New Zealand Vector Land Class Released

Posted: Wednesday, September 8, 2010 - 14:09
Vector Land Class , a revolutionary new approach to landclass scenery defining New Zealand. Taking 3 years to develop, this addon package for Microsoft Flight Simulator 10 (FSX) provides unprecedented accuracy. The package differs from other landclass addons in its widespread use of polygons to represent different landclass boundaries which allow up to 20 times greater accuracy compared with traditional pixel-based landclass data.

As well as total replacement of the underlying transportation (roads, freeways, railways, tracks), water (lakes, coastline and rivers including minor streams) and landclass data (including over 3500 agricultural airstrips) with higher accuracy data, Vector Land Class also includes a specially developed 20m terrain mesh which exposes the beautiful topography that New Zealand is renowned for. To top it off, replacement custom autogen and ground textures are included, as are thousands of 3D objects (such as jetties, radio towers, navigation bouys etc), night lighting objects and custom 3D models placed around the country in their real world locations.
All the various components are able to be fine tuned using a custom developed VLC configuration tool. Both direct download and boxed versions are available from the New Zealand Vector Land Class Product Page.

FSXControl Released From PositionGames

Posted: Wednesday, September 8, 2010 - 13:55
FSXControl turns your iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch into a controller for your airplane in FSX! Control your plane using the acceleration sensors - Pause the simulation from your device - Switch views - Use Gear, Flaps, Spoilers etc. - Altitude above ground level displayed - Easy setup, no entering of ip adress required - No local network needed - Uses same server logic as the recently released fsxfollow.

PRE-Flight Lockheed P-38 Lightning

Posted: Wednesday, September 8, 2010 - 13:45
PRE-Flight RC Simulator is pleased to announce the release of the PRE-Flight Lockheed P-38 Lightning for free download. The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was unique among the fighters of World War II. It had twin engines arranged in a twin-boom configuration giving it high speed, with the central cockpit and weapon nacelle giving it concentrated and accurate gunfire. It was for this reason that the Lightning proved effective against enemy fighters making it the longest serving American fighter of the War.

FSX Booster Released

Posted: Wednesday, September 8, 2010 - 1:43
The Flight Simulator Platform Solutions (FSPS) - FSX Booster has been designed keeping in mind the thousands of different PCs available on the market. It will analyse your computer hardware in depth (CPU, GPU, Memory, Hard Disc speed and etc) and set all the important documented and undocumented tweaks with the correct values that your PC needs to have with those tweaks. Complete details are available at the FSPS website.

FlyTampa Release Buffalo Niagara International

Posted: Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - 15:10
FlyTampa have released Buffalo Niagara International Airport (KBUF) for FSX & FS9 with features such as: High Resolution Ground Textures and Photo Scenery, Hand placed Autogen Seasonal Textures including snow Self Shadowing on most buildings, Custom Reflection Maps and high detail Taxiway, Apron & Runway markings 3D Taxiway Signs & 3D Taxiway Lighting/Units.

Volumetric Grass , Grooved Runway Textures, Surrounding Restaurants, Hotels, gas stations, water towers, schools and a Hawker Jet parked on the Ramp, Static 3D character on GA Ramp and Animated Fountains, Flags (FSX Only), Animated Birds (FSX Only), Custom road traffic (FSX Only) Optimized for good frame rates Compatible with Aerosoft's US Cities X - Niagara Falls/Buffalo.

Drop in to the FlyTampa website for a look at this new release.

Ian Thatcher founder of FS-Shipyards Dies

Posted: Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - 14:46
Avsim's Staff would like to extend our condolences to the many friends and family of Ian Thatcher.

Ian was a prolific developer of flight-sim content, across many aspects of the platform and in a number of guises helped many learn through his contributions to forums both here and elsewhere.
Most of us have made good use of the many contributions Ian made to the file library and those of his " Students " , we are many and part of the legacy left by Ian Thatcher in a willingness to give freely of our time to support the community, his was an example to follow and I can’t think of a more enduring tribute than that.

C.Jodry Managing Editor on behalf of the Staff of Avsim.

Simvol Release Fly Legacy 0.3.3 alpha

Posted: Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - 14:01
The team at Simvol have released Fly! Legacy .0.3.3 alpha, Fly! Legacy is an "opensource" software and collaborative flight simulator developed from the Terminal Reality's simulator of the early 2000s.

The core software is centered on the Cessna 172 (from TRI) other aircraft can be easily adapted and we hope a strong cooperation from the community to help us in this task.

Today, the software is operational, but the initial project evolved: now the idea is to make the software independent from Fly! II to allow a majority of users to take part in this project.

Visit the Fly! Legacy website for download and read up on the project and team in their Avsim Forum post.

Ultimate Checklist

Posted: Monday, September 6, 2010 - 15:37
At Flight Simulator Platform Solutions (FSPS), they thought about our needs of checklists. As we can fly a large variety of aircrafts, FSPS helps not to avoid any item for any aircraft. It comes with 23 Aircraft manufactures and 71 different Aircraft type checklists. Of course, you can add and edit checklists with this new Ultimate Checklist.

Chanticleer Software Releases FSX Log Explorer

Posted: Monday, September 6, 2010 - 14:40
FSX Log Explorer is a powerful tool that allows you to view your FSX logbook as never before. Filter, sort and group the flights in your logbook and view the results in reports, charts and maps. For more information and trial downloads, please visit their website.

Dallas Fort-Worth from FSDreamteam

Posted: Sunday, September 5, 2010 - 16:52
Staff reviewer Aidan Sandri heads to the Lone Star State to check out FSDreamteam's Dallas Fort-Worth. "Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport (KDFW), is between Dallas and Fort-Worth and generally serves the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. It is the busiest airport in the US state of Texas. It has seven runways, four of which are heading North-South, all four are over 13,000 feet. In 2009 over 56 million passengers went into Dallas-Fort Worth making it the eighth busiest airport in the world."

"The runways and taxiways are all at a very high resolution, making it crisp and clear to read the markings from your Virtual Cockpit. The taxiway lines are realistic, even down to where it marks where each aircraft type is required to stop and line up with the jetway. The jetways also connect up with the aircraft you are using. With the high resolution textures, I had noticed whilst flying over this airport several times that at the edges of the scenery some of the textures are blurry and do not have custom 3D objects placed on top of them."

"I did not see an FPS loss whilst flying around Dallas-Fort Worth. A lot of care seems to have been taken in making sure users, who fly heavies, can still use this airport with minimum frame impact. FSDreamTeam have done a fantastic job with Dallas Fort-Worth, and I have enjoyed flying around it. There is plenty to explore in this airport and it has a lot of great features to keep a simmer occupied for many hours."

On The Horizon

Posted: Saturday, September 4, 2010 - 16:49
DC-3 World Rally - On the 75th Annniversary of the birth of the Douglas DC-3, the virtual airline DC-3 Airways extends a warm invitation to all who wish to take part in its popular World Rally commencing October the 2nd.

Exclusively flown in any variation of the DC-3, the ten flights will offer an interesting and mildly challenging test of your flying and navigational skills. Full details and the opportunity to apply for registration may be viewed by visiting DC-3 Airways and clicking on WR2010 on the main menu bar. While there please feel free to peruse their site and see all that DC-3 Airways offers. New members are always most welcome. BTW - three paints have been uploaded to the AVSIM library.

AVSIM Social at the Atlanta Airport Hilton

Posted: Saturday, September 4, 2010 - 1:25
Saturday October 2nd at 6:30pm Atlanta's Airport Hilton will host the 2010 AVSIM Social, all flight sim enthusiasts in the area are invited to this informal event. Each attendee will be responsible for their food, libations and safe conduct to and from the event. Located at the Airport Hilton, 1031 Virginia Avenue, we should be easy to find! Just look for the flight sim crowd in the bar area...

J41 Voice Commander from FS2Crew

Posted: Saturday, September 4, 2010 - 1:22
Staff reviewer Jason McKee gives his commands to his co-pilot through FS2Crew's PMDG J41 Voice Commander. "FS2Crew started out with crew simulation by using check lists that were used with your mouse and keyboards, but since those early days they have moved to voice and are now releasing more voice commander software for some of the most popular aircraft out there."

"FS2Crew's PMDG J41 Voice Commander adds a great deal to your immersion in FSX, you can now talk to your crew and have them follow your commands. I found this a very easy to use product, and once you have done some voice recognition training you will have very few errors. The ability to control all parts of your flight, follow checklist and even run through abnormal procedures with your crew is great."

Airbus X Released

Posted: Friday, September 3, 2010 - 14:59
The Aerosoft Airbus X is a high definition rendering of the venerable aircraft A321 and A320 for FSX. Directly aimed at the user who enjoys flying while not spending too much time on configurations and preflight checks and also at all virtual pilots who don't want to compromise on the modeling and 3D features. These aircraft will be appealing to a large group of flight simmers.

The fully functional virtual cockpit places the user in an immersive environment where detailed animations and a high level of modeling show the level of details that separate FSX from FS2004.

All displays are easy to read, even at lower resolutions and show how most A321's and A320's are now leaving the factory. The displays will automatically show the information needed at any given moment. The Fly-By-Wire flight model is totally reliable and extremely close to the actual aircraft. Where older aircraft use conventional throttles, Airbus X has a realistic FADEC system, meaning you almost never have to touch the throttle after starting the take-off run. Both aircraft are also very convincing from the external view: all cabin and freight doors can be operated and show the interior of the aircraft. Animation of the flight control surfaces is accurate both in timing and movements.

FScene Updates Night Textures

Posted: Friday, September 3, 2010 - 14:48
Ruud Faber developer of FScene replacement ground textures has begun to release a series of updated textures for FScene4X. The first update covering the regions of USA & Canada is now available as a free download. Users of FScene TotalPack are invited to install this update as well . More updates may be expected in the next weeks. . Registered users may download the update for free at the FsScene Hompage.

DBS FollowMe Service For FS2004

Posted: Friday, September 3, 2010 - 14:29
DBS FollowMe for FS2004 has been released , now any airport and any aircraft within FS2004 has the opportunity to have the services of the DBS FollowMe Car to lead you to your gate or runway. Drop in to the DSB studio for a look at this new release.

Flight Sim 2010 This Weekend

Posted: Friday, September 3, 2010 - 14:21
Flight Sim 2010 , will be taking place at the prestigious Imperial War Museum at Duxford over the weekend of the 4th & 5th September. Entrance to Flight Sim 2010 is free, you will need to pay to enter the Battle of Britain Air Show which is taking place over the same weekend. Just Flight are hosting this event and are committed to bringing together the major names from the flight simulation world to demonstrate the very best in virtual aviation to those attending the Air Show. Visitors will get the chance to experience the latest releases at first hand and to chat with leading figures from the FS community.

Concrete Municipal And Israel's Farm From Orbx

Posted: Friday, September 3, 2010 - 3:08
Senior staff reviewer David Wilson-Okamura visits the Pacific Norwest of the USA to look at 2 new airfields from Orbx - Israel’s Farm (WA65) and Concrete Municipal Airport (3W5).

"Israel’s Farm is part of Orbx’s new “budget line,” and doesn’t include a whole town, the way Concrete does. But both products are built to the same specifications, with .60 m/pixel photographic ground textures for the surrounding area and higher-resolution textures for the airfield proper (.15 m/pixel for Israel’s Farm, and .30 m/pixel for Concrete)."

"A lot of the effort in these products has gone into making them viewable from ground level: not just on the airfield, where you taxi between parking ramp and runway, but in the adjoining town (for Concrete) and on the adjoining farm (for Israel’s). Texture resolutions vary, which helps framerates, but where it’s important for something to look sharp (e.g., signage or the mural map of Concrete), it does."

"In all of the Orbx products that I’ve owned -- including three of the Australia region packs and two of the Australia airfield sceneries -- the level of detail and polish has been quite high. I like Concrete better than Israel’s Farm, because there’s more to see. It’s a great jumping-off point for exploring the Cascade Mountains, with fast access to Baker Lake and Baker Mountain; and if you have the Darrington scenery, it’s only twenty miles to the next Orbx-enhanced airport."

CLS MD80/81 Jetliner Now Available At The Avsim store

Posted: Thursday, September 2, 2010 - 16:05
The MD 80/81 Series is the latest release by Commercial Level Simulations. Featuring the best visuals and realistic flight dynamics. The product comes with a long developed panel, which is simplistic in its nature yet offers mid-level functionality. Perfect for LITE users as well as advanced simmers!
This FSX version of the MD 80/81 by CLS features:

• Extensive manual and Flight Tutorial
  
• Highly detailed exterior model
  
• High quality interactive 3D Virtual cockpit (VC)
  
• 2D panel with custom gauges.
  
• highly detailed liveries!

Visit the Avsim Store today.