ThermalSim
ThermalSim is a thermal add-on for MSFS2020. It randomly generates thermals around the glider/aircraft which simulate the lift/sink of thermals. The thermals are currently modeled as cylindrical columns of rising air surrounded by a thin layer of sinking air. When entering a thermal, you should experience some turbulence which helps indicate the direction of the core of the thermal.
This add-on includes a service which connects to MSFS2020 via the SimConnect SDK and an in-game panel which is used to visualize and configure the parameters for the thermal generator.
Installation
- Unzip the package
- Run the install.bat file as administrator (right-click and hit run as administrator). All dotnet dependencies will get downloaded automatically and the files for the service will be copied to the "Program Files\ThermalSim" folder.
- Copy the "kingsasquatchdave-thermal-sim-panel" folder to the Community folder of MSFS2020
Features
- Connect Button: Connect to the thermal sim service
- Thermal Button: Enables or disables the thermal simulation
- Thermal Indicator:
- Aircraft heading
- Relative wind direction and speed
- Relative direction to nearest thermal and distance
- Buttons to enable/disable wind and thermal indicators
- A lift indicator indicating the strength of the lift while in a thermal
- Taxi: When on the ground, enabling taxi allows the glider to move around, simulating a ground towing
- Configuration Panel: allows the parameters for the thermal simulation to be set. The top left button refreshes the parameters, the top right sets them:
- Number of thermals: The min/max number of thermals found around the aircraft
- Radius: The min/max radius in feet for the thermals being generated
- Height: The min/max height of a thermal column
- Lift Rate: The min/max value for the amount of lift found in a thermal
- Sink Rate: The min/max factor of the sink rate found around a thermal. For example: If a thermal has a lift rate of 20 ft/s and a sink rate of
- -0.5, the sink around that thermal would be -10 ft/s.
- More parameters to come…
Troubleshooting
- After installing, make sure the "ThermalSim" is running under services and set to automatic startup.
- To view the in-game panel, make sure the box is checked in the panel view
- Make sure before using to hit the "Connect" button and "Thermals" button to enable the simulation, and ideally turn them off when done to close the connection.
This project is still a work in progess so it may not be very stable and can cause issues. Please feel free to share any issues encountered or feedback at https://github.com/leblancdavid/MSFSThermalSim to help me improve this add-on.
Join our discord server if you need help or want to discuss or provide feedback.
Known Issues
- The vertical speed indicator effect while in thermal might not work on some aircrafts.
- Sometimes the connection might not be very stable, or can occasionally cause MSFS to crash.
Future Work
- Improve the thermal models and turbulence models
- Implement a live weather-based thermal generation
- Add more tunable parameters for the simulation
- Improve the panel UI
- Implement an in-aircraft panel?
- Suggestions?
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Robi at 61tree Studio for designing the panel icon, and various other designs, and for helping me test it!
The code was developed using examples provided by:
https://github.com/bbrks/msfs2020-toolbar-theflightsimkit
https://github.com/nguyenquyhy/Flight-Recorder
(Thermal API.exe Failed to start.... insufficient Privileges.)
I am already Administrator on my system. Unknown exactly what permissions this is asking for.
Will download again and enjoy... when installer issues are fixed.
A great idea... but too much hassle to figure out installer.
Thanks anyway.
kudos to those who got this working. ENJOY. 😉
12 days ago
11 days ago
dleblanc
SkyKID
13 days ago
61treeStudio
13 days ago
13 days ago
dleblanc
SabauAndrei
14 days ago
mas_zto_li