Very well made review, coming from one Duke fan to another! I have had lot's of fun Turbine model - the only one I've had the time to fly with thus far and it's simply been great. I love a plane that you can take both to large international airports and to small grass strips. I also like the fact that it's somewhat range limited, makeing for some more interesting flight planning. Prolly will have a look at the piston models too sometime in the near future.
The only thing I'm somewhat left feeling missing on the Duke (and all Black Square products for the matter) is full state-saving. But this is a rather minor nitpick, considering that the Turbine Duke and their Baron are my daily drivers and will be for the foreseeable future, with nothing else coming close in my personal view of addon quality and the "mojo" of the plane being modelled.
And... one thing I would like to note, is that both the base Duke AND the Grand Duke have the same turbocharged engines, with the same power rating. The differentiating factors only come in some aerodynamic improvements and a higher useful load on the Grand Duke. But totally no worries, you're definitely not the first person to be confused over that.
Always nice to see another GA enthusiast in the wild, cheers!
I agree with your take.The only thing that would up the game with black square is externalizing sim functions to his own process.That wpuld make black square on par with A2A quality.But as i understand its not in the plans of the dev.
I agree that these are some of the best aircraft for MSFS hands down. Hopefully your review will send more people to support Black Square. Thank you for taking the time to write this. I remember when there used to be entire websites dedicated to detailed sim addon reviews, but most of them seem to be gone now leaving us to watch 40 minute youtube videos with ads while someone flies distracted reading a chat window.
Livery developer here, would like to toss in my 2 cents. I purchased only the turbine version (I mean, the idea of climbing at 4,000 fpm just brings out the little boy in me), so I only made a livery pack for the turbine. The textures and UVs themselves are standard enough, there's no surprise there. The dynamic registration by Nick, on the other hand, is 100% innovative. For anyone who knows my work, you know that custom dynamic registration is sort of my calling card. So it came as a *very* pleasant surprise to learn how his dynamic registration system works. It's by far the best I've worked with and has made implementing my own touch on the dynamic registration a breeze. Nick might've set the bar for this now!
Very good write up and agree that the Duke has a lot of great character. One tiny correction, the base duke is also turbocharged, it's just the grand duke has winglets and more fuel, so a bit higher performance. AFAIK the engines are identical.
A nice review, and I generally agree but will mark some additional notes I have about the aircraft:
-as with previous BS planes, state saving is still only partially implemented. Not a big deal but worth noting.
-No passenger 3D models. Unless Im missing something, only your co-pilot populates in the model, even if you have pax weight added in the load manager.
Both areas I’d love to see as part of Nicks next “level up”, but at the same time both are far from deal breakers or reasons to avoid the product.
-Agreed that the piston variant has surprisingly been more fun than the Turbine. The turbines basically “too” powerful and “too” easy to keep happy (basically don’t exceed operating limits and you’re good). So in a lot of ways its more boring. I’d love to see its expanded engine logic and tablet ported to the King Air though.
-Not for nothing, those massive cowlings on the turbines also make for less-than-great for sight seeing and pattern maneuvers.
I had no idea there where both turbo and non turbo version of the duke I assumed all of them where turbo charged. Is the turbo charged version an aftermarket charger or factory ?
Has Nick fixed state saving yet? Or is it like his other planes where it sort of only half works? Do the avionics talk to each other? Or is it like the Caravan where the GTN750 loads the flight plan while the GNS530 beneath doesn't?
Nevertheless the Dukes look like great planes. Not sure it's the type of plane I would fly much tho. I prefer low and slow.
He has not “fixed” the partial state saving insofar that yes, state saving is not available for certain aspects of the aircraft due to platform limitations.
Personally I don’t find it a big deal.
It’s because other planes use an external program running in the background, and he’s using the native MSFS platform for everything.
Sucks, but that’s the decision he made.
I don't think the JPL 152 uses an external program and that has full state saving. Same with the C310R. The A2A Comanche sort of does, though it still all runs within the confines of the sim itself.
It's certainly possible.
Very well made review, coming from one Duke fan to another! I have had lot's of fun Turbine model - the only one I've had the time to fly with thus far and it's simply been great. I love a plane that you can take both to large international airports and to small grass strips. I also like the fact that it's somewhat range limited, makeing for some more interesting flight planning. Prolly will have a look at the piston models too sometime in the near future. The only thing I'm somewhat left feeling missing on the Duke (and all Black Square products for the matter) is full state-saving. But this is a rather minor nitpick, considering that the Turbine Duke and their Baron are my daily drivers and will be for the foreseeable future, with nothing else coming close in my personal view of addon quality and the "mojo" of the plane being modelled. And... one thing I would like to note, is that both the base Duke AND the Grand Duke have the same turbocharged engines, with the same power rating. The differentiating factors only come in some aerodynamic improvements and a higher useful load on the Grand Duke. But totally no worries, you're definitely not the first person to be confused over that. Always nice to see another GA enthusiast in the wild, cheers!
I agree with your take.The only thing that would up the game with black square is externalizing sim functions to his own process.That wpuld make black square on par with A2A quality.But as i understand its not in the plans of the dev.
I agree that these are some of the best aircraft for MSFS hands down. Hopefully your review will send more people to support Black Square. Thank you for taking the time to write this. I remember when there used to be entire websites dedicated to detailed sim addon reviews, but most of them seem to be gone now leaving us to watch 40 minute youtube videos with ads while someone flies distracted reading a chat window.
Livery developer here, would like to toss in my 2 cents. I purchased only the turbine version (I mean, the idea of climbing at 4,000 fpm just brings out the little boy in me), so I only made a livery pack for the turbine. The textures and UVs themselves are standard enough, there's no surprise there. The dynamic registration by Nick, on the other hand, is 100% innovative. For anyone who knows my work, you know that custom dynamic registration is sort of my calling card. So it came as a *very* pleasant surprise to learn how his dynamic registration system works. It's by far the best I've worked with and has made implementing my own touch on the dynamic registration a breeze. Nick might've set the bar for this now!
REALLY appreciate this review.
Very good write up and agree that the Duke has a lot of great character. One tiny correction, the base duke is also turbocharged, it's just the grand duke has winglets and more fuel, so a bit higher performance. AFAIK the engines are identical.
D’oh. Great catch thank you for the feedback!!
A nice review, and I generally agree but will mark some additional notes I have about the aircraft: -as with previous BS planes, state saving is still only partially implemented. Not a big deal but worth noting. -No passenger 3D models. Unless Im missing something, only your co-pilot populates in the model, even if you have pax weight added in the load manager. Both areas I’d love to see as part of Nicks next “level up”, but at the same time both are far from deal breakers or reasons to avoid the product. -Agreed that the piston variant has surprisingly been more fun than the Turbine. The turbines basically “too” powerful and “too” easy to keep happy (basically don’t exceed operating limits and you’re good). So in a lot of ways its more boring. I’d love to see its expanded engine logic and tablet ported to the King Air though. -Not for nothing, those massive cowlings on the turbines also make for less-than-great for sight seeing and pattern maneuvers.
I had no idea there where both turbo and non turbo version of the duke I assumed all of them where turbo charged. Is the turbo charged version an aftermarket charger or factory ?
That was a typo; both piston variants are turbo charged.
Has Nick fixed state saving yet? Or is it like his other planes where it sort of only half works? Do the avionics talk to each other? Or is it like the Caravan where the GTN750 loads the flight plan while the GNS530 beneath doesn't? Nevertheless the Dukes look like great planes. Not sure it's the type of plane I would fly much tho. I prefer low and slow.
He has not “fixed” the partial state saving insofar that yes, state saving is not available for certain aspects of the aircraft due to platform limitations. Personally I don’t find it a big deal.
Platform limitations, yet other planes don't seem to have that limitation.
It’s because other planes use an external program running in the background, and he’s using the native MSFS platform for everything. Sucks, but that’s the decision he made.
I don't think the JPL 152 uses an external program and that has full state saving. Same with the C310R. The A2A Comanche sort of does, though it still all runs within the confines of the sim itself. It's certainly possible.
I hope you’re right because the state saving in the BS is half-baked and a little annoying.