TweakFS Releases Freeware Aircraft CFG Editor

Posted: Saturday, May 26, 2007 - 3:50

TweakFS has just added a new utility to its growing collection of freeware tools for FSX. This latest release is a simple, no-fills editor for direct editing of FSX Aircraft.CFG files.

It is designed for when you want to make quick changes to a particular Aircraft.CFG file and avoids the need for searching for it as it automatically recognizes the FSX SimObjects folder via the Windows Registry. It displays all of the Aircraft.CFG file sections in an easy-to-navigate tree menu structure.

To download a copy please see the TweakFS Freeware Tools banner.

CYAM Released By CanUk

Posted: Saturday, May 26, 2007 - 3:45
CanUk, in association with Flight Ontario, has released CYAM (Sault Ste. Marie) Airport for FS2004.
Other CanUk sceneries are available in the Avsim Library or you can visit CanUk's website

New GoFlight modules on final approach to Avsim Store

Posted: Friday, May 25, 2007 - 22:46

Check out the two new GoFlight modules arriving in a few weeks in the Avsim Store.
The Single Engine Control Module (SECM) gives you direct control over aircraft lighting, cowl-flaps, fuel pump, carb heat, and other items. The new Throttle-Prop-Mixture (TPM) module finally gives those Cessna and Bonanza pilots the push/pull controls controls for their power levers. Get your preorder in today at the Avsim Store.

Cincinnati from ImagineSim

Posted: Friday, May 25, 2007 - 3:06
Senior staff reviewer Alexis Esguerra tours ImagineSim's Cincinnati-North Kentucky International Airport. "Famed moonwalker Neil Armstrong once referred to the ICAO code of Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky as meaning “Cincinnati Very Good”. It has consistently rated quite highly in numerous independent customer surveys over the years, serves as Delta Airlines second largest hub, and currently runs better than 500 flights per day."

"The airport itself is brought to current standards in both FS9 and FSX; updated to reflect the appearance of the airport circa late-2006. Three terminals along with three concourses, forming the basic meat and potatoes of the airport, are present; as are the numerous outlying tenant and airport structures and aircraft plots. The scenery also includes the basic set of aircraft (big surprise that the majority are in Delta colors), ground equipment, and the occasional ramper hanging out on the tarmac, adding the general populated feel to the field. Standard flair of animated jet bridges, guidance signs, marshallers, and ground traffic are present (the first three at specific locations), either further lending some credence to the operational appearance of the field, or helping the virtual pilot get to where he/she needs to go."

"Which one is better, FS9, or FSX? At first glance, I might’ve said neither; ImagineSim did use the same textures for both renditions, so when you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. In many respects, both FS9 and FSX get a badly needed shot in the arm from the installation of KCVG. Be you a die-hard FS9 user, or a hardcore FSX user, KCVG has something in store for you."

Wrapping up this tour of ImagineSim's Cincinnati, Alexis comments, "When boiled down to its essentials, I found that KCVG performed as advertised. After all, it is a scenery package that was designed to bring its subject to a whole new level of realism, and from what I saw, there’s no question that it did so. Given its merits, KCVG stands well on it’s own two feet, both FS9 and FSX."

FScene4X Asia Now Available!

Posted: Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 19:27

FScene just released their latest scenery enhancement for FSX, FScene4X Asia. This release includes over 3000 new textures, and replaces all four seasons. This new package takes advantage of the improvements that FSX offers to deliver realistic textures with adjusted autogen, all without affecting performance.

Ruud Faber explained that "If you still wish to use FS2004... the complete set for use in FS9 is included as a bonus", which includes 1700 new textures at no additional cost.

More information about FScene4X Asia can be found on the FScene website here

Alphasim Releases CF-105 Arrow

Posted: Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 18:58
AlphaSim announced today that their latest military release, the CF-105 Arrow is now available for both FS9 and FSX. The product features a working bomb bay with swing-out AA missiles, dynamic crew hatches, spoilers and afterburner petals. It also includes a thunderous soundset, and a package of special effects that include smoke, vortices and vapor flashovers.

For more information, or to purchase the Arrow, visit the AlphaSim website by clicking here .

Microsoft and AVSIM Issue Joint Statement - FANCON!

Posted: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 23:10
The Microsoft Flight Simulator Team and AVSIM Online are pleased to announce the co-sponsoring of what may well be this year's largest Flight Simulation gathering! "The goal of our partnership is to provide a venue that will host an unprecedented number of Flight Sim add-on and hardware vendors," says Brett Schnepf, Community and Partner Development Manager for the Microsoft ACES Studio. We want to give FANCON attendees the widest possible range of add-ons and hardware to check out. In other words: many shiny objects to play with!"

The AVSIM Flight Simulation Fan Convention and Exhibition (FANCON 2007) will start Friday afternoon November 9th with the traditional informal AVSIM FANCON social. The event will continue on Saturday with exhibitions, white paper sessions, and the Saturday night Awards Banquet. The Awards Banquet will include a special key note speaker, as well as the traditional AVSIM Bravo Zulu and Reader's Choice award presentations. Sunday will see more exhibitions and white papers.

Flight simulation enthusiasts from around the world will be in attendance, so here's your chance to finally meet the people behind all those voices and forum posts. Register for this memorable event today!

ACLoader 4.3 Released!

Posted: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 1:22
Scott Campbell of FlightSim Flight Deck has announced the release of ACLoader: Aircraft Loader & Revenue, version 4.3. Scott goes on to say: "With a new Flight Simulator comes an update of the popular program. ACLoader is used to load and balance any airliner, cargo or GA aircraft for FS2002, FS2004-ACOF and FSX. Version 4.3 has been updated to work with FSX and has some other fixes to 4.2. Weight, balance and fuel use have been better calculated."

Older features have been enhanced and updated. An updated manual has also been written. This update is free to version 4 owners. To get more information about ACLoader 4.3, please visit the ACLoader website.

New Delco Carousel IV-A INS Gauge

Posted: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 1:18
Version 1.50 of the Delco Carousel IV-A Inertial Navigation System Gauges for Microsoft Flight Simulator X, 2004 and 2002 are now available for download. There are numerous improvements and additions to this guage, and it is now possible to save INS state and reload it at a later time, making possible to split a flight into two or more FS sessions. For more information about this gauge, visit the Simufly website.

Patch Available For Condor Simulator

Posted: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 1:13
Patch 11 and Plane Pack 1 are now available for Condor the Competition Soaring Simulator. The Plane Pack 1 brings 5 brand new gliders across 3 glider classes : ASG-29, Ventus-2cx, LS-10, Jantar 2b and PW-5. The Patch 11 is mainly a maintenance related update aiming at making Condor better compatible with Windows Vista operating system. The Condor Scenery Toolkit has been updated to v1.0.1 for use with the latest Condor version v1.1.1. For more information, please visit the Condor Soaring Sim website.

Majestic Software FSX Patch

Posted: Monday, May 21, 2007 - 18:28
Majestic Software would like to announce a free FSX patch for the MJC 8 Q300 is now ready and can be downloaded from the resources section HERE This patch is for the PRO and PILOT versions of the MJC 8 Q300, the patch as well will update the FMS Database. For the FS9 users there is an extra zip file published, containing just the FMS database update.

Traffic PlusPak: Military 2 / Airliner 1 from Just Flight

Posted: Monday, May 21, 2007 - 17:28
Senior staff reviewer Gene Davis makes the crowded skies even busier with Just Flight's Traffic Plus Pack - Military 2 and Jet Airliners 1. "Traffic, traffic and more traffic! When does enough become enough?"

"I use Traffic 2005, now just called Traffic, with both FS9 and FSX so if you read my last review about the Military 1 package there are some steps that have to be taken to make the AI work within FSX; FS9 is straightforward and works flawlessly!"

"The included military aircraft are: C17 Globemaster, VC10 Tanker, IL 76, Tornado F3/ADV, F-16, SU27, Euro fighter Typhoon, 2 versions of the C130, and the AS365 Dauphin Helicopter. This is a pretty good list as it adds the much needed transports to the virtual world of Traffic as well as throwing in some other varieties when it comes to fighters and such. All of the aircraft have some sort of 3D animation. I was also impressed that the fighters no longer fly alone; they fly in formation with other fighters."

"The included Jet Airliners are: Boeing 737-500, 737-600 & -700 NG and the -700 with winglets, 757-300, 777-300, 727-100, 747 SP, EMB 170/5, Tri-Star 500 and finally the MD-90. Along with liveries for already existing airlines, this package ships with 25 new airlines from all over the world. This gives the user a grand total of about 100 different aircraft to use for your AI fleet."

"The planes in these packages were created using GMAX, which ultimately gives the end user a frame rate friendly and moderately detailed aircraft to view. The aircraft themselves are not on the same level of quality as say a flyable commercial product, but they do perform well and do fit the bill when it comes to filling the virtual skies with AI planes. One could only imagine the performance hit we would have if we had our virtual skies filled with highly detailed AI aircraft."

"Do I like Just Flight's Traffic Plus Pack - Military 2 and Jet Airliners 1? Yes, they offer a lot to an already well rounded AI add-on. Whether you choose to use Traffic, or use something other than Traffic, these aircraft are very easy to implement in whatever kind of setup you are using. If you are looking for a quick and easy way to add more AI to your Flight Simulator world, this is an easy way to go about it. These two add-ons, coupled with the Traffic compiler, makes it very simple."

IVAO Releases Update, IvAp v1.9.2

Posted: Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 18:42
Announced today the IVAO Software Development Department Releases Update, IvAp v1.9.2 IVAO-Aero's Pilot Client, for FSX with Sp 1. With this new update, IvAp fully supports enhanced FSX features like cockpit sharing, missions when flying on the IVAO-AERO network.Other maintenance updates are also included, like gear position, full screen mode, improvements to weather generation, and the MTL aircraft. For more information and to download this new update, you're cleared direct to the IVAO Software Development Department.

VOZ Powered News (VPN)

Posted: Sunday, May 20, 2007 - 1:34
The VOZ team is proud to announce VOZ Powered News (VPN), an e-newsletter for Australian flight simulation users. VPN is a subscription-based newsletter for the 300,000 strong VOZ freeware user community worldwide. Each issue will contain the best snippets of information from the VOZ forums, plus interviews, tips, guides, screenshots, reviews, VA updates, flight departures and much much more. Issue one is now available and subscription is 100% free at HERE.

GoFlight Announce New GA Modules

Posted: Saturday, May 19, 2007 - 15:33
GoFlight announced today two new modules for single engine home cockpit builders. Orders for the "GF-TPM" (Throttle-Pitch-Mixture) module and the "SECM" (Single Engine Control Module) are being taken and shipment of both products will start at the end of May. For more information, you're cleared direct to the GoFlight website.

SceneryTech Updates North American Landclass

Posted: Saturday, May 19, 2007 - 15:19
SceneryTech has released an update for their North America Landclass (version 1.1) which improves the appearance of mountains and canyons by utilizing rocky textures on steep slopes. This update is free for existing North America Landclass customers. This update and accompanying screenshots can be found at SceneryTech's website.

SkyUnlimited Returns To CFS 3

Posted: Saturday, May 19, 2007 - 7:25
SkyUnlimited is proud to announce its return to Combat Flight Simulator 3 with the release of Legacy of the Sky: Hurricane Fighters of WWII. Included in this package are nine variants of the Hurricane ranging from the early Mk.I through the Mk.IID. The feature the full range of CFS 3 features including bullet holes and breaking parts, as well as custom payloads. For more information, please set your course to the SkyUnlimited website.

Century Triden Autopilot from Flight 1

Posted: Saturday, May 19, 2007 - 2:34
Senior staff reviewer Bert Pieke becomes a cockpit mechanic as he replaces various gauges in his aircraft with Flight 1's Century Triden Autopilot flight control system. "The Century Triden AP system includes the Triden AP with vertical speed, alt hold, approach, nav, hdg, flight director and yaw damper modes. In addition to the Autopilot, the TRIDEN Automatic Flight Control System includes the Century NSD-1000 HSI, Century ADI w/FD and the Century GPSS/HDG switch, plus an Altitude Preselect and Alerter."

"You essentially pick those gauges you want removed from the panel (here the ADI, HSI, ADF, Alerter, and GPS switch) and after deleting them, you pick the gauges from the menu in the screen and drag them to the positions where you want them displayed. Then, while holding the Ctrl-key down, you can use the mouse to stretch the gauges to their final dimensions."

"Flying with the Triden autopilot is a treat. It feels like you’ve just spent a bundle to upgrade your GA avionics to a high-end set, costing 10’s of thousands of dollars more. The autopilot gauge has all the buttons conveniently located around a screen that indicates the “soft buttons” to push, and if you are used to having to switch to the radio stack to access the autopilot, you can now position the autopilot right on the main panel, in most cases."

"This is a high function gauge set that will appeal to real world pilots who are familiar with the Century product line (or those who would like to explore this set of gauges). It is professionally put together and is very satisfying when used as intended," say Bert about the Century Triden Autopilot, "if you carefully select your aircraft for this “avionics upgrade”, you can end up with a great looking and very satisfying result."

American Topgun Challenge

Posted: Saturday, May 19, 2007 - 1:41
Seeking to build the first multi-entertainment platform experience of its kind, Microsoft and ATG have created a unique partnership. Virtual pilots from around the world will have the opportunity to compete using Flight Simulator X to win a spot on a TV reality show code-named “American Topgun Challenge.”

Emmy Award-winning New Screen Concepts (producers of ABC’s highly successful “Extreme Makeover”series) and ATG recently announced that a deal has been reached between the two production companies to work together to produce the show. To find out more about this ground breaking event, visit the FSInsider Website.

Just Flight Mondays

Posted: Saturday, May 19, 2007 - 0:53
There's not much to celebrate about the average Monday, but Monday May 21st is something special. It's the day when Just Flight has something special for our readers from 09:00 UK time on Monday to 09:00 Tuesday. Be sure to check their website each Monday.