I know it seems like forever since you've all seen my "Weekly Top 5 Picks," but in the event you missed reading how we're changing the format slightly,
let me re-state it. I will be posting my picks on a bi-weekly basis (every other week) and Aidan "Akulla" Williams will be providing his bi-weekly (opposite weeks from me) "Library Jewels" picks! Because we're just getting
this off the ground, this here posting – my first installment under this new format – will actually cover the last 3 weeks worth of uploads. Plus, on my next go around (in 2 weeks), Joern Alles will be joining me with his latest picks for FLY and FLY II! In addition we have changed the name of this feature from "Top 5 Picks" to just simply "Top Picks", this is because of consideration of the excellent files uploaded for FLY & FLY II and considering we're only doing this every other week, we've decided to vary the number of picks (always between 5 and 10 though) posted. So, for this week, go here for this week's latest in library upload picks!
With the recent release of the excellent BAe146 aircraft from IADG (International Aircraft Design Group), it was fitting that Matthias also introduced his equally excellent panel for those aircraft. First of all, this is not a scanned photorealistic panel, but is a panel designed from the ground up with a completely handdrawn bitmap. And, much to Matthias's surprise, the panel for a BAe146 and the Avro RJ85 are not at all the same, though the two aircraft are nearly identical in every other comparison.
So, rather than use his Avro RJ85 panel, Matthias started from scratch with this BAe146 panel design. This panel includes nearly 150 individual working gauges, fully functional annunciator panel (as Matthias put it, "No Dummies"), fully functional APU with a realistic engine startup procedure, full night-lighting, incorporates the FS2000 GPS, GPWS (Ground Proximity Warning System), a fully functional warning light annunciator panel, and even a functional (limited) flight director.
Included with Matthias panel is a complete operations manual (HTML format) that covers all operations and functions; it's very good and has lots of pictures for the reading impaired like myself... hehehehe! Overall an excellent download, particularly if you've filled your FS2000 hanger with any one or all of those extraordinary IADG BAe146 aircraft! ...Bear!
29-May-2001 There has been some confusion with all of the recent "replacement" cloud packs for FS2000, especially considering that the gentlemen that have been providing all of these excellent add-ons are each named Chris, there's "Clouds by Chris" and then there's Chris Willis! These latest replacement clouds are the work of the latter, Chris Willis!
The default clouds in FS2000 were a vast improvement over the clouds in FS98, but regardless of that, they still have much that could be done to improve them as well.
With these latest from Mr. Willis, you'll find that with each version, he is getting closer and closer to matching mother nature, without that annoying pixelating common with the FS2000 default set. Clouds v3.0 altitude pack 5 include "few," "scattered," "broken," and "overcast" (all in the cirrus, cumulus, stratus, and cumulonimbus cloud types), plus he's also included jet contrails as well.
The jet contrails become active whenever you choose 1/8 or 2/8 coverage of the cirrus type and if you should wish to not have jet contrails, Chris as also included a separate folder that contains a bitmap file for replacing the jet contrails with the cirrus type in the 1/8 or 2/8 settings.
In addition, Mr. Willis has also included all of these replacement cloud sets in either 16bit bmps or in 8bit bmps (for those of you still running the slower machines and where FPS is a concern). This cloud set has that volumetric look, yet still retains that wispiness around the edges with NO pixelating, at all! I have found that your FPS is actually improved (though only slightly) over the default clouds, which is good! I am only running with the 16bit clouds because my particular system can handle it with little problem, but for those of you with a smaller system may want to try the 8bit clouds, just be sure to put your defaults into their own folder, in the event you should ever want to restore them! Replacement Clouds v3.0 altitude pack 5, try them, you'll like'm! ...Bear!
29-May-2001 Tom Jones has spent, what has obviously been a great deal of time, authoring a complete scenery set for many of the major airports (and many of the smaller ones as well) in Texas, a whopping total of 72 different airports have been enhanced!
Tom, using Jeppesen's real-world airport data, designed the scenery sets for these airports with frame rates being of his biggest concern. Nothing fancy, just neat little enhancements, whether that be a corrected taxiway, the adding of a hanger or two, a few trees here and there, and an occasional static aircraft, you know the routine! All of this for enhancing your viewing pleasure whereever in Texas you may land (as long as it's one of the 72 airports his scenery applies to that is).
Installation is a tiny bit confusing, but with Tom's auto extractors, more experienced scenery installers shouldn't have any problem. There is also a pretty healthy amount of exclude & flatten switches that need to be installed, but again, for those that have installed scenery before, this too should be a snap!
Besides the scenery enhancements at these airports, Tom has also improved upon the NAVAID data at each as well. Overall a nice, clean, easy on frame rate scenery package for the great state of Texas! ...Bear!
29-May-2001 This is simply one of the most complete and most interesting airport sceneries I've ever seen! Oliver Pabst has not only included a lot of dynamic scenery, he has made this airport's dynamic scenery quite interesting, very comprehensive, and interactive with weather! There's animated buses, follow-me cars, catering trucks, even moving stair vehicles, plus the dynamic aircraft are sensitive to wind direction. The best part though is that some of this dynamic scenery is "interactive" with you and your aircraft as well! By interactive I mean that there is a follow-me car to take you to your assigned gate, the jetway will move out to allow your passengers to disembark, there's a stair vehicle that drives up to your rear door, and there is even a catering truck that services your aircraft.
Now, for you to get this "interactive" dynamic scenery to function correctly, Oliver has designed it to work with any one of five different aircraft (4 of which are freeware and 1 payware aircraft), that are all listed in the excellent documentation that Oliver has provided with his scenery package. In future versions, Oliver promises to include interactive re-fueling trucks! All of this is incorporated into a very beautiful and highly detailed example of the Palma de Mallorca airport in Spain!
Aside from Oliver's unique interactive dynamic scenery, his rendition of the Palma de Mallorca International Airport is very well done and includes some of the most realistic concrete and runway textures I've seen, even compared to most payware scenery add-ons. There are the expected oil/fuel stains on the ramp concrete and tire marks on the runways, plus Oliver's has worked out the night-lighting to include a rotating spotlight and the airport tarmac to bathed in the white light of those quartz-haligen lamps.
Overall, Oliver's scenery package of Palma de Mallorca International Airport is well deserving of my "Bear Approved" stamp! ...Bear!
30-May-2001 Being somewhat of a GA aircraft fanatic myself, I am very excited with Tom Miller and Dick Ward's complete package of two, yes two excellent examples of the Beechcraft Twin Bonanza! Though it was Tom Miller that provided all of the work for developing these two fine examples of the Beech Twin Bonanza, Tom credits Richard (Dick) Ward (Dick is the author of the book "Beechcraft Twin Bonanza - Craft of the Masters" and owner of a Twin Bonanza) for much of the information used, including photographs to work with and for the accurate checklist and aircraft specifications. (The Registration Number for Dick's Twin Bonanza is N800EX, hence the Twin Bonanza Excalibur is modeled after Richard Ward's actual aircraft, as is the panel!)
Tom has included each of these two aircraft with their very own and accurately designed panels, along with a very accurate "check-list" for each. Steve Brough assisted Tom with getting the "airfile" for each of these aircraft spot-on, so the final results are a pair of really terrific aircraft that are a must have for those of you that favor General Aviation aircraft!
Though I've personally have had a short amount of time recently for virtual flying, I have managed to log about 4 hours flying both of these aircraft! I really like them! So go to the AVSIM library today and download these excellent aircraft; they will put a smile on your face! ...Bear!
30-May-2001 Well...haaarruupp...(sound of me clearing my throat)...this is kind of an odd pick, you might say! Well, I agree with you, but Matthew's design of a Thomas Saf-T-Liner School Bus is so unique and he (Matthew) has done such an outstanding job with this bus's textures, I just had to pick it out of the heap of new files! Frankly I've had a blast driving this around and looking at the scenery in Alaska and I have included it as one of my FSTraffic ground vehicles as well. So there is something to be said about uniqueness, when it's done well!
Besides driving, you can also fly this bus (I assume that Matthew has used the default airfile for the MS Cessna 182S) to your appointed stops and several individuals have posted screenshots (in the AVSIM Screenshot Forum) to prove this! So, if you're looking for something different to drive around and view your scenery add-ons, you might want to consider Matthew Driscoll's "Thomas Saf-T-Liner" School Bus? ...Bear!
30-May-2001 A couple of weeks ago, I picked Camil's second version of the unbuilt Airbus A380 painted in house colors, not only as a pick, but I also awarded Camil with my "Bear Approved" stamp. And, at first glance, one would assume that this is simply a re-paint of that v2 Airbus A380, but in fact is an enhanced version of Camil's A380 series aircraft (a version 3 if you will).
Now, there seems to be somewhat of a controversy over rather Airbus Industries should invest in the production of this aircraft as a passenger carrier, "Does the world need another giant of the skys"? Well, I don't have the answer for that, but I do know that there has been some serious consideration by several of the airfreight carriers, such as; FedEx, UPS, DHL, among others! So, Camil may be closer to predicting the future with his latest 380 in the FedEx livery.
Camil has improved his latest version of the 380 with this cargo variant, with opening and fully textured cargo bays, sliding engine thrust reversers, tilted wheel boggies, very realistic wing textures, very round tires, expertly applied night-lighting, A.Asensio's panel, and still one of the best feeling airfiles yet for a large FS aircraft! On top of all this, Camil's aircraft are very easy on frame rates and are fully FSTraffic 2.0 compatible!
So, is the world ready for another giant passenger aircraft, are the cargo companies really in need of an aircraft this large? I don't know, but I do know that Camil has again outdone even himself, with his latest offering of the Airbus A380! So yes, I do know that he is deserving of the "Bear Approved" stamp once again! Extraordinary Camil, it truly is! ...Bear!
30-May-2001 This is Kyprianos Biris's 3rd version or release of his Greek Airfield add-ons to-date! As with his previous releases (makaf1.zip & grafse1.zip), he has taken off where Microsoft stopped by adding taxiways, buildings, hangers, trees, signs, lights, improved runway textures, and few custom items here and there to 31 Hellenic (Greek) airfields and heliports.
In response to those that have smaller computers, Kyprianos has stayed simple, to provide airport enhancements throughout Greece, while having as minimum an impact on frame rates as possible. And Kyprianos also explains, in his readme file, that his latest scenery add-on works best when you have the Greek Mesh Terrain installed (such as is available from Babis Peribolas or Eddie Denney).
I personally like these scenery add-on packages, like Kyprianos's has uploaded here, because they're kept simple so as to not take up too much of your hard drive space; and they're designed as a group, thereby only taking up a single slot of your slot limited scenery.cfg file!
Kypranios has also included his two prior uploads; makaf1.zip & grafse1.zip into this, his 3rd release, Greek Airfield update or add-on! Nice work Kypranios! ...Bear!
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