Want to see where FSX was developed?

Brett was kind enough to take a few pictures showing the building where ACES developers created FSX, among other things. Have a look...

Better late than never...

Thanks to both Jon and Nick for this, as I have been deep in the development trenches... Brett "Mavyryk" Schnepf has now began to blog a bit about things related to Flight Simulator ... and now Train Simulator. Brett also speaks of what he calls the "The Ronnie Van Zant School of Mynygmynt." You see, Brett is a huge Lynyrd Skynyrd fan. How he approaches his job, has been influenced in some way by a Skynyrd song... Thus, the RVZ School of Mynygmynt is born. Brett gives a taste of this radical thinking here...it's worth the read!

Glad to see you around, Brett!

Is Flight Simulator useful to real world pilots?

es! Microsoft has published a page devoted to explaining exactly how and why Flight Simulator (namely FSX) can be very useful for real-world pilots. Have a look here: Information for Real World Pilots. Bruce Williams, a former member of the development team that brings you Flight Simulator, now a full-time flying instructor, has written an article backing up the validity of Flight Simulator being used as a training aid. Bruce has even gone as far as writing a book on this topic.

The hardest thing I tend to encounter is someone who is a real-world pilot taking me seriously as a flight simulator developer. I've been in the flight simulation arena for quite a few years, and believe me - the technology in FSX may not be FAA-certifiyable for logging hours, but they're not far off the mark!

As Av-Gas prices continue to rise, I hope that many of you who are skeptical give another look at PC desktop simulation as a very economical way to enjoy aviation in another means. There are already thousands around the world who enjoy it - there's always room for many more!

New scenery tool from Abacus ... and it's FREE!

Abacus has just released a clever utility for creating scenery using existing FSX library objects (and there are many to be discovered). It's called Scenery Shortcut, and it is being provided as a free download! I'm not much of a scenery person, but I can certainly see the value behind using this utility to populate areas in the sim that are a bit scarce.

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the hot air balloon "flying" near my favorite flying locations, and with this utility, I could make that happen within minutes! The product page gives a great tutorial on exactly how to perform this, and also shows some working examples created by the program's creator, Peter Jacobson. Great work Peter & Abacus!

A day in the life

A great video featuring the Bell 206 JetRanger III I made for FS 2004 showing a day in the life of the News 4 chopper!

Virtual Thunderbirds "Smoke On"

I just ran across one of the most professionally developed video productions of multiplayer flight simulation I have ever seen courtesy of the fine folks at the Virtual Thunderbirds. Here's the press release and download information:

The movie is called 'Smoke On'. It's a 50 minute demonstration of online formation flying by The Virtual Thunderbirds using a modded Lock On: Modern Air Combat flight simulator game.

The Virtual Thunderbirds began in the spring of 2004 with a group of flight simulator enthusiasts, and it has since evolved into what it is today. Many of the pilots selected for the demo team are real world aviators with thousands of hours of jet experience, both military and civilian and they range in ages from 23 to 52.

Kris “Lawndart” Langdell created this incredible video showcasing The Virtual Thunderbirds. Kris is also a member of the The Virtual Thunderbirds and in real life, he is a professional pilot, flying the Embraer 145 for Mesa Airlines.

The movie is 1.2 gigs in size. The movie contains essentially an entire High Show (about 38 manoeuvers) from multiple angles and cameras and additionally; start-ups, taxing, a long intro sequence and approx 8 minutes of extras after the flying portion of the show is over. Total time: 49 minutes and 54 seconds (in its current format).

Anyone who has enjoyed watching the real U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds fly will certainly get a kick out of this video. Fantastic work, Kris!

Eaglesoft Christmas Sale!

Effective immediately, Eaglesoft Development group now has 30% discount coupons for all of our products through December 30th. So if you've been waiting for a good opportunity to purchase some cool add-on aircraft for Flight Simulator, here is your chance to do it at a great price!

FSX SDK SP1 now available!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that the promised update for the SDK has been published to FSInsider. This update includes the eagerly anticipated Gmax export tools that were missing from the SDK on the shipped DVD. Hurray!!

-JOH

Can this thing go any faster?

Hal Bryan has recently posted an article entitled "What's your frame rate? (Part II)" in the FSInsider.com article section. He hits on several areas relevant to improving the performance of FSX such as: defragging, closing non-essential programs, using the latest hardware drivers, and video card settings. He dives into the settings sliders, and how the sim is affected by each. He explains why having bloom and 2.x water effects on dramatically impacts performance. Finally, Hal describes some advanced editing for the FSX.cfg I've spoken about before that can improve things a bit. Excellent piece, Hal, keep them coming!

-JOH

Real world paint schemes for the FSX Columbia 400

Several members of the Columbia pilot's organization, better known as Club Columbia, sent me images of their real aircraft, and I recreated them over the weekend. Here's a quick look (click the picture for a larger version)...

Skip pre-load of the default flight in FSX

Thanks much to Adam for this helpful tid-bit of information. When you open FSX, it automatically begins to load the default flight in the background as it assumes that is what you are going to fly. I, like many other flight simmers, don't like to load the default flight every time I enter FSX. In fact, I cannot remember the last time I did fly the default flight! So, to turn this "feature" off, Adam gives us this code to use:

[Main] section of FSX.cfg:
DisablePreload=1

Those who don't know where to locate the FSX.cfg file, have a look here.

Rotorwash Christmas Giveaway!

Rotorwash e-magazine has just announced a Christmas Giveaway for one lucky simmer. In order to be eligle, you must have already registered or register by the 17th of December. Registration is free. Over $250 in gifts will be awarded:

• Flight Simulator X Deluxe (courtesy of Microsoft)
• Traffic 2005 (courtesy of Just Flight)
• Active Sky 6.5 (courtesy of HiFi Simulations)
• Sikorsky S-76 (courtesy of Nemeth Designs)
• Ultimate Night Environment 2007 (courtesy of Zinertek)
• Ground Environment Pro (courtesy of Flight1)
• 1-Year Subscription of PC Pilot (courtesy of PC Pilot)
  

TrackIR + FSX = Awesome!

I spoke of the dramatic immersion effect that TrackIR^TM 4 gave FS 2004 in December of last year. You haven't seen anything yet until you give TrackIR^TM a go in FSX! It's unbelievable! It works seamlessly with the new camera system - gone is my need for the top-hat on my joystick! I said this last year, and I'll say it again - this has to be the single best hardware add-on for FS. I continue to see people rave about it on the public forums, and you can't go wrong with testimonials. If you're looking for something as a stocking stuffer for your favorite simmer, this would be it!

Start a saved flight in FSX via desktop icon!

From a public newsgroup contributor Peter Greenstein, we now have a way of opening a saved flight via an icon saved to the desktop, or anywhere you choose. Here's Peter's post:

Unless I'm wrong, the last time this was possible was FS98.

FSX has restored the ability to load a saved flight via an icon on the desktop.

In a subfolder of My Documents are my "Saved Flights." I can double-click on one of these, tell Win XP to associate this file with FSX. Then FSX will start, and then load the file, returning me to a flight in progress. In FS2004 all this accomplished was loading the default flight.

This is great, considering how long everything now takes on my system. Double-click on a desktop shortcut, walk away, go to the bathroom, get a cup of coffee, return to the cockpit!

Very good information, Peter, and thanks for sharing with the public!

MS Flight Simulator as a training aid

Former PM for the ACES flight simulator team Bruce Williams has a new book due out mid-December entitled Microsoft® Flight Simulator as a Training Aid: A Guide for Pilots, Instructors, and Virtual Aviators published by ASA. It has a foreward written by aviation author Rod Machado. The book also includes a bonus CD-ROM that includes over 150 VFR and IFR practice flights that will work in both FS 2004 and FSX.

Here's a small snippet of the details found on the ASA product page:

Applicable to both Flight Simulator 2004 and Version X, this new book merges the “virtual world” of flight simulation with “real life” flight training. It is the only book of its kind because it provides specific advice and tools for pilots, flight instructors, and students who want to use the world's most popular PC-based flight simulation as an effective, easy-to-use training aid.

This sure looks to be a "must-have" for anyone wanting to maximize their enjoyment of the virtual skies.

New screens of the Columbia 400 in FSX

Here is what I have been working on the past couple of weeks. She's shaping up very nicely! Click each picture for a larger version.

FSX from the Cab

Mike Singer, experience architect for FSX, has just written an interesting article describing how the team put the multi-player experience of FSX to the test by inviting several real air traffic controllers from KSEA (SeaTac) and KPAE (Payne Field). I'll let the article speak for itself, but I believe that ther are three new FSX fans out there. Great article, Mike!

Cirrus SR-22 for FSX!

Here's a shot from this morning's flight of the SR-22 in FSX just released today. She sure is a joy to fly in FSX!

Eaglesoft Development Group incorporates digital signing!

After weeks of research, Eaglesoft Development Group is pleased to announce with the release of the Cirrus SR22 for FSX that digitally signed gauges have arrived! When the aircraft is loaded for the first time in FSX, this window will appear:


Select the more options tab.


Tick the "Always run software from 'Eaglesoft Development Group'" and then...


Click on Run. You will never have to approve any other gauges from Eaglesoft Development Group. How cool is that? I'd like to commend Ron and Bill for implementation of this!

A fresh face from ACES speaks...

A relatively new member of the ACES studios has made a post in the AVSIM FSX forums that explains things a bit from the graphics side of ACES development. Phil Taylor, who is Senior PM for Graphics and Terrain, gives a very detailed explaination (in fact, a lot of it is lingo that is above my understanding - and I'm a dev!) of what should be reasonable expectations for today and what to expect for tomorrow when DX10 appears.

If you are interested in reading about their plans forward, give it a go. It might not all make sense, but at least it lets us, the FS enthusiasts, know that they are taking note of the discussions as of late in the forums. He mentions that constructive criticisms are most effective in gaining favorable response, and that the "bashing" should be toned down. It's about time one of 'em said "enough is enough."

[EDIT] I found this post by yet another ACES dev Sebby regarding modifying shaders for FSX - some good info here as well!