3D Lights Redux For FS9

Posted: Sunday, February 24, 2008 - 18:36
Shockwave Productions has had a lot of requests to make their 3D Lights program compatible with FS9. Well, they finally figured it out and have re-released this add-on. This package includes new custom effects that install into all Microsoft FS9 aircraft including the older aircraft and the Boeing 777, 737, and 747.

There are over 40 new lighting effects including strobes, beacons, navigation, and runway lights. Fully-realized 3D landing lights actually cast light into space. The MS Acceleration Expansion pack is supported and it installs into all twenty-four Microsoft FSX aircraft or all twenty-seven FS2004 aircraft. Vintage, halogen, and modern xenon lights are included, plus an entire new effects suite which results in a stunningly realistic night time environment. Visit their website for complete details and some great screenshots.

CH-53A Sea Stallion from Alphasim

Posted: Sunday, February 24, 2008 - 1:58
Staff reviewer Brian Smith has his hands and feet full of controls as he takes a look at Alphasim's CH-53A Sea Stallion. "The CH-53 is a fantastic aircraft. If you ever have the opportunity to see one, you should take it. Just the sound of its engines gives you a sense of its power."

"The CH-53A from Alphasim comes with five paint schemes. The exterior textures are clear and well done as is the interior. The crew did an excellent job on the Virtual Cockpit, and it is evident they spent time getting the details right. The 2D panels in Alphasim’s helicopters are very good and are very clear and unobtrusive. The panels maintain a realistic look and feel without being overly complicated."

"I was really impressed with the quality of the sound recording for this product. The engine sounds give you a sense of power that is at your command. I tested the CH-53A at high-altitude in Colorado and found that it performed as expected. I think that Alphasim got it right here as well. The airfile makes it feel massive."

Summing up Alphasim's Ch-53A, Brian closes with, "Alphasim is one of the few developers in the Flight Simulator add-on market that provides quality military titles. Over the years I have purchased a number of payware CH-53 models. This one was definitely among my favorites. it will remain on my hard drive for a long time."

Live For Speed Online Races

Posted: Saturday, February 23, 2008 - 17:11
If you're looking for another genre of simming, there's always the road version. Live For Speed's online racing site has concluded their February race series and there are another 6 races coming up to collect "points" (like in the real racing world) to declare a winner.

After checking out their website, you can register for their next race on March 15. You can browse some screenshots of the last race while investigating this exciting genre of the simming world.

C-130 For FSX Completed

Posted: Saturday, February 23, 2008 - 16:51
Captain Sim announces the release of the Extra Pack II and the Pro Pack for 'C-130 X-perience'. A complete selection of four C-130 Packs is available exclusively at the Captain Sim web site.

ImagineSim Patches

Posted: Friday, February 22, 2008 - 13:13
Patches are now available for all of Imaginesim’s FSX airports. These updates will fix various display errors if you are using FSX with the Acceleration Pack and/or SP2. Full details can be found at ImagineSim.

Abacus New Mission Oriented Series

Posted: Friday, February 22, 2008 - 13:08
Abacus is proud to announce their new Mission Series. Jim Oldfield, Jr. of Abacus writes, "we're introducing "This Mission Series". Each title in the series contains essential elements at a low-price for easy download delivery. The launch title is Battle of Zeebrugge. Use your imagination as we take you back to World War I and the legendary Sopwith Pup. Your mission won't be easy as you'll be facing bombers and fighters in dogfights over the water." For more information on this and other missions, visit Abacus.

Round The World Race, New Champion

Posted: Friday, February 22, 2008 - 13:03
Once again this year three teams took to the virtual skies for the coveted title of Round The World Race Champion. Three teams gave it their all and went round the world one more time!

Matt Smith of the Race Committee writes, "It is my pleasure to announce the results of the 2008 RTW Race. In First Place: Sim-Outhouse. Second Place: Avsim. Third Place: Flightsim Congratulations to SOH, who have for the first time taken the "Tornado Trophy." This year's race was another very close contest. Congratulations to everyone who participated."

For more information, visit the Race Forums right here on AVSIM.

New From Golden Age Simulations

Posted: Thursday, February 21, 2008 - 12:12
Golden Age Simulations once again brings history to life with the release of their all new WACO F/F2 package for both FS9 and FSX. Relive the 1930's with three great models of this classic biplane. Featuring a fully functional virtual cockpit, unique sound package and detailed external texture's, this is sure to be a must have addition for your personel hanger. For additional information including screenshots, please visit Golden Age Simulations for more details.

First IVAO Real Flights Event of 2008

Posted: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 - 18:18
IVAO is please to announce the first Real Flights Event of 2008. Zurich – Kloten (LSZH) has been chosen as the host division by IVAO membership. The event is aimed at all members by offering a mix of both short and long haul flying and over 300 flights from which to choose. The popular Real Flights Event – now in its second year – has been designed to reproduce real world movements at the host airport during the given time slot. Full Air Traffic Control services will be provided at the host airport as well as nearby airfields and nearby Flight Information Regions in France, Germany, and the Netherlands to name a few. The Swiss division and IVAO would like to invite you to join them in flying on the 24th February 2008 – details can be found at IVAO

VeniceX from Aerosoft

Posted: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 - 3:10
Staff reviewer Allen Lavigne heads across the pond to review Aerosoft's VeniceX. "Did you know that Venice was built on 117 small islands, many of which are artificial? Being a walking and boating city, there is scant room for cars and even the public transit uses water buses."

"There are two custom airports included in this package: Teressa (LIPZ) is the main local airport, and San Nicolo (LIPV), a small island airport south of the city. It is suggested to approach Teressa via the Alps which are a visual treat in themselves, then to hop over to San Nicolo using your general aviation favorite."

" LIPZ is a package in itself with local terrain made from satellite imagery, this nice airport makes for a fine destination. LIPV is a smaller airport and has a tower, so you may want to follow procedures for a visual approach according to the supplied charts. The runway is grass and makes for a rough landing and bumpy when taxiing, but it is worth visiting."

Concluding his tour of VeniceX, Allen closes with, "This must be one of the more impressive packages I’ve reviewed lately. Covering the entire island areas of Venice, this was indeed a lot of work on the part of Aerosoft. The main airport is practical and makes for an interesting destination when flying around the European continent. This is indeed a work of art, as is the real Venice."

A-6E & EA-6B from Alphasim

Posted: Saturday, February 16, 2008 - 19:28
Senior contributing reviewer Alexis Esguerra takes a look at one of this Editor's favourite military aircraft, the A-6E Intruder and EA-6B Prowler from Alphasim. "They were a pair of naval warplanes born in the sixties, and yet to this day, they both remain pinnacle examples of their respective types. One maintains the bragging rights of being able to carry the heaviest weapon load off the deck of an aircraft carrier, while the other outlasted it’s competition to remain one of the military’s primary platform for its specialized kind of warfare."

"The base packs give numerous variations and appearances for both planes, and an available Expansion Pack exists for A-6E. They are based off of actual squadrons and equipment/weapon loadouts for each aircraft. With each base pack containing six differing variations apiece, there are certainly enough different Intruders & Prowlers to keep most simmers happy, and the existence of the Expansion pack with its additional five A-6s is surely a bonus for die-hard Intruder fans."

"Detailwise, both Intruder and Prowler are on par. All major components are present, and are nicely rendered. The exterior textures are well weathered as well; considering most of these planes are twice old enough to vote and the harsh sea environment they were built to work from, the highly-used look works well. me can be said for the weapons and external tanks when they happen to be attached."

"Visually, the VC cockpits for both aircraft nail down the general appearance of each plane in question. 2D-wise, I have no up-close reference material, but the panels do reflect the general feel of a plane from the late 60’s / early 70’s. Animations and special effects are also present here for both aircraft. The screenshots shows the good share of animations that are present, namely folding wings, opening canopy, and extending panels for the steps."

Summing up his checkride of these two military aircraft, Alexis comments, "there is little doubt in this reviewer’s mind that Alphasim’s A-6E and EA-6B are perhaps the best representations of both types out there on the market. Assuming you are a die-hard aficionado of these two types, then I would wholly endorse the A-6E and EA-6B. They are excellent in external appearance and flight modeling (once the weights are tweaked), which to me are the prime requisites for any add-on I might purchase."

Flight1 Euro X

Posted: Saturday, February 16, 2008 - 1:52
Flight One Software, in cooperation with Scenery Solutions, is excited to announce the immediate availability of one of their most anticipated titles: Ultimate Terrain X - Europe for Microsoft Flight Simulator X.

Ultimate Terrain X - Europe has been designed from the ground up to take advantage of new technologies in FSX, and provide you with an amazing depth of features that will give you a much deeper experience flying in FSX.

The following countries are included: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.

Ultimate Terrain X features nearly all roads of Europe (with all major roads having moving traffic), several times the numbers of bridge objects (over 250,000), Highways, Roads, Streets, interchanges, two-way road traffic (even on undivided roads), roundabouts, landclass, waterclass, shorelines, coastlines, beaches, rivers, streams, Ultimate Terrains unique night lighting, railroads, specialized land textures, plus a lot more!

The beginner can jump right in after installation and start flying the new FSX world. Or if you are an advanced user, you can manipulate or tweak almost ever element via the Ultimate Terrain X Configuration utility. For more information, visit the Ultimate Terrain X - Europe Product Page.

Aerosoft "Brakes" For You

Posted: Friday, February 15, 2008 - 22:09
Aerosoft has announced their TSR Autobrake software. Aerosoft writes, "TSR Autobrake is an external program that connects to the Flight Simulator through FSUIPC and is a close simulation of the actual Autobrake systems found in all large aircraft. It knows about the runway condition by reading the weather and will make all braking distances fully realistic while giving the pilot the feedback of a slippery runway when that is appropriate."

TSR Autobrake features; default settings for B747, B737, B777 and all airbus aircraft, but adaptable for ANY aircraft, weather and runway conditions will affect braking performance and can cause skidding, and full modeling of brake pressure. For more information, head over to the Aerosoft TSR Autobrake page.

Space Shuttle Mission 2007™; TrackIR Support

Posted: Friday, February 15, 2008 - 18:33
Exciting Simulations is delighted to announce that with the release of Service Pack 1.21, Space Shuttle Mission 2007 now offers full TrackIR support. TrackIR is active in the Space Shuttle 3D Virtual Flight Deck and in the EVA First Person View which allows you to control Astronauts during their Extra Vehicular operations. You can find more information about TrackIR at the official NaturalPoint website.

Ellie Systems Releases Boeing-Style EADI

Posted: Friday, February 15, 2008 - 5:46
Ellie Systems releases it’s first of many Glass-Cockpit displays – the Boeing-Style EADI. Taking "Attitude" awareness to the next level, the new EADI features user-configurable options along with FSUIPC/WideFS compatibility to satisfy the casual user and purist alike.

“The glass flight deck market is ripe for a new player in the field” states Ray Sotkiewicz, co-owner of Ellie Systems. “Flight simmers are hungry for a high-fidelity, high-performance solution that is easy on the pocketbook and easy to work with.” The gauges are based on the rock-solid FreeFD codebase originally authored by Ellie Systems co-owner Don Lafontaine. They are surprisingly easy to install and configure, with fluid performance even on lower-end Windows 98 & Windows ME systems, up through Windows Vista.

2 New Patches from CLS

Posted: Friday, February 15, 2008 - 5:23
CLS is pleased to release 2 new patches for FSX Sp2 and Acceleration. Both the Business Jet and the A330/A340 are now compatible. For download information please have a look their website.

ARNZX Is Throwing A Party

Posted: Thursday, February 14, 2008 - 12:20
ARNZX, New Zealand's only forum community dedicated to FSX users, is celebrating reaching over 10,000 post. To get the party started, they are giving away two high detail aircraft models, the RNZAF 757 and the Pacific Blue 737-800 courtesy of SkyHigh Models, along with two copies of FSX Acceleration. So please join them in the celebration and perhaps pick up some great prizes while doing so.

Alpha India Group Grand Opening

Posted: Thursday, February 14, 2008 - 12:15
Valentine's Day brings us the grand opening of the Alpha India Group. They are a group of flight simulator enthusiat who share a common desire to put the fun back into AI traffic. They currently have several projects in the works and invite everyone to visit thier new website and check out the latest in their forums.

Flight1 Release Ground Environment X Enhanced - USA and Canada

Posted: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 20:56
Flight1 has released a new version of Ground Environment X - USA and Canada. This new version is the most refined version to date. Along with all the previous features, there these enhanced features:

- Textures have been enhanced to provide even more texture clarity.
- Enhancements to produce simulated 3D depth in texture foliage.
- New winter textures which display vegetation within the snow.
- Better season blend so seasons such as fall fade into winter and blend naturally.
- Enhanced color processing which upgrades all seasons.
- Enriched desert and flatland details, no more bland yellow deserts or flatlands.
- Structured texture layout to assist in covering all major landclass products.
- Special features for Ultimate Terrain X USA and Canada Customers.
- Completely redesigned night lighting environment.

This version is FREE to all previous Ground Environment X - USA and Canada customers, for more information, please visit Ground Environment X Enhanced - USA and Canada

The Library Team Needs You!

Posted: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 15:37
The strong and ever growing AVSIM family would like to thank you for allowing us to serve you. With the new and exciting server upgrades right around the corner, the library would like to mark the beginning of a new chapter with more staff. We are looking for one or two additional library managers that will work on a volunteer basis. An understanding of web operations and e-mail are a requirement. If you have applied for this position before in the past, please resubmit as your e-mail may have been lost in a system format. Please e-mail Chase Kreznor, Library Director, with some general background information of yourself and your experience. Thank you for your time and consideration.