TweakFS Releases Freeware FSX Config Editor

Posted: Sunday, April 15, 2007 - 15:02
TweakFS has just announced the release of a new tool in its growing collection of freeware applications. The FSX Config editor is there to help you answer one of simmers most frequently asked questions: "Where is my FSX.cfg file?". The FSX Config editor is able to automatically locate your FSX.cfg file, and load it's information in a graphical menu for easy viewing and editing. For more information, visit the TweakFS Website HERE , then click on the 'Freeware Tools' banner.

FlyTampa Release St. Maarten, St Barts & Saba Scenery

Posted: Sunday, April 15, 2007 - 12:18
FlyTampa have just announced the release of their new St. Maarten (TNCM), St. Barts (TFFJ) and Saba (SABA/TNCS) scenery for FS2004. The scenery boasts impressive features such as 3 islands covered with photoreal scenery, custom autogen and mesh, even animated AI ships and cars. Maho beach (St. Maarten approach) also has added detail, and you can buy St. Maarten as a stand-alone product. For more information, visit The FlyTampa Website Here

Seneca V from FSD International

Posted: Sunday, April 15, 2007 - 6:41
Staff reviewer Adam Volcek takes FSD International's Seneca V out for a trial flight. "The Seneca V has been Piper’s personal/business twin for a decade now. It is now one of the few production light twins available and the only US production aircraft with counter-rotating propellers."

"The external model is immaculate, with finely detailed parts and a plethora of animated ones. The cockpit and cabin are superbly done and the detail on the outside is mirrored on the inside. There was no holding back and the extreme detail in things such as hinges and latches, which actually move when the doors are opened, proves that a lot of time was spent on the model."

"There are two options for the panel. First is with the old standard steam type instruments, and the second is the new glass cockpit version equipped with the Avidyne Entegra Flight Deck. Both panels are an excellent representation of its real world counterpart. Even the color of the panel has been recreated. The placement of the instruments has been done nearly identical to where it is located on the real airplane."

"Working at an airport, I have heard several Seneca’s and the sounds included by FSD have a familiar tone to them. While most of those that I have heard have been older models, it doesn’t matter much since all Seneca’s are essentially the same. The sounds are very representative and give an excellent feel for the light twin."

Summing up his review of FSD International's Seneca V, Adam closes with, "Overall, I found the Piper Seneca V v2 by FSD International a very pleasing experience. The airplane is an awesome light twin with decent performance and good handling, and the panel made flying a pleasure in both VMC and IMC. If light twins are your cup of tea, it’s well worth the money."

France VFR Releases Guadeloupe

Posted: Saturday, April 14, 2007 - 16:52
France VFR is proud to announce their new photoreal islands scenery of La Guadeloupe. The scenery covers the La Guadeloupe islands (La Guadeloupe, Les Saintes, La Désirade, Petite Terre and Marie-Galante) with photorealistic textures, including a full and specific autogen coverage. The six airports provided (TFFR Pointe A Pitre - Le Raizet, TFFB Basse Terre - Baillif, TFFC St-François, TFFS Les Saintes – Terre De Haut, TFFA La Désirade – Grande Anse, TFFM Marie-Galante) include detailed buildings with night textures and a realistic AI traffic based on real aircraft and liveries.

Their goal during the development of this product was to recreate a realistic flying experience from the pilot's point of view. - Full photoscenery 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. - Ground textures are summer only. - Custom and very high resolution mesh for the whole region (LOD11). - Watercoast faithfully represented and optimized with coast flattening (no water “climbing”). - 6 detailed airports including night textures. - Many standard 3D objects. - Full and realistic commercial AI Traffic based on real models and liveries. - Full AI Trafic compatibility with others Antilles sceneries (St-Maarten – St-Barthelemy, Martinique…). - Extremely precise geo-referenced texture positioning, ensuring a maximal compatibility with scenery add-ons for this region. - Comprehensive SIA VAC maps.

Complete information with screenshots and videos can be found at the France VFR website. (Note: site is in French but easy to navigate)

T37 "Tweet" from microSimulator

Posted: Saturday, April 14, 2007 - 3:52
New staff reviewer Michael "DocW" Wehner submits his first review with a look at microSimulator's T37 "Tweet". "The Cessna T37 is a basic side-by-side USAF trainer that entered service in 1956 with the T37-A model. Microsim’s T37 features the “T” (training) variants 37A and the 37C."

"The aircraft comes with 11 liveries. All textures are photorealistic with readable decals. Some are highly reflective with impressive effects. The 3D model is up to date and features rotating fan blades and moving trim tabs. The gear has hoses and the gear wells are textured inside. The underside of the speed brake is also textured. The overall appearance is pleasant and will almost certainly draw some muttered “wow” comments from the user."

"Every switch is clickable in the 2D cockpit and in the 3D cockpit as well. Working switch caps are modelled. All levers and instruments are 3D. All of the instrument's textures are crisp and highly readable. The panels and levers are appropriately weathered and add a lot to the immersion of sitting in a heavily used air force trainer. The 2D panel has a sound 3D appearance. As you can guess by the described quality of the VC, it fell short of nothing. The model installs with 79 sound files. The T37 had a deafening, annoying high-pitch engine noise which gave her the nickname “Tweety bird”."

"The plane feels exactly like an agile little jet trainer with muscle powered flight controls and comparatively weak turbines. Once everything has spooled up, it’s a joy to fly. Flying approaches by the book is very satisfying with this plane, especially at night." Wrapping up this review of microSimulator's T37, Michael concludes, "microSim’s T37 appears to be quite a unique blend between shear, glowing enthusiasm and professionalism. It has an outstanding manual and a very detailed plane with a high immersion factor. I am quite sure I will be flying it for some time in the future."

Lionheart Creations Bugatti Air Racer Gamepack

Posted: Saturday, April 14, 2007 - 1:01
This is a large gamepack based on the famous high-technology air racer prototype that was to compete against the Germans in the European air races in the early 1930's.

This gamepack comes with the wild Bugatti air racer which has many animations including a lifting cowling that sports the view of the dual supercharged Formula One Grand Prix race engines, specially cast in Magnesium for lightness, compressed neatly in the folds of the spear shaped fuselage. There is also a variant done of the P-110, which was the Military French airforce version that would have been born of this sleek air racer, as the French government had seen this as a very plausible fighter for the defense of France.

The gamepack also comes with a series of various air racers, each representing famous planes of the air racing era, and each also sporting virtual cockpits, enabling people to play the gamepack online in various choices of air racers.

To 'add' to the already growing package, is a fictional 'what if....' Bugatti of the future, a classic Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantique Coupe sports car, another classic, the Type 35 SC Compressuer Grand Prix Formula One sports car that won Bugatti to emmediate racing fame. And lastly, there are three scenery packages. One being a classic vintage fictional airfield in Southern France near the Bugatti residence. The airfield is complete with two tall red and white checkered pylons. There is also a remake of the Bugatti mantion estate in Alsace France, of which you can drive to down the road from the airfield, and the third is a vacation home on a mountain near Cannes France on the Southern Riviera coastline.

Lastly, there is a set of adventures to captivate one into the era of a fictional air racing pilot hired from America that comes to France to work for Bugatti as a test pilot of the aircraft, of which the fictional saga goes from there.

This gamepack is for Flight Simulator FS2004. For more information on the gamepack and to see a mini movie of it, visit the Lionheart Creations website.

Aerosoft Releases Monaco X

Posted: Saturday, April 14, 2007 - 0:50
If there was one product Aerosoft wanted to upgrade to FSX, it was the Monaco scenery as they knew it was perfectly suitable for FSX with the new shadows, better water effects and a LOT better helicopter flight models.

Well, it took them a while but it is done. Not only did Matt do a great job in getting it transported to FSX, but they made sure it takes full advantage of the new things FSX has to offer. So you will seen flocks of seagull on the coast (better take care not to hit those) and there are missions with full audio ATC!

Other features in the product include: Monaco/Fontvielle Heliport (LNMC )in greater detail; a Helideck on the Lady Moira, one of the biggest yachts in the world; good attention to framerates (but it IS a dense and complex scenery); Animated seagulls over the harbor; lots of ship traffic all around; and a manual in French and English, with charts.

For complete details about the release and information on acquiring the upgrade from your previous version, visit Aerosoft's webpage.

Project Open Sky Rolls Out 747v4

Posted: Friday, April 13, 2007 - 17:02
The Project Open Sky team announced it has released the "747v4" series of its 747-100/200 aircraft appropriately dubbed "Sunrise of the Wide Body era." Both models are for FS2004 and are available in passenger configuration only with numerous international liveries.

Project Open Sky formed in November 2000 and released its first version of the 747 in January 2001.

For more information and to download this freeware aircraft, please visit the Project Open Sky website.

MD-11 from Sky Simulations

Posted: Friday, April 13, 2007 - 2:00
Staff reviewer Robert Mariani fly an old favourite with Sky Simulations' MD-11. "Sky Simulations is a new company on the Flight Sim developers scene, yet the people behind it have been around for a while. They have produced the Boeing 717, as well as a freeware Boeing 727 and were part of the Vans Air Co. which made the MD-80 series of payware aircraft a while back."

Inside, "The overhead and the interior of the VC are modeled very nicely and if you like to press the buttons and pull the switches, as well as to look at various messages that are subsequently displayed on the EICAS, you are in for a treat. Lots of things happen automatically though, so for those of you who are less technically inclined, the venerable Ctrl-E still functions well. The 2D panel is done nicely and includes several sub-panels such as throttles, full overhead, primary instruments zoom panel, and several other pop-ups. The other interesting implementation is the Primary Flight Display with very smooth movement of the artificial horizon and speed and altitude tapes."

On the outside, "In this area this plane shines in all of its glory. Everything that should move or twist does so very nicely, and the service vehicle animations are smooth and very well done. The trucks and loaders don’t just appear from nowhere. Rather, they drive up from the side or behind the airplane." And for the sounds, "In addition to the engine sounds, you’ll hear the whole GPWS, whoop-whoop alarms and bells, together with that stern mechanical female voice that warns you about the take off configuration and other no-no’s."

Summing up Sky Simulations' MD-11 Robert says, "This MD-11 is a wonderful looking aircraft, with lots of potential to be an overall excellent add-on. However, the plane still lacks the essential tutorial on flight operations, adequate flight model, and a better FMC to justify its premium price. Hopefully, this MD-11 will continue to mature as well as its counterpart in the real world, and offer the simulation fans more improvements and lots of reliable and enjoying flights in the future."

FFS Is Closing Its Doors

Posted: Thursday, April 12, 2007 - 14:28
Flight Factory-Simulations sadly announces it will be closing its doors. This is due to the lack of time commitments that their personnel have as well as other reasons beyond their control. FFS would like to thank all their customers for their patronage over the past few years.

FFS recommendeds that if you need a backup copy of any software, you should log into your account and download them in order to save them to a backup source. They have reset all download counters so that you can download your products.

FSX SP1 To Take Advantage Of Multi-Core Support

Posted: Thursday, April 12, 2007 - 1:20
On the day Intel Corporation introduced its Core™ 2 Extreme processor QX6800, the company's twelfth quad-core processor offering, ACES' Phil Taylor announced the FSX Service Pack 1 (SP1), due out later this month, is expected to take full advantage of multi-core support.

According to Taylor's blog, "Our multi-core support will take advantage of both two and four cores today and more cores in the future when they become available via a config setting. This is for both Intel and AMD processors." Taylor added that single core users will also see performance improvements with the release of SP1.

For more information and discussion on the upcoming SP1, please visit the AVSIM FSX Forum.

Wilco/feelThere.com Airbus Series Vol.1

Posted: Thursday, April 12, 2007 - 1:07
Airbus Series Vol.1 (A318 - A319 - A320 - A321 - ACJ) is now available as Regular and Deluxe DVD-ROM versions. With advanced functionalities such as user selectable difficulty level, Flight Simulator X viewpoints, Fuel Planner & Load Editor, the Airbus Series Vol.1 features the most recent aircraft technology along with all systems simulation and a complete flight computer. Fly over to the Wilco Publishing website for all the details.

Carenado Website Redesigned

Posted: Thursday, April 12, 2007 - 1:02
Carenado announces that it has redesigned its website and allows an easier navigation through it. The new design presents a different picture of their s aircraft every time you enter the site. Each picture was taken from within flight simulator. Carenado invites the FS community to take a look at it.

Seev Kahn Has Passed Away

Posted: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - 22:53
Seev Kahn was the creator of many Israeli scenery files, the RWY12 ObjectPlacer software and many object libraries. Seev was also a very creative cockpit builder who amazed us with his inventions and unique ideas. A thorough, dedicated, honourable person who will be sorely missed by his family, his friends and the flightsim community. Have a look at what is available of Seev right here at AVSIM or visit the RWY12 website.

FlightSim Commander Upgrades To V8.1

Posted: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - 12:14
Sascha Felix and Volker Heine have just released version 8.1 of FlightSim Commander. Some of the new features are:

- Extended IVAO and VATSIM support
- Connection to IVAO Teamspeak server
- Start parameters for FS 2004 and FSX

The list goes on, make sure you have version 8.0 properly installed in order to use the upgrade file. For more information you can visit the FlightSim Commander website.

XClass Australia & Canada from FSCloud9

Posted: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - 2:03
FSCloud9 covers Australia and Canada with their XClass series, and staff reviewer Fred Clark covers these releases. "What the X-Class series does is “render a better visualization…of the terrain making it more close to reality…adding many more small urban areas and recreates more faithfully the big urban areas”"

"After an hour or so over an area, the change was noticeable. In particular the industrial zones. These were greatly cut down on, and I found them in more appropriate places. FSX seems to use the industrial style ground textures too much, including in the middle of cities. After X Class was installed, they began to appear in more appropriate locations, such as on approach to an airport. Not only this but all texture areas were of a much more believable size."

"It’s all very well and good taking a quick look at areas, but how does it feel to actually fly over areas of newly reshaped terrain? Well first of all, flat open areas are no longer lifeless. Especially in the far north of Canada. There is far more ruggedness to the surroundings and it is far more believable. It's also far easier to fly VFR. Instead of having to spot towns by kinks in the road, it is now possible (in the majority of places) to spot them by buildings and in some cases even the layout! Although in many places I actually noticed more autogen after the X-Class install, there is no frame rate impact."

Concluding this review of FSCloud9's XClass Australia and XClass Canada, Fred says, "Is it worth buying? Well, at the moment I would say yes. What it does is something that should have, in all honestly, been done in the original Microsoft release. There is very little difference to be seen at 33,000 ft, on the other hand, if you love flying VFR in FSX (as I do) then this will make your experience even more complete."

Code Signer Pro V1.3 Released

Posted: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - 2:01
Code Signer Pro is a development tool designed to help FSX developers. Vista and FSX developers are encouraged to digitally sign their code as a security precaution also to help ensure that end-users can be certain of the software publisher’s identity. Code Signer Pro makes signing large volumes of files very easy and quick. For more information please visit the Cat3 Software homepage.

Slovakia 2.5 Scenery for Condor Released

Posted: Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 10:24
Miloš Koch has just released Slovakia 2.5 for Condor: The Competition Soaring Simulator. The scenery features amongst other things 10 new realistic airports, 3d objects, more precise placement of tree-autogen etc. For more information and screenshots please visit the Condor website. If you want to download the scenery please visit the download website.

German Landmarks X from Aerosoft

Posted: Monday, April 9, 2007 - 20:00
Staff reviewer Allen Lavigne takes us on a scenic trip around Germany with Aerosoft's German Landmarks X. "I was amazed at the number of additional objects that can be placed within my flight sim environment."

"You can use the MapViewer to see just where you are in relation to all these hundreds of landmarks (it shows regular airports too) andd FSX does not have to be connected in order to use the MapViewer. When flying, the MapViewer can connect (through FSUIPC) to FSX and display your aircraft position as a small red cross on the map."

"The term “landmark” is used in the VFR navigation sense, not in any historical “tourist” context. It can be any visual aid to navigation such as a mountain, a tower, a windmill, buildings, etc… Added airfields and heliports are, for the most part, generic and are in no way meant to reproduce the actual site. There are reportedly 5000 VFR landmarks featured from more than 800 different objects. New airfields are included in the FSX GPS database and can be loaded as the “direct-to” destination. By doing a search in the airfields list for the nearest large city, it is then easy to find nearby airfields for gliders and helicopters."

"Landclass and terrain features are greatly improved over the default scenery for the entire area. Railways and railyards are properly placed and cities and towns are better represented overall. It seems that most cities have something added to them in the form of large buildings (some custom designs, some generic), port facilities (these are mostly generic with customized layouts), industrial sections, factories, railyards and rail terminals."

As far as performance goes, Allen comments, "Flights between small cities and during departures/approaches to and from them showed fps performances that were acceptable to me, but in the areas of large metropolitan cities and larger airports, it certainly was not great, as can be expected in FSX. A high-end computer is an advantage, as usual. German Landmarks X is an excellent VFR-navigation scenery enhancement best used with slow moving aircraft or helicopters. I enjoyed using this add-on and would recommend it to anyone with the right equipment. I really enjoyed playing about with this add-on."

Historic Jetliners Group Update

Posted: Sunday, April 8, 2007 - 4:03
It's 1 year ago today that new HJG 2006 was salvaged from the brink of extinction. For the past 12 months this hardworking crew have slaved to bring a selection of 1st generation clasic jetliner models, textures, panels and sounds for FREE for everyones FS enjoyment everyone. Continuing its commitment to the FS community, and in celebration of its 1st anniversary, the HISTORIC JETLINERS GROUP have the pleasure of announcing a major website update.

Released today are HJG's much anticipated modified DC8 panels. These are now "aircraft type specific" for each of the following aircraft: DC8 SHIP ONE 1958, DC8-10, DC8-20, DC8-30, DC8-40, DC8-50, DC8-61, DC8-62/63, DC8-71, and DC8-72/73. New features incorporated into these panels include: Water methanol injection system for both SHIP ONE 1958 and DC8-10; Recallibrated engine instruments; Working thrust reverser annunciation lamps; Authentic
inverter sound; Working wing slot annunciator lamps; Auto-smoke effects; Revised center pedestal bitmaps with correct flap detents; Revised park brake lamps; and better organised/simplified installation instructions.

At long last the groups entire B707/B720 inventory have now been completly upgraded as well. A new/rare short tail B720-020 model (November 1959 pre-delivery configuration) has also been included. A repaired B707-320B EARLY model has also been included. All new data is included inside each of the respective Aircraft Base Packs. Further updated/refined B707/720 Panel Manuals, and an all new B707 Fuel Management Tutorial have also just been released.

HJG's CV880/990 panel has recieved minor attention too. The new offering has been modified and repackaged. No HJG website update would be complete without a host of new repaints to compliment it. This months new textures feature: A selection of B707 liveries of Asian, European, and Middle Eastern extraction; A very rare Federal service CV880-M; A beautiful selection of extremly rare DC8's from Latin America; A very rare military DC8 from Asia; New EC135-H, EC135J models, and USAF textures; and a new USAF KC135-R texture.

Hopefully something there for everyone and best of all it's all available "FREE" from the people at Historic Jetliners Group. HJG would like to thank the FS community for all its generous support and encouragement over these past 12 months. They hope everyone has enjoyed their products as much as they have enjoyed bringing them to you.