Stephen Posted January 23, 2015 Report Share Posted January 23, 2015 Aircraft Update : Beechcraft B200 King Air v3 by Carenado The B200 King Air from Carenado just missed out on its release on the 10.30 update from Laminar Research. The release was very complete, but then the 10.30 features made it already a little old as soon as only a few weeks. The main changes were of course the new Garmin GNS430 GPS systems. I cheated and installed them anyway from some cheat notes and they worked as noted so in a way with those GPS units updated I didn't worry to much about getting the aircraft up to a complete standard. Now Carenado has done the formal upgrade to 10.30 in the v3 or Version 3 update to the aircraft. There is no doubt this is an extremely nice aircraft. I like the B200 I think more than any other of the big twin machines. It is purposeful and a great work horse. You think nothing of doing a medium run across a state or small country as if it was a trip around the corner to get some milk. Here in Australia it is one of the main work horses to cover those vast distances to small communities or the requirement to move an injured persion from an remote area to the main regional centres for attention. To cover 500-700nm in a day is not uncommon here, so the B200 is everywhere. B200 v3 Notes : -Added scroll wheel support to knobs, so now knobs have click/drag/scroll functionality all in one. -Installed X-plane 10.30 GNS430, along with all 3D cockpit manipulators and assets -Eliminated noise during load with engines running and reduced Doppler-related pitch intensity (noticeable before during fast camera switching) -Fixed playback issue relating to above sound fix. -Implemented auto-toe-brake for those without hardware toe brakes. (Automatically senses toe-brake hardware and disables plugin-based system, to avoid conflicts) -tweaked flight dynamics -Used new v10.30+ force datarefs to tweak engine torque effects (more future proof and tweakable) -Pre-compressed livery files to .dds for faster livery load times -Implemented COM2 Audio out for online use of Com2 radios for broadcasting -Adapted rain effects on windshield to X-Plane's post-10.30 updates to alpha thresholds. The v3 changes reflect all the 10.30 changes right through to our current 10.32 position. So there are refinements in torque effects and better flight dynamics. The new Carenado 3D cockpit manipulator feature is in here as well, but without that colouring area notice that I didn't like. It is now the standard combination of scrolling and pointing that works far better with my one pointed mouser, than the scroll wheel or gesture mouse only version. I am flying back to KLAL (Lakeland Linder) from KOPF (Opa-locka Executive Airport) after a late run down last night. The B200 is powerful and you know it. So you can very quicly climb up to your set altitude and point your way to your destination. You have three sets of onscreen menus in the lowest (O) Options gives that you access to - Window Reflections - Winglets - Static Elements - Cockpit door - Passenger Door (rear exit). Then the © Camera views and top a great popout of the EFSI (Electronic Flight Instrument System) and Autopilot functions. This popout is scalable and highly useable as the Autopilot functions are really set out low down at the rear of the central pedestal. You can't fault the panel at all... it is a glorious well set out office. The highlight of this v3 upgrade was always going to be the upgrade to the 10.30 Garmin GNS430 GPS, and here you have two. One of these 10.30 GNS 430/530 GPS's gives you great flexiblity, but two enhances the navigation options many fold. You can set out the upper GPS to run your route or "direct to" options and show your current route or full route on the display. The lower GPS is set to your VOR 2 (NAV2) position to show you your needle pointer of the VOR direction. In the B200 that shows up on a hard panel instrument and also on the electronic map display (Compass Rose) and you can also set the lower GNS GPS to show you your gps position on the map. Want two gps map views? Do that as well with one GNS showing you your route line on the map and the other GNS showing you your position at a closer range to note the waypoints or NavAid information... better still both GNS units pop out to program or for a better view of the small fixes. It is all quite brilliant. The larger AVIDYNE display does also show you your red line route, but the waypoints are far too small to be of any worthy notice. Summary : The v3 upgrade is a great refinement of an already great aircraft. Certainly again the 10.30 introduction here of not one but two GNS430 GPS display's opens the aircraft up even better navigation and location tools. The rest of the upgrade are certainly very good touchups. The King Air's from Carenado are very heavy in there framerate compared to other Carenado aircraft and I found that again here. In fact the v3 version is about another 5 frames heavier than the B200 v1.1 that I compared it to in the same various set scenero's? There are more refined .dds liveries with the aircraft in v3 for faster loading and quality, but the weight is still in there and it shows. Overall it is one of the very best Carenado aircraft you can invest in. It is brilliant in every area and the quality is simply over the moon. The B200 is one of the best big twins in X-Plane at the moment. A great aircraft and great features. For more information on the Carenado B200 then read X-Plane Reviews of the release version of this aircraft here : If you already have purchased the B200 King Air... Then log into your X-Plane.OrgStore account and download v3. The v3 Beechcraft B200 King Air v3 by Carenado is now available from the New X-Plane.Org Store here : B200 KING AIR HD SERIES and is priced at US$34.95 Installation : Download is 209.40mb that is unzipped to 284.40mb. And you will need a minimum of 1gb graphic ram to fly this aircraft. Requirements: Windows, MAC or Linux X-Plane 10.30 or higher 4GB RAM/1GB VRAM Version 3.0 (last updated January 18th 2015) updated store# Features : Original EFIS (EADI and EHSI) installed HD quality textures (4096 x 4096) Custom plugin-based Avidyne display, artificial horizon and E-HSI Custom stereo sounds throughout - Custom logic for annunciator lights Pop-up window for autopilot and various E-HSI functions - In-depth and accurate fuel logic Smoothly animated switches and knobs, for more silky in-cabin feel Amazing multi-track stereo 3D sounds, with external sounds spilling in through windows and doors Very accurate flight characteristics. Amazing lighting effects. Interior HDR spill lights throughout, with individual control over intensity and direction of illumination effects. Windshield ice and rain effects: rain drops move realistically in accordance with airspeed, get cleared by wipers, and repopulate after wipers are shut off. Ice can be cleared with de-icing options. Pressurization system simulated - Differential throttle control with functional reverse zone. Polarized rear cabin windows. They can be darkened by dragging handle around in semi-circle. Hi-quality animated pilots. Extremely high-res texturing (CAUTION: requires at least 1 GB of VRAM for decent performance). Thumb trim system functional Ice lights feature spill effect, dynamically illuminating leading edge (HDR required). Dynamic instrument glass reflections Prop Disc effects feature 3D holographic side view, which changes depending on prop settings Animated passenger tables - Yokes can be hidden for better visibility of panel and buttons Vibrating objects in cockpit, depending on engine settings Realistic engine failure after over-torque for longer than 5 minutes Fully articulated and animated sun visors Easy to use but extremely flexible night lighting options Excellent balance between ease of use and systems depth/realism. (Starting with engines running makes sure your presets are all configured in such a way that there is no surprises, but starting from cold and dark does require you to follow proper procedures.) Animated static discharge antennas and other fine details and animations Developer Site: Carenado Update notes by Stephen Dutton 23rd January 2015 Copyright©2015: X-Plane Reviews Review System Specifications: Computer System: - 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i5 iMac 27” - 6 Gb 1067 Mhz DDR3 - ATI Radeon HD 6970M 2048 mb - Seagate 256gb SSD Software: - Mac OS Yosemite 10.10.1 - X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.32 (final) Addons - Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle - Bose - Soundlink Mini Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiuwepel Posted January 28, 2015 Report Share Posted January 28, 2015 Thanks for the excellent review! An absolute excellent aircraft. I very recommend it! Cheers, Kai Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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