Stephen

To a point I agree with you, if the developer utilises the default ground mesh textures then yes the product could be cheaper... but in most cases the Lo-Res to the Hi-Res required for the airport detail would mostly require new ground textures, however Microsoft could have a deal to purchase such better resolution textures of the airport. I do like however the idea of one full texture mesh for both the surrounding environs and the airport textures themselves being totally seemless.

You have to already to have had purchased the scenery on another platform (XP,FSX,P3D) to get the discount from Orbx for MSFS, it is a crossover price, Plant City is a very small scenery, a test case.

Aircraft Review : Lockheed P-38L Lightning by Flying Iron Simulations Known by it's nickname the "Fork-tailed devil" or in German "der Gabelschwanz-Teufel" , the Lockheed P-38 Lighting is a twin-engined - twin boomed tail World War II era American piston-engined fighter aircraft. The main aircraft's role was as a general fighter, the P-38 was also highly utilized in various other aerial combat roles including as a highly effective fighter-bomber, a night fighter and as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks. The P-38 was also used as a bomber-pathfinder, guiding streams of medium and heavy bombers and even other P-38s equipped with bombs to their targets. But the role the P-38 was most effective in was the aerial reconnaissance role, as the P-38 accounted for 90 percent of the aerial film captured over Europe. Post war it's aerial survey work was well known as it was also it's appearances as popular contenders in the air races from 1946 through to 1949, with brightly colored Lightnings making screaming turns around the pylons at Reno and Cleveland (think of Star Wars, and the air races). Flying Iron Simulations are back doing what they do best in creating WW2 era aircraft. First up it was the beastly Republic P-47N Thunderbolt, then the sublime Supermarine Spitfire Mk IXc... then oddly a glider called the Glob? This however is another wartime classic from the Flying Iron crew in the Lockheed P-38 Lightning and everything is alright with the world again. And a magnificent looking aircraft it is... First impressions are excellent, panel detail is simply overwhelming, but the Lightning looks like it was carved from metal, it wasn't of course but the metal reflections and mapping here is really, really good.... that is really good. You think you have seen it all, and nothing could be better... but here it is again at a higher refinement again, another step on the realism ladder, so all you can do is totally admire the detail and skill in doing work like this for us to enjoy. The P-38's exhausts were muffled by the turbo-superchargers, making the P-38's operation relatively a quiet aircraft. The two turbo-superchargers also provided the P-38 with good high-altitude performance, making it one of the earliest Allied fighters capable of performing at such altitudes as with a service ceiling of 44,000 ft (13,000 m)... this is a WW2 aircraft remember. The turbo-supercharger and exhaust system is very well modeled here. Looking at details it is important to note the aircraft's quite complicated aerodynamic history. The P-38 from early test flights revealed problems initially believed to be tail flutter. During high-speed flight approaching Mach 0.68, especially during dives, the aircraft's tail would begin to shake violently and the nose would tuck under (called Mach tuck) and steepening the dive. Once caught in this dive, the fighter would enter a high-speed compressibility stall and the controls would lock up, and the results usually was death. In 1941 flutter was a familiar engineering problem related to mostly a too-flexible tail, but the P-38's empennage was completely skinned in aluminum rather than fabric and was already quite rigid. At no time did the P-38 suffer from true flutter. But a lot of work, trial and error (mostly error) was required in fixes to stop the P-38's compressibility stalls... several ideas are shown on the rear elevators, and one idea was to place mass balances above and below the elevator, of which the weights are well represented here. Another trial was that another way of bypassing compressibility lockup, was riding it out using elevator trim, so a smaller and a quite powerful insert trim was inserted into the rear edge of the main elevator... The P-38's dive problem was finally revealed to be in the center of pressure moving back toward the tail when in high-speed airflow. The solution was to change the geometry of the wing's lower surface when diving in order to keep lift within the bounds of the top of the wing. In February 1943, quick-acting dive flaps were tried and proven by Lockheed test pilots. The dive flaps are installed outboard of the engine nacelles and in action they extended downward 35° in 1.5 seconds. The flaps did not act as a speed brake; they just affected the pressure distribution in a way that retained the wing's lift. They are operated here via the speedbrake lever, but they are as noted dive flaps not speedbrakes. Buffeting was another early aerodynamic problem. It was difficult to distinguish from compressibility as both were reported by test pilots as "tail shake". Buffeting came about from airflow disturbances ahead of the tail; the airplane would shake heavily at high speed.The problem was traced to a 40% increase in air speed at the wing-fuselage junction where the thickness/chord ratio was highest. An airspeed of 500 mph (800 km/h) at 25,000 ft (7,600 m) could push airflow at the wing-fuselage junction close to the speed of sound. Filleting solved the buffeting problem for the P-38E on and for later models. So the P-38 was quite a hard aircraft to sort out aerodynamically, but all the additions just made it a more formidable aircraft. Unlike most WW2 aircraft the P-38 is not a taildragger (yeah!), as it has a retractable tri-cycle undercarriage. Gear detail is very good, but these gear assembles were not overly complicated and quite simple in design. The modeling here though is very good and very authentic... ... you just have to love these cross-treaded Goodyear main gear tyres, as they look so real, but the wheel bay looks too small for the gear? It is not but the thick piping in there does get in the way of the retracting tyres? The Lighting comes with 1× Hispano M2(C) 20 mm cannon with 150 rounds, 4× M2 Browning machine gun 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns with 500 rpg, up to 4000lb of bombs and carries 2 x Drop Tanks. It is a shame the nose panels don't come off as the magazines are quite spectacular in design. Cockpit glass is very well done (nice reflections), but a bit too clear and clean for me on a 80 year old aircraft? The surrounding metal work is however exceptional detailing. Cockpit The cockpit canopy is quite basic in a flip up top, and then you wind down each side window, so there is no rearward moving canopy... .... this means you can't have the canopy open while taxiing, and a lot of pilots hated it because it got very hot inside, they also hated the cockpit being cold as well, because when the P-38 flew up to those extreme high altitudes it got very cold and a heat suit was thus created to keep them warm, in which was the forerunner of the today's G-Suit. Cockpit's detailing is totally overwhelming. You are used now to these exceptionally well created cockpit environments, in fact you demand this sort of authenticity in the extreme detail (certainly at thisprice level), but that you can't take away the skills on delivering the wartime detail in such a comprehensive way, it is all VR (Virtual Reality) ready as well to heighten the experience, realism 101. Side winders will open the top canopy and roll down the side windows. I like the way each window does not go downwards evenly... note the lovely well done canvas seat, and quality seatbelt detail. No stick here but a grabbable chunky yoke that is a side right pylon arrangement (the yoke can be hidden by clicking on it). Instrument Panel The instrument panel layout is a bit of an ergonomic nightmare, it is worse in the air as we will see. Top left and standing out is the Standby Magnetic Compass, and set besides is the Suction Gauge and Clock. There is another compass in the Remote Indicating Compass set just below the whiskey compass. Next to that is the Directional Gyro. Below is a row of five dials, they cover from left to right: Front (Reserve) Fuel Tank Quantity Gauge, Altimeter, Airspeed Indicator, Bank & Turn Indicator and the Rate of Climb Indicator, of which you could say were your primary instruments. Two dials lower left cover: Rear (Main) Fuel Tanks Quantity Gauge and Hydraulic Pressure Gauge... the Landing Gear Warning Panel. Gyro Horizon or Artificial Horizon to you and me can be Caged or Uncaged via the lower knob (arrowed). Right panel has top row: Manifold Pressure (Left & Right Needles), RPM (Left & Right Needles), then far right the Coolant Temperature Gauge. Engine Gauges (Oil Temp & Pressure, Fuel Pressure) are on the second row with the Carburetor Air Temperature Gauge below the Coolant dial. Twin Ammeters and below are the main Generator Switches (in red) Shelf switch panel is quite comprehensive. Far left are three circuit breakers followed by the Oxygen Cylinder Pressure Gauge then the Magnetos Master Switch and Magnetos (Left and Right). Oil Dilution & Engine Primer Switches and Starter/Engage Switches L&R with the lighting array of switches that covers: Wing & Tail Position Light, Landing Light Switch, Gun Heater Switch, Compass Switch and the big knob is the Instrument Light Rheostat, finally far right is the Voltmeter. Set out front lower are the Prop Feathering Lights and Prop Feathering Switches, Oil Cooler Flap Switch (Left) and Oil Cooler Flap Switch (Right), main Battery Switch, Pitot Heat Switch, Coolant Flap Override Switches, Intercooler Flap Switches and the final knob right is the Cockpit Light Rheostat. Left side lever panel is excellent, but slightly complex to use... there are some very good guidelines in the manual on how to get the best out of the operating conditions of the Allison V-1710-113 V-12 liquid-cooled turbo-supercharged piston engine, 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) WEP at 60 inHg (2.032 bar) and 3,000 rpm (the Right-hand rotation is fitted to the starboard engine). The red levers are obviously the twin Throttles, set next to them are the Propeller Governor levers and the Propeller Selector Switches are set centre panel. Top panel left are the twin Mixture levers and an Air Filter Control. There are four modes for mixture: Idle Cut-off, Auto Lean, Auto Rich and Emergency Rich.... The engines each drive a Curtiss Electric, constant speed propeller. The desired prop RPM is selected by the pilot via the Prop Levers, and a governor adjusts the pitch of the propeller blades in order to achieve the desired RPM.... On the side is a very nice Elevator Trim Tab Wheel. Armament panel covers the Bomb-drop Tank Master Switch, Bomb-drop Tank Selector and Arming Switches. Noted to right (arrowed) is the Landing Gear Control Handle. Buried deep down the left side of the seat is the Fuel panel. The P-38L aircraft is equipped with 2 Main tanks, (93 Gal Each) 2 Reserve Tanks (60 Gal Each), 2 Outer Wing Tanks (55 Gal Each) and can carry up to 2 Drop Tanks (165 Gal Each). And all are controlled via these two Fuel Tank Selectors, fuel needs to be pumped and those Fuel Pump Selectors are positioned below the tank selectors. There are five pumping options: Drop Tanks (if no drop tanks installed, this will also shutoff fuel flow), Outer Wing Tanks, Main Tanks, Cross Suction (Crossfeed – draws fuel from the opposite side) and Reserve Tanks. On the floor is the; Oxygen Flow Indicator and Oxygen Knob. The yellow indicator is the Rudder Trim Tab Control... .... on the yoke are three items, one is the (red) Dive Flap Control, and set behind on the arm are two switches (arrowed) that cover the Bomb/Rocket Selector Switch and the Gun/Camera Selector Switch. On the right is the Flap Lever Control, Bendix/King KT76 Transponder and ICOM IC-A210E Radio, deep down the right side of the seat is a Aileron Boost Control Lever (non-working). Menus The menus are accessed via pressing the centre of the yoke, this brings up an iPhone style interface and menu selection. it is called the "FlyingIron UI Tablet" There are eleven selections. First one left is AVITAB, the Avitab plugin is built into the aircraft plugins folder so you don't need to download the plugin separately. Second tab is CHECKLISTS, which is pretty basic, next is FLIGHT SETUP which is basically a ‘Weight & Balance’ page. It can be used to set fuel loads, check the aircraft weights & distribution, adjust & reference the CG Position & change various Aircraft configuration settings. External Tanks can be set and toggled ON/OFF here also. Fourth tab top row is the (default) GARMIN530 GPS. This selection will install the GNS530 on the lower part of the main instrument panel, and of course the pop-up panel is also available... The first two selections on the second row are noted as MAPS (but it is the X-plane Map screen as a Popup window) and IOS STATION which again just opens the default Instructor Operation Station (IOS) window. Third tab second row is the GROUND SERVICES which allows for configuring Static elements on/off as well as replacing the X-plane default Ground Services window. (Static Elements... Chocks, Tie-Downs and GPU are not yet available). Fourth tab is the EFIS which features additional digital Flight Instruments for reference in flight, two Forward looking cameras, as well as an Autopilot Control Panel (functional). Some user note that the P-38 didn't have an autopilot, well the last versions for aerial survey work did, but not like here in a S-Tec Fifty Five? (a lot of the functions on the S-Tec don't actually yet work, the heading for instance) There is a COMMS tab, but it doesn't work either (will be a pop-up Radio panel) and an AIRSHOW FX? selection that is also still underdevelopment. There is another separate menu in the SETTINGS PAGE, this is accessed via the gear icon bottom right. Currently it only shows the option to turn engine damage off or on. Flying the P-38L Lighting You sit extremely close to those propellers, and the engines are also set close either side of you.... Engine start-up is different everytime as one or the other the other Allison V-1710-113 V-12 won’t always catch straight away, so you make take multiple attempts to fire them up, again there is a lot of help in the manual. it is noted "custom starter system to more realistically recreate the difficulties of starting up a massive engine like the Alison V-1710. Therefore, please pay careful attention to the checklist and ensure all steps are completed in order, otherwise you may have a difficult time starting the engines." Flying Iron have gone out of their way to capture real FMOD Sounds designed and built from professional recordings of a real P-38 and Allison V-1710 aero engines, they certainly feel (even in their bass movement) very realistic in the cockpit. What I am not crazy about is the sometimes static animation of the propellers in an attempt to create a slight engine hesitation at idle speeds, it doesn't work and looks crappy.... it is not really needed either? A bit of power and your away, you can use the throttle of the left or right engine to help in turns, the P-38L feels very nice on the move... the two main wheels are equipped with differential toe brakes, as well as a free- castoring nosewheel. The nosewheel is easily steered either by using rudder inputs for slight turns, or by using differential braking to pull the nosewheel into a sharper angle and that allows for a sharp turn. .... you sit high, very high and even feel a little exposed (to being shot at) and at the same time it feels very closed in, but without the taildown feel and the level taxi view the P-38L feels more like a modern jet fighter than a WW2 relic... There is a very nice pilot figure in full WW2 flying gear, but he is not animated. Almost immediately you are faced with a dilemma, the Altitude instrument is buried behind the left yoke handle and the Airspeed Indicator is barely visible either? and all the primary instruments are all very badly placed.... your choice is hard, in being authentic or hide the yoke? you really have no choice. You put the twin-throttles up and they don't seem to cut the air... then they catch in with huge thump as you are suddenly propelled forward. To note that the main gear is slightly floating above the ground, were as the nose wheel is correct, giving the aircraft a sort of slight nose down feel on the ground. You simply shoot like a bullet down the runway, the aircraft is amazingly fast, it will stay completely straight as well because there is no single propeller asymmetric blade effect on the P-38L, the counter-rotating blades work to eliminate out those usual yaw tendencies, but you still sort of hang on hard and a bit like being a bareback rodeo rider on the back of a bull in trying to control all that power and speed via gripping the yoke with absolute gutso. The Lighting takes or gulps up a lot of runway before gripping the air around 150 MPH, but once it takes hold.... ... you can then use all of that famous available climb rate to it's best advantage. Officially it is a Rate of climb: 4,750 ft/min (24.1 m/s), or nearly 5,000 fpm, and you feel it and love it. For an eighty year old aircraft the performance in the P-38L is simply phenomenal, with a top speed of 414 mph (666 km/h, 360 kn) on Military Power: 1,425 hp (1,063 kW) at 54 inHg (1.829 bar), 3,000 rpm and 25,000 ft (7,620 m) or a cruise 275 mph (443 km/h, 239 kn) it is almost early jet fighter performance... .... but you can't push your luck too far either with an 80 year old aircraft. Keep the power on hard and climb too steeply and the Allison V-1710 engines will revolt with streams of black smoke and a loss of top end power, this was an earlier flight! You can turn off the "Damage/Wear" setting but it is very good here, a note is that you have to comfort the aircraft to get the best performance out of it. There are a lot of details for the best "Engine Management" via the Supercharger, Manifold regulators and the Intercoolers, Temperature & Fluids need a careful eye as well. So there is a lot of depth from Flying Iron in the way you manage these decades old systems. 10,000ft was super easy at a cruisy 200 MPH and 2500 fpm climb rate, at 175 MPH you can climb slightly harder and faster, but you have to look around the yoke to see the Altitude dial all the time or shift your view left and stay there. When climbing however above 10,000ft, the electric fuel booster pumps must be set to ON & to EMERGENCY MODE, otherwise the engines will not receive sufficient fuel pressure. .... trimming and finding that aircraft balance is super easy, the P-38L will sit there with minimum input and just cruise, in reality the autopilot is not required (the heading adjustment doesn't work anyway). So slight adjustments are all that is required to the Elevator Trim to find that sweet spot. The P-38 was well renowned for it's very easy flying capabilities that sort of coaxed pilots into a false sense of security, it may have been those none pressuring counter-rotating propellers, combined with a natural nice balance of the airframe that made this aircraft extremely easy to fly and for long distances of a combat range of 1,300 mi (2,100 km, 1,100 nmi), of which was the P-38s forte (A ferry range with external tanks was an exceptional 3,300 mi (5,300 km, 2,900 nmi). This benign characteristic only obviously compounded the dangers of the compressibility stalls. I like the way the V-1710 engines don't run perfectly performance wise aligned, to do that you have to adjust the throttle levers, keep them together and they feel quite different in their different power outputs. If flying really high then oxygen to the pilot can be switched on the via the red shutoff valve, the valve located on the floor aft of the control column and the movement of the blinker indicates oxygen is flowing to the pilot. Lighting The P-38s lightning is pretty basic overall, just two adjustments covers the instrument background lighting, and a side frame mounted spot light facing the instrument panel, but be warned in taking the spotlight too low in that it is very hard to re-find the knob... ... but it is a nice cockpit to be in at night. External lighting is also basic, Navigation lights, Position (tail) lights and one left wing landing light covers it. KRAL Landing The zone between flying and having a serious stall is quite small on the P-38L, your goal is an approach speed of 150 MPH, but that is easier to say than done, the aircraft just wants to stall at that critical point, total stall is noted at 105 mph (169 km/h, 91 kn), but here it feels far higher than that... ... put the gear down and the drag makes it even worse, so the Lightning is quite a handful in this slow gear down configuration. Set the flaps to full down and the loss of power will suddenly stall you, so your aim is 150 MPH with the flaps down and to do that action beforehand at height as yes the drag here is so significant, and if you are at a low height you could simply stall yourself into to ground. Approach height is also significant, you can't be too high or too low, you sort of have to perfectly angle yourself in at just below that 150 MPH speed limit, your aim is for a slope or glideslope of around 120 MPH to 130 MPH... ... it is extremely hard to get right as all that is screaming loud in your head is "STALL, STALL, STALL"... so you need nerves of steel to hold it right. Your aim is for a final over fence of around 100 MPH, and then a slight flare to settle you down onto the runway... that is the general idea, but translating it into real flying is something quite different... ... so the landing phase requires a lot of practise and notably hitting the speed and altitude marks perfectly, and the P-38L is absolutely totally unforgiving if you get it wrong, in that aspect it is a very hard aircraft to land and requires a lot of practise to get it absolutely perfectly right... the landing aspect in the P-38 is very demanding and requires skill. Liveries There are nine liveries and all are very authentic to the period. There are some famous P-38 aircraft in there as well including the Yippee, Marge, California cutie, Isty Bitsy, The Flying Dutchman, Wishful Thinking and the default is Down Beat. Summary This is Flying Iron's fourth aircraft for the X-Plane simulator after the Republic P-47N Thunderbolt, Supermarine Spitfire Mk IXc then a glider called the Glob, in the Lockheed P-38L Lightning. This is the Twin-Engined-Twin Boom tailed aircraft that was one of the most significant aircraft in the Second World War Pacific Theatre, the P-38 it was also highly accountable over Europe as well for it's high altitude long-range escort fighter and aerial reconnaissance roles. Flying Iron focus on these excellent warbirds, and the Classic P-38L is very well recreated here. Modeling and period detail is simply extraordinary, their metal and mapping skills are very, very good, this is certainly a very good Lightning aircraft. There are no areas to fault in the extensive cockpit detailing, as the authenticity is spot on and you feel the P-38L in all it's magnificence, sounds are of the real Allison V-1710 aero engines and sound excellent, most of the aircraft's systems are in depth with great wear and tear features to give the aircraft an aging feel. You also have to manage this warbird well to get the maximum performance and durability out of the airframe, it is also easy to fly and then damn hard to land, the famous compressibility stalls are well replicated here as is the working dive flaps to get you out of trouble. The aircraft is also totally VR - Virtual Reality ready. Overall the aircraft is sensational, but there is a lack of final finish in the final details and bugs. Menu's are not completed (static elements, missing apps), annoying propeller static animations (seriously annoying) and even the manual if even already comprehensive is still missing vital areas, main gear wheels are also not in touch of the ground... again the aircraft is just one of those projects that needed an extra month to wrap up the details and no doubt a few updates will cover the missing or buggy items quickly, but for the price you could expect the P-38L to be more finalised as it is worthy of the price, an update Skunkcrafts application is however included with the package. Flying Iron do turn out exceptional warbirds and this P-38L Lightning is certainly worthy of joining that already established stable of classic aircraft for X-Plane. Brilliant and terrifying to fly in the same breath it is a very demanding but a thoroughly satisfying aircraft to fly, the performance aspects alone are incredible for an aircraft created 80 years ago, and you see the linage back then to the modern fighter aircraft of today, the P-38 was a forerunner of the platform of the many roles that modern fighter/bomber aircraft perform in perspective. Incredibly well done, the P-38L is certainly worthy of your fighter line up, if you also love old these warbirds then it is simply a must have aircraft. ______________________________________________ The Lockheed P-38L Lightning by Flying Iron Studios is NOW available! from the X-Plane.Org Store here : P-38L Lightning Your Price: $40.00 Key Features High-quality, extensively detailed and accurate 3D Model Ultra-realistic, high-res Texture work (built with the aid of photogrammetry) Immersive FMOD Sound design built from professional recordings of a real P-38 and Allison V-1710 9 included liveries, including Richard Bong’s iconic livery. Professional quality nose art included in many liveries. Detailed & Extensive simulations of the Lightnings core systems, including accurate, code-driven replications of the Lightnings Fuel, Hydraulic, Propeller, Cooling and Electrical Systems. All systems are programmed to function virtually identically to the real-world P-38 Systems. Almost all default X-plane systems have been overridden and/or enhanced significantly. Incredibly realistic Flight Model made possible with carefully data-matched simulations of the NACA 23016 & NACA 4412 Airfoils. Flight performance has been verified against real-world Performance & handling tests to ensure extensive realism. We’ve gone so far as to model the drag from individual coolant flaps! Custom heat & thermodynamics modelling, extensive engine management simulation Realistic Engine Start-up modelling (don’t forget your checklists!) Realistic External Tanks Integration Custom damage modelling & failures, including heat damage & operating limits Fitted with 4 x .50 Cal Nose guns and a 20mm Nose Gun by default, and also compatible with X-planes weapons systems (bombs). 3D Garmin 530 GPS fully integrated into the cockpit (optional) Modern Radio / Transponder Unit AviTab Integration Inclusion of FlyingIrons UI Tablet (optional). The tablet incorporates many useful GUI features and puts them in an easily accessible and realistic in-cockpit Touchscreen Tablet. Included in the tablet is: Settings Page / Config Flight Setup / Weight & Balance Page (Custom – Graphical) AviTab GPS & Radio toggles X-plane Map & IOS apps Ground Services app VR Ready Custom Particle FX Detailed User Manual & Checklists Requirements X-Plane 11- VR Ready Windows, Mac or Linux 4 GB VRAM Minimum - 8 GB VRAM Recommended Current and Review version: 1.0 (August 26th 2020) Download Size: 1.9 Gb : Install Size 2.65Gb Documentation : includes an extensive 43 page manual... P38-User-Manual _____________________________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 5th September 2020 Copyright©2020 : X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 1Tb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.41 (Tested in v11.50RC2-fine) Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini/Yamaha Speakers Plugins: : XPRealistic Pro v2 effects US$19.95 (highly recommended with the P38L) Scenery or Aircraft - KRAL - Riverside Municipal by Rising Dawn Studios (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$24.99

It is called "cashing in" and there will be a lot of that, but yes you are right... simulation won't survive as a game, yes a lot will just fly around the Effiel Tower a few times and bomb their houses, but if you do that a few it then gets boring. The demographics will split into those that treat it purely as a game, then go off and kill more soldiers... but to stay interested is when the depth side of simulation kicks in... here I am after ten years with an attention span of weeks on anything I really like, then discard it to move onto something else, but simulation has kept that attention span working for over ten years, so there has to be something else to hold me to that aspect. Like you and to the hope of Microsoft and even X-Plane as users start to explore the depths of what simulation really is and the skills required to fly aircraft really well, or correctly then the bug bites and so you become a follower and not a passer by... as you noted MSFS will bring a lot of people to the simulation table that have no idea that it even exists.

Yes I have already mentioned that Laminar has brought in a new art team to tackle the scenery aspect (Eastern Europeans apparently), Gliders struggle because the current X-Plane weather system is just too basic... an area to urgently addressed.

Thanks for your comment. I have thought about that aspect a lot actually... but we have already sort of tested those ideas out... we have the full study aircraft with what you could say have the full "bells and whistles" and the FlightSim approach of a basic aircraft that flies but have no depth in systems... this was the Aerosoft ATR 72-500. Overall this approach was rejected totally by the community, we are as noted in simulation, not in gaming. So yes full depth systems are totally relevant as that is what simulation is at its core... and your biggest argument is that will users actually pay for that depth, the answer is yes, in fact the opposite is true in that give us an aircraft that does not represent a full system immersion (a la ATR 72-500) and we will seriously reject it, total immersion does require a big investment but I totally think that true simmers will always pay for that, and even demand more study aircraft, and they certainly don't want weak simulation like the MSFS direction... it does really only what is says it is... in being a gamers aspect. I found that argument was very eminently vocal in the release of MSFS.

Aircraft Update : Airbus A319 v1.5 by ToLiSS With a lot of focus on the ToLiSS A321 (which is very good by the way) the earlier A319-100 has sort of been pushed into the background. The tiddler Airbus (only the A318 with low sales is slightly smaller) is an interesting aircraft as with it's size it is sublime to fly (yes an Airbus can be fun to fly manually). So here is actually an unexpected update in v1.5. The main focus on this update is actually the sounds. Earlier if you wanted the IAE Engine sounds you had to buy a separate sound pack from the store and to note that there is still the other option of the "Baby Bus Symphony A319 BSS IAE soundpack" from BlueSkyStar. Here however the original source of the sounds on the A319 from the ever growing Turbine Sound Studios have been converted and enhanced in the FMOD system for the IAE engine with new sounds such as door opening/closing, electric hydraulic pump, brake fans, and many more, this pack is now part of the A319 package and a US$10.00 price increase has been added to the purchase price. To current purchasers the update is still free, for everyone else you still save US$3.95 over purchasing the package separately. Changes come right at the start. On activation the aircraft does not now have to be restarted, but you just go straight into the simulation with no ill effects, that is very nice in not losing time doing a complete desktop restart (I know you can just reload the aircraft from the "Developers Menu" but I still do it from the desktop to make sure it is a total clean file install). The IAE V2524-A5 (the 2500 represents the 25,000 lbf (111 kN)) start up procedure which is now significantly different from the CFM startup with new engine auto ignition logic and staging spooling intervals, and the startup sounds specific to the IAE are spot on as well... ... staging n2 output% is now perfect with the startup FF (Fuel Flow) is really good in detail. Another note system wise is that the Airbus engine system stay-out zone is now automatic. The FADEC prevents the engine from stabilizing between 60% N1 and 74% N1 when on the ground, it stays either below or goes above. This is to prevent vibrations that can damage the fan blades. Added functionality is now also available on OHP maintenance panel, like Blue pump override and FADEC ground power, and on the INIT page then the values CRZ TEMP and TROPO can also be entered into the vertical FMGS predictions. Sounds that are external, cockpit and in the cabin are all highly dynamic and enhanced, and yes the TSS sounds are now very close to the BSS version. I would say however the BSS are just slightly better, and the sounds can be adjusted and saved directly on the "Sounds/Addon" Menu tab, so you lose the the addon "sound panel" in the main plugin menu. Note the new "PERFORMANCE ADJUSTMENTS" sliders on the first "SITUATIONS - A/C CONFIG" Menu page, it notes both the Aircraft's and Engines age (arrowed above right). A note in saving flightplans. Before if you used the SITUATIONS save, you could reset the whole system with a click... but now you have to save the FLPN Flightplan separately, but also have the option of saving both the current ACTIVE flight plan and the ALTERNATIVE flight plan as well. The reset AUTOSAVE will however reset the whole aircraft if you have a simulator crash. A nice touch is now when you are taxiing and using the rudder pedal brakes... .... that the rudder pedals will now show the braking action, hard to see down there but the effect is really good... note the change in pneumatic pressure on the brake display with pedal pressure. Put a standard powerful engine on a smaller fuselage and what you get is a "Pocket Rocket", the A319 will power forward fast and climb up like an banshee. The ToLiSS can now be used with the THRUSTMASTER® TCA (Thrustmaster Civil Aviation) product range, which is officially licensed by AIRBUS® in the A319 if you want the full Airbus feel, touch and command under your fingers. TCAS or Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System is new to the XP11.50 interface and supports up to 63 other aircraft and is now available on the A319, but I use Traffic Global and it does not show yet on the PFD? (I do note the "Use TCAS" on the Traffic Global settings menu), so it is still in it's early stages... the TCAS however will however not issue alerts when flying parallel approaches, e.g. in KSFO. Since the arrival of really good Airbus dynamics, a lot of grudgingly Boeing pilot's have been willing to make the switch. I have always been an Airbus aficionado, I love the complex systems and the more modern approach to aviation than the Boeing affection which is really based back in the 60's, a lot of users say it is too automated, but the point is any Airbus still has to be flown with skill and a though knowledge of the complex systems. Bottom of Descent and Descent profile intercept indicators have been revised to be more like the real pointers (they stand out more distinctly), as has the descent profile, both are crucial for being in the correct altitude before going into the landing circuit approach phase. In this case ENGM - Oslo Another new feature (or one being returned) are rain drops on the windows in X-Plane v11.50, and Olso is always good for a rainstorm. The setting is on the TISCS menu on the "General Settings" Tab, and you have to save the preference and you have three choices; None, Standard and Librain... currently the Librain does (still) not work in X-Plane11.50, so the choice of a basic working rain effect and still have the option to switch to the Librain option when fixed is a nice one. I first got slight spatters on the windscreen... then turn on the wipers and then you get splatters and streaks (note the excellent Terrain Radar display)... Then the actual raindrops when the speed drops down below 100 knts, it is very good and on the cockpit side windows as well. but sadly there are no effects on the side cabin windows which I miss. I really like the wheel spray and even the engine outlet thrust spray effects which are very effective. Once parked the droplets just hang there, the Standard system is not as good as the Librain drip, drip feel, but overall I like it. As per everything it was overall a routine SK service, but that is a very good thing, you need routine as that means everything is working as it should be.... ----------------------------- Summary As we get closer to the X-Plane11.50 final release there will be loads of these aircraft updates in tiding up the areas that are related to the changes in the simulator. ToLiSS has got themselves first out of the blocks with this step update to v1.5 of their first aircraft the Airbus A319-100. Always a great simulation, because the system depth here in the A319 is very good and by one of the very best Airbus designers in X-Plane. Top of the changes is the inclusion of the IAE Engine sound package from Turbine Sound Studios, once an addon cost it is now included, free for current users but an extra US$10 addition for newcomers, but that is still a saving on the old deal by US$3.95, the sound package has also been totally revised and it is very good, not as specialised as BlueSkyStar's BSS version, but still pretty good for the money. The IAE engines have also seen significant changes in startup procedures and different procedures than the CFM version. Rain is back, but not by Librain which is still broken in v11.50, but the option is there with a workaround basic rain effect in Standard as well. Authorisation/activation now means you don't have to reload the aircraft either, it is just straight into the simulation. Support is also now available for TCA Sidestick and Thrust levers, and the Descent and Descent profile intercept indicators have also been revised, and other minute changes are significant and a load of bugs have been addressed. Over the last few years this shortened but very popular version of the Airbus A320 Series has become extremely popular in X-Plane, and it is not hard to see why as it is a brilliant small airliner to fly, and not only for it's complex systems but even in manual flight it is dream handling aircraft, and certainly a must have if you love short-haul airliners. This v1.5 update just adds even more icing on to the cake, like a lot of airlines at this development stage the ToLiSS versions are moving into a more mature context, certainly more features can be added... but it is already extremely good, and certainly now a firm fan favorite... Highly Recommended ________________________________________________________ Yes! the ToLiSS319 (A319-122) v1.5 by ToLiSS is now available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Airbus A319 by ToLiSS Price is US$69.00 (note price will go up to $79 in a few weeks to match the A321 price and new sounds) Note make sure you have v1.5 when downloading, All previous purchasers can now update via your X-Plane.OrgStore Account Officially licensed Airbus product Highlights: FMGS with SID/STAR, Airways alternate flight plans, performance prediction, etc. Out of the box with TSS (Turbine Sound Studios) custom sounds for the CFM engine Realistic FBW with Alternate and Direct law reversions Fault injection interface with support for roughly 90 different failures and probability-based random failure injection Choice of CFM and IAE engine, and wingtip fences or sharklets. Choices affect aircraft performance and FMGS predictions. Detailed list of features: FMGS: Support of SID/STAR, including all leg types (Arc, course or heading to intercept, Radius to Fix, Holdings, etc.) Temporary and alternate flight plans Full VNAV guidance with TOC, TOD, Deceleration point, speed limits, fuel prediction, etc. Altitude and speed constraints as the real aircraft deals with them Ability to change the selected STAR while already in the STAR Support for go-arounds and diversions Step altitudes Airway support 2 independent MCDUs and autopilots Top-notch aircraft systems ToLiss uses the QPAC Fly-by-wire and autopilot module, augmented to support Alternate and Direct Law Unique feature: Control Surface hinge moment modelling allows the surfaces to float to the appropriate position after loss of all actuators on a surface. Fault injection interface allowing to inject custom selected failures, or randomly selected failure based on fault probabilities. Custom TCAS with resolution advisory function. Terrain on ND and Weather radar available (WX radar works with default X-plane weather engine) Brake temperature model based on the detailled physics of heat transfer between the individual brake components Hydraulics model in which the pressure is dependent on usage. This is most notable when dropping to RAT mode Detailed model of each ADIRU including alignment, small pressure sensor differences between the units, switching of sources for PFDs Custom air conditioning model supporting high altitude operations at airports like Cusco in Peru or La Paz in Bolivia without spurious warnings Flight warning system with ECAM actions supporting numerous system failure scenarios, e.g. engine failures, generator failures, hydraulic failures. Eye- and ear-candy Detailed 3D cockpit 3d exterior model with CFM and IAE engine Choice between classic wingtip fences or modern sharklets (controlled via livery names) FMOD 3d Sounds Custom sounds from Turbine Sound Studios (TSS) included for the CFM engine. Usability features Situation loading and saving. It is possible to save the flight at any point in time and resume it another day. This can also be used, e.g., to save the position just before approach and practice just the approach many times. Autosaving allows recovering where you left off, should the X-Plane session end unexpectedly. Jumping waypoint-to-waypoint through the cruise phase: Shorten your flight to focus on the more interesting parts as you like. Integrated takeoff performance calculator supporting the use of flex temperature. Requirements X-Plane 11 Windows (64bit) , Mac (OSX 10.11 and up) or Linux (tested on Ubuntu 14.10) 4GB VRAM Minimum - 8GB+ VRAM Recommended Update and Review Version v1.5.0 (August 31st 2020) V1.5 Changelog A319_v1.5 changelog.txt ______________________________________________________________________ Update Review by Stephen Dutton 3rd September 2020 Copyright©2020 : X-Plane Reviews  (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)

Behind the Screen : August 2020 Well the sky didn't fall in! X-Plane is still here and actual still flies, burrrr dom. The Hype of MS2020 or is it MSFS came to a crescendo as the release date of 18th August 2020 got near (in fact it was available on the 17th here in Australia), and then everyone hit the download button, and most crashed at the same time as the herd mentality kicked in. In fact a lot of users had serious problems in not only getting MSFS downloaded and working and trying to keep it working through crash after crash and a fix is coming soon (3rd Sept). So did I do the download the "Wonderkind Simulator"? no... I never (thanks to Apple) will never ever, ever now download a release versions of any software, I usually wait until the bugs and first updates are installed and the running is solid before now using any software... I always wanted to be first, but my hand has now been bitten far to many times to answer and I will not be a guinea pig tester for any business, I will wait thank you and considering the launch details coming in it was a wise choice. But I have seen and looked at the new "wonderkind" simulator and like everything brand new it has a lot of great new features, but also it is also seriously buggy and actually quite basic in what you would call "simulation depth", so a game is currently the right moniker to label MSFS, I will be doing a roundup review of the X-Plane v11.50 and the current situation of the effects of MSFS on the X-Plane simulator soon, so watch out for that. The MSFS release did however give me a lot to reflect on in the advancement of simulators. That you think that the forward progress is slow, but go back even only six years and the changes are simply staggering, as we have now so, so much more for only a step up or two of computer power. One thing to keep in mind though is like any industry it is the tick/tock effect of progress, for years Microsoft's Flight Simulator was the total upper commander "tick", but then X-Plane bounced ahead with it's far better dynamics and brilliant HDR lighting "tock", then FSX and together with P3D they bounced back with clever work around the old core disability "tick", then FS finally went bust and most users finally took the X-Plane plunge "tock". The effects of that final movement was very, very perceptible on the X-Plane simulator, and it finally not only got the users to "give it a try" but brought the developers over as well... They hated it of course, because it was not their platform and financially to their perspective then X-Plane was not a viable business proposition, but the effects of them finally creating X-Plane product did have a very significant impact on X-Plane, quality airports did get the "crossover" treatment as well as a lot of their old FS junk that they couldn't sell any more either also arrived, but X-Plane users were not going to buy that game, so thankfully (except for Aerosoft) most went away again. Would they try the same old charade trick again with the new MSFS, I very much doubt it this time. But now X-Plane is in the "Tick" situation were as a new from the ground up built simulator has certainly a few advantages. But looking back over the years at X-plane as I did a lot in August, the worry is that some of the significant aspects that were very prominent back then are the same aspects that are the main deficiencies now and that aspect is very worrying, and it is these same aspects that puts X-Plane in this "Tick" situation. I am not noting the extraordinary world modeling capabilities of MSFS either, but the areas that should have been easily addressed by now. Don't get me wrong, in many images in doing reviews this month then the visual aspect of X-Plane are actually quite stupendous... take for example this image of the SSG 747-8F leaving EDDF. But MSFS even in it's early stages does give a big spotlight on were Laminar has dropped the ball in either under resourcing critical areas of it's simulator, to a point I would say that Laminar have been a bit lazy over the X-Plane11 version (that will cause Ben Supnic to spit out his coffee), that is not Supnic's fault if again it just reinforces Laminar's biggest weaknesses in financing or out sourcing areas critical to the simulator, the "In House" philosophy is great to a point... but it also shows how they can't cover all their resources to create a competitive modern product. To a point X-Plane users have lived with this philosophy as part as X-Plane's DNA, but has time come for Laminar to become more professional in the world of the big boys. I don't mean financially either as that is not fair against a company with resources like Microsoft, and X-Plane/Laminar has always punched well above it's weight. But even if MSFS had not come back to the game, then would have Laminar just gone on it's merry way as it has done over the last few "golden" years, if MSFS will do more than anything else it will be to finally get Laminar to address the inescapable gaps in their simulator. And this is were competition is good, as it makes for changes that in most cases would never happen or to be constantly be put in the "Too hard to fix" basket, now with a very competitive competitor as then will have to face the critical issues and (finally) fix them. I saying all of this, when we looked at the new wonderking MSFS, and then switched over to X-Plane, the differences are not as glaring as we thought they would be, in fact X-Plane as noted has come a significantly long way over the last run of X-Plane11, and you have to put it into perspective of that we have world of two very high class simulators more than he early factor of one being very highly advanced and the other a secondary product. Both are up there, both are giving us an amazing experience and each have their pluses and minuses. As noted in my last BtheS (July) in that it will not be X-Plane that will suffer the most with the reintroduction of the Microsoft Simulator but the old legacy FS (FSX) and Prepar3D, both are basically finished as simulation platforms as MSFS gathers speed (Mathis Kok from Aerosoft has already announced that all FSX development has already ceased). More on MSFS and X-Plane future aspects in the v11.50 roundup review. Obviously there was a lot of talk amongst the (aircraft) developers on if they are going to abandon X-Plane for the goldfields of MSFS. Overall the consensus is to not abandon the platform, as the earlier reasons they chose X-Plane for their skills is still the same now for staying, but it would not be impossible to lose a "biggie", for once having now sampled such products as FlightFactor's A320U, Rotate's MD-80 and ToLiSS Airbuses, Aerobask's quality, Thranda's ingenuity and even the coming FLyJSim Dash Q400 would be now very, very much appreciated in the other world simulator. In fact missing such deep immersion simulations is a big attraction in staying currently on the X-Plane platform, after all simulation is about actually flying the aircraft and not what happens around them, in fact the FS world has suffered with poor product over the years in this significant bracket, yes PMDG are brilliant, but since when have they released a new aircraft series, that is not going happen anytime in the future as well, Carenados are also feeling a bit dated... but X-Plane still pushes them out, with higher quality and better features, we don't have the scale of Flight Sim, but X-Plane produces excellent product. Money is going to be the interesting aspect of going forward. Most MSFS developers are rubbing their hands at the revenue they are hoping the MSFS will deliver, but these Covid 19 times are very different from say even last year, money will not be as freely available and how many users out there will want to spend up again big on product (like I mentioned again last month in BtheS) that they have already purchased twice or even three times before and for the same product. Most products are being put out on a crossover price, but many stubborn (if greedy) developers are asking a full price replacement (again). I really don't think that the punters will have the deep pockets of last year going into the future, and looking at the expensive collections in FSX and P3D they are very unlikely to do the same all over again... an interesting note is the Carenado CT182T Skylane in the MSFS "Marketplace" was noted as US$44.95... the X-Plane version is US$34.95, that is a US$10 hike for the same aircraft? A mis-spelling mistake or Microsoft Marketplace markup, I don't know which. If anything as expected the release of Microsoft's new version of it's "Flight Simulator" series has like most things in 2020 has changed all aspects of our on-line simulator and real lives. Is such disruption good? to a point yes, but as with everything there are winners and losers in these huge changes. Has there been just too much change lately, certainly yes and a lot not to the good, but change is inevitable one way or another and the winners are the ones that accept change and readjust to the new situations that are the survivors, in other words turn a negative into a positive. One thing is really important to note, is that in the next few years is going to be the most interesting that Simulation has gone through for years, or even decades. See you all next month, and a promise that no mention of MSFS will grace the next edition. Stephen Dutton 1st September 2020 Copyright©2020 X-Plane Reviews

Are you looking in the SSG B748 folder (aircraft) or the X-Plane root folder (Custom Data). If nothing in the latter then SSG provide you with an data installer with the package, install the old data, then replace it with the current Nav Data.

Yes SID/STAR's work fine, but to update the aircraft's Nav Data is unusual... it is located in the X-Plane/CustomData/UFMC folder, and there is a separate Navigraph download (ssg_native_2009) for this Nav Data, as a side note you did use the the DEP/ARR key to input the SID/STAR didn't you? as just dropping in a route only covers the actual route and not the SID/STAR sections. S

Aircraft Update : B 747-8 Inter Anniversary Edition v2.2 by Supercritical Simulations Group As a reviewer of simulation, then what gives you the biggest satisfaction, yes the unveiling of any new aircraft or scenery is always going to make you happy, there are things to explore, things to adjust, pushing buttons, finding your way around the complex systems... then actually flying the aircraft. But there is a more subtle satisfaction that comes from a longer period of development. Even if the new aircraft or even to a point a new scenery is great or even wonderful at release it is also usually not totally complete, there is always that "something" that doesn't work correctly or could have been better modeled or still needs some work done to. Add into that factor then there is the development progress, very few aircraft are complete on first delivery as in most cases the restrictions of the period in most cases didn't allow for the sort of quality or dynamics that we take for granted today, in five years we will look back and say that the quality today is certainly not the detail and quality of now, so it is a moving scale of what was brilliant five years ago is very "ho Hum" today, and only constant upgrades and version changes can keep an aircraft current. Which brings us to Supercritical Simulations Group and their Boeing 747-8. Like I have already noted it is a very ambitious project in taking on such a very large (no pun intended) project, what could be called brave on one hand or it could be called foolish on another. Yes the project certainly had it's ups and downs over the last six years, it is complex aircraft that never really had any soul, and you can't say the venerable Boeing 747 has no soul, because it is one of the greatest machines to grace our skies. But the earlier SSG B748 aircraft just didn't jell, a lot I liked about it, and it was actually nice to fly, but it was missing that "something"... SSG did the right thing and stopped throwing time and energy at something that refused to morph into something great and started again from scratch, oddly the very last "Legacy" v1.9.2 version finally sort of got there. So v2 was announced and SSG produced a sort of again a non-starter? but the quickly revised version (2.1.1) that X-PlaneReviews reviewed here Boeing 747-8 Inter v2 Anniversary Edition by Supercritical Simulations Group finally gave the aircraft the daylight it deserved... it was very good, and for once I really loved it, but missing was the Freighter version that was part of the original v1 release, and so here we are with finally the full B748i and B748F package... and the v2 cargo version is here! First some notes. v2.1.1 Passenger version was released back in January (22nd) and besides the new F variant there are the bug fixes and improvements (a lot) so most of the changes and fixes in this v2.2 cover both the Passenger and Freighter variants, although obviously the focus here will be on the Cargo version. And so here is the v2 SSG Freighter version basking in the morning light at EDDF - Frankfurt on the cargo ramp N15. The first thing that jumps out at you is quality, There has been a few delays with the release of the v2 Freighter version after the Passenger (mostly Covid 19 related) but the extra time provided has given SSG the space to fine tune the details even more, the Passenger version released was very good in external quality, but you feel the aircraft is now even more complete, in fact it is sensational (more twiddling on the exterior has been done in v2.2) Get close and the B748 looks and feels exceptional... Look at that nose shape and the lovely shiny hull, inside the LF open door is what is to come... again those first impressions count, note the nose stringers, no cheap mapping here but the real thing, text and detail is excellent, sharp and high-def. The classic three window hump is used on the Freighter version in bringing back memories of fifty years ago, I always thought it was the best proportioned 747 version, so you get that classic 747 feel. Window detail is really good and I love the far darker green front windows to lighter shade side as per the real 747 pout, "god it is nice!" Nosewheel detail is again in the "wow" catagory, as the depth of modeling here is excellent. We didn't look at the total gear detail in the earlier review, but I am glad I took the time here, it is very, very good on all bogies with intimate detail of lighting, brakes and associated pressure lines. Do we expect this sort of high quality detail to day for our money, absolutely, but we rarely get it. But I do feel here there has been a huge effort to not only model in detail, but to also create the most authentic feel in wear, tear and afully working aircraft look, and SSG has certainly succeeded in that department. The four General Electric GEnx--2B67B engines rated at 66,500 lbf (296 kN) were completely redone for v2, and you still can't get over the differences to the bland v1 engines, they now simply ooze quality and detail... With the v2.2 update comes a more realistic engine fan spool up/spool down animation and the engine fan windmilling effect is now visible depending on the wind's direction and speed... it looks great, but don't stand too close! Rear APU (Auxilary Power Unit) exhaust and lighting detail is really good with work done for more detail like with rivets around APU tailcone area, but note the bracket on the rightside rear... I wonder what that is for? As this is Freighter variant you get that gigantic opening mawing cargo mouth that makes the B747F give you a happy cartoon laughing face... ... all the cargo upper and lower doors open and they have excellent hi-quality detail, note the aft bulk door opens inwards as it should do. Front cargo door is finally open and it is a huge massive hole... Detail is incredible.... everything is so well done from the comprehensive door latch system, floor runners and hydraulic door rams. Note the perfect yellow upper deck ladder. Internally it is a cargo haulers wet dream, a fantasy come true, note the excellent porthole window (it is there to check icing on the wings or look at the engines), vents, container position markings, door controls.... ohhhh this is just so much! Yes we have had a great Freighter with all these door and cargo details in the Boeing 748F before, but not to this detail and depth, this is just so realistic. What is up that ladder, can you go up there... of course and it is the rear rest cabin. There are six business class sized seats for comfort, four on the right and two more behind the entrance way. I love rear cabins, on a long haul you can take yourself back there and have a rest (I do tend to fly at the controls for the full 10 or 12 hours, I'm a bit mad that way)... so for me this rest area is absolutely perfect. Forward is a big galley, and behind the curtain is the cockpit... before we go in there there is the escape door in the upper right fuselage, this door can be removed via the menu. Forward door left is a toilet... "phew" 12 hours, just think about that, twelve long hours. Go closer and touch the curtain to open and there is the office.... .... so unlike the Passenger version with the missing rear part main deck, then everything or every area is modeled and accessible on the Freighter, the B747 is a big aircraft so there is a lot of the aircraft to explore. A note, on the Passenger version the flight deck door switch has been implemented and the cockpit door now opens inward as in the real aircraft. Cockpit The SSG B748 cockpit has had more dramas than Keith Moon. Nothing it seemed could get those textures right and even the third party renditions didn't work.... but you gotta give SSG something, it is resoluteness... and finally I think they have it right. The biggest issue was it was earlier so clammy and dark in here and the textures just had no life to them. In v2.2 they are still dark, but feel fine in the light. Detail is excellent now in all corners of the cockpit, note the classic upper ceiling work and a ceiling stored spare seat. Instrument panel detail is excellent, even overwhelming. All instrument displays are bright, sharp and clear (adjustable)... .... I am still not sure of the yokes like I mentioned in the Passenger version? they look okay in the light with a nice sheen, but they still need something to break up the brown blandness. Overhead Panel is simply enormous, detail is really, really good. System depth is very good, note the Fire Test (arrowed) One concern is the manipulator control, It still feels slightly too high on the knobs and crosses over to other switchgear, I thought this would have been refined for this version but it hasn't, it is not that bad... but needs adjustment to be perfect as it can get a little twiddly. In high work moments it can get frustrating trying to manipulate certain knobs and switches. Whiskey Compass housing is all new, and modeled on a real unit... you can adjust the brightness and even tone it right down. Pedestal has had attention with Yaw damper switches now separated into upper and lower with associated EICAS messages. The COM radios now have 8.33 kHz spacing and will allow tuning frequencies 3 digits after decimal (e.g. 118.015) "Thank god" and the ATC Transponder code entering has been improved and made more realistic. Radio VOR and ILS frequencies can now also be entered in both XXX.YY and XXXYY format. The center pedestal CDU now has a screen with sample menu selections, but its features are not implemented yet in this version. Menu is different for the v2 and debuted on the Passenger version, it is a Integrated Standby Flight Display (ISFD) iPad style and far better to use, graphics could be a little more visually creative and still feel Windows 95 in that aspect, but otherwise it is very good if basic. Door control including that huge front nose hatch is via the main aircraft diagram, and a new addition (arrowed) is a "Tail Stand"? "Wow" yes that is a really nice addition and what that rear right bracket was for, the tail stand looks great and so authentic set in place. Primary and other Multi-Functional Displays (MFD) are excellent with even the lowest text point easily read, and the text is quite small in areas. Nav MFD can be switched as a backup or for in flight use, via the switch above. Three modes cover PFD, NAV/MAP and Centre MFD, both sides can also be switched independently. FMC is very good by FJCC (Javier Cortés) and now has a huge depth of detail. First on this v2 is that both the Pilot and First Officers CDU's are now both independent of each other, and both have pop-out's on windows F8 (Pilot) and Alt F8 (FO). You can input directly by pressing the KEYS selection, but note it does freeze the background for movement. In the earlier release version I found the pop-ups would also input the wrong key selection, they feel better this time around (Passenger version has been updated the same), but I use the excellent Green Arc WebFMC Pro to program the route and performance data, note the WebFMC Pro will only access the right side FMC panel, and not the left pilot side. Overall the FMC depth as noted here is now very good and comes with great detail. You do get a few helpers on the PERF INIT page but otherwise it is all direct input, and the manual "FCOM" guide is very good as a teacher, but note to load the passengers and cargo and fill the tanks before setting up the FMC PERF pages. There are however still a few Cortés quirks to work around as it is slow to input and show the changes and I got an odd freeze on the right display, but it righted itself... Route input was however excellent with no issues, I am not going far enough to test the waypoint limit like I discovered on the SIN-FRA route (20 pages) but it is noted as being fixed. EFIS MODE/ NAV FREQ DISAGREE alert shows up and notes the VOR Frequency does not match the input ILS setting, but I had not yet input the runway? it went away with the settings done. Settings for "Refueling" is done on the ISFD, and automatic input is done via pressing the LK1 (arrowed left), I personally would like to set the ZFW manually, but you can't? But it does fill in the FMC INIT page data very well. "Payload" adds in your cargo load, You can select; 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% (MAX) loads or direct cargo weight in Kgs. Note, the added .1 decimal setting which was missing before, same on the refueling setting which can now be set as +/-0.1 ton. References are very good and detailed. "Takeoff" REF is very good and pointers will help you fill it in. Another and one I haven't seen before is the VNAV References (arrowed below right)... Three pages give access to ECON CLB (Climb), ECON CRZ (Cruise) and ECON 337. New and fixed FMC notes are; You can now enter any valid VOR frequency and FMC step climb values can now be entered directly via the scratchpad but only in 4 decimal places (i.e. 3000 not 300), now you can add an airport as a waypoint, DEL key now works in the right CDU and the bug has been fixed when sometimes selected SIDs would be deleted. Overall I found the aircraft setup really good, no real issues and it is certainly a comprehensive bit of kit... "Study grade", yes certainly now it is. Integrated Standby Flight Display (ISFD) The Integrated Standby Flight Display (ISFD) EFB is coming along nicely with a few more items added. As noted we have: GND SERV (doors, APU), Fueling and Payload pages. The "Sound" page looks the same but the actual sounds have all been redone to mostly allow the DreamEngine build 0316 to ensure that the sounds work in XP11.50. On the Passenger version I liked them a lot, a few users didn't? But they have revised anyway by a new sound set from Turbine Sound Studios (TSS). "Options" covers show/hide both yokes (independently), Show/hide Rain Effects, Kilos or Pounds and a Real/Fast Navigation Alignment time. APU covers the External Power source, but still no actual ground unit? and last is a new item for chocks... GHD - Ground Handling Deluxe As with the earlier v1 Freighter version a must have addon is the "Ground Handling Deluxe" Plugin by JARDesign. If any plugin was designed for a particular aircraft then the SSG B748 Freighter then this is it... ... in fact the huge front 30t K loader was created just for this aircraft, a note though and there is a small conflict with the provide (menu) chocks and the GHD versions, the GHD version is far better in design so I use them... but you can't use both (well you can but it looks odd). My load factor payload is not 100% (note as 103.8kgs), but depending on the load % factor the aircraft will show the amount of cargo internally. EDDF (Frankfurt) to UUEE (Moscow) There is a significant amount of data and route information to set up the aircraft, the details are quite comprehensive and SSG do provide a very good "Quick Start Guide", but previous experience with these study detailed aircraft will certainly help. Only a note on the takeoff flap position of 20º set in the manual feels too excessive and would create too much drag, so I go for 10º. With the loading complete it is time to get the B748F ready for flight. If using the GHD there is a lot to do and as much to do getting the aircraft loaded and ready on the ground as much as the flying in the air, it is a very immersive simulation. Doors are closed and the APU is started, the great X-Plane11 particle effects work great here. Switchgear sounds are fabulous, great clicks and clunks as you press buttons and the feel gives you again great immersion of the aircraft. There is a good pushback system built in to the aircraft (in the ISFD), but I will always use the "BetterPushBack" option, I don't start the engines until the pushback is complete, the weight of the aircraft and running engines can create a heavy weight to move... it feels better or more authentic as well. Engine start is very impressive (make sure your bleeds are correct, the B748 my look like a auto aircraft, but it is still a B747 under the new skin). Each section of the startup procedure is completed, so it does take time to start all four GEnx--2B67B engines but the procedures are really, really good in the engine startup stages, sounds are excellent from both inside the cockpit and externally, but I had to adjust the external engines sounds down a few notches as they are quite high. You did wait until the N2 was at 20% until you threw the fuel flow switches... of course you did. But the N2 readout is only displayed on the lower EICAS display, not on the upper. Speedbrake arm is (arrowed) lift and not accessible via a keyboard/joystick command, so it is easy to overlook... all four engines are now running and settled at 500 EGT. A fully loaded Boeing 747 is always a sight to see, and you feel all the immense weight once you push those throttles forward to taxi. Frankfurt au Main is set up to cater for these big A380's and B747s, but it still is tight for an aircraft of this size on moving it around the taxiways, departure is via Rwy 07R. Takeoff roll is full power and you need it, 169+10 knts and you rotate the aircraft off the runway but with not a very high pitch up of say 8º. Flying 747's are a trick... these Jumbo aircraft work for you but also very much against you in what you want to do... ... the flap system with the Krueger flaps are on the leading edge of the wing and the Triple-Slotted Flaps are the high lift devices at the rear of the wing, both are highly effective, but also create huge drag as well... your job is to fly around the drag and not stall the aircraft, with a very heavy cargo load then that aspect is far easier said than done... ... the key is speed, once have lift you need to gather speed, so a low climb rate helps enormously. Settle into a low altitude and clean up the aircraft and increase the speed before climbing (295knts) and don't fall into the worst situation of trying to climb too fast and too slow and get stuck in that horrible pitch up low speed zone that creates 747 drag, it is also very hard to get out of the situation, the whole aircraft becomes a huge barn door of drag hell... once your flat and fast then climb, but again control the climb, I call it the "big lift" and if the 747 is very heavy then it will take time to lift yourself up to altitude... The B748F is far more powerful than the earlier PW JT9D-7R4G2 -300 version... they needed a lot of coaxing (love) to lift the load to altitude so to speak, but that is the skill and part of the experience of flying 747's. So a short climb to 8000ft, power up to 295knts and then once around the corner it was a 1600fpm climb up to FL310, and she responded perfectly... this SSG is a really, really good 747 to fly... You could note the office as nice, well it is a really great place to spend time. And you will spend a lot of time in here. Background sounds are excellent, no boring loops, but that movement through the air humm that sounds like an air conditioner on full fan blast... I love it. The SSG 748 has been redone with the latest SASL3 (both versions) and it feels better for it and with the options that the better features SASL3 can provide. EICAS messages have been revised and corrected or deleted, and there are no more triangles where circles are supposed to be in SIDs/STARs. Lighting I really liked the cockpit lighting on the Passenger version, and so it is as good in here on the Freighter. It is really a nice place in here. Under panel LED lighting shows off the amazing beautiful throttle handles, you can almost feel and touch them. Rear cockpit lighting is controlled by the DOME knob and the lights three overhead lights, they look very nice, but need just a little more brightness to be perfect, with the dome lights on it will still leave the instrument panel in semi-darkness which I like.... STORM will give the cockpit full illumination. Separate MAP lights are available for both pilots, again both are very good.... Full blackout of in-direct light can be eliminated and in giving you a full dark but lit instrument panel which is still totally adjustable, it can take a little while to work all the different lighting settings, but the results are worth it. .... but it was extremely easy to find the sweet spot in instrument panel lighting, which is very, very important to me if you are flying long hours, and most cargo routes are flown at night means this aspect is doubly important to feel content in here... and it is perfect. Cabin is bit bright, and like the passenger version and you wish you had more control or adjustment of the lighting, it is fine, but could be better. External lighting on the B748F is excellent. Nice tail logo lighting, and the WING lights does a nice job of lighting up the wings and the engines. The aircraft looks simply great at night, almost beautiful in the right lighting conditions. 139kms out from Moscow it is time to descend... .... NAV/MAP MFD is full of information, sometimes too much data so you have to declutter the display to see your details. There is a VDS - Vertical situation display that shows you your altitude and the lower terrain. But it pushes up the main Navigation display into a tighter higher aspect... it is very good, but I need the full NAV display.. but as a descending tool it is very good... another indispensable tool is the altitude target line, set your vertical speed down and find out where you will reach your set new altitude... you just can't do without it. Those huge flap arrangements are now to your favor as you reduce speed, 10º flap and 205 knts is a perfect approach speed... a turn to finals. The view of Sheremetyevo on approach now is incredibly different from the wasteland past, we have come a long way has the X-Plane simulator. My totally favorite aspect of the Boeing 747, with the gear hanging down on approach with a slow speed. You can slightly twiddle the yoke and the full 250 tons will respond beneath you as you hang there in the air, the power of flight. Considering it's size (or because of it) the Boeing 747 is a nice aircraft to land, it has a good flow and lift, and the final flare at around 160knts will allow you settle easily on the four bogie arrangement. Reverse thrust is powerful, and it needs to be to slow the high weight down. I rarely make a shoddy landing in a 747, it is always so forgiving and this B747-8 from SSG does everything right. You feel again the size of the 8F as you negotiate the tighter taxiway (Main) A coming off Rwy 06R, the cargo base here at UUEE is even smaller and the massive 8F fills the complete bay. After shutdown I slip down the ladder to check the cargo... "yep" still there and not moved an inch, it is not my job to unload, but the internal detail of the closed front hatch is still very impressive! Dream stuff again, that who would have thought we would have this much detail and this much 747 aircraft to fly... I never did. Liveries There are the original six passenger six liveries in very high quality detail: SSG House, Air China, Air Force One, Boeing House, Korean Air and Lufthansa And the six new Freighter liveries as part of the package, the Cargo liveries are; Cargolux, Atlas Air, Boeing Family, Boeing Light, Cathay Pacific Cargo and Silkway. A paint kit for both aircraft has just been published, so more is expected. ________________________ Summary This is the v2 Anniversary Edition of Supercritical Simulations Group Boeing 748 International aircraft. The package was first released as a Passenger version back in January 2020, but this is the second part of the package with the new incorporation of the Boeing 748F or Freighter. Besides the addition of a completely new Freighter variant, there has also been some significant updates, fixes and changes to the aircraft. The v2.2 release covers even more of a long list of changes, but the core was good at the start is now even far better (changelog attached). Highlights are... SASL3 plugin now used for more features and reliability, Updated Sounds by TSS and DreamEngine update for XPv11.50. More realistic fan operations for startup, windmilling. Better Speedbrake spoiler functionality, chocks added and Hydraulic, Autobrake, Altitude Alert logic all redone... ISFD (iPad) now has +/-0.1 ton quantities. Negatives are rear lighting a bit bright and non-adjustable and this is a very heavy detailed aircraft and does require a bit of grunt to run it all so a 8K graphic card is recommended, also you do need some Systems/FMS skills to fly the aircraft, however there are some very good manuals provided, but this aircraft is notably a high level simulation and not for the faint hearted. Notable here is that if you purchased the earlier Passenger version, then the added spectacular Freighter comes at a significant no cost but just an update... if you have not purchased the SSG Boeing 748 package then you get two significant aircraft for the cost of one, either way it is all a very good deal, added to that factor is how really good this study 747 now is, this is one very comprehensive aircraft with a lot of great system depth, quality and immense detail. The evolution of the SSG Boeing 748 has been a long one, but it now delivers and has reached a mature stage in it's development. This is the "ultimate" Boeing 747 for X-Plane, and if like me in being a 747 nutjob then this SSG Boeing 748i/F delivers the full experience. Obviously this is the best Boeing 747 in X-Plane and now it has that ultimate Freighter version as well... it should keep you going long into the night doing what you do best, hauling, hauling freight and passengers around the world in style... Absolutely Highly Recommended ________________________  Yes! the Boeing 747-8 Inter v2.2 Anniversary Edition By Supercritical Simulations Group is available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Boeing 747- 8 Inter Anniversary Edition Price is US$65.00 (discounted) Features  New: Passengers and Cargo Versions included 747-8 Intercontinental Passenger version New Freighter model, accessible under "Cargo" in the Main X-Plane Aircraft menu EXTERNALS The entire external 3D model for v2 has been redone, including the following: All new fuselage closely modeled on the real one with added details Each door can be opened individually and is more detailed Added animations and details (almost all parts that can open/move on the aircraft are modeled). New external details such as a satellite antenna and tail camera New cut passenger windows instead of textures New vertical and horizontal stabilizers with added details New nacelles and engines with more details and new animations Reworked and more detailed landing gear/gear doors with additional animation Improved and more detailed leading and trailing edge flaps and added flap mechanisms Upper deck interior with seats/galleys and stairs to lower deck New wing flex and nacelle animations The textures for the entire aircraft have been redone to match the new model, along with decals for certain detailed areas, right down to most of the external placards, working closely with our technical advisors to ensure all the main details are present and that we have gotten them right. COCKPIT The entire cockpit 3D model has been largely redone and completely retextured. New overhead panel and buttons/switches New forward panel and buttons/switches New pedestal and buttons/switches/handles New miscellaneous panel and buttons/switches Side panels and window frames completely redone New cockpit seats Various added details SYSTEMS/FMC Almost all switches function properly and independently IRS alignment process implemented More realistic fuel system with different pumps and tanks along with FUEL TANK / ENG logic Realistic AUTOSTART and RUNNING indicators on secondary engine displays Improved and more realistic air conditioning system and logic Better track representation on ND Clock and chronometer on ND working like on the real aircraft More realistic baro pressure logic (STD, preselected, transition altitude) Captain and First Officer FMCs are now independent FMC FIX page added FMC Route 2 function added FMC Diversion function added Librain rain effects (currently not working on Macs) Skuncraft Updater Now with Skunkcraft updater. No need to download anything for updates, the plane will automatically be updated Requirements: X-Plane 11 Windows , Mac or Linux 4GB MB VRAM Minimum - 8GB+ VRAM Recommended Current and Review version : 2.2 - (August 23rd 2020) Owners of the 747 v1 will see a discounted price once logged in into their account. No Coupon required. NOTE: Framerate requires a decent graphic card, minimum of 8gb is RECOMMENDED, so I would also recommend a power machine as standard.  Installation : Download is 1.52gb which is unzipped and is inserted in your Heavy Aircraft folder as: 1.72gb  Key authorisation is required.  WebFMC Pro and "Ground Handling Deluxe" Plugin by JARDesign is highly recommended with this aircraft. Documentation : includes  SSG License Agreement.txt V2.2 Change Log.txt SSGCUSTOMLIST.TXT librain license.txt SSG 747-8 V2 Quick Start Guide.pdf SSG 747-8 V2 FCOM.pdf Changelog v2.2 V2.2 Change Log.txt  ______________________________________________________________________  Aircraft Review by Stephen Dutton  28th August 2020 Copyright©2020: X-Plane Reviews   (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)   Review System Specifications:  Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.20 Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini  Plugins: Traffic GLobal Plugin - US$52.99 : BetterPushBack - Free : Ground Handling Deluxe Plugin by JARDesign US$14.95 : WebFMC Pro US$19.99 Scenery or Aircraft - EDDF - Airport Frankfurt XP11 by Aerosoft (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$32.99 - UUEE - Moscow Sheremetyevo XP v2 by Drzewiecki Design (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$26.00   

As I noted, the paintkit has been posted today... so the new liveries will be available when converted to v2.

My first guess is that you are trying to use v1 liveries on the v2 model? they are completely different textures... there has been a paintkit posted, so my guess is that conversions will come soon. On the starting engines I haven't got that far yet, but the review is coming soon.

Scenery Update : KLAX - Los Angeles International HD v1.1 by ShortFinal Like most things in X-Plane, time passes quickly. It is hard to believe that ShortFinal's KLAX - Los Angeles release version scenery is already two years old, and two years is a long time in X-Plane development and that was (with the quick update) v1.01, not to be confused with this updated version v1.1. Actually this is the third LAX scenery from Mister6X or ShortFinal Designs. The first was a freeware version, but in retrospect nothing like the later payware version, and now this update version pushes the quality and detail out even further. Extremely popular is this scenery and so it should be as Mister6X is a master X-Plane scenery developer, we expect a lot from him, and usually on all accounts he seriously delivers. Complex and dense, and that sums up KLAX. This is a mega scenery in more ways than one, the download however is a sweet 831mb, and even when installed it is still only a 1.28gb volume. So in custom scenery terms it is very light. The original overview X-PlaneReviews review is here; Scenery Review : KLAX HD Los Angeles International v1.01 by ShortFinal Designs KLAX - Los Angeles International HD v1.1 So what have been the changes in v1.1. Actually they are quite significant to match the quality of X-Plane v11.50. First up there has been the complete change of autogate system from the Marginal Autogate DGS for the more flexible SAM (Scenery Animation Manager) system to bring LAX into line with the other ShortFinal sceneries... Single, two and three pier installations are all now available and active, it looks great in action as well. Pier details are as usual the Mister6X quality and branding, in other words excellent, the SAM plugin is obviously required for operations. The new midfield concourse which is still being built at LAX is now also included in this scenery, again it gives a very up to date feel to the airport as it was seen in this condition with the FedEx B767 emergency gear landing that finishing directly in front of the new complex a few days ago. Construction scenario is excellent and so is the well done gradient service road... this aspect also leads into the changes to taxiways L, K and R that surround the new concourse... ... a nice touch is the wear and tear detail on taxiway K, but not on L and R which are newer not currently used surfaces. The v1.1 scenery is also X-Plane 11.50 compliant. Traffic (plugin) is updated to work in Vulkan/Metal and so my favorite animation of the LAX "Airfield" livery buses that do the transfers to the outer western stands are wonderfully working... as are all the circle terminal animated vehicles. Ramp animations are also branded and active, the ramp detail is quite spectacular and highly realistic. Updated has been the airport vehicles with brand new PBR models and they now reflect (glass) and have a far higher quality detail, cars (static) are also a higher quality. Terminal 8 and concourse ramps have been changed, and so the changes have been redone here to reflect the current apron layout. All of the ground textures have also had a significant overhaul... all runway (touchdown), taxiway and ramps are now covered in lovely oily, gooey, grungy, rubbery stains and markings.... ohhh lovely! Concrete based airports are so hard to make realistic, or even believable... but here with ShortFinal's LAX surfaces you can finally see some realism. Mister6X was one of the pioneers of working with PBR and burnt-in ambient occlusion lighting and the master shows his work here as it is still some of the best ground textures around, obviously they have been redone, and all surfaces really have that "wow" factor... Same with all the exceptional textures on the terminal/concourses... in the right lighting all of LAX looks spectacularly impressive. With all this overwhelming detail and depth then some thing has to suffer? Mister6X has totally and drastically reduced VRAM consumption with this update and it certainly feels far better. The problem however is not the actual scenery here but with the comprehensive huge amount of autogen of the L.A. sprawl surrounding it... and yes it can still pull your numbers down unless you compromise on the object count of which I am loath to do, but don't blame ShortFinal for that aspect, it is what mega sceneries are... they are huge, massive and usually also sitting in the middle of an autogen explosion... overall it is a miracle it works at all. Summary This is the really the first major update to ShortFinal Designs (Mister6X) KLAX - Los Angeles International HD version no. v1.1, (I don't count the v1.01 fix update straight after the original release). It has been two years and this update brings the LAX scenery right up to date and has had a few changes and refinements as well. Marginal's Autogate DGS has been changed to the more flexible SAM (Scenery Animation Manager) system to bring LAX now into line with the other ShortFinal sceneries... and I love that and "thank you very much". The new Mid-Field concourse is now visible but still under construction, and the surrounding taxiways L, K and R have also been updated to reflect the new layout. All textures HDR and burnt-in ambient occlusion lighting has been refined along with a far better decreased VRAM consumption, better grunge, oil staining and rubber markings have also been covered. The v1.1 scenery is also now X-Plane 11.50 compliant. Traffic (plugin) has been updated to work in Vulkan/Metal and so have the quality of the animated and static vehicles with PBR reflections and slight gloss for even more realism... Negatives, nothing... but to be aware this is a huge mega scenery in a very heavy L.A basin sprawl and so you need a fair bit of power to run it all, even with Vulkan now helping out. Immensely popular and you can see why... ShortFinal sceneries are exceptional on every count, detailing, features, quality and in the sheer number of objects in the scenery, overall this LAX is a mindblowing experience and shows that X-Plane can deliver a brilliant simulation as realistic as anything else out there and at a great value price... if you haven't yet got this ShortFinal KLAX, then you are missing out on an exceptional scenery.... yes certainly Highly Recommended. ____________________________________________________________________ Yes! the KLAX - Los Angeles International v1.1 by ShortFinal Design is Available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : KLAX - Los Angeles International HD Price is US$26.95 Note is you have already purchased the release version, then go to your X-Plane.OrgStore account and update now to v1.1 Features High Definition Airport Accurate models for all buildings with baked Ambient Occlusion Dynamic reflections on objects and ground textures Custom high resolution ground textures HDR night lighting, animated LAX Gateway Kinetic Light Pylons High resolution photo scenery (15cm/px) 311 parking positions with randomly placed static aircraft Custom Mesh by maps2xplane, realistic sloped runways and taxiway underpasses Fully Animated Airport Animated airport vehicles (GroundTraffic) Custom animated jetways and DGS at all gates (using the SAM plugin) Animated information boards on terminals World Traffic 3 routes already included, made by Brian "Cpt. K-man" Navy (Bird Stryke Designs) Installation : Download scenery file size is 831mb. "KLAX Los Angeles International HD" being inserted into your X-Plane "Custom Scenery" Folder in this order... KLAX - Los Angeles International HD (1.28gb) z_KLAX_HD_Mesh (27.1mb) Full Scenery Installation 1.29Gb SAM Plugin - Scenery Animation Manager - Suite 2.0 is required for this scenery Mesh is required to be installed Below all airports, but above over other local meshes (Ortho4XP) i.e. SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/ KLAX - Los Angeles International HD/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Global Airports/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/ z_KLAX_HD_Mesh/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/ zzz_hd_global_scenery3/ WorldTraffic 3 Make sure you clear out any older versions or text of earlier KLAX WT3 files... then insert the provided WT3 items below. ClassicJetSimUtils\WorldTraffic\GroundRoutes\Arrival\KLAX ClassicJetSimUtils\WorldTraffic\GroundRoutes\Departure\KLAX ClassicJetSimUtils\WorldTraffic\ParkingDefs\KLAX Documents: KLAX - Manual (7 Pages) no charts Requirements : X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 4Gb+ VRAM - 8GB+ VRAM Recommended Update and Review version v1.1 (August 23rd 2020) ______________________________________________________________________ Updated Scenery Review by Stephen Dutton 23rd August 2020 Copyright©2020 : X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 1Tb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.50 Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Traffic Global - JustFlight-Traffic (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$52.99 Scenery or Aircraft - None-

No it is manual throttle flying all the way, it is tricky to use as the fuel burn changes the power setting required... but it is authentic

Better yes with SID/STAR, but better no as there are still a many too areas on the aircraft which are dated... but at least you can now fly the aircraft in services and long haul routes...

Scenery Review : LICR - Reggio Calabria XP by Aerosoft I really like Italian Airports, they are colourful and quirky and you know you are landing in Italy and nowhere else on the planet. So any Italian Airport is welcome, even with the odd regional destination. This is Reggio Calabria which is situated on the toe of Italy and fronting the Strait of Messina and across from the island of Sicily, the Reggio di Calabria "Tito Minniti" Airport is named after Italian Royal Air Force war-hero Tito Minniti, who was born in Reggio Calabria, but LICR is also called Aeroporto dello Stretto (Airport of the Strait). First view of Reggio Calabria is highly impressive, not only for the position, but for the excellent views across the Strait of Messina (note make sure you have your reflections settings on). There are two runways 15/33 - 2,000m (6,549ft) Asphalt and 11/29 - 1,700m (5,574ft) Asphalt, but they look closed by the X on the approach to each runway, but no they are actually open for use and 15/33 is the main runway for the terminal use, and 11/29 for General Aviation movements Reggio di Calabria Airport Aeroporto di Reggio di Calabria IATA: REG - ICAO: LICR 15/33 - 2,000m (6,549ft) Asphalt 11/29 - 1,700m (5,574ft) Asphalt Elevation AMSL- 29.26 m / 95.99 ft The main apron has nine parking stands (walk-on/walk-off) numbered 1 to 9. So there are no airbridges at LICR. Obviously the scenery is a crossover from FSX/P3D, as the modeling and texture design is noticeably quite dated... It shouldn't work, but the detailing and excellent gradients surrounding the terminal lift the scenery into a nice visual reproduction. Fauna is excellent and the detailing hides (covers) a lot of the older elements... oddly both the well done Airside with local branded clutter and the landside is very well done including the crane. Control Tower area has also nice Fire Station set to the south. The Control Tower lifts the scenery in quality, but again don't expect too much if you look really closely, the tower view is set totally off and buried somewhere in the north apron... the Fire Station is really good in detail and comes with four installed fire engines. There is a smaller field tower across the runways, but it is not denoted as the active tower. It is a more modern design and well done. Northwest of the main apron is the General Aviation area with a terminal and two parking aprons. There is parking for four aircraft (only 10 to 12 stands are noted) of which I would guess would be regional and tour operator services, and a smaller apron with parking for five aircraft (Stands 13 to 17). Set between the aprons is a very well done ground equipment storage area and fuel depot... ... the General Aviation terminal is very basic (flat textures) but works if you don't look too closely for details. Environs One notable feature of the scenery is the full representation of Reggio Calabria, and it is all very good for VFR flying, also highly notable is the seemless intergration of the whole scenery into the X-Plane mesh, it is all very well done and very fluid. All buildings are very Italianate is design and very if highly realistic, but there are no churches to be seen, there are always churches in Italy? I am also using the (ShortFinal) SFD Global autogen in this review, and the Italian reference works in SFD blends in very well here, and so does the standard X-Plane industrial urban autogen to give the whole area a perfect coverage... the Reggio Calabria Football (Soccer) "Stadio Granillo" stadium is also well represented. There is also a beachside tourist area opposite the airport that is also recreated and there are a few boats bobbing up and down in the swell as well. Ground Textures The asphalt and concrete textures are good, not brilliant but more than passable, wear and tear detail is good in the linage, but overall they are say workmanlike. metal drainage grids joining the surfaces are well done... ... and there is 3d grass with overall only minimal coverage but enough grass to make it realistic. Hard straight texture edges are very easy to do, but not very realistic? There is burnt-in ambient occlusion on the textures, but you have to get very extreme lighting to get them to reflect, PBR reflective is in there (mostly in the lineage) but overall the PBR work feels a little dull. Lighting Overall the lighting is good, but there a few very disconcerting missing and old fashioned areas. Approach lighting is very good on RWY 15/33 but there is no lighting in either approach or any runway lighting on RWY 11/29... ... RWY 15/33 has centreline lighting but no runway boundary lighting? worse is that there is no taxiway side guidance lights and even the navigation displays are in darkness.. but only lit from below? so movements on the ground at night are quite a nightmare in finding the taxiway exits or the edges of the runways, and you have to turn around here at each end to takeoff or when landed? Apron lighting and Landside lighting is very good, great tones and contrast. Terminal and Tower lit textures are very dated and old fashioned... .... another dated aspect is the burnt in ground texture bright spots, and it is horrible stuff to look at.... ... Football Stadium looks good at night, and once the burnt in lighting textures cease and it returns to X-Plane ortho textures and the lighting it is not bad. Overall the lighting is old fashioned.... with very good X-Plane bits. The view of Sicily is however breathtaking! __________________ Summary Reggio Calabria is situated on the toe of Italy and fronting the Strait of Messina is the place for the latest release of an Italian Airport from Aerosoft. Obviously this is an Aerosoft conversion of the same FSX/P3D version of the LICR scenery and in many areas it shows to be quite dated. This is in the modeling and the textures and in a lot of the areas of the lighting. That noted it is quite an attractive scenery to use and visit, the surrounding Strait of Messina and Sicily is quite picturesque and the quantity and even the quality of the detail provided including some nice gradient work fills in and even hides the worse of the aging scenery, add in a huge amount of environ city buildings and infrastructure and somehow the whole scenery works in a respectable way. Ground textures are passable and there is some nice 3d grass and the aprons and signage are all quite well done, clutter is local branded and Airside and Landside areas are also well covered. Night textures are obviously old, but worse is the missing runway boundary lights, taxiway lights and missing navigation lighting, ageist burnt in night texture lighting is awful. My first reaction to Aerosoft's Reggio Calabria scenery was it looked impressive and in many areas it still does look very good, but on closer examination does show the age of the original scenery... a worthy buy, to a point oddly yes, as Reggio Calabria is a lovely place to visit and would fit in well with your Italian regional routes, it does look good and great to fly into and out of... so would I use LICR, certainly yes and so that is a recommendation _____________________________________ Yes! LICR - Reggio Calabria XP by Aerosoft is available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Reggio Calabria XP Price is US$24.95 Features: PBR Ground Poly Accurate approach lighting system with animated rabbit lights Custom Terrain mesh Surrounding cityscape with customized autogen Airport buildings with latest layout done in PBR 3D cars Custom trees and 3D grass Fully reproduced LICR aeroclub Major buildings around airport reproduced in 3D 3D approach custom lights 3D elevated parking lot 3D apron vehicles with animation Main city buildings such as “Stadio Granillo” WT3: WorldTraffic GroundRoutes are not provided and a generation is required, and overall the airport generation functions perfectly. Requirements: X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 4GB VRAM Minimum - 8GB+ VRAM Recommended Download Size: 850 MB Current and Review version: 1.0 (August 12th 2020) Installation Download scenery file size is 806Mb with the full installation of two folders is installed in order in your custom scenery folder. 01_Aerosoft - LICR RC1.2 02_Aerosoft - LICR Mesh Total scenery installation is 2.43Gb Documents One manual in English with notes (8 pages) but no charts Manual_ReggioCalabria.pdf _____________________________________________________________________ Scenery Review by Stephen Dutton 15th August 2020 Copyright©2020 : X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 1Tb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.41 and tested in v11.50b17 (really good!) Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini  Plugins: JustFlight-Traffic (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$52.99 - SFD Global autogen US$30.00 Scenery or Aircraft - Default Boeing 737-800 by Laminar Research

Aircraft Update Review - DC-3/C47 v3.0b1 by VSkyLabs Flying Lab Project Changes on VSkyLab's DC3/C47 is increment by increment. That is not a bad as long as it goes forward of which this project always has done, and note the word "Project" as any aircraft by VSkyLabs is an ongoing project and there is more to come as it is developed out more and more. This is part of the deal with the developer, and at least he keeps his side of the bargain. It was noted that v3.0 was always going to be a significant overhaul, and it is... and it isn't as well? Confused, well that will be explained. First the external textures was changed or gone from 2K to 4K textures, now the mapping has been changed as well, and to the better or worse is again debatable. My beloved Air Atlantique livery needed some significant changes to match the new v3 texture requirements with items moved (propellers and detail), as the mapping has been now totally redone... but now the rivet lines don't match up to the older livery, but you can certainly see the better quality in the detailing and far better rivet detail, and overall I am quite happy about with changes. Overall all the earlier liveries will still work, but if you are fanatical about detail then you will need to spend the time to fix them up to the v3 specifications. Version 3 was always about the internal changes, and there has been some significant changes in every internal area. The cockpit is vastly revised... .... the changes can be dividing depending on your mood and inclination, I know I am. The main visual change is from the older grey quilt insulation to a more wartime green webbing insulation, I actually like it, but I liked the grey quilting as well, so the cockpit now feels more military than commercial. Another big change are that the windows lose their dirty ageing banding for black tinted banding, personally I think this is a backward step as the older wear of dirt gave the aircraft this dated appeal, were as the tinted black makes it feel more modern. And that is a major point to note here in v3.0. The instrument panel is laid out the same, but different in details. First changes are that you lose the lovely "Douglas" logo on the metal rimmed yokes.. ... they may come back in a future update, other changes are that the Standard Six instruments are now yellow boxed which I like a lot, and the landing gear and hydraulic gauges are now a lovely detailed white than black... here is the original panel. First are the missing rings of screws that holds the panel together to the bulkhead, and yes you really miss them visually, another work in progress, I do hope so... Added is a really nice wiper switch assembly set below the whiskey compass and above the main instrument panel... but they don't work... switches do, but the wipers don't? but the assembly is a great visual filler of the instrument panel detail. Note the new S-TEC autopilot panel (arrowed), a modern addition, again I would have liked an option on this visual aspect as I really love the original if very misguided Sperry Type A-3A autopilot, I am not sure if that Type 3A still works, I'll test it in flight. New instruments are lovely, but feel like the new black panel facia in they are now very modern, clean, new and certainly lose that 70 year old wear and tear feel? Everything now has the feeling that the old has been pulled out and a new layout has been installed to up date the aircraft to a more modern version? ditto the new clean heel plates on the floor, no wear or tear like the tired older plates... at least the excellent pedestal is the same. Pilot and Co-Pilot seats are all new and are more military surplus than the older black chairs, they are however really well done and highly realistic. So this updated cockpit overall will certainly be divisive, even I are in two minds with the changes, overall it is certainly far better and with a far higher quality of details with those lovely instruments, but that aged aircraft feel is not in here anymore and even the more militaristic feel adds into the changes, but the loss of the ramshackle wear and tear feel of certainly an very old aircraft is not going to give you now that wartime dated appeal anymore either... and that was the biggest attraction of the aircraft for me, if I want new and modern then I'll fly a newer aircraft, not an old wartime Dakota. Behind the cockpit is a main frame computer? because it looks like a 60's IBM 360 mini-computer, but it is actually an avionics rack? I expected a metal drilled rivieted wartime set of racks, not banks of medical equipment... odd. Crew entry door is now completed opposite and yes it now opens. Upper observation dome requires you stick your head up into it, well done internally and externally. Cabin The original cabin with it's stick like seats was always a stopgap measure. v3.0 was all about a proper cabin, and so it is. The quilt insulation is a lighter green and looks authentic, but it does make the cabin look dullish, the feeling is there is simply too much of it, some lower below the windows paneling would have broken up that over quilty feel. The passenger seats are a bit squared off and blocky as well, and nothing like the excellent forward pilots seats, texture is fine, but the seats have no shape in the cushions or blockrests (sorry back rests), rear seat detailing though is very good. Green curtains replace the bright red ones... more green. Kick the computer (sorry touch the avionics racks) and the passenger version changes into the very much wanted cargo version. First you notice the ventilation tubes now added that both run around the cockpit windows and into your forward view? Invasive, yes very much so as most tubing in images is not this large or so deep into your personal space? I like the detail, but not so close to my face while flying the aircraft, again so divisive.... Cargo consists of three wooden crates and three army surplus bags, no weights are given and there is no adjustment in cargo in volume or types of cargo... those lower blanket walls would not last a day in any real rough cargo operations? Huge twin cargo doors open (with a push) and you can see why the DC-3 is such a brilliant regional cargo aircraft, the right size vs the right volume in loading capacity... the aircraft is so hard to replace for those wilderness "way off beaten track" fields. Door detailing is very good, but they feel a little thin, ditto the door fuselage frame. EGGD - Bristol to EDIW - Dublin Startup and those lovely Wright R-1820 Cyclone engines burst into life, and the authentic sounds are really good. I do absolutely recommend XPRealistic Pro v2 by r.k.Apps effects plugin with this VSkyLabs DC-3/C-47... it gives the aircraft a life like no other with shakes, rattles, sounds and movements that I seriously love... the twin G530 GPS units are still two of the best intergration systems that are perfectly slung from the top of the windshield, but I am not going to use them here as this is strictly a VOR to VOR flight, but they are there if you need them. There is a change on how you control the tailwheel in this new v2 version... the tailwheel lock lever is still there down on the lower pedestal, but there is now a button far left panel that switches between "Pro" and "Novice" It is a little insulting to be called a "Novice" after flying X-Plane seriously for twelve years or so, but I need the lock between the rudder and tailwheel movement, yes you can go "Pro" and have a loose and twirly tailwheel if you can control that, but I haven't got the time in mastering it all over again. The Douglas needs a heft of power to get it moving, and a huge amount of power to the left engine to turn the aircraft onto the taxiway... ... the taxiway feels tight with the nose up - taildown movement, and there is the need to find the time to set up the correct trim for takeoff. Half-power up and your moving... then gradually increase the RPM until the tail lifts, you have to be fully in control and give the DC-3 a bootful of right rudder to keep the line ahead straight... At around 85 mph you will become unstuck from the runway, the DC-3 is very hard to feel the ground at this point of aerodynamic lift. A wheel can lift as you fight the rudder, in fact grasping the yoke and pushing pulling hard on the rudder pedals is what this aircraft is all about... The DC-3 has a climb rate of 1,130 ft/min but you keep it around a 1,000 ft/min as so not to strain the Wasps, but she will climb nicely with no fuss or loss of speed. Total ceiling is around 23,000ft (7,100 m) but I will climb only to 8,000ft for this trip. In the air I go from pushing the right rudder to heavily pressing the left to keep the aircraft flying straight, and then in a moment remember an old trick in using the engines to balance out the drifting, pull back a little on the left hand power and the DC-3 will straighten up, while letting the right engine pull the forces into line... that denotes the way you fly this aircraft, it is very physical, and it comes with a lot of pressures on the controls and using the power to control the direction. (Yes there is a rudder adjustment lower pedestal, but it is in an impossible place to use) Once at altitude you use the trim to level up the aircraft. The rudder knob is then used to adjust the upper section of the twin compass... The NAV 1 is set to BRECON VOR (117.45 Mhz) BCN, and so I align the compass heading to my VOR heading, There are loads of Collins CTL 22's and CTL 60's set out on the roof for adjusting the required frequencies. So the aircraft is balanced between the trim and throttle power position on keeping it level and straight towards the BCN VOR... The autopilot switch is again on the lower pedestal, but you can't use an X-Plane servo toggle or keyboard selection, it as it has to be switched on manually. Switching on the autopilot turns on the S-Tec 55x servos that over-rides the older Sperry Type A-3A autopilot? you can adjust via the Type 3A controls, but you can't use just the Sperry Type A-3A? which is not a great step forward as I loved the basics of the older tool? surely you could have a choice? Worse is that the over-ride causes the aircraft to sway, in a wing up - wing down movement that is very hard to dial out, you can use the pressure on the yoke to minimalise the annoying movements, but otherwise flying in the aircraft is like swinging in a hammock. Yes the older Type 3A would drift off course, but you could adjust for that, but this is annoying flying? Turn and sway gets worse until you finally sooth the wings down again. At BCN we reset for VOR-STRUMBLE (133.10Mhz) STU. Turn and the sway gets worse until you finally sooth the movements down (again), but it takes ages. But I love this VOR to VOR flying, it is a discipline of getting everything right, airmanship or now airpersonship? Turns have to be on time and perfect to connect into the next VOR, if not you are adjusting the heading to get it right on the line again for ages. The DC-3 has a range of 1,500 mi or 2,400 km (1,346nm), which is very impressive, but in most cases around 400 to 500nm is usually the go, speed is around 180mph or 156 knts, and so you are not going anywhere really quickly, but that is missing the fun of these aircraft, it is in the journey than the arrival that is the attraction. Fishguard is under the DC-3's nose so it is time to head out into the Irish Sea, the DUBLIN (114.90Mhz) DUB VOR does show, but I took the course 335º and the KILLINEY (378Khz) KLY NDB setting as a backup pointer. The Douglas swayed around like a fishing boat in a large swell as the horizon moved enough to start to make you feel seasick... I tried everything to dial it out, but the swaying just kept on waving around. The Irish coast was now thankfully getting closer. Even if you set the S-Tec to a -800 negative descent, you will get no loss of altitude unless you reduce the power, so like a lot of General Aviation aircraft, then throttle control is crucial in controlling the changes in altitude in the DC-3 as well.... so the Douglas is a very feely, feely aircraft to fly. I used the GNS 530 to get my entrance bearings in to EIDW's Runway 34 (RNP 12-4). My approach was fine and on the money, but the DC-3 would simply not go left, I had to manhandle the aircraft to get it closer to the centre of RWY 34's centreline, wind was 5knts, but it felt more like a heavy sidewind of 18knts-20knts.... I found that time on the frame helps in using the throttles (or power) as much as the controls to keep the DC-3 going in the direction you want it too, but this is a seriously physical aircraft to fly, to a point you are at war with the machine to get it to do what you want it to, and no doubt in time with skill you will master it. Flaps are split underwing and variable with no set positions, and the position indicator (arrowed below) is set low and to your left and hard to read while your eyeballs are literally on centre through the windscreen... Finally I wrestled the aircraft to the touch down point and all things considered it was a good landing, slightly too fast but passable in the circumstances... So do I like flying the VSkyLabs DC-3/C-47, certainly yes, but I absolutely don't like that swaying under the autopilot, the DC-3 had it's foibles under the Type A-3A but you could sort of refine them out, but I couldn't do that with the S-Tec? But highly challenging it is too fly, for the pro's they will revel in the machine, but for first termers it could be quite a handful, even I know I would need more time (a lot) on the DC-3 again to totally master it. __________________ Liveries As noted the liveries and mapping has been updated in v3. The older liveries do work, but need adjustment. Four new liveries are provided with the update, these include; Buffalo Airways, Thats All Brother (D-Day), Bare Metal and Military Transport (default). __________________ Summary VSkyLabs has noted for a while the v3 update for their DC-3/C-47 Douglas was always going to be a significant update for the aircraft, that it is, but it has also muddled up the project into a stranger context. Focus was always on the new interior with v3 which here consists of a complete rework of the cockpit and cabin. New instrument panel, pilots seats, different webbed insulation replaces the padded quilting and loads of new details abound including a nice wiper assembly, windows have lost their lovely worn light surrounds to be replaced by a black tint. In the rear you get the same heavier and darker webbing insulation, new passenger seats and now a cargo version with crates and bags and a odd looking avionics rack that is more 70's than 40's. Odd notes are that the pilots seats are excellent, but the new passenger seats are strangely boxy average, the lovely working fans have been removed and when in cargo mode there are ventilation tubes added that both run around the cockpit windows and obstruct your forward view. Overall the changes are of a seriously higher quality and very good. But this is where the update get confusing. If you want a more military C-47 style Dakota then the internal updates fits better than the earlier civilian versions layouts, so put on a wartime livery and it fits all very nicely. But the instrumentation layout (but I am guessing is still not yet completed in the missing screws), is now a far more modern clean than a post war tired, worn and worked hard DC-3, ditto the newly added S-Tec autopilot that over-rides the older but very authentic Sperry Type A-3A, now it is a mish-mash of both autopilots with a weird wing swaying that is more like flying a fishing boat in a heavy swell. So what was once a civvy post war DC-3 Gooney Bird is now a military 90's updated and not so authentic modern take on the original aircraft, the only thing missing now is the installation of the two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-65AR turboprop engines to finish off the modern take of the DC-3.... Confused, I am? So it comes down now to your take on what you want out of a DC-3, if you are looking for a post war civilian worn out machine then the VSkyLabs project is moving away from that context, it is slowly being replaced is a more military feel, with modern avionics, it is all very good, even excellent.. but I am not sure how Joe McBryan (aka "Buffalo Joe") would now make of it, I certainly don't know? ______________________________________________ The DC-3/C47 v3.0b1 by VSkyLabs Flying Lab Project is NOW available! from the X-Plane.Org Store here : VSKYLABS C-47 Skytrain / DC-3 Flying Lab Project Your Price: $29.95 Features: New: Two variants included DC-3/C-47 Plus XC-47C Amphibious version VR Ready X-Plane 11 Native VR ready. will be updated as needed Features: Fully compatible for VR (with fully featured cockpit for touch controllers operations). Highly Realistic Flight Performance DC-3/C-47 Simulation: Highly accurate performance and handling simulation of the DC-3/C-47, along with a full set of traditional/old school navigation and autopilot systems. Two Variants included: Standard C-47 and XC-47C Amphibious varariant. Equipped with portable Skis for snow operations. Comprehensive systems: Two speed Supercharger blowers - based on the PW-1830-90C engines model, equipped with lo/hi blowers. The high blower configuration is allowing high altitude cruise. Oxygen system - including crew dilution/regulator, pressure indicator and functional flow-indicator ("Blinker"). Do not forget to enable hypoxia in X-Plane general settings menu. Fire Extinguisher system - including fire indication system. The fire extinguisher control panel is located behind the hinged cover on the cockpit floor, between the pilot/co-pilot seats. Smoke ventilation algorithm is incorporated into the cockpit side-windshields. Damage simulation - engines are sensitive to rapid spool-up. Engine mishandling will result in severe damage to the engine/engine fire. Stressing the airframe will result also in severe damage, following a visual representation of the damages. Engines/propeller systems - designed with fully featured, functioning and authentic propeller feathering system, for highly realistic single engine simulation. Sperry Autopilot - Old school autopilot is configured. Anti-Icing/De-Ice systems. Skis - Animated, incorporated in the flight dynamics model. Rain and Icing conditions visualization. Aircraft handling and performance based on real-world C-47 experience: Aircraft performance and handling qualities were designed and tested in a "Research level" approach and went through a validation process of hundreds of flight testing and evaluation, tested and refined by a real-world C-47 pilot. Additional features: STMA AutoUpdater plugin included: You always have the most updated project version. Fully automatic. Highly responsive support: Support system to answer all your C-47/DC-3 related questions! Still under development: The project is under constant development, following a long-term development road-map, and also following X-Plane evolving features! If you have already purchased the DC3/C47 from Vskylabs then just login to your X-Plane.OrgStore and go to your account and download the current v3.0b1 (note - that you download the b1 revised version!) Requirements X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 4GB VRAM Minimum - 8GB+ VRAM Recommended Current and Review version: v3.0b1 (August 11th 2020) _____________________________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 14th August 2020 Copyright©2020 : X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 1Tb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.41 (Tested in v11.50b17-fine) Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: : XPRealistic Pro v2 effects US$19.95 (highly recommended with the DC-3), Traffic Global - JustFlight-Traffic (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$52.99 Scenery or Aircraft - EIDW - Airport Dublin V2 by Aerosoft (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$24.95 - EGGD - Bristol International Definitive by Pilot+ Plus (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$25.95

Scenery Update : KDEN - Denver International Airport HD v1.5 by X-Codr Designs I'll look at X-PlaneReviews release review of X-Codr Design's sensational KDEN - Denver airport that took 8 months of painstaking work to bring you the most high quality scenery of Denver's mega-hub, the point is I didn't do a review but only a pre-release overview? Now that maybe a strange and interesting thought, but the reality was that when I looked at the scenery and as really good as it was. then X-Codr's Denver was at the time just missing the mark, and mostly in the night textures. No offence to the developer in that a first scenery is always going to be a huge daunting task, add in the fact that the choice of airport is one of the largest in the mid-west of the grand olde US of A and that alone was always going to be a compromise, another factor is that X-Plane in scenery dynamics is a serious business, get it right and it looks brilliant, but it needs skill to bring out those dynamics and not make everything bland, so huge ambition hit the world of reality. So obviously there has been a few post-release updates already to KDEN since that release, but here is a big one in v1.5 and it covers almost all of the elements that didn't quite hit the mark on the release version. Denver's International gateway DIA is a monster of an airport, it is HUGE, even by say Atlanta's comparison. Your taxi fuel accounts have to be as much as a consideration as your flight time fuel loads just to reach certain runway takeoff points or to taxi into the terminal area, I love the taxi aspect, but it can certainly add into your gate to gate time if you don't take this huge sprawl into account, layout navigation is actually quite easy in not getting lost, but at some certain hold points the main terminal area are a set of buildings set out on the horizon. At 33,531 acres (13,570 ha), then DIA is the largest airport by area in the US and the second largest in the world after King Fahd International in Saudi Arabia. Arrival at KDEN via LONGz1 SID and the DIA airport is showing how really well now scenery can be intergrated into the default mesh... ... X-Codr provides two mesh/overlay installations in Y and X (Y has to be set before X obviously) but it works extremely well, and also there are Ortho4xp patches provided if that is your preference. The ortho itself has now been totally recolored to better match the airport ortho and other 3rd party ortho.... and it shows with the differences from every angle. The mesh and airport together are big Gb downloads (1.5gb each) but the detail is worth the hard drive storage. Noted is that there is a lot of refinement that has been done in this update, with now far better compression of over in that 300Mb in disk space and VRAM were saved just in ortho alone, and other refinements are all the way through this update pack. The south approaches are dominated by the incredible huge (Batwinged?) presence of the Westin Hotel, and it almost hides the DEN iconic circus soleil membrane styled roofing of the main arrival Jeppesen terminal and it is made of Teflon-coded woven fiberglass for strength and is also impenetrable to radar... all the detail presented here are simply really well modeled and totally highly realistic... The reflective glass on the original Westin Hotel was actually pretty good, but the problem was it was also far better than the rest of the airports glass and textures. Upgraded in v1.5 is that all the glass areas are now highly PBR reflective and detailed and the scenery now extrudes quality and realism. Denver International Airport IATA: DEN - ICAO: KDEN - FAA LID: DEN 07/25 - 12,000ft (3,658m) Concrete 08/26 - 12,000ft (3,658m) Concrete 16L/34R - 12,000ft (3,658m) Concrete 16R/34L - 16,000ft (4,877m) Concrete 17L/35R -12,000ft (3,658m) Concrete 17R/35L - 12,000ft (3,658m) Concrete Elevation : 5,431 ft / 1,655 m Denver's airport layout is very typical of most U.S. major hub arrangements, a welcoming terminal then (in this case) three separate huge concourses connected together by an underground rail system. Concourses are really simple in A, B and C... A is the closest to the Jeppesen Terminal and is for the International arrival and departures. Concourse A has 51 gates, which includes several "ground load positions" requiring passengers to exit the main concourse through shared doors to access their aircraft. Concourse A handles all domestic airlines except Alaska, Southwest, and Spirit as well as all international arrivals (excluding airports with border preclearance). There are currently twelve dedicated gates for international arrivals; five of those are equipped to handle widebody aircraft and two are 3-jetway gates capable of handling an Airbus A380. Two airline lounges are currently located on the top floor of the central section of Concourse A: an American Admirals Club and a Delta Sky Club.[26] Concourse A is mainly different from the other two in because it has the pedestrian bridge from the main terminal. Concourse B, is almost twice as long as "A" and "C", so it over shadows the two other island concourses. Concourse B has 70 gates. United Airlines is the sole occupant of Concourse B. Mainline United flights operate from the main concourse building, whereas United Express operations are primarily handled at the east end of the concourse, which currently includes two concourse extensions for smaller regional planes. Four gates near the center of the concourse are equipped to handle widebody aircraft and each have twin jet bridges labeled A and B. There are two United Clubs on the second floor of Concourse B, situated about an equal distance away from the people mover station: one near gate B32 and the other near gate B44. Concourse C, has the bonus of having the Main Control Tower as part of the concourse. as 29 gates. Southwest Airlines is the primary occupant of the concourse with only two other airlines, Alaska Airlines and Spirit Airlines, utilizing the concourse. A 2014 expansion added five new gates to the west end of the concourse. The expansion, at a cost of $46 million, allowed Southwest to consolidate all of its operations into Concourse C (prior to the expansion, Southwest was using two gates on Concourse A, which it had inherited from its merger with AirTran Airways). American Express recently began construction on a 14,650-square-foot (1,361 m2) Centurion Lounge in the upper level of the eastern wing of Concourse C. The lounge is expected to open in mid-2020, and will be the second largest of its kind. Outwardly everything looks the same as the original release scenery. But in v1.5 almost everything in the texture aspect has been completely redone. The textures have lost their flatness and are now if you look closely are also now quite beautiful, you are seeing here a lot of Misterx6 style and of quality, that same feel is now showing in this scenery and I like it a lot. A lot of attention has been given to the ground textures here at DEN. The problem with a lot of acres of concrete is that it can look really bland, worse it reflects the light twice back, so it has no feel or depth. No developer can fix highly reflective white glare, but the grunge, oil and rubber dirt has been heightened here at DIA with great success. Yes it was slightly mottled in the original version, but the effects have all been all redone and deepened. This is masterful work to get this sort of wear and rubber detail, almost every U.S. scenery developer now has to create the same level of making white concrete actually interesting. The PBR reflective (wet) active textures and burnt-in ambient occlusion are also first-rate, it is a huge jump forward. Glass is very interesting as well. Reflections are very good, but look closer in the right lighting conditions and there is the wet dirt fall on the glass panels, it is all very good if great detail and highly realistic.... .... all the different styles of glass are different but highly realistic, note the fantastic reflections on the apron tower windows... very good. There was modeled concourse interiors in the original release, but there has also been a lot of revision work done here internally. Plus point is that the waiting passengers are now actually sitting down, a small point but it gives the whole terminal scenario a bit of a more realism feel to it, certainly all the main A,B and C concourses can be explored, and are worth doing so.... ... moving walkways and even hanging aircraft are well done for the detail shown internally. There is now a required installation into your custom scenery folder a X-Codr Designs Library that is now used for all these higher quality assets, the library is quite a big at a 1.16Gb download so it is quite an extensive package. The SAM (Scenery Animation Manger) system has replaced the older Marginal autodock VDGS airbridge layout. So all the airbridges have been redesigned and replaced and even the complicated long arm versions are really well done. Also added in are the two and three pier installations and they all work with two door aircraft in say the Boeing 747... ... and I really love this three pier arrangement that can be adapted to either an widebody or single aisle aircraft. The original X-Codr KDEN night texture lighting was a bit average, it was okay but not highly realistic. The night textures have all been redone and the effects now are far better in v1.5... clear glass is always really problematic at night, however they pass the realism test here. The Jeppersen Terminal looks however still a little too saturated, and needs a little more calming down, but I like the far better Westin Hotel textures, the originals were horrible grey squares... ugggh! But this image below shows off some of the spectacular lighting at the concourses.... it is incredible of what we can do now in simulation. Highlighting the detail here is interesting... There is some of the very best gradient work in X-Plane scenery here, all levels and ground variations are uniquely covered and also highly detailed... .... it all makes for some of the best and most interesting arrival and departures experiences in the simulator, the detail is incredible, and the gradients can be seen and felt from the aircraft for that realism factor. Infrastructure detail is really off the planet, it is all a feast for the eyes. Both United and Frontier maintenance hangars are also covered really well... ... and overall you can't be but very impressed by the detail and activity at this mega hub scenery. ____________________ Summary The original release of Denver's megapolis International Airport by X-Codr Designs was a bit of a tour-de-force, ultimately it was brilliant, but still missing that something in a few areas, there has been a few updates in between, but this is a major update in v1.5, and an spectacular update it is. This is a maturing update to the scenery, it covers all the aspects that were just a little below par to get the package into that elusive higher quality bracket... but the update here is a great success. Covered in v1.5 has been a complete texture revision with outstanding results and PBR quality. That brings in more lifelike glass reflections and even better glass detail, night textures needed attention and they have had that with the more realistic look and feel done really well. Ground textures have also had serious changes to make them more gritty or grubby or grungy or whatever you want to note as more realism, but that they are some of the now the best grungy concrete textures around is a still the ultimate aim. Internal details has now added in even sitting people and the new X-Codr Design Library adds in a huge whole new level of a new library of detailing. The SAM (Scenery Animation Manger) has replaced the older Marginal autodock VDGS airbridge system with huge benefits of more twin and three pier gates and resulting in even more bay choices, it has also been fashioned to match the real gate systems and is a great addition to the scenery. Note the KDEN scenery covers a large area and has a huge amount objects, you can run the scenery on a 4K board, but a 8K is certainly highly recommended, hard drive space is quite at a premium as well. This v1.5 update is free to all previous the purchasers of KDEN - Denver from X-Codr Design. If you don't have this scenery then you are easily missing a huge important part and aspect of your North American route network.... Highly Recommended! _____________________________________ Yes! KDEN - Denver International Airport HD v1.5 by X-Codr Design is available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : KDEN - Denver International Airport HD Price is US$29.95 Features: Ultra detailed rendition of Denver International Airport Winter and wet rainy versions are included as well Highly detailed custom buildings Most parts of all concourses have detailed custom interiors Detailed yet performance friendly models Normal maps for great bump mapping and glass reflections Ultra detailed ground textures 1 pixel per 6 inch orthophotos equivalent to ZL20 Orthophotos have been cleaned of duplicate flat textures under 3D models (such as traffic and bridges) Extreme detail for pavement, while still maintaining minimal repetition Highly detailed normal maps for impressive specular reflections X-Codr Designs SoundXP Plugin (Windows 10 ONLY) Ambient airport sounds will be played based on your location in the airport - a first in X-Plane Listen to chatter, announcements and other sounds when inside the terminal, trucks rumbling by and beeping when near busy ramp areas, and the drone of traffic speeding by when on the landside of the airport Dynamic living airport Watch heavies, regional commuters and other air traffic bring the airport to life with superb WT3 routes by Brian "Cpt. K-man" Navy (Bird Stryke Designs) Animated jetways using Autogate by Jonathan Harris (marginal) Animated car traffic using Ground Traffic by Jonathan Harris (marginal) Native ground services will service your aircraft upon request Highly detailed custom mesh using Ortho4XP Detailed under and overpasses Sloped runways and taxiways, and ditches WT3: WorldTraffic GroundRoutes are provided and overall the airport generation functions perfectly. Requirements: X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 4Gb VRAM Minimum - 8Gb+ VRAM Recommended Download Size: 3.8Gb Current and Review version: 1.5 (August 5th 2020) Installation Download scenery files required are in three downloads, KDEN Airport (1.53Gb), KDEN Mesh (1.61Gb) and the X-Codr Designs Library Package (1.16GB) KDEN Airport Ortho4xp Patches KDEN - Denver International Airport ClassicJetSimUtils (ground Routes) KDEN Mesh Y KDEN Overlay Z KDEN Mesh X-Codr Designs Library Package (The library Package is inserted into your Custom Scenery Folder) Total scenery installation is 11.30Gb (yes 11.30GB!) SAM Plugin - Scenery Animation Manager - Suite 2.0 is required for this scenery Documents One extensive manual in English with notes (6 pages) but no charts Denver International Airport Manual.pdf _____________________________________________________________________ Scenery Review by Stephen Dutton 7th August 2020 Copyright©2020 : X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 1Tb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.41 and tested in v11.50b17 (really good!) Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini  Plugins: Traffic Global - JustFlight-Traffic (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$52.99 Scenery or Aircraft - Default Boeing 737-800 by Laminar Research

Scenery Review : FALE - Durban XP by Aerosoft/FSDG Only a month after their last crossover conversion scenery of HKJK Nairobi "Jomo Kenyatta", then FSGD - FlightSim Development Group through Aerosoft have now released for X-Plane11 Durban XP or to give it it's full name "King Shaka International Airport Durban". This Durban scenery is also the third scenery released for Africa after GMMN - Casablanca and HKJK Nairobi, of which I am finding that they are all workmanlike sceneries, but certainly not average either. They are however also in bringing the African continent alive, so these sceneries are very interesting in that important aspect. Starting the review I thought I would just "Hop" on down from FSDG's last scenery in Nairobi, but on checking out the route I found that the simple "hop" was actually 1800nm or around 4h 30m flying time, so that shows the massive size of the African continent, it is doable obviously and I will fly that route, but in reality we need to get on and take a look at King Shaka International Airport. King Shaka International Airport abbreviated KSIA (Shaka was the leader of the Zulu nation in the early 19th century), is the primary airport serving Durban, South Africa. Located in La Mercy, KwaZulu-Natal, approximately 35 km (22 mi) north of the city centre of Durban, it opened its doors to passengers on 1 May 2010, just over a month before the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It replaced Durban International Airport (ICAO: FADN) and uses the same IATA airport code. So the airport KSIA is very new in a clear field design. King Shaka International Airport IATA: DUR - ICAO: FALE 06/24 - 3,700m (12,139ft) Asphalt Elevation AMSL93 m / 304 ft Being modern and a fresh field layout then FALE looks clean and open. The first viewing is actually quite surprising on how good this scenery actually is, as it looks and feels very nice. Intergration into the X-Plane default textures is very good, except for a few areas as we will note later, but the overall approach feel is excellent. The King Shaka single large main Terminal is quite impressive, detail is very, very good with excellent quality modeling. Exterior shapes and window blind/shade detail is really good, glass is not bad either, not the very best but very realistic with nice reflections. Reflection detail is also very nice in the roofing quality, yes modern materials are easier to reproduce, but realism is not... but that is not case here as it looks very good and real world. Parking stands A5 to A16 and C3 - C6 all have the SAM (Scenery Animation Manager) active airbridges. A1 to A4 and C1,C2, C3 and C5 are all walkon/off stands. Zones are Alpha Apron A, Bravo remote Stands B1 to B9 and Charlie Apron C1 to C6. The airbridge design is really well done here, lovely shape and the glass work brings out the best of SAM plugin, that they work as well is a real bonus, and there are VDGS guidance signs on the Terminal at each gate. Ground clutter is very good and Swissaport/SkyChefs branded, and there are a few South African buses buzzing around as well like at Nairobi. I found the v11.50 version didn't work with the traffic plugin, I have the updated Vulkan plugin version and it fixed about half of the animations, but they crashed into each other and stopped and started, so the traffic is good, but currently not working correctly? Landside The other two GMMN and HKJK sceneries were let down by their poor landside detail. Here at FALE is is far better in that aspect and more detailed and that gives it a far more visual realism... ... again the terminal detail and construction webbing is really good and the animated vehicles give it all a bit of activity as well... The carpark is just a photo on one side but there is high detail on the other, Advertising and signage is very good and detailed, but the landside is not perfect as the arrival area is still a bit ortho-photo flat, but overall it is far better than their earlier African sceneries. Infrastructure Overall FALE is a compact airport, so the infrastructure is quite small and separated into two zones. The areas around the Terminal have mostly under cover carparking and a Hotel in the 29º South, which is very good and noticeable from the air as it is set out a distance from the airport. The Phase 3 section being now built is included in the scenery as finished, this area has two remote parking zones E - Echo E1 to E14 stands and F - Foxtrot F1 to F12 stands and the recreation is very well done, and fills in the former separated empty area between the terminal and cargo sections. Cargo The Cargo facility is part of the Dube TradePort's TradeZone Precinct, and has a initial size of 15,000 m2 (160,000 sq ft) and the initial capacity for 150,000 metric tons (165,000 short tons) of cargo per year. Long-term expansion could see the cargo terminal expand to a size of 100,000 m2 (1,100,000 sq ft) and the capacity for 1,000,000 metric tons of cargo per year. Notable is the connection from the cargo receiving terminal to the secondary cargo facility. This is Apron D or Delta with D1 to D6 Parking bays, Detail is very good and for the long cargo hauler a great destination to aim for. The Field Control Tower is position directly behind the Cargo apron, the tower is not overly modeled or textured, but it is good in context, aerial detail is also helped by the very good mobile cell installation... .... tower view is good but set a bit low to the roof of the tower, so there are a few few obstructions in the viewpoint, overall it is fine on both approaches. To the northeast behind the cargo zone is more of the Dube TradePort's TradeZone Precinct. FSDG did a good industrial park area in the GMMN scenery and this is even better... Highly detailed with excellent business branding like Shreeprop, PranPark, Schenker and the whole area works really fine, it even includes animated trucks revolving around the estate. The same area adjoining the main A Taxiway is the Fire Station by the cargo area and at the other end is the E -Echo apron for General Aviation parking, but it is a bit bland in detail. Ground Textures The ground textures are very good, but like most of FSDG's work not that ultra ribbing detail we expect now, but the textures are hare very good with PBR reflective (wet) and burnt-in ambient occlusion and all is done here far better that the GMMN and HKJK surfaces. Again no 3d grass also adds in to the blandness of THE acres of Lo-Res textures that needed to have been broken up, in one airport that needs 3d grass it is here again at Durban, it is amazing how much difference a simple thing like no grass can make to a scenery? Lighting The lighting at FALE is excellent, to really, really good. Approach lighting, runway and yes even in darkest Africa there is taxiway centre guidance lights! But there is an important note to make. On the final approach to Rwy 24 there is the "Tongaat Toll Booth" noted on the N2 Tollway (arrowed), the red and white lights of the Toll Booth have been known to confuse pilots with the runways PAPI lights and created some confusion on the approach... ... the Toll Booth is not modeled here, and the so called lights are missing, but that is also taking away a big local effect of the arrival into FALE, how hard can it be not to model that effect? On a brighter note the whole of the section of the N2 Tollway is nicely lit and adds in well to the scenery. Main terminal and apron areas are really good... Apron lighting is brighter in tone than Nairobi and even better and I liked the HKJK lighting a lot, but it is nice to work down here, however a few areas could do with some secondary fill lighting. Landside is really, really good (those words again!) The Terminal lighting as a sort of Heathrow Terminal 5 feel about it, it looks lovely in the right lighting conditions, the night glass textures could be a little bit brighter to be perfect (as a side note I hit the photoshop and increased the main terminal lit a few points higher, I think it is now about right.. below) but they are still overall very good. The lighting variation is excellent with the Landside in contrast to the Airside, and again it feels just about right. Dube TradePort's TradeZone area is also very good, with nice street lighting and a few dropdown set lights... ... the only blight on the copybook is that the signage on the front of the Cargo Terminal and the 29º hotel is unlit, and you really miss both items even though they are quite small? Taxiway navigation signage are excellent and reflective, this aspect always adds in nicely to the experience when arriving or departing an airport. ---------------------- Summary It seems that with every release from FSGD - FlightSim Development Group (distributed by Aerosoft) that their crossover conversion scenery goes up a notch. This is their third scenery for X-Plane in Durban FALE in South Africa and it is their best scenery yet in every department. Africa is has always been a low point for quality X-Plane scenery, but FSDG has been releasing to date three sceneries with Casablanca, then Nairobi and now Durban it at least give you some very interesting and quality destinations within the African continent. Durban is also part of the key airports for domestic services throughout South Africa, serving the "Golden Triangle" between Cape Town International Airport, O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg... FSDG does have a FlightSim version of FACT in Cape Town, but no Johannesburg, but that is better than nothing if it is released. Instantly I saw a very good scenery here from FSDG, as noted everything has sort of gone up a notch in the excellent modeling, quality of the textures, lighting is really, really good and so is the intergration of the SAM airbridges which are excellent as well, the layout also includes the new stage 3 remote parking stands of Echo and Foxtrot areas and the Cargo, northwestern infrastructure is also very well filled out, there is not a lot to discredit here because it is very good, even the usual FSDG Landside weakness is covered here. There are a few wobbles, in the main terminal lighting textures are too slightly dark, and the missing signage lighting is missing like the important Toll gates and the traffic animations don't work correctly (in "yes I know it is a beta" v11.50) and the visual aspect of no 3d grass, but otherwise FALE is a really good solid scenery. It is rare for a crossover from FlightSim scenery developer to improve on every scenery, mainly because they are just replicating the old to the new, but to understand the dynamics and improve to match the new platform has to be admired, obviously it is not an X-Plane developer, but this is really good X-Plane scenery... kudos to FSDG.... Recommended! _____________________________________ Yes! FALE - Durban XP by Aerosoft/FSDG is available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : FSDG - Durban XP Price is US$22.99 Features: Extremely realistic rendition of King Shaka International Airport, Durban, South Africa, and surroundings Realistic shadow and light rendition Animated ground traffic Future Foxtrot apron and extended Bravo taxiway already included Includes Dube Tradeport PBR ground and dynamic lighting Optimized for great performance and visual results Animated jetways (SAM plugin required) Compatible with all known add-ons including ortho4XP Manual included WT3: WorldTraffic GroundRoutes are not provided and a generation is required, and overall the airport generation functions perfectly. Requirements: X-Plane 11 Windows or Mac (not compatible with Linux) 4Gb VRAM Minimum - 8Gb+ VRAM Recommended Download-Size Windows: 600 MB Download-Size Mac: 1.6 GB Current and Review version: 1.0 (July 31st 2020) Installation Download scenery file size is with the full installation of three folders is installed in your custom scenery folder with a (Windows Installer) Mac is zip FSDG-Durban_XP_1 FSDG-Durban_XP_2 FSDG-Durban_XP_3 Total scenery installation is 1.26Gb SAM Plugin - Scenery Animation Manager - Suite 2.0 is required for this scenery Documents One extensive manual in English with notes (6 pages) but no charts Manual_FSDG-Durban_XP.pdf _____________________________________________________________________ Scenery Review by Stephen Dutton 6th August 2020 Copyright©2020 : X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 1Tb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.41 and tested in v11.50b17 (really good!) Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini  Plugins: None Scenery or Aircraft - Default Boeing 737-800 by Laminar Research

You have missed the point. FS2020 or no FS2020 then Laminar was already faced with a major texture overhaul, the textures are two generations old as they came in with XP10... so work was already started, obviously the game has been raised, but I never ever underestimate Laminar in what they can do with so little... rumors abound on small details, but I think there is a surprise coming.

Scenery Review : EDDV - Hannover Inernational by JustSim As an area covered by quality airports then with the efforts of both Aerosoft and JustSim, Germany is getting to be now a pretty well filled in country. But there is always room for another one, and here it is with Hannover/Langenhagen - EDDV from JustSim. Hanover is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,061 (2017) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany. Hannover/Langenhagen Airport is 11 km (6.8 mi) north of Hannover. The airport has flights to European metropolitan and leisure destinations, and serves as a base for Eurowings, Condor, SunExpress Deutschland and TUI fly Deutschland. Hannover Airport Flughafen Hannover-Langenhagen IATA: HAJ - ICAO: EDDV 9L/27R - 12,467ft (3,800m) Concrete 09R/27L- 7,677ft (2,340m) Concrete 09C/27C - 2,559ft (780m) Asphalt Elevation AMSL183 ft / 56 m First impression of EDDV - Hannover is very impressive. The intergation into the default mesh of HAJ is faultless and it is highly realistic in detail and the perfect overall view. In reality EDDV has only two usable runways as 09C/27C is very short and even for a GA. Runway 9L/27R is really the main operations runway and the one you would usually use. The original 9R/27L is for regional or propeller based services, but I do love the layout of Langenhagen. The original two modern terminals were opened in 1973, of which they became famous because of their compact design. They also became the archetype for the Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow. These original terminals A and B are still in service today. Detail and reproduction in JustSim's version is excellent, really good. Not only with the modeling but in the finer detail and the great reflective glass. Unusual though and noticeable is that there is no ground traffic around HAJ? no plugin either, and you miss that bustling activity aspect. Clutter though is excellent and well done, but not branded and only generic. Gates are 1 -12 with 1A, 2A, 5A, 7A, 10A and 11A being set for narrow and wide-body aircraft. Terminal, C, was opened in 1998 to handle more passengers, adding on 8 more boarding gates and 3 bus departure gates. Up to 33 aircraft can be handled simultaneously at Terminal C, of which 20 can use aircraft stands equipped with an Airbridge. The extension terminal is larger than the original sections, but as it is done in exactly the same same style and so the terminal blends in perfectly. Gates 13 - 20 with the same 14A, 15A, 17A, 18A and 20A layout as the first section. All Airbridges use the SAM (Scenery Animation Manger) system and is excellent, the only slight note is that the VDGS or Visual Docking Guidance System is set a little high, well done so no doubt, but you have to get low when you get close to the final stopping (parking) point. I particularly like the gate co-ordinates on each system, overall SAM intergation at HAJ is excellent. There is the additional Terminal D to the east of the main terminals, which is a rebuilt hangar that is exclusively used by the Royal Air Force to transport British troops to and from Northern Germany. Landside There is really great detail landside... ... there has been given a large amount of attention to the entrance to the terminals, and all the work is not at all wasted here, nice flags, banners, loads of cars and great (puppy) Sixt advertising. Highlight is the TUI Fly childrens play area that is really nicely detailed, for once there are no landside low-res textures in sight! There are 10 carparks at HAJ with 14,000 parking spaces that are available. And everywhere you look here there is a carpark! Short - long, expensive concierge, cheap and even Kiss & Fly Zones, Hannover has all your parking needs covered... All carparks are really well done, with advertising, 3d vehicles, branded radars, but what is the most well done aspect is that it is clear and sharp and not just background terminal filler. Hotels covered are the Martime and Leonardo. Cargo The cargo zones are split into two areas by the taxiways F and L. The earlier area is quite small with only a two bay 27 (27A, 27B & 27C) and 28 parking stands layout... .... the second (larger) zone opposite a large remote parking area (stands 45 -52) has six stands 53 - 63 (four are cross stands). Both areas have excellent facilities with the second area dominated by DHL and rear warehousing. Control Towers There are two control towers at EDDV, the earlier version is set between the terminal A and the older cargo facility... in use or not is debatable by the greyed out windows... .... the second newer 68.0m tower is central of the DHL facility and was completed in 2002, detail on both towers is excellent, and the detailed construction (boxes) on the newer tower that is really well done with very good intimate detailing, a rotating radar works on top as well. Tower view setting is also spot on, with approach views on every runway just perfect. Airport Infrastructure East of the terminal on taxiway A1 is a partially dismantled large hangar, that is well done, then further east are two large maintenance hangers for TUI Fly and ACC Columbia Jet Service, the main TUI Fly offices set just behind the dismantled hangar. Taxiway M has a lot of facilities along the long taxiway. Situated besides a very Germanic looking building (there are a lot of these Gemanic style buildings in the scenery, which adds in a lot of local flavor) is the General Aviation Zone 1, Zone 2 is for remote GA parking opposite... note the excellent three H Pads in the foreground. General Aviation area 1 is great with some nicely done hangarage set to the east, but you feel it needs a few GA statics to fill both of these areas out. Further east is another (larger) ACC Columbia Jet Service facility... ... and an area far east that looks like an old military (German) barracks, now they house private aviation and administration offices. There are loads of detailed buildings that cover the area between what you could say is the front and rear of the airport and far too many to cover here, but they are all very well detailed, but the highlights that stick up like a small radar tower, chimmeys and remote parking cover structures give the scenery a great depth of detail. Infrastructure on the southern boundary is also excellent. There has been a lot of attention given to this industrial areas with loads of well done factories, warehousing and business parks. JustSim are always good at filling out the visual aspect of their sceneries, and not just recreating the actual airport, but doing the whole concept of the area around it, and here at Hannover it is very good with local branding and custom buildings as per the real structures. Ground Textures I really, really like the ground textures here at Hannover, great detail and the various surfaces are all mostly concrete in modulation. Ribbing is done really well and you notice the realism and wear from the cockpit, I love taxiing around EDDV just to look at the textures. Note the nice shiny detailed metal grids. The PBR reflective (wet) and burnt-in ambient occlusion can be seen even in bright sunny conditions, add in the right lighting and it gets even better. It is how good developers are creating these surfaces now, as they are so highly realistic. There is some nice 3d grass as well and the coverage is wide across the whole airfield, only north of 09L/27R does the grass line stop abruptly, and it looks a little odd from the air? Lighting Overall the lighting is a bit hit and sadly miss... main overview of EDDV however is very good. Apron lighting is very good, but those Terminal textures are simply horrible? All are orangey, samey and all the bland not dissimilar at all... .... worse is that excellent landside detail is hidden with no lighting at all? There are street lights set but they are not lit? So something has been overlooked or not finished? I also checked my graphic settings and no they are set at the highest setting for the lighting, so it is not me but the way it actually is. Advertising signs and carpark drop lighting (internal carparks are nicely lit as well) is really good, but heavily let down by the rest of the lighting. Approach, landing and taxiway lighting is all very good and the highlights are the lovely realistic reflective navigation signs. ________________________ Summary Between developers Aerosoft and JustSim they have both covered Germany with a lot of quality scenery, this is another in Hannover/Langenhagen and when it is this good then why not use another good choice to fly into or out of Fatherland. And very good it is, but not perfect. On the positive side there is a huge amount to really like here, modeling and texture detail is excellent and extensive, the surrounding infrastructure is also excellent and that includes the off-field detail as well as the complex actual airport detail, all infrastructure is really well developed and it all comes with high quality, extensive detail. Ground textures are simply first rate and has very nice surface detail and realistic reflective activity, and they look spellbinding in the rain, as a EDDV - Hannover recreation this is a great scenery. Minuses are weird in a way... missing airport traffic is a head scratcher, and so is the non-lit landside lighting? It is just not like JustSim to miss details like that? But the overwhelming thing that I didn't like were those night Terminal textures, we have moved on a long way from these sort of night textures, I admit they are hard to make realistic, but they just don't work here at all and spoil any night time operations at HAJ. This Hannover review got pushed aside a few times to cover more extensive sceneries that were released, but in the mean time I based my operations here and used the scenery extensively over the intermediate few weeks period. The results were that I absolutely loved using this EDDV - Hannover scenery, and it was a really great base for European operations. I loved leaving but also totally loved arriving back at the airport, and it became quickly a firm favorite, that is a big one because I love Hamburg and especially Düsseldorf which is a firm favorite (Frankfurt and Munich are a bit too big for my route needs), so on wanting to add in HAJ to my route network speaks volumes. So how can you beat the fact that if you want to use a scenery as much as using Hannover EDDV then it is a really worthwhile investment, the sheer realism here and the JustSim detail and quality makes it a must have for me... Highly Recommended! _____________________________________ Yes! EDDV - Hannover International Airport by JustSim is available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Hannover International Airport Price is US$21.50 Features: Detailed airport objects and vehicles Custom textured taxiways, runways and apron Custom surroundings Custom airport lights Compatible with X-Plane 11 features Shading and occlusion (texture baking) effects on terminal and other airport buildings High resolution ground textures / Custom runway textures High resolution building textures Excellent night effects Realistic reflections on glass World Traffic compatible X-Life traffic compatible Optimized for excellent performance WT3: WorldTraffic GroundRoutes are not provided but overall the airport functions perfectly with a generation. Traffic Global works fine, but with not much activity Requirements: X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac, Linux 4 GB VRAM Minimum . 8 GB VRAM Recommended Download Size: 780 MB Current and Review version: 1.0 (July 17th 2020) Installation Download scenery file size is 7.34mb. With the full installation installed package is 1.79gb in your custom scenery folder. Only one folder is installed.. EDDV_JustSim_v1.0 SAM Plugin - Scenery Animation Manager - Suite 2.0 is required for this scenery Documents No documents, and only incuded is an installation text. EDDV_INSTALLATION.txt _____________________________________________________________________ Scenery Review by Stephen Dutton 4th August 2020 Copyright©2020 : X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 1Tb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.41 and tested in v11.50b17 (really good!) Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini  Plugins: None Scenery or Aircraft - Default Boeing 737-800 by Laminar Reserch

Thanks for the comment... very thought provoking and true. Developers are needing help as piracy is a bigger problem than FS2020, no sales no developers, it is that simple 🤔

Behind the Screen : July 2020 All is lost! The day is coming, note that Microsoft has announced the release day and prices for their wonderkind FS2020 Flight Simulator and the momentous day is 18th August, barely three weeks away and the cost is set out in three packages: Standard Edition $59.99, Deluxe Edition $89.99 and the full monty package is Premium Deluxe Edition $119.99, in my currency that is Australian AUS$150 big ones... gulp! But there are also a few sort of demo options that is available through the Xbox Game Pass channel and there will also be a physical disc release by Aerosoft at stores throughout Europe. For the rest of us that would be a rumored 120gb download for the full monty, yes that is a 120 big and slow gigabytes of download! So all is gone, X-Plane will be ruined and thrown on the trash heap of bygone simulators, the heavens will fall in and we will be cast out, be brave my friends. Only haven't we been here before? Yes it was the last huge hyped out release of a FlightSim by the name of Flight Sim World or FSW, by Dovetail Games and yes within a year the simulator had gone and crashed under the weight of its own hype and expectations. I am not certainly saying that FS2020 will go to the same over hyped and little reward scenario because FS2020 has the might of Microsoft behind it, but we should however though become a little more realistic on what the wonderkind simulator will actually deliver. No doubt in time it will take on the original FlightSim mantle of a huge user base, and FlightSim and X-Plane will probably resume their original culture clashes and boundaries. Most early reports were under a NDA or non-disclosure agreement and everyone could only say really nice things about the coming FS2020, one user went and made a load of videos on the real reality, but he had a visit from the men in the black suits and ties and was shut down very quickly, quickly cast out broadcast stream land and told to be a very good boy in the future. That NDA with the release of a beta of FS2020 has now been lifted and some of the reality is now available for all to see. First off the developers in comments are not as overly excited as you would want them to be... don't get me wrong the new simulator is very strong and well done in the areas of creating a totally realistic flying environment and there are significant notes that the weather engine is excellent, so it is very nice to fly in, but like X-Plane there are well covered areas and the not so well covered areas. I saw a video that gave me a lot to think about, but the nightscapes are like flying over the moon like Neil Armstrong and in trying to find somewhere to land the LEM, X-Plane may not be a lot of things but it has come along way in this aspect. The developers also complained that the SDK's are awful, these are tools to create the innards, and like the X-Plane WED and PlaneMaker tools, obviously they will be fixed, but not in the short term. These should have been priority and not a last minute fix as they are the guts of the engine that makes it all work, also notes that low down it is what FS2020 is in ortho-photos being just what they are in flat ortho-photos and in a few videos that aspect is also quite visual. Overall the developers were at the time under the restrictions of the NDA, but their comments were interesting, one even admitted to sneaking back over to X-Plane to get some serious flying time, but why would you do that with this over hyped wonderkind, changing the face of the earth simulator? They admit it is good, but as usual the devil is in the details. The biggest factor in the comments is the framerate, yes our biggest heinous factor is again the biggest issue in the room. With Vulcan and v11.50 X-Plane users have at least a little relief from simulation's biggest headache and money costing exercise, but early reports and you can see the serious stutters on the videos is that FS2020 has a major framerate issue if you want to use all that eye-candy to its full advantage, then you will need a machine that is as good and as powerful as for mining bitcoin as it is for flying aircraft. I am certainly not going to get into the argument of my simulator is better than yours. X-Plane has a load of disadvantages that Laminar has been a bit complacent about in the last few years with it's total focus on Vulkan/Metal, as good as X-Plane 11.50 is, but the extremely late new ATC, weather and the better textures are getting a bit long in the tooth even for their laid back attitude. And the release or announcement of Microsoft's new wonderkind has certainly shook them out of their contented selves to at least broaden the team to include more bodies that should have been placed there years ago... no this is not a new simulator war, certainly with FS2020 being noted from observers as being not really ready for the August 2020 release... most are calling it FS2021 (some even FS2022!) in before the simulator will be refined enough to be.. well a simulator. Even PMDG, who announced their 737 NDG product, in that it will not be available on the simulator's release but available in early 2021. As the developers rush over to recreate their products for the new simulator, as they can make a fortune in reselling the stuff they have sold the poor buggers already twice (three times if you include X-Plane) for FSX, then Prepar3D and now all over again for FS2020, and that is at a full price for exactly the same thing "Thank you very much", in most cases all that gigabytes of spent money in their scenery and aircraft folders are simply worth zero again. No wonder the developers are on their jollys, it is Christmas all over again and it all comes with the big rewards with little development. In the end it will not be X-Plane that will suffer, but the real loser here in the FS2020 release has to be Prepar3D, they have nowhere to go as it tries to compete with the same but only a far better simulator above it, at least X-Plane is different in feel and choice. The first videos also showed were the market really is... Gamers. Most early post NDA videos are awful in gamers showing off their gaming skills, but pilots they certainly are not, in fact the real test is the depth of detail we all heavily expect from our simulations and the pros are not liking in what they are seeing, there is a wide gulf between the users/fliers that the few that spin the aircraft around and the deadly serious gate to gate procedure nerds (hands in the air) of wanting simulation to reward you with that high immersion of fleet or military flying. Shown FS2020 A320 is quite basic and even X-Plane default aircraft have far more simulation depth than this, yes it is easy to fly and yes a lot of users/gamers will love that, but simulation is not about just flying an aircraft in the space above your head. To an outsider simulation is about as exciting as watching paint dry... there is no instant adrenaline rush of boarding an airliner and taking out loads of innocent passengers, blood splattering on the roof, bodies falling panicking in the aisles as you turn to take out the crew, bom, bom... bom, no levels to go up as the bloody excitement is usually all over in about 3 minutes, if that is what gets their jollys, then 20min to just set out the Flight Management System and input the full flightplan is going to get everyone getting glazed over eyes and in need of a gun, simulation is not for everyone, and patience is a tool in our toolbox, I have never met a gamer yet with a lot of patience, anxiety yes, but never patience. So what does get our Jollys, and why do we commit ourselves to the continuous torment of simulation. To get to a level, you have to study, and practise, and in my case for years to get to a high level of competence, just like you have to do in real aviation. You are deadly serious in replicating a skill of completing a highly regarded capability of moving a complicated machine from one point on the earth to another, the trick and why we do it is for just one word... satisfaction. That word is an every longing goal, but do the right procedures and complete that nearly perfect flight and you will gloat for days, high as a kite on satisfaction and will bore everyone around you with the details of how you pulled it all off. Get it wrong or mess up, and you will punish yourself with low esteem for days, thankfully I get the more of the first than the second, and yes I do fly for actual fun and with no pressure to perform over every little detail... but satisfaction and pride in your skills is the end goal. X-Plane as a simulator would never survive unless the satisfaction aspect was strong, it is in that area it has to deliver, deep immersion and deep systems in a realistic world, and it is a never ending road and yes in some areas the coming FS2020 has seriously upped the ante, it is now for Laminar to match it. In satisfaction an aircraft came back onto my flightline that has been missing for months. FlightFactor's Airbus A320 Ultimate was sidelined because it was not Vulkan compatible, and yes I admit I really missed the aircraft because I flew it a lot early in the year before the beta run had started. Now under a beta (test) release it is Vulkan flyable and yes I am extremely happy to be sitting in the left seat again. I really got into it around Christmas and New Year, and coming back to it I realised even though yes it is very expensive, and yes quite complicated in system depth. The A320U does reward you in one aspect that makes it so good. The aircraft does what you actually tell it to do, your actions are perfectly transferred into the simulation and you may think that is not a very big deal but it is... the aircraft rewards you for flying it really well, your actions are inputted and how the aircraft responds, so you don't have to fly around the aircraft's foibles. How many times have you selected a flap selection and the position to the speed is wrong, this will give you a pitch up (not enough speed) or a pitch down (too much lift), but get your speeds right in the FF A32U and the changes are perfectly smooth, so you don't have to fly around the wrong speeds or flap drag even if you are flying the aircraft absolutely correctly, that is going to create a perfect feedback and then a perfect flight, and yes that gives you a lot of satisfaction... it is very nice to have the FF A320U back. Tomorrow 2nd August is another anniversary date for the site. In August 2013 X-PlaneReviews started doing reviews for the X-Plane simulator, that is seven years and now X-PlaneReviews is now going into our eighth year of providing experiences, tutorials, reviews, news and opinion for the simulator and altogether there is about 1800 reviews and notes on this site. Some notably are now old, but still have valuable information. We thought of culling a few of the very early posts, but we are still undecided in that matter, but the biggest impact is really mostly the visual aspects in how much in detail and quality the simulator has changed over the years, images can't lie, but even to a few years ago the flatness of the simulations were still quite pronounced. Advances and changes are never ending, and the changes coming in the next twelve months are going to be fascinating on a completely new level. I say mostly every year that the next twelve months are going to create the biggest changes yet, but seriously there is no doubt that this next twelve months are going to be really huge and different, and how in like the virus, in that how it will affect us is still up for future debate, but interesting it will be to follow that journey. The one thing that we pride on is that X-PlaneReviews is the will to look at both sides, the good and the bad and even the grey areas in between. In any debate that is always a plus as every perspective can be different. Many only have a blinded side in their views, but good editorial will look at every aspect and not judge, the only common thread through the years of X-PlaneReviews has been to make the simulator and the products better, in that aspect I think we have achieved a certain goal. See you all next month Stephen Dutton 1st August 2020 Copyright©2020 X-Plane Reviews

I checked my version and the SID/STARs work fine and I have updated recently up to AIRAC cycle 2008... the SSG B748i does have an odd navdata arrangement, it overall uses the X-Plane navdata, but there is an on board the aircraft version as well version noted as cycle 1707, there is an installer in the NavData installers folder.... I think you can update this by downloading it from Navigraph