Bear's Cave The world of Flight Simulator short reviews by Steve "Bear" Cartwright 5-Nov-2000 Lufthansa Boeing 737-300 by Micha Engelhardt 73345msp2.zip uploaded 31-Oct-00 1095kb At first you would say…hmmm... just another repaint of the default Boeing 737 and on first glance you may only get that impression, but this aircraft is a lot more than just another default FS2K aircraft repaint! Micha gives credit for the improved flight dynamics to Richard Probst, gauges to Jorge Alsina and Chuck Dome, and the Gearwind & trim sound plus the Boeing altitude callouts to FPDA. Of course the obvious is that Micha provides new textures in the Lufthansa livery, textures that are quite good! Micha has added a flap speed chart, a working center (fuselage) fuel tank gauge, and a compass (mounted into the overhead), all as a part of his modification to the default panel—this with an improved .air file and checklist from Richard Probst all combine for a really nice and more accurate flying, better looking, and a more user friendly Boeing 737 over the default example. I've never flown a "real" 737, but I've got a couple or so hours in a full motion simulator and the improvements made with Richard's (Probst) air file have this aircraft, Boeing's smallest, flying more accurately and including some of the little items Microsoft forgot! This aircraft now no longer slows down like a deploying parachute when you reduce power; the gear & flaps extend and retract at a rate more consistent with reality, and the pitch trim has been improved or dampened correctly. Though I get yelled at more often now from my Radar Contact 2 controller for failing to reduce my speed to their limits as I descend, but that's the way a real 737 reacts! If you want a greatly improved version of the Boeing 737-400 in your fleet, then this aircraft from Micha Engelhardt should be at the top of your list ...Bear! 5-Nov-00 Cessna 185F Skywagon Floatplane by John Cantwell / Steve Small c185fr1.zip uploaded 1-Nov-00 925kb Well... if is seems as if you're experiencing de jevu from my last "Top 5 Picks," well you are! John has now released a float version of his very beautiful Cessna 185 Skywagon (wheeled) that he released a couple of weeks ago. He (John) has even improved his texturing (over the prior release) with this latest aircraft, that he's been kind enough to make available as "Freeware!" Among the improvements in the texturing, I noticed that with a close inspection of the floats reveals water stains at each of the skin joints and there's even visible rivet heads! Wow John, this is great work! I love floatplanes and this is easily one of the finest floatplanes I've yet found for FS2K, period! This aircraft features fully animated control surfaces, including moving float rudders, and finally a float plane that turns on a dime, as long as you have forward motion (got to have water moving over those rudders for them to have any effect!). With this release John also made available an update of his prior upload of the Cessna 185 Skywagon Release 2, c185r2.zip, that includes several changes or improvements based on user feedback. These same changes are included with the float version of the Cessna 185 Skywagon! Steve Small applied his normal flight dynamic air.file magic and this Skywagon Floater flies and handles like a floatplane! The panels included with all versions of John's excellent aircraft are a slightly modified (modified by John) default 182S panel. Had this aircraft included a custom panel of the same era of the 185, I would have awarded John 5 out of 5 stars, so for this reason I can only award this must have FS aircraft 4.99 stars out of 5! ...Bear! 5-Nov-00 Alaskan Commuter No.2 - The Outside Passage! by Dave Erickson akcm2.zip uploaded 1-Nov-00 3597kb Well... Dave does it again, with another excellent scenery upload that includes the upgrade of 3 of Microsoft's default airports (Ketchikan, Klawock, and Sitka); in addition Dave added 7 Bush locations with this scenery package! All of the Bush locations are within a few minutes flight of Juneau in Southeast Alaska; and I implore you to print out Dave's "readme" file and have it along side while you fly into each of these spots. Those of you that live in or have been to some of the more remote sections of our 49th State know that though Dave's readme file stories sound fictitious, they're not! Downloading and installing this excellent scenery package is a must, if only to just read Dave's very enjoyable "readme" file! It seems to me that I do remember hearing about "Bess" the missing cow from Cormorant, but then again that may have been my older brother (who lives in Eagle River, AK) telling me stories again—then again maybe not! What the heck are you talking about Bear, you ask? Well, you'll have to download Dave's scenery and refer to his readme file... sorry! Dave's 7 bush locations include: Otter Cove, Rainy Day Lake, Port Alexander, Cormorant, Oyster Inlet, Pious Mission, and Sylvan Lake Lodge. Following with his prior scenery uploads, Dave is sticking to his "less is more" concept which I happen to like. Dave's list of credits is far too lengthy for me to repeat here, but his scenery addons include mountain cabins, trees, static aircraft (float and wheeled aircraft), seaplane docks, and other associated items. Simple, but very effective... effective at developing a real-world like enviornment to fly into! Great job Dave and just keep'm coming! ...Bear! 5-Nov-00 Airport of Bordeaux Merignac (LFBD) version 2.0 by Renaud Emont lfbd_v2.zip uploaded 2-Nov-00 2094kb During the past week there were an unusually low number of uploads, particularly for FS2000, but the few that were uploaded are of very high quality and Renaud's airport scenery is of no exception on this point. Renaud Emont has a singularly keen eye at duplicating Bordeaux Merignac Airport, located in Southwestern France; scenery that is very exacting and complete with static aircraft, airport equipment, tinted terminal glass, fuel tankers, etc.— yet his scenery has almost no impact on frame rates? (I hope some of you commercial scenery publishers are reading this!) Renaud gave credit to all that have provided him with various scenery design programs, macros, and such; but he gave extended credit to Minh Nguyen Bah, who apparently lives near Bordeaux Merignac and provided Renaud with many photographs allowing him to provide us with such a beautiful and realistic appearing airport destination! Also included in the readme files is a complete history by Minh Nguyen Bah of this very important airport to the French. I'm a little surprised that this is Renaud's "version 2," because apparently I missed version 1! No matter though, this work truly is excellent; I highly recommend it, and I'm looking forward to any further scenery from Renaud Emont! ...Bear! 5-Nov-00 Switzerland Terrain Mesh by Raimondo Taburet swiss_mesh.zip uploaded 4-Nov-00 1909kb Since the release of Microsoft's SDK on scenery, we've all been treated to scenery mesh—but for the most part that's been limited to the United States only, that is until now! Raimondo Taburet has—using Microsoft's SDK and Martin Wrigh's FS Terrain program—provided all of us simmers with mesh scenery (in a resolution of 3.5m) for the whole of Switzerland and parts of Northern Italy! Being as I'm a resident of the United States (Nevada), I've spent a great deal of my time flying (simming) in those areas of the world I've yet to visit in real life, and the Swiss Alps is most certainly one of those locations. In my prior adventures, flying in Switzerland, I've really enjoyed very much, but after the installation of Raimondo's mesh scenery, this really and truly enhances the experience of flying the Alps! If any of you reading this have yet to install any mesh scenery into your FS2000 program, then you really don't realize what you're missing! Once this mesh is installed, the Swiss Alps come alive with, tall nature cut alpine mountains, deep canyons and gorges, all rounded or sharply broken, just as they are in reality! Combined with either Bill Lyon's VFR textures, Lennart Aavirdson's Beta1 textures, or both, Switzerland now comes alive and begins to look like the travel folders I've been starring at for the last 30 or so years The two drawbacks from all mesh scenery have been its effect on frame rates, particularly when the resolution is very high, and with the 9:59 clock time pause (every ten minutes)! Applying a mesh scenery with a resolution of 3.5m will most definitally have a negative effect on those of us with the lower end computers; it simply can't be helped. Tweaking your display settings will help a great deal! If you fly Europe or more specifically, you fly the Swiss Alps, then Raimondo's Swiss Mesh Scenery is a must have! ...Bear! Tell A Friend About these Reviews!   Standard Disclaimer These reviews above are a subjective assessment of the work of the authors. 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