Gami0522

One of the problems I keep running into is having a strong desire to fly, but not knowing where to fly to or from. I think some type of online community flight/job board that is easily accessible within the sim would be a great idea in helping other simmers, veterans and newcommers alike, explore places they've never been to while also instilling a sense of purpose to one's flight if so desired. I'm thinking sort of like a 'mission creator lite' but where a user can just simply create a flight plan, and then upload it with a brief written scenario description and screenshot where other users may then download and fly said flightplan, all automatically imported and within the sim. It doesn't have to be complicated. For example, someone could simply upload a flight plan that just involves flying waypoints over Orlando and Disney World with a written description saying "As a new pilot for our company 'X Tours', take this family of three sightseeing above the Florida suburbs in one of our light aircraft.." The user may then choose to fly this flightplan which ever way they feel fit whether through the books VFR following procedures in a Cessna at sunset, or simply picking up and using dead reckoning in a Piper during the early morning. The same can apply for commercial taxi-like flights with airliners. I think this system would compliment and be able to coexist well with the more structured mission types that you find in FSX. Where the more structured missions can focus on cool scripted events and specific unique scenarios/challenges (like seeing a UFO over the Nevada desert), the community flight board could provide a more open ended straight forward experience where the entire world and the community's imagination is the stage. Perhaps users can also leave ratings and feedback on these flights to help improve and curate the flight board as well as a search option using the world map to filter jobs that are in the general areas you would like to fly around.

"Turn down the lights, tune out the real world, and turn on Flight Simulator. Flying high over the Grand Canyon, it's easy to forget that you're sitting at a desk staring into a computer monitor. Sure, Flight Simulator looks real, but it also sounds real. And sound has a subtle yet powerful psychological effect on a simulation's believability." This quote taken from Flight Simulator's Learning Center encompases a great philosophy in regards to sounds and their effect on simulating an immersive environment. I feel this is an area where despite the quote above, hasn't been pushed to it's full potential as of yet in the Microsoft line of sims when it comes to the base software. Addons like accu-feel, xprealistic pro and other third party sound packs are great examples of attention to detail and a good reference point to expand upon. An emphasis on not just the overall aircraft engine sounds, but all the other small details not yet represented by current addons would be amazing such as better audio representation of the physics on an aircraft and it's relationship to the environment. A few items that came to mind to expand: Dynamic shaking and rattling sounds based on turbulence and surface movement like takeoff/taxi. Turboprop sounds like the beta range groan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY9hETjtNT8 Doppler effect flyby Engine takeoff environment reflection on ground Engine sounds change based on camera postion like FMOD If helicopters are included, then blade slapping sounds when turning https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0022460X66901325 Environmental and weather I remember taking a trip a few weeks back on a 737-700 after not having flown in years. I was seated in the rear seat 22A and there was a sound I thought that was really cool from this position that was like a loud roaring blast of wind halfway between the spool up of the engines as it taxied to the runway for takeoff. It's hard to describe but it sounded similar to the sound of reverse thrust (but wasn't as we were taxiing for takeoff) and was quite nice, you could really feel the power of those CFM-56s ready to blast away and is a little detail in the audio characteristics of the engines that adds so much to the sense of being there and immersion if replicated in the simulator. Side note, for anyone who uses the zibo mod with the included FMOD soundpack you kind of hear that sound when you spool up, it sounds like an abrupt roar of wind as you rapidly spool up from low n1 but it's not as prominent and powerful as I remember in person. I'm going off on a tangent and starting to sound crazy haha but in short, I believe each plane is like it's own living creature with it's own voice and audio "fingerprint" which comes from not just the engines, but the specific aircraft's interaction with it's environment whether small piston, medium turbo-prop or large jet. Physics also plays an important part when looking at sounds. It will be interesting to see how the simulator's physics engine will tie into this. What other audio details would you all include that are present in real world aviation and the environment? Would be interesting to hear from more frequent flyers than myself and even real world pilots.

https://hifisimtech.com/forums/showthread.php?9657-Development-News-Update-Summer-2018 "The main priority for us has been Active Sky for X-Plane, our first effort to provide an Active Sky experience on the X-Plane platform. ASXP’s initial design included several technologies and new concepts that we worked on for over a year before realizing that we needed to go back to the drawing board and re-work the design for an experience that provided high performance as well as great visuals while providing the kind of realism that our customers expect. This redesign set us back quite a bit from our original estimate of completion. Currently we are looking at Q3 2018 Beta and Q4 2018 Release. Of course, these are only estimates and subject to change. We hope to begin providing information on features, some screenshots and videos as well as other media on ASXP within the next 30-60 days." All dates subject to change of course, but exciting news nonetheless. There's also a section titled "secret upcoming projects" at the bottom of the page too that has piqued my interest. What do you all hope to see in Hifi's venture into the world of XPlane?

-Support for the modding/addon community both freeware and payware by ways of a user friendly SDK of sorts where users are more able to easily customize their sim. Whether it is the tools to make an airport, an aircraft or even customize the environment and world. -Stable performance and smart use of modern pc hardware such as utilizing multiple cpu cores and gpu appropriately. Vulcan, Dx12, etc -Updated/current global vector, city, land, vegetation and airport data. Perhaps even a way for the user to update this data over time, especially airport related data. -Autogen object variety including objects such as global landmarks and regional styles. Perhaps a way to also implement osm city building elevation data -Strong focus on a realistic depiction of overall weather, atmosphere, clouds, large variety in meteorological phenomena, precipitation, sky etc while capturing those small little details of flying whether it's condensation effects, icing, or even that insanely fast perception of speed you get when flying through clouds: As others have mentioned you also have areas such as functioning ATC for IFR and VFR flight, live weather, AI airline, general aviation, sea, and road traffic system, and multiplayer whether it is through an in simulator server browser, open to external hosts such as ivao or vatsim, or both. As long as the core pieces are in place, and these core pieces are able to be enhanced and or expanded then specific areas can be augmented even further over time by users/developers, etc. I believe that is what led to the success of the microsoft flight simulator series, it provided a beginner entry level default sandbox experience out of the box that covered all the important and basic areas of aviation and flight which could then later be expanded in which ever direction the user saw fit. I equate the ideal base platform for flight simulation to model trains in terms of how a hobbyist is able to customize the theme of his or her track, what accessories they want, as well as types of trains and scale to suite their tastes.

Thanks all, I agree the clouds still need a bit more tweaking and the spinning is still there sadly as the clouds are not fully volumetric I believe, but definitely a step up from the previous version 1.07 in my opinion. It's no Trusky but it can look pretty in it's own way at times can't wait for future updates.

Addons: Ortho4xp Forkboy East Coast World Traffic 3 xEnviro 1.08 (Update just released today publically. Really great direction for this addon, a few bugs and minor performance hit but awesome nonetheless.) Taxing to Active Line Up Parallel Takeoff with Company A319 Reaching Cruise On Approach Touch Down Turn Off Home Greetings From Charlotte

Thought i'd do something a bit different as a homage to my very first flight simulator, X-Plane 5. Released back in 1999, it's now been 19 years for me since i've started this wonderful hobby. 19 years is also quite some time between graphical advancements in gaming and I always enjoy seeing how technology progresses. Can you imagine how flight simulators will look in the year 2037?

Such an underrated plane, love it.

Thanks!

I love the colors of all your shots. What add-ons are you using?

x-enviro 1.07 Default MD-80 and scenery Reshade 3.0.4

I remember watching a live stream where Stephen Hood himself had expressed interest in the Dash 8 and would love to see an aircraft such as that make itself into FSW. I can't remember which one but it was shortly after truesky was released. Either way I cant wait for what the future holds for add-on aircraft in FSW and this is good sign.