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FS2Crew Majestic Q400 Voice Control release

Started by Chris Liu, Mar 28, 2014 10:10

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Chris Liu (1001)

FS2Crew Voice Edition for the Majestic Dash 8 Q400 was released today. If you are purchasing it, don't forget to use Intercity's exclusive discount code to get a huge 30% off ;D   The retail price is €29.95/£24.75/$41.19 but with Intercity's discount it's €20.97/£17.39/$28.50 (prices correct as of 30th March).

As part of this release, Majestic have updated their Q400 to 1.00803 which is pre-requisite to running FS2Crew. The update has to be installed over the MJC8 Q400 Pilot edition versions 1.008, 1.00801 or 1.00802. Majestic do not supply updates/patches directly, so your Q400 vendor should provide you with details of how to download the update from them in due course.

PS: As always, don't forget to backup your mjc84.ini, aircraft.cfg and any repaint textures before installing the update.

Steve Prowse (1046)

Just downloaded the hotfix (mjc8-400-Pilot-hotfix_100803) I hope it's the correct one it's only 30Mb (approx) not 500Mb! Which one have you got Chris? 

Chris Liu (1001)

#2
Haven't got it yet, I was just guessing the size based on what Majestic said (sometimes they're a bit ambiguous)! If it says 1.00803 on it, then it must be. I'll update my original post to reflect this.

Steve Prowse (1046)

Yeah I've just checked the Majestic Doc info page and it has updated correctly....come on Chris get yourself up-to-date man ;D

Chris Liu (1001)

#4
Sadly I'm out all day today and most of the weekend so I'm not sure I'll get the chance to update, buy FS2Crew and use it until next week  :(

It looks good though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQl3MIZpSXk&#t=30s

Steve Prowse (1046)

Nice vid Chris but I'm going to hold until you and the rest of the senior pilots give it a try and report back.  As you say it looks great.

Chris Liu (1001)

#6
I use FS2Crew all the time with the Jetstream 41 and love it (I've tried the PMDG NGX version too, which is also good). The learning curve is steep but once mastered it's a great assistance and adds immersion too, although I would highly recommend everyone learn to fly their aircraft without FS2Crew first.

FS2Crew takes care of  many mundane and time consuming items like setting V speeds for takeoff and faffing with the lights and control surfaces after landing. Also frees you to hand fly more as you can voice control the radios, autopilot, flaps, gear and icing systems.

You will need to able to set your Windows speech recognition to English (US) and spend 10-15 minutes training it a bit first.

Steve Prowse (1046)

#7
Quote from: Chris Liu on Mar 28, 2014 12:03
although I would highly recommend everyone learn to fly their aircraft without FS2Crew first.

I agree with that Chris so I will hold off until I'm much better at flying this beast first, cheers

Chris Liu (1001)

#8
I'm sure you're better than me with the Q400 Steve, I'm rusty as I've been in the J41 more lately.

Steve Prowse (1046)

I wish Chris this beast is still a challenge to fly in the best of weather...add some icing wind etc and it is any ones guess what happens next.  But that is what keeps me at it...I think :-[

Sean Donno (1110)

Thanks Chris  :)
Downloaded & installed latest hotfix, and just downloading FS2Crew now  ;D


Will let you know my thoughts when I've had a good play with it, hopefully over the weekend  ;)

Steve Prowse (1046)

#11
Quote from: Sean Donno on Mar 28, 2014 20:21
Will let you know my thoughts when I've had a good play with it, hopefully over the weekend  ;)

Cheers Sean, I'm very much looking forward to read what your opinion/comments are on the software.  Happy flying over the weekend.

Sean Donno (1110)

Early days still, but I am really enjoying this add on so far  :D


It adds another realistic dimension to the sim experience, and definitely makes the workload easier, but you do HAVE to read and understand the manual, and learn the keywords and responses to give to ensure it works as it should. This involves a bit of learning, which takes time, so be prepared for this if you go for it.


The purchase, download & install is a breeze. I had to install and apply the English US language pack from Microsoft, but this is explained well in the manual and didn't take long to do (I'm using Win8.1). If you don't use speech recognition, and I never have, then you will have to do the speech recognition training on your computer. This trains the computer to recognise your voice. I will have to do this again, as when using FS2Crew it misses a few words I say. Easy to work around by just saying skip, and the co-pilot moves onto the next check, but another run through the speech training will probably fix these anomalies.


If you start it from boarding, you even get the flight crew chatting away and greeting people in the background, as well as the authentic noises of the passengers embarking. It automatically opens and closes the doors also, and you can request ground power and pushback by voice. The Copilot's seat is a bit noisy too! I even had to pan around the cockpit to see if anyone was there  ;D


You can skip this and go straight to pre start checks, if your in a hurry though. I did a flight from EGCC to EGLC using it, and other than still having to refer to the manual at the moment to give the correct responses, would say it only took 5 minutes longer to get airborne. It is very cool to be able to call "after take off checks please", and a voice comes back and goes through them with you  8)


I haven't noticed any deterioration in computer or FSX performance, and to open, it is simply a press of a key. It loads in a few seconds and away you go.


So to sum up my initial impressions; I think it's a great value addition which adds another level of realism to this wonderful aircraft. The manual is well written and easy to understand, it's a breeze to install, open and in use, but will take a few flights to learn fully to get the maximum out of it. Very immersive and great fun  ;D

Chris Liu (1001)

#13
Great info Sean, that was very much my experience when first trying FS2Crew on the J41. Hoping I'll get to try the Q400 version tomorrow night :-) By the way, Bryan has released some bugfixes, so the latest Q400 FS2Crew is now v1.1.

Steve Prowse (1046)

Great write-up Sean,  thanks for letting the rest of know what yout first thoughts are with regards to this add-on.