SimTube's Viewpoint Committee Wants You

Posted: Tuesday, August 7, 2007 - 6:13
Cason Farmer of SimTube states, "The Viewpoint Committee's main purpose is to gather ideas regarding certain issues, problems, or ideas that we have regarding SimTube and our operations. We feel that putting our trust in you and opening our ears to the community will ensure us a path to success and many open doors. We want to serve you, so you now have the say to help make it happen!"

The Viewpoint Committee is a very interactive experience, consisting of live meetings with the core SimTube staff - the decision makers. We are constantly thinking of and about ideas and problems within SimTube, and are always mindful of any suggestions that are available. You now have the full ability to make things happen. We invite anyone and everyone to sign-up for the committee via the Viewpoint website. We are looking for unbiased, opinionated individuals who are VOIP capable, and familiar with Teamspeak. Once we have enough committee members, we will promptly schedule our first proper meeting, minutes being taken. so, head on over to the Viewpoint website and take a look around. Dont forget to sign up! SimTube wants you to share your Viewpoint!

FreeTrack V2 Released

Posted: Monday, August 6, 2007 - 13:03
Freetrack is compatible with a majority of games using this technology. It makes it possible to control your point of view in a video game or simulator with small head movements. To operate properly Freetrack needs markers in order to represent the position of your head in space, these markers located on a cap for Single Point and 4 Points Cap modes or on a clip fastened to your headset for 3 Points Clip mode are Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)detected by your webcam, they allow the Freetrack software to convert your head movements in data flow which can be used by your game/simulator. For a look at this software visit the Freetrack website

France VFR Releases FlightPyrenees

Posted: Sunday, August 5, 2007 - 23:19
France VFR is proud to announce our new photoreal scenery from the FlightSeries collection, FlightPyrenees. The BasePack and AutogenPack are now available and cover the Eastern part of French Pyrenees (about 16 000 km sqr.) with photorealistic textures. Each of the default airport plateforms on the scenery have been reworked in order to closely fit the phototexture with precisely aligned taxiways, buildings, and objects, greatly enhancing these from the standard Flight Simulator 2004.

BASEPACK product - Textures made from aerial photography IGN (National Geographical Institute) and not satellite imagery, are retreated for an optimal visual rendition in Flight Simulator®.
- Ground textures are summer only.
- High resolution (LOD10) custom mesh for the whole region treated.
- Custom autogen for the coastline and major airports (the entire autogen coverage is commercialized in another product package : the AutogenPack).
- Most lakes and rivers have been entirely cut out and reworked with bodies of landable water, including a systematic mesh treatment (LWM: land and water mask) nearby banks in order to avoid sloping water effects.
- 18 airports and helipads are integrated. These airports have been optimized to fit perfectly the photoscenery : precise taxiway and apron positioning, replaced buildings and hangars, windsocks, towers, etc.
- All the airports’ surroundings have been treated in order to remove the ‘cliff’ effect caused by the altitude differences between a precise mesh and the ‘flat’ Flight Simulator runways.
- Precise geo-referenced texture positioning, ensuring a maximal compatibility with scenery add-ons for this region.
- Process development fully conform to the Microsoft SDK, ensuring a maximal compatibility with future versions of Flight Simulator.
- Open BasePack concept, allowing an easy integration of scenery add-ons from other editors.
- Comprehensive maps and flight documentation for all the included airports in PDF format (22 VAC VFR approaches and airport diagrams.)

AUTOGENPACK product - Autogen coverage (Trees, houses, buildings…) over the whole Pyrenees Oriental area (about 16000 km2).
- Specific autogen textures provided for each region of the Pyrenees area.
- Night texture provided for each specific autogen texture.

For detailed information including screenshots and videos, change your heading to the FranceVFR website.

Dispatch Planner III from David Baty

Posted: Sunday, August 5, 2007 - 18:14
Staff reviewer Josh Szkoda sits patiently in the cockpit awaiting the paperwork that he'll receive from David Baty's Dispatch Planner III. "Dispatch Planner 3 is your virtual dispatch agent, and it really couldn’t be made any simpler."

"The settings window allows you to make selections for three different things, the unit to be used for weight, the format for how the date is to be displayed, as well as the version of Flight Sim you wish to use. DP3 connects to Flight Sim and will automatically get the Zero Fuel Weight (ZFW) of your aircraft, so when selected in the dispatch window this information can be put on the dispatch report. This is very handy for those of you who use FMC/MCDU’s. Other information will be printed on the dispatch report too, such as payload. The information is retrieved from the aircraft.cfg file when selected on the user interface."

"Filling in the dispatch report form starts off with the basics. You enter things such as your departure and arrival aerodromes, ICAO codes and your flight number. All pretty straight forward. The form then asks you for the flight plan you’ll be flying between the two airfields. The form then continues with asking the type of aircraft, its registration, planned flight level, estimated time of departure and all the other basics."

"At the top of the screen displaying your report, you have the options to print, close, some other basic things, and the impressive availability to file the flight plan with VATSIM. The dispatch report itself is a fairly professional looking document that gives all needed details, and I must say it looks not too indifferent from a real world one."

"The weather centre is simple yet effective. The weather centre asks you for both your departure and arrival airfields and allows you to enter up to four en-route alternates (RALT’s) and the standard ICAO 2 destination alternates (DALT’s). The weather centre is great for providing an all in one place for the METAR’s and definitely saves a lot of time compared to doing it manually and entering those ICAO codes."

Now that Josh has his dispatch form in hand, he sums up Dispatch Planner III with, "It definitely has potential, and I think if the dispatch report was to include things such as NOTAMS and more customization to the actual report; we could be onto a real good thing here. With this said, however, I must point out the accuracy and realism that the data contained on the dispatch report. So would I recommend Dispatch Planner III? Yes, yes I would."

AUTOGENPACK for Tatra Photo Scenery Released

Posted: Sunday, August 5, 2007 - 17:01
TPSAutogenPack v1.00 is available for free download. This release to SimDesign's scenery add-on provides autogen scenery for the whole territory covered by Tatra Photo Scenery.

FSX Planner, a Freeware Release

Posted: Sunday, August 5, 2007 - 0:21
FSX Planner is a free graphical editing tool designed to help users edit existing airports or create new ones for use within Microsoft's Flight Simulator X. The main display of FSX Planner shows a top down view of the airport. You can work on multiple airports simultaneously, each one having its own window. All of FSX Planner's editing features are intended to be accessible via a toolbar containing the various tools needed to construct or edit the airport. These range from selection tools, to specific runway or apron or taxiway tools. There are several wizards included with FSX Planner to help you through the creation process of some of the more difficult aspects of airport design, such as Taxiway Signs. These wizards provide a unique approach to simplify the creation or modification of an airport. A complete description of this tool as well as downloading instructions can be found at the FSX Planner website.

Real Sky Pro Edition Upgraded

Posted: Sunday, August 5, 2007 - 0:14
Simmers who go to Simmarket to purchase this product, they will now receive REAL SKY PRO EDITION v 1.2 for FS9. If you have previously purchased REAL SKY PRO EDITION and your download has not expired, you may re-download the FS9 version installer to acquire the updated v 1.2. If your download has expired, contact Sandon Lyon directly with proof of purchase of the REAL SKY PRO EDITION and he will personally provide you with the upgrade.

In REAL SKY PRO EDITION v 1.2, Sandon has applied newly learned techniques to 95% of the textures to enhance the skies, clouds and water for a realistic appearance in FS9. He now wants to share these newly created textures with all of his customers.

Capt Mike Ray's Tutorial - Part 7

Posted: Sunday, August 5, 2007 - 0:00
For those of you who haven't been following this series, you're missing out on a great glass cockpit tutorial by Capt Mike Ray. In this month article Captain Ray will explain how to do an ILS Cat IIIb approach. Captain Ray is explaining the procedures in a very attractive way and it is a pleasure to read. FSVisions is able to bring these, and all previous articles for free, in close cooperation with Computer Pilot and Captain Ray. You will find all 7 articles listed at the website.

Rio de Janeiro Int'l Airport from TropicalSim

Posted: Saturday, August 4, 2007 - 20:26
Staff reviewer Angelique van Campen heads to South America to check out the Rio de Janeriro International Airport from TropicalSim. These developers state, "the sceneries must be extremely detailed and similar to the real thing, may not have impact on frame rates, must bring an enjoyable atmosphere when in use, and our support service has to be fast, effective and transparent for our customers. We do not reproduce adjacent and nearby areas, nor hotels, restaurants, resorts, cities and things like that. The target is just the airport!"

"I checked the three default FSX large worldwide airports that have more or less the same complexity as Rio de Janeiro. Conclusion, the frame rate impact of this TropicalSim scenery of SBGL (Rio de Janeiro), is kept to a minimum! In other words, the FPS reduction due to this add-on scenery is more or less the same as the default airport sceneries from FSX itself, so that’s ok! Since we are busy checking FPS, let’s have a quick what the impact is in Flight Simulator 9. It’s amazing! With a default FS9 airplane standing on several locations at the airport, an average of 20 FPS is reached and that’s good."

"Apart from the missing dirty spots on the aprons and the missing carts, belts and others vehicles, I have the feeling that this Flight Simulator 9 airport scenery is a good detailed representation of SBGL. Personally, I think it’s quite detailed although others will always want more, but it gives a very good impression what’s happening there. Close to runway 15/33, we find the local cargo terminals with the postal/logistic distribution centers from Correios and VARIGLOG. Some of the buildings are not bad, although I have my doubts if the flight simmer is coming and parking here, except for the cargo freaks."

"The airport scenery doesn’t look different in FSX. One thing that FSX offers is the creation of extra cars, baggage carts, belts etc. The upcoming free patch not only solves the disappearance of buildings at the airport, but it also makes movable jetways possible."

"For €18,00 / $24.77 you get a realistic impression of the Rio de Janeiro International Airport and you can download both Flight Simulator versions while using the same registration key. We cannot complain about the fact that it’s only the airport scenery itself and nothing around it. TropicalSim informs you on their website what this scenery is really covering. Making the airport aprons and runways look more realistic by introducing more dirty spots and touchdown stripes on the runways is in progress."

Flight1 Releases Airport Facilitator X

Posted: Saturday, August 4, 2007 - 4:56
Flight One Software announces the latest utility product for airport and scenery development. Created by the talented people who brought you Instant Scenery and FSDiscover, Airport Facilitator X (AFX) powerful airport editor for FS2004 and FSX for both novice and expert Flight Simulator users. You can easily modify any of Flight Simulator airports, convert your favorite AFCADs to FSX and enhance them with FSX-specific features, and even design a new airport from scratch.

In addition to its very intuitive and convenient user interface, AFX allows you to see the airport you are editing and all editing actions LIVE in Flight Simulator. This allows you to precisely position airport elements in relation to the surrounding scenery. AFX allows you to add, modify, or remove runways, taxiways, and paths, taxiway signs, aprons, start location, navaids, parking spots, exclusion rectangles and many more airport features. It includes a special set of tools specifically for FSX airports; you can add fences, moving jetways, vehicle links and parking spots. The utility also gives you access to FSX-specific runway markings and other attributes.

For more information on this new utility add-on, compkete with screenshots and additional purchasing news visit the Flight1 website.

Lockheed Hudson from AlphaSim

Posted: Saturday, August 4, 2007 - 2:29
Staff reviewer Mike Wilson looks at another WWII bird, AlphaSim's Lockheed Hudson. "I imagine that Alphasim’s latest creation, the Lockheed Hudson wouldn’t be high on anybody’s list of classics, and that’s a shame because it’s symbolic in many different ways and actually has a number of ‘firsts’."

"The Alphasim model represents two distinct aircraft types. The aircraft are: RAF Mk V – “OY-X” from 500 SQN 1942 AM667, RAF Mk V – “Z” from 48 SQN 1943 AM714, RAAF Mk VI – “FX-F” of 13 SQN, USAF A-29 – “T-226”. I really like the texturing, particularly of the RAF models which look as if they have done hard time at low level over the sea."

"The 2D cockpit is useable with all the important gauges legible and tool tips for the remainder. It's as you’d expect since all of them have been developed and improved over a range of aircraft. The panel layout appears to be consistent with the real thing, that is to say, poorly laid out and inconvenient to use. Certainly there is no obvious “T” layout and this means that the plane is a bit of a bugger to fly, especially in the VC where the RMI is either out of sight behind the yoke, or obscured by the engine controls."

"The Hudson was considered a "hot ship", and was not an easy aircraft to master compared to the docile Avro Anson it replaced. After a couple of goes, I was able to achieve a ‘normal’ tail dragger takeoff, but it’s distinctly tricky and not at all what I expected. The climb performance in FS9 is sprightly and matches Lockheed’s stated 2,500fpm."

Mike flies the Hudson through various historic flight recreations to complete his overall assessment of the Lockheed Hudson. He concludes his findings with, "the Hudson fills a niche and aside from the flaws I mentioned, the model is nice. The outstanding paintwork is by far the best bit of the package. At the end of the day, the Hudson is sort of ‘ho-hum’ in FS9, but is a lot more challenging in FSX. I look forward to the updated version."

Flight1 Offers Flight Sim Training

Posted: Friday, August 3, 2007 - 3:07
Join Flight1 for a FREE talk on “The Basics of Flying IFR” in the virtual world of Second Life with a real-world airline pilot! Flight1 are pleased to announce the first in a series of educational talks aimed at the simmer who wants to fly as real as it gets. The guest speaker is "Tricky Negulesco" as he is known in Second Life, who is also a Real-World Airline Pilot.

Do you fly using mark 1 eyeball or rely on the GPS? Learn to do things as the professionals do, using the aircraft’s instruments. This talk will cover everything you need to know to get you from A to B in Microsoft Flight Simulator... Tracking ADF, DME, ILS and VOR radials, ILS Approaches, Radio Telephony, reading and interpreting Airway Charts and Approach Plates and much more.

This is the first in a series of talks aimed at the simmer who wants to fly as real as it gets and there will be time for questions and answers at the end to clear up that query you always wanted to know the answer to! The date and time for your diary is Sunday, 5 August 2007. 1PM GMT (5AM PDT). The event will be repeated later the same day to fit in with other time zones at 5PM GMT (9AM PDT) This is unique event to attend for pilots both real and simulation orientated - and with it being hosted within Second Life means it’s as good as being there in person! Complete details can be found on the Flight1 website.

Mission: Combat Force Released

Posted: Friday, August 3, 2007 - 0:31
The addition of missions to FSX makes a slew of new interactive features available to the virtual flyer. The add-ons from Abacus' Mission Series harness these exciting capabilities by delivering exciting interactive scripts to the Flight Simulator pilot.

In April, they released the first add-on in this series, Mission: Blackhawk. The second add-on is their Mission Series is Mission: Combat Force. Available now, it has you flying the notorious A-10 Warthog in six full-length episodes on a variety of assignments: A-10 weapons training; Battling an Amazon Drug Cartel; Cold War turns hot; Combating a Terrorist Plot; The Lakenheath UFO incident; and Weapons of mass descruction in Antartica. Each is a creatively scripted mission complete with music and chatter, unique custom scenery, exciting special effects and sprinkled with a dose of humor. For more information about Mission: Combat Force please visit the Mission website at Abacus.

Just Flight Announces Traffic X

Posted: Thursday, August 2, 2007 - 1:23
Eight years and five versions of Flight Simulator have flown by since Just Flight published the first instalment in its legendary Traffic series. Now Just Flight is pleased to announce that they have answered the call of their fans with the latest version Traffic X which Just Flight says, "is set to become the new benchmark for Artificial Intelligence traffic expansions."

Just Flight's sales manager, Paul Hyslop commented on the announcement "The Traffic series has consistently been our best selling product since 1999. Right from the early days of FS98, customers have been impressed by the way Traffic can bring their flight simulation alive. We coined the phrase 'as busy as it gets' and this has always been very apt. Once FSX was released we began work on Traffic X and it has been designed from the ground up (pardon the pun) to take full advantage of the FSX engine. In fact, there are so many new features it's more a revolution than an evolution!"

Traffic X includes over 1,600 different aircraft variants based on 65 aircraft models that are designed to the highest level of detail and painted with in a dazzling variety of airline liveries from around the world. They can all be seen flying, landing, taxiing, parking and taking off at airports large and small. The aircraft featured range from small single-engine private aircraft like the C152 right up to the world's biggest airliner, the Airbus A380. You'll also see the highly advanced 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350 XWB and a huge amount of aviation traffic that falls between these extremes.

For complete detail including an extensive list of all the new features, visit Just Flight's Traffic X webpage.

American B-25J 'Briefing Time' & Douglas R4D/DC-3/C-47

Posted: Thursday, August 2, 2007 - 1:01
The Mid-Atlantic Air Museum is pleased to announce the release of download versions of both of its award-winning add-on aircraft packages for FS9. Both downloads feature self-installers containing all the aircraft included on the latest editions of the CD-ROMS. FSX Basic Compatibility Upgrades for both aircraft are available from the MAAM-SIM Free Stuff Pages. These adapt the FS2004 models for use in the latest version of MSFS. While you are there, you can download all the free user's manuals, instructional videos, vintage training films and pilot's manuals that are included on the CD-ROM versions. You can also download hundreds of liveries and other enhancements for the planes. For complete details visit the MAAM webpage.

Megascenery X Phoenix from PC Aviator

Posted: Wednesday, August 1, 2007 - 2:46
Senior staff reviewer Gene Davis heads south to visit Phoenix Arizona with PC Aviator's Megascenery X Phoenix. "What you get with Phoenix is not only 7000 square miles of scenery of the Phoenix area and its surrounding rural areas packed onto two DVD’s, but you also get 96 approach charts, SIDS, STARS and airport diagrams for the entire coverage area of this scenery package as well as a full color VFR chart and a full color terminal chart for quick and easy reference."

"Megascenery X Phoenix offers up a high resolution representation of Phoenix Arizona and its surrounding rural areas at a whopping 1.19 meters per pixel reformatted from 1 foot per pixel photo scenery derived from actual aerial photography. Not only are the day textures enhanced, but the nighttime textures have been given the same attention to detail. As you fly around the region you will notice that all of the surrounding airports and airfields have been given some kind of special attention and are remarkable realistic looking when compared to actual photo’s of the real deal. I mean after all, you are essentially looking at a photo of the real thing! I was ultimately impressed with the overall look of Phoenix Sky Harbor, the buildings have all been placed correctly and the surrounding textures are pretty amazing looking."

"The Phoenix scenery looks and performs well within FSX; in fact, I have experienced some of the best frame rates with this scenery package and FSX. With the Phoenix scenery I can turn up my autogen and scenery sliders as well as turn on the moving vehicle traffic and experience some of the best looking Flight Simulator flying I have seen to date in that sim and it really has to be seen to be appreciated. Also included in this package is scenery designed for FS9 of this region. This scenery is displayed at a lower resolution than that of the FSX scenery package but nonetheless looks good in FS9."

Getting back on the ground in Phoenix, Gene comments, "I have come to one realization and that is I find FSX is my home for any and all of my photo scenery add-ons as it has produced an excellent engine for such titles. I was in no way disappointed by this title and if this is the future of Photo Scenery titles, then I can’t wait for the next one!"

Are You an RSS Guru?

Posted: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 - 23:49
Are you an RSS Guru? No, we don't mean by that; can you spell it. Are you really a guru with RSS? If you are, we have a challenge for you; managing the new AVSIM RSS feed system. If you have experience in RSS feeds, want to give back to the community, and be part of the largest volunteer team in the flight simulation hobby, then we need you! If you are interested in this position, have the experience, and are willing to donate some of your time, we would like to hear from you! Please send an email to srstaff@avsim.com and tell us about yourself, your RSS experience and why you would like to be a part of the AVSIM Team.

Tropicalsim FSX Updates

Posted: Monday, July 30, 2007 - 20:38
In a news submission sent to Avsim today, Tropicalsim announces updates for her FSX sceneries including Rio's Galeão/SBGL, available at their websitesite in the Updates Section .

Real Scenes Redland Airport

Posted: Monday, July 30, 2007 - 11:11
Real Scenes release their second scenery package Redland Airport. Completely photo-realistic terrain surrounding the area of Redlands Airport, the hangars were modeled with actual photos. All objects placed with satellite precision -10 Meter resolution mesh encompassing the area of Redlands and far in to the valley, AI Traffic to make the airport feel "alive" For more information visit Real Scene's homepage.

Piper Warrior v2.0 from Australian Simulation

Posted: Sunday, July 29, 2007 - 20:36
Staff reviewer David Swindle test flies Australian Simulation's Piper Warrior v2.0. "Compared to the older Warrior II, the Warrior III has essentially the same airframe and control system, but the cockpit has been substantially redesigned to give a more modern look. The Warrior III is also available with an Avidyne glass cockpit system, which gives the humble Warrior navigation capabilities exceeding those of some older airliners."

"Both the Warrior II and III include unique 2D panels which look very good. On both Warriors, the background bitmaps are of a very high quality, with the Warrior II showing an excellent texturing effect that makes the ridges and bumps on the panel look almost 3D, while the III model has a much flatter, more modern looking panel. The Warrior II also shows some excellent weathering and wear effects on the 2D panel and pop-ups, making the panel look very much like it has seen the wear and tear of years of use."

"Both the Warrior II and III have their own VC's, which are pretty much identical to the 2D panels in terms of layout and instruments. Even though the Warrior is a simple aircraft, the Aussim team has added an impressive number of features into the virtual cockpit. Almost every single switch, knob and lever in the VC is clickable, as well as smaller touches like the dome lights and sun visors being usable from the VC."

"Although the Aussim Warrior package lacks some of the “bells and whistles” present in purpose-built FSX models, the aircraft still look extremely good. The 3D models themselves are of a high quality with all of the expected control animations included, and most of the small details (like the fuel caps and boarding step) being modeled as opposed to textured. Each version of the Warrior comes with three textures from various countries, and there are also a good number of repaints."

"Since both the Warrior II and III share essentially the same airframe and powerplant (and therefore fly very similarly), both aircraft share the same flight model within FSX. Aside from being a joy to fly in both cruise and maneuvering flight, the Aussim Warrior is also very pleasant to fly in the traffic pattern. Because the Warrior is so stable and predictable, it is also a pleasure to hand fly on instrument approaches."

David compares real world to sim world with this Piper Warrior, "having spent quite a bit of time in real world Warriors, I initially expected the Aussim Warrior to be a pretty mediocre addition to FSX, but I was pleasantly surprised to find myself really enjoying the product. I would say that it is a great product for those who just want a simple, fun aircraft for FS9 or FSX."