Stephen

Scenery Review : Faroe Islands XP by Aerosoft - Maps2XPlane Sited almost directly between Norway and Iceland, and 200 miles (320 km) north-northwest off the coast of Scotland is the Faroe Islands. This archipelago area of 18 islands is about 540 square miles (1,400 km2) with a general population of 50,322 and is part of the 1814 Treaty of Kiel that granted Denmark control over the islands, along with the two other Norwegian island possessions of Greenland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands have been a self-governing country within the Kingdom of Denmark since 1948. In world terms these islands are absolutely nowheresville, and buffeted by the strong winds of the North Atlantic on one side and the cold arctic winds of the Norwegian Sea with a climate that is classifed as subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc) or very windy, wet, cloudy, and cool. Temperatures are usually average to above freezing throughout the year, and it is all so desolate and windswept that there are the only two images that comes to mind when thinking of these groups of windswept rocks, so why would you want to really go there?... then why not, because the Faroe Islands are perfect for everything we love to do in flying simulators. It is a remote destination, it is very challenging flying wise and it is somewhere very different to explore... Faroe has got it all in three and plus with a great name like "Vágar!" that is very Viking in origin, and that makes it all sound like a brilliant destination. (Apple Maps) I will note from the off that the scenery is a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde, but a very clever one but also hence the requirement of a large download (1.5gb) and the install (2.35gb) of which in reality supply two sets of the same terrain mesh and textures... one for summer and one for winter. They switch depending on the time of the year, so if you want the summer textures then set your calendar to July or August, if you want the winter then set the date to December or January, the best way to switch is via the reload scenery selection in the developers X-Plane menu, also the "Runways Follow Terrain Contours" checkbox needs to be on. As it is currently January at this time of the review my settings are set in the winter mode, but I will show both seasons. First Impressions I started services to the Faroe's with a twin hop... one from EGKK (Gatwick) to EGPH (Edinburgh) and then the second service on to EKVG (Vágar). I am flying FJS Sim's Dash Q400, so I figured I needed an extra service to sharpen up my skills in that I haven't flown the Dashy for a few months and that the approach to EKVG was going to need all of my skills ready and fine tuned for a interesting landing, and certainly my foresight was well founded. Being the dead of winter it was certainly very cold up at FL220 (22,00ft) and the Dashy needed the de-icing switched on to cover the -38º cold air, It was already on my mind what conditions I would have to face when I got to the Faroe's as Scotland was already at it's freezing drizzly best. 40nm out and the start of descent and it didn't look any better as the cloud cover was thick and far to the horizon, once under it was as expected seriously murky... Approach was from the south into EKVG RWY30, there are no VOR stations on Vagar (the island) but only two NDB frequencies in (VAGAR - 348 VG) and (MYGGENAES - 337 MY) close to the airport (there are overall four NDB stations). Both runways have ILS approach systems with RWY 30 (110.30 MF) and RWY 12 (109.10 SF) but to note that RWY 12's ILS is offset to 111º. So with the conditions I picked RWY30. In the murk I finally saw the canyon terrain as you thread your way up the Hestfjørður between the southern part of Streymoy the main island of the Faroes and smaller Hestur Island on the east, on the tracking you go slightly west and the chart notes not to go lower than 4,000ft, with reason. I didn't and went down to 2000ft to help with the visibility to my bad... The next island after Hestur is Koltur and it is all mountain peak and it made it's presence known very quickly within the murk... I judged the height, but it was still very close with the terrain warnings raining over me, next time I will stick with the 4,000ft limit. Once past Koltur then Vagar Airport is directly in front of you on Vagar Island, but again still don't start descending as the terrain is still quite high on the left.... and spectacular it is! and more of a warning if you want to do a short approach and cut around through Vagafjørður to avoid Koltur Island, as you still need that height judgement on the approach. If you have the tools then use them, and ILS glideslope into RWY30 is a good guide, but be very aware if you want then switch over early to do the manual landing phase, as with switching off the Autopilot can then put you in a very tricky place as the side crosswinds across the Vagafjørður are savagely ferocious... I held on, but it could have also gone all seriously wrong and right down to the threshold, as I really had my hands full just keeping the aircraft tracking the centre approach lighting correctly... the charts are noted with a lot of cautions! Just to note this is midday in Vagar as daylight in January from sunrise at 9.41am to sunset at 3.26pm as that is barely six hours of daylight, and it is mostly dull even then. Both runway approaches have RAIL guidance, but to note the runway 12/30 1,799m (5,902ft) on approach looks very short, it isn't but sloped, but I would call it more curved at both ends... Maps2XPlane have done a great job getting it very exact to the the original gradients. Both ends of the 12/30 runway have turnaround areas, but they are both quite small, so watch the tight turning for say a B737/A320... the taxiway in is central runway, so it is a fair taxi back to the turn entrance... the Vágar airport looks however extremely authentic that was created by Albert Ràfols, so I am certainly getting a quality feelback to the scenery, it feels a little like the old Truscenery Tampere-Pirkkala airport, but not quite as detailed. Aerosoft in their manual noted to turn on the "draw parked aircraft" selection in the X-Plane menu, but what appeared was not what I expected, but a Hawaiian A330??? I though that Aerosoft had their own static aircraft library? They do, and obviously it doesn't work... so the HA A330 was quickly banished. I parked at stand 4 in front of the newer opened 17th June 2014 terminal, with the older one to the left and a small cargo facility to the right (Stand 5). Stands 1 and 2 are both turn around stands as 3, 4 and 5 are nose in parking and there are three helicopter pads are available directly in front of the main apron (one has a static aircraft). So the first impressions are overwhelmingly great even if you can't actually see much of the scenery, and even more so with the difficult conditions raging around me, but I would expect that at this time of the year as it is possibly normal, but with the winter effects running it certainly was very realistic in creating that extreme environment (note the weather was created by xEnviro). EKVG - Vágar Airport The airport was built by British Royal Engineers during World War II on the island of Vágar. The site was chosen mainly because it was hard to see from the surrounding waters and the area was hidden from any potential guns of a German warship. The first aircraft landed here in Autumn 1942. Also British engineers had similarly first built Reykjavík Airport in Iceland in 1940, then known as RAF Reykjavik, following the British Occupation of Iceland. After the war, Vágar airfield was abandoned and left unused until 1963 when it was reopened as a civilian airport at the initiative of two Sørvágur residents, Hugo Fjørðoy and Lars Larsen. The two worked with the Icelandic airline Icelandair which began the scheduled flights to Bergan, Copenhagen and Glasgow using a DC-3 aircraft (Just think flying around here in a DC-3! good god). In 1964 a separate airline, Faroe Airways, operated flights, The company ceased operating on 28 September 1967. In 1971, Icelandair was then operating Boeing 727-100 jetliners into the airport with weekly nonstop services to Glasgow and Reykjavik. In 1988, Atlantic Airways was formed and flying British Aerospace BAe 146-200 jet services nonstop to Copenhagen. Until 2004 Maersk Air also operated flights into the airport. Maersk Air flew Boeing 737-500 jetliners into the airport with services to Copenhagen, with aircraft's short airfield performance of the British Aerospace BAe 146-200 which was the best type until the runway was extended on 3rd December 2011. Atlantic Airways is now the only Faroe airline with one A320-200 and two A319.100's. SAS also started a Copenhagen service in March 2016. Vágar Airport Vága Floghavn IATA: FAE - ICAO: EKVG 12/30 1,799m (5,902ft) - Asphalt Elevation AMSL 280 ft / 85 m As a landscape the setting for Vágar Airport is breathtaking, certainly in the winter setting. Note both approach lighting pylons that are in brilliant detail. Airport and terminal layout and is exceptional by Albert Ràfols, you have the detail and weathering for authenticity and for the perfect local Faroe ambience. Basically there are three areas, the long rear Cargo/New Terminal/Old Terminal area, the forward Control Tower and built-in fire station and the only large airport maintenance hanger which is also a base for Atlantic Airways. There is a great contrast between the two terminals, with the glass and steel of the new building and the old wooden timber feel of the original 1963 terminal, note the original hut style "Customs" hall. There is really great lattice work on the modern terminal landside and all the glass and surfaces are reflective and PBR active... ... carpark detail is also first rate with great ground textures and markings, with the excellently detailed covered walkways and the quality 3d static vehicles. Only notable omission is the no active ramp vehicle traffic, but the point is that EKVG is not going to be really buzzy busy airport, so I think that aspect would work more against the scenery than for it. The hanger/base for Atlantic Airways is visually the standout, mainly because of it's yellow colour scheme, but it looks very authentic, shame the doors don't open, SAM style. Control Tower - Fire Station The distinctive control tower is really well recreated, as two levels cover the approach and ramp activities... there is a static S&R helicopter on standby out front... No poking out the door with any Fire Engines, but again I think that is again for the better here, as with the static vehicles in there is enough, but not an overwhelming feeling of clutter... in other words perfect. Tower view is set perfectly... with the setting just above the aerials and with that you get a full complete 180º unobstructed view of both the approaches (on a clear day). Helicopter Pads Besides the main airport at Vágar there are also eight helipads that are spread out all over the islands as in most cases it is only by air that is the main way (or the only way) to navigate the islands, all have this great infrastructure or buildings built around the pads and as they are not just plonked straight in there as most scenery developers usually do... the Heliport at Tórshavn is the standout (below left). Runway textures All textures and ground elements of the runway confines and surfaces are excellent, there are also perfect ground surfaces that looks realistic with weathered wear. note the authentic snow sticks for taxiway edge navigation.... all surfaces are also reflective and fully PBR active, nice. Faroe Islands The scenery is not just a focus on the airport, but on the whole archipelago area of the18 islands that makes up the Faroe chain. Provided is high resolution HD terrain mesh that is extremely detailed. There is 1.400 km² of Faroe area to be explored and all are in high quality mesh landscapes, yes it is all very highly impressive, and highly realistic as well. As the only thing missing are the puffins on the craggy cliff faces. Faroe settlements, villages and townships are dotted totally throughout the scenery on all islands with connecting active traffic (unless on the outer islands)... ... with the township of Sørvágur which is on the approach to RWY 12... ... and Sandavágur that is on the right on the approach into RWY 30... note the fishing circles. And the village is voted the most famous village in the country, and also best voted as a traveling experience and highlighted by the beautiful red-roofed Church has a distinctive architecture that was built in 1917. This point highlights the only real adverse area of the Faroe scenery. There are yes the distinctive Faroe architecture in houses and dwellings but not much else... as the distinctive churches are also critically missing, as say there also is neither any industrial buildings in sheds or warehouses... not even the fishing boats on which that the Faroe economy depends on? Which brings us the capital of Faroe in Tórshavn. Overall Tórshavn is very disappointing in context with the very high quality of the rest of the scenery. The capital is just more of the same of a lot of Faroe housing with no port? or any commercial infrastructure or buildings visible either? There is no ferry in the harbour or really anything at all... The capital has a lovely fishing village feel with coloured housing surrounding the port (very Dutch) with the distinctive buildings on the entrance to the port... you are not expecting a complete recreation of the capital here, but you do expect something to sort of represent it? Summer Seasonal Textures Switching to the summer season in Faroe is visually extremely dynamic, it is almost a completely different style and feel of scenery. I debated on which seasonal scenery was the best season to represent the review... but in reality they are really completely Jekyll and Hyde in comparison. The landscape is all quite breathtaking in scale and detail... Night Lighting Overall the lighting is very good at EKVG - Vágar... with a nice contrast between the airside and the brighter landside illumination. Aprons are bright and workable, but like most developers with reflective glass the new terminal feel is a bit flat, and even dull.... ... the nice spot lighting on the lattice work terminal landside however does lift it up, as does the great lighting in the carpark. The Atlantic Airways hangar is very imposing and there is a large amount of very well done drop down spot lights on most of the buildings... .... so it is a high pass on good lighting. Summary At US$45.99 then Faroe Islands XP scenery is not cheap and that high price might put some users off in purchasing this excellent scenery... but even with that high price then there is a lot of value to take in here. As for being quality scenery Faroes XP does certainly deliver, and it is also an interesting diversity as in reality you really have two sceneries in one as there is the huge contrast between teach of the seasonal textures which are quite unique... and they both certainly deliver that "Wow" factor, as noted was my arrival in mid-January which was very dynamic and authentic, but any arrival in the summer would give you just another style of an astounding experience. And there is this huge expanse of high quality landscape to explore, either by helicopter or even with a general aviation aircraft, or say a very light aircraft (or glider) of even the Aerolite 103 style, which would allow you to soar around those magnificent cliff formations. Airport quality and detail is excellent, but Faroe has no active apron traffic, (dynamic vehicle traffic however covers all the drivable islands) but as noted it is debatable that a lot of ramp activity is actually required. Night lighting gives you a dull terminal, but otherwise it is all very good. Negatives... actually not a lot, but for the money, the oversight of not developing even a basic foundation of the Faroe capital in Tórshavn with a port, is one that should be quickly rectified, these islands are here to be explored and the area with Tórshavn in my mind is very important into delivering the full exploring island experience, a few local (colourful) churches would not go amiss either. If you read a lot of X-PlaneReviews you will know that I support that scenery value comes from the usage, or the versatility within the simulator. Even considering the remote aspect of this Faroe scenery in that context the scenery is a very worthy addition to your X-Plane simulator, certainly if you fly within the northern European context. For one the scenery is extremely challenging on approaches (certainly in poor weather conditions), but also visually it is very comprehensive and dynamic. Routing can be very interesting between Iceland, Norway, Denmark and the UK, but Atlantic Airway's do services as far away as the Mediterranean ports and SAS also do services... overall it is the huge amount of landscape that is on offer and in very high quality visually aspect as well, and that credible distinction will certainly draw you here, it is just one of those types of sceneries you could get easily addicted to like I did with Aerosoft's Keflavik Airport, and keep coming back to again and again, Faroe XP is a very worthy addition to the X-Plane landscape.... Highly Recommended! ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! Faroe Islands XP by Aerosoft - Maps2XPlane is now Available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Faroe Islands XP Price Is US$45.99 Features: Realistic recreation of the complete Faroe Islands with an area of about 1.400 km² High resolution terrain mesh with various texture sets for a seasonal representation Customized local terrain details, e.g. realistically sloped runway at the Vágar Airport Detailed rendition of the Vágar Airport and the eight helipads spread over the archipelago Faroese themed autogen, navigation obstacles and dynamic traffic on the islands Hundreds of custom objects with PBR materials, 3D vegetation, night lighting WT3: Ground routes are set in the scenery and the scenery will generate a set of routes. No custom routes are yet available. Yes they work, but only in a limited capacity with only the Atlantic A319's doing all the traffic work... Many GA or Jet arrivals just disappear on landing, but the runway layout with turnarounds makes EKVG hard to navigate... a custom adjustment would certainly help... but overall WT3 works. Requirements: X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 4Gb VRAM Minimum Download size: 1.3Gb Review version v1.0 Installation Download scenery file size is download 1.5gb and with the full installation installed in your custom scenery folder as there are three install folders: Faroes4XPlane - Overlay (206.40mb) Faroes4XPlane - Airport (2.01gb) Faroes4XPlane - Terrain (311.4 gb)  Total scenery Install is : 2.35gb  The developers note you need to adjust the X-Plane "scenery_packs.INI" so the loading order is correct... and that the Faroes4XPlane - Terrain Mesh is below the Airport and overlay files. Documents Manual_Faroe_Islands_XP11_de-en_web (In German and English) ______________________________________________________________________  Review by Stephen Dutton 16th January 2019 Copyright©2019 : 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 11.30 Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini  Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : JARDesign Ground Handling Deluxe plugin : US$19.95 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95 : BetterPushBack - Free Scenery or Aircraft - Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 by FlyJSim (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$30.00 - AW139 4.0 - By Laminar Research (default) - Free

FlightFactor are doing a test beta now for 11.30... I find that even the X-Updater isn't working either. Keep an eye on the news for the 11.30 update.

News! - Plugin Update : WebFMC Pro v1.2.0 by Green Arc Studio Developer Green Arc Studio's have release version v1.2.0 of WebFMC. This release covers now more aircraft and added to the list of available is now JARDesign with the Airbus A330 (note it does require X-Plane v3.11+) and the JARDesign A320. The full list of supported available aircraft is now : he complete list of supported aircraft with version 1.2.0 is: JARDesign 330 NEW! JARDesign 320 Toliss 319 FlightFactor A320 Ultimate FlightFactor 757 Pro v2 FlightFactor 767 Pro Rotate MD-88 IXEG 737-300 EADT x737 (with x737FMC only) Zibo Mod 737-800* 737-900 Ultimate* * both aircraft will work with the demo free version. Support for Mac OS (built and tested on Mac OS Mojave). Support for Linux (Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or their derivatives, 64-bit). A version (Demo Really) is available as a free plugin that you can use with the Zibo Boeing 737-800 Mod and the associated 737-900ER Ultimate. That version is available here on the X-Plane.Org: WebFMC 1.2.0 X-PlaneReviews release review is here: Plugin Review : WebFMC Pro by Green Arc Studios _____________________________________ Yes! WebFMC Pro v1.2.0 by Green Arc Studios is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : WebFMC Pro Price is US$19.99 The v1.2.0 update is free to previous purchasers of the plugin, go to your X-Plane.OrgStore account for the new version. ______________________________________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 14th January 2019 Copyright©2019 : 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)

Laminar Research : X-Plane 11.30 Analysis On Friday 25th October 2018 (US time) Laminar Research released the next version of X-Plane11. This is version 11.30, and as per all new releases this originally was the beta test version of the simulator. You could get the test beta version via the "beta" checkbox on the X-Plane Installer app. (Steam users were excluded). The full release of X-Plane 11.30 is now (final) and is available for download (Steam users update is to follow) and you can update to 11.30 by doing an "Update X-Plane" on the Installer app. Officially on release it is version 11.30b1 or by my moniker 11.30 2.0. As this is a very significant update, and will certainly be a companion the coming Vulkan update now noted for 2019 if targeted for Q2 or mid-year which will be a noted another significant milestone for the simulator. That is a yes in performance, but the ground work for that Vulkan version is actually built into this 11.30 update and so this is in reality the really important one. As with most groundwork code you will very rarely see it, but as I noted earlier this year it is in that the whole internal structure of the simulator that is currently undergoing a total revolutionary change as it is significantly being rebuilt from the ground up or inside out, so it is just not about Vulkan/Metal we are talking about here but the whole complete internal X-Plane code structure itself that is undergoing an extensive transformation to another new era.... "Yes Jim, it is X-Plane, but not as we know it". And so in this 11.30 beta you are starting to feel it's presence, as the changes do however pop up here and there, but mostly they are still all still well hidden and buried from view. This approach can make many users think that it is only what they can see is only what has only been changed, but also a lot of this analysis can't be revealed until other parties (i.e. developers) start to use and mostly adjust their products to take advantage of the full suite available of the new features and ideas presented here, in fact it will be months long after 11.30 has gone final in that it will be then that everyone realises the large effect this version will have on X-Plane. Obviously the special effects noted below will come in all shapes and sizes and many will be totally (even stupidly) overdone, but in many ideas it will be also very clever (as X-Plane users can be) and show off how good the simulator has become. Since the release of X-Plane11 and in many respects the simulator has already changed totally beyond our original expectations, now here there is the start another level of transformation that has got even the most hardened FSX/P3D users wondering what baby they are now left with to hold on to. Internal changes 11.30 is the first installment of API (Application Programming Interface) changes that will switch from the older OpenGL API to the new Vulkan (Windows/Linux)/Metal (Mac) API's. This is to update the simulator to work far better with more modern hardware in processors and graphic cards (a graphic card moniker is really a bit outdated now? as they are more now the size of a mini-computer itself and than be rather of what the installed graphic engine producing machinery really is). Originally we expected that the new Vulcan/Metal API's to all come in together with one major update, but the introduction here shows that is not the case as the API's can be introduced in blocks of areas, and it may also serve as a good test on how X-Plane itself responds to the changes out here in complex-land before going in for the full change over API deal. You may find the API change over in not one but maybe even as many as four updates to complete the full API changeover, you could with this release to note it as the block 1 release. The area most affected in v11.30 is the shader system, so it has been completely totally Vulkanised because it won't work with the .glsl format, so it was changed early. There are huge bonuses here as well, in that the older slideshow shader system was pretty crappy anyway, slow, not very realistic and even really annoying as the light faded or increased in brightness in the significant changes from one shader to the next. The new system uses a very much larger spectrum of shades, it is also quite complex and even fully updatable. More interesting is the new shader system is now off limits to the tinkerers, so you won't be getting loads of experimental shader downloads any more, as there was a full X-Plane industry running on that side of the simulator. An interesting side point is that Laminar note the new (and very complex) shader system will get intermittent updates as the shader system can be refined or reshaded to match conditions and on the fly with updates, which is a sort of window to what to expect from all the different areas of X-Plane in the future, this new feature is one of the most important to understand, because it is the future in not only for its assembly in Vulkan but also in the way it brings in a much more different engine into the original X-Plane machine. So you are starting to see the future changes of X-Plane happening right here, and right now in this version 11.30 update... think of it more like the windows ongoing system updates than major releases. One of the biggest first impressions of beta 11.30 was how brighter it all was, and the change of the basic X-Plane background in light and colours. Besides the actual new shader system, 11.30 has had a lot of fine tuning of the PBR (Physically Based Rendering) effects as well, this is noticeable in those sudden light to dark light changes in the cockpit, that were just as (if not more) annoying as the slideshow in the dawn and dusk periods. Seriously impressive the shaders are... lighting changes are minimal and the only way to see the actual lighting shader movements now is via speeding up the simulator to fast forward. Does the PBR still pop!, unfortunately yes it does and sometimes in a dramatic annoying way, but it also shows the PBR can be fine-tuned... I just don't think this area is the focus for Laminar right now. What strikes you the most though is the sheer smoothness of the simulator, it felt almost quite crude before to what you are experiencing now. Yes you will still get pauses (as scenery loads) and the odd pause as X-Plane shifts from one tile to the other which is still a major obstacle for ultimate smoothness, but that constant shutter and stutter in flight is gone, and it now all feels far more linear. I lost 2fr -4fr frames in the changeover as my 11.30 beta download was nearly 2gb, but I expect to claw that back and far more with the full Vulkan conversion later in the year, but that minimal framerate loss is somehow eliminated because the simulator seems to be not working as hard to achieve the same results, hence the smoothness. Everything feels sharper, cleaner than before. I will note that the framerate was better in the beta 11.30b2 than b1 and more gains came in v11.30b6 (b4 and b5 were absolute duds), but it all came good again in b6 and b7... by the RCs (Release Candidates) 11.30 was excellent. The star patterns at night are back, yes they were fixed before 11.30, but now you can actually see them feel them now while traveling at night, and with the even more refined night ground patterns, it is like X-Plane9 all over again, but far better... yeah! It certainly all bodes well for the future. Particle Effects Yes the showstopper! The particle effect generator has been in development hell for as long as I can possibly remember. "It's coming" was the usual mantra in X-Plane version release after version release, but now it is finally here... was it worth the wait? Of course it was. Like a lot of areas in b11.30 it is important to understand that although the current aircraft all work with the new particle effect engine, most of the aircraft have not been adjusted to get the best of the effects just yet, which it is like when the FMOD sound engine was first introduced... so every aircraft will have to be tailored to the effects engine to get the very best out of the effects, and then some more. Because certainly many developers will want to push the boundaries on what can actually be achieved with the custom particles. It is certainly an exciting time to be in that scenario. Vortices are amazing... and a far cry from the old smoke effect. They are extraordinary at night, as you can see the trail standing rearwards in the turn, as they dissipate of where they stand, and then fade away realistically back slowly into the sky. It is in the subliminal as not the direct effects that the effect change the nature of the simulator. The engine heat blur is excellent as the haze unfocuses the background with absolute realism. You knew something was missing before, and now you realise what that "something" actually was... realism. The biggie effect was always going to be fire. X-Plane already had a sort of animated fire effect, but not the adjustable realistic effect of fire. Now here it is and it lives up to it's dramatic entrance. The are different types of (particle) emitters from smoke, haze to fire and different styles for say streaming continuous smoke or for violent explosions, other effects cover wing vortices, engine blast, tyre contact smoke and wing, engine cowl condensation. The Particle Effects will have a multitude of uses within X-Plane, but currently they are restricted to only aircraft use, and with the odd ground explosion. This has been highlighted by the issues during the beta of smoke or particles in the aircraft (cockpits!)and not the filtering out of the new elements, and more fine tuning of the contrails in certain lighting conditions are still required. But static ground objects will soon have access to the same effects which will be interesting. As a note I never really took to the old X-Plane smoking "puff, puff" chimney effect, I thought they didn't look very realistic and even looked cartoony awful. However I really like the idea more of a hazy chimney or a steam (power plant) effect than the usual and expected black puffing variety. All elements for developers (or anyone) are accessed by the new "Particle System Editor" in the "Developer" X-Plane menu and the layout and the use is very similar to the FMOD sound editor. Access to the various elements are through the particle system definition files (.pss files), which brings up an editor to create, adjust and even delete the particle elements set out in the texture menu. A full dynamic adjustment of : rate, speed, velocity, pitch, heading, size, Alpha and Lifetime (Seconds) are available via keyframes of the all these different elements. ATC Voices A surprise feature included in v11.30 was the new A.I. based ATC voices. There was a comment about these new speech tools by Chris Serio in the mid-year Q&A session, but we never expected the actual release until in 2019, or even longer. The new ATC system now builds up real commands and sentences, as was in the older current version in that the ATC as it was then built up around .wav files to say they were very stilted conversations was an underestimation. But the main problem with this system was it was totally inflexible and very limited in speech capacity. So the new way is to use a text to speech (TTS) engine that is used in Amazon Alexia and Google Voice and of which are both a development of the Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition software. TTS can learn and be adjusted on the fly and you will be even able to contribute to the engine. So instead of the older communications of just the repetitive "X-Ray, Beta two five.. Runway five left" you can or will have "Speedbird 231, taxi cleared to runway five left"... The ATC system will learn and grow and get better as does all current TTS software working now. The system will be also able to work with a multitude of different voices and not just the current male and female choice or no choice at all. Accents in regional or national voices will be available as well as the ATC is more fully developed. Obviously the ATC voice system is still only very limited to the style and the current natural feel vocally until the full ATC system is intergrated later, but it does show that the pace of development is certainly taking place and going forward, which also means that the full ATC feature should be expected during a beta run in 2019. 11.30 Systems and Avionics Phillipp Ringler outlined the extensive navigation and avionics coming in 11.30 in the Vegas seminar. Ringler's overhaul of the X-Plane navigation and avionic areas since becoming part of the main Laminar team have been a total revolution in detail, dynamics and data use and most notably the GNS 430/530 pair, G1000 and the native X-Plane FMS. Certainly Phillipp's unique talents has certainly totally enhanced the basic avionics of the simulator. With the main navigation elements in now place (although I do find the main FMS still a bit wanting in detail), his attention has moved on to the more cosmetic areas of the systems and most notably the Autopilot. So 11.30 comes now with brand autopilots that can installed in your GA aircraft. These include the position based units GFC-700, KFC-250/Century and the rate-based S-TEC 55, KAP-140 and the Piper Autocontrol. The autopilots come as single or dual axis and with or without altitude select and also with or without electric trim functions. The GFC-700 Autopilot is also now part of the G1000 system, which is a high-end position-based digital autopilot, and the new version is now giving the G1000 more realistic capabilities. The Piper Autocontrol Autopilot is a generic low-tech non-microprocessor autopilot, and this AP can be either rate-based or position-based and has the usual dual-axis modes, but does not have any logic for automatic mode reversions. The AP modes are obviously quite basic as all Laminar default systems are, but entirely usable and effective. Here is the S-TEC 55 (C172SP) and the KAP-140 which are the most popular and both can be set as noted with/without altitude preset. One major surprise is that the AP panels don't pop-out?.. ... as with the already branded C90 Collins APS-65 (below) it is impossible to use effectively without a pop-up panel, as the distance from the AP panel to the navigation display on this aircraft is very wide... an oversight? Airliner autopilot systems have also been upgraded as auto-throttle can now use both N1/EPR modes, Control Wheel Steering (CWS) (yoke movements to adjust pitch, mostly on older aircraft), Master FD (Flight Director) or source selection, duel and triple channel preconditions and checks (computers compare two or three channels of data and select the best option), flare and roll out guidance and a three axis DAS/Data Acquisition Systems. GPSS autopilot mode is also now available. All these AP operations are quite comprehensive but mostly hidden, but you will suddenly find you will have more options and get closer to the real world operations of flight deck autopilots once their features start to flow through to the aircraft. In 11.30 system changes the areas focused on have been for the more realistic oxygen systems and anti-ice/de-ice systems, and the propeller itself now has four different propeller failure modes of fine pitch, anti-feathering springs and the full feather position... as not on all aircraft if when the engine fails does the propeller go straight to full feather mode and auto-feather. Also included are more extensive systems to replicate the unfeathering of the propeller realistically with pumps and negative torque sensing, and also fuel-topping and overspeed governors, vacuum gyro limitations and caging is now also being available. With the release of 11.30 Phillipp Ringler is also now responsible for these system changes besides the avionics portfolio which was once the domain of Austin Meyer, so expect more extensive and thankfully more speedier changes to aircraft systems than was the case in the past. While in the realm of systems, in that X-Plane is now also 8.33kHz aware. The old 25kHz spacing has been divided by three 25/3 = 8.33333. to allow more channels to be used which will help in congested airspaces, it became mandatory in Europe as of January 2018 if you are flying in controlled airspace in Europe, as you must have now an 8.33kHz radio to meet that mandate, as you now do also in X-Plane 11.30. The panel resolution has be enlarged to 4K (4096x4096) to get rid of poor resolution text and give a better quality fascia, which is another step away from the original X-Plane standards. Flight Model Although X-Plane is known for its incredible ability to simulate real airflow and air dynamics through its “blade element theory” calculations, it is still not the full range of forces on the aircraft while flying through the air, or on the ground. The aerodynamic basics are of course correct, but in the last few years Laminar has been focusing on more detail of the more secondary forces that affect the aircraft. To that end Austin Meyer has been doing some pretty outlandish if quite bizarre experiments with a Telsla S car to get more realistic data on fuselage, wing forces (post stall), inboard wing air dynamics (the join between the wing and fuselage), propwash and helicopter downwash and tailwash is also being done via more conventional data driven calculations and a follow on from the earlier 11.10 dynamics, as with the earlier asymmetrical new airfoil formats for Reynolds numbers (fluid flow past a body in this case an aircraft). All these new calculations are now included into PlaneMaker 11.30, but you can have the choice in to either opt in out opt out of using the data. These changes are not actually for the X-Plane simulator per se, but for more comprehensive real world data of forces that can be applied to the aircraft's airfoils and wing forces, and PlaneMaker will now do a batch convert to the new settings, but also show you where your drag was not realistic. This aspect is to find a more realistic feel with say the landing and flare dynamics, and with an emphasis on post stall drag factors which are still X-Plane's main limitations, as also for better helicopter downwash and tailwash dynamics which are also currently still not totally highly realistic. My personal beef on this has been the ground friction (or grip) that seems lacking in the simulator... or in other words the weaving and poor tracking on the ground when taking off or landing as I just don't feel that rubber contact grip that I expect to be real world realistic. So has that aspect been fixed or at least refined better than the last set of changes? again personally I don't think so, but in reality the jury is still out on that aspect, it depends on if the 11.30 default aircraft have been updated to the new aerodynamic data, if so then the answer is no, but it will be extremely interesting when the developers do their own calculations... they know their numbers far better than the default aircraft developers as in reality Laminar default aircraft at their heart are quite simple, it will be the specialist developers that will refine and home the data closer to the real world conditions, so when the top payware releases come around after 11.30 goes final then that will be interesting and ralso eflected in the reviews and I will certainly be focusing hard on that aspect. Ditto for helicopters, once say a top helicopter developer like say Dreamfoil does the new 11.30 downwash and rotor dynamics will we see if the improvements are actually realistic. A side note to that is the new "joystick curves" see below... in fine tuning your hardware gear to be also more refined in their inputs. So the changes in 11.30 are actually quite extensive in these areas, but again to stress that you won't see any of these extensive benefits until the developers sort out their own flight model calculations and dynamics to match the more comprehensive flight modeling avaliable to them. Late in the beta run (RC 1) Laminar also inserted the Toe-Brake option for users that have NO hardware (i.e. Rudder Pedals) in controlling aircraft such as tail-draggers, which are notorious to control currently. Previous versions of X-Plane we had this automatic toe-brake behavior that was automatically applied based on some rules that were originally coded into X-Plane. Now aircraft authors can now explicitly control whether toe brakes are auto-applied for users without hardware, and if so, how aggressively. This control is auto-populated for older aircraft with the choices set for X-Plane 11.26 and earlier versions. Engine Improvements Austin Meyer since the start of the X-Plane 11.00 version has been focusing on more realistic engine dynamics. Earlier focus (11.26) was on turbine outputs, specifically in single turbo-turbine outputs. In 11.30 the focus is more of the same but more on the larger jet-turbine aircraft (B737/A320). Believe it or not until 11.30 both the twin-spool tracking of the n1 and n2 engine outputs was done not separately, but notably as one joined calculation. But now it is possible to select both single or twin-spool jets in Plane-Maker to really get the jet engine dynamics (output numbers) better in the spool-up and spool-down phases, and watching N2 lead the N1 output on the spool-up, or the other way around on the spool-down. And the engine output modeling has also be validated of real engine starts and throttle run-ups and shut-downs taken on a (real) Airbus A-320 for realism. (throttle input/output data was a real mess on the release of X-Plane 11.00) Specifically the area noted is the improved Jet 1 spool. Again Jet 1 spool in X-Plane is currently still very basic and the data comes actually from the earlier (now really outdated) X-Plane releases .This current model always has the N1 spinning at a ratio to N2 that was a simple power curve. This is good enough to mimic a real jet engine which was in the past sort of close, if you don’t look at how fast the various turbines spin up and down compared to each other. Jet 2 spool is also a new jet engine model for X-Plane as well with N2 is the power turbine is in the hot section, and it spins up and down as fuel is applied. and is independent of the N1 that is spun by the torque generated from N2, spinning the bypass fan. So a more accurate model, taking into account that the N2 can surge while N1 takes some time to respond, and N1 can windmill briskly even if N2 is shut down and is barely spinning. You can see where all this is going with more internal engine dynamics being realistic in the simulator, and with N1/N2 windmilling which are now more accurate as well. This new modeling should also be more specific in the cruise phase as well. There has been also focus on fine tuning and the modeling of actual dynamic pressure and the resulting Bernoulli effects in the Venturi tube itself to see when ice will form, this will give you a more realistic feedback on ice formations as the Bernoulli principle applies to the motion of air over an airplane wing, to air flow through a carburetor, to the flag flapping in the breeze, and to the low pressure systems in hurricanes. The earlier focus on PT6 turboprops still continues in 11.30, which now in the new model, of which is more accurate and very carefully matched to real PT6 performance. This uses now N2 for Ng which is more accurate, of which there is also now a new manifold pressure model for non-turbo airplanes. The new functionality now allows the simulator understand that lower back-pressure at altitude for non-turbo airplanes provides a bit more power per inch of manifold pressure... all in the quest for realism. Garrett turboprops (Honeywell TPE331) that is an fixed turbo-prop engine that is used extensively with X-Plane aircraft like with the Dornier Do 228/King Airs/Turbo-Commanders is next on the list after the PT6 for the same intensive attention. Aircraft There was a lot of noise in discussion of an F-14 (Tomcat) in pre-release notes, but the actual F-14 Laminar default aircraft didn't appear in the 11.30 release, but is that a spelling mistake? Could it be the F-4 Phantom that has had all the attention and could it all be just misleading? Including the noted F-14 above there was no new aircraft released in 11.30, but a few aircraft had some significant work done on them... obviously the Cessna 172SP was given a lot of attention to highlight most of 11.30's new features including the new S-Tec autopilot (above) and performance/tuning gains. The Boeing 737-800 is of course the showcase aircraft for X-Plane11, so besides the new performance, particle effects and new triple-channel autopilot features the aircraft also acquired something special... ... a cabin! But not just a filler cabin, but a full and very detailed cabin. And it puts even most payware cabins to shame... yes it is that good. At night the internal lighting is even better to sensational with the "Sky Interior" theme... ... even if the Austin Meyer graphic is a bit cheeky, the detailing is just as good in the excellent and realistic galleys that are also payware quality. With the internal structure in place (cabin) then you can also have opening doors as well... ... even if they are not actually attached to the aircraft? and they are hard to open in all have to manhandled directly, I am not sure if the cargo doors open? but the cargo internal 3d containers are in there, so if not now, then certainly the cargo doors will open in the future... obviously still a WIP. Boeing 747-400 has had attention as well... as neglect goes it was way on the top of the list, in fact it was totally unflyable as I found out earlier last year... which is certainly not good enough for an aircraft that is there to promote the simulator. The bug XPD-9644 "747 catches on fire in replay" said it all. In a short flight I found the 747 aircraft at least now usable. there are important elements still missing like the heading pointer on the rose navigation display, but "hey who needs that!" but a lot of the major issues have been addressed including the reverse thrust (yes you need the reverse thrust as well!)... it is flyable... maybe even usable for a long haul, I'll do a route and see how it all goes. Autogen While you have been flying around overhead, then Laminar Research has been very busy filling in your autogen. Europe got the treatment back in the v11.25 release. This is mostly to fill in Urban Industrial Autogen aspect and in 11.30 the US got the same makeover, and it is all pretty impressive, although here it is a much more dirtier and darker theme than the steel and glass of Germanic Europe. Government buildings with the old PWA Moderne 30's 40's styling, glass office towers and excellent modern residential buildings now fill a large area of your X-Plane autogen landscape... even Ben Supnic has now got his own Computer outlet chain! along side the usual US fast food outlets. Building quality is also high class and it all comes with great nightlighting detail as well East US coast New Jersey terraced housing is also now visible and it is again highly detailed. Urban industrial is now also filling in nicely those empty grey spaces, and it is all very highly detailed. And while you are flying around, then the kids can have a go on the swings. Still no churches though? I always get a little annoyed when the scenery developers cover over this expansive quality autogen for something usually quite flat and average with mostly poor orthophoto textures, why not take advantage of the already comprehensive tools the simulator delivers... you won't find better. Landmarks Dubai has been added into the landmark list with two buildings now present... The tallest (for now) building in the world with the Burj Khalifa and the sail like Burj Al Arab, but the modeling comes with no Jumeirah hotel at the rear. Both landmarks are well done, but feel a bit lonely as being the only buildings sitting in a vast landscape, no tall city Dubai autogen and only housing leaves them markedly exposed. User Interface U.I. Some fine tuning of the U.I. interface includes options to enlarge font sizes and the new layout to configure joystick curves in more detail with the option to set the joystick curves per axis., and users can also now submit joystick config files. Other items on the interface include new added sector altitudes in the VFR map. U.I. Options to enlarge the U.I. font size. You are now able to re-enabling of the notification windows that have a “don’t show this again” checkbox and the situation files can now get you close to the landmarks for quick sight seeing. X-Plane data The default simulator data has been updated its airspace to 2018 & Navigraph default data 1708. Which is out of date unless you have an account for the latest cycle (1901) 3rd Jan 19 - 31st Jan 19, but at least it isn't years old. And the total Global Airport count with 3-D scenery in the 11.30r1 release is now 8247. Summary For all its new features and tools, X-Plane 11.30 is a still a bit like an iceburg, there is a little bit sticking up out of the water, but with a lot going on in size under the surface. It will be months and even months before X-Plane users will get the full effect of the update as the developers adjust to the new tools and feature details. We also have to get used to the delay of change than the usual instant gratification of an update and that instant wow factor... like the new autogen in 11.30, it sort of creeps up on you now more than coming in an explosion and all of a sudden you realise that just how much more expansive, responsive and smoother the simulator all is, and just thinking back to even the release version of X-Plane11 you then realise how far the simulator has come in just two years, it makes X-Plane10 now feel almost arcane. And that change didn't come either with huge system or framerate set of penalties, as if you only have even still a fair 4K graphic card you will still find a lot of efficiency. This is also again the underlying factor of this 11.30 update, efficiency, but with not yet getting the full effects of the Vulcan/Metal API core changes. Yes some parts and others are now operating on Vulkan API, like the new shader system... but overall it is all still very much a Work In Progress, as noted... 11.30 is just block 1 of many components that will probably go in and keep going in right up to the X-Plane12 new version release. Highlight visually in 11.30 is of course the Particle Effects and their earth wind and fire elements. Yes it is nice to have them back and it will be interesting to see how the developers use the editor skillfully to use their maximum effect. Scenery particle effects are coming soon. ATC A.I. Voices were a nice surprise but limited until the rest of the ATC is intergrated, as is the nice finer details of new autopilots and avionics, Flight modeling has again improved upon earlier changes with even more adjustments available as has deeper engine modeling and this time focusing on larger jet engine output. Default aircraft had all the above features inserted and with that bonus cabin on the Boeing 737-800. 2018 saw the X-Plane simulator finally shake off it's "hobbist" tag and with respect... thus 11.30 update again pushes the boundaries higher and better again, but this version update is however not a final solution waiting for the next update, but part of a simulator in transition, but a transition that will build it into a far higher platform of a quality and an extremely efficient simulation platform... the words "head and Shoulders" and "above" start to come to mind. _________________________ X-PlaneReviews can't cover absolutely every change or bug fix with the version update, and so the 11.30 Release notes are available here at the Laminar Research Development pages: X-Plane 11.30 Release Notes X-Plane 11.30 is available now for download. Run your X-Plane installer application or download from Steam. ______________________________________________________________________ Analysis review by Stephen Dutton 12th January 2019 Copyright©2019: 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)

I understand why you won't run the 11.30 beta, but it is now extremely stable and only a step away from final... personally I would click the beta box and enjoy the benefits?

News! - Aircraft Released - C172SP SkyHawk HD XP11 from Carenado Usually on announcement, then Carenado release only a week or so later. But the C172SP SkyHawk has been released exactly a month later, here is the original announcement... There are a few significant differences between the earlier XP10 version and this release. One this C172Sp XP11 is a single variant with no wheel/float/ski option (it was the N version), but it does come with the full G1000 (X-Plane default) avionics suite package. Special Features Version 1.0 Only for X-Plane 11 Fully VR compatible Full PBR (Superb material shines and reflections) Updated X-Plane default G1000 Features Specially designed engine dynamics for XP11. Flight physics optimized for XP11 standards. Ground handling adapted for XP11 ground physics. Physically Based Rendering materials and textures throughout. PBR materials authored with industry-standard software used by the film and gaming industries. Goodway Compatible. Realistic behavior compared to the real airplane. Realistic weight and balance. Tested by several pilots for maximum accuracy. Included in the package 5 HD liveries. 1 HD blank texture. C172SP G1000 Normal Procedures PDF. C172SP G1000 Emergency Procedures PDF. C172SP G1000 Performance tables PDF. C172SP G1000 Reference PDF. Recommended Settings XPLANE 11 PDF. Images and text are courtesy of Carenado Recommended System Requirements Windows XP – Vista – 7 -10 or MAC OS 10.10 (or higher) or Linux X-Plane 11 CPU: Intel Core i5 6600K at 3.5 ghz or faster. Memory: 16-24 GB RAM or more. Video Card: a DirectX 12-capable video card from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel with at least 4 GB VRAM (GeForce GTX 1070 or better or similar from AMD) 430MB available hard disk space Price is noted as ... US$32.95 Now Available from Carenado ________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 8th January 2019 Copyright©2019: X-Plane Reviews

News! - Announcement : Imaginesim coming to X-Plane With the start of a new year, and here comes the announcement of another FlightSim vanguard coming to the X-Plane simulator platform. This one is ImagineSim a scenery developer and their entry choice is KAUS Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. ImagineSim are an interesting choice, because their sceneries are not totally USA/European centric focused, announced also coming for X-Plane is Singapore Changi, Shanghai Pudong International and LaGuardia.... VHHH Chep Lok Hong Hong is also one of their sceneries. Only two images of KAUS have been released... ... and no release date is announced, price in FlightSim land is US$22.99 ______________________________________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 8th January 2019 Copyright©2019 : 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)

Aircraft Reissue : Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner Aviator’s Edition by Magknight If you want to follow an aircraft's development, then the MagKnight Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner is a good story. Or an idea that went way out of proportion to the point of the initial design is now a very different aircraft than that it originally was intended to be, and that is not a bad thing because as what X-Plane as a simulator is simply begging badly for is a quality Boeing 787. The design started off as a basic freeware donation development, it was also originally based on the default X-Plane PlaneMaker system as well, which in parlance means the aircraft is or was basic with a capital B. In reality at this point the development could have taken two routes... One was the Zibo B738 direction were as the developer changes the basic systems into a better aircraft above the PlaneMaker basics. Or two go down the route of a more significant development path towards a study grade aircraft, obviously the secondary path is more to our liking if we want this New-Gen aircraft to use and fly realistically to the real world performance and operations. It is also to our benefit in this case as X-Plane is quite void in aircraft for medium to long haul, so in our desire again this secondary route is again the most preferable. The choice was made last year on the secondary route when the developer MagKnight made the project a Payware version, to the absolute displeasure of most of the freeloaders, or cheap beta testers, which ever way you look at the viewpoint, and at a price-point of US$25 it was positioned in context to of say a fully graded aircraft like the FlightFactor Boeing 767 which is 70+ dollars (US$72).. but the design was also very lacking in many areas as noted in our review: Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner by Magknight and certainly in the performance aspect which is critically important with these New-Gen aircraft designs, as you will want to feel the benefits of these more ultra-modern machines and their extraordinary performance and range profiles. I did note in that above review that one of the main limitations with the aircraft was the PlaneMaker development base, so to be a quality Payware and to have the flexibility to develop the aircraft then a move to SASL or relative plugin is required.... and that change brings us to this "Aviator’s Edition" of the aircraft. With the secondary elevation change in six months comes also another price hike to US$44.95, although the original purchasers can upgrade to the Aviator’s Edition for just $10. Yes my mouth dropped at the same time the price was announced, and more certainly with the earlier review still set hard in my recent mind. The costing is for of course cover the subscription to the SASL plugin systems, and to note that it is not just that the plugin is just dropped into the aircraft, and then wired up to it, but the SASL developer will tailor the SASL plugin to the requirements of the developer and the effects and ideas he wants to include on his project, in other words future proof it. This aspect goes a long way to explain the wide gap between freeware, PlaneMaker and (SASL) plugin aircraft, and to a point that is what you pay for when you buy a payware aircraft in this specialist development. Another significant point is that with the higher price the developer has brought on board other developers with so the sole developer of MagKnight is now a team, or development house (expect a formal name change soon) to increase the depth and speed of future development, so expertise will now now go into the different areas instead of the sole developer doing or covering all the aspects of the design process. Aviator’s Edition v1.0.0 Outwardly the Aviator v1.0.0 release is not that much different from the earlier v1.0x. Here is update v1.7, and yes that is already seven updates from the release version only back a few days before Christmas 2018. Wing profiles and flap angles have already been adjusted, but overall don't take these changes too much for granted, as the whole fuselage will be redesigned from the 3d object up, as will the low-def textures (they are actually 4K 4096x4096), but don't look it in the flesh. Wingflex is now much better improved and so has the inner wing detail. All the external lighting have been redone to be smaller, sharper and more realistic. Bigger changes are very highly noticeable in the cockpit. Gone is the older grey/dark grey and in comes a more mature light grey/grey and it looks far more realistic than the original visual feel. The dark blue sheepskin seat covers are also out and a more brighter light grey is in as this is now well adding also into the overall lighter effect. Reflections are in as well... flight display panels are now reflective as are the windows. One of the areas that showed average before was the flat bland displays, so obviously they look far better and again more realistic, as is the display text (new fonts) that is now far sharper and actually readable, but only changed on the upper PFD (Primary Flight Display) as the lower radial is still blurry and low-res... but overall it is a huge step forward. The under glareshield LED lighting is a "nice" moment, and the new more detailed yokes make the aircraft feel more authentic. Electronic Flight Display There is a new "Electronic Flight Bag" or EFB with a built-in aircraft menu. It covers areas like Terminal charts, Performance calculator (WT & Balance), Ground Services (Pushback Tug and GPU), Aircraft Setup and team credits. Airport Search is quite basic: Search "Origin" will put the airport ICAO code in the origin box? and pretty well that is it?, Search "Dest" and it will put the destination ICAO code in the... destination box? You expect it to do more, like if you go back to Search Dest, then you expect the original set "Dest" (YMML) to still be there, but if you have changed the "Origin" ICAO code then that will be shown in the "Dest", so it is only really a search ICAO box, and a poor one at that and in not holding in your original "Origin" and "Dest" choices in the correct selection tabs? Input keypad (scratch pad) is however very nice to use. Performance calculator (WT & Balance) The performance calcuator is a bit hit and miss as well. I tried to convert my numbers of the SimBrief (VHHH-YMML) routing, but they didn't translate over very well (I found using the X-Plane weights and Balance menu mostly an easier way of converting it). Do the "Calc" and all your inputs disappear? The point is here if you can't convert your routing numbers over exactly (many entries won't accept . decimal 20.1) but only 20. So you don't know if it is working correctly or if the aircraft is set up correctly or not... I just finally set the fuel and weights in the X-Plane W&B menu and was more confident of following my SimBrief fuel flow and burn. All the set configurable units for weight, altimeter, minimums saved per-livery which is an interesting idea. You can load in .pdf files for display (charts?) but in trying load/insert two single page .pdf's I only got an EFB freeze on the first load? The ACD or Aircraft Config Data page was however excellent. Systems With the SASL plugin then in come realistic systems. MagKnight has started with the electrical system which has been redesigned from the ground up. EFIS (electronic flight instrument system) has also been moved to it's correct position central panel from the secondary FMS location. The actual status buttons still don't work, but instead you still use the panel button called "NEXT PG" to change the pages, they don't appear in button order either with the Elec page last... But listed are: STAT (Status) - Fuel - FCTL (Flight Controls) - HYD (hydraulics) - ELEC (Electrical) Certainly a WIP, but the new panel position shows off the detail to a better extent, small annoyance is that the Fuel is noted in lbs on the EFIS display, but the menu selection between either kgs or lbs can be changed everywhere else, it need to be available in both settings on the EFIS as well. But the APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) is now operational and displayed. It does however take a fair time to reach it's full operating speed and temperature, as you sit there going "come on". Aviator’s Edition Impressions My earlier first impression of the MagKnight Dreamliner in the earlier review was that the modeling was very good, and there was a fair bit of quality in the detail, certainly no photographic feel of realism that you desire, but it is way above the average... again the cockpit textures (for the fourth time) have been redone, and it is starting to feel very nice in here "Thank You very much", remember the B787's feel and design is not going to be like a well worn, dirty B757, and yes there is plenty of scope for more wear detail, but it does give you that modern ultra cockpit feel that you want to experience, thankfully the swichgear is now scrollable adding into the experience. The negative effects still come that a lot of the switchgear and knobs are still basic, and non-operable... but overall I now certainly feeling far more immersed in the aircraft and it is thankfully leaving that basic PlaneMaker feel behind, and that is greatly helped by the now reflective displays and surfaces. Engine start is very simple, just turn the start knob to "Start" and the B787 does the rest for you, no bleed settings or routing, no flipping up the fuel flow switches at the correct n2... just click and wait for the start procedure. I am not sure yet if the B787 start sequence is this totally automated, I would still think you would need to flip in the fuel flow switch at the right start point, so it feels just a little too basic on the start sequence. VHHH (Hong Kong) to YMML (Melbourne) is 4098nm (GND Dis) and the aircraft is loaded with the required 52382 kgs fuel (block), but I added in another 1000 kgs in case the B787's fuel flow was off, it was on my last LON-JFK flight and it was off by a long way. Total weight is 218567 kgs, but as noted I couldn't set the aircraft's performance to this setting, but it is pretty close via the X-Plane W&B menu. It was nice for a change to do a long-haul, the last few years have been centered solely around Europe and of course the US. The reason was the complete dearth of good scenery out east, but thanks to TOD's amazing efforts, we now have a very decent and impressive VHHH and a quite good WSSS (Singapore), and both are routings that are perfect for the Dreamliner. But from the left senior seat I felt far better than the last time I sat here six months ago, and yes the experience is vastly improved and thankfully now also losing that PlaneMaker early basic X-Plane feel, and for the first time I felt, this is now finally a Dreamliner we can use and enjoy. I liked the detail of the aircraft data on the side panel, tail, SELCAL, XPDR, UTC time, date and Elapsed time. The most obvious feel change is the LED lighting under the glareshield that lifts the panel out of the ordinary. Runway roll and takeoff, and the aircraft felt more responsive biting into the air in climbing out of VHHH - 07R, power felt fine at a 2000fpm departure slope, and the required bank to the right to cover the SKAT1E SID to OCEAN departure point was effortless, with this controllable manual flying the B787 quickly brought a smile to my lips, yes this Dreamliner is very good. You feel good as well... and any aircraft that delivers a return on emotion is a good investment.... but this is simulation. One of the biggest issues with the original MagKnight B787 is that it wasn't a good simulation on the performance side, and it was this mostly that was my biggest turnoff from the aircraft, as the aircraft was totally unrealistic performance wise... so is this version any better? Overall thankfully yes it is far better, but there is still some way to go. MagKnight has completely redone the performance aspect of the aircraft and to the new XP11.30 settings (you can only use the aircraft in the 11.30 version), so it does respond now to the parameters, but not totally to the expected numbers (SimBrief is a guide). I have flown on a B787 and boy do these things go, a climb to FL400 (Yes forty thousand) was effortless at over a 2,500 fpm climb, as it went literally straight up, but those numbers are a bit askew in the fact there was barely 50 passengers on board and only the fuel weight for a 726nm flight. This routing takes my up to FL370 and the TOW weight is 218567 kgs (in line with SimBrief). Overall the aircraft struggled to meet the TOC marker, and I met the FL target a good 50nm past the required insertion point, but fuel consumption was comparative to the climb numbers. So there was a lot of climb rate changes to keep the aircraft within the limits of keeping on speed and not dropping behind the speed marker... i made it and overall the climb went well, but it had to be managed carefully... I doubt the real aircraft would require this much climb attention. So now we come to fuel burn? It should be around 5200 per hour (Kg/h) as an average, so what would this Dreamliner consume? At several points at the required .85m and FL370 the aircraft protested with a yellow n1 alert, but soon recovered to settle down at 92.3% n1. ... and so you settled down into the eight hour cruise and the number watching. Yes the aircraft is far more responsive to performance, but the numbers are not realistic? FF (Fuel Flow) is around 3200 Kg/h, and at 2500nm distance I still had 31.0 kgs fuel on board.. by SimBrief I should have 20.5kgs (taking in the extra 1000kgs) in the tanks at this distance, weight and fuel burn? So is SimBrief wrong? no because I use it regularly with other aircraft and they usually hit the numbers. Those fuel burn numbers are brilliant if you want to attempt the PER-LON QF 17 hour+ flight, but it is still not realistic enough here for pure simulation? The n1 percentage numbers are better as well, but again not perfected. The original MagKnight n1 numbers were awful in being stuck on 98% all flight long, and do not reduce as the weight lifts or with altitude FL changes, here they are now actually working and reducing slowly to the fuel burn, but not effectively enough, the wrong fuel burn and fuel weight reflects this as well... the throttles have a habit of bouncing around at cruise for no reason as well, but a lot of X-Plane aircraft do this annoying anomaly as well. The lighting has been redone (or refined) to parametric lighting on the aircraft. It is not perfect (it glows through the front gear doors) but it is a big advancement... ... I particularly like the glowing navigation lights on the wing and flap runners, and the strobes at night are also particularly effective. As there is no cabin and the cabin widows are only graphics? I thought the night lit textures were far too bright and so photoshopped them down a little to be more realistic. The call for a full cabin is strong here, it would be great in looking out at the dramatic lit wings. Cockpit ambiance is actually quite good in a limited selection. If you are a long-hauler then getting the right cockpit ambiance is critical for realism, and you can certainly achieve that here... Rear overhead lighting is exceptional and can be used to control the mood in the cockpit, from low set to bright. I have enlightened myself by learning not to have all the system and overhead panel lighting at full volume, but to soften the effect to create a better mood in the office, and here it works very well with the LED adjustment which is again a highlight. There are knobs for MAP lights and other indirect lighting, but they don't work yet, but certainly when corrected they will add well into the dynamic lighting range. Arrival in Melbourne was on time and with plenty of unused fuel... Simbrief notes I should have 7700 kg on arrival (44,700 kgs used), but when I had actually 22.000 kg's still on board at a gross landing weight of 166000 kgs? So fuel burn is 3200 kg to the required 5200 kg/h consumption (the 787-8 uses 4800 kg/h) So performance wise the QF30 flight was a littttle out.. a bit, okay a lot! Landing lighting still needed more fine tuning, but more on the runway turnoff lights than the main landing lights which had to be left on to cover the inept side lights The above may make you think the flight was a bit average, when in fact the opposite is true. This was certainly the best Dreamliner flight I have done yet, the flight overall block to block was excellent, and I totally enjoyed the experience... so it all comes back to the huge potential this aircraft really has... Summary Your first thoughts are to that purchase price and what effectively is an aircraft still well into it's development cycle. In most cases you don't see this progression of development until the developer releases either the aircraft or the update version, and here that aspect is all open to one and all, so it isn't pretty in many areas, but you are very aware and even part of the progress and the movement of the development forward, and already the short period of the SASL install is already showing huge benefits, if still a little more refining needed. As with the original version just over six months ago in that it was really quite basic, I liked the idea of a Dreamliner to fly, but as a simulation it was quite wanting in many areas, and it was if just back then only a pretty aircraft to fly... but the potential was certainly notably in there. Six months later and with this "Aviator Edition" you have to have a bit of a belief in what is now going forward, but that belief does come with a lot of interesting comparisons with the earlier release... like I said earlier there is a lot of potential already built in here, so it is not thankfully anymore a blind faith. When I flew the original payware release as noted I found it wanting, certainly by payware standards, but if I would have had to put down my cash for the aircraft at that time, I certainly would have still done so, because I knew it was going forward and at a quick rate. This "Aviator Edition" certainly overwhelmingly confirms that initial assessment, as this version is simply in every area far more developed and is now delivering on that payware requirement, but you would say "yes but this is not now a $25 dollar, aircraft either" and I would certainly acknowledge that point of view. But here it gets interesting, and with the "faith" bit in all of this. If MagKnight and his now quite large team keep to the deal of delivering on the promises of a authentic FMC, Cabin, doors, lighting, developed systems et cetera, and by the sheer development done over the last six months to this version, then the $45 price is going to start to get interesting and to the point that the upgraded devotees at the upgrade fee S10 will have had a relative bargain, and then there should come that crossover point where the value catches up to and then passes the quality and feature aspect. The situation of that aspect in six months time for another reassessment of the project will be of course critical. In noting the above, I did really find the aircraft in a routine long-haul flight a great experience both in the day and night flying... I loved the feel and immersion as this Dreamliner is now starting to deliver, I flew the earlier version, but didn't try or bother flying it again until this newer release, but with this aircraft there is no doubt it will be getting far more of my attention and have the flying hours in the left seat... absolutely I accept it is not perfect and certainly still in the performance aspects, but it is also certainly worthy now of serious consideration, and in the long run may even to turn out to be a great bargain as well, as overall this is now at least a worthy Dreamliner to use and fly, you are going to see a B787 a lot more in the future in our reviews. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the Boeing 787-900 Aviator Edition Dreamliner by Magknight is available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : B787-9 Aviator Edition Price is US$44.95 This version is X-Plane 11.30 only! Earlier XP10 or XP11 versions are not supported. Upgrade cost to the "Aviator Edition" from the original payware release version is US$10, see your X-Plane.OrgStore account for the upgrade. Features General Brand new flight model built for X-Plane 11.30 Improved wingflex Custom IRS simulation, with quick align Auto-update for the lifetime of X-Plane 11 LED exterior lights (exclusive) Revised font for cockpit textures New yoke model Revised cockpit textures Electronic flight bag Take-off calculator PDF chart loader Fuel, cargo and passenger loading Configuration Most settings saved globally Configurable units for weight, altimeter, minimums saved per-livery Support for metric altitude Optional custom cursor Custom electrical system Designed from the ground up for the 787 Ground power unit Custom anti-ice, simulating the resistance in each mat HelpfulPointers (exclusive) Designed for online flying The aircraft advises you if you forget something important such as lights or transponder. Liveries 10 liveries are included by default; many more are available online: Air Canada, Air China, American Airlines, British Airways, Japan Airlines, LAN Airlines (pre-merger livery), LOT Polish Airlines, United Airlines, Factory (white), Factory (standard) Requirements: X-Plane 11.30+ (Prior versions of X-Plane not supported) Windows only at this time (Mac and Linux coming soon) 4Gb VRAM Minimum - 8Gb + VRAM recommended Current and review version : 1.7 Installation : Download is 255.14mb which is unzipped and is inserted in your Heavy Aircraft folder as a 321mb folder (with downloaded liveries) Liveries are downloaded and inserted into your B787 root folder separately as a 34.4mb Folder. Documentation : Manual ______________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 8th January 2019 Copyright©2019: 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 11.30b2 (aircraft will only fly in 11.30) Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro v1.07 US$69.90 : XPRealistic Pro v1.0.9 effects US$19.95 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95 : BetterPushBack - Free Scenery or Aircraft - VHHH - Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok International 2.0.0 by TOD (X-Plane.Org) - Free - YMML - Melbourne (ISDG) 1.01 by ChrisK (X-Plane.Org) - Free

Are you sure you are flying the XP11 version of the Wilson Aircraft DC-8.. as they are all the same version, with no analog instruments? I checked... I think the original XP10 release was the older style. SD

Happy New Year! The Marchetti has a built in REP pack, so that requires that you look after the engine. You can see what the issues are by clicking "Enable engine monitor" to active... and it will note what the issue is in either icing, fouled plugs or maintenance. A good tip is to once you settle at attitude is to lean the Mixture levers to get the best performance between speed and power, this will make the aircraft more efficient and even make the aircraft go faster. SD

News! - Plugin Update beta : WorldTraffic3 WT 3.1.10N by Classic Jet Simulations Classic Jet Simulation have released a last minute Christmas present with a beta/test copy of their next update to WorldTraffic3 (WT3). This is version WT 3.1.10N and it comes with some really nice fixes... here is the change log: WT 31.10N A message will pop up if you have plugin control of AI aircraft enabled but you haven't set the AI planes to the WT AI aircraft which would cause you to see overlapping planes. When opening flights window, auto-scroll to flight at current time Two ground routes get created for light prop aircraft as there is a big difference in landing distances between planes like the C-150 and BE-20. Planes will pick whichever ground route has an exit greater than it's landing distance as defined in the aircraft definition files. Three different ground routes for large jet and heavy jet aircraft for the same reasons. You can edit the taxi exit distances for ground route creating for large jet and heavy jet exits if you don't like the defaults if you want to tailor ground route creation for airports with several exits. Planes now pick whichever ground route is most appropriate looking at the aircraft's landing distance and whether the exit is a high-speed exit or not. If there is a plane on short final behind the landing plane, it will use max braking and pick the exit in line with the min landing distance as specified in the aircraft definition file. This helps reduce overshoots for planes behind landing aircraft. Planes will keep their speeds up if their exit is quite a ways down the runway so they get off the runways faster. Lots of other small bug fixes and improvements to separation including preventing more than 1 plane on short final. That isn't perfect yet but it's much better. Fixed issue where the odd plane would taxi onto the runway for takeoff but never depart... had to run WT in the debugger for 2 days to trap that one! Fix problem where aircraft overlap was detected at gates that were angled in relation to each other. Prevent planes from crossing runway in front of landing planes as soon as they touch down... was not updating landing aircraft position frequently enough Improved GA aircraft operation so planes including spawning fixes, approach paths, earlier landing points on runways Make sure when a plane crosses a runway that there is no plane stopped just on the other side so it doesn't end up stopped in the middle of the runway (still need to refine this) Missing from this update but will be in the Jan update: Use XP traffic flows if they exist and no airport operations file exists. Override active runways UI Autostartup Change demo version to work with full traffic at KSEA - will also distribute ground routes for KSEA For flights with tail numbers, check calculated arrival time and make sure it's at least 30 min behind it's departure time to prevent flights arriving later than their next departure time. Pick most precise approach when several available if on final before doing a missed approach, see if there is another free parallel runway that can be used Put planes in middle of taxi routes when resynching... if on top of another plane, move backwards down taxi route This is a test or beta version, so expect a few niggles, but currently it seems to be very stable. What this update does do is fix a lot of those little niggles that drove you balmy. Like the departing aircraft that sits on the runway hold, and then the rest all pile up behind it, or drive though the offending aircraft. Same with the aircraft that went to runway start position and again gave up... Aircraft that overlapped at certain gates, mostly on this circular satellite terminals where the aircraft didn't park very well. Another fix was to stop those pesky GA aircraft that thought they could do a quick runner over the runway, with shades of the LA crash that resulted in many deaths. The biggest bug of dual landing aircraft has had attention, it should be better with bigger separation distances as noted, but for some reason it seems extremely hard to fix, I am sure that CJS will keep plugging away at it. Current local time will now apply when you access the flight window, which works with the Zulu time (zulu time is still officially the main time keeper as it is in the real world). But it means no more constant scrolling to find the latest arrival/departure times, this is a very nice new feature. The main focus has been on runway arrival. Mostly to separate the GA from the heavies as GA aircraft now have their own set of ground routes for shorter landing distances and quicker turn offs, you need to regenerations to create the new ground routes, otherwise it still uses the current versions. The aim is get more efficiency at the runway arrival points (my guess is to to reduce the number of call-offs or go arounds) and to clear the runway for the next arrival with even aircraft keeping up their landing speeds if the exit point is further down the runway. More changes are coming in January 2019, including better use of parallel runways and better resyncing. Feedback is of course welcomed. WorldTraffic3 and all aircraft download links can be found here: World Traffic 3 Update Page A key number is required and it is placed within the "World Traffic" plugin folder to activate the plugin World Traffic development forum is here: World Traffic - X-Plane.Org Forums _____________________________________________________________________________________ The World Traffic 3 by Classic Jet Simulations is available! from the X-Plane.Org Store here : World Traffic 3.0 Your Price: $29.95 Update is free to all current users of the WT3 Plugin ______________________________________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 23rd December 2018 Copyright©2018 : 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 : Year in Review 2018 With a long reflection on the X-Plane year in 2018, it was certainly an interesting one. 2017 was a mega year, so could 2018 be bigger, better or just more of the same? In fact it all went slightly sideways in being different instead as more external factors came to bear on the simulator, but one fact was totally overwhelming in that as simulation goes it is still a very strong and growing market, there are no doomsday forecasts coming anytime soon as simulation is still very much in demand and new users are still overwhelmingly discovering this excellent online flying world. The year could be very easily split right down the middle, with extremely busy for the first six months and then a more mature quieter second half. Part of the reason of the bedlam of the first part of the year was the expected conversion or crossover of Ex-Flightsim users and developers... the FlightSim crowd (even the hard-core) users realised that X-Plane was a better product, a better simulator and to a point had better value per flying buck. So they came, and came in droves to the new and pleasant land seeking new experiences. And most liked and loved what they saw and flew. Obviously with the flock of users converting then came also the FlightSim developers, almost begrudgingly, in an almost a really "I don't really want to be here, but I have to if I want to keep my customers" way. The data supports the shift with X-Plane now reaching the 50% point of users compared to FlightSim (Primary Simulator Software - Navigraph 2018 Survey) and 19.8% of current FlightSim users are also considering X-Plane as their primary simulator in the future. To put those numbers into perspective, in the last survey X-Plane was listed as only 10% and that was only two years ago in 2016 (but the survey has to be noted as more FlightSim centric and focused). Some developers dabbled (Fly Tampa, Hi Fi) but most just tried to adjust their FlightSim model to fit X-Plane with various results. The FSX opportunists, tried to bring on already outdated and way past their used by date products and hoped to make more quick cash in X-Plane, they failed, we hated them and didn't buy any of the crap presented to us, and as a result more promised releases went deathly quiet as the year went on. But that is not to say all FlightSim developers didn't convert well over to the X-Plane model, as Just Flight produced some of the best aircraft of the year via the work of Thranda, which proves if you get the model right, then you can make an major impact in the simulator. But the trick is not to shoehorn your way in, but just to become part of the normal background scenery and produce excellent products. With the X-Plane11 version settling down and being stable around the middle of 2017, then early in 2018 the results of the work of developers started to appear and kept on coming in an avalanche of products in the first quarter of the year, then they barely broke for a breath in the 2nd quarter. And what emerged was was an excellent view of the future, and an excellence in the actual product with the new X-Plane 11 features being highlighted, and again with so many quality products it was a full time occupation just to keep up with it all. One very much the presented feature was two things, a seriously never ending packages of updating which was all consuming, and that developers became very creative of the making of upgrades and turning the ideas into revenue streams. To a point this not a bad thing as we shall see, as the bottom line sometimes was really just survival. Another distinction was between the established stars (developers) and everyone else. With the outstanding but now maturing features of X-Plane11 in their armoury, the developers simply came of out firing with all guns blazing, everything that was everything that was on the table, and boy did they use it. I wrote a detailed account of this in last month's Behind the Screen : Nov 2018. And the scale and detail was stupendous stuff. Realism 101 was the buzz word for me this year, but the quality was and is off the planet, another step higher and another huge advance forward for the simulator, but the scenery developers were just as good, with ultra detail and that word again "Realism 101", but everything was also slightly side swiped by the X-Plane's simulator's user data release June mid-year. If there was a horror moment for X-Plane then this was it. Basically it said "61% of all flights in the simulator are with still with and only includes the basic default X-Plane aircraft, and default and simple is the word to be noted here. Next down and by a long way at 4.5% is the Boeing 738x Zibo mod aircraft which is again free and a development of the same aircraft as the default Laminar Research B738 version, and the ToLiSS's A319 was not even registering on the list?" in other word's the aircraft's use was registered below the required 0.1% for activation... frightening stuff. In plain English it noted that the simulator is basically by the majority is only being used at a very basic level... with even the very most popular aircraft the Zibo 738x which was down there at 4.5% usage, worse was the activity of payware scenery, it was not just low... it was low, low, low? As most users just flew within the scope of the Global airports (default) provided by the simulator... worse again was that, no one wanted to even try to or want to get a better simulation experience for themselves. The point is that the simulation I am flying in, is quite different to the one most X-Plane users are flying in... in the same simulator? You could point out that X-PlaneReviews receives a lot of free payware as part of the reviewing process, but only part of that is true, in that I do invest in aircraft and scenery well beyond the test and review packages. X-PlaneReview's has always taken the point of view that what I use and feel, then you should do as well also to get the very best experience out of the simulator. And that is based not totally based on cost but totally for the best experience. I rarely fly the default aircraft, although the default Boeing 737 is very good, and I rarely use the global airports, but usually networking between a small selection of tried and true payware sceneries... In reviewing or out of it then my investment in X-Plane would be exactly the same, it is not the cost factor that drives that aspect, but in the return experience. Several scenery developers have come out this year to note that they are not surviving at these extreme low levels, no names or the quality of their work was revealed to discuss the validity of their work to returns they deserve... onward with this aspect, then it has or will create a significant impact on the simulator as it goes forward, because at it's core there are still a lot of people that are invested and their livelihoods are very dependent on the simulator. Ultimately if this altitude does not change then the consequences are very grave for the X-Plane simulator, you can only take for free for so long before things start to go the other way, another point on this is that if the growing PC crowd are the ones paying the money, then the business will obviously focus on them and that will be another negative for freeloaders... so 2019 will be an interesting if significant year on that aspect. Laminar Research X-Plane thankfully has always had a very solid base of development. Laminar Research is now a very different commercial operation, even from a few years ago, I mean they even have PR person (Jennifer Roberts) as their profile and firewall. The days of shooting off an email to Ben Supnic are closing fast, now you have find the right department and the right person to communicate with... that is all very un-Laminar. If the hobbyist element is being phased out at Laminar, then it also doesn't mean they are becoming more distant and are still highly innovative in response to trends and changes. Again Laminar Research really delivered with some great updates and features in 2018. As promised the VR (Virtual Reality) roll out started the year, obviously for most the high outlay on the VR technology is still a is major barrier into the promised land. But there slight benefits of the delaying of the VR purchase and the user numbers are growing quickly. Not only in the cost, but maturity of the technology, and not only from X-Plane's aspect, but from the VR industry as well. For Laminar it still a roadmap rollout... VR demands huge computer efficiency for it's use. So the roadmap that was set out in 2017 was reinforced at the mid-year simulation Expo in Vegas, which was a huge success for Laminar. And continuing that development vein in that a total rewriting of X-Plane from the inside out would secure it's future. Laminar is wanting the removal of the original elements and replace them with far more modern ones, and yes a lot of things may be lost in the transition, but this is classic Laminar (Supnic) thinking... "take the pain today, for a bigger better tomorrow". At the forefront of that is the new API changes of Vulkan and Metal, in the last beta 11.30. Already a lot of these new elements are already in place, and expect a lot more in the new 2019 year with the next major 11.40 update, and the changes will go on right through the X-Plane11 development cycle till the end, but note that X-Plane12 will be a very different internal engine from 11, and it's past original roots will all be finally buried or replaced. Two updates throughout the year with 11.20 and 11.30 were both excellent. v11.20 was a tweak and touch update to clear up the lasting bugs of the introduction of X-Plane11, you could call it a maturing version but mostly it will be remembered as the "VR version". v11.20 also brought in a new aircraft with the excellent Aerolite 103 a brand new ultralight aircraft, a lot of new LEGO elements for the global airport developers to access and use, and Sydney got the "Landmark" Treatment with the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. It was the v11.25 update that was the real surprise for being not a major update per se (a sort of Vegas giveaway special), but delivered some excellent elements, with a full Las Vegas and Chicago landmark packages and excellent European industrial autogen that was a real quality experience in excellence. v11.30 was to be the showstopper of the year and it didn't disappoint. Promised for early or mid September the update was six weeks late, in landing late October on the 25th, but deliver the version did. Particle Effects that were promised for years finally had arrived, and again were excellent, with fire, smoke, haze and god knows what else that brought your aircraft to life again. The shader system was completely overhauled (For Vulkan and Metal) in the first of the API changes. Autopilot (heavy and GA) systems were also highlighted with brand avionics, better anti-and de-ice systems, oxygen systems and propeller governors with vacuum gyro and caging are also included. A nice surprise was the new ATC voice system not announced earlier (only noted as a WIP) with realistic A.I. voices. More industrial autogen and this time covering the US, was also part of the update. Austin Meyer introduced a whole host of aircraft flight model improvements, from some very bizarre experiments with a Tesla car and sound looking aerodynamic boom out of it's fully automated-driving roof, obviously there is no expense spared for X-Plane development. All users noted a nice framerate improvement, but they were in areas neutralised by the particle effects generator, but overall the whole update was a significant step forward. Like with most updates and changes the effects of the release of v11.30 will not be felt until well into next year, as the developers take advantage of the new dynamics and deliver them, but they are all quite substantial. All round it was another very good, if brilliant year from Laminar Research with 2019 delivering more of the Vulkan/Metal efficiency, which is now only just waiting in the wings. Aircraft With X-Plane11 development, most developers lost half of most of 2017 waiting for the system to settle down, and this becoming a new pattern, in the version updates it brings on in the changes, then the lull before the effects of the changes on the simulator is released. Before most developers would have easily grabbed the best or the most dramatic features and update their products to get user reactions in an instant, but they seem to be taking now a more mature and longer approach to the whole simulator in the way of using the new features within their products. To highlight this was the very first release or "spectacular" bang of the year with the release of FJS (FlyJSim's) Boeing 737-200 TwinJet. Yes it was an update of an already released aircraft. But in reality the two releases were extremely very different. The release of the B737 TwinJet was a different approach in the fact it is a fully completed update to take advantage of all of X-Plane11's extraordinary effects and features... you simply got the whole lot here all in one go... better PBR, better Hi-Res 4K quality, photographic imagery, highlighted textures, reflections and shines (glass was excellent as was real life mirrors), updated menus and that... "Cabin"! Supremely detailed aircraft interiors are well known on GA aircraft, but are very rare on commercial, but this cabin was just beyond the imagination of detail and features. With details like opening overhead lockers, window blinds, adjustable full cabin and area lighting switches and animated switch controllable front and rear built in stairs. It was gob-smackingly overwhelming, it still is, but it was also a pointer to the year to come in the way that developers are now using new tools to create extremely authentic aircraft. FJS's other Boeing in the Boeing 727 Series Pro v3 was noted very early on that it was not going to get the same extensive cabin treatment, and it was missing on the release in August, very good as the v3 B727 Series is, but it could have been one of the greatest releases in X-Plane if it had come fully completed with it's internals. The point is that the B737 TwinJet is the most complete airliner in X-Plane history, because that word "complete" sums it all up... the complete perfect fully rounded aircraft you will ever use and fly... shame about the B727. One top notch release was a great start to 2018, but within weeks the slow grinding FlightFactor Airbus A320-214 Ultimate was also released from it's long and difficult birth and the countless betas. The reason was the unique separation from the X-Plane simulator itself, with a CEF (Chromium Embedded Framework) plugin doing the work and interfacing with X-Plane. The sheer depth of the simulation does take the aircraft well into a study grade simulation. The aircraft did require a different approach in flying in X-Plane though and it had a price to match, but once you felt the depth and the really excellent system's, then this Airbus really puts X-Plane up there as a quality simulator, an BSS Soundpack released for the same aircraft a month or so later was the total icing on the cake. In a reaction to the A320 Ultimate's release, the ToLiSS (the old QPAC A320) then their released their A319, so in a week you went from one good A320 to three aircraft all fighting for the same market. The ToLiSS319 was to a point not as highly developed at the time of it's release, but the systems were highly regraded and created by the best Airbus expert X-Plane has ever had, I flew like a dream, certainly the very best handling commercial jet aircraft in X-Plane, but the extensive development path continued right up the end of this Christmas period, and what a development path it is. Clever and highly detailed with great features, the ToLiSS319 deserves to be the most popular aircraft in X-Plane, and personally in time it will be a classic. The point must be taken that both either the FF A320 Ultimate and the ToLiSS319 are not direct competitors but in reality they really compliment each other depending on the route or network... it is like flying for an airline and you fly the required aircraft that is best suited for that service. Rotate's MD-88 also had some significant updates throughout the year in all areas, and to a point matured to another level of maturity, but the focus is now on the coming MD-11 that was expected in 2018, but certainly now it will be coming in 2019, hopefully in the first quarter. Both the FlightFactor Boeing Twins 757/767 both had significant upgrades with the B767 achieving "Extended" status with a -200 and a Freighter variant, joining the original -300 version. One aircraft that did standout in 2018 was Magnight's Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This started out a freeware project, that went payware, then professional payware with a step up in price to match, mostly to cover the move to a SASL plugin environment away from the basic restricting original PlaneMaker system. It will be again a very interesting aircraft to watch throughout 2019. Both SSG and X-Craft's updated their E-Jets, with the SSG now ahead with a more comprehensive, or sorted FMC, but both are certainly great aircraft. SSG's Boeing 747-8 was a surprise in how good it was, as any aircraft that has had a difficult birth it is the B748. The default Laminar Boeing 737-800 in it's Zibo disguise wasn't as active as in it's frenzied development as in 2017, yes a lot of updates went through the aircraft and it came with a new sound pack, but it was the Laminar's v11.30 update that added in an amazing cabin that sent the aircraft a few notches higher. The development of the Boeing 737-900 ultimate in my mind was a bit of fizzer, the release version was quite buggy and the cabin average... I haven't even bothered to check up on it's latest progress. General Aviation As usual the GA area was a rich one, with loads of releases and some really great aircraft. Carenado/Alabeo spent the year mostly updating it's huge fleet over to the higher X-Plane11 quality and dynamic standards, you feel like once the transition is completed, then they will have to start all over again for XP12. But there was also some fresh new releases, with the 690B Turbo Commander that was sensational as was the later C340 ll and the excellent S550 Citation ll. Alabeo produced the surprisingly excellent M20R Ovation and C177 Cardinal twin set. Thranda was also very busy with Just Flight aircraft as well. Their PA28R Piper Arrow IIl took out the top prize of the GA year in 2017, and early in 2018 it was followed up by the more faster and more powerful twinset PA28R Piper Turbo Arrow III/lV, then the French TB10 Tobago & TB20 Trinidad with the excellent Cessna 152 ll, the perfect trainer following.. then it all then went quiet at Just Flight with a change of genre. VflyteAir started off the year in grand style with an update to their PA-30 Twin-Comanche, The Cherokee PA-28 140C followed in March to rave reviews, again an in house design of an aircraft known to the developers. Mid-year vFlyteAir then delivered the unusual but highly innovative Comco - Ikarus C42 C VLA, with those amazing canvas wings and tubing fuselage. By their standards, Aerobask had a quiet year with just the sensational Diamond DA-62, with the rest of the year dedicated to updates of their fleet. They however did also a release a personal project in freeware with the quality of their payware aircraft in the Robin DR401 CDI 155 The most underrated aircraft of the year was the Piper Aerostar 601P by Avia71. It is a sensational aircraft but different from the normal, I think it was a approached in the wrong context, and as a pure and fast flying machine the Aerostar was very much like it's real life counterpart as it is a great machine to use. A FlightSim stalwart in MilViz debuted in X-Plane late in the year with the Cessna T310R, but the aircraft was up against a lot of the same sort of GA designs and choice, so the impact was minimal, it was also an odd choice for a mostly military aircraft developer. AeroSphere Simulation's lifted their quality and produced some nice GA's thoughtout the year, like their lovely Piper PA28-161 Warrior II, but they are no vFlyteAir... yet. Military and Classic vSkyLabs churned out every thing to every thing with updates coming on every thing to every thing in quick succession. The DC3 progressed well with VR capability, but the promised remodeled v3 cabin for passenger and freight variants didn't arrive in the year. The Rutan Model 61 Long - EZ pretty well summed up the output, quirky but interesting aircraft to kill country singers in (vale John Denver). The vSkyLab's system is clever one, but hard to follow update by update, so a lot gets lost in the constant transitions "which version or update is that?". For the bushies, Soul Made updated their DH-2 Beaver to X-Plane11 and AeroSim released their very nice Piper PA-18 SuperCub. Unlike 2017 the military aircraft was this year a collection of nice warbirds, and some interesting trainers and fighters. For the warbirds there was the Mustang P-51 from a new developer (one to watch) called Skunkcrafts, and another newbie was FlyingIron with their beast of an aircraft in the Republic P-47N Thunderbolt. Two very interesting trainers was the early conversion of the Cessna A-37 Dragonfly/Super Tweet, which was amazing to fly, and the overwhelming and incredible far late in the year release from JRollon with a partnership with SimCoders was the SIAI-Marchetti SF.-260. Outwardly the Marchetti looked normal even bland, but inwardly in systems, depth and quality wise it set a new higher ultra standard and level in X-Plane... it is an extraordinary aircraft! Just Flight/Thranda were back later in the year with their BAe Systems Hawk T1/A Trainer. And again a new higher level of quality and detail was released and devoured. The Hawk was quite late, as the initial announcement was early in the year, but when absorbing the aircraft when finally released you could see why it took a lot of that required development time. Watch out for the next update with the Hawk with the v11.30 effects fully realised, that aspect will take the aircraft another even higher level. No doubt JustFlight/Thranda made a big impact on 2018 with their high quality (and with the prices to match) aircraft. Helicopters As in 2017, then 2018 was again a very slow output of helicopters, even the ever reliable Dreamfoil Solutions was again absent, Dreamfoil did however update to X-Plane11 the excellent Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante fixed-wing, and announced the coming Embraer 120 for 2019. But the only rotary machine for the year was vFlyLab's Guimbal Cabri G2, a small two-seater machine that was nice to fly. Scenery If any area of X-Plane that has had a controversial year it has to be scenery, and to be honest it is an unfair label. To a point scenery has always been controversial, mostly because... well why pay for something that just sit's there. Scenery will always be the misunderstood area of X-Plane. Users would like nice fancy scenery, but really don't want to pay for it or if pushed to the limit on a really opportunistic moment then to try to buy it with a heavy unhealthy discount, or In most cases just use the excellent default Global Airports of which they do. There are some rules with scenery, don't waste your money on poor quality scenery, and why would you as the Global Airport version is better anyway. I personally totally hate photo textures, unless they have been professionally intergrated into the scenery for the total natural effect, oversaturated or burned in photo textures are always unrealistic and and totally crap to look at... but payware developers still insist on using them? But, but but.... Get your scenery portfolio set up correctly and it will lift the realism factor of X-Plane many levels higher... yes payware scenery is still FAR better than the Global stuff, far better if you are willing to pay for it. FlightSim Migration With the migration of FlightSim users escalating at the start of the year to X-Plane, then the FlightSim scenery developers (as noted begrudgingly) finally decided to develop X-Plane scenery, not the new fresh stuff, but just mostly quick dips into their huge back catalogues. Orbix and FlyTampa led the charge, but again you were left wondering how they ever became so successful in their FlightSim domain with their initial efforts in X-Plane, again the same mistakes came to the fore. First was the noted "I'll grab my old crap FSX scenery and try to make a few more bucks off it in X-Plane"... "are you serious?", a look at Montego Bay, Jamaica by LatinVFR/Skyline was enough to make even laugh out loud and the sheer nerve of the developers, it is outdated crap. Then there was Orbix. No doubt Orbix are finally serious about our X-Plane simulator, as they have announced that fact mostly monthly throughout the year, with a big splash at the Vegas Expo. But you were still left wondering where it really was going by the actual releases they presented. First was Meig's Field that actually does not exist anymore, Barton Airport by Manchester, that I never even visited even when I lived only a few miles from it?, The second release was their forte in Australia in Broome WA, as that place that is about as far from normal civilisation as you can get, Broome is nowheresville to absolute nowhere to connect to, more recent releases have started to get more serious, with Southampton and Cardiff UK, which are nice but are still minority airports? So where is their YMML - Melbourne, excellent YBBN Brisbane, ESSA Stockholm, Dubrovnik, Palm Springs, San Diego, Queenstown... you know "actual" scenery we really want and actually do want to purchase!". Fly Tampa released their excellent "Fly Corfu XP" then nothing.... And do you know what will create fit's of laughter in the fact that they will note in various media outlets and forums "well X-Plane is not a great simulator to invest in, because the returns are too small?" and yes, it will of course continue to be going on that way until you deliver scenery X-Plane users actually want to buy? Orbix did release at the end of the year for X-Plane11 their "TruEarth" Great Britain South and Central with obviously North that is coming soon... this is finally scenery X-Plane wants and is useful, but at 110gb per area it is a huge download and it comes at a high cost for the full UK experience, but at least it is starting to get somewhere. Quality scenery on the whole in X-Plane in 2018, was outstanding... even to the point of a creating a landmark shift in the way you used the simulator. It was the first year I could fly from one quality scenery to another and up to four to five sectors in a day and to different destinations and stay within the quality scenery boundaries, it now creates a seamless simulation of high quality, with not one global airport object in sight. This aspect is carefully created by planning and purchasing scenery to fit your network, with branches outward to the newer quality scenery as it is released. Certainly there are still major holes in the network... CPH - Copenhagen is one, CAI - Cairo is still very absent as is surprisingly there is still no quality MXP - Milano Malpensa either. But the network has filled up very nicely thank you in 2018. Asian airports are still very much non-existent, even with a few appearing in Singapore and Hong Kong getting the freeware treatment, but overall the long haul quality scenery network is still absolutely dire. Eastern Mediterranean One area that had a lot of attention and focus in 2018 was the eastern Mediterranean. First off was LCLK - Laranca International, Cypress by JustSim, then JustSim followed that up with LTAI - Antalya International Airport in Turkey, and then LGRP - Rhodes, all great budget but nicely detailed sceneries. Fly Corfu of course and Chios Island National Airport by Descent2View Simulations gave you a nice network around the Greek Islands. JustSim also delivered the excellent EBBR - Brussels and a jewel of a scenery in of all places Putin land, Moscow with UUWW - Moscow Vnukovo, that also seamlessly fitted in with Drzewiecki Design's Moscow City XP scenery, and then in creating a huge landscape of objects and a great destination. Frustration is in that users don't reward JustSim for their high value and quality work, picking up their work in sales is defeating the purpose, and heads of shame must hang low when you do so, because the scenery is still well priced and great value at recommended prices. Yes they deserve your support. The Big Ones Drzewiecki Design from Poland also had a very productive year. With New York City XP and their astounding Seattle XP extravaganzas and in finally creating real city landscapes that we had for years dreamed of. Matterhorn Park 3D and Everest Park 3D by Frank Dainese & Fabio Bellini was also quality scenery overload, Patagonia is next. Richard G Nunes & Nielsen (Global art) updated their SBRJ - Santos Dumont scenery in Rio, but also delivered CYYZ - Toronto Pearson International that I loved but my computer didn't with a framerate overload to single digits, so a review was never completed, but Global Art's CYUL Montreal was a little lighter but still heavy on the processors, but thankfully passing the post for a quality review. Florence - Firenza Italy by X-Urbi was a rarity in X-Plane as being a simple landscape city scenery, but get the scenery set in the right light and it was simply divine and shows off the power of the X-Plane simulator. For sheer size then the almost movie titled "TNCM - Princess of the Caribbean - Part 1- SXM by AWD" was an internet download backbreaking 14.71gb, and certainly a record in X-Plane downloads for scenery outside of the default Global textures. But the outer island scenic flying was astounding. Aerosoft Compared to earlier years Aerosoft was quite low key in 2018. As usual a lot of the Aerosoft sceneries released in 2018 are reworked Ex-FSX sceneries with miserly X-Plane11 features in dressing mutton up as lamb, and that they are still old with a capital O. LIRF - Roma XP was an absolute huge disappointment, Genoa XP the same, Friedrichshafen XP, Stuttgart XP, Dortmund XP was just passible and with just a few more I don't really care about. But there was some interesting sceneries packed in between the debris, and mostly these sceneries usually had X-Plane developer connections and all had great updates. KDFW - Dallas Fort-Worth was a huge update and is now the very good, LSZH - Zurich which had the SAM treatment, and again it is a highly polished scenery. And so there is always a severe frustration with Aerosoft sceneries, when good they are excellent, but when old they are poor and outdated, but don't get me wrong, as I use many of the good ones extensively thoughout my network. Newcomers There were a few new budding developers popping up throughout the year and generally they were all quite promising with a lot of talent. NorthernSkyStudio with their PAKT - Ketchikan International Alaska was clever and great scenery, with a few patches on the mainland side, Descent2View and the Chios Island National Airport was a brilliant effort as well. KDAB - Daytona Beach by Stairport Sceneries was a great effort as well, and one airport I use now use quite regularly. NKdesign's showed a lot of promise with Shoreham - Brighton City Airport, but there is still that gap to payware to be crossed. Turbulent Designs came and left with a deal with only Orbix, which was a shame as their work was very good, but still very heavily focused on FlightSim design, and didn't really embrace the dynamic X-Plane elements... but they had massive potential in X-Plane? The old hands The devoted X-Plane scenery developers also had a good year and like their aircraft developer counterparts also embraced the X-Plane11 dynamic features with gusto, and lifted scenery into another quality level, the "clutter" count is getting excellent and with very good quality. Leading the charge was ShortFinal Design (misterx6) with a biggie and LAX!, and brilliant it was even for the exceptional framerates it produced to object count and detail... FunnerFlight updated his LAX to v2.5, it is just as good, but it is still very heavy on the processors. The expected new scenery from ShortFinal in EDDM - Munich didn't get the expected release before the end of the year, but expect that mega facility very early in 2019, again it is brilliant with full SAM intergration as only misterx6 can do.. Pilot+Plus was quiet but updated his EGKK - Gatwick extensively and noted he was working on EGLC - London City Airport. Nimbus/Butanru released a very heavily updated KORD - Chicago O'Hare to v3, and it is quite spectacular. Cami de Bellis released VQPR - Paro International Airport late in 2017, and as a follow up this month released the NWWW La Tontouta Noumea scenery in New Caledonia. In quality and detail then La Tontouta was a huge step forward than the earlier payware work. tdg however didn't see the light in 2018 on the fact of installing WED ground routes in his sceneries... so I rarely now use his work, the point in X-Plane is that you can pick or overfly scenery that doesn't reflect the current status of what X-Plane can deliver as a simulation, no doubt tdg's airports are as good as ever, but unless they are active with WT3 traffic I don't really want to fly there so don't. Rim&Co and legal ramifications Rim&Company's first foray into X-Plane payware scenery was a spectacular one, for all the wrong reasons, and in their second release they shot themselves dead. YAYE - Ayres Rock (Uluru) - Connellan Airport in central Australia was a brilliant choice, and was in areas brilliant as well, with the ancient monolith and the distant Olgas looking sensational. But landing at YAYE was then suddenly problematic as there was simply nowhere to park the aircraft with the extreme number of objects that made Sydney airport at peak rush hour look quiet. I mean what scenery do you buy where you have to edit objects beforehand with the scenery down to park the aircraft? Their second release (the St Helena scenery was not full payware) was SWAH - Ushuaia Malvinas Airport was as expected again a full highly object orientated scenery, problem was those objects are not legal... in other words they stole them, which explains a lot of the over clutter... so it was "bye, bye Rim & Co". To a point this was for a X-PlaneReviews a big discussion in 2018 of just this subject. For all freeware developers they have a huge if obscene selection of quality libraries and objects to choose from to create their scenery projects with no legal ramifications. For payware developers they have to create everything in the scenery to be legal, and from scratch... and is that really fair? That aspect can be taken two ways in that the developer sells his work in the fact that everything is custom, which is fair enough as a selling point. But the other side of the issue is that a lot of the say "clutter" can be an after thought and ranging from excellent (ShortFinal) to totally dire, or mostly everyone else. So how can the paywares compete with the freeware juggernaut, the obvious answer is that they can't? plus you get very uneven quality between the different payware sceneries. Rim & Co thought the payware business was like the open freeware business.. it isn't, and you will get sued, and in this case in an German court. Plugins From a reviewers point of view then plugins are hard to review as there are zillions of them and every user then adapts their sets to match their systems and tastes, and to be honest I only run the hard and tested reliable plugins that don't screw up my workflow, so one's brilliant plugin may not match the desires of another. The main story of the year was that Laminar switched out the default shader system and effectively killed every single slide show of addon shader effect packages, not a bad thing as every one was really just a personal variation of the other. The Vulkan changes killed the coming payware xVision stone dead, so the developers put it out as a freeware... sad thing was, was that it was very good, but with the same internal messy installation, but most users loved it... until v11.30 came out. The new shader system can't not be manipulated like old one, so that means an entire shader industry is now dead as well. To which really it is not a bad thing. WorldTraffic3 My Plugin of the year in 2017 was WorldTraffic3 by Greg Hofer and in reality WT3 didn't get much developer attention thoughout the year (an update is finally coming), but that does not mean that WT3 didn't have an impact on 2018. Scenery developers (finally) included the ground routes and Parking prefs as part of their feature list, so it was a "open and drop" to a full WT3 experience. That feature saved monsters of time and gave you instant activity. But developer involvement in WT3 was also still very patchy as well... some developers still don't do the required ground routes? Others did, but mostly made a total hash out of it. The guardian angel was K-Man or Brian Navy, who has also in most cases single-handedly saved most from ruin, and a big thank you to ysfsim for his huge contribution as well. I am not saying to get these ground routes correct is easy, but more are presented messed up than correct. Scenery developers tried to get clever in supplying just internal generated (not modified) ground routes and prefs from a generate run as authentic WT3 routes, but they were usually totally crap, with the hidden mistakes highly noticeable... "do it right". That is not to devalue the huge impact that WT3 has had on the year, my point is no WT3 or if the plugin is badly set, then the scenery suffers, get it right and it is one of the best features of your scenery. Environmental Laminar Research plugged away at the default weather engine, but with mostly this time for bug fixes and fine-tuning, more than a major makeover, their focus is on other areas this year, but it did create see-though clouds and more improvements, the truth is now that the default weather system in X-Plane is now not half bad, but it still lacks that major something that say xEnviro does really well, the moody feel and immersion. Weather system plugins overall had a very interesting year. SkyMaxx Pro came out with update after update thoughout the year, with the release of a new addon called "TerraMaxx" that added in seasonal weather. Both are really great and are well priced, but not polished. xEnviro I am a devoted follower of xEnviro, and devoted is the word, because if the developers wanted to really push your limits of your devotion then they did a great job of it. Early in the new year out went v1.08... a buggy mess with v1.09 which was even worse. To define the situation though is that v1.09 was a reaction to a real life event that effected the main developer, as he and his family almost died. But the reality was if you wanted to run xEnviro (and it is still running xEnviro currently) is that you have to still use the original v1.07. More annoying was the fact that only a small update was required that would have fixed v1.09 and it's overcast greying out to save in waiting for the next big update that could have been fixed very early in the year.... "ta da", to a point we are still waiting... and waiting. With all the calls for a mob lynching at least mid-year xEnviro got their PR department up and running and at least gave you a running commentary of the ongoing development. Another ground up rewrite is supposed to be the fix to everything, and a new feature promoted will be snow! and it looks brilliant, but so did v1.08 this time last year, and look how that all turned out... v1.10 is in reality xEnviro's last chance saloon, if it dunks as bad as v1.08... the devotees will finally walk away or worse could even demand a class action to recover the expense of the extremely high entry cost. Hi-Fi and Active Sky xEnviro now also has another problem in competition from a FlightSim stalwart, in Hi-Fi. Active Sky is a very popular environmental engine for Flightsimmers, and early in 2018 they announced they were coming to X-Plane in September, that release point passed, but the Active Sky XP release did happen just a few weeks ago.I personally have not looked at the plugin yet as I ran out of time with deadlines. But a statement at the release point was that Active Sky XP uses the X-Plane default cloud system as part of the effects features, 3D custom clouds will come next year, and that is reflected in the lower pricing. My guessing is that Hi-Fi are waiting for X-Plane v11.30 to go final and even waiting the next Vulkan update to run the custom effects effectively. FlightFactor AVS Early in the year FlightFactor released the "Airport Visual System" to navigate around airports. It was very clever but of limited application, because the local map can do the same thing, but it is handy. WebFMC Pro Highlight plugin of the year was GreenArc's WebFMC Pro (there is a free demo version for the default B738). That allowed FMC programming via a web browser on another computer, tablet or even (if you had very small fingers) a mobile phone. Certainly my most used plugin of the year, as it is very handy for the speed loading of data and the use on aircraft that did not have 2d popup FMC units. And works very well with the SimBrief route builder. BetterPushBack The excellent BetterPushBack plugin received almost universal status in 2018, with aircraft developers even adding it into their systems as part of their feature sets, and that was even with their own custom trucks... such is the popularity, but it is brilliant. Plugin Updates Both SimCoders REP expansion packs and BSS (BlueSkyStar) sound packages produced numerous new packages with the BSS packs including the FF A320 Ultimate and the FF Boeing 777GE. the ToliSS319 has a similar built in package that can be purchased and activated internally. The XPRealistic plugin had a small (turbulence) update mid-year, and so did JARDesign;s Ground Handling Deluxe with a widget. But the GHD, now feels a bit dated and slow. A final note on plugins that affected the 2018 year. Scenery developers have started to install SASL plugins into the mail plugin menu, and mostly to control "Key Authorisation" or protection of their scenery. But this has had two side effects in one: Loads of plugins filling up your main plugin folder to do basically one activity? but it also triggered a bigger more substantial issue in two: I use very few and only then tested plugins with X-Plane, but very quickly hit the “error 1114” of plugins overloading the dlls... the culprits are the loads of "traffic" plugins in the installed custom sceneries. I hit the 40 dlls limit and it is not pretty... more on this issue next year. I complained of nonsense plugins clogging up your plugin folder last year, so in reality nothing has changed, but the situation is getting worse.... now we at the overloaded critical point. What 2018 will be remembered for would be for mostly two items... the word "Clutter" to represent the placement of (usually hundreds of scenery objects to fill the airport or buildings environments), and the profusion of the built in aircraft "Updaters", It is starting too feel like Apple is taking control of your computer by remote. ___________________________________________ 2018 marked mid-year the anniversary of X-PlaneReviews 5th year in producing content for the X-Plane simulator, and it was a big year, full of huge growth and again higher levels of quality and dynamic simulation. Yes there were points were we were even overwhelmed by the sheer number of releases and the changes going on around you, and a few reviews just didn't hit the site that they deserved to, but that is a very good place to be in having too much than rather too little... growth is certainly the buzzword that relates to X-Plane this year, and maturity is another, not only do I think and know so, then so do all those new users that have joined the X-Plane universe over the past year, significantly they are more users that are also contributing to the simulation only means they are giving up their valuable time to contribute and that does mean that X-Plane as a community is a gift that keeps on giving all year round. Without them, then the software is nothing, X-Plane is not only a great piece of software, but more importantly X-Plane is in the end of the only about the people that contribute and use the software. Overall the users are X-Plane, and represent the simulator. Again this Review site cannot function without all the great and exciting work by the tireless developers that give us all this exciting and incredible product to fly and use, as they and X-Plane has come a long way and created leaps in quality in the last few years, and to a point I was very proud of the work they produced, it is world class if not the very best in simulation product, and they are all top notch and very clever. To the X-Plane.OrgStore who supports this site with service and updates, a really big thanks, this site just would not function without that outstanding support. We will finish off with X-PlaneReviews best of the year awards… So I will now list my Best of the Year 2018: Best Aircraft : FlyJSIm Boeing 737-200 TwinJet Simply superb inside and out and "that" cabin, outstanding Honorable Mentions : A320 Ultimate by FlightFactor/Steptosky : ToLiSS319 Both brilliant Airbus system aircraft, you need both and to fly both. Best Classic Aircraft : P-51D Mustang XP11 by Skunkcrafts A first class first effort, and skunkcraft's are a developer house to watch Honorable Mention : Republic P-47N Thunderbolt by Flyingiron Simulations Another new developer entrant, and it was hard to choose between the two classic warhorses Best General Aviation Aircraft : PA28R Piper Turbo Arrow III / lV by Just Flight/Thranda Takes GA flying to a completely higher level again for the second year running, but with a faster aircraft and two versions. Honorable Mention : Cessna 152 ll by JustFlight/Thranda The perfect trainer for any learner pilot taking his flying licence. 2nd Honorable Mention : Comco - Ikarus C42 C by vFlyteAir Just really clever in design realism 3rd Honorable Mention: Diamond DA-62 by Aerobask Highly underrated was: Piper Aerostar 601P by Avia71 Note the TBM 900 is not in the list because I couldn't access the aircraft. Best Military : BAe Systems Hawk T1/A Trainer by JustFlight/Thranda Design Not a lot of competition, but it would have won anyway... Brilliant! Honorable Mention : SIAI-Marchetti SF.-260 by JRollon and SimCoders Is the Marchetti a military aircraft? Well it is military trainer... totally gobsmacking in detail Best Helicopter : There was only one new Helicopter releases in 2018 vFlyLab's Guimbal Cabri G2... overall an absolute shocking year for X-Plane helicopters Will it get better in 2019 as the only way now is up. Best Scenery : Seattle Airports XP and Seattle City Scenery by Drzewiecki Design With both segments installed it was the most comprehensive city scenery area filled with quality yet Honorable Mention : KLAX HD Los Angeles International v1.1 by ShortFinal Designs If misterx6's sceneries was voted the most popular he would win easily... but with brilliant work. Special Mention: JustSim Sceneries for consistent quality and value Person(s) of the Year : K-Man, Brian Navy Made my X-Plane world active, by fixing poor ground routes and righting so many wrongs "I prayed to god for K-man all year and he always delivered". Honorable Mention(s) : Daniel Klaue, Jack Skieczius, JRollon and Torsten Liesk All developers par excellence Best Plugin : WebFMC Pro by Green Arc Studios Clever and highly usable to programme aircraft FMCs Honorable Mention : BetterPushBack by skiselkov Just brilliant, clever and very X-Plane Special Mention : SAM by Stairport Sceneries Will have a huge impact on 2019 Best Moment of the year 2018 : Starting up the PC, after installing a larger 1TB SSD... with consistent 1gb downloads and more, they fill up quickly. Worst Moment of the Year 2018 : The mid-year user data dump... the details sent shivers down my spine. Biggest distraction of 2018 : Updates, updates, updates.... updates, oh and more updates! Personal Favorites of 2018 : ToLiSS319 (Brilliant), FlightFactor Airbus Ultimate (Yes it is the ultimate simulation), Rotate MD-88 (still very good), BA Hawk (As real as it gets), Cessna Citation ll (Uber Flying), Bonanza F33A (Even better in XP11), Native X-Plane11 B737-800 its basic but still great to fly and now with a cabin. Scenery : Dusseldorf, Barcelona, Oslo, Laranca, Manchester, Gatwick, Dubin, Zurich and Linate (Milan). That is X-PlaneReviews for 2018, and we will be back after a very much needed recovery and the review site returns early into the New Year on the 7th January 2019. So Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2019 Stephen Dutton 21st December 2018 Copyright:X-PlaneReviews 2018 (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)

News! - Pre-Release : Harrier AV8B by X-Trident X-Trident have given us an early Christmas present with a Pre-Release (Early Adopter) version of their Harrier AV8B. The aircraft is available now for the price of USD$38.95, see below for the X-Plane.OrgStore link when available. Note... this purchase of the Harrier aircraft is in reality a BETA version and not a completed release aircraft, so items, systems and certain areas are still under development... the full release development completion is expected around mid-January 2019... so don't buy the aircraft if you want a full release aircraft and any early purchase will come with these conditions. The aircraft is compatible only with X-Plane 11.30. Please refer to the X-Plane.Org support forum for questions and to report issues Main features: Weapons AIM9 (Infrared guidance) AIM120 (Radar guidance) JDAM (GPS guidance) GRAVITY SNAKEEYE GUN (with computated aim) Weapon systems CCIP bombing mode CCRP bombing mode Weapon control panel Selective jettison Navigation GPS (with moving maps, in scale with NAVAIDS) TACAN (A/G and A/A) VOR/ILS Radar Air to air, with radar lock on targets Terrain mapping radar RWR Systems MFDs (plus one "floating" MFD - it is possible to click-to-lock A/A targets) UFC and CDU Detailed HUD with master modes (VR friendly/collimated) Radios Autopilot and selective SAS Miscellaneous Ground target objects that can be damaged by bombs Animated ejection sequence Smartview (automatically adjusts the point of view based on flight path and speed) FMOD Sounds (3D), aural warnings, custom mixer Detailed control panel Support for Tiled and Overlayed maps Particle systems effects (with opt out possibilty) Paint kit Liveries included are: harrier 55 (vma-231) GR9 ZD379 1Sqn Wintercamo 2004 GR9 ZG477 1Sqn Harrier Marina Italiana VMA-513 Nightmares lightning GR9 ZD993 Royal Navy Black VMA-214 Blacksheep Harrier 164557 (VMA-542) DarkGrey Harrier 165389 (VMA-231) DarkGrey Harrier 165567 (VMA-513) Nightmares DarkGrey Wolves (by DarkAngel1010) Requirements: X-Plane 11.30 (use XP11.30 RC at this time). Not compatible with any prior X-Plane 11 version. Windows, Mac or Linux 2Gb VRAM Minimum - 4Gb+ VRAM Recommended Download Size: 665 Mb Current version: 1.0 (Dec 20th 2018) ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the Harrier AV8B by X-Trident will soon be available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Harrier AV-8B Price is US$38.95 ______________________________________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 21st December 2018 Copyright©2018 : 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)

News! - In Development : FlyJSim Dash Q400 - Q4XP After a landmark year, then what would FlyJSim focus on next? The lost child was the Bombardier Dash 8 - Q400... would it be the Q4 be getting the same full makeover treatment? Well go to bed on Christmas Eve very content now, that yes it is the Dashy Q400 that will get a complete makeover and a new name in the process "FlyJSim Q4XP". FJS released a few images that showed that this aircraft will get the full monty in makeovers. To stop all the repetitive questions then FJS has answered a few of them on the development. Q. When is the release? A. There is no release date for the aircraft, and won’t be for a considerable amount of time. When we have further information, we’ll be sure to let you know on our social media pages. Q. Will it be compatible with X-Plane 10? A. Unfortunately no. As of our recent series line-up, all our aircraft are X-Plane 11 only, due to the advancements in technology of the sim, and the rendering engine. Q. Will it be VR compatible? A. Yes, the Q4XP will be fully VR ready. Q. Will you be using the X-Plane 11 default FMC? A. Not at all, there will be a custom coded navigation system. Two notes are important here. The new Dashy will not be compatible with X-Plane10, so if you want to fly it, you will have to upgrade to X-Plane11, which to be honest is not a bad idea anyway, or a nice Christmas present for yourself... Second in is the note that the new Dashy will have a "custom coded navigation system" and not the generic X-Plane FMC... that alone is worth the purchase price. The current Dash8-400 uses the Universal Avionics Systems Corp UNS-1E with the aircraft’s Thales avionics suite, so "custom" is the word and the reason for the non-stated release dates. This is going to be brilliant... all my Christmas's have certainly come all at once. ______________________________________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 21st December 2018 Copyright©2018 : 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)

News! - Aircraft Update : ToLiSS319 v1.2.2 ToLiSS has updated the ToLiSS319 from build 973 (V1.2.1) to 981 (V1.2.2), which should be the final update of the year for the aircraft. 2018 has been a sensational year for this little airliner and a personal favorite. Update does contain a lot of new, but small minor features, and a few bug fixes. Minor new features: Made the 2d panel version available again Due to popular request, changed the method to indicate ANTI ICE ON with NO ICE DETECTED Panning with right mouse click is now possible again. Support for 8.33kHz frequency spacing for VHF1 and VHF2. DECELERATE message in PFD if you pass the T/D without initiating the descent SatCom can now be toggled via ISCS and also be driven by the livery string, add the character T in the engine string. E.g. [CFMT] for CFM engines with Satcom, or [IAE2ST] for IAE engines, 2 overwing exits, sharklets and Satcom. Added the ENG x START FAULT caution message for start attempts without bleed air. VHF, VOR, etc volumes can now be adjusted directly from the pilot Audio Control Panel When CFM engine is selected, the N1 mode switches disappears in the OHP. Bug fixes: Fixed the FMS reset on power transients bug Now we REALLY fixed the “No SIDs if RWY ID in apt.dat and CIFP.dat don’t match” bug – XP11 only though. Removed the boxes around ARMED modes in the FMA Improved APU shutdown behaviour Fixed the bug with NAV2 not accepting identifiers Flight plan import now removes ALL altitude constraints if the flight plan has altitude information at every point. Fixed the ISCS vs MCDU window open issue. Fixed APU sounds during delayed shutdown sequence. Removed the “feature” that block fuel is deleted if your extra fuel is negative. Fixed an issue with pack operation in flight when one engine is failed and crossbleed valve is open. Just in time for Christmas... enjoy. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the ToLiSS319 (A319-122) v1.2.2 by ToLiSS is available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : ToLiss A319 Price is US$69.00 Note make sure you have v1.2.2 when downloading, All previous purchasers can now update via your X-Plane.OrgStore Account Also available is the internal IAE Sound Pack that can be purchased here: IAE Sound Pack for Toliss A319 Price is US$9.95 TSS IAE Sound Pack is activated by inserting the key activation code in the "ADDON" tab on the ToLiSS Interactive Simulation Control System panel ______________________________________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 21st December 2018 Copyright©2018 : 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)

News! - Plugin Update : WebFMC Pro v1.1.0 by Green Arc Studios No new aircraft FMS's added this time around in this new WebFMC v1.1.0 update. This release is focused totally on official support for Mac OS and Linus users, with now them having full access to this great tool... Notes include Support for Mac OS (built and tested on Mac OS Mojave). Support for Linux (Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or their derivatives, 64-bit). Fixed some minor bugs discovered in the plugin code in the process of making Mac version. Fixed missing mapping of physical Space key to SP in zibo’s 738 and 739 Ultimate Notifications (overlays similiar to the one used to display information about new version) are now used to display error about unsupported aricraft, with some more information in some cases (for example, there is a dedicated message for the case where the default 738 is started by mistake instead of zibo's). This error reporting will be futher improved in future releases. Reduced debug noise in the X-Plane Log.txt. Documentation has been updated with the explanation of license errors and information about new platforms. The update is free for existing owners of WebFMC Pro - just re-download it from your Account page in the x-plane.org store. As usual you can try the free WebFMC version, which has also been updated to work on Mac OS and Linux as well. A version (Demo Really) is available as a free plugin that you can use with the Zibo Boeing 737-800 Mod and the associated 737-900ER Ultimate. That version is available here on the X-Plane.Org: WebFMC 1.1.0 X-PlaneReviews release review is here: Plugin Review : WebFMC Pro by Green Arc Studios _____________________________________ Yes! WebFMC Pro v1.1.0 by Green Arc Studios is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : WebFMC Pro Price is US$19.99 The v1.1.0 update is free to previous purchasers of the plugin, go to your X-Plane.OrgStore account for the new version. ______________________________________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 21st December 2018 Copyright©2018 : 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)

Yes pressurization and depressurization is simulated. SD

News! - Freeware Japanese autogen from Misterx6 I saw an early version of Misterx6's (Shortfinal Design) Japan project a month ago and was simply absolutely blown away, but was sworn to secrecy as it was a coming Christmas present for X-Plane users, yes Japan Pro has been announced, but there is much more going on here with this release than just giving users a nice free Christmas bonus.... first of all some nice images. The images you are looking at is autogen, and not scenery, and that is a significant difference. Laminar since the start of X-Plane11 did then allow third parties to access the default X-Plane autogen system to allow just this sort of project... regional autogen. The really odd thing was that no one took up the offer? or even tried to fill a major void in the X-Plane landscape, which is sheer lunacy in the fact of how successful the Laminar European or German autogen has been? Not only that, but here was a payware business just waiting to be started, but no one wanted or again took up the offer, even if I have in these posts rallied on about the idea for years? Still there is no Greek, Arab, Asian or anything else of regional autogen still not available to X-Plane users? Crazy, yes but I think the obsession with the North American and European centric is the blame, I mean hell, who fly's to Eygpt? This Japan Pro shows you not only what X-Plane is missing in regional autogen, but also how on it should be done... in context it is simply brilliant. Not only does Japan Pro create a Japanese environment with the add on with Tokyo city skyline, the biggest feature is that there are no autogen boundaries in the fact of that the autogen works not only in every area of Japan (the images above are Osaka) but is also simply all there in every direction you look, filling out the total landscape at the Maximum X-Plane settings with no limitations! Obviously that is still under the requirements that your computer can handle the huge autogen spread, but my personal running was that Japan Pro didn't have a major significant impact on my system than it usually has at these settings... so the autogen is extremely efficient and still gives you a very high grade quality landscape... this IS X-Plane visual nirvana. The problem is also that? This project is a one off by Misterx6, so would you buy it if a developer did the same detail and autogen for other regional areas... certainly I would in an instant. But would you? or just expect more free stuff? I hope someone else takes up the challenge, as this significant project by Misterx6 and shows what and how it should be done, and the future of the X-Plane simulator if you really want it? Feature list provided is: Completely new set of high-quality autogen buildings - Baked ambient occlusion - Night textures - PBR materials Complete autogen tiles - High-resolution ground textures - Details like cars, trees and fences Different kinds of houses, large apartments and industries Enhanced cities - Naha: cruise terminal, cargo harbor, photoreal scenery - Tokyo: Skytree, Tokyo Tower, harbor Highway signs Vehicles - Cars and trucks (dynamic and static) - Shinkansen (bullet train) Fully compatible with Ortho4XP/HD Mesh FPS optimized models Small portions of orthophoto included But as noted the biggest feature is not listed above and that is the wall to wall city size autogen... brilliant! Installation: Copy the “Japan Pro” folder into “X-Plane 11/Custom Scenery” Make sure you have MisterX Library 1.6 (or higher) installed Now Available here: Japan Pro 1.02 ________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 18th December 2018 Copyright©2018: X-Plane Reviews

I have a Saitek X56.. that is throttle unit and yes I set the flaps, gear and airbrakes via the front switches (up/down) if it is a continuous flap than you just hold the switch down, or flick once (up/down) if it is slotted selection. SD

Scenery Release/Update : Aerosoft update Zurich v2 and release Genoa both with SAM plugin Aerosoft have updated their LSZH - Zurich v2 Airport to v2.05. And released their LIMJ - Airport Genoa “Cristoforo Colombo” for X-Plane11 at the same time. In most cases this is just an upgrade or a new scenery release. But both of these sceneries come with the built in effects of the new plugin from Stairport Sceneries called SAM... or "Scenery Animation Manager", and in the case of Zurich v2.05 it is the main reason for the scenery upgrade. SAM - Scenery Animation Manager Over the last year or so X-Plane has had a few breakthrough's in introducing new ideas to replace the older free but essential elements in the simulator. First it was push back trucks with the excellent "BetterPushBack" plugin that is a brilliant creation to replace the totally wide variety of pushback ideas. Now here is another clever plugin to replace another stalwart but quite basic plugin tool "Autogate" for airbridges by Marginal. When released the Autogate feature was a revelation, it still is very good, but with no updates or newly added features for many years it does feel now quite outdated. Autogate also had a few limitations. As for one it totally relied on the aircraft developer setting the door point in X-Plane's PlaneMaker application, which in most cases the setting had usually not been done (annoying because it was simple to do), so the gate did not work. Secondly was the fact that if you were pushing back (BetterPushBack) the gate was still attached to the aircraft as you still had not started the engines? and it felt a little unrealistic... more so as you only had one autogate to attach to the aircraft, and so for double or triple gates it was really a none issue? SAM installation You can download the SAM plugin for free here: Scenery Animation Manager and the plugin is simply inserted into your plugins folder, you also have to insert a "SAM_Library" into your Custom Scenery folder. All airports (or scenery) that has inserted the "sam.xml" file is then active with the plugin. Jetways, VDGS, Marshaller, Hangars, Wind Turbines are all included, but there is still a fair amount of freedom to utilise and create custom objects and custom buildings around the plugin's systems. The plugin will also be upgraded and enhanced as the developers add in more features and fine-tune the current ideas. LSZH - Zurich Since the extensive update to Aerosoft's Airport Zurich to v2 and it is still one of the best sceneries in Europe, and I use and fly in and out the airport extensively and you will find LSZH has been placed in the many reviews within this site's columns. V2.05 has had an upgrade with the SAM plugin. On arrival at Gate A03 the VDGS "Visual Docking Guidance System" (A-VDGS) looks and activates quite differently than the older Autogate version. You do get a lot of information on the type of aircraft distance and direction pointer detail, and yes it is very impressive. There are several VDGS versions available: Honeywell AVDGS (above), ADB Safegate-Safedock Type 2 (below) and more types of VDGS's will be added as development goes forward. Stand and non-airbridge Marshaller is also present. This is a quality marshal, with great smooth arm animations and far more movements than the marginal version... .... he comes in two versions, with a bright orange Hi-Viz vest or black with yellow Hi-Viz stripes. The best news of all is the Marshaller does not appear until you start your turn into the stand, so there isn't now hundreds of marshallers standing around and spoiling your scenery. The airbridges are sensational. They are fully animated in all directions with not only in the swing, but also the height and extension, they are about as realistic as you would ever need, and they work realistically as well with turning wheels and a moving cab. The only area they are slightly wanting is in the doorway cover extension as that doesn't work, so the cabs do tend to stick up quite high above the aircraft... Double or triple gates are also now available, again sensational they are for realism. The Autogates are activated in two ways. First is the auto-setting which will activate the gate when all the engines are shutdown and then the beacon is switched off. Note: not all aircraft will automatically connect with SAM? First of all there is a list of all current aircraft that have airbridge settings ready for use, but most aircraft should work with the marshaller. Odd ones that need a manual operation are like the FlightFactor A320 Ultimate, which is disconnected from the X-Plane system (pure plugin driven). A coming feature will allow the airbridges to go almost to ground level for regional Jets, which is a missing item on all current X-Plane airbridge systems. Menu The second option is via the SAM menu panel that is sited within your X-Plane "Plugins" menu. There are currently three menu settings: About, which is the plugins details. Settings, which selects the options for switching off the noted "Auto Connect jetways" and to adjust the sound volume. The third option notes the current active airport, and In this case it is Aerosoft LSZH - Zurich. This shows all the gates and the ones that are active... ... and at the bottom of the menu are any other effects that are available at this airport, noted here the Rega Hangar, and two entry points, we will look at those in a moment. Click on the airbridge selection you would like to connect with the aircraft and... it start the warning lights and goes into a very realistic operation. When done you can then select if you want to remove the airbridge from the aircraft at your wish. Here with the A350, I can use both airbridges to L1 and L2 doors. The auto-connect is fine, but as I am a control freak I love the total manual access to the airbridge operations. Other options include open/close of hangar doors (hangers are provided)... ... another feature is the VFR Entry point marker, which can be activated to line up your runway approach. SAM Authoring Unlike the Marginal system, which was quite tricky and even a bit laborious to set up and use. Sam has it's own built in Authoring system, or more like a construction set. It covers all the aspects of adding in the different elements to the airport. Obviously it is focused on ease of use with even has built in utlities to help you align the elements you want to use. The system is scaled as well to add in new features and ideas as the plugin grows. Any negatives, not really but the glass in the airbridges hide the aircraft (scenery is fine)? but this is an Laminar/X-Plane issue and we are still waiting for the bug to addressed. LIMJ - Airport Genoa “Cristoforo Colombo” Aerosoft airports can a be a bit of a hit or miss. Many are excellent like EGCC - Manchester and ENGM - Oslo Gardermoen. But many fall into the "made ages ago, but even when updated still dated" category like with their LIRF - Roma. But this LIMJ Airport Genoa, sort of slips into the middle. Genoa Airport Aeroporto di Genova "Aeroporto Cristoforo Colombo" IATA: GOA - ICAO: LIMJ 10/28 - 2,916m (9,564ft) Bitumen Elevation AMSL13 ft / 4 m What is it about the eccentric Italian airports. What of all the red and white stripes and very odd looking controls towers and terminal designs that range from weird to the down right bizarre, nonconformist and individual... but yes I do love them immensely as landing in Italy it is like landing on no other planet. This scenery from Aerosoft delivers certainly all that, but I will note up front that the original scenery delivered here is still the old traditional Aerosoft design, buried beneath an X-Plane wrapped wrapper. Italian airports are all usually vast parking aprons set with a kinky terminal design, and you get both aspects here at Genova. The airport is surprisingly small, a small aircraft carrier layout area set out in the middle of Genoa's port zone, but again that is LIMJ's attraction... it is different and it is visually it is exciting to arrive or depart from the Aeroporto Cristoforo Colombo. Let us look and at the old first... Certainly this sort of texturing and modeling was first rate back in the days of early FSX, nowadays it looks like what it is, boxy and heavyhanded. But subtle changes have been made.... all the terminal glass is reflective and the see-though balcony glass is X-Plane new and also transparent. Filler port warehousing and factories are also have FSX heritage, they are what they are... fillers, but the blue never looked good, even in FlightSim. LIMJ's Control Tower is an Italianate work of art... you couldn't be anywhere else but in Italy. Tower view is set, but both approaches are obstructed by railings. Even a year ago you would have discounted the Aerosoft scenery as just a conversion of the original FSX LIMJ, with those blanked out gates. But there is another subtle difference that changes and it is that aspect that turns this scenery on it's head. Here the SAM plugin has been used to convert the airbridges to active. The really clever part here is how well the new (SAM airbridges) have been intergrated into the older chunky scenery, and in the process redefines not only the activity but how it modernises the terminal as well... this is great design work. The important point to make here is that how the SAM plugin can be used to not only be able to be flexible in the vastly different airbridge designs, but how to be also retro-fitted into existing scenery to make the scenery more modern and active. I could list a lot of Aerosoft sceneries that would benefit and certainly be much more contemporary by utilising this plugin's system. The SAM marshaller is also intergrated well on the remote stands as well. Two hangars with the Guardia di Financia and the Piaggio Hangar also have had the SAM hangar door open/close treatment and again the intergration is very well done. The airport's hangar and administration buildings are well represented, and the detail on the hangars is actually good. But there isn't much fill in between areas but the flat washed out photo textures. But the Sheraton Tower Genova Airport Hotel & Conference Center, is very well done and detailed. (the TripAdviser reviews are however not great) Ground Textures LIMJ also benefit's from having to use X-Plane11 new style textures and ground layouts, that updates on and over the older Aerosoft textures... ... but there is the odd "RWY STOP" signage that is duplicated. Aerosoft famous 3d grass is also present, but not right through the scenery, but it is still a nice to have feature. Genoa Port and City The actual scenery does stretch along the northern Italian coast for a considerable distance and covers most of Genoa and it's very complex port system. There is a fair amount of detail in here, but it does really show it's age compared with say Drzewiecki Design's Seattle. The average slightly washed out ground textures don't help with the detail either, so mostly this is all fill. The X-Plane11 autogen does do an extraordinary job is filling in a lot of the areas and the gaps at the required full "maximum" object setting, as this scenery would be simply awful visually with this vital autogen missing. The famous Genova Lanterna, renaissance lighthouse of Genoa which was built in 1543, is well represented, as is a little of the city... ... but don't go looking for any real Genova detail, because there isn't any, not even the Monumento a "Cristoforo Colombo". Lighting LIMJ's Lighting is passable but in reality old and average. Not even X-Plane's effects can really save it? Approach lighting and taxiway lighting is okayish and useable... .... the aprons are nicely lit... but? Why didn't the developers use the correct lighting structures (arrowed)? as they are all dark? and they would have been far more effective than the smaller placed poles? The terminal lighting is frankly well... horrible and yes another throwback to the early FSX age. The Lanterna lighthouse looks very nice on the harbour, and the lovely night textures on the office buildings are the only standout quality lighting. Summary This review is really two elements but they are highly related to each over. One is the new SAM or "Scenery Animation Manager" from Stairport Sceneries, and the second is the LIMJ - Airport Genoa “Cristoforo Colombo” Aerosoft scenery and the LSZH - Zurich v2.05 update. SAM This is an outstanding plugin, that will certainly evolutionise X-Plane and updates significantly one of it's main original features. Everyone has a lot of respect and affection towards Marginal's brilliant original tools, but they getting very long in the tooth, with no updates or no new features for years. SAM wipes them all out sadly in one swipe as the original tools will no doubt be mostly replaced by the newcomer. Brilliant animations and excellent effects with a full menu control for Jetways, VDGS, Marshaller, Hangars and Wind Turbines is not only very adaptable to all sceneries, but is also very expandable and versatile to new features and the ease of use in converting new or old scenery to the features of the plugin. You will see this plugin spread very quickly throughout X-Plane... finally it advances the X-Plane simulator with another great outstanding tool. Airport Genoa XP - LIMJ - Airport Genoa “Cristoforo Colombo” Aerosoft do repackage their old FSX sceneries for X-Plane11. Depending on their age or the quality of their developer then they range from brilliant to average. So how does Airport Genoa fair? It is a fair question. Overall it just slides through, but the heritage of the original scenery and the washed out photographic textures do show through. the lighting is very poor in design (no lighting on the main lighting structures) and those original blue window textures (glass maybe a reach too far) are horrible, but pure FSX. But the X-Plane11 aspect of new ground textures, grass, amazing autogen in creating a somewhat realistic backdrop to the airport, better glass and reflections, large port facilities and the feature tip the scales into the positive area is the excellent SAM plugin intergration of the airbridges, marshallers and hangar door animations, they and SAM certainly lifts the scenery over into the usability factor... so the scenery gets a pass but just. So fly in, fly out and enjoy the airport surroundings and don't look too hard and you will get a lot of use out of the scenery. LSZH - Zurich Airport v2.05. The Zurich v2.05 upgrade was to just to install the SAM plugin features, but what features they are. All gates are now SAM active with not only single gate airbridges, but double airbridges as well.... marshallers cover all the remote stands. Airbridges are now first rate with glass and great animations, two hangar door features and two VFR entry point markers are also featured. Airport Zurich was always one of the really very best Aerosoft sceneries, and now it is simply first rate. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! Airport LIMJ - Genoa XP and Airport LSZH - Zurich is Available now from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Airport LIMJ - Genoa XP Price Is US$25.99 Features: High resolution photoreal coverage of 187 km² Includes custom models for the city and the harbours of Genoa Well-detailed, accurate and high-quality renders of Genoa airport (LIMJ), including baked/pre-rendered shadows and realistic transparency of the terminal windows Unique, realistic and accurate airport night light (runway, taxiways, aprons, surroundings) Accurate and realistic ground poly based on photos and satellite images Large number of custom objects dedicated for Genoa airport and city – cars, trucks, buses, airport equipment, boats (many types), static aircrafts, and more Landable helipads at Sheraton Hotel and City Hospital Accurate renders of the harbour and many objects along the approach Realistic and accurate ILS offset of 2 degrees Animated jetways, VDGS and hangars (SAM plug-in required) 3D volumetric grass between taxiways Massively optimised for good performance Animated ships around the airport Custom mesh for the airport runway over the sea (by Maps2XPlane) Custom-made realistic static aircraft, including: Bell 412 SP (Guardia Costiera) Hughes NH-500MC (BredaNardi) Piaggio P-180 Avanti Piper Archer 2 PA-28 Aeroclub Genova Canadair CL-415 VIGILI DEL FOUCO Automatic low visibility lighting World Traffic 3 Configuration files included WT3: Ground routes are provided and the scenery will also generate a set of routes. But there are no parking defs in the configuration files? which is really odd? Under AFRE there isn't a lot of activity, but overall WT3 works fine. Requirements X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 2GB VRAM Minimum - 4Gb+ VRAM Recommended Download Size: 1.4Gb - Installation 2.91Gb Version and Review copy is v1.0 (Dec 12th 2018) GayaSimulations - LIMJ Genoa - Airport GayaSimulations - LIMJ Genoa - Mesh The developers note you need to adjust the X-Plane "scenery_packs.INI" so the loading order is correct... and that the GayaSimulations - LIMJ Genoa - Mesh is below the Airport files. ______________________________________________________________________ LSZH Airport Zurich v2.05 Airport Zurich v2.05 Price is US$27.99 Current purchasers of the Zurich v2 Scenery can update for free, by going to their X-Plane.OrgStore account and redownloading the new version. X-PlaneReviews full Zurich v2 Review is here: Scenery Review - Updated : LSZH Airport Zurich v2.0 by Aerosoft ______________________________________________________________________ SAM - Scenery Animation Manager by Stairport Sceneries Scenery Animation Manager Plugin is Free, but the scenery is required to have the "sam.xml" file inserted to be active with the plugin. plugin is inserted into your plugins folder, and you also have to insert a "SAM_Library" into your Custom Scenery folder. ______________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 14th December 2018 Copyright©2018 : 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 11.26 (tested in X-Plane 11.30b6) Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : JARDesign Ground Handling Deluxe plugin : US$19.95 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95 : BetterPushBack - Free Scenery or Aircraft - ToLiSS319 (A319) by ToLiSS (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$69.00

I didn't know either?... thanks for the tip, and video SD

News! - Plugin Release : Hi Fi Simulations releases ActiveSky XP A quality stalwart brand in FlightSim Hi Fi Simulations have released their premier product ActiveSky for X-Plane11... features include: Active Air Effects: Replaces internal X-Plane turbulence and air effects, providing enhanced turbulence, drafts, thermals, terrain-based wind effects, surface friction, gusts, variability, wake turbulence, microbursts and more High-Performance Weather Depiction: Uses internal X-Plane 11.2x/11.3x cloud depiction for maximum performance and smoothness, with multiple weather depiction modes including theme cell “real weather” mode and global static mode – VR compatible and optimized! Active Sky Weather Engine: An evolved version of the Active Sky platform brings the core features that made Active Sky the leading weather engine for other platforms: Advanced weather synthesis and interpolation, high-resolution global winds aloft, realistic air and atmosphere effects, a comprehensive weather data network, integrated visual mapping and planning, and much, much more Voice Weather Delivery: Active Sky ATIS and Flightwatch are available at any time by listening on 122.00, 122.02 or 122.03 for closest station, actual/current interpolated conditions and destination weather reports, respectively Surface Crosswind Attenuation: Optional, for better ground handling in crosswind conditions while preserving headwind/tailwind component for performance accuracy Mobile Companion App: Use any device/browser to connect with Active Sky over your network and view and control the weather There are a few notes to take in below before consideration of a purchase. Not a complete visual cloud rendering replacement We have put our previous X-Plane visual cloud rendering replacement efforts on hold (until next year) due to performance considerations and changing API environment/tools that are not yet finalized We expect our visual cloud rendering replacement technology to debut in Q4 2019, subject to change based on many factors ASXP features high-performance cloud depiction with a focus on conditions accuracy, utilizing the X-Plane internal cloud rendering via a hybrid API approach, with two different modes available ASXP also features an optional high-performance photo-realistic cloud texture replacement with a simple texture installation wizard Windows 64-Bit (v7 or later) Only Mac, Linux and 32-bit X-Plane/Windows versions are not supported In a networked environment, the ASXP application/client may run on Windows 32-bit (7 or later), but X-Plane must be 64-bit on Windows 64-bit (7 or later) We hope to bring additional OS/platform support in the future X-Plane version 11.26 or later (64-bit for Windows) is required Requirements: X-Plane v11.26 or later, 64-bit Windows Version (Mac and 32-bit Windows versions are not compatible) Windows 7 or later, 64-bit Version Active and stable internet connection (broadband recommended)* 500mb available hard drive space 1GHZ+ CPU 2GB+ RAM OpenGL 3.3 graphics device (nVidia GTX500 or or equivalent, or better) 1024×768 minimum available screen resolution to display all user interface features I would note that the plugin uses the default X-Plane11 cloud system for now... and obviously Hi Fi are waiting for the full implementation of the Laminar Research Vulkan API changes before adding in the more custom visual cloud rendering replacement (3d clouds) for speed and efficiency of course. Hi Fi note that the full product with visual cloud rendering will not be available till the end of 2019, and that any charges to upgrade to the visual cloud rendering is to quote... "work to maintain and enhance our products, with several free updates planned. The details of what would be included in such updates are yet to be determined." ActiveSky XP is now available from HiFi's website for 35.99 EUR. (US$40.78) Images and text are courtesy of Hi Fi Simulations ________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 12th December 2018 Copyright©2018: X-Plane Reviews

Scenery Review : NWWW La Tontouta Noumea - New Caledonia by Cami de Bellis Positioned just above New Zealand and 1,210 km (750 mi) east of Australia in the South Pacific ocean is the French outpost of New Caledonia. New Caledonia became an overseas territory in 1946 and by 1953, French citizenship had been granted to all New Caledonians, regardless of ethnicity. A recent independence vote resolved to keep the hundreds of French bureaucrats from Paris in place and that basically keeps the island afloat with French Euros, and so the population 278,500 simply went back to their normal french lives in a paradise certainly far removed from the French Capital. And what a life it is... don't for instance arrive in Noumea (the capital) on a Sunday, because in reality nothing happens, the only action is at the odd bar or cafe where the madame will smoke her Gitanes with passion while sipping from a weak wine, and giving you the evil eye of being a customer. I know because I have been there, twice.... and twice only on a Sunday. But you don't come to New Caledonia for the shopping either (as there isn't any, or any bus services as well) but certainly come for the outstanding natural beauty of the islands with a French accent... find the right area and you would break down at the sheer immense beauty of the planet earth we exist on, as New Caledonia is in reality Tahiti-lite without the huge expense required to stay there. This is Cami de Bellis's second payware scenery after her "VQPR - Paro International Airport" late last year. It was a very good first introduction into payware for de Bellis, but a difficult first choice to do as well. Cami is highly known for her extensive detailing and the sheer object placement in numbers. Which is very good in freeware, but it can also overwhelm a scenery of simply too much placement... but they were all freewares, and payware is a very different game altogether in finding a balance and more importantly authenticity. NWWW La Tontouta Noumea La Tontouta International Airport is the main international airport in New Caledonia. The airport is in the municipality of Païta, approximately 52 km (32 mi) northwest of Nouméa. La Tontouta International Airport serves international flights, while Noumea Magenta Airport, located 38 km south-east within the city of Nouméa, serves the domestic flights. The airport is regularly served by four airlines, including Aircalin which is based at the airport. Tontouta International Airport Aéroport de Nouméa - La Tontouta IATA: NOU - ICAO: NWWW 11/29 - 3,250m (10,663ft) Asphalt Elevation AMSL 52 ft/16m Note: First up on the review is a note. Make sure you have or download v1.1 and if you have downloaded the original release then to go and redownload the new version. The update fixes a bad mesh join line (below right) directly in front of RWY 11, and now it looks far better. The mesh join elevation hole is still there, but now not as noticeable as with the original mesh line. This issue is a Laminar mesh issue and cannot be resolved by the developer. La Tontouta is a split airport with the commercial area on the central northeast that includes an extended terminal and a Aircalin maintenance Hangar... ... and across the 11/29 RWY is a military zone that was originally built as a WW2 (small) US Airforce Base, now named Nouméa Air Base "BAN Tontouta". La Tontouta Terminal NWWW airport's terminal extension was completed in 2012. The completed project resulted in a significant increase in the terminal's size and included a new arrivals area, a larger check-in area and the installation of two jet(air)bridges. The terminal now has five stands capable of handling commercial jet aircraft, two of which are served by the new airbridges and three of which utilise stairs to access the aircraft. In addition, the airport has several more stands designed to handle smaller prop-regional sized aircraft. Sensationally modeled, this one of the best terminals I have seen in a while. The La Tontouta terminal is very detailed with a huge amount of intricate detail, and it looks extremely realistic... .... the highlight is the terminal's latice work. It is to reflect the same design as the sails of the Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre, that was designed by the famous Italian architect Renzo Piano on the narrow Tinu Peninsula that celebrates the vernacular Kanak culture, the indigenous culture of New Caledonia. It was obviously most important to get the latice work and style correct, and the result here is excellent. The remarkable Cultural Centre is well worth a visit. In the extension they added in two airbridges, and they are both well defined here, they are active as well (marginal plugin required), but your parking position has to be perfect to get them to activate because of the long angle. Building detail and clutter is excellent, both on the roof of the terminal and in the receiving trolley bay and baggage area. Landside is exceptional as well, with a well laid out carpark, and huge clutter detail (This is after all Cami de Bellis!) The large Aircalin maintenance Hangar is very prominent and well recreated with fine weathered detail. Two static Aircalin aircraft fill out the scene. Service yards, freight buildings and administration areas are plentiful and thoughtfully crafted and cluttered, with great detail. Several new buildings are all glass, and really well modeled, but the over reflective effects are from most angles set too high and need or require a more less saturated natural look and feel. The Control Tower is set up on a hill to the east is excellent with great quality detail. Tower view is set and both approaches are easy to see, but at certain angles you get railings that intrude into the view. Northwest of the Terminal is the Fire Station that is very well detailed and runway facing building. Tontouta the village is well represented with authentic buildings, but not with an over population of housing, but there is still enough in here to give the area that right fill and appearance feel. The housing detail is very good, but in areas the fencing goes a little wayward here and there, and also missing is the fencing around many areas of the boundaries of the runway. All vehicles are French to add into the authenticity and many are animated, I love the little Peugeot 307 police car that rotates around the aprons, with the Cofely branded animated food truck. The airports Pacific history is well represented with the disused Douglas abandoned on the airfield. Nouméa Air Base As airbases go "BAN Tontouta" isn't very large, it is just really a collection of hangars and barracks... but it is well done and well detailed. Authentic is the word that comes to mind. Textures Runway, taxiway and apron textures are first rate, with excellent detail and worn in treaded tyre wear detailing. Linage and signage is also top notch and highly realistic. There are some 3d grass (and plants) inserted, but not in a large area ground coverage way. There is however a lot of hard different ground elements that are not blended in to each other or are cut sharply to match? It gives the scenery an oldish earlier X-Plane scenery feel that we have now moved on from, you do sort of ignore it, but this is payware and you have seen and expect better. Lighting Lighting of NWWW is overall excellent... All approach lighting (RAIL on RWY11) is well defined and nice to use. Taxiway lighting and lit navigation signage is also all well done. The latice is well lit... but is it a bit too bright or blue oversaturated? The real latice structure is as highly lit so the effect is debatable, but my gut says just a little less oversaturation would just tone it down enough to make it realistic. The airbridges are debatable as well, because the real ones are clear at night, where as here they are shades of green. The Terminal itself looks excellent and has a nice feel with image window/glass night textures. Ramp lighting is excellent, with great coverage and different lighting tones. Landside and housing lighting is again top notch, with plenty of fill and down lighting. BAN Tontouta's flightline is again well done, as is the internal military hangar lighting that looks very authentic externally. Summary La Tontouta International Airport is French New Caledonia's main airport. There is another called Noumea Magenta Airport that is located 38 km south-east within the city of Noumea, but that airport serves only domestic flights. Overall this NWWW - La Tontouta from Cami De Bellis is an excellent scenery, with great modeling and as expected also great, but thankfully not this time filled with overwhelming clutter, the balance here is lovely. Detail and especially the terminal is expertly done, with the iconic Kanak culture latice frame that is central to the look of the airport, with the texturing and quality building look that is excellent. Lighting is overwhelmingly good, except for the oversaturated latice frame. There are a few notes... The newer (Glass) buildings are over-reflective in their effects, different ground visual elements are also a bit too cutout and not blended in with sharp lines defining the shapes and some of the fencing is either, not where it should be or not there at all mostly surrounding the runway boundaries, and the airbridge colours at night and even in the daytime are also debatable. But mostly this is all a nice to fix than essential. This NWWW certainly the best work yet from Cami and she is certainly getting into her stride in completing quality payware scenery. The most important thing here is that she has captured the Frenchness/South Pacific feel of New Caledonia as well as the reproduction of the Island's main airport, and that is hard to do, but also very essential in conveying the essence of the area and place. So a big yes as an addition to your South Pacific Airport collection, and certainly a great destination for any flying in this Oceania part of the world, Highly Recommended... but just don't fly to Noumea on a Sunday. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! NWWW La Tontouta Noumea - New Caledonia by Cami de Bellis is Available now from the X-Plane.Org Store here : NWWW La Tontouta Noumea - New Caledonia Price Is US$22.40 Features Highly accurate scenery for NWWW with all buildings modeled Animated airport vehicles (GroundTraffic) Autogate by marginal Mesh of airport corrected exclusively for this scenery, created by Matthias Seewald/Maps2Xplane and expressly authorized by Austin Meyer Photoscenery for the entire Airport area Detailed airport objects and vehicles Custom textured taxiways, runways and apron Custom surroundings buildings Custom airport lights High resolution ground textures / Custom runway textures High resolution building textures – all in 2K and 4K Excellent night effects World Traffic 3 compatible Manual included WT3: Ground routes are set in the scenery and will generate a set of routes. They do however focus on more to the GA aspect than AFRE routes. There is a set of custom routes provided by ysfsim: Ground routes for NWWW La Tontouta Noumea but they don't create much action with the AFRE selected. Requirements X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 4Gb VRAM Minimum. 8Gb+ VRAM Recommended CDB-Library v.2.4 is required Version and Review copy is v1.1 (Dec 9th 2018) Installation Download scenery file size is 397mb. With the full installation installed in your custom scenery folder as: NWWW_Noumea_La Tontouta N. CALEDONIA (1.12gb) yxz_CDB_Mesh (95mb) Total scenery Install is : 1.13gb The developers note you need to adjust the X-Plane "scenery_packs.INI" so the loading order is correct... and that the ysx_CBD Mesh is below the Airport files. The updated CDB-Library v.2.4 Library is Required for this scenery Documents La tontouta_manual.pdf ______________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 10th December 2018 Copyright©2018 : 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 11.26 (tested in X-Plane 11.30b6) Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : JARDesign Ground Handling Deluxe plugin : US$19.95 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95 : BetterPushBack - Free Scenery or Aircraft - Boeing 737-800 - default X-Plane by Laminar Research (Free)

Scenery Preview: GCRR Lanzarote, Canary Islands by MK Studios FlightSim developers discovering X-Plane has been one of the stories of the 2018 year in scenery. We call them conversions, it is taking the original FS/P3D scenery, stripping them out and then rebuilding them from the ground up to the X-Plane laws and layouts, and then you add in the X-Plane11 dynamic features as the icing on the cake, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The main reason it doesn't is that the original scenery used as the host is usually already out of date, so the conversion is behind the 8 ball already, but with many conversions were as the host is already a quality and successful scenery the conversion to X-Plane and can and even be an enhancement of the original. MK-STUDIOS was founded back in 2008 is a Polish based studio, so they are already an established scenery developer in FS land, and this is their first foray into X-Plane with this GCRR - Lanzarote scenery. The conversion is courtesy of Emma Bentley and Ashley Jones of Windsock Conversions, and Emma who is a well known established X-Plane member. GCRR - Lanzarote (also known as Arrecife Airport), is the airport serving the island of Lanzarote and is located as part of the Canary Island chain . The airport is located in San Bartolomé, Las Palmas, 5km (3.1mi) southwest of the town of Arrecife. GCRR - Lanzarote Lanzarote Airport Aeropuerto de Lanzarote IATA: ACE - ICAO: GCRR 03/21- 2,400m (7,874ft) Asphalt Elevation AMSL14 m / 47 ft First to note is the large size of the scenery, altogether (four files) and it is a whooping 7.54gb of mostly photographic terrain that covers the whole island of Lanzarote. The runway 03/21 looks newly laid, as does the taxiways and aprons. The real 03/21 is more darker grey than the darker brown here but it is a darker texture than most runway surfaces, but it looks and feels nice close up... ... textures are nice and so are concreted areas and the markings are nicely worn in as well. Note the excellent RAIL approach lighting on RWY03 Approach and the only runway at GCRR with an ILS (IRR - 109.10) installation. Many pilots note it as a difficult approach, but it looks like an easy over-water approach to me, my guess they are confusing GCRR with Fuerteventura airport on another nearby Las Palmas island. The aprons are well done and with good navigation signage, so it feels nice on the ground. Lanzarote is a very white airport in a moroccan sort of way... ... so the only way to break out of that 3d blank modeling feel is to have some clever texture detail. There is some here but not enough raw detail to overcome the modeling aspect, so it feels of what it is and that is an FS/P3D scenery. Control tower is well done, but you don't get to feel that depth of realism. Glass is not see-through, but looks good and brings a lot of life to the buildings. Tower view is set and gives excellent coverage of both 03/21 approaches (below). Landside car/coach arrival and carparks ground textures are a bit of a mess... over-saturated, low resolution they look totally disconnected from the terminal and surrounding photoscenery, and it doesn't even try to matchup, twice? The original passenger terminal (1946-1970) which is now Aeronautical Museum, is well presented. The newer (above) terminal was opened on 3 March 1970 and international and domestic flights began using the airport on that date. Clutter is very good and correctly branded, not too much and not too little, gives the airport the right coverage. There are no animated vehicles (traffic) and the airbridges are solid. Custom buildings There are provided custom personally placed 3d buildings to cover Arrecife and the surrounding Lanzarote area... .... custom building design is quite generic, basic and only a few different styles. But there is an issue that the objects have a very poor LOD (Level Of Detail) distance at X-Plane's Field of view setting 73º. And even on final approach to the runway the mesh can be flat one second and start filling out (popping up) of 3d objects the next.... but closer to the ground level and the flat bland ortho textures do tend to flatten everything out? From an altitude point of view the islands features are however very good photographic wise. You get the same LOD issue at the airport itself, noted here by the airbridges that pop-up even when you taxiing in on the taxiways and aprons. So all round the LOD's are quite poor. GCRR Lighting The scenery lighting is actually quite good. 03/21 approach lighting is good, but the off runway taxiways don't have any green taxi navigation lights? The Main taxiway R (sections 12345) does have the green navigation lights, but they are rather dim and hard to see from the cockpit. Ramp lighting is excellent and highly workable, with the old original terminal (Aero Museum) and north cargo area the best. Landside lighting (different tone) almost hides the over-saturated textures, almost... but it all looks good. The night replica glass is very good, certainly on the welcoming original terminal, that almost glows. Tower glass is lit, but doesn't need to be or needed just a little lighting to make it realistic. Preview Notes: Any new to X-Plane user from the FlightSim world would probably feel right at home here. It is a classic early FlightSim scenery crossed over to X-Plane complete with over-saturated textures as well. Modeling is very basic and a throwback to the good olde days of early FSX design. You do get the full island photographic scenery, which could be seen as a bonus (if you like that sort of thing) or a backward step as it flattens out the landscape at ground level. LOD (Level Of Detail) for custom scenery and airport objects is poor in a few areas (objects pop up). All custom buildings are quite generic with no local landmarks, if you don't count the revolving pylon generators. Ground runway textures are very good (if a little too brown and not dark grey) with great signage, and have X-Plane dynamic runway features to represent different weather conditions in say the rain, but you won't get to use the feature a lot as Lanzarote only has seven days of rain a year. Dynamic night lighting is very good, with nice glass lighting features. Features noted are: High quality rendition of Lanzarote airport and ALL island, Accurate and detailed airport infrastructure based on real sizes and dimensions High resolution ground textures, Photo real terrain coverage of all island Hundred thousands of custom placed autogen buildings all around the island 3D night lightning, Very realistic airport night lighting, based on real pilot’s point of view Optimized to take advantages of X-Plane features. WT3: No WorldTraffic GroundRoutes are provided, and the ground routes are not built into the scenery either, hence the lonely B738 on the ramps. MK Studio's note the ground routes are coming soon. Positives: Very FSX, if you like FSX scenery in X-Plane, full island photographic coverage and extensive custom buildings and nice lighting and good branded clutter. Negatives: Very FSX in a X-Plane world, so it feels a little dated in design and textures, LOD is poor and custom buildings are very generic with no customised Lanzarote landmarks. Landside textures are over-saturated and poor resolution. Not many X-Plane11 dynamic features including autogates and animated traffic. ____________________________________________________________________ Yes!... GCRR Lanzarote, Canary Islands by MK Studios is Available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : GCRR Lanzarote, Canary Islands Price is US$19.99 Requirements : X-Plane 11.26+ Windows, Mac or Linux 4Gb VRAM Minimum - 8Gb+ VRAM Recommended Download Size: 5Gb and installed is 7.54gb Warning: The download size is indeed 5Gb. If you do not have a fast, stable internet connection, please do not buy. MKStudiosLanzarote1Airport MKStudiosLanzarote2Overlay MKStudiosLanzarote3Ortho1 MKStudiosLanzarote4Ortho2 Extras and Documents: - Manual ______________________________________________________________________ Preview by Stephen Dutton 8th December 2018 Copyright©2018 : X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this preview 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 11.26 Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 : WorldTraffic 3.0 Plugin - US$29.95 : BetterPushBack - Free Scenery or Aircraft - Boeing 737-800 - default X-Plane by Laminar Research (Free)

Yes it is THAT time of the year again. Carenado's "I must have that before Christmas" sale is now on and you can get up to 50% off most lovely Careando aircraft. Some nice biggies are available here (and for X-Plane11 as well) including the Beech 1900D, King Airs B200 and C90B and the XP11 Caravan. All deals are available till December 16th, so update your hangar now, and have a "very Happy (Carenado) Christmas"... All the deals are here on the X-Plane.OrgStore. ________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 7th December 2018 Copyright©2018: X-Plane Reviews