http://developer.x-plane.com/

Global Winds Aloft: X-Plane 10.50 will use global NOAA data for winds aloft, rather than a US-only data source.

 

This one should be the "biggie"

Yep,

 

I don't know if that means also "T" aloft... Even better would be T / Td aloft, and geopotential height :-)

 

Well, for geopotential height we have DCS ( who would say... and even Battle of Stalingrad !!!, in avery limited, season-dependent way, but still there... ), PSX and ELITE :-)

 

Maybe Austin can get it working for XP11...

The second most recent update was what caught my attention. Per-airport flattening will be an absolute game changer for me. I have added a ton of small GA airports, and about half them require you to turn off Runway follows contours to avoid floating/sunken objects etc., and the other half recommend leaving it on to avoid plateaus and other issues.

ATC fixes   and end to the "You're off course"

 

We have new US tall building art assets that will make cities look better.

When will LR realise that there is a big flyable world outside of the US

ATC fixes   and end to the "You're off course"

 

I never used the X-Plane ATC. What's this "you're off course" thing? How do the default ATCs of XP and FSX compare?

The ATC in X-Plane is quite badly broken and all it says continually is "You're off course" for various reasons :-)

Don't even bother trying it Alpha.... ( I mean, the ATC ) unless 10.50 represents a 180º turn away from the initial track, but then... "you're off course " :-)

 

Default ATC is the single most badly done feature of any sim I have used, although I remember somehow Propilot 99 had a good start... 

 

Ah, and ATP and Airline Simulator 2 also had very acceptable ATC...

The second most recent update was what caught my attention. Per-airport flattening will be an absolute game changer for me. I have added a ton of small GA airports, and about half them require you to turn off Runway follows contours to avoid floating/sunken objects etc., and the other half recommend leaving it on to avoid plateaus and other issues.

I agree with @JimmiG.  This can be frustrating when you have hundreds of little custom airstrips and never know what you'll find when you land.  On occasion I can see on approach that the runway is unflyable and I can quickly move into Rendering and switch, but that's a pain.  Most large airports are OK either way as they are all on flat land anyway, but creating remote airstrips is another problem if you're using HD mesh.

The problem is that some airports don't flatten well at all, e.g try Bergen or Sandane which end up with cliffs of water. It's certainly a step in the right direction but I think at some point LR will need to provide mesh patches (I think that once this happens we will see some seriously good creativity and better airports)

The problem is that some airports don't flatten well at all, e.g try Bergen or Sandane which end up with cliffs of water. It's certainly a step in the right direction but I think at some point LR will need to provide mesh patches (I think that once this happens we will see some seriously good creativity and better airports)

 

Many airports have a *huge* flattening "box" surrounding them that reaches much farther than needed, sometimes cutting into surrounding ocean or mountains. The next step would be custom flattens (same way you draw exclusions in the editor), but just having the ability to turn off/on flattening on a per-airport basis will solve most issues.

Yep, the per airport flattening is what I'm most looking forward to as well.  Although, the static aircraft parking along with an increase in static models to place will be interesting to see, depending on how it's implemented. Looking forward to that as well. Lately I've been putting *lots* of parking in place in preparation for this change.

 

Although, among all the things that could use fixing or improving, I'd also really like to see them break some of the objects out of the .AGP files.  It would be so nice to have access to just the hangars without the ground textures for placement in WED, and it would be such a small thing to do.

 

Of course I'd love some more airport assets to work with (who wouldn't), but that would be an excellent start.

Another big thing, specially for guys coming from FSX world:

 

New Manipulators: We have added a few new manipulator types as part of an effort to make 3-d cockpits more usable. Yes, the scroll-wheel is accessible. (We have not rebuilt every 3-d cockpit in our fleet. The feature here is the capability in the engine, for us and third parties to use.)

 

Update King-Air and Baron: we have, however, redone the Kingair and Baron, fixing a number of issues and getting them to a whole new level for IFR flight. These planes use the new manipulators for their 3-d cockpits.

 

 

Although, among all the things that could use fixing or improving, I'd also really like to see them break some of the objects out of the .AGP files. 

 

Occasionally you can do this. If you open up the AGP file, you can find the path and use it inside WED directly. The issue is that they often use the library system so the object you think you are getting may randomally change

Occasionally you can do this. If you open up the AGP file, you can find the path and use it inside WED directly. The issue is that they often use the library system so the object you think you are getting may randomally change

 

Right - but then you can't submit it as a Gateway airport, correct?