HiFi Sim Advanced Weather Sim Released!

Posted: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 - 3:53
HiFi’s next major step in advanced weather simulation technology is officially announced and released today! Active Sky Advanced (ASA) features a comprehensive overhaul and upgrade of all underlying weather synthesis, interpolation and depiction systems, which have enabled significant breakthroughs and features never available until now. For the first time ever, the entire engine is DUAL integrated with both FSX and FS9!

A brand-new Graphic Snapshot and state management system provides universal graphics add-on integration with weather-influenced capability, allowing easy control and incredible realism and variation of matched graphics and weather with ANY environment graphics add-on (or combination of add-ons). USA live Sigmets and Airmets, Networked Pireps, enhanced flight planning and wx briefing data, direct wind control and smoothing, visibility graduation and smoothing, and much more is now available!

HiFi is offering upgrade versions at reduced pricing for licensees of ASX and/or ASv6, and the download is available now! For more information, screen shots and resources, please visit HiFi’s website.

AVSIM Opens Reader's Choice Awards Nominations

Posted: Monday, December 22, 2008 - 20:27
AVSIM will once again present the AVSIM Reader's Choice Awards (RCA's) at the FANCON 2009 in Dayton, Ohio in September. In preparation for the voting which will start on March 1st, we have now opened up the nomination process. Nominated products will be added to the vote in their various categories. Both Freeware and Commercial products can be nominated. The vote will be open to all members of the AVSIM Forums, so if you haven't registered for the forums, we suggest you do so today! You can access the nominations here.

Bill Womack's Plum Island

Posted: Monday, December 22, 2008 - 14:08
Bill Womack has released a new scenery add-on for Flight Simulator X. Dubbed "100 Dollar Burger: Plum Island", it is the first of a new series of very highly detailed small sceneries designed especially for the low-and-slow flier. Bill is well known for other commercial sceneries such as Freight Dogs, Dillingham on Hawaii and major parts of Tongass Fjords, and also for some excellent freeware sceneries such as Bear Gulch and RAF West Malling for RealAir and Reading Airport in Pennsylvania made for MAAM-SIM.

Plum Island's small airfield (2B2) is situated near Newburyport, Massachusetts, some 27 miles north of Boston along the Atlantic coast. The FSX version of it conveys the atmosphere of a small local field, often slumbering in the summer heat or laying deserted in the wintery cold. According to the Airnav pages aircraft operations average some 54 per week, so clearly not a busy airport, but instead the ideal companion for your VFR-loving GA aircraft!

This is a 'native FSX' title and tested under Windows XP and Vista, and with FSX SP2 and Acceleration. In addition to Plum Island Aerodrome itself, the scenery includes a wide area around the field including the town of Newburyport, the tidal flats from the river to the Atlantic, the beaches and the many holiday homes along the coast. This entire area is made using high-res aerial photos and painstakingly placed customized autogen houses and other objects. Also included is a dedicated AI traffic file, a nice little manual in pdf format, and a dedicated support forum. All this for $15.

F-16 Fighting Falcon X from Aerosoft

Posted: Sunday, December 21, 2008 - 19:29
Senior staff reviewer David Wilson-Okamura takes to the skies in Aerosoft's F-16 Fighting Falcon X. "The F-16 Fighting Falcon, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, has been in production now for three decades and is expected to remain in service for at least two more. Fast, light-weight, and versatile, it can fire missiles and launch bombs in numerous configurations; this package simulates about twenty of them. Developed by Aerosoft, the visual model is said to be “the most detailed aircraft ever designed for FSX.”"

"According to the product web page, the Falcon ships with 21 different external models and 61 different liveries. This package includes three variants -- the A, AM, and C models -- with two different engines -- General Electric F110-GE-100 and Pratt & Whitney F100-P-220 -- and fourteen different external loads. The two engines differ in weight, fuel consumption, and thrust -- variations that are reflected in the various flight models. But no matter which engine you fly, the engine you hear will be a Pratt & Whitney F100."

"FSX is better at simulating fly-by-wire systems than previous versions of Flight Simulator, but it’s not all the way there. In the Aerosoft Falcon, you need to use more trim than you would in the real F-16, but I put this down to a limitation of the simulator engine, not a defect in the flight model. This model is not for borderline hardware. Another thing I notice is that switching back to cockpit view from one of the external views is very fast: there’s no waiting while the cockpit redraws, as there is (for example) in some higher-fps models."

David concludes Aerosoft's F-16 Fighting Falcon X with, "This aircraft is fun. A lot of the fun is just power: you can climb very fast, dive even faster, roll over on your belly, zip around the deck, and if you get into trouble, just turn up the heat. Detail is high, frame rates are flyable, there’s a wide variety of configurations and liveries, and the heads-up display is more realistic (and therefore more useful) than any we’ve seen before in Flight Simulator. Start-up time is minimal and, with no FMC to program, you can be on your way in about a minute."

AVSIM Announces FANCON 2009!

Posted: Sunday, December 21, 2008 - 17:46
The AVSIM Staff is very pleased to announce FANCON 2009! The 2009 event will be held in Dayton, Ohio at the Wright Patterson (Wright Patt) Air Force Base – home of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. The museum is one of the most famous and largest of it's kind in the world dedicated to aviation. Dayton is also the home of the Dayton Aviation Heritage Museum and State Park. The DAH is the home of the Wright brothers, and the exhibits provide a history of their efforts in powered flight. The conference will be held on the weekend of September 4th, 5th and will conclude on Sunday, September 6th. The Convention will kick off on Friday night with the AVSIM Social. Exhibitions will open on Saturday morning and run throughout the remainder of the weekend. On Saturday night AVSIM will once again host the AVSIM Awards Banquet where we will recognize contributors to our hobby in the preceding years. We have opened up the FANCON forum for discussion and questions about the event and will be bringing online the new AVSIM RSVP Registration System shortly. Costs and other details will be put online within the next week or two. All of us at AVSIM are excited to be once again presenting our FANCON, and we all look forward to seeing you there.

New Mike Ray Article

Posted: Sunday, December 21, 2008 - 16:29
Tino at FSVisions informs us, "Just in time for Christmas, FSVisions is, together with Computer Pilot and my friend Mike Ray, able to provide all FSVisions visitors again with a free article of Mike Ray. The December article contains a FAQ about the Discontinue in a FMC flightplan."

Orbx Releases AU YWVA Warnervale Airport

Posted: Sunday, December 21, 2008 - 16:19
Orbx is pleased to announce the release of YWVA Warnervale Airport. This the first in Orbx's series of smaller GA airfields for FSX with lots of character. Nestled in bushland just off the Pacific Highway on the Central Coast of New South Wales, this airfield provides a perfect hub for VFR flights north of Sydney and up to Coffs Harbour.

YWVA is the launch airport co-designed for Orbx by renowned FS developer Andreas Hegi, who is famous for his attention to detail. This airport and its surrounds have been completely custom Gmax modeled in painstaking detail from photos provided by actual pilots who use the airfield regularly. The scenery includes not just the airfield itself, but the entire circuit area and all VFR nav waypoints contained in over 57 square kilometres of photoreal terrain using 60cm, 30cm and 15cm aerial photography.

Citation X 2.0 w\FMS Released

Posted: Saturday, December 20, 2008 - 19:02
Eaglesoft Development Group is happy to announce that their FS2004 Cessna Citation X Version 2.0 w/FMS is now available. More information at the Citation X 2.0 page at Eaglesoft.

Flight1 Releases Instant Mission Maker

Posted: Saturday, December 20, 2008 - 18:51
Instant Mission Maker is an easy to use tool for making Flight Simulator X missions created by the developer of Instant Scenery and Airport Facilitator X. It allows you to design a wide range of missions using a very intuitive GUI and offers live preview and editing of many mission objects directly in FSX. And if you would rather be flying, the built-in random mission wizard can instantly generate random missions sending you on various assignments in all corners of the world.

To use Instant Mission Maker, you don't have to know anything about making missions. No need to write XML, copy files around or deal with cryptic names and numbers. You just build the mission step by step and describe what should happen, like writing a movie script. Instant Mission Maker offers a wide selection of easy to use building blocks for the mission. You can add voice prompts, require the user to perform certain actions in order to proceed with the mission, create and control AI aircraft, ground vehicles, static and mobile scenery objects, trigger equipment failures, show fires, smoke and explosions and add many other elements. Instant Mission Maker can be used with both FSX standard and deluxe editions.

For more information, screenshots, and to download this exciting new tool please visit Flight One's Instant Mission Maker product page.

Multi-Crew Experience Released

Posted: Saturday, December 20, 2008 - 18:46
A new add-on for both Flight Simulator X and FS 2004, called "Multi Crew Experience", has been released. Interact with the virual co-pilot the way real world pilots do. Give verbal commands, and watch them be executed. Carry out interactive checklist with item status checked on the fly. Use your microphone to talk to ATC. Get told off by your first officer when deviating from standards you get to set yourself. Navigate the Simulator User Interface almost entirely by voice, and this particular feature is free to use.

These features are all event driven, no hard and fast scripts that force you to do everything in fixed order.In all, there are 4 major features, and each could be considered a separate add-on on its own. A fully working time limited demo is available for download at the Multi Crew Experience website.

MD-11 from PMDG

Posted: Saturday, December 20, 2008 - 1:33
Senior staff reviewer Angelique van Campen with the hep of another staff reviewer co-author an intense, in-depth, descriptive look at PMDG's MD-11. Be prepared for a long read, but it's not as dry as reading an operating manual.

Angelique and Tom say, "Let’s put it simply, we think this product raises the standard by which Flight Simulator add-on products will be judged in the future. PMDG offers a huge list of liveries, which is growing weekly. Both aircraft types – passenger and freighters – are offered including the two types of engines."

"Aircraft systems are thoroughly simulated in-depth, which really gives you the feeling that you are sitting in the captain's or co-pilot's seat of this magnificent PMDG MD-11. The 2D cockpit is already stunning with all its options but don’t forget the VC. Nice frame rates make it a pleasure to sit back, relax and enjoy this model. The PDMG MD11 is more expensive than most add-on models, however, its depth and quality make this production a good value for your money. Many add-on products could be considered toys - we consider this product a useful tool."

Dispatch Planner X Service Pack 1

Posted: Friday, December 19, 2008 - 16:41
Blushing Sheep Simulations announce the release of Dispatch Planner X Service Pack 1. This update contains many minor fixes, and adds compatibility with the popular ActiveSky weather add-on to match actual FS conditions as closely as possible. for download and details visit the BlushingSheep website

Bunker Hill AFB Scenery Review

Posted: Friday, December 19, 2008 - 7:35
Avsim reviewer Marlon Carter has taken a look at Bunker Hill AFB by SkySim. Marlon says: "One might be wonder where is Bunker Hill AFB? Well Bunker Hill AFB is located in Peru, Indiana. Although this is only a small package and subsequently a small review, the scenery may be appealing to simmers who are mainly focused on flying military operations, or others who enjoy flying into an AFB and desire seeing actual military aircrafts operating. Why not have a read of the review and see if its a package that would be a good addon for you.

New Titles in the Avsim Store

Posted: Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 17:38
The Avsim Store still has a few Cirrus Pedals in stock. These professional pedals were originally $595 and are offered for only $345. They were demo units but have never been sold to a customer. Hurry up, these are a great deal. New titles have been added: The new X-Plane version 9.21., as well as MegaSceneryX Las Vegas, MegaSceneryX Reno and MegaSceneryX Hawaii.



Visit the new Avsim Store today.

Indo-Pacific Landclass Released

Posted: Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 0:49
SceneryTech is pleased to announce the launch of their "Indo-Pacific Landclass" (the 5th region in a set of 6). This landclass features the same technology found in the previously released North America, Europe, Asia, and South America landclass products, such as reduction of the pervasive use of desert textures as found in the default, a substantial increase in the number of towns and cities, and increased terrain variation. It also includes the "Enhanced Slope Landclass" which activates smoother texture transitions on slopes, a feature not found in any other landclass brand. More information can be found at SceneryTech's website.

TrafficX SP1 Released

Posted: Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 0:47
Scott Phillips of Just Flight reports, "The service pack has remedied a number of issues that were reported shortly after release. The biggest gripe seemed to be about lack of AI Traffic within the product. We'd actually set this at a level that we thought would balance the level of traffic with keeping performance at an acceptable level. However we've now taken feedback on board and the Service Pack has addressed the concern. Other smaller issues are also addressed and resolved. See the press release or the website for a list of the issues that are fixed. Initial response to the Pack has been very positive."

You can see the extensive list of items included in this Service Pack release at the Just Flight website.

Thunder Over Vegas

Posted: Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 0:30
Silicon Studios announces the release of Thunder Over Vegas, a new PC game that lets players experience the thrill of being a United States Air Force Thunderbird pilot and find out what it takes to fly with the best. Computer pilots will be able to fly each maneuver that the real Thunderbirds demonstration team perform - or create their own air show with a robust stunt editor. There are also multiplayer modes for head-to-head combat or cooperative air show action. With high-fidelity flight dynamics, state of the art graphics, and input from the real Thunderbirds, this is as real as it gets. Thunder Over Vegas is being released as downloadable software and is available now at thunderovervegas.com. Silicon Studios develops flight simulation products, including the Xtreme Air Racing series of games which have received numerous Editors'Choice Awards.

OZx Software Updated To V2

Posted: Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 0:18
OZx (pronounced Aussie-X) is the collaboration of scenery designers that began life under the auspices of the FTX Freeware Development Team. The invigoration of a new name and our own dedicated site means we are able to develop and refine our skills and techniques in an environment that is removed from those intense pressures associated with commercial scenery releases. However, as a group, we still remain committed to the success of the OrbX Full Terrain eXperience ideals, and as such we will be doing our utmost to ensure the scenery we release will install without conflict and blend properly into FTX. The freeware scenery can be downloaded via their download section at the OZx website.

OZx Grand Canyon Scenery

Posted: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - 23:47
OZx has released v2.0 of Grand Canyon complete with Grand Canyon National Park Airport (KGCN), and is further enriched by including a new 10m mesh that extends the coverage beyond the photo-real scenery, and corrects some graphical issues previously encountered. For more information please visit OZx.

10 years of IVAO

Posted: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - 23:39
Flight Simulator has had an incredible journey, and it does not seem long ago that we were eagerly awaiting the release of Flight Simulator 95. It is also amazing that IVAO are now celbrating 10 years of IVAO

Vybhava Srinivasan, of IVAO says:

Dear Friends,

We are now on the verge of a historic milestone. "IVAO" is about to complete ten glorious years on December 16, 2008. The network has witnessed an awesome growth. A growth from a network of just 2 servers to around 16 servers today, a growth from a few divisions to 61 divisions around the world, a growth from a few members to over 100,000 members around the world. This period has also witnessed the release of our amazing in-house software for pilots and controller, a realistic weather server and many more.

IVAO has some amazing tours, breathtaking events, with traffic only you can expect to see in the real world (not to mention we hold the record for maximum simultaneous connections). IVAOs training has blossomed over the years with skill testing exams and a large knowledge base delivered by our academy. The creation of IVAO NPO, which has made our network and structure more accountable.

IVAOs experience over the past 10 years has set us up on a launching pad to achieve the unimaginable and to make ourselves an even more distinguished on-line flight simulation community.

IVAO celebrates its achievement - "10 years of IVAO"

To commemorate this achievement , IVAO 10 Year Celebration Event is organised between December 16, 2008 - December 21, 2008, almost an entire week of crowded skies, with events spanning the world and unimaginable traffic, this event promises to bridge the difference between real and virtual world.

Come, be a part of the celebration.

Regards
Vybhava Srinivasan
IVAO Public Relations Director