you have properly unzipped Sky Dolly and that all plugins are in place (in the plugin folder, specifically the Connect folder should contain exactly one DLL („plugin“).

Assuming that this is all as expected try another addon such as FlightRecorder: if this also refuses to connect then you can be reasonably sure that it is the SimConnect.dll (provided typically together with the addon, such as Sky Dolly as well) that fails to load (which in case of Sky Dolly causes the „connection“ plugin to fail to load - hence the „no connection plugin found“ error).

In such a case maybe it is an existing addon that launches together with MSFS (and it could really be anything, including 3rd party aircraft). Try renaming your Community folder temporarily („disable addons“).

Sonetimes EXTERNAL addons launch together with MSFS. There is some „launch.xml“ (or similar) config file in your MSFS „data folder“ (where the Community folder is in) - check it.

Next search your entire computer for anything that looks like a „SimConnect config file“ (XML, INI, or CFG).

If you manage to fix it I‘d be glad for some feedback.

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Steeler 13 day(s) ago

And sorry for the sketchy description of the folder names - I am on holidays, with no access to Windows 😉

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aidanroad

15 day(s) ago / Благодарности от Steeler

Any progress on the fix for the jitter in formation replay? I seem to have that problem a lot recently.

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Steeler 15 day(s) ago

I am currently working on improved 3rd party aircraft support.

The formation replay code is up for a later update.

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Steeler 15 day(s) ago

Also read here about the current priorities („outlook“):

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/sky-dolly-v0-13-free-flight-recorder-replay-location-management/405367/58

(Spoiler: the "outlook items" listed in that post include your "jitter fix" 😉)

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aidanroad 13 day(s) ago

No worries. Everything else on the mod works fantastic. Great work! Thank you.

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DownedAviator

17 day(s) ago / Благодарности от Steeler

This is great. Is it possible to also record the audio?

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Steeler 17 day(s) ago

No, but what would be the use case? Engine sound etc. is recreated anyway during replay. So are we talking about recording (online) ATC chats (by the way: recording voices from people via Discord is problematic without their consent anyway)?

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DownedAviator 16 day(s) ago

I meant the in-game ATC. I have no interest in Discord or how to use it with the sim. Anyway it doesn't matter, it was just a question, nothing to get excited about.

Maybe I can record the ATC separately on my iPhone and then somehow stitch it all together with a video capture of the replay using a video editor.

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Steeler 16 day(s) ago

Ah, no, in-game ATC (or any other sound) is not recorded. But there are plenty of applications out there that can record "system sounds" (also specific from a given application / window) etc.

Here are some options:

https://www.howtogeek.com/217348/how-to-record-the-sound-coming-from-your-pc-even-without-stereo-mix/

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Teun_onMSFS

18 day(s) ago

Hey I'm having a lot of trouble running SkyDolly.exe. Whenever I hit run it tells me I might harm my PC and even if I bypass it, it gives 5 error codes E.G. ''Error Kwaqk file was not found. try reinstalling the program'' I've tried reinstalling but it wont work. HELP ME PLEASE

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Steeler 17 day(s) ago

„Kwaqk file was not found“

What file? 😉 There is no dependency on any „Kwaqk“ file. Are you sure you copied the correct file name from the error message?

And are you on Windows 11 or 10? The „could harm your computer“ message is probably the one which tells you that „the *.exe is not digitally signed by the developer“ (which is true: I don‘t have a digital signature, signed by Microsoft - this costs money, I think even yearly). It is up to you whether you trust my code, I can‘t give you any recommendation (note: don‘t trust strangers like me on the internet).

What you can do is verify the integrity of the downloaded ZIP archive, as described here:

https://github.com/till213/SkyDolly/blob/main/SHASUM256.md

(Whoopsie: and I just noticed that I should publish the SHASUM256 of the latest 0.13.1 release - will do so tomorrow!)

UPDATE: The SHASUM256 („checksum“) is actually published on the „0.13“ branch:

https://github.com/till213/SkyDolly/blob/0.13.0/SHASUM256.md

But I need to merge this yet onto the MAIN branch /END UPDATE

That essentially tells you that no one ELSE has tampered with the ZIP archive - but you would still have to TRUST ME (and that no one hacked my github.com account - but no worries: it is protected both with a STRONG (generated) password and two-factor authentication.

Lastly you could compile Sky Dolly from source yourself:

https://github.com/till213/SkyDolly/blob/main/BUILD.md

But this would mean that you understand the whole code basis to trust the source code.

In short: the decision whether you want to run unsigned code / apps - any app, for that matter, signed or not - is alway up to you to take. And again, without knowing the actual file (supposedly some DLL) that is seemingly missing I cannot help on that point.

You may create an issue here and provide some screenshots:

https://github.com/till213/SkyDolly/issues

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Steeler 17 day(s) ago

Oh and what exactly do you mean by „re-installing Sky Dolly“? Sky Dolly doesn‘t have an installer (yet): all you need to do is to unzip the downloaded archive and run SkyDolly.exe in the extracted „Sky Dolly“ folder. Do you mean this by „installing“?

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techstepman

23 day(s) ago / Благодарности от Steeler

i love this and i use it all the time! i just have one issue and i dont know whether its sky dolly or the sim that is doing this but as you can see in my vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PaEvHCYxRU when the aircraft turns left the wings move wrong as if the aircraft is rolling on the opposite side, also the movement is more extreme than it should. So is it the sim? is it sky dolly? or did i do something wrong?

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Steeler 22 day(s) ago

„when the aircraft turns left the wings move wrong as if the aircraft is rolling on the opposite side“

This problem also occurs with the stock A320neo and F/A-18 - and will be fixed in the upcoming Sky Dolly v0.14 😉

The issue is seemingly related to a „wrong“ physical unit that seemed to have caused the „PID controller“ to „counter-steer“ the aircraft (PID: „proportional, integral, derivative controller“: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller). Sky Dolly used to record the rotation velocities in „radians per second“ (which is actually the correct unit), but MSFS is expecting „feet per second“. And this was seemingly confusing the PID controllers in the various aircraft.

This took me quite some days to figure out over the new year 😉

Whether this is the same issue with the F-16 as shown in your video remains to be confirmed. But from your description it very much sounds like the same „PID controller“ problem.

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techstepman 22 day(s) ago

i got no expectation from such an awesome free tool to fix whatever ccould be wrong with payware aircraft... "and will be fixed in the upcoming Sky Dolly v0.14" - thats great! You are amazingly awesome as is sky dolly!

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Steeler 21 day(s) ago

Just to clarify: the issue ("wrong rotation velocity unit") is actually with MSFS itself, not with any specific 3rd party aircraft (and the issue also affects the stock A320neo and F/A-18, as mentioned in my previous reply).

And yes, there is actually a "PID controller" implementation in MSFS. For the interested:

https://docs.flightsimulator.com/html/Samples_And_Tutorials/Primers/PID_Primer.htm

And once I enabled the various debug options in MSFS (with enabled "developer mode") and stumbled over the PID controller trying to "counter-act" the aileron commands (as sent via SimConnect) it was only a matter of time until I found the culprit. And as mentioned this seems to be the "radians per second" unit (which is actually the correct unit for rotation velocity): MSFS seems to expect the (actually wrong) "feet per second" unit here. I only found this out because I was actually trying to observe those values via the provided "SimVar Watcher" example application that doesn't even let you set "radians per seconds". And once I came to this point it was then when I discovered the "fix" for this "counter-acting ailerons" (and probably also elevators) problem...

And this issue only occurs with (3rd party) aircraft that are actually making use of this "PID controller" in MSFS. Especially older aircraft that are not "fly by wire" are not affected, nor those (3rd party) aircraft that come with their own simulation logic for ailerons, elevator and rudder etc.

As a side-note: the "rotation ACCELERATION" simulation variable does have the correct "RADIANS per seconds squared" unit in MSFS - go figure 😉

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Steeler 6 day(s) ago

The „PID controller“ issue should now be solved in the just released v0.14: ailerons, elevator and rudder should now move in the expected direction.

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ponny2oo2

25 day(s) ago

doest play replay as formation with helicopters

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Steeler 25 day(s) ago

Not (yet?) with the helicopters that were introduced with the „40th anniversary update“ (SU 11): Asobo has confirmed that „helicopter traffic is not supported by the game.“

https://devsupport.flightsimulator.com/questions/12336/su11-spawn-helicopter-as-ai.html

Unfortunately that also implies that helicopters cannot be spawned as „AI aircraft“ either (and then be positioned / controlled via SimConnect). Whether that will be implemented (in MSFS) in the future we shall see.

Other 3rd party helicopters should work though, at least the pre-SU11 ones, as they are based on the original „aircraft model“.

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ponny2oo2 25 day(s) ago

Ok Thanks

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WTF08

29 day(s) ago / Благодарности от Steeler

Thank you Steeler! This is the best add on ever! The formation flight has tripled the value of the sim for me. Asobo should add this to the sim. CHF inbound on my next paycheck.

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Steeler 28 day(s) ago

Thank you very much for your encouraging and kind words, very much appreciated 😊

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christophhametne

1 month(s) ago

there is no enigne sound at all only flaps sound

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Steeler 1 month(s) ago

@christophhametne:

Member since: September 27, 2022 

Uploaded Files: 0

Downloads: 0

Comments: 1

Wow… are you sure that you have actually downloaded and tried Sky Dolly? Because from the looks of it you only came here for this one rating you just gave me 😞

In any case: which aircraft? 3rd party? Please also have a look at the Frequently Asked section here on this page (it may be easy to miss), specifically the answer to the question:

Flaps, spoilers, ailerons and/or gears are not animated during replay - why?

It explains how Sky Dolly (and other recording applications, for that matter) works and the related issues with certain 3rd party aircraft, especially those that apply their own simulation logic (in case of the Fenix A320 even in an external application).

To state the obvious: Sky Dolly does not record sound. It records so-called "simulation variables" and sends them back during replay to MSFS. So from your short description I can only assume that the problem here is that the throttle position is not properly set (remains at 0), and/or the engine cannot properly (re-)started. On that note, Sky Dolly is - to my knowledge - the only recording tool that actually supports recording and replay of "cold and dark" starts. This works "as designed" with at least the stock aircraft (not perfectly though: it essentially does an "autostart engine", the equivalent to "CTRL + E" - but at least Sky Dolly detects when the engine is (supposed to be) started and stopped.

Ironically I just posted hours before your comment a post, both here in the "Sky Dolly" forum on flightsim.to and on the MSFS forum:

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/sky-dolly-v0-13-free-flight-recorder-replay-location-management/405367/58

that I am actually working on improving 3rd party aircraft support, specifically having the Fenix A320 and the PMDG Boeing 737 in mind. Now before you get too excited I can already tell you that I have found a major "show stopper" with the current Fenix A320, release 1.0.6: this release stopped reporting certain "simulation variables" correctly, specifically the thrust lever position (not reported at all, always 0%) and flaps handle position (only positions 0 and 2 reported).

I deliberately said "stopped working", because a previous release, 1.0.4, that I still have is still reporting those values back as expected. So while there is a chance I could improve the replay of those variables there is no way I can improve things if I do not even get back the proper values, unfortunately. Once I digged a bit more into this - and can actually backup my claim here - I will report this to Fenix. Chances are that this is "just a bug" on their side. But in the worst case it could also mean that they customised their simulation so heavily that it has become inveasible for them to reliably report their values back as "simulation variables". We will see...

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dd31

1 month(s) ago

.dll virus flag, and no I will not disable it.

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Steeler 1 month(s) ago

Virustotal.com and Microsoft Defender both reported 0 issues.

So which virus scanner are you using? And which DLL exactly is reported?

Anyone else having issues with any DLLs provided by Sky Dolly v0.13.1?

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Steeler 1 month(s) ago

Also refer to the scan result from virustotal.com:

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/aa990d71b16c06cce7a79c0310bf497b5cd3339c919bf6eb70ad2873665442bd

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Steeler 1 month(s) ago

You may also build Sky Dolly yourself from source. Instructions given here:

https://github.com/till213/SkyDolly/blob/main/BUILD.md

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flightsim99 1 month(s) ago

My goodness man, do some research before coming here and throwing around accusations on a public forum.

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Steeler 1 month(s) ago

Happy new year, everyone! Please don't get grumpy at each other here 😊

While virustotal.com (which checks binaries with a couple of dozens virus, malware, adware, you-name-it find tools) didn't claim any issues it is well possible that there are other virus / malware detection tools that would still claim that there is a (potential) issue.

This is because most malware detection tools do not simply check for "known viruses / malware", by checking each bit one for one, but rather they also try to anticipate (find) yet unknown threats, by checking for "suspicious bit patterns" and/or suspicious system API calls (such as trying to open an internet connection, which in combination with "other activity" may be suspicious).

It goes without saying that there are also "false positives" (side note: yet another chapter is so-called "scareware" that suggests to the user that "there is something wrong on your system", and then "if you pay a monthly fee for the 'professional upgrade' we will actually tell you what it is" - which, in some cases, is then simply a 'scam', to get your money).

But so far we only know that the tool that @dd31 is using apparently raised a "DLL virus flag", and so I kindly ask for the following again:

  • What tool was in use?
  • Did the tool indicate which DLL exactly was suspicious?

While there is probably little I could do about it (still assuming of course that this is a "false positive", of course) I'd still like to know whether it is a "pre-compiled DLL" (either one of the underlying "Qt framework" that is used to render the user interface and more, or the SimConnect.dll that comes from the MSFS SDK itself), or a DLL of my own (compiled from Sky Dolly source code).

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dd31 1 month(s) ago

Geographic.dll Norton flagged it, and deleted it.

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dd31 1 month(s) ago

@flightsim99 Reporting back to the person that made this, of what Norton flagged, is hardly an accusation. But that's all the time I'm going to give to you.

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RustyDog

2 month(s) ago / Благодарности от Steeler

This is better than a certain payware replayer that I bought. That one's going in the bin. Sky Dolly is where it's at ! Nice work sir.

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AJLedbetter123

2 month(s) ago

Any chance an option could be introduced which allows the user to name the clips?

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Steeler 2 month(s) ago

What „clips“? Are you referring to a recorded flight? If so, each flight has an editable „title“ attribute, editable both in the logbook and the Flight dialog.

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AJLedbetter123 2 month(s) ago

Ah, that's exactly it! I didn't notice that tab.

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Steeler 2 month(s) ago

In the logbook you can even "filter" your flights with keywords - the "title" attribute is among those text fields that is being searched (the "description" and departure, destination fields are the other fields being searched).

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Ginete

2 month(s) ago / Благодарности от Steeler

Great, Tx!

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Ahuso

2 month(s) ago / Благодарности от Steeler

Just than'ks , your mod is amzing !

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FrittenFritz

2 month(s) ago / Благодарности от Steeler

Any steps forward regarding the Flap, Gear etc. control during replay? you said you were working on an "workaround" 😊

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Steeler 2 month(s) ago

While I do not give details about upcoming features and least about their potential release date I can say so much: "This will be next" 😉

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Steeler 2 month(s) ago

If you are familiar with development and source version systems such as Git you can track this "feature branch", if you want:

https://github.com/till213/SkyDolly/tree/feature-simvar

Otherwise you can trust me that I have already started experimenting with this topic, but didn't want to delay the current v0.13 release any further: originally it was planned as a "small, under the hood performance improvements and refactoring" release, but turned out one of the bigger releases, at least as far as changed code is concerned:

https://github.com/till213/SkyDolly/compare/0.12.0...0.13.0

"518 changed files with 14,022 additions and 8,695 deletions."

😉

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Pilot100

3 month(s) ago / Благодарности от Steeler

Thanks for this excellent application, could I ask where the record files are stored physically? I also wonder how the export works - I could not get this to work.

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Steeler 2 month(s) ago

All data is stored in the „logbook“ which is in fact a SQLite database (and can be opened and explored using e.g. https://sqlitebrowser.org/).

The location is shown in the „Logbook Settings“ (in the File menu - there is also a „Show“ button which opens the containing folder in the File Explorer). By default it is stored under c:\Users\[Your User]\Documents\Sky Dolly\

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Steeler 2 month(s) ago

And as for the export: you first need to load a „flight“ into memory (e.g. by double-clicking the desired entry in the „Logbook“ table).

You can then export the sampled data via File | Export and choose the desired data format: CSV, KML, IGC, …

(„Video encoding“ is not supported, if that was the question. See other questions and answers here, e.g. use „OBS Studio“)




Roadmap
Тези елементи в момента са в списъка и ще бъдат обработени скоро!
Backlog
Предложения, грешки и идеи за бъдещето.

  • Version 0.15.0 February 02, 2023

    This release is a no-new-features release. Instead it focuses on upgrading 3rd-party libraries, most importantly the Qt 6 framework.

    Improvements:

    - Besides fixing some quirks on Windows 11 the new Qt 6 framework also provides initial support for "dark mode"
    - Dark mode is "work in progress" and hence not yet enabled by default
    - However the following command line options explicitly enable dark mode on Windows, with either the _windows_ (default) or _fusion_ style
    * SkyDolly.exe -platform windows:darkmode=2
    * SkyDolly.exe -platform windows:darkmode=2 -style=fusion
    - In either case Sky Dolly then follows the Windows user settings regarding dark mode
    - Starting or resuming replay will now reset the internal _event state_
    * Some aircraft like the PDMG 737 update the _flaps handle index_ (simulation variable) in "real time", that is the value changes asynchronously (together with the extension or retraction of the flaps)
    * Consecutive timeline seek operations may hence bring the internal Sky Dolly _event state_ out-of-sync
    * With this improvement the state will _eventually_ be in-sync again during replay (upon the next flaps event)

    Bug fixes:

    - "Orphaned create AI object" requests are now properly handled
    - When importing a file (e.g. CSV format) without waypoint information the created waypoints have now guaranteed a unique timestamp
    * Specifically in the case when only one position sample ("parked aircraft") exist
    - Properly restore the default "show replay speed" option (applied when entering minimal UI mode) from the application settings

  • Version 0.14.0 January 29, 2023

    This release focuses on improved 3rd-party aircraft support.

    Improvements

    - Improved replay specifically with 3rd party aircraft: primary and secondary flight controls (ailerons, flaps, spoilers, ...), engine (thrust lever), aircraft handles (gear, wing folding, tailhook, ...) and lights
    - Improved replay for AI aircraft ("formation flight"), specifically animation of ailerons, elevator and rudder
    - Less SimConnect data sent to AI aircraft
    - New location categories, including improved CSV import & export with Little Navmap v2.8.8: Addon, Cabin, Carrier, History, Obstacle, Oil Platform, Settlement
    - When pausing recording the simulation is now also paused ("go and fetch a coffee, Capt'n!")
    - No need to "repeat flaps" in settings anymore due to improved secondary flight controls replay
    - Added new flight information simulation variables (dialog Flight -> Conditions): "surface condition" (normal, wet, icy, snow), "on any runway" and "on parking spot"
    - Increasing the replay speed now also increases the simulation rate (up to a maximum rate of 16x)
    - The simulation rate is a power of 2: 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 8.0, 16.0 - the nearest simulation rate is chosen, given the current replay speed
    - Note: certain aircraft may reduce or even fix the simulation rate to 1.0 (for instance the Fenix A320)
    - When the 'Add to flight' option is enabled and import fails then no empty (no recorded data) aircraft is left in the formation

    Bug Fixes:

    - Fix "ailerons reversal" (Asobo A320neo, F/A-18 and other aircraft with "PID controllers")
    - Ensure that all "position" and "percent" values as reported by MSFS are clamped to the proper range ([-1.0, 1.0] and [0, 100] respectively)
    - Fix a crash in the Formation module that would occur when trying to delete the last aircraft from the aircraft table

  • Version 0.13.1 December 31, 2022

    This release fixes the following issues:

    - The mixture lever position is now properly initialised from "percent" (instead of "position") values:
    * during "flight augmentation" ("flight augmentation" is applied when importing flights from e.g. flightradar24 or flightaware)
    * during IGC import (when detecting "engine noise" in the IGC data)
    - In the Simulation Variables dialog (and elsewhere) ensure that at least one recorded data sample exist before accessing the "last" entry
    - Prevent access to invalidated data upon application termination when either the Flight, Simulation Variables or Statistics dialog was open before quitting the application (rare race condition)
    - Properly spell "airport" in the location CSV export in Little Navmap format (fix typo)

  • Version 0.13.0 December 03, 2022

    Sky Dolly "Dapper Daher" (v0.13) introduces location import and export plugins.

    New features:

    - Location import and export in CSV format
    - Sky Dolly format
    - Little Navmap user points format

    Improvements:

    - Reducing the CSV flight export file size (Sky Dolly format), by rounding the digits to 2 decimal places (coordintes: 6 decimal places)
    - In the location module, user and imported locations can now be updated with the current position in the flight simulator
    - Table automatically scrolls to the newly inserted location
    - New system locations (now 101 in total)
    - Locations can now be filtered with keywords, by country, type (system, user, imported) and category
    - The location count is shown
    - The system locations migration file, located at [Sky Dolly installation directory]/Resources/migr/Locations.csv, is now optional and can be deleted
    - Added default aircraft types from simulation update 11 ("40th anniversary update"), for aircraft selector combobox (flight import)
    - Position data is now interpolated within an "infinite interpolation window", hence mported flight plans (e.g. GPX flight plans from Little Navmap) with "sparse waypoints" are now properly replayed
    - Flight Recorder CSV import now also imports "propeller lever position"
    - The keyword search text line edit widgets now have a "clear text" button
    - Performance improvements and bug fixes

  • Version 0.12.0 July 28, 2022

    This release brings the architecture one huge step closer to the final picture: modules are now also implemented as plugins, reducing the memory (RAM) usage even a bit further. The modules are sorted in topological order, based on their defined dependencies (order).

    New features:

    - A new Location module is introduced, allowing to teleport the aircraft to the selected coordinate
    - The current aircraft location can be captured and edited
    - A set of default Locations (currently non-editable by design) is provided
    - GPS coordinates in various formats (decimals, various DMS notations) can be pasted into the Location module with CTRL + V
    - Various attributes such as country and location type can be defined

    A few bug fixes and improvements are also included, also refer to the full https://github.com/till213/SkyDolly/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md. Sky Dolly now also compiles with the Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 compiler and is code-scanned automatically with the Microsoft C++ Code Analysis Action.

  • Version 0.11.1 May 27, 2022

    This release focuses on "quality of life" improvements, both "under the hood" as well as usability and existing feature improvements:

    - A truly minimal user interface mode, configurable in the settings
    - The Formation module features a new Set relative position option which - when unchecked - allows to keep the aircraft to be recorded at its current location
    - Improved AI object resource management, causing less aircraft flickering when e.g. changing the user aircraft in the Formation module
    - Columns in tables can now be moved
    - Less RAM usage, that is resources are released as soon as e.g. a dialog is closed
    - Additional tooltips, consistent dialog titles, alternating table row colours, confirmation dialogs before and after logbook optimisation
    - Architecture / code refactoring

    The newly introduced GeographicLib (third party, open source) converts between WGS84 reference ellipsoid and EGM2008 geoid altitudes ("undulation"), specifically in:

    - The GPX import/export plugins
    - The IGC import/export plugins

    Note that while especially the IGC format specification requires that GNSS altitudes are in relatin to the WGS84 reference ellipsoid not every IGC format may adhere to this specification. That's why for both the IGC and GPX import the altitude conversion is optional.

    Various bug fixes are also included, mostly of "cosmetic nature", but also usability related issues.

    For the complete changelog also refer to: https://github.com/till213/SkyDolly/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md

Често задавани въпроси

Въпроси? Намерете своето решение тук.

How do I install Sky Dolly?

The preview versions are provided in a simple ZIP archive for the time being. Simply unzip the archive in a folder of your choice and run the executable SkyDolly.exe.

You may want to create a "desktop shortcut": simply right-click on SkyDolly.exe and choose "Create shortcut". Move the shortcut onto your desktop and/or to the Windows start menu.

How do I replay a recorded flight?

Load the Flight

Sky Dolly automatically stores all recorded flights in the logbook (an SQLite database):

* Select a flight by left-clicking on a row in the logbook table

* Click the "Load" button

* Alternatively double-click on a row (except on the Title column which starts editing the Title of the flight)

The flight is now loaded into memory and is ready for replay.

Replay

In order for Sky Dolly to be able to send ("replay") the recorded "simulation variables" to Flight Simulator 2020 a flight must be already present.

In Flight Simulator 2020

In order to create a new flight in Flight Simulator 2020 follow the usual steps to start a new flight:

* Choose any location on the world map as either departure or arrival (*)

* Choose an aircraft, preferrably the same as with which the original flight has been recorded (**)

* Click the FLY button

* Optional: choose the desired time of day and wheather

(*) The selected location does not matter: the aircraft will be "teleported" to the proper location upon replay

(**) It is technically possibly to replay the flight with any aircraft. Note though that the exact same flight path will be taken (and wheels may seem to be "stuck" in or "float" above the runway, depending on the original aircraft height). So if you record a flight with a Cessna and replay it with an A320neo the flight will be... interesting ;)

The original aircraft with which the flight was recorded is shown in the logbook table as well in the "Flight" (press key F) dialog, under "Aircraft". That "Flight" dialog also shows the initial weather conditions, for information purposes (only).

In Sky Dolly

Now the previously loaded flight can be replayed with Sky Dolly:

* By clicking the "Play" button in Sky Dolly

* Alternatively hit the spacebar or P key

* Hitting the same key again stops the replay

* The key ESC also stops the replay (just as it also stops the recording)

If you want to load another flight simply follow the inital steps above. No need to restart the existing flight in Flight Simulator 2020. Note though that when changing location it may take a while for Flight Simulator to download / update the new terrain data. Graphical glitches are to be expected in this case.

My aircraft crashes during replay - why?

Most aircraft do not like it when they suddenly drop from 20'000 feet altitude right onto the runway upon time slider changes ;)

So it is highly recommended to disable crash, stress & engine damage in Flight Simulator 2020 prior to replay. This is because forces acting on the aircraft are still simulated during replay - and especially also during replay position seeking with the time slider.

So disable the following options in Flight Simulator 2020:

  • Assistance Options / Failure And Damage / Crash Damage -> Disabled
  • Assistance Options / Failure And Damage / Aircraft Stress Damage -> Disabled
  • Assistance Options / Failure And Damage / Engine Stress Damage -> Disabled

 

What are those "simulation variables"?

SimConnect

Sky Dolly - like most other third party applications - communicates with Flight Simulator via the official SimConnect application programming interface (API).

That API gives access to the aircraft state in the form of so-called "simulation variables". Examples of such variables are:

* Latitude / longitude / altitude

* Aircraft attitude (bank, pitch, heading)

* Gear / flaps up/down

A complete (long!) list of simulaton variables is available in the official developer documentation:

https://docs.flightsimulator.com/html/index.htm#t=Programming_Tools%2FSimVars%2FSimulation_Variables.htm

Supported Simulation Variables

In order to keep the required storage space at a minimum and improve performance by minimising the size of the request message sent to Flight Simulator during replay Sky Dolly primarily focuses on variables having the greatest "visual impact". So if a given lever or button activates a visible surface (flaps, ailerons, but also canopy or a landing hook) an attempt to record that variable is made.

Optimised Messages

During replay the previously recorded simulation variables are sent for each "simulated frame" event. In order to optimise performance (fewer messages = less CPU usage) and especially also storage requirements only those variables which have actually changed are recorded and requested during replay.

This is illustrated in the "Simulation Variables" dialog in Sky Dolly (press key V):

* The tabs represent the "simulation variable groups"

* "Inactive" variables - where the value did not change during a certain amount of time - are rendered as disabled text, indicating that they are currently not sent to Flight Simulator 2020 during replay

Note that Sky Dolly applies a clever "seek & search" algorithm which makes sure that all previously set variables are still applied, regardless of when their value has changed last and regardless of the new timeline position which has just been set. Clever :)

Known Limitations

Not all simulation variables are actually "writeable", that is, external applications such as Sky Dolly cannot modify them. Which is a precondition in order to "replay" a given variable.

In addition, not all aircraft honour those simulation variables. That is specifically true for third party aircraft. This is because some aircraft use their own set of (local) variables (for various reasons).

Other aircraft do react to simulation variable changes, but have their own local variable which "counter-acts" against the simulation variable. As Sky Dolly goes a step further - again in order to save on storage space and optimise performance - and only sends variables if their value actually changes such "counter-action" is a problem, as it "nullifies" the effect of the previously set value.

One such example is the "canopy" which either is always closed or opened again, depending on some switch in the cockpit of the given aircraft. In order to override that switch (in effect the corresponding local variable) Sky Dolly offers a "Repeat Values" setting (under File / Settings...), which - if enabled - always send the simulation variable, also if its value does not change.

Custom Simulation Systems (Third Party Aircraft)

Unfortunately one notable example of a 3rd party aircraft which ignores (or "acts weird upon") the official simulation variables is the A320neo (now renamed to A32NX) by "FlyByWire" (FBW), specifically the development version (at the time of this writing). The current 0.6 stable version should still work fine, but the current development version is implementing more and more "custom systems" which do not react upon (or even properly report) the simulation variables, as own internal "local variables" are used to model the various aircraft systems.

Unfortunately that development is "out  of reach" for Sky Dolly, and one shall see whether support for the official "simulation variables" will be (re-)added in future "stable" versions of the A32NX.

Which recording frequency ("sample rate") should I use?

Recording Frequency

Sky Dolly offers the possibility to select the desired recording frequency, or sample rate:

* File / Settings...

* Open the Recording tab

* Set the desired Record Frequency (default: "Auto")

The default setting "Auto" will automatically adjust the recording frequency to the "simulated frame" events, as reported by Flight Simulator 2020. Or in other words: the aircraft state (-> "simulation variables") is sampled every simulated frame.

So why offer the possibility of recording at rates as low as 1 Hz ("one sample per second")? Because the more samples are taken, the more work Flight Simulator 2020 needs to do (to gather the values and send the response messages via the SimConnect adapter to Sky Dolly) and the bigger the storage requirements get.

Interpolation

In any case Sky Dolly always interpolates between the recorded "sample points" with what is known as "cubic spline interpolation" (e.g. refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spline_interpolation as  a good starting point). "Interpolation" basically makes "educated guesses" about values between "known values" ("samples").

However it is intuitively clear that the less data we sample, the less "details" we can capture. When it comes to flying "less details" mostly affects the accuracy of the recorded flight maneuvres: if we only sample at 1 Hz a barrel roll with an (exagerated) roll rate of, say, 2 Hz (two rotations per second!) cannot possibly recorded in an accurate manner!

On the other and airlines which "mostly fly straight lines" and "slow roation movements" may be perfectly captured with a sample rate of 1 Hz only!

The following video illustrates the usage of three different recording rates and compares the results with the original captured video:

https://youtu.be/bfgkY0eXL4w

Recommendation

* When in doubt, use the "Auto" setting: this gives the best accuracy in any case (at the expense of required storage space - CPU usage is only marginally affected)

* When "long flights with airliners" are to be recorded lower the recording rate accordinly - even 1 Hz results in good results

* Note that you can dynamically change the recording rate while recording!

 

How do I manually fly with a formation?

The "Formation" module in Sky Dolly allows you to manually take control of the aircraft and join the formation.

Since Sky Dolly v0.8 there are two "formation replay modes" available, namely:

  • Take control of recorded user aircraft
  • Fly with formation

Both replay modes essentially allow you to manually fly together with the recorded aircraft(s) - the formation. The difference: in the first mode you take control of an already recorded aircraft (the one currently selected as "user aircraft"), whereas in the second "Fly with formation" mode you fly along with your currently "active" (loaded) aircraft. This means that you can also join a "single aircraft" formation (the "Take control" mode on the other hand requires at least two recorded aircraft - otherwise you'll simply fly alone again).

This is how it works in detail:

Take Control of Recorded User Aircraft

  • Load an existing flight (at least two aircraft)
  • Switch to the Formation module (press F2)
  • Select the "Take control of recorded user aircraft" replay mode (combobox bottom right)
  • Select the desired aircraft, by marking it as "User Aircraft" (double-click on the table row, or select the row and press the "Set User Aircraft" button)
  • Press "Play" (key P)

You are now in control of the previously recorded user aircraft.

Note that in this repaly mode you can switch the current "user aircraft" (the "active" aircraft being followed by the camera and being flown with the currently loaded aircraft) at any time, also during replay:

  • Select the aircraft in the table
  • Press the "Set user Aircraft" button
  • Alternatively simply double-click on the aircraft row in the table

Fly with Formation

  • Load an existing flight (at least two aircraft)
  • Switch to the Formation module (press F2)
  • Select the "Fly with formation" replay mode (combobox bottom right)
  • Select the desired user aircraft you wish to fly next to, by marking it as "User Aircraft" (see above)
  • Select the desired starting position, by clicking on one of the aircraft icons in the "Bearing" group box
  • Choose the initial vertical / horizontal distance (which is measured in "multiples of wing spans" of the selected user aircraft
  • Press "Play" (key P)

In both modes you can press the "Pause" button (or key P), which also pauses (technically: "freezes") your own manually flown aircraft. In the "Fly with formation" replay mode you can also re-position your aircraft again while paused, by simply clicking on one of the aircraft icons in the "Bearing" group box again.

Returning to Normal Replay

If you get lost you can simply select the "Formation (normal)" replay mode. This will hand back full control to Sky Dolly, over all recorded aircraft.

Sky Dolly v0.8 allows changing the tail number - but with no visible effect?

Yes, since Sky Dolly v0.8 the tail number of the recorded aircraft can be changed in the Formation module (double-click with the left mouse button on the corresponding table cell to enable edit mode).

However it is correct that this does not yet have a visible impact on the currently loaded flight in FS 2020, for two reasons:

* The tail number of the user aircraft (the one being followed by the camera in FS 2020) does not get updated (unless the flight is restarted in FS 2020)

* "AI aircraft" (in formation flights) show a white empty box instead of the tail number (that is a bug in FS 2020)

But I still decided to make the tail number editable in Sky Dolly, because it may actually work better with future releases of FS 2020.

My aircraft recorded with v0.7 (or earlier) randomly shuts down its engine with v0.8?

Why does the engine shut down?

Sky Dolly v0.8 introduced improved "is the engine running" detection and better "autostart/shutdown" support based on a new "combustion" simulation variable which is now being recorded.

For existing flights recorded with Sky Dolly v0.7 and before this simulation variable is initialised ("migrated") on a "best effort guesstimate", as follows:

  • If the thrust lever is > 0, then the combustion is initialised with 1 ("engine running")
  • If the thrust lever is "fully pulled back" (= 0) then the combustion is initialised with 0 ("engine shutdown")

Of course that implies that the engine - again, for flights recorded with v0.7 and earlier only - is now shutdown whenever the thrust levers are fully pulled back. And started again when the thrust levers are pushed forward again.

For flights recorded with Sky Dolly v0.8 the actual "combustion" value as reported by the flight simulator is recorded.

Note that all engines are started at the same time - including for flights recorded with Sky Dolly v0.8 - as soon as one engine combusts: this is because an "engine autostart" event is sent to flight simulator, which is the equivalent to "CTRL + E".

So while this does not allow a faithful replay of the actual engine startup process (specifically when multiple engines are involved) it should more reliable detect when at least one engine is running. This also works when seeking back and forth in the timeline, so "flying aircraft with dead engines" should now be a thing of the past.

Can I re-enable my engines such that they run constantly during the entire flight?

Yes, but this requires some manual steps which involve "diving into the database" (logbook), using a database browser such as:

https://sqlitebrowser.org/

  • In Sky Dolly it is recommended to first create a backup of your logbook
    • File | Logbook Settings..., choose "Next time, when exiting Sky Dolly"
  • Close Sky Dolly
    • To execute the backup
    • Also in order such that no other transaction is running on the same database while we are modifying the data in the subsequent steps
  • Launch DB Browser for SQLite
  • Open the logbook
    • Set the file filter to "All files"
    • Logbook location, see Files | Logbook Settings... in Sky Dolly
    • Default location: "c:\Users\[Your Username]\Documents\Sky Dolly\Sky Dolly.sdlog"
      • Your backups will by default be in a "Backups" subfolder in that same location
  • In the "Execute SQL" tab copy and paste the following update statement:
    • This will update the "combustion" value of all four engines to 1 ("combusted" = "running") ...
    • ... for the flight given by :id (this placeholder is to be replaced with an actual flight ID, see below)
update engine
set general_engine_combustion1 = 1,
    general_engine_combustion2 = 1,
    general_engine_combustion3 = 1,
    general_engine_combustion4 = 1
where aircraft_id in
(select a.id
 from aircraft a
 join flight f
 on a.flight_id = f.id
 where f.id = :id
);?
  • IMPORTANT: Before you execute this update statement replace the :id (including the colon) with the actual flight ID, e.g. 73
    • The flight IDs are shown in Sky Dolly, in the column "Flight" of the logbook
  • In order to persist the updated data click the "Write changes" button (top-most toolbar)
    • Or execute a commit;

That is it, the engines should now be constantly running for flight 73.

Flaps, spoilers, ailerons and/or gears are not animated during replay - why?

SimConnect

During replay Sky Dolly merely sends the previously recorded simulation variables back to MSFS (also refer to question "What are those simulation variables"). Those simulation variables represent the state of the aircraft and can be "read" and "written" via the official SimConnect API.

Third-Party Aircraft

However especially some third-party aircraft use their own custom simulation systems, e.g. for the hydraulics. Those custom simulation systems use their own set of variables (so-called "local variables") that are not accessible via the SimConnect API.

Or in other words: the official simulation variables are ignored. While they might or might not represent the actual state during recording they are not taken into account during replay.

The result: flaps or gears etc. do not move. There is nothing that can be done currently by the user.

The following third-party aircraft are known to have limited functionality, including but not limited to:

  • A32NX (FlyByWire)
  • A320 (Fenix)
  • Boeing 737 (PMDG)
  • CRJ (Aerosoft)

I do however have some idea to improve on this situation. Whether that will work sufficiently well (or at all) I can only tell once implemented and tested.

The "40th anniversary" helicopters are invisible in formation flights - why?

There seems to be an issue when trying to create them as "AI object": I get back a "server exception 22" as a result of the corresponding "create AI object" request.

Whether this is something I can / have to fix "client-side" (in Sky Dolly) or whether this is really a SimConnect bug related to helicopters I can't tell just yet.

Зависимости

These add-ons may be required or recommended to use.


Доста празно тук.