Flight Unlimited 3 Review

[Christopher Low 5,333]

I have decided that it is time to post the Flight Unlimited 3 review that I mentioned in the "Flight Unlimited 3 memories" thread. I had written two articles for PC Pilot magazine (Flight Unlimited 2; published in Issue 18; August 2002 and Flight Unlimited 3 freeware; published in Issue 25; October 2003), but I also wrote another article (around 4000 words in length) in 2007 that was basically a review of Flight Unlimited 3 at the time. This included bits of the Flight Unlimited 2 article (for the back story to the Flight Unlimited series), and then a look at the Flight Unlimited 3 software itself.

 

The review below will give some readers an idea of the style of writing that I used for my two PC Pilot articles. Unfortunately, the two issues of the magazine that included these articles are now out of print, and they are also not available online

 

I really hope that you enjoy reading this article. Please remember that it was written over eight years ago, so one or two of the comments are probably slightly out of date :wink:

 

 

Twelve years ago, Flight Simulator 5.1 (FS5.1) was the latest version of Microsoft’s attempt to dominate the flight simulation arena. With a large installed userbase, and an open architecture that allowed those users to create a vast number of add-ons, FS5.1 looked invincible. However, not everyone was happy with Microsoft’s creation. The graphics weren’t exactly state of the art, and the default flight models were rather basic. It was at this time that a new flight simulation appeared, one so totally different to anything seen before that it caught everyone’s attention. It was developed by a small software company called Looking Glass Technologies (LGT), and its name was Flight Unlimited.

 

This revolutionary piece of software astonished many in the PC flight simulation business. Not content with generic textures and flat terrain, LGT created a flight simulation of stunning beauty. Accurately rendered mesh terrain was covered with photorealistic, satellite mapped textures to produce an almost lifelike recreation of five different areas of the world. These were of limited extent, but clever technology allowed the terrain to be “mirrored”, which resulted in an apparently endless expanse of highly detailed, realistic terrain. Even more impressive were the flight models of the five available aircraft. Unbelievably, LGT actually simulated the physics of airflow over the wings and control surfaces of the flyable planes, and delivered an accurate recreation of real world flight characteristics that was unrivalled in its day. The only problem with Flight Unlimited was the rather small size of the flying environments, and the almost complete lack of any real world objects. This wasn’t a major problem however, because Flight Unlimited was designed as more of an “aerobatics” simulator. The superb physics modelling was perfect for this kind of flying, since very complex calculations need to be performed when simulated aircraft are being turned and flipped all over the sky!

 

With the release of Flight Unlimited, LGT had woken up the PC world to the many different possibilities inherent in flight simulation. With this impressive product under their belts, LGT next decided to play Microsoft at their own game. Shortly after the release of Flight Simulator 98 (which was basically Flight Simulator for Windows 95 with support for 3D accelerator cards), they released their next assault on the PC flight simulation market. This was Flight Unlimited 2 (FU2), and it was a corker. LGS (the company was now known as Looking Glass Studios) had decided to develop the next generation of PC civilian flight simulators, and FU2 was way ahead of its competitors when it was released over nine years ago. Photorealistic terrain textures, high resolution terrain mesh, an astonishingly clever ATC (air traffic control) system, wind and wake turbulence, and realistic floatplane physics helped to create a product that was totally unique in the world of PC flight simulation. In fact, so advanced were many of its innovative features that one or two of them have arguably never been bettered!

 

Ten thousand square miles of superbly rendered, satellite mapped San Francisco Bay area terrain was available to explore, and the detail was amazing. In fact, the resolution of 4 metres per pixel was so good that many local people could actually identify their own homes ! The scenery area had a nice variety of features, including the beautiful blue waters of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, several mountain ranges, and a section of California’s Central Valley. Flying around in FU2 was an entirely new experience for the PC flight simmer, and it was very easy to just admire the scenery below and forget about everything else.

 

Two years later, LGS released Flight Unlimited 3 (FU3). This would prove to be the final episode in the revolutionary Flight Unlimited series, and it built upon the solid foundations laid by its predecessors. New features included more accurate flight models, dynamic weather (including active weather fronts, moving thunderstorms, and variable wind speeds), night lighting, the Flight Unlimited Editor, and some impressive new flyable planes.

 

Sadly, relatively few copies of FU3 were sold. Even worse, LGS ceased trading a few months later, and all after sales support vanished without a trace. Boxed copies soon became more valuable than gold dust, and any that appeared on eBay were quickly snapped up. Without any hope of future upgrades or expansion packs, and only a slim chance of a budget release, FU3 supporters prepared themselves for a crash landing. Many of them gave up during final approach, and a few more jumped at the runway threshold. Needless to say, the landing wasn't the prettiest you'll ever see, but the handful of survivors who emerged from the burning wreckage were determined to keep the dream alive. Setting up a temporary home at AVSIM Online (www.avsim.com), these dedicated supporters of the Flight Unlimited series established the foundations of what is now the most comprehensive library of FU3 information and upgrades to be found anywhere on the internet.

 

A long running legal dispute between the publisher (Electronic Arts) and the shattered remains of LGS prevented a budget release, and this was a problem that many members of the FU3 community had assumed would never be overcome. Fortunately, those legal issues were eventually sorted out, and FU3 is now available from Sold Out Software at the bargain basement price of just £4.99.

 

Like its predecessor, the most striking aspect of FU3 is the quality of the terrain graphics. Photorealistic, satellite mapped textures have been used to recreate approximately ten thousand square miles of north central Washington State, together with a high resolution mesh that simulates the undulating terrain in excellent detail. The scenery region includes the cities of Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia, an extensive collection of waterways (including Puget Sound and the Hood Canal), and two flanking mountain ranges. These are the Olympic mountains to the west, and part of the Cascade range to the east (including the huge volcanic peak of Mount Rainier). There is also the option of installing a much larger area of low resolution, outer terrain scenery that covers most of the western half of the United States. The generic textures and lower resolution terrain mesh give this scenery a rather bland appearance, although there are one or two areas of interest here (including a crude representation of the Grand Canyon). It is important to note here that the high resolution San Francisco scenery in FU2 can also be installed in FU3 (highly recommended), but this needs to be done during the initial install process.

 

There are a total of ten flyable aircraft in FU3, and these include considerably enhanced versions of the five aircraft available in FU2. The most significant additions include the Renegade amphibian (a floatplane that can land on water, and then taxi out onto dry land), the remarkable Stemme motorglider (a sailplane that can take off under its own power, and then retract the engine to allow extensive periods of gliding using thermals and mountain ridge lift), and the Beechjet executive jet (the one and only simulated jet aircraft in the LGS fleet). This last one has several superb features, including animated landing lights (with the option of flashing for collision avoidance), a fully operational weather radar (with colour coded precipitation "echoes", and lightning strike indicators), and the best simulation of reverse thrust that I have ever seen in a PC flight simulator (including animated clam shell "buckets", and the ability to taxi backwards on the ground)! All of the new aircraft have more refined panels, but some users may be slightly disappointed to note that the panels used for the five original flyable planes are virtually identical to those used in FU2.

 

An extensive collection of flight lessons are available in FU3, and these can be accessed by selecting FLIGHT TRAINING from the main menu. This will reveal a list of four options (basic training, advanced training, weather training, and aircraft training), and each of these are further broken down into a series of lessons that can be flown with or without a flight instructor. Basic training teaches the important fundamentals of flight (take offs, instrument scanning, entering traffic patterns, landings etc), and this is followed by more advanced procedures like recovering from spins and stalls, coping with engine and instrument failures, night flying, and three types of instrument approach (VOR, ILS, and NDB). The final two options teach the virtual pilot how to deal with various types of weather, and also how to fly the four new aircraft that are available in FU3.

 

One particular section of the advanced training illustrates a feature that has been considerably improved in FU3, and that is night flying. FU2 suffered in this department, due to the complete absence of ground lighting, but this has been completely rectified for FU3. Now the virtual pilot can explore a superbly rendered nocturnal landscape, which is detailed enough to allow a certain amount of VFR navigation to be undertaken. Major landmarks are now fully illuminated, including flashing identification beacons. Numerous AI planes (all with realistic navigation and strobe lighting) can be seen flying around the night sky. Large airports are now visible from a considerable distance, and include detailed runway, taxiway, approach and threshold lighting. Animated vessels can be identified in the waters of Puget Sound, including oil tankers, cargo ships and cruise liners. The FU2 San Francisco scenery has also been completely upgraded in this respect, allowing night exploration of the world famous Bay area.

 

One of the most impressive aspects of FU3 is the remarkable weather generator. Rather than selecting a particular type of weather (like the system in FU2), this impressive piece of code actually simulates the speed and severity of active weather fronts. This can be accessed by selecting CURRENT WEATHER on the QUICK FLIGHT menu screen. You will be presented with a map of the current scenery region (Seattle or San Francisco), and this will have the default weather overlaid on it (probably clear blue skies). A slider bar to the right determines how severe the weather will be when you click on GENERATE WEATHER in the lower right corner of the screen. When this is selected, the software will randomly create a weather system, together with front speed, and wind speeds both before and after the front has passed. Other options here include selecting the season (with the possibility of snow in the winter), and setting the phase of the Moon.

 

It can’t be emphasised strongly enough just how impressive this weather generator really is. The best way to demonstrate this is to sit in your parked aircraft at one of the airports, and watch the weather change in real time. If you have selected some nasty weather, with strong winds and thunderstorms, you will notice that the clouds are moving quickly across the sky. You may well see small flickers of lightning on the horizon, and hear distant rumbles of thunder. As the storm approaches, everything becomes more intense. The lightning strikes become more impressive (better than those in FU2), and the thunder gets louder and more persistent. Then it starts to rain, and the effects associated with this are superb. The sound of the rain hammering down on the roof of your plane is totally convincing, and the raindrops running down the windows are more realistic than those in any other PC flight simulator. Attempting to fly in this kind of weather will reveal the effects of air turbulence as your plane is tossed around the sky ! When the storm finally passes, the rain will stop, the thunder and lightning will fade into the distance, and the sky will start to brighten. Just like in FU2, weather watching is entertainment all by itself, but this time the action is dynamic.

 

These impressive effects (together with your own flying skills) can be demonstrated to other FU3 users with the video replay function. Pressing CTRL-SHIFT-R when in the simulator initiates a recording of your flight, and this can subsequently be viewed by selecting AIRPORT from the main menu screen, and then FLIGHT RECORDER. Your new video file should be given a suitable name at this point, and then saved. There are four existing LGS recordings in the list, including how to deal with an engine failure in the Windhawk twin prop, and a demonstration of the unique capabilities of the Stemme motorglider. The amount of disk space allocated for video files can be modified with the BLACK BOX SPACE slider bar, and this can be found by clicking OPTIONS on the main menu, and then AIRCRAFT.

 

Flight Unlimited 2 included a great collection of twenty-five adventures, but this is one of the few aspects of the Flight Unlimited series that has not been developed further, and there are now only eleven adventures available. These can be found by selecting CHALLENGES from the main menu screen. The limited number of options available include four hoops courses (tests of aerobatic and general flying skills), a corporate shuttle service for Boeing employees using the new Beechjet, and several more dramatic adventures like “The Legend of Ranger Creek”, which is actually a search for the infamous Bigfoot!

 

It is worth noting here that the main interface in FU3 is far more intuitive and user friendly than any of Microsoft’s releases. In particular, single key commands allow access to a range of alternative views (VFR cockpit, IFR cockpit, free floating external camera, fixed camera etc). The zoom keys (Z and X) can be used together with the free floating camera to provide a virtually limitless selection of viewing positions. This is much more acceptable than Microsoft’s incredibly frustrating idea of having to cycle through four different views using the same key. Furthermore, the VFR cockpit view (F2 key) is one of the best ideas ever devised for a flight simulator. Pressing this key reveals a panel around half the size of the full IFR cockpit view (F3 key), and this provides the player with a much better view through the cockpit window.

 

Looking Glass Studios were criticised for not making FU2 more expandable. They only ever released one extra flyable plane (the Fokker DR1 Triplane, which is available in FU3), and a difficult to use utility for creating new adventures. This has been corrected in FU3 to a certain extent by the inclusion of FLED (the Flight Unlimited Editor). This is a relatively easy to use utility that allows the user to add objects to the FU3 world, create new airfields, or even modify existing ones. Once the basic skills required for using FLED have been mastered, it is relatively easy to create new packages for FU3. Lots of scenery packages are available, including new airfields (both real and fictional), and upgraded versions of the existing airports. Two regional "megapacks" are also available (Seattle 2006 and SanFran 2006), and these are worth looking at in greater detail.

 

Seattle 2006 is a significant upgrade of the Seattle scenery region, and includes extensive modifications to the fourteen largest airports (taxiway lines, lighting systems, and AI pathways have been completely refurbished and "cleaned up"), AI and taxiway modifications at the Unicom airports, hundreds of trees at virtually all of the airports, twenty extra real airfields, seven airports upgraded from Unicom to tower control (Arlington Municipal, Auburn Municipal, Bremerton National, Coupeville NOLF, Jefferson County, Pierce County and Sanderson Field), a new version of Ranger Creek (with corrected runway location), a modified terrain elevation file (the ground has been flattened at Coupeville NOLF), an animated objects package, and electricity pylons throughout the region. The airport modifications were hard work, mainly due to the fact that FLED had a compatibility problem with my PC at the time, resulting in frequent crashes and "screen freezes" (this problem was solved by purchasing a new PC). Nevertheless, these upgrades were essential, due to the sloppy condition in which the default airports were left when FU3 was released in October 1999. It is just one of the many ways in which FU3 has been significantly improved over the past seven years.

 

SanFran 2006 is a complete upgrade of the San Francisco scenery region, and includes AI modifications to the Unicom and tower controlled airports, a significant upgrade of San Jose International airport, hundreds of trees at many of the airports and airfields, five extra real airfields (including a fully operational, tower controlled version of Hamilton Air Force Base), a new version of Byron Municipal airport, six Unicom airports upgraded to tower control (Byron Municipal, Davis Woodland Winters, Half Moon Bay, Nut Tree, Rio Vista, and University), an animated objects package, and lots of interesting objects scattered throughout the region (marinas, parks, ports, bridges, oil terminals, electricity pylons, electrical substations, water towers, radio masts, fire lookout towers, lighthouses, and wind turbines). The contents of this upgrade pack differ from those of Seattle 2006 in several important respects. Firstly, the default airports in the San Francisco region are in much better condition than their Seattle counterparts, which means that most of the tweaks and upgrades of this type in SanFran 2006 have been done almost exclusively for aesthetic reasons, plus improvements to the AI planes. Secondly (and perhaps more importantly), there are far more scenery packages in SanFran 2006. In fact, more than 250 new scenery packages have been constructed, and these add a huge number of interesting landmarks and identifiable structures to the region. The most noticeable of these are the electricity pylons (of which there are two types), and these are scattered across the entire map! The locations of these pylons (and all of the other new scenery items) are based on real world data obtained from detailed maps of the San Francisco Bay area. In other words, if you spot a radio tower on a lonely, wind swept hill when using this megapack, you can be confident that a radio tower really does exist at this location in the real world!

 

There are a limited number of new flyable planes available for FU3, and many of these are even better than the existing ones. Superbly detailed 3D models, completely new cockpit graphics, customised panels, and excellent sound effects have been created for a wide range of plane types. These include a beautifully detailed Blanik L13 glider (FU3 is a superb simulator of unpowered flight), a twin turboprop De Havilland DHC6 Twin Otter (with impressive STOL characteristics, and nicely animated control surfaces), and even a Boeing 747-400! More flyable planes are currently under construction, including the famous Tiger Moth biplane (with transparent wind shield, and supporting wires for the wings), and a Saab 340B commuter plane that includes simulated reverse propellor pitch (the turboprop equivalent of reverse thrust).

 

Several years ago, the AI Enhancement Pack was released. This unlocked several extra AI planes (including Concorde), and added several new colour schemes for the AI Cessnas, Piper Arrows, and P51 Mustangs. Several bug fixes were also implemented, and the banking angles of the airliners were reduced to make them appear more realistic. Work was then started on a far more comprehensive package (the High Detail AI Pack), with the aim of replacing the rather basic default AI planes with new and far more detailed models that would be the equal of their flyable counterparts. This project has now been completed, and the results are stunning. The vast majority of the existing planes have been replaced with superbly detailed equivalents, and each of the airliners has several different colour schemes (a mix of real world and fictional). An impressive new Concorde model has been developed (with animated nose cone, detailed engine nacelles, and orange afterburner glow), and this can be seen in both British Airways and Air France liveries. In addition to these replacement models, several new plane types have been built. These include the Airbus A320 (this has replaced the Boeing 757), Dash 8-300 commuter airliner, Cessna Citation business jet, and a military tanker version of the DC10. It's worth noting here that the modifications to the AI parking spots in the Seattle 2006 and SanFran 2006 upgrade packs have been designed to take full advantage of the High Detail AI Pack, so installing all three is highly recommended!

 

Flight Unlimited 3 is a significant improvement over FU2 in many departments, but it is this expandability that makes the real difference. Whilst this is rather limited compared to Microsoft’s Flight Simulator, the excellent terrain graphics, fantastic weather effects, immersive ATC system, and atmospheric flying environment make FU3 a very special experience. It certainly isn’t perfect, and some of the critical comments directed at FU2 can also be made here. The default AI planes look rather basic (although this problem has effectively been solved by the High Detail AI Pack), the high resolution scenery areas are somewhat restricted in extent, and the number of flyable planes available to download is rather limited. However, comparisons with other flight simulators are pointless when the incredibly low price is considered. The Flight Unlimited series has always been designed with innovation and visual beauty in mind, and FU3 is a worthy addition to anyone’s collection.

 

 

NOTES

 

Flight Unlimited 3 was released over seven years ago, and yet it still has some of the best terrain graphics of any flight simulator on the PC. Unfortunately, it also suffers from a problem that seems to affect all flight simulators to a certain extent, and that is texture shimmering. Some users find this effect completely unacceptable (myself included), but thankfully there is a solution. Full scene anti-aliasing (FSAA) and anisotropic filtering are the holy grails of flight simulation. FSAA smooths the edges of polygons to make them appear less pixellated, and anisotropic filtering blends the terrain textures to reduce the amount of shimmering. When used in combination, these two features provide a significant improvement in the quality of the graphics in FU3. They also reduce framerates by up to 20 per cent, but the results are worth it.

 

The weather effects in FU3 are very impressive, but they can be improved even further by the simple process of copying and pasting text to the flt3.cfg file. These modifications increase the amount of rainfall, enhance the storm and lightning effects, and provide beautifully realistic sky colours during a hazy sunrise or sunset. These upgrades slightly reduce the framerate, but modern PCs are perfectly capable of absorbing this kind of punishment!

 

*** Compatibility with new operating systems is always a potential problem when a piece of software is no longer supported. FU3 was designed to run in a Windows 9x environment, and it works perfectly with Windows XP ***

 

AVSIM Online (www.avsim.com) is the unofficial home of FU3 these days, and the forum is populated by one of the friendliest groups of people that you will ever meet on the internet. I became a member in June 2001, and my first scenery package (Scotts Valley airfield for the San Francisco scenery region) was uploaded to the FU3 file library less than a month later. I have been creating FU3 freeware ever since.

 

There are so many reasons why I think that FU3 is such a remarkable piece of software. It creates such a believable world, and the player is immersed in that world so completely that at times it almost feels like a religious experience. Listening to small waves lapping against the pontoons of your float plane as it bobs up and down on the water. Following a ghostly line of electricity pylons in the early morning light. Struggling to control your plane as it hits another plane's wake turbulence after a near miss. Riding the air currents over the mountains in a glider. Sitting in your parked plane at a remote airfield, watching the steady flash of a radio tower's identification beacon in the mist, and listening to the rain beating down on the roof. These are the moments that give FU3 its special quality. Nothing else comes close.

 

 

Christopher Low

[sascha 314]

Thank you for this great review! I had FU1 and 2 but missed out on three, having switched to heavy metal and Fly! II. I think I'll buy it as I have very little time these days and the immersion you describe is exactly what I am looking for.

 

Are there any screenshots of FU3 as it is now? Or videos?

 

Cheers,

Sascha

[Christopher Low 5,333]

Sascha,

 

Bear in mind that this review is eight years old! One or two other AVSIM members had expressed an interest in reading my old PC Pilot articles, so I decided to post this (unpublished) review to give them a flavour :smile:

[sascha 314]

Well I definitely enjoyed reading it, and FU3 is still available here http://www.old-games.com/download/6387/flight-unlimited-3 for $5.95, so I think i'll get it - even if it is only for nostalgic reasons!

[Gregg_Seipp 565]

It's quite interesting looking back at the past.  I had FU2 and remember being blown away by it.  Not sure if I got FU3 or not.  Some of the same opportunities still exist! 

• In FSX/P3D you can largely fly into a thunderstorm and heavy rain with little or no ill effect or (if you crank up ASN settings) weird behavior. 
• A gusty day landing is not modelled well nor is ground effect.
• Clouds look better (still, could be better?) but getting a solid thick overcast to fly in has been a real challenge. 
• Why can't the sky color change based on atmospheric conditions? 
• We still have basic mixture and turbine bugs that have never, ever been addressed.
• Lighting is improving but has a long way to go. 
• A good solution for photoreal doesn't exist unless you like flatness. 
• Nav data is a mess. 
• There's no realistic ATC other than online. 

Not to say it's bad.  The progress has been ongoing and has thrust forward with P3D.  The airports these days are woh, excellent.  Some of the airplanes are virtually study level and look good!  PMDG, Majestic, RealAir.  Who would have thought you could make airplanes so great.  ASN is getting better at modelling turbulence, I think, given the limits of the sim.  Still, some basic improvements like those FDE bug fixes, sky changes, lighting improvements, enhanced API for ATC developers would be huge for the community and help third party devs carry things even further.  Every year brings many new things.

 

AVSIM Online (www.avsim.com) is the unofficial home of FU3 these days, and the forum is populated by one of the friendliest groups of people that you will ever meet on the internet.

 

LOL.  Yeah, well...most of us. 

[Christopher Low 5,333]

I was referring to the FU3 section of the forum, Gregg. Everybody knows that the rest of the site is like the wild west!

[Gregg_Seipp 565]

I was referring to the FU3 section of the forum, Gregg. Everybody knows that the rest of the site is like the wild west!

 

LOL.  Yeah.  It was a great review, though, right?  It's remarkable when you open a sim and your eyes bug out.  I remember zooming around mountains...still remember it to this day.  These days that's old hat but, at the time, it was just...wow.  Lately in P3D 3.x and, in places, nearly the same thing (other places, not so much :smile:  ).  I ask myself, what would really make it pop.  Realistic lightning (don't get me started on lightning effects)?  I mean, imagine a cloud glowing with flashes of light.  Rain?  I mean real rain sounds and visuals...flying past a towering cumulous and seeing the rain falling heavy under it as you zoom past.  Ah sigh.

[OmniAtlas 93]

I played the crap out of the original Flight Unlimited, it was a blast....I think there was an arcade machine you could walk to in the airport and play a mini game like pac man

 

The box for the PC game was awesome....all of this on my ?486 at the time -- graphics were seriously out of this world. 

[jcomm 5,890]

Thank you for sharing Chrisftopher! Great read! Still have it, including the FU 2 CDs

[Christopher Low 5,333]

I have two copies of Flight Unlimited 3 (including an original boxed copy), and two copies of Flight Unlimited 2. There are times when I wish I could return to those days. Time (and technology) advances way too quickly

[Hans_Petter 1]

Great article Chris! FU III (with SanFran added) is still on my hard drive. As you know, the X-Plane world is where I spend most of my sim time these days. The water reflections are prettier but the ground handling (lateral friction) still suffers.

 

Hans Petter

[jcomm 5,890]

The closest we now have to FU2 and 3 is, from all aspects, Aerofly FS v2.

[Christopher Low 5,333]

This is why I would love to see that south western USA region developed completely as a high resolution region, including full photoscenery coverage at 1.2m per pixel or better, a solid ATC system, lots of 3D models (buildings, bridges, radio masts, pylons etc), decent autogen, and plenty of detailed airports and airfields. They seem to have done a lot of work already, so the groundwork is there!

[ErichB 3,638]

Interesting read Christopher.  Thanks for sharing it.

[nrnstraswa 2]

Great review! I loved the Flight Unlimited trilogy. (FU1 was my first true flight sim) I still have FU3 installed on my PC and play it often. I used to play FSX too but it just didn't feel as good to play as Flight Unlimited 3. Especially in the ATC department. 

 

I love flying the Renegade in FU3, and a Grumman Goose addon plane I found here on AVSIM.