r/hoggit•
simffb

Wind noise reacts to GS instead of IAS (?)

Yesterday I tried to replicate in DCS the very strong wind conditions (40/45 km/h with 80 km/h gusts) we are having around here. I didn't realize I was supposed to put the wind speeds in m/s (my fault, it's perfectly labeled), so I ended up with even stronger winds. I thought of enjoying some STOL before going back to the mission editor and fix it.

I was flying the Dora. I managed to take-off and once I was in the air and stable I noticed these changes of the strength of the wind noise as I turned despite keeping my IAS about the same. So I turned on the info bar (Ctrl+Y) to see my ground speed and did some level turns at constant IAS. I could hear it clearly, the strength of the wind noise was weaker when I was facing the wind (lower GS) and stronger when the wind was on my tail (higher GS). Same IAS all the time.

Before doing some more tests and, perhaps, humbly and fearfully present my case to the high court of the ED forums with a 500 page report of irrefutable prove, I thought of asking here just in case I'm missing something obvious, or maybe something I just don't know. I understand IAS, CAS, TAS and GS, but I tend to miss the obvious.

Edit: I couldn't notice anything strange with the Hornet, so it seems it depends on the aircraft. I tried the F-5, there is something off with it. To the very least, I noticed different fuel flow depending on the heading and maybe even different performance. So I think I'll just make a track with the Dora, post it as a bug and forget about it. I'm not an ED employee.

Posted Jan 21, 2020, 7:49 AM UTC · edited

179
MossyHarmlessMV-22 Pilot•

Several of us who fly the F-5E very recently found a bug related to the jet’s engine power caused by it using groundspeed instead of indicated airspeed for some calculation. Discussed extensively on the ED Forums.

If you’re serious about it being a bug, record a track and post it there. NineLine and the gang watch the Bug sub-forums more closely than random posts on here about them.

9
simffbOP•

OK, then. I'm planning to use the F-18 to get perfectly smooth level turns with the auto-throttle and the autopilot and rename the engine sound files to hear perfectly the wind and then send both the video (to hear the sounds with my modifications) and the track.

5
bacononwaffles•

What! Is this a bug/change that happened revently? I flew the tiger a lot a year ago and left it for a while, coming back now I feel something is weird about the thrust.

2
Dash_RainbowRainbow Dash•

Constant air speed should give you constant wind sound. The airplane doesn't care what the ground is doing when it's in the air. (Other things like changing control deflection, angle of attack, and side slip could also change the wind sound, but those are not relevant here)

5
simffbOP•

That's the problem, it's so obvious that I don't see how it could have been overlooked by the ED's engineers. That's why I want to be really sure before reporting this issue on the forums.

Perhaps the frame of reference of the sound engine is always the ground and issues like this are only relevant in extreme conditions like +100 km/h winds.

8
Dash_RainbowRainbow Dash•

If it's relevant at 100 km/h then it's relevant at 1 km/h. This is such a basic aspect of aerodynamics that DCS should get it right. If you go outside in a hurricane with a ground speed of 0 km/h, do you hear the wind? The speed of sound relative to the ground should also be affected by the wind.

9

Wouldn't the noise depend on the angle it is hitting the plane? I guess I need to try this to hear what you're describing

1
simffbOP•

Once in air it doesn't matter the speed and direction of the wind with respect to the ground. You are moving with it as if it were a conveyor belt. It doesn't matter the direction you are flying, you are moving at a certain speed with respect to the surrounding air. The air won't hit you on your side because you fly at an offset of 90 degrees of the wind direction. That happens when you are on the ground, not flying.

It's not intuitive until it clicks, probably because we are terrestrial animals and we think in terms of paths attached to the ground.

2