FS2Crew LDS 767 Edition 1.3 Update

Posted: Friday, March 30, 2007 - 20:32
FS2Crew is pleased to announced that Update 1.3 is now available for owners of the Level-D 767 Edition of FS2Crew. Update 1.3 is a cumulative update that improves memory usage. The Level-D 767 Edition of FS2Crew was custom designed from scratch to work the LDS 767. It was designed in consultation with Capt. David Barrington and models the SOPs of a major 767 operator based in the UK. 767 Drivers are cleared via present position direct to FS2Crew Website to download the update.

France VFR Releases La Martinique Island

Posted: Friday, March 30, 2007 - 20:30
France VFR is proud to announce their new La Martinique Island scenery. The scenery covers the La Martinique island with photo realistic textures, including full and specific autogen coverage. The Fort-de-France, Le Lamentin (TFFF) airport, includes detailed buildings and a realistic AI traffic based on real aircraft and liveries. Full English documentation is provided with all France VFR products.

Scenery includes: Full photo scenery coverage, textures made from high quality aerial photography (NOT satellite imagery), reworked for an optimal rendition in Flight Simulator, customized autogen (houses and trees) for the whole scenery, custom high resolution mesh for the whole region (LOD11), water coastline faithfully represented and optimized with coast flattening (no water “climbing”), and much more!

Many screens and information available on the France VFR Website. Please note, this scenery is for FS2004 but a FSX patch is already provided on the France VFR web site.

B-25J Briefing Time Goes FSX

Posted: Friday, March 30, 2007 - 16:40
Mid-Atlantic Air Musem is pleased to announce the release of the FSX Basic Compatibility Update for their award-winning B-25 "Briefing Time" simulation. This update is only the first planned toward full FSX compatibility of thier packages.

MAAM writes, "Rather than further delay the release of our next project, the TBM Avenger, we have taken the decision to release this Basic Compatibility Update #1 to address the most vital issues, and postpone fixes for other aspects with later patches. This initial update primarily addresses some of the more vital issues in the aircraft and panel configuration files, and the gauge set."

The update will also install the thumbnail pictures required by the FSX Select Aircraft Menu. Finishing the TBM, which is scheduled for release on June 1 at MAAM's World War II Weekend, is MAAM's priority right now. MAAM writes, "Once we have that under control, we'll work on other updates to address some of the remaining compatibility issues, including flight dynamics and some cosmetic issues. Some of these known issues are discussed in this update's included documents."

The update includes illustrated installation instructions, Download the 4.8 MB FSX Update #1 directly from the MAAM-Sim Free Stuff Page.

Just Flight Releases VLJ - Business Jet

Posted: Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 13:22
Just Flight has released a boxed version of CLS's VLJ - Business Jet for FS9/FSX. Like the very popular download version, this product boasts high quality animations throughout the aircraft, and an extensively modelled instrument panel, virtual cockpit and cabin, Along with both 2D and 3D cockpits.

The VLJ Business Jet is one of the first of a new generation of small personal VLJs – Very Light Jets - designed to be operated by a single pilot. The aim is to bring business jet ownership and travel into a more affordable arena.

Head over to Just Flight and be one of the first to own your very own VLJ – Jump in and jet off!

Tu160 "Blackjack" from AlphaSim

Posted: Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 2:14
Sr staff reviewer Gene Davis goes supersonic with the TU160 "Blackjack" from AlphaSim. "The Tu-160 Blackjack from Alphasim is a monster and one can’t help but draw comparisons to that of the B-1B Lancer, in fact, if you put the two aircraft side by side their resemblance is almost uncanny."

"When you get into the plane in either FSX or FS9, you will be a pleasantly surprised at the attention to detail that the developers chose to adhere to when creating this plane. From the engines to the cockpit there is so much to see and the detail is very evident. Once installed you will find three different planes added to your virtual hanger, one being the prototype, another being a real life Russian military paint and the third being a fictional paint that is all in black."

"Climbing into the cockpit of the Tu-160 is a relative culture shock and requires a general understanding of the Russian language as everything is in Russian. This is not really a big issue if you know your way around a cockpit and this not being a complex simulation of the real thing helps immensely. The main 2D panel and its subsequent secondary panels are where you will spend a great deal of time while flying this plane. The virtual cockpit is impressive as all of the gauges have been totally reworked and give off a very authentic flare. Though many of the systems are not accessible from the VC, the critical ones are and it is possible to fly from the virtual view."

"This product comes with both versions for whatever version of Flight Simulator you wish to use. Performance wise the plane was great; I experienced decent frame rates and absolutely no blurry textures during my flight in FSX. In FS9 everything works fine, however with limitations of FS9 and the speed of this aircraft, you tend to notice more scenery blurriness when at the higher speeds and altitudes. The sound is incredible and really adds to the look and feel of this massive plane."

Bringing the Tu160 Blackjack back down to earth, Gene closes with, "I really enjoyed this plane as it adds something to FSX for me besides General Aviation aircraft. The TU160, did not disappoint. This plane has been totally reworked and upgraded to look and perform the part in FSX and even looks better in FS9."

Attn: Freeware Developers

Posted: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 0:20
Do you love developing freeware for FSX? Have you posted items to the AVSIM Library? Then we may have an adventure for you.

Our friends on the Flight Simulator Community team have too many ideas and not enough time to implement them! Want to share your passion? They’re looking for individuals interested in developing aircraft, scenery, and missions for non-profit organizations (such as museums) and for the community itself to enjoy. Ideas being kicked around include historic recreations, ill-fated flights (can you do better?), tests of skill, and plain old fun. Your reward will be your 15 minutes of fame.

If you’re interested in something like this, please forward your name, email address and a short list of items you have developed and published in the past to the Reviews Editor. If you have already submitted your name, I have you on the list and details will be forthcoming.

Civil Air Patrol: Search and Rescue from Abacus

Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - 5:14
New staff reviewer Adam Volcek answers the call of an ELT and takes us for a ride with Abacus' Civil Air Patrol: Search and Rescue. "Abacus has created Civil Air Patrol: Search and Rescue. It is an offshoot of CAP: Pilot released a while back. Civil Air Patrol: Search and Rescue takes the old CAP: Pilot and builds upon it a bit, creating two new aircraft and expanding upon the mission capability."

"The visual model of the Cessna C182T overall isn’t too bad, but it does have some quirks. Some attention was given to detail and many of the antennae and other various protrusions found on the C182T are modeled and look good. As a whole the textures aren’t too bad. Each aircraft comes in two different flavors of CAP paint, one old style that you probably won’t see in very many places, and the new current style that will really catch your eye if you ever see one on your ramp. Each style is done nicely and includes some good detail like the many rivet lines and inspection plates that are found on the real bird. The main panel bitmap has a crude, untextured look to it, with a lot of empty space that could have been better utilized. To get at the rest of the instruments, multiple panels can be brought up with the use of mini-icons. In order to fully enjoy the aircraft you’ll have to fly it in the virtual cockpit that is done a lot better than it’s 2D counterpart."

"The Maule aircraft is famous for it’s STOL capability and the CAP currently has 7 in its inventory. I became very confused as to exactly what aircraft Abacus was trying to simulate. As it stands there is not an MX-260, as Abacus advertises as the model made by Maule, but there is a 260HP version but goes under one of three types. A M-7-260 and M-7-260C, both tail-draggers with the difference being spring aluminum or oleo strut gear, or the tricycle MT-7-260. Looking at the textures, like the model comparison of the C182T and MX-260, the MX-260’s textures are lacking the detail that I observed with the C182T. Unlike the Cessna, the Maule 2D panel is actually flyable for me. It is still far from what I expect from something that I pay for, but after the Cessna panel, you really can only get better."

"If this package has a bright spot, it is with the mission builder and four custom gauges included in the aircraft. One quick disclaimer, which Abacus explains as well, the mission builder does not create missions for use with the built-in mission capability of FSX. It is a WYSIWYG editor that I found to be very intuitive. When you finish up creating the mission you have options to view and print a summary and worksheet to take with you in the simulator, save the flight plan for use with the included GPS and set the conditions for completing the mission. Click the “Fly Now!” button and off you go to find what you just created."

Wrapping up Civil Air Patrol: Search and Rescue, Adam notes, "The only thing that really caused a hit on frame rates was the use of the G1000 Cessna 182T, of which numbers were cut in half. Everything else was right near default aircraft rates, but considering the lack of detail and extensive use of default material this wasn’t a surprise at all. The nicest thing I can seem to say about this product is that it has potential. Fix the small things with the mission editor, renovate the aircraft, and you would have a completely different package that would be worthy of purchase. It wouldn’t hurt to try and integrate the FSX style missions into the product as well."

SimTube.com Announced

Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - 0:01
For the past several months now, a small dedicated team of individuals have been working feverishly on a new conceptual project for the flight simulation community.

SimTube.com is the brainchild of Cason Farmer, and Alexander Barrett, and is a hub for flight simulation videos, video producers, and video enthusiasts, providing a central meeting place to host, showcase, and discuss their niche hobby. The best part? Its free!

Join Cason and Alexander in the excitement over at the SimTube forums. SimTube.com "Where Your Media Takes Flight!"

Wings Of Power B17 Released

Posted: Monday, March 26, 2007 - 20:53
Shockwave Productions has released their latest aircraft, the Wings of POWER II: B17. This model is exclusively for Microsoft Flight Simulator X. Scott Gentile of Shockwave productions goes on to say: "We’ve been looking at this aircraft since last year, and we can’t stop looking at it. The Wings of POWER II: B17 is the result of a hard working, team effort."

To find out more about this latest release, visit the Wings of Power website.

Flight Ontario Release Oakville Freeware Scenery

Posted: Saturday, March 24, 2007 - 17:23
Flight Ontario has announced the release of Oakville Terrain. Oakville terrain is a photo real scenery that covers the most of this Town near the North-West end of Lake Ontario. Some landmarks found in the scenery include the Ford Assembly Plant toward the North-East and the Petro Canada oil refinery in the South-West. Both landmarks are easily noticed as you make a North-East approach to landing at CYYZ. It can be used as a stand alone scenery, or, can be used as an enhancement to our Hamilton and Greater Toronto Area sceneries.

This is a freeware release and can be downloaded from the Avsim File Library. You can also find what else Flight Ontario have available from their own website.

AlphaSim De Havilland Vampire Released

Posted: Saturday, March 24, 2007 - 15:10
The venerable Vampire trainer is recreated for FS9 and FSX in four schemes - an RAF T.11, two Royal Navy T.22's and an Australian T.35 of the Telstars aerobatic team.

The press relesase goes on to say: "Each features a detailed cockpit with matching 2D panel, realistic flight dynamics and some nice special effects in the shape of a multi-stage turbine glow and 2 types of contrail effect. A soundset based on recordings from a real Vampire rounds out a great little package for a great little jet ! The source texture files are also provided for repainters."

This product is for Fs2004 and FSX only. To find out more about this release, visit the Alphasim website.

Dispatch Planner, Now For FSX

Posted: Saturday, March 24, 2007 - 15:02
Dispatch Planner 2.0 is now FSX Compatible. Dispatch Planner has been updated to work with FSX! Customers will now receive both the FS2004 and FSX versions upon purchase. Previous customers are all entitled to a free upgrade to the FSX version. Find out more at Dispatch Planner.

TweakFS Zips You Up

Posted: Saturday, March 24, 2007 - 15:00
The TweakFS Zip Utility (FSX Edition) is a tool for unpacking Zip files downloaded from FS file libraries. It is "FSX aware" and can automatically detect the FSX folder location via the registry. Due to this feature it has several handy folder location presets making it easy to install aircraft, scenery and other add-ons which are distributed in Zip files which include folder path information added by the author, ensuring each file goes in the right location.

The features include Drag and Drop Zip file extraction and creation, graphical tree view of the folder structure within a Zip file, Extracts to any selected location or to special preset FSX folders, Adds comments to Zip files and more. To download the Zip Utility please visit the Freeware Tools menu at TweakFS.

Flight1 Announces C172 For FSX

Posted: Saturday, March 24, 2007 - 14:53
It’s back! Updated for Flight Simulator X and now Vista compatible, the Cessna 172R from Flight1 is ready to again capture the hearts and minds of flight simmers everywhere.To see screen shots, high-resolution images or any further information head over to the Flight1 Website.

France VFR Releases Alpes Nord Video

Posted: Saturday, March 24, 2007 - 14:49
France VFR has just released a FSX video of Flight Alpes Nord. France VFR writes, "This video runs very well under FSX because of scenery optimization. The scenery runs at 50/60 fps with full autogen on a high performance configuration, and the capture with fraps occurs at more than 30 fps, so the video is very smooth." For more information and to see the video, visit France VFR Alpes Nord Video.

CLS Releases DC-10

Posted: Saturday, March 24, 2007 - 14:46
Commercial Level Simulations, CLS, is pleased to announce the release of the long awaited DC10 product. This "triholer" comes with 15 models and over 30 liveries for everyone to enjoy. Not content with just the passenger models, CLS has also provided a wide range of cargo models and even two military variants with their own animated fuel boom and drogues! The exterior and interior model are all modeled with many features.

All models come with Virtual cockpit, 2D panel and wingviews. Opening doors, cargodoors, airstairs, pushbacktruck and many more features! The FDE gives you a realistic feeling of flying the DC10 (or KC10A/KDC10). For more information please visit CLS.

Mission: Blackhawk Released

Posted: Friday, March 23, 2007 - 13:07
Abacus has released its new Mission: Blackhawk for FSX. Mission: Blackhawk is the first add-on in this series in which you'll fly six full-length adventures in the "hawk" set of helicopters: Blackhawk, Pavehawk, Jayhawk and Seahawk. To produce this new add-on, Abacus organized a talented team including Ron Jeffers who is known for his special effects, scenery design and audio skills and Phil Castellanos, a mission expert who has written several well-read tutorials about making FSX missions. Together with other team members Abacus has developed heart-pounding scenarios that take advantage of the FSX's mission building capabilities.

Mission: Blackhawk has the following missions and features: