Final release R/C Desk Pilot & RCDP goes open source

rcdeskpilot

New member
It's been a very long time since I was actively working on R/C Desk Pilot and I'm not even sure a lot of people still know about R/C Desk Pilot (spoiler: it's a free R/C airplane sim for Windows PC's).
Needless to say I am no longer actively working on R/C Desk Pilot (more on that below). However, I did still have quite a lot of improvements on my hard drive and finally had some time to put these together into a final build of R/C Desk Pilot.

You can download it here!

It contains a few extra airplanes, water, support for multiple scenery's, reflective textures and a few other minor things.

rcdp022.jpg

Since I don't have the time anymore to maintain the sim, I've decided to put the source code online for any brave developer that wants to extend the sim, or fix bugs. So if you want to give it a go, have a look on github.

I want to thank everyone that sent over nice comments, questions, created airplanes and even scenery's for the sim. It's been tremendous kick seeing all of you enjoying this simple sim. It's unbelievable that the previous version of the sim was downloaded 400,000 times! I would like to say a special thank you to two special friends I was lucky enough to meet through the sim (even though we've never met in person): Tom Evers and Fred Herfst. They were supportive from the beginning with advice, artwork, meteorology lessons and so much more.

The reason for the silence is that other priorities have taken over my life. I've spend every spare moment of my life for 5 years on R/C Desk Pilot (2009 - 2014) and loved every second of it.
R/C Desk Pilot is based on my own little 3D engine. Around 2014 I realized that with the advent of newer game engines like Unity, the development was at a point where I would better switch to a new engine. I couldn't get myself to invest months again to start from scratch, especially since at the time I was starting to look at a career change quitting my job and wanting to start a business of my own. And frankly, building a free R/C sim is not a good way to pay the bills. So I started a startup building VR communication software and that has in recent years consumed 100% of my time. So I apologize if you've sent me a question about the sim recently and didn't get a reply.

I might one day find the time again to create another R/C Flight Sim! Until that time I hope you enjoy this one!

Davy
 

rockyboy

Skill Collector
Mentor
I've really enjoyed this sim over the past two years - looking forward to installing this final build! Thanks for all your hard work!
 

Snarls

Gravity Tester
Mentor
I have spent many hours happily flying around in R/C Desk Pilot. Thank you for creating this program and sharing it to the world for free. Best of luck with your next projects!
 

Deepak312232

New member
Thank You for your years of hard work

Thanks guys!

I have been using RCDP for 4 years and learnt basic and aerobatics on it only. Its really a nice simulator which gives best experience without any fee or cost. I loved its every feature. Thanking You for providing us all such a nice sim. :)
:):)
 

rcdeskpilot

New member
I have been using RCDP for 4 years and learnt basic and aerobatics on it only. Its really a nice simulator which gives best experience without any fee or cost. I loved its every feature. Thanking You for providing us all such a nice sim. :)
:):)
Thank you Deepak, much appreciated!
 

kevinc35

Member
Hmm C# Visual Studio thats what I'm in for the Day Job and do Games on the side. If people have enough interest in this I might fork this and take it on. Although I might look at porting it over to Unity so it can be moved over to Mac as well. I'll watch this thread and see what the interest looks like. I've been debating on doing a sim anyway this would be a good jumping off point.
 

kevinc35

Member
I'd test an open source Mac simulator in a jiffy. :)

Awesome... Good to know.. I'm seriously cosidering taking this on. I need to do a little bit of research, the models are my biggest concern as I'm not a 3D modeler at all.

I think it would be cool to be able to have all the FT planes/quads in a Sim in addition to everything else. I can't even phathom how long this will likely take me but I'm willing to work on it if people are interested. Especially for us Mac users.
 

Liam B

Well-known member
Yes, Mac please. From what I’ve seen, it’s an awesome sim, but I only have a Mac.
 

kevinc35

Member
Yes, Mac please. From what I’ve seen, it’s an awesome sim, but I only have a Mac.

Yeah I'm mac only so if I take this on I'm going to release it for both Windows and Mac. There aren't enough Mac based sims.

Unfortunately its likely to take me a while to get this going. That being said, if people are down for it I would be happy to start out with a Single Plane and Single location so that we can work out physics and other items and add functionality over time.
 

Deepak312232

New member
I am interested

Hello sir, I have been using RCDP for very long and have made many models also....I always wished to add a multicopter in it. But as i have no idea about programming stuff....its still just a paper plan. Can you please help me out with..how to edit compile and make the sim run using visual studio.... I am learning the visual studio software for this purpose only. Any help would be appreciated.Thank you.
 

Fluburtur

Cardboard Boy
I use that sim quite often and while I didn't search for extra stuff for it, it's still enough for my average needs. Would love to see it grow into bigger stuff, I would especially love to see helis in it since I want to get into them.
 

SCarolinaCy

New member
Can you refer me to a link for the " R/C Desk Pilot for dummies"

It's been a very long time since I was actively working on R/C Desk Pilot and I'm not even sure a lot of people still know about R/C Desk Pilot (spoiler: it's a free R/C airplane sim for Windows PC's).
Needless to say I am no longer actively working on R/C Desk Pilot (more on that below). However, I did still have quite a lot of improvements on my hard drive and finally had some time to put these together into a final build of R/C Desk Pilot.

You can download it here!

It contains a few extra airplanes, water, support for multiple scenery's, reflective textures and a few other minor things.

View attachment 88778

Since I don't have the time anymore to maintain the sim, I've decided to put the source code online for any brave developer that wants to extend the sim, or fix bugs. So if you want to give it a go, have a look on github.

I want to thank everyone that sent over nice comments, questions, created airplanes and even scenery's for the sim. It's been tremendous kick seeing all of you enjoying this simple sim. It's unbelievable that the previous version of the sim was downloaded 400,000 times! I would like to say a special thank you to two special friends I was lucky enough to meet through the sim (even though we've never met in person): Tom Evers and Fred Herfst. They were supportive from the beginning with advice, artwork, meteorology lessons and so much more.

The reason for the silence is that other priorities have taken over my life. I've spend every spare moment of my life for 5 years on R/C Desk Pilot (2009 - 2014) and loved every second of it.
R/C Desk Pilot is based on my own little 3D engine. Around 2014 I realized that with the advent of newer game engines like Unity, the development was at a point where I would better switch to a new engine. I couldn't get myself to invest months again to start from scratch, especially since at the time I was starting to look at a career change quitting my job and wanting to start a business of my own. And frankly, building a free R/C sim is not a good way to pay the bills. So I started a startup building VR communication software and that has in recent years consumed 100% of my time. So I apologize if you've sent me a question about the sim recently and didn't get a reply.

I might one day find the time again to create another R/C Flight Sim! Until that time I hope you enjoy this one!
Davy

I have successfully down loaded and installed version 0.1.3. From what I have seen thus far it is VERY GOOD. Thank you.

I have recently purchased a Horizon Hobby Sport Cub S with MLP6DSM 4channel controller. 1) Can you refer me to a link for the " R/C Desk Pilot for dummies" :as someone earlier requested. 2)Specifically how can I use my controller with the "dongle" others have mentioned. (Other than my controller, what inexpensive controller can you recommend? 4) What RC plane among those referenced in "R/C Desk Pilot and features 5 new planes in 8 versions .." would most nearly equate to my Sport Cub S?

Thank you.
 

Duck

Active member
This is awesome! I've been trying to teach my daughter to fly and teach myself to make fewer airplane shaped pancakes. I don't need a perfect simulator or 100 planes I don't own. This is just perfect. I paired it with the Spektrum Wirelss Dongle (SPMWS1000) and it worked like a champ. Once I switched that model off helicopter anyways :) Thank you for open sourcing it, this is great. Do you have a way to donate for the work here?
 

Duck

Active member
My daughter completed her first simulator flight after about 10 minutes learning the controls. She learned small movements, flying in circles, loops, recovering from over-correction and performed a survivable landing. Thanks again! I highly recommend this sim and would love to see someone pick it up to continue it. Although it already has all the features I could need.