I had created an XML gauge to calculate and set V-Speeds in the MJC8 Q400. As the related discussion thread was lost with the death of the old forum, I am listing the URL's here for those who are interested.

(1) The gauge can be downloaded at:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mycyc680qj2bnc2/AADA8bFhjQ1gQ4s3hBRTeGTEa?dl=0

(2) The gauge requires the concurrent installation of Tom Aguilo's XML Tools:
FSX: https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/resources/xmltools-2-01-xml-expansion-module-for-fsx.148/
P3Dv2: https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/resources/xmltools3d-a-common-xml-expansion-module-for-p3d-2-2.132/
P3Dv3: https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/resources/xmltools3d-for-p3d-v3-x.168/
P3Dv4: https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/resources/xmltools64-for-p3d-v4-v1-0.197/

(3) If you are using the XML Tools version for P3Dv4 you may need to download an update from the thread at:
https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/xmltools-xmltables-not-functioning-correctly.440850/

I have attached the latest README to this post.

Regards,

Chakko

I have made a new Cockpit lighting, which is more warm and cozy, like I like it

https://mega.nz/#!AVh0EK6Y!2k3CINPOywCitRGIJE1RA-D0GGxj5G75Ddq0wHc9_eM

Readme included

I use Envtex and Envshade.

I also fixed the bug where the domelight shines through the model. I had at least this bug with the original effect file.

Have fun with it

With Aurasim apparently being out of business, I went ahead and developed a little iOS app for my own personal usage. It calculates the relevant takeoff and landing speeds just like you would do with the speed cards provided with the aircraft. Of course it considers weight conditions as well as the current weather (i.e. for the takeoff speeds). Alas, at this time, it cannot determine takeoff and landing distances.

I use it on every flight, so I decided to make it available to the community. Maybe some of you would like to use it. You can find it in the App Store for free: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/dh8d-told/id1523441004

Should you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.

Kind regards,
Oliver

I would like to know if anyone knows any performance calculator, in order to know what's the best torq %, flaps acording to rny and weather information.
I realized that exists a TO/LND speed calculator.

Help?

Thank you a lot.

While you can fly this model perfectly well just by getting the Vs from the provided pdfs and reducing TOP by...intuition alone, I usually fly as real as I can so not having a TOPCAT profile or the AOM is a bit frustrating.

I still don't have the AOM or any other manual not provided by MajesticSoftware, I embarked yesterday to make an app (console app in Windows 10) that'll give me the V-speeds, a good estimation of the maximum derate I can take and V-speeds for landing, given of course some parameters. I seem to remember a post that there is an actual app for this on Apple-OS systems made with the actual AOM. However, I don't own anything Apple so this is for you guys in the same situation as me. I may move this to an Android app as I already have a TO performance app for the B733 (think IXEG ) made with the actual AOM, but free-time is tight so...

The main reference point pertaining to TO performance is the V1 speed. V1 is the speed at which the plane should be able to stop before the end of the runway. So it's logical to assume that the take-off run should contain the leg of acceleration to V1 and the brake from V1 to 0. This give the minimum runway length of the take-off. If the actual runway is longer than this, than de-rating can be applied. If it's smaller than this, than either using more flaps (lower V1) or MTOP (more power) may do the trick. If not...take-off is not permitted!

So using different weights (TOW) I accelerated to V1 (using NTOP), measured the acceleration distance (using pixel data in Paint), then put the brakes on (wheel and reversers all the way) and measured the braking distance. The acceleration distance gives me a good estimation of the actual acceleration at that weight (equations of motion). The data taking was made in ISA conditions at near 0 MSL altitude (LIRF). I can then correct this acceleration for any conditions (airport elevation and temperature) using the barometric formula.

Knowing the acceleration, the V1 speed (computed by extrapolating on the tables we got from Majestic Software), the braking distance and the runway length, the app can compute a maximum derate (never lower than 80% Torque, as per manual). Furthermore, if the acceleration needed to make the safe take-off is a bit higher than what is expected at NTOP than a "MTOP required" message will be given. The pilot can choose to go MTOP or increase flaps position to lower V1. If the safe take-off cannot be obtained even in MTOP than a "TAKEOFF NOT PERMITTED" message will be shown followed by "INCREASE FLAPS POSITION" if applicable (not already at flaps 15).

To install the app go here and copy the installer. You will have a new folder inside your Program Files (x86) or whereever you've installed it called TOdash. In a command prompt window (cmd) just run the app and you'll get all the help you will need.

Hope you like it and makes the immersion that much deeper,
Adrian

Pilots building home cockpits with hardware know the problem, that interfacing to the Q400 is not easy. Some functions can be implemented directly by using simulator events, some can be addressed by writing to LVars. But most of them are only accessible via the XML interface provided with the PRO version. To address these functions, you typically have to program some code (for example some LUA modules using FSUIPC).

I developed for my personal use a solution, which is simply a XML gauge, which you add to the panel and a macro file for FSUIPC calling custom KeyEvents trapped in this gauge, triggering calls to the XML interface.

By adding one line to each of these two files, you are able to assign any additional function from the XML interface, which then can be directly mapped via FSUIPC to buttons and switches.

Of course you must have knowledge about your installation and especially about the XML interface. But pilots building such hardware cockpits, are typically aware of these topics.

I use this implementation to map several functions to my GoFlight hardware (buttons and switches).

The solution is provided as it is - please understand that I cannot provide support. Also Majestic will not provide any support. As written in the ReadMe file, please make backups before editing something.

Nevertheless I want to share my solution here for the technical experienced users here. It adds an additional functionality to a great product. The ReadMe file provided in the enclosed ZIP file explains the installation and demonstrates, how you can add your own XML interface controls.

Best regards
Reinhard

As it was discussed few weeks ago, some of us would like to have take-off and landing distances through the FMS. This is not feasible at the moment so as these data are (or were) freely available on the Internet I did the following:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/c1wnkvo919cntdv/AAAs5KztXCoIWLXwzk-u7MVVa?dl=0

Please note that these are the exact graphs from Bombardier but I changed few things and, of course, they cannot be used for real flying.

If you use the enclosed you'll get the same results as with the original files but in a different way.

Regarding the landing distances, the original use a graph which would give you an "unfactored" value and you have to multiply this value either by hand or using an another graph. This raw value has to be multiplied by a factor of 1.43 or 1.67 and this is the operator's choice. To make it easier I entered directly the result in METRES using the 1.67 factor so if you want this distance in Feet or with the other factor (1.43) you have to convert it and you can do what you like with the enclosed to suit your needs.

As you know, FSX (and I assume Prepar3d) do not take some factors into account like the runway slope, so you just have to ignore it.

I also enclosed a X Wind chart with the Q400 limits and a TOLD Card which I feel is quite suited for the Q400.

To use the graphs as they are in .jpeg, instead of printing you can use a free software like:

http://www.photofiltre-studio.com/news-en.htm

Enjoy your flights,

JP

This new Standalone Version (1.6SA) does not require the concurrent installation of XMLTOOLS to manage the tabular data, but instead uses polynomial expressions to model the relationships encapsulated in the Majestic T/O and Landing Speeds Card. As such, this version should work in all simulator versions from FSX to P3Dv5.

The gauge can be downloaded at:
https://dropbox.com/sh/bcvzhf0giorfbmn/AADz8siiaWoQrkynCukbLS97a?dl=0
and I have attached the current ReadMe to this post

While the new gauge dispenses with the use of XMLTOOLS, it is not as accurate in its computations as the alternative version of the gauge which uses XMLTOOLS to linearly interpolate between data points on both axes of the Speed Tables. This is because the polynomial expressions used could only approximately fit the data, and interpolation was not possible on both axes with the limited tools available. Nevertheless, the error should be contained within 1 knot in almost all instances.

As with the alternative version, this is a work-in-progress and I await your feedback.

I modified the new added dynamic lighting a bit, to make it more warm, like I've seen it on the Austrian Q400's.

I also guess I've found a bug.
While i was looking for the right color, i always wondered why the color of the lighting never changed in the VC view. Until i found out that the old landing and taxi-light method was still active, at least only in the VC view.

I altered then this files "q400lights.bmb" and "q400lights_ns.bmb" in the Texture.Common folder of the dash, and removed the landing and taxi-light Illumination, also in the alpha channel.
Should that be still there?

Anyway here the download link: https://mega.nz/file/NYhjBaQR#pGR3gtROQ9Uo7m2E6nFtPvLE75XStUFwDElWKQI4v8c

A video to compare, it's not from me.

Taxi light goes on at 2:27.

Some pictures.

Lights at 6:30 in the morning.

And at noon.

Enjoy!

Is the LUA script "V-Speed Calculator LUA 1.2" compatible with P3D v5 ? For previous versions of simulators two files of the script are to be placed into P3D\Modules folder which is not presented in P3D v5. Should I put them the into FSUPIC folder ?

Thanks !

Recently we had the pleasure of being made aware of an iOS app DH8D TOLD developed by Oliver Branaschky which performs takeoff and landing data for the Q400. The app ONLY works on iOS versions 13.0 and higher.

For those interested in trying the app it can be downloaded from the APP STORE for Apple devices. I have posted a link to the app in the post.

https://apps.apple.com/de/app/dh8d-told/id1523441004

Cheers,

The Majestic Team

https://www.mudspike.com/chucks-guides-p3d-majestic-q400/

Glen

I have created Voice-Interactive Checklists (using Windows Speech Recognition and Text-to-Speech facilities) for the Majestic Dash8 Q400.

To use these you will need to install the freeware Voice Macro from https://voicemacro.net
Please see my post in the forum at https://voicemacro.net/ForumVM/discussion/405/flight-simulator-co-pilot-for-cockpit-checklists-fsx-and-windows-7-x64#latest for instructions on downloading additional Windows TTS voices and directing the audio output to a device of your choice.

The Checklists are based on those supplied by Brendan Ratchford in his Simulated Delivery and Advanced Tutorial Flight CYZD-KEWR Revision 2 which can be found at majesticsoftware.com/mjc8q400/downloads.html

I have attached the Checklists to this post, but you can download the XML Profile and Checklists in PDF and XLS format from: https://dropbox.com/sh/4vnattxa7ppvu0j/AAD5iXOw1o0PY_F-qJiALA26a?dl=0

Once you install Voice Macro on your PC, you will need to import the XML Profile in order to use it. You can also edit it within the Voice Macro interface or create your own version if you wish.

Some Notes on Use:

(1) You can call for any Checklist at any point in time, for instance, if you call "Before Start Checklist", that takes you to item 21, and the software will speak the challenge "External Power/APU Voltage" and advance the counter to 22. If you now respond with either "On" or "Checked 24, Volts" it will provide the next challenge "Circuit Breakers" and advance the item counter to 23. And so on.

(2) With some complex responses, I have chosen only part of the response as the "trigger". For instance, with item 22, you could respond with "Checked 24, Volts" but the software is triggered only by "Volts", which I have therefore underlined. It will therefore be necessary to pause before saying "Volts", because Windows Speech Recognition cannot pick words out of a sentence. You will get used to it.

(3) If the software fails to recognize your response, then you could skip to the next challenge by speaking "Next Item". You could also use "This Item", and "Goto Next" and "Goto Previous", but with these alternatives you need to provide the response associated with that Item counter to proceed further.

(4) I would be happy to write up more detailed instructions is there is sufficient interest.

Many thanks to @aua668 for suggesting the use of Voice Macro in the first place.

Regards,

Chakko.