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Aircraft Update : Airbus A330-243 v1.2r2 by JARDesign


Stephen

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Aircraft Update : Airbus A330-243 v1.2r2 by JARDesign

In April this year JARDesign unleashed on to X-Plane their greatest masterstroke yet in the Airbus A330-243. The accolades came and with justification as it is a simply brilliant aircraft, and another milestone in X-Plane development. But it did have one issue and this was a global issue that affected other SASL powered aircraft and was not just related to JARDesign in that there was a crash for Mac users in the sounds department. It was a tough nut to crack but a solution has finally been found and the plugin has been fixed.

So the core of this update 1.2r2 is that the Airbus A330-243 is now cleared as Mac compatible and may we rejoice in that. I personally (Mac) never had an issue with the crashes, and I pushed the aircraft very hard in constant simulations over a period of three weeks to create the release review...

 

Aircraft Review : Airbus A330-243 by JARDesign

The aircraft was very complete on release, but a few bugs have been cleared in v1.2r2 (full Changelog below) but the highlights are you can now install custom sound files, AirFMC ready, external lights and strobes have been refined and 3d cockpit errors addressed.

But there are a few other new bonuses in the release that are also worth highlighting...

 

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Last month JARDesign released a new plugin beta called "GroundService", a brilliant plugin that allows you to create service vehicles around your aircraft, It is immensely clever and here in the "GNDHandling" version included with the A330-243 you can see it not only in operation but how it will totally transform again our ramp areas.

 

The menu allows you to - "Drive up All" and "Drive Away All" service vehicles in the list, "To Hide all" and a Control Panel that allows you to activate or hide individual vehicles.

Press "Drive up All" and you unleash mayhem!...  The Service vehicles all appear and then go about their business with gutso.

And totally great fun it is.

 

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Open the Control Panel and you can see the list available, and it is extensive. Even better the system allows you to add vehicles as well.

Three buttons do the work in Press + to activate a vehicle and Press - to drive it away and "Hide" will make the vehicle disappear. The top three buttons are the "All" activations.


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The highlight certainly are the pallet loaders, Pallets come on to the base, turn, then lift and then move the pallet inside the aircraft, then repeat.

Brilliant, loved it, with a wide smile...   only two small things is that they don't load many pallets, and there is no reverse to unload? but I am sure that will happen and a pallet truck with pallets to be loaded would be a great addition. Other loaders also go about their business and the excellent elevated service vehicles are also here. A few of these items were of course available with the release of the A330-243, but you didn't have the total control of them like you do here, and the sheer amount of activity you can create. If you select the Fuel Truck the load sheet is visible as well and you can load the fuel from the panel.

 

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One odd thing is that if you select the activity to finish the vehicle (or vehicles) will then line up direct behind the aircraft, so how can you pushback with a row of vehicles standing there?  You can make them disappear, but why not line them up to the side and out of the way?

 

The scope of this system is certainly amazing, just think of this with the x737, and hopefully JARDesign will install it with their A320neo as well. No offence to the other developers that have create good ground service vehicles, but this system should be either licensed or installed in all good payware and top quality freeware aircraft... it should be the standard throughout X-Plane.

 

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As you wrap up the loading the mayhem subsides as the vehicles are slowly removed from the aircraft.

 

The A330-243 is still a beast to prepare for flight, the "Hot Start" goes a long way in helping you get the aircraft running, but watch those few switches that are left on in the wrong position (APU Bleed, Ignition switch and One Grd power button), but the FMC programming is still a long list of settings to get everything ready for flight.

 

Route: EIDW-Dublin to BIKF-Keflavik

 

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I'm still not totally happy with the pushback feature, you can't see the buttons (direction) when starting the pushback and pressing any of the buttons twice or more makes the truck go faster, that is fine but you can catch the buttons while try to stop it instead.

 

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Dublin is busy as WorldTraffic 2.0 works its magic, so you wait ages for clearance. You have to be very much in control like I remember on the release aircraft on leaving the runway. The A330 will climb hard up unless you control the pitch and settle the vertical climb rate. It should be automatic on this being an Airbus, but you have to get your speed and pitch numbers almost correct unless you get an annoying Autopilot alert and disconnect. Get it right and the A330 will settle down nicely and you can activate the "OP" (Option Climb) to gain the cruise altitude you want.

 

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Modeling wise the aircraft is exceptional. The A330 looks excellent in any light, and the sounds are good as well. Engine design and detailing is very realistic and...  No Mac crashes yet either.

 

Cockpit is an exceptional place to be.

 

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You would be very hard pressed to fault the design and textures of this cockpit environment, in the right light the sheen of the paneling is about as real as it gets. Functionality of the switchgear and levers are at an also high level.

 

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Another new feature is a different knob manipulator.

 

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It is noted as "Push-Pull and Rotate" for a scroll mouse, but It didn't work for me because I only use a single click mouse. You can change the manipulator back to the older half-moon tool under the A330/Settings menu. Only thing is found the old half-moon are manipulators lower down and they sometimes contacted (activated) the lower buttons.

 

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Overhead Panel is again fully functional and so are the aircraft's systems.  It is the small things of detailing that make it great...  like the pull down adjustable shades and sliding side shades.

 

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Three class cabin is first rate, It is amazing the amount of detail and equipment on the aircraft and how good and refined it is on your framerate, so much is packaged into so little.

 

BIKF-Keflavik

 

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I found the aircraft even more complete, or I am now just familiar with the aircraft. On release the review deadline can want you to post a good review, but these latest aircraft for X-Plane demand attention and the sheer complexity of the systems can take time to be really comfortable with the total flying experience. Airbuses do help in as they are cross-cockpit in design and systems, but it is more the subtle areas in weights and fuel planning for range that will take the time to get totally immersed in the aircraft and its complete simulation.

 

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The A330 "Autoland" is sensational, it will put this huge weighted aircraft down on a dime. And then the visual rumble feature comes in with a shock and a bounce...   so very realistic.

 

Thrust reverse is effective (open doors and thrust up) but you have to watch your brake heat (switch on the BRK FAN before landing) if you have a heavy passenger and cargo load and are close to the Max landing weight limits.

 

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Keflavik is becoming a busy airport lately, WorldTraffic 2.0 provided more movements than Dublin, and that created a lot of activity and realism.

 

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Once shutdown at the gate the fun stars again. This time I use more (self) control and use only the vehicles that are required, but still soon had the aircraft swarming with equipment. GPU is required attached for ground power to the aircraft.

 

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It is quite easy to configure the ground vehicles to what you want, and in this case Gate Gourmet catering and with a bit of creative spirit I created KEF buses to match the airport surroundings. In time it should be easy to have sets of vehicles for certain airports as well as aircraft and the basic system can support that. 

 

And there is selection of different Ground Service vehicle textures: JarDesign Ground Services Textures Gate Gourmet/Sky Chefs/Globe Ground/Lufthansa V 1.2

 

Turnaround time is one hour and I will be heading back to EIDW in Ireland...

 

Liveries

There is a huge selection of liveries for the aircraft, just go to the official JARDesign site: JARDesign Liveries

Here are a few.

 

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Summary

In reality this 1.2r2 small update to the JARDesign A330-243, only a few bugs and the Mac SASL compatibility is now confirmed and both could have easily been covered in a patch. But that does reinforce the fact on how good and bug free the release version actually was.

 

In a small way the update release is overshadowed by another project that has yet again the power to change our simulations to the great by the excellent GroundServicing and GndHandling plugins. now your already long pre-flight procedures and data input on this aircraft is now even longer in servicing the aircraft in turnaround by manipulating your vehicles to come and go and do the work on the ground, in other words the complete simulation and there will be more to come when users start creating versions of their own to meet their needs and share the versions of ground traffic and vehicles to others. 

 

The token "Best aircraft in X-Plane" is a hard one because simulation users need and use different aircraft for different reasons and simulations, a top ten with no winner can cover the very best. But the "Heavy Aircraft" category is certainly the trophy area, Three vie for top honors with FlightFactor's brilliant Boeing 757 series just a nose ahead of its Boeing 777 Series. But this Airbus A330 from JARDesign is well within that company, as an Airbus it is top certainly and the most complete simulation in X-Plane on this level. If JARDesign's A320neo was upgraded to the level of the larger A330 then it would be a top four but at this point the aircraft feels slightly dated when related to the other more updated machines.

But there is no doubt on the quality and deep immersion of simulation that the A330-243 from JARDesign delivers. Mac users can now fly with safety and the rest of us can enjoy their turnaround times with far more gutso and...  well fun, in watching the aircraft being loaded/unloaded as part of the simulation.  So the A330 is great, good, brilliant...  everything you would want in a great Airbus and X-Plane has to proud of how far it has come to deliver such simulation on this level.

 

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The Airbus A330-243 by JARDesign is now available from the New X-Plane.Org Store here : Airbus A330-243

- Price is US$60.95

 

Current Version 1.2r2 is Aug 27th and if you have already purchased the JARDesign A330-243 then go to your X-Plane.Org Store account and upgrade for free now!

 

Features include:

Superb 3D Model
  • Detailed Virtual cockpit
  • Detailed Exterior
  • Ground equipment included: Tow tractor, fuel track, stairways, catering truck are included in pack and managed from menu.
Systems Simulated:
  •  Air Conditioning, Pressurization 
  • APU , Auto Flight , Communications , Doors , Electrical , Equipment , Flight Controls , Oxygen 
  • Fuel , Hydraulic , Ice and Rain Protection , Indicating Recording Systems , Landing Gear , Lights
  • Navigation  , Pneumatic , Power Plant.
  • Ground Handling plugin for A330 (only) included. (The "Deluxe" version of this plugin -payware, and not included in the A330 pack-  works with any X-Plane airliner)
  • FCU manipulators to use Mouse Left/Rght/Wheel for Push/Pull/Rotate operation
Tested by real Airbus pilots
  • Real Airbus pilots and technicians helped in the development and testing.
New 3D-sound engine 
  • An easy way to customize soundest and build your own sound effects.

Navigation Data

 

  • The A330 comes with the NavDataPro dataset by Aerosoft.
Now compatible with both Windows and Mac OS

Developer site : JARDesign Group

 

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Requirements

Windows or Mac  - 64bit Operating System (Linux not supported)
X-Plane 10.35+, with HDR mode ON, 
CPU: 2,4Ghz Multi-core. 
Memory: 8 GB RAM. Video Card: 2Gb VRAM. 
high-precision joystick, rudder pedals, throttle controller (separate throttle controllers not support now).  For best performance, you need a 3Gb Video Card.
Current version: 1.2r2 (last updated August 27th 2015)
 
_____________________________________________________________________________________
 
Full 1.2r2 Changelog:

+AirFMC ready (please update your AirFMC plugin and AirFMC application)
+Custom soundpack ready (you can install and use custom sound packs from another developers)
+Glideslope engage softened
+RNAV arrival Transition wrong reading and drawing fixed
+Double/triple/multiply saying "Checklist ... completed" fixed
+Doors auto open when ground staff come after landing
+ «TA only» indication add when takeoff
+GPWS front panel button add
+HYD SYS identification numbers fixed
+FUEL PRED & Time checked and fixed
+Strobe pattern after Place The Aircraft via The X-Planes Location Menu fixed
+Table Checklist add
+some External light improvements
+ND Wind indication fixed according FCOM
+Minor 3D cockpit errors fixed
+Waypoint delete error in MCDU fixed

 

Update by Stephen Dutton
28th August 2015
Copyright©2015: X-PlaneReviews
 
Review System Specifications:
Computer System:     
- 2.66 Ghz Intel Core i5 iMac 27”
- 9 Gb 1067 Mhz DDR3
- ATI Radeon HD 6970M 2048 mb

- Seagate 512gb SSD 
Software:   
- Mac OS Yosemite 10.10.1
- X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.35 (final) - Tested also in 10.40b10 (fine)
Addons
- Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle

- Bose - Soundlink Mini
- WorldTraffic 2.0 by Classic Jet Simulations (WorldTraffic 2.0) - X-Plane.OrgStore - US$24.95
Scenery
- EIDW - Dublin International Airport by Aerosoft (Airport Dublin) X-Plane.OrgStore - US$29.99
- BIKF - Keflavik by Aerosoft / Icarius  (Airport Keflavik) - X-Plane.OrgStore - US$19.20
 

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  • Stephen unfeatured this topic
Guest Kristian1484

Hey, so I would like to change the voice of the flight attendent in the back ground sound of the aircraft with my own file. How ever when I go to the aircraft sound files I cant find the flight attendent one, I can find every other one but not that one.

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Hey, so I would like to change the voice of the flight attendent in the back ground sound of the aircraft with my own file. How ever when I go to the aircraft sound files I cant find the flight attendent one, I can find every other one but not that one.

It's in the Plugin/sounds "sounds1d", but I don't know which one....  SD

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  • 2 weeks later...

hello, I have had a problem with the ILS. When I have the two diamonds on my display and I click App, for some reason the V/S turns on automatically and changes between 1450 and 1460 very fast. This problem also causes the decent to turn into a open decent. This is a very big problem with my because I can not do low visibility landings. Can someone please help me with this?  

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hello, I have had a problem with the ILS. When I have the two diamonds on my display and I click App, for some reason the V/S turns on automatically and changes between 1450 and 1460 very fast. This problem also causes the decent to turn into a open decent. This is a very big problem with my because I can not do low visibility landings. Can someone please help me with this?  

Hummmm....  This is a scratch the head one? Isn't it supposed to do that?  If your diamonds are centre (which means you are aligned correctly on the ILS) and you press APP which is activating the ILS guide approach then it should start to descend the aircraft along the ILS beams...  in other words the V/S will align to the usually minus 300fpm to descend down to the runway? But If you get a sudden drop in altitude then your speed is not right? my guess it is too slow...  SD

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  • 3 years later...

I was very interested in this particular plane but I've seen several reviews on this plane (not just this one) and a lot of them say bad things like the A/P takes random turns in the middle of their flights which is obviously not what anyone wants, but in saying that some people say it's because the plugins they have aren't working with the plane so they have to delete them just to fly one plane. I have also seen my favourite streamers delete the Jar a330 from the fleet because it just wastes time to reload the whole sim and start the flight all over again. These streamers are o annoyed with Jar that they go to the extent of deleting other Jar products because they don't think Jar deserves the money. I am in a mixed emotion and don't no what to do, if I ignore the plane and buy a completely different plane. hopefully someone where I am coming from. 

 

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Thanks for your comment... the reply can be split into two areas. Over the last year plugins and plugin conflicts are becoming an issue, certainly with FlightFactor's A320 U, ToLiSS A319, AirfoilLabs B350 or any other plugin based complex system aircraft. No matter how good the developer then in areas there will always be overlaps...  Even I have to now choose what plugin is to be inserted to fly that aircraft, if not it has to come out and be stored, annoying yes...  but that is the state of the situation and it is going to get worse. My feelings is that Laminar will need to address this complex issue, but even switching off the plugin within the simulator doesn't work either, it has to physically come out of the plugin folder. As I have always constantly chanted "keep your plugins folder as light as possible" only tested and refined plugins are to go in there, so in that vein I have had no issues with the JAR A330. I flew it a few weeks ago and it is fine to me.

 

Other point is that this design is now quite to very old in X-Plane years (2012 old), but updated, this review is XP10 and 2015, there was only an update a few months back to v3 so the aircraft is current, but another update in v3.2 for A330 is also coming soon... purchase? Well first there is no other decent A330 at this level in X-Plane, so if you want the aircraft then there is no other option, JARDesigns are a bit quirky, but overall they are a great simulation, certainly not in the current XP11 standard, but certainly well within the confines of having a great simulation, and I like the JARDesign A330 a lot, for a purchase then yes if you can get a deal...  SD

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  • 1 year later...

Hi, thank you for your reviews. They have always helped me to make a wise decision.

 

Time ago I bought the FF A320 and I love it, but it's too demanding for my little computer. My FPS go between 15-23 when in the cockpit and between 30-40 outside or on HUD mode.
I'm "fine" flying the Carenado King Air C90, that is fine enough connect to VATSIM. 

 

How does this A330 compare to the FF A320 and the KA C90 when it comes to FPS?

I think it would be really helpful to see FPS comparisons in the reviews. In the Store they just say xVRAM minus, yVRAM+ recommended, but that's not really helpful when you are in the low end hehe.

 

Thanks again for your great reviews!!!

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Framerate is impossible to define, as you noted you are running a very limited computer spec. I do note framerate if it has a definite impact on the performance of the computer, but my settings are what I define as middle ground, the sort that is required to get the basic return from the simulator...  to note the JARDesign A330 is far much less framerate intensive than the A320U which actually is quite over heavy (10 frames) on frame rate in its current beta Vulcan/Metal form, but a final v11.50 release has yet been done either, so if you can run the A320U then the A330 will run far easily.

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