Stephen

News! - X-Plane11: Beta 3 is now available As the tuning of X-Plane11 continues with the release of beta 3, I still predict that you should get some sort of a stable release over the Christmas Holidays. No one more than the aircraft and plugin developers would be more pleased about this as they can move on to stabilising their products and releasing them, but the changes between the the two X-Plane versions are more significant than expected. The big guys are already pushing out beta tests with JARdesign and FlightFactor wanting some stable X-Plane11 version on your desktops before Christmas, but note again they will still be a stop gap till early 2017, but the aircraft at least will be usable and flyable over the holidays. First look at beta 3 is wow... and (I may have actually missed this in the release?) is wet runways... Simply excellent!, Taxiways and runways look realistically wet, and depending on the density of the rain also have rain splatters on the runway, so realistic... brilliant. Images show far less mist (or fogginess) and a far clearer better view, X-Plane11 now looks far more natural and realistic. Now the mist has cleared, you get a better look at the Euro autogen, which lifts Manchester away from the American look towards some sort of closer feel to the UK, but roll on the UK autogen for the real deal, but it looks really good for the future in this area. Austin's new nosewheel flexibility works very nice as well and the aircraft now feels more sprung (bouncy) and moves to the power changes. So the changes are now coming thick and fast, so enjoy... only three days to Christmas, shame we opened our presents early! To update to X-Plane11 Beta 3 then run your installer, or just start X-Plane11 and it will direct you to the upload installer, make sure the beta tickbox is ticked! Full beta 3 details here: Public Beta 3 Key Features & Improvements XPD-7219 3rd party plugin brakes fixed. Networking, crash, and joystick fixes. New electrical system model changes. XPLMNavigation API should work for third party plugins. XPD-7070 Provide plugin per frame callouts even when paused. Changes to .sit and .rep file types to make them stable across updates. Pilot defined waypoints saved by the FMC now go into the user_fix.dat. FMS will now correctly use GPS alt or barometric altitude for approach VNAV as per approach setting. Default is GPS altitude as for LPV approaches. FMS fixes when using VNAV. Backward compatibility in ARINC 424 interpreter. Free global resources at program end to avoid memory leak false positives. Fixed crash when loading DSFs while flying really, really fast. Updated tire model. A fix for weapons that have OBJs but not custom particle effects. Additional Bug Fixes XPD-7289 IP address of receiving network data was wrong. XPD-7288 IPs are sorted in order and fixes missing IP address list. XPD-7203 Crash with Open Air file. XPD-7078 Fix for non-fogged interior objects. XPD-7091 Failures now get applied only for the aircraft you set them on. XPD-6851 Fix sky color through alpha texture in HDR mode. XPD-6958 Changing plane altitude or speed in map changes heading as well. XPD-7281 We now explicitly support approach targets that are not in our “nearby approaches” list. XPD-7217 We can now separate the enum and order of the API. XPD-6863 Take windows down to windowed mode before destroying them. XPD-7060 Fix dev assert reloading 737. XPD-7249 Fix for crash when you add a monitor while looking at Settings > Graphics. XPD-7273 Updates to KSEA demo area. XPD-7271 Removes G1000 C172 from installs. XPD-7252 Update to LOWI demo area. XPD-7064 Added ability to bind hat switches to any command, not just our suggested ones. XPD-7061 Fix for setting aircraft heading via the inspector being wonky due to live editing the text field. XPD-7268 Remove separate selection style from map. XPD-7009 We now hide localizers in the map view that might interfere with seeing your “target” ILS. XPD-7159 We can now select an approach at any time, and we no longer show downwind ILSes if applicable. XPD-7245 Fixes dragging the plane icon on map when not paused. XPD-7246 Tow plane does not tow us on the runway. XPD-7256 Landing light switch dataref is a float. XPD-7254 Fix for ATC window crashing when in “AI Flies Your Plane” mode. XPD-7251 fix for crash in r-tree when the r-tree is empty. XPD-7227 Fixed autobrakes. XPD-7110 Stopped hover help tips from getting repositioned. XPD-7221 Determine if an aircraft supports 2-D panel mode. XPD-7236 Search in the command mappings table now includes children of matched folder. XPD-7154 Fix for windowed -> fullscreen -> windowed transition increasing the window size and moving it. XPD-7232 Fix for failures trashing your currently-loaded aircraft’s livery. XPD-7210 Fix for crash when loading a bad .sit file in quickflight mode. XPD-7211 Fix for crash caused by trying to load airport from prefs that no longer exists in your installation. XPD-7212, XPD-7228 GPS has a problem with “degenerate” STARs that only consist of transition segments and no trunk route. XPD-7233 Crash when changing location with IOS. XPD-7032 Fix for “manual” network connections defaulting to port 0. XPD-7186 Center map on PPOS if empty flight plan is viewed in PLN mode. XPD-7193 Fix for missing NDB or VOR in flight plan. XPD-7018 Restored ability for “optional” dialogs to be auto-dismissed on external visuals & machines under IOS control. XPD-7083 We only display the “Save Configuration as Default” button if you do not have an image mapping for this joystick. XPD-7044 Fix for incorrectly identifying monitor resolution when using mixed DPI displays. XPD-7088 We now read your language prefs before falling back to prompting you to pick a language. XPD-7184 AI can fly your aircraft again. XPD-7220 Additional sounds added to C172 cockpit. XPD-7250 Push-back working for AI aircraft. XPD-7160 Stop labeling both ends of helipads in the map. ______________________________________________________________________ Stephen Dutton 21st December 2016 Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews

This may be a language barrier? but the link is above and right in front of your face (twice?) for the gift certificates! SD

The X-Plane.OrgStore is the place if you want buy or use a "Gift Certificate" and you can do this at the store here: http://store-x-plane-org.3dcartstores.com/Gift-Certificate_p_8.html Not the .Org? They are different sites... SD

Vertigo Design is Simon Fournier and Bertrand Augras, the mix up is that Laurent (avia71) did a Fournier Aircraft, fixed... SD

Plugin Review - xEnviro - X-Plane10 and 11 Environment Engine Simulation of weather in a simulator is one of the really difficult tasks of realism. In all its forms weather is complex and very diverse and changes forms constantly to the requirements of our planet's systems. Real life commercial flying is always looking for more and more information and data on what and how to predict on what the weather system is going to do next, and we want to simulate that on a computer, when they can't even do that in the real world. So mega supercomputers are mostly created for one job, in creating the world's weather system and maybe throw in a few military applications on the side to pay for all that processing power, but simulation users want the same power on their desktop with as close to no framerate hit in the bargain, well you might have just got your dream. Every one complains about X-Plane's default weather system. It is slow, difficult, a soaking framerate sponge of processing power and in a way doesn't really reflect the changing weather patterns that we face flying everyday, but in reality Laminar Research would need a whole complete separate department to tackle such a major feature, as with most areas in X-Plane's diverse eco system, the weather is just one part of it and only has the same rotating attention of all the other items that need addressing to make up the whole. Even in the add-on third party world the releases for the weather effects could be counted on one hand, and most usually just messed with X-Plane's resources "skycolors" but they just replaced the same files and didn't tackle the basic weather engine to make a more significant change and actually something better. Sundog's Sky-Maxx Pro was the first Environment Engine that did do something different and finally gave X-Plane a workable weather engine, but the next generation of these plugin Environment Engines from Commercial Simulation Systems is now here in the form of... xEnviro - Ultimate Environment Engine. It would have been very easy to have just written a quick review on my first impressions of xEnviro and most of the review would have been an average assessment of this new development and take in and agree with most of the other first sighting users that have been critical of the product. But I was aware that from my first flight within the xEnviro environment that this was a more significant product to the simulator than what you see on a first glance, and so this review is week late after forming a deeper and more rounded and tested opinion by using the plugin quite significantly over the week. But make no doubts that there are areas that still need development, and some things are a bit glaring... and then there is that price? US$70 for a plugin is expensive, and even I gulped at the price. But like everything else to be considered is that if you want the best it doesn't come cheap, but there has been a large team and years of development to bring this plugin to your desktop. It has had as much development as some of the biggest and most complex aircraft in X-Plane, and we would think nothing of acquiring them for the same cost. xEnviro Let us look at the most interesting things about this plugin first that must be noted. First it is completely separated from X-Plane. So there is no connection or changing of files with the X-Plane simulator. You want xEnviro off, you just turn it off and it is gone, press it on again and there it is (it does take a minute or so to rebuild), secondly it works not only in X-Plane10, but it is ready for X-Plane11 as well and you can insert the plugin in both applications (registration is required) and use both as you wish. This disconnection from the X-Plane application also means it is highly efficient, gone too is the heavy processing "cloud puffs" and hello to horizon to horizon clouds. Don't get me wrong that you get no processing loss at all because you do, but it is highly efficient. This efficiency has also created criticism because it is created by using 2d objects and not the more modern 3d objects like X-Plane's "cloud puffs" do, and in some moments they do show their heritage as some clouds do look slightly flat or with an odd movement across the windscreen, but the total visual effect is astounding and very realistic, if the choice was with either the heavy 3d objects or the efficient 2d version you have here, then it is no competition in which version I would choose to use. At this point you can only use the xEnviron in "real time". When running the plugin download's the latest METAR (Aviation Routine Weather Reports) high wind data and the latest reports from aviation weather data centres to create a complete map of your current position. Now that means you only get the current "live" weather. If you like me live in Australia, if I fly in the UK, then I get the winter weather UK time which means a night flight here will give me early morning UK mist and heavy cloud and not the hot and mid-summer Australian conditions. Even in a replay you don't get the weather replayed but the current "live" weather under the replay, so that means you can't redo that heavy storm landing that you did last night. It also means that you can't set up a weather event or save your current weather that you liked so much, but xEnviro have noted that a save or memory (noted as "History") of your current weather download will come in a future update. So live it is and the data is very good as we shall see. You do soon get used to this and it does make for some interesting flying, and take note that you are at the complete mercy of the current conditions and are not being able to cheat and change the conditions to make it easier for you. Installing xEnviro Currently the plugin is Windows only (Mac is coming soon), so there is Windows a "Enviro.exe" to start up an installation application. First the setup application will ask you for your language, then click okay. The a "Welcome" screen... Then you are asked not to be naughty and accept the license conditions. Then the application checks to see if your computer can install the plugin, it is noted that you are to be connected to the internet at all times (xEnviro won't work or be able to download data if you are not). And then set the address to your "X-Plane/Resources/Plugins folder" for installation, I found it easier to install on one version (X-Plane10) and then copy and paste to the other (X-Plane11). Then It notes the address and you start the install, when done it notes the "installation is complete" and the tickboxes choices to view "readme" and visit xEnviro's site... If ticked you are then sent to the site which is handy to note updates and changes to the plugin. Updates are also downloaded from here, so it is worth bookmarking for future reference. On starting X-Plane the "xEnviro" plugin is listed in the X-Plane plugin menu bar. Four items are listed on the menu: On CAVOK Settings About xEnviro But on the initial startup you will be asked to register your email and serial number (for any or both X-Plane applications that you have installed the plugin)... then activate the plugin. Menu On Is just a switch to turn xEnviro on or off CAVOK Starts up the plugin by clearing off the X-Plane weather and resetting the simulator ready to receive the xEnviro data. It is important to note that it take a little time for the plugin to reach it's full settings or coverage, sometimes up to a minute, it is not noted if the CAVOK button is a reset? But I would assume it is. Settings Pressing the settings selection will bring up a panel that covers four areas: Weather Settings Clouds Settings Atmosphere Settings Sounds Settings In most all settings here it is mostly to cover the look and special effects of xEnviro, than more of adjusting it. You can set percentages of the Minimum RVR (Runway Visiblity Range), and Ceiling and Turbulance on the Weather settings. and you have choice to use the "Easy" or "Real" modes. Weather update slider can control your downloads from 5min to 60min (1 hour), I found about 15min data downloads to be about right with the better expected 5min too fast in the changes.. Cloud percentage settings are the same in adjusting Minimum and Maximum visible ranges, Detailed range, Cloud reflection Range, Reflection Range and Shadow range. Lower is Cloud brightness (darker the better) and crossfade speed and again on the power of your computer you can select "light" - "Optimum" - "Maximum" pre-selected settings. Atmosphere Settings setting cover mostly special effects like atmosphere, rain, snow, lightning, 3d lighting/clouds, light scattering and post processing. I found that post processing darkened the weather (clouds) too much so usually kept this switched off. Again you have pre-selected settings of "Simple" or "Full", mostly you keep most of all these special effects switched on. Sounds can be adjusted for noise in internal and external sounds for the aircraft, and special effect sounds like ambient and scenery sounds can also be adjusted with a total volume slider to cover all sounds at the bottom. I rarely touched sounds for adjustment and they are very good and the pre-selected settings are "Disable" - "Optimum" - "Maximum" Obviously you don't get the complete control that would really like, but as noted more settings will come to save and use "Historical Weather" data. I would like the adjustments to adjust wind and wind direction or at least turn them off, as some times I require that for aircraft testing or reviews. About xEnviro Is the plugin's current version number and your registration details. xEnviro How to best approach xEnviro was interesting to get the best results from the plugin. I couldn't set up a certain scenerio or environment to note differences or changes because xEnviro only runs in "real" time. So what we have here is one UK route Manchester EGCC to Exeter EGTE over five days and flown at various time and conditions. It is Flybe's most busiest route (out of Exeter). I picked the UK, because first it is familiar and two the weather at this time of the year is very changable. There are other areas noted like Florida and Australia, but most images here are on that route. Equipment used is FJS Dash8Q400 and Carenado's B1900D. Another note is that this review was done mostly in v10.50 but there are a few images of note in X-Plane11, but at this point XP11 is just too much in transition. Flight One This flight was early morning from MAN to EXE. The first thing that strikes you is that the clouds don't look 2d, more 3d and the sheer depth of the formations, breaks gave clear patches of blue as were required, but transparency is very good as we shall see later. Cloud altitude was low, around 2000-300ft ADSL and adjusting the cloud slider's brightness gave them more depth. But the biggest effect was the early mist around the hills in the distance from EGCC, it was extremely good and very realistic, in some ways xEnviro turns X-Plane10 into X-Plane11 with a great visual haze. On this flight the low cloud was also thin so you passed through it quite quickly into the bright Azore blue above. This started my first inner conflict. Is it too blue? Personally I think it is, a few notches lower in brightness would bring in a more subtle feel as I am at only 10,000ft here and not 40,000ft, but you do get used to it. One area I don't like are the blue water reflections below, they would never be bright blue at any angle and so you get all these bright blue patches (even under cloud?) that dot the landscape, I never got used to that. During the climb the X-Plane ground scenery became hazy, realistic... and any cloud formations traveled across your windscreen, but in the early version you saw the 2d effect quite badly as the line went across the windscreen, the later updated version (v1.04) finds this addressed, but it does still happen in certain circumstances and my guess it will be hard to totally eliminate. One thing that is very noticeable is the breadth of the cloud cover, it goes from horizon to horizon and not just the exact same pattern but in totally different cloud formations, it is quite brilliant. All types of clouds in the atmosphere including the highest cirrocumulus, cirrus, and cirrostratus, mid-level clouds like altocumulus and altostratus, and low level clouds like stratus, cumulus, and stratocumulus are all well represented Viewed internally and the view is breathtaking, cloud layers are spread out all around you with your framerate rock solid. Make no mistake there is a framerate penalty, but you laugh at the shear ease these formations move and create themselves around you with absolutely no fear the darker clouds are going to scrub away your fun as the framerate plunges to double digits or single digits in as many circumstances with X-Plane's default weather and heavier puffs. There are some clouds that appear and disappear (pop) right in front of you, and yes it is noticeable sometimes, but you can adjust the timing of the new data and the crossfade speed can be adjusted, but I think that more refinement here is still to come. One aspect that is an issue is that reflection on aircraft that have tinted windows (mostly all) don't allow for complete transparency of the background through them. The early release version was quite bad (above right) but it has been addressed and it is not as bad as it was, but in certain circumstances it still does show (above left). Another aspect of xEnviro that is important is that it will look good only with HDR (High-Dynamic-Range imaging) switched on, and that is not a factor in X-Plane11 as it is now tuned only in that way. But with HDR off in X-Plane10 you get a very bad case of the jaggies or very poor anti-aliasing. It is even worse at night (right), HDR has to set quite high as well, but remember you do have more framerate headroom to play with. The suns brightness aspect angle is very good, there are no bands on the screen and the gradients between the bright and darker blues were very good. On the descent notice you how really good the transparency is as you go lower and the air gets less dense below you and the ground, the formation of the clouds in their gaps show up really well with excellent transparency and ultra realism. Most of the coverage here was only cirrus clouds, but it was the most perfect conditions replicated. It is at one moment the light clouds are light and wispy around you and then you are under the blanket, again the hills on the horizon are natural and perfect. There has been a few notes that the early versions is that mist and low clouds don't fit in well around mountains or mostly in the valleys and the cloud shapes are hard and defined. It is a fair comment and notes of this is that it will be addressed and fixed soon. On the ground the sky looked realistic and natural, but once the daylight started to fade the sky became dramatic and the real "wow" factor crept in. The "wows" got bigger as the change from day to night happened in real time... ... open these images up to see the quality of the formations and the way the light reflects, note the excellent mist on the ground as well, it is just well... stunning. Flight Two Not one to miss an opportunity, I wanted to see those clouds airborne and I wasn't disappointed. I set up the B1900D and headed straight back to MAN. Climbing out of EGTE and the low mist showed the cold 2 degrees on the ground (this is December), up higher and the formations were amazing. Above the mist the twilight cloud formations were harder, fuller and you could see all the cloud detail and thickness. I have seen many amazing sunsets in X-Plane over the years, but that one is one of the best... There is nice light reflection off the clouds in the dark, sometimes milky with a full moon and sometimes darker, but it is very good as you skim along the clouds. Ground lighting (with mist) is great but we are pushing the limits here as there are light bands and sometimes even the cloud construction (2d objects) do show. Strobe in cloud is excellent, you lose that hard flash, and the soft strobes reflect well off the clouds around you (if you are in cloud) and it is very realistic. So how realistic is xEnviro? Well below is the default X-Plane weather (left) and then xEnviro switched on (right). X-Plane11 The heavier mist in X-Plane11 does have an impact, ground is softer, but the plugin takes away a lot of the worse mist effect as well and makes it (slightly) more visible. The conditions here are very hot 35º so you get more haze than you would normally get, but look at the cloud edge as the wind creates a boundary. This boundary effect is noticeable here as well (in X-Plane10) as you can see the sea air conditions are affecting the inland atmosphere. One area that X-Plane11 was better in was fog I turned up at MAN in the middle of a real early morning pea-souper... X-Plane11's extra mist boundary created a more fuller fill, and it looked simply amazing. You needed a white cane to find the runway, but it was as authentic as you can get. So straight to X-Plane10 for the same conditions and it is still good... But you notice that X-Plane10 is not as good in the visibility, there is a distinctive line were the fog hits the ground that is more blurred in XP11 creating that more enveloping feel. In leaving the ground the transition from murky fogginess through the translucent phase of a brightening view was simply perfect... How you push through cloud in a realistic way is one of the most important aspects of flight simulation. It is really impossible to imagine the complexity of mist and cloud enacting themselves around the aircraft, but this is the best I have seen yet. Laminar Research wanted their "little puffs" to create such a environment, it did work but clumsily. But here it works really well. There are a few flickers, and too many quick direction changes, but overall the effect is excellent in creating enveloping cloud around you, and after awhile you are just working on flying the aircraft in the environment more than being distracted by what is going on around you, in other words it is good as it feels real. There are other effects as well, like rain and snow... It is hard to simulate rain, because in reality it a reflective element in that you would only see it if you shone a light on it, like at night. Snow is easier as it has mass, and but both are simulated here, but the sounds are more realistic than the visual ideas. It works better of cause if the aircraft has that built in rain drop effect. Here you can choose between both 2d and 3d rain and snow, but the differences are in the environmental conditions around you... Lightning is also an effects feature that gives you lighting strikes around you and in the area on the ground. So how accurate is the downloaded data? You can of course check the current METAR data for your area, but that is only one part of the data dump. So the question is how real is the weather between the weather conditions now and the simulated xEnviro version. My reasoning was to just look out of my window! I was running xEnviro on the desktop and outside a storm had just come over and it started to dump rain, A check at Gold Coast Airport (Qld Australia) YBCG which is about 6km away from me and on X-Plane the scene was exactly the same with grey skies and buckets of rain... Storms blow over very quickly over here and within 30 minutes it was clearing, and soon my xEnviro changed to match the same conditions. The conditions continued to brighten and the changing data on xEnviro reflected the same changes and the wind direction and speed (24knts) was accurate. There is of course a delay between reality and events in the real world and a simulator, but it was a very good and reflected my changing current conditions very accurately. Chasing the storm was exciting and dangerous. Get close to those clouds and the turbulence that was created was very realistic, but I will note I do use the Headshake plugin by Simcoders, and that tends to shake you around more. But take a look at those towering thunderheads! Closer to Brisbane and the wind in your face at 22knts made a it a pretty hairy landing... Noted features coming soon to xEnviro are: Crepuscular rays, Variable volumetric clouds and haze, Visible precipitation volume, VATSIM & IVAO networked weather, Historical weather and MacOS compatiblity. A note in that as you can't set up specific conditions in xEnviro as I couldn't reproduce some of the aspects of this plugin, mainly electrical storms. But over the Christmas break if I encounter and the word here is "encounter!" such conditions then I will add them to this review, I also intend to do a few long flights to see the changing conditions over a period of time and I will report those encounters as well. Summary An Holy Grail in X-Plane has always been totally realistic weather, everyone has had a go in one for or another and your plugin folder is full of ideas and workarounds to try to make the dream a reality. Sundog's Sky-Maxx Pro was the first to really breakout of that ceiling (no pun intended) but this plugin from Commercial Simulation Systems has to be the next generation. But let us note the negatives at this point and I will stress they are all listed on the "to do" list on Commercial Simulation Systems website and updates are coming fast. My first quibble is the water reflections. They are the most visual aspects that don't work? You get pools of bright blue in any lake, stream, river or dam even with overcast conditions, and over a landscape they stick out like pools of bright blue. Cloud blend with terrain, horizon line went out on the update and the night environment needs a lot more work. The bright blue sky is an acquired taste, personally I got used to azure sky the more I used the plugin, but a few shades lower in the upper tint would be more realistic. Those non-transparent windows also show up in the wrong moments as well. Not being able to reproduce or save certain weather conditions, is idiosyncratic. You want the same conditions again or at least some control, but there is a strange fascination in the fact that like the real weather you are at it's control and conditions and not just adjusting them to your own needs, and replays are very interesting in a different time period and changed weather conditions... and you are faced with the point of doing it now or lose these conditions. A huge advantage is that the plugin is not intergrated or part of the root files of X-Plane. That gives it great framerate control and no pressure on the actual simulator's engine as it is quite separate. That also means the plugin is an easy switch on or off and that with any X-Plane upgrades is that you won't lose (overwrite) or have to reinstall any root files. I came to the table sceptical, totally unconvinced xEnviro would be the Holy Grail we are seeking, it is not perfect... yet. but it sure does deliver on what you really want and that is real world, perfect weather conditions. Has the plugin changed my view of X-Plane in a visual sense? The answer is yes, it is one of those tools that once it is now in there, there is no way (I would kick and scream) anyone will take it away from me, I just don't want to go back to plain old X-Plane, and I won't as it is that good. Timing here is a strange thing going on here. As with the release of X-Plane11 this environment engine has come along to shake up totally our X-Plane world, and like X-Plane11 it is in the same early stage of its development, but both new applications can and will have a significant impact on the way we use X-Plane. The xEnviro plugin is not cheap, but the point is how much will it deliver to your desktop in value and the significant value it brings to your flying, for me that answer is a lot as I was the ultimate sceptical... but now I am a true believer, ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the xEnviro Environment Engine by Commercial Simulation Systems is Available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : xEnviro Price is US$69.90 Sorry this plugin is Windows only at this point, But Mac is coming! Features Load real-time meteorological data with download interval from 5 up to 60 minutes taking into account following factors: Wind direction and speed on ground and aloft, temperature, turbulence areas, icing areas and dangerous phenomena (thunderstorm& windshear) Simulate visual effects of different types of precipitations and phenomena: rain showers, snow, fog; Simulate visual raindrops effects on windshields both in 2D and 3D cockpits (if it’s loaded in aircraft model); Simulate in-cloud visual effects; Simulate visual effects of shades and aircraft lightning in clouds (Strobe lights, beacon lights, navigation lights, landing lights) Simulate landing lights “screen” effect during in-cloud and foggy flight; Volumetric lights effect; Simulate lightning on clouds surface from cities lights; High-detailed cloud shades; Custom cloud density and range; Simulate realistic breaking action effect; Display saturation, color gamma and cloud density, depending on weather conditions and time of day with real-time changing (automatically) or manually. ______________________________________________________________________ Installation : Download is via an installer provided and you deposit the plugin in your X-Plane "Resources/Plugins/" folder and the final install is 108MB. Full notes on how to use the installer were noted in the review. An uninstaller is also provided. Note: All other 3rd party (weather related) software (plugins/textures) must be removed to use this plugin Documents : Include: Ðóêîâîäñòâî ïîëüçîâàòåëÿ xEnviro User manual xEnviro And full license Agreements (EULA) Requirements : Minimum X-Plane 10.45+ or X-Plane 11 + Stable Internet Connection with data Speed no less than 512Kps Windows 7/Vista/ 8/8.1/ 10 - Not Mac compatible at this time 1Gb VRAM Recommended X-Plane 10.45+ or X-Plane 11 + Stable Internet Connection with data Speed no less than 51 Mbps Windows 7/Vista/ 8/8.1/ 10 - Not Mac compatible at this time 2Gb+ VRAM Current version: 1.04 (last updated Dec16, 2016) Software Compatibility with other plugins xEnviro” software is incompatible with 3rd party software which is used for weather loading, visual effects and other products which can modify environmental or graphical components. ______________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 19th December 2016 Copyright©2016: X-Plane Reviews Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - GeForce GTX 980/SSE2 - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.45 / X-Plane11b2 Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini : Headshake by SimCoders Scenery or Aircraft -Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 by FlyJSim (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$30.00 -Beechcraft 1900D HD Series by Carenado (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$34.95 - EGCC - Manchester Airport by Aerosoft (X-Plane.OrgStore ) - US$22.00 - EGTE - Exeter Airport by Wycliffe Barrett (X-Plane.Org) - Free

Aircraft Update! : Cessna 172SP Skyhawk v1.70 by Airfoillabs Airfoillabs have updated the Cessna 172SP to v1.70. When the c172SP was released from Airfoillabs it set a new level in immersion for General Aviation aircraft and introduced many exciting new features to the X-Plane simulator. Immersion is the word here, as from not just flying this aircraft which is highly realistic, but to the maintenance and the general running of the aircraft including wear and tear the C172SP runs to a very deep level. This made the aircraft a huge success in X-Plane and it is well deserved. In most ways the C172SP does not feel very X-Planey, it has it's own feel, intergration and sounds. But that is what makes it more interesting and more challenging than most GA aircraft. It is also something you would like or not, but the overwhelming response in the user base is for the "very much like" than the other. Features are extensive and most areas were covered in X-PlaneReviews main review of the C172SP here: Aircraft Review - Cessna 172SP Skyhawk by Airfoillabs v1.70 If you are familiar with the original release of have read through the review, then you would notice the biggest changes to the aircraft has been a complete reworking of the menu system and newly designed layouts (above right). The v1.70 update mostly continues on that theme with a new panel in the "Failures and Behaviour" menu (below right) that has been split from the "Maintenance" (belopw left) and that menu now is all focused only on repairs and the general state of the aircraft. The "Failures and Behaviour" panel now separated allows for a more bigger selection and selected failure groups which can be used in a new function of training and the handling of failures. You can also select the system fail probability factor between Never - Medium - High. I selected "Engine Systems" to fail and set the training timer to five minutes, I also set the probability factor to Medium. To start the scenario you press the "Start Scenario" checkbox and then wait unnervingly to die! It didn't take long before the engine started to cough... then splutter and the needles started to do things that they shouldn't usually do. Then the 172SP started to feel really sick! Sounded really sick! The 172SP didn't just conk out which is the easy thing to do, but just ran rough and spluttered along at a minimum of power, a look at the maintenance panel showed that my spark plugs were fouled. So I found a bit of clear ground and put the Skyhawk down... You can adjust the time of the failures, plus how many you want to... fail and which group of systems were you want those failures to happen. As we saw above or heard, the sounds have been added to simulate the problems and the overall sounds have had a few tweaks as well. So the notes in v1.70 are for the new failure system activation, New complex failures in the system, the engine failures have all been reworked and the adjoining maintenance has also been overhauled and had new components added to the already extensive list. Starting and ease of use features have been added via a slider with Ease - Medium - Real settings. And (thankfully) the actual starting (including Autostart) procedures have been made a little more realistic than before. Engine oil and EGT temperatures have also been adjusted for realism. Brake and flat tire logic has also had attention. My only quibble here is the pilots and the passengers? Their actions and animations are very good, but the texture quality is quite average and they are very visible both inside and outside the aircraft, and they look a little cartoony and in need of medical attention. Fittingly a better set of people would be more in tune with the quality of the aircraft. Summary To a point this upgrade completes the aircraft in the menu panels and systems as that with like with the maintenance menu, as it was missing at the release of the aircraft a few years ago. So the best description of this v1.70 update is to say it is a maturing of the the Cessna 172SP Skyhawk from Airfoillab's, but to note it is still an X-Plane10 version and not yet converted to X-Plane11, although I would say that release won't be too far away. Overall this v1.70 keeps this excellent Skyhawk general aviation aircraft at the front of the best of all GA aircraft, mostly through it's in depth systems and running wear and tear features, still good... now slightly better. ______________________________________________________________________ The Cessna 172SP Skyhawk by AirfoilLabs is available from the New X-Plane.Org Store here : Cessna 172SP Skyhawk And is priced at only US$34.95 ______________________________________________________________________ Full v1.70 Change log: REWORKED FAILURE SYSTEM ACTIVATION NEW FAILURES COMPLEX MENU REWORKED ENGINE FAILURES REWORKED MAINTENANCE MENU + NEW COMPONENTS AIRCRAFT MUCH MORE EASE TO OPERATE AND TO START POSSIBILITY TO SET EASE OF USE PARAMETER FAILURES SCENARIOS OPTION SMOKE IN THE COCKPIT LOGIC BIRD STRIKE BROKEN WINDSHIELD FLAT TIRE FLIGHT MODEL LOGIC NEW BRAKES LOGIC ENGINE OIL TEMP LOGIC CORRECTED ENGINE EGT TEMP LOGIC CORRECTED CORRECTIONS IN THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS AUTOPILOT 100 FEET SELECTION CORRECTED REWORKED AND CORRECTED AUTOSTART CONTROLLER PANEL TOE BRAKE AXIS CORRECTED CONTROLLER PANEL MIXTURE AXIS CORRECTED COCKPIT PANEL 3D MODEL AND TEXTURE ENHANCEMENTS SOUND CORRECTIONS NEW SOUNDS REPRESENTING FAILURES Stephen Dutton 17th December 2016 Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews

Aircraft Review : Extra 330SC by Vertigo Design Fun! Remember that... Well the PC (Politically Correct) Police have already stuffed up Christmas... sorry Festive Season (Happy Holidays is now so last year) and that it has got to us so much that the American's voted in Trump and us the English gave up completely on Europe or is that everything? But back to Fun... I take X-Plane quite seriously, too seriously I think that sometimes you just need to brighten up a little and let go. See the world from a different perspective, so how about this... No it is not a photoshopped image but a completely inverted roll, or flying upside down. This jolly of jolly's is possible because of the Extra 330SC or in the case of the aircraft's full name of "Extra Flugzeugbau EA330" that is an aerobatic aircraft that was designed in 1987 by Walter Extra, a distinguished German aerobatic pilot, and is built by Extra Flugzeugbau in Hünxe, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. And the Extra is the extraordinary World Champion Aerobatic Aircraft for 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016! It is a powerful machine as well, with a fuel-injected Lycoming AEIO-580 pushing out 300 horsepower (224 kW) and giving the aircraft incredible torque and a top speed of 408 km/h (220 knots, 253 mph). With all that power at your disposal then a full loop is a breeze, after a slight dive to build up speed... Starting to have fun yet... because it is great fun, and liberating at the same time by the sheer joy of being unbound to the earth and doing aerobatic flying without the normal constraints of doing procedures and the more routine style of flying. Cuban Eight, Hammerhead stall, Split S, Spin, tailslide, snap roll are all aerobatic maneuvers that this aircraft is built for and the "snap roll" is very, very good, it almost pulls your head off. I am no aerobatic pilot, and will never profess to be one, but if you do want to learn aerobatics in X-Plane then this is in which the aircraft to do so. The 330SC has a symmetrical airfoil, mounted with a zero angle of incidence, and that provides equal performance in both upright and inverted flight in other words the Extra can fly just as well upside down as the right way up. This Extra 330SC is done by Vertigo Design (Simon Fournier), and it is excellently modeled throughout. Basically aerobatic aircraft are just that in being very basic and extremely light, but immensely strong... and you get that feel here. You get Mr Extra as well inside the cockpit and he is really well done and looks highly realistic. It is an attractive aircraft this single-seater. It looks quite standard on the outside, but the detailing on the interior is excellent and shows the complexity of the original design. The aircraft is a welded steel tube spaceframe that is covered in aluminium and fabric. The mid-set wing has a carbon fiber composite spar and carbon composite skins. That tubing spaceframe is highly complex, and has been really well recreated here. You can feel the inner and outer construction of the aircraft and the webbing of the inner steel cage around you. Note the excellent sliding rudder pedals and the fine details of the side panel instructions set out on a perspex panel The main panel in front of you is divided into upper and lower panels, with the upper panel focusing on the main instruments including: Lower left is a clever digital trim, Com 1, transponder top row then central airspeed, altimeter, artificial horizon, manifold pressure and fuel flow and RPM + hobbs meter lower row. Lower panel has a row of fuses then... down the left in a row your left, central and right fuel tanks. Com2, cylinders temperature and Oil pressure/temperature is top row. Gmeter and chronometer are on the second row and an amp gauge is on the third row. All instruments are modern and very well selected. Four switches are for the alternator and master switch. Then you can choose to have the pilot to show or hide, but he only disappears inside the aircraft and is still visible externally, which is odd? Final switch is "white" smoke if you want to show off your moves during a display, but it is only the X-Plane smoke on or off. Very top of the panel is a large digital readout for Speed (knt/km/h) and altitude (meter/ft). This feature item is only shown when the pilot is hidden, and this also shows your speed and altitude on the edge of the wings near the wing’s triangle. This feature is very useful during your maneuvers in X-Plane because you don’t feel the speed and you can’t look at your wing and follow your speed or altimeter at the same time. There is a pop-out GNS430 that is handy and the throttle design and action is excellent. Mr Extra like we mentioned is very good, and his movements with the stick, throttle are well animated. His body is animated as well... Move the stick left or right to move those excellent control surfaces and his head moves from left to right as well, and head also movements for the up and down to the forward or rear pulling of the stick. In flight his all movements look very authentic. Being an aerobatic aircraft the control surfaces have a lot of movement, and so you have to adjust when flying to the small inputs and smoothness in not to over maneuver the aircraft. Settings for X-Planes augmentation is at 100%, and the response is set at 0% for the most realistic flying. Note the way the tailwheel is cleverly connected to the rudder and that the tube-frame is left exposed at the rear, it would have been just to easy to have filled it in, and that is great detail. Only one small but mostly hidden aspect are the main front wheels are not round, round but a bit rough in the 3d. This Extra is fast... This aircraft is blindingly fast, you don't takeoff, but more hurtle down the runway and into the air. 250knts is a starting speed once airborne! And like some demented wasp you can buzz the tower and be gone long before the controllers have any chance of reporting you to the authorities. Very tight angle banks into runways are a breeze, but your view ahead is quite restricted in finding the runway. So you will need to get your "field of View" setting correct. The biggest issue is slowing down, as there are no flaps or anything to wipe off the speed... ... the aircraft is light and will flare forever if you let it, careful on the brakes as well in case you over-end the aircraft on it's nose, the speed will come down, but pick a long runway. A note is in not to use the non-existent airbrakes, it just opens the canopy! Liveries There are four liveries in two French and two German aerobatic colours. All are of great quality, but it is a shame there is no Red bull. Summary The Extra 330SC is certainly built for a specific purpose and that is for aerobatic flight. And this X-Plane version is created and tuned for that specific role, but it delivers and it is certainly the best aerobatic aircraft in X-Plane. Design and aircraft build from Vertigo Design is all round excellent, but there are not a lot of special features but just a very good well built aircraft that flies extremely well, and even real Red Bull pilots use it for training so it must be correct in it's feel and execution of flight and aerobatic maneuvers. So that pretty well sums up the Extra 330SC, fast, light and hugely manoeuvrable and perfect for practising aerobatics to your heart's content... and it is a lot of fun as well! ______________________________________________________________ Yes! the Extra 330SC by Vertigo Design is Available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Extra 330SC by Vertigo Design Price is US$29.90 but available now with US$5 off at US$24.90 Features : Incredible flight model made for real pilots (already used by a real Red Bull Air Race pilot !) High quality 3D model Immersive sounds Realistic pilot animations High quality liveries and HD textures ______________________________________________________________________ Installation : Download file size is 137.30mb. Installed file size is 158.30 into your X-Plane "General Aviation" Folder. Documents : Included are: Vertigo Design - INSTRUCTIONS_english/french Real documents from Extra - POH_EXTRA330SC and Maintenance_EXTRA330SC Requirements : X-Plane 10 Fully updated - Any edition Windows, Mac or Linux 2Gb+ VRAM Video Card ______________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 16th December 2016 Copyright©2015: X-Plane Reviews Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - GeForce GTX 980/SSE2 - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.45 Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini

The CRJ-200 v1.70 is out and has been flown in this review. available at x-plane.org. Aerosoft are still on version v1.53! But to note that aircraft updates are going to thin on the ground until X-Plane11 gets some stability and these early patches are just that only patches for you to use them in X-Plane11, but that is better than nothing. SD

Yes you have to create an account at the X-Plane.OrgShop or register to be on the .Org, they are different places... The OrgShop sells stuff and the .Org is the portal for X-Plane... SD

Your using this aircraft with XP11? The B777 hasn't been updated to XP11 yet? And X-Plane11 is still in beta?, you also seem to be very short of disk space? For the record, mine doesn't work either in XP11? But this is not the full log.txt? you don't cut and paste the log.txt text in here, but just add the txt. file to the comment below. SD The X-Plane.OrgStore has been in operation since 2002, so yes it is very safe. I gather you want buy or use a "Gift Certificate" you can do this at the store here: http://store-x-plane-org.3dcartstores.com/Gift-Certificate_p_8.html

News! - Carenado 2016 Sales Now On! - 50% off! The 2016 Carenado sale is now on until the 18th December or for just 10 Days. 50% off all listed aircraft is a brilliant deal, including the excellent B200 King Air HD for US$17.48!, The PC 12 HD for US$17.48!, B1900 HD for US$17.48 and even the 208B Caravan for a crazy US$14.98.... yes just US$14.98! And my top ten favorite aircraft in X-Plane in the Bonanza F33A is only US$13.48! crazy, crazy, stuff ... Go Now! Go to the -> X-Plane.OrgStore for all these great deals Stephen Dutton 9th December 2016 Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews

I think you are missing the point... when you park an aircraft you shutdown the engines and connect up to an external power source (GPU or on board APU) then you shut down the systems on the aircraft that are not needed, say the fuel pumps, and other aux items, which most are listed in checklists, which the Boeing 767 has built in (menu) Go to the tab "Procedures" then "Shutdown" and the full list of items are listed there. If you want the shortcut then use the "Auto" function to do the checklist for you, but it is better to do them yourself so you learn what is what on the aircraft's systems... SD

One... the aircraft has been authorised with the key? Two... I would need the log.txt to see the problem... SD

No I haven't upgraded yet the sound packs to v1.7... just make double sure they are correctly installed, their are no comments on the forums of them not working so I would start there... An add-on note here.... In X-Plane11 b2 there is this note in the bug list "Custom engine sounds in aircraft folders work again" Reload the beta to b2 and update and recheck if the update fixes the problem... SD

I don't think that the prices are because these aircraft are popular in the western hemisphere and not in Russia? They are actually made by a Ukranian Team? The prices are what they are because the aircraft is very highly detailed, have full systems and have a huge amount of features, that is what you are paying for, and it is the same for everyone. SD

X-Plane11 - First Conversions Challenger 300 and CRJ-200 This article is a quick look at the first payware aircraft to be adjusted for X-Plane11, they are the Challenger 300 by Ddenn and the CRJ-200 by JROLLON. Adjusted is the word here, and to also note that this article is based on the X-Plane11 beta version v1.0 so it a lot will change with a few more updates from Laminar and expect more changes to any aircraft being released as updated to X-Plane11, certainly this year. In most cases this article is out of date before it hits the site, but it does show what to expect from X-Plane11 as we transfer over our aircraft from X-Plane10 to the newer X-Plane11. No doubt most developers will want to make their aircraft X-Plane11 compliant as quickly as possible, but you can go too fast before the simulator is really sorted at best. There are two approaches as shown here with the Ddenn (Challenger 300) approach in just issuing a quick "patch" to which you replace the various components within the aircraft's main file folders. The other approach with JROLLON (CRJ-200) is to do a full download of the entire aircraft package and both systems have their bonuses and negatives. Challenger 300 by Ddenn Ddenn is always very fast to issue updates whenever any changes to X-Plane versions and updates appear, and he didn't disappoint here either. He posted a quick compatibility "patch" (cl300_xp11_comp_patch_1_0.zip) that has to be distributed within the main root folder of the aircraft to the various folders that require the changes. The changes include: -Removed default sounds -Removed old style GPS and FMC -Added XP11 FMC -Added clickzones to 3d cockpit for new FMC -Fixed APU not working when "Start with engines running" option is selected -Fixed half-transparent ADI -LIT textures of the salon made brighter -Fixed Fast Start function -Fixed landing gear animation -Generated new style icons for default liveries That list includes a few surprises, but also notes what is required to be X-Plane11 compliant. The change to X-Plane11 hits on a few different areas. One it affects the landing gear (and doors), transparency (more notable here because the Challenger 300 uses a 3rd party transparency plugin), certain textures are affected, different sound system, lighting, and the new style icons for that wizz-bang new interface and all those items are on the surface, as underneath there is a small list of items to comply to that are hidden in the aircraft (.acf) file. A note is required here in that I really doubt that any aircraft that is compliant to the new X-Plane11 standards will be able to be used in X-Plane10, and in fact as the download shows for the CRJ-200 there are now two files to choose from in a X-Plane10 version and an X-Plane11 version, that will either double your downloads or if your need to chose one simulator version over the other. We are used to the glossy exterior of the Challenger 300 because of the built-in transparency plugin, but it is noted the plugin has been dialed down a little, what is very evident is the sharp dramatic contrast of the lighting in X-Plane11 and that is even more highlighted by the high gamma (bright) background. Internally the changes are even more dramatic. A lot of the Challenger's panels are now very glossy and there is a very greyed or darkened out appearance to many of the areas, the striking lighting is very poor in resolution, so it is good effect, but spoiled by the poor resolution of the reflective areas and this is especially evident from the side views across the cabin. So overall the changes within the aircraft look quite different (again I will note that this is really far to early to say this is what X-Plane11 will be finally like, but to just note the areas that are affected). But many areas that should be only textured are in fact shiny and they don't look realistic, and yet in other aircraft I have tried in X-Plane11 like my Carenado Bonanza the same textures look amazing even at this early stage. With the plugin installed the corrected liveries do show, but if like me you have a large collection of 3rd party liveries for the C300 then you just get the ? mark instead of the visual livery. The biggest quick change to the Challenger is the insertion of the new default FMS (Flight Management System)... It is first to be noted on this default FMS is that it is just a GPS navigator. There are no aircraft preferences of that particular aircraft that this FMS is installed in (except for CLB, CRZ & DES speeds/altitudes) and it uses the same standard X-Plane navigational data that is installed for the current GNS340/350 GPS. Otherwise it is a quite powerful system with SID/STAR, RNAV and Air Routes built-in with DIR (Direct-To) functionality as well. One big bonus now is that you can use the local map on the same screen as the FMS pop-out panel. This helps in quickly locating fixes (waypoints) and inserting them quickly into the FMS flightplan and building up your route very easily. A nice point is that hard turns (say 90º to approaches) are rendered correctly for the turn and the FMS looks far better on the navigation display as the route is fully outlined. This was of course just a quick patch to get the Challenger 300 flying in X-Plane11 and it highlights the changes and features that have come with X-Plane11 and like with the quick insertion of the new default FMS on how quickly things will move forward with other aircraft. The Bombardier Challenger 300 Captain Edition is available from the X-Plane.org Store : Bombardier Challenger 300 Captain Edition Price is US$29.95 Use the link to the patch (cl300_xp11_comp_patch_1_0.zip) to update the aircraft to X-Plane11. I also recommend in duplicating an aircraft for just X-Plane11 in the X-Plane11 aircraft folder. _____________________________________________________________________________________ CRJ-200 by JROLLON The Bombardier CRJ-200 by JROLLON is one of the truly great aircraft in X-Plane. Originally released in January 2012, the JRollon CRJ-200 was a landmark release for the X-Plane simulator and it still is a great aircraft, and more so since BSS created a brilliant sound package for the aircraft. But lately upgrades for the CRJ-200 have been a little slow on the ground, and so it was a bit of a surprise that the CRJ-200 was one of the very first aircraft to be updated for X-Plane11, or is it a big surprise? It is noted that J Rollon is a developer that does create some of the default aircraft that goes with the Laminar Research package, so in some ways J Rollon had an inside feel to the needs of X-Plane11. There is both now a download for either X-Plane10 and X-Plane11 so make sure the correct version goes into the correct X-Plane Application. There is another point that window's users have to install a new Visual C++ Redistributable, this is included in the download of the CRJ-200. The changes are small but interesting The X-Plane 10 update contains: -all previosusly released separate patches and hotfixes, e.g. for flying on IVAO network, high resolution cockpit, autopilot stability fix, etc... -new plugin architecture from the Steam version, which is more fps friendly and has lower memory footprint -plugin compatibility with newer MacOS systems -navdata update to X-Plane 10 default (1601) The X-Plane 11 update contains: -everything listed above for the X-Plane 10 update, plus -new cockpit object with materials, to achieve realistic effects in X-Plane 11 with PBR -new cockpit textures to match XP11 materials -mouse-wheel manipulators added to the cockpit Straight out of the box the CRJ-200 feels far more complete and at home in X-Plane11 than the Challenger 300. In other words it felt normal. The dramatic lighting only enhances the great look of the aircraft in flight. In The CRJ-2100 the panel textures have been adjusted for X-Plane11 and it makes a significant difference, but a few areas are still over glossy. The poor resolution lighting effect still makes it feel odd like it does in the C300 and certainly if it falls across the actual panel. Notable here are the sounds. They do feel far better than the original version sounds, and that brings on the question? As noted X-Plane11 does have a different sound engine that to a point has not been refined or even utilised yet. but it is different. Someone asked the question in how does that relate to the BSS (Blue Star Sky) brilliant audio package and does it work in here?, the answer is it is far to early to tell yet as the X-Plane11 system is far to green to be considered stable and BSS have yet to adjust the packages to the new system, but I would expect updates for the packages to X-Plane11 very quickly... otherwise it is just too early yet for BSS to make changes when the beta is still very much in transition. But a quick short 88nm hop showed the CRJ-200 to be very much ready for X-Plane11, it is X-Plane11 that will need to change around the CRJ and not the other way around, but make no mistake overall the aircraft still needs an update, because two working FMS units would be nice and that damn annoying GPU still doesn't work until it feels like it. At the gate one other noticeable point was the glossy coating over items that shouldn't look like they are covered in a thick plastic cover. In this case the undercarriage,wheels and tyres... funny enough it is not like that on the Challenger 300? _____________________________________________________________________________________ The CRJ-200 by JROLLON is available from the X-Plane.org Store : CRJ-200 Price is US$39.95 (on Sale right now!) Usual price is US$49.95. If you purchased the CRJ-200 via the X-Plane.OrgStore then go to your account and download the X-Plane10 or this X-Plane11 version of the updated CRJ-200. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Overall it is far too early to make real assessments or start wanting things to working totally right now until X-Plane11 goes stable or to a release version. Fixes and updates will come quickly (version 11.00b2) was released as I do this article), but my guess is that before the Christmas Season we should have something quite solid to fly over the holiday break. Stephen Dutton 7th December 2016 Copyright:X-PlaneReviews 2016

Behind the Screen : November 2016 X-Plane11 Release It happened and yes the world around you did actually change! Right on cue X-Plane11 debuted on the U.S. Thanksgiving Holiday as predicted and it was also as noted a “beta” version, that is not the full release version folks but a beta and that gets Laminar Research out of the “well it is not finished yet… but it is coming” excuse, which in other words means yes it is not finished, and secondly we can now see how many bugs we really have to sort out before it actually is. But it was always going to be a beta anyway… As with X-Plane10 the visual feel is totally different as was the feel back to X-Plane9 was different again, but considering the size of the project and the wide variety of versions required the first beta (quickly followed by 11.01b) was actually quite good and stable, but wait for the next version to get a really good base to work from as most of the outstanding bugs would have been addressed. You can download the X-Plane11 demo for free… at 6.90gb for the full download and that gets you the full X-Plane11 application, the default Seattle (tile) area and 15min flying time. To get the full “Global” version it will cost you US$59.95 and you get a key that accesses both X-Plane11 and the older X-Plane10 versions. But there is more to consider? Once you have that full version installed, you then have to redownload all the areas in the world at around 60+gb, and like me that is going to a hard one as I am only limited to 50gb downloads a month and a pipe so small that even a mouse can’t crawl through it, so the only answer may be only load a small area and to then wait till the DVD’s come out? I am testing the theory of using the XP10 tiles as a stop gap, but you won’t get the updated data in the new tiles until you fully update the new XP11 package. My first impression was the very light gamma and how many of the adjustments have been taken away on the “Graphics” page, this new X-Plane version is none adjustable in lighting, so you have to adjust your monitor to the lighting and not the usual X-Plane to your monitor, but that adjustment then makes my monitor to dark too work from? Laminar Research have noted the lighting is not yet locked in and that may change, hopefully yes, but when users are changing the basic datarefs to make it darker then obviously it is too light. On the “Graphic” page adjustments the horror of losing control of the “twiddlers” or as I call it “refining” like me is going to be hard, but there is a good light to this idea. Ben Supnic is try to make this version the best yet with a really good efficient processing as the end game, and that is just not possible with so many different areas conflicting with each other. So many areas are going locked off at their best (most efficient) settings and then refining the rest to that engine, and the first running of the simulator seems to confirm that that is the best way to go, although I will miss that fine tuning to my system it will allow more users to find that optimum setting far more quickly and easier. So the power has been taken away from the power users for the sake of efficiency and a more ease of use for new users and those that don’t have the in depth skill at running X-Plane. So is that dumbing down the simulator? No not really as if you still end up with the best running simulator in the end no matter the interface then it doesn’t matter, and it may also take away some of the frustration in trying to adjust to get the very last frame out of your processing with a situation that if it runs well here then you will have a better benchmark on how your computer is actually running at the definitive settings and not with the constant adjustment of robbing peter to run paul, and then have to readjust to get peter back or what you had in the first place… It will be interesting once X-Plane11 is sorted and how good it really can be, my first impressions are that it is going to be very good indeed. Visibility has become the number one topic on X-Plane11, or the distance mist effect. My first thoughts were that it is a little too over wrought, yes you need mist in the distance but with no real clear air directly below and closer to the aircraft looked a little unrealistic, but fly in it and it is very realistic, again just a fine adjustment to this mist area with the gamma would make it close to perfect. Yes I like the X-Plane11 look with the excellent effects with the "Physically Based Rendering" or "PBR" now working, again PBR needs a little refining but the idea is very good, and the aircraft look brilliant. I also really love as the sharp light cuts across the panel as you turn onto the runway or bank away from the sun, very realistic and make you even more immersed into the simulator. The default aircraft are also excellent, certainly the Boeing 737NG is a huge addition to the simulator, the older Boeing 744 has scrubbed up nicely as well, but all aircraft are not what you would call in depth in systems and adjustments as you expected, but they are far better than anything Laminar have included in with the simulator the past. The Cessna Citation is currently a no show, so it is obviously not finished, but everything else from the B737, B744, MD-80 and the Sikorsky S-76 are great additions. Many add-on aircraft don’t transfer over to X-Plane11 as easy as we thought they would, most if not all will need tweaking in some area or another, but give a thought to Carenado and the amount of aircraft that have to be adjusted, don’t expect them all soon or even in early 2017… it is going to be months more like it. Last note on X-Plane11 is the new interface, and yes I really love it, huge advancement from the older original version in ease of use and more in the speed and smoothness of the operation. A lot of items look like they have been dropped, but are in fact in there if you look for them, like the replay mode that puts all the Situations, Replays, Flight Data and Xavion all on one panel and ease of use. So an early impression of X-Plane11 is very impressive, by Christmas a few updates will get you closer to a stable version, but out of the box (bright gamma aside) it is going to be a great 2017 for flying in the simulator, exciting yes. I was in two minds about going away for three weeks to the UK (from Australia) in early November. Obviously X-Plane11 was coming out and November is always a very busy month with new releases and changes coming up to the holiday season. But in some ways it help close the gap from the X-Plane11 announcement and it’s actual release on thanksgiving day, so there was no sitting around for weeks fretting over what we will get and how good it it will be. There is simply no quiet time in X-Plane anymore to plan times to have a break and in fact the most busiest time this year in 2016 was in March and before and after Easter, overall after all the big releases in early November it was unusually quiet, or was that just the coming X-Plane11 effect? Flying the routes… for real So a bit of reality flying and nine hours in one seat and then follow that with thirteen hours in a smaller seat that can give you plenty to think about, but one thing is true… Flying in X-Plane compared to the real world is a far, far better deal and not as time wasting? For instance there is no… - Dragging yourself to the airport with luggage (mostly by rail) and walking three miles from the rail station to the check-in (multiply that four times over the trip) and that takes half an hour plus an hour to recover per sector. - Checking in and in Australia they make you do that twice, once electronically and again for the baggage, why I don’t know as you don’t get your boarding pass until you get to second check-in? Two hours per sector in queues to complete this process. - Immigration! They take your photo, and match it with your current photo, but I have aged eight years since my passport has been issued, loss of half an hour verifying I am the same person in both photos? - Security! I didn’t know that bottled water and small can of shaving cream (below the required 100ml) was as dangerous as a fully loaded weapon and enough plastic explosive that can bring an airliner down, obviously they are, two strip searches (and some very intimate) and the upending of all your contents that are deemed a total threat to the aviation industry will take you two to three hours to queue and clear and you will feel far less safe when cleared through than when you started. - Customs, yes another check of all the nasty things in your bags, but declare that you are insane and you will walk straight though, but older the generations of 70 years plus are deemed a real threat for terrorism or carrying fruit, an hour lost through here is fast, but Hong Kong customs is amazingly fast as they have order and if not then they create order out of chaos. - Finally getting onto the aircraft… but another security check and god help you if the person in front of you has left their passport in a coat that is buried in their luggage and can’t find it, loss of another fifteen minutes…. All of this drama and years off your life also costs you an arm and a leg and you are left with just mince pies for Christmas and no presents. Now add all that up and in X-Plane all you have to do is turn on the computer, select your aircraft, livery, place and time of day and your ready to fly… oh and you can look out of the front windows as well. Another small benefit with X-Plane is that you don’t have queue then on the taxiways for half an hour to get your turn to take off or be put in a holding pattern for an hour to land at an overcrowded Chep Lok Airport in Hong Kong, twice! And landing at Heathrow at 3.45 am in the morning will mean a breeze (and not to mention the -2º cold either) through as you end up on the Piccadilly Line straight to your hotel to find it closed till 7.30 am. Certainly X-Plane beats the real thing… You just fly! X-PlaneReviews would like to wish you all and for all your great support in 2016, a Very Merry Christmas and a sensational New Year 2017. Stephen Dutton 5th December 2016 Copyright:X-PlaneReviews 2016

I think the thing you are looking for here is reset, and not restart... In reality you don't completely shut down an aircraft at the gate, but reconfigure it for the next flight, usually the FMS has completed its last operation and by reentering the new route you should reset it, the only issue in X-Plane is moving the aircraft to another position (airport) which does not happen in real life, then you would certainly require a restart. But X-Plane11 has an interesting option that allows you to carry on from where you left off last time you shutdown the simulator, but otherwise you just set the aircraft up for the next flight as you did the first one.... SD

Neither SimCoder's or Carenado are responsible for the GNS530, it is a default Laminar Research item, both are just as easy to fit as they are basically the same unit, just the GNS 530 has a bigger space required in the panel, just make a bigger hole and slot it in? SD

Scenery Review : KLAX - Los Angeles International by FunnerFight From any point in the Pacific Basin the main gateway into the United States is still LAX or Los Angeles International Airport. Other ports that include San Francisco, Seattle and even Portland are too far north and the current favorite in Dallas-Fort Worth is too far inland. So LAX still rules in SoCal. With 655,564 movements (2015) LAX is the third busiest in the United States and seventh in the world, this airport is a busy place. Everybody is very familiar with LAX, mainly because for the last six decades the L.A. Hollywood dream machine has created a lot of television product and the many movies and documentaries have also been produced there including an endless supply of "Aircraft Investigations" So if you fly the North American continent and do a lot of Pacific routes in X-Plane, then LAX is certainly at the hub of your connections, so a very good KLAX in X-Plane is an important addition. FunnerFlight If you have been in X-Plane for a long period you would know that Jeff Mueller (aka joyfulsongster) has provided an earlier KLAX and in fact it was one of the very first detailed LAX's to come to the simulator. So is this an upgrade of that scenery?... well no, this is not a v2 or anything else but a completely new scenery from the ground up and is in no relation to the original KLAX scenery. This brings us to the biggest question on these types of mega city sceneries... framerate. You will find that the total highend quality images that X-PlaneReviews always try to produce are not going to be shown here, they are still of course excellent, but these mega city sceneries create an unusual compromise that is forced onto even the most highend and the most powerful of computer processing power. Any scenery used in say New York, London, Paris and certainly here in Los Angeles where the urban sprawl is significant does take a huge hit on your processing power for not the actual scenery itself, but for the default autogen that has to be processed around it. You certainly want that look of urban wasteland as you arrive or depart your main continental port, but what you want and what you can have is a very different situation until we get even more power and desktop supercomputing at our disposal. As a side note to this. Laminar Research have put in some major efforts this year to make the autogen as efficient as possible, X-Plane11 has been even more refined into this area, so it will be very interesting to see the effects of those refinements once the new version is more stable and functional, my early tests show that X-Plane11 is actually quite good even in this early form... certainly for Laminar Research they want the autogen to far more effective than it was in X-Plane10. So the settings have to come down slightly to get a workable 30fr, and the autogen in the L.A. basin is slightly restricted, and I will repeat that this setting change is not from the frameweight of the actual LAX scenery, but the surrounding autogen but it is a slight compromise. Scenery Installation I usually note the installation of the scenery at the end of a review, but this scenery is interesting in the way you can tailor it to the way you want it to look. The actual KLAX scenery is a simple install, with just one folder "KLAX Los Angeles International" being inserted into your X-Plane "Custom Scenery" Folder. But you do have a selection of options in first a download from Jeff Mueller's X-Plane.Org page to be able to download free two items in "Static' aircraft and "Airport Animations" for this scenery, both folders are dropped into the "Custom Scenery" Folder". Other options included as part of the package are first the option to have "greener grass" and the newer "asphalt" runway and taxiway look, but both these files do go in to your main X-Plane resources folder and will effect every scenery in X-Plane if you use them. Another option is to have the standard (X-Plane) terminal taxiway and ramp textures or use the photo-ortho versions (far more fuzzy and with less anti-aliasing) but real images of the areas. KLAX - LAX Los Angeles LAX is situated in the United States western state of California, and the airport is sited central Los Angeles on the coast. (Google maps®) KLAX - Los Angeles International (IATA: LAX, ICAO: KLAX) 6L/24R - 8,926 (2,721m) Concrete 6R/24L - 10,285 (3,135m) Concrete 7L/25R - 12,091 (3,685m) Concrete 7R/25L - 11,095 (3,382m) Concrete Elevation AMSL128 ft / 39 m First Impressions Arrival to LAX was from the east and as my landing runway was 07R from the west, I flew to the north of the airport to circuit around to land on 07R. Most earlier LAX's had a tendency to be very obvious from the air and in most cases not fitting in well with the surrounding L.A. urban sprawl. But that is not the case here. The scenery boundaries can be seen and the extended beach front does note the front of the scenery on the seashore line, but otherwise this scenery fits in very well with the surrounding X-Plane default areas. The overview image of the airport's boundaries are only highlighted by the noticeable highways not connecting to the default imagery but otherwise the intergration is not too bad. Approach to 07R from the Pacific west shows the how well the scenery is part of the X-Plane world. Viewpoints of the LAX on approach is excellent with great visual eye appeal, and yes you wish all X-Plane beaches look as good as this one does. I have the "Static' aircraft and "Airport Animations" download installed, and the huge amount of static aircraft fills up the airport to capacity with the airlines western maintenance buildings looking very realistic. Taxiways and signage are excellent and the markings are highly detailed as well. So it is easy (even at night) to navigate around this mega airport with ease (an airport diagram helps though). Great visual aspects give you all the terminals, the distinctive control tower and the flying saucer inspired "Theme Building" are all present and very well replicated. There is with the "traffic" animations installed a huge amount of service and airport vehicles running around the whole of the airport's areas, thay are not restricted to just a few inner terminal areas like a lot of developers do, but have the whole scenery covered in one complete alive system. There is a huge amount of ground infrastructure supplied with the scenery and as I pass through the south-east cargo areas they are visually filled with a lot of support to the aircraft and give you a highly realistic look of your arrival or departure. FunnerFlight have used very highly detailed ortho-photographic images and yes the textures are at a high resolution for quality, but once you are on the ground the burnt in images are very noticeable and I am personally not a very big fan of this approach as preferring to have my ramps clean and not create this odd unrealistic illusion. It is the same with the infields as well as they look quite flat and in other areas around the airport as we shall see, they are a conundrum in the fact they do look good from the air, but horrible on the ground. LAX overview Terminals and Central area The central terminal area of LAX is basically a long U shape with the various terminal arms surrounding the outer U. Center is that unusual control tower, here beautifully reproduced and authentic, the old tower is still there as well to the south and the now the "Clifton A. Moore" administration block. Tower view is exceptional with all four runways clear and no obstacles to spoil any view. Runways 24L and 24R are very close for great landing visuals. Next to the control tower is the "Theme Building" now closed except for the odd weekend thanks to 9/11. All Terminals are domestic except for the main new large terminal which is for International. Central area is mostly consists of five large carparks that are attached to the outer terminals. The Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) (right image) dominates the top of the U. And was only completed for $1.6 billion in September 2013, it is a huge complex in rivaling Heathrow's T5 building. The distinctive semi-sail roofs and the glass wall windows have been very well replicated here and the buildings look very authentic. Nine gates are configured for the A380 (F) but only one in Gate 156 is really usable here for your A380 (but it is a good one). Almost all the major international airlines use TBIT, including British Airways, Qantas, Air France, Cathay Pacific, El-Al, Emirates, Singapore, Lufthansa and most Chinese Airlines. Domestic and North American terminals are split north and south, with north... Three terminals in left to right for Terminals 1, 2 then 3. Terminal 1 is mostly LCC and Southwest. Terminal 2 is interesting because it is an international terminal for Mexico, Canada, China, Hawaii, Italy and New Zealand. Terminal 3 is Frontier, JetBlue, Spirit and Virgin. South Southside there is not only the main American domestic carrier terminals in 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 (left to right) but there are a few stand areas as well. Terminal 4 is American and American Eagle (Qantas uses the facility as well). Terminal 5 is Delta, with Terminals 6, 7 and 8 for United and United Express with Alaska Air. Further east over the Pacific Coast Hwy are two remote terminals for Delta and American Eagle... North-East of the two southern runways (07L/25R - 07R/25L) is a cargo area, more parcel than heavy freight would be my guess with their distribution warehouses. North of these areas and World Way the entrance of LAX, is... nothing! The area on the north side of World Way is dominated by hotels in the Sheraton Gateway, Crown Plaza, Los Angeles Marriott and L.A. Airport Hilton as noted on the above google 3d image, and all you get with this scenery is a complete flat image of nothingness? poor judgement there in not creating these hotel objects as they are significant to most views of the airport as it looks half complete here, and you certainly feel the blank/flatness when landing on 24L and 24R. Note: This "World Way" area has now been completed in the LAX v2.0 version, so the above notes are now not valid, full details are here: KLAX - Los Angeles v2 West The west sections of LAX are dominated by maintenance buildings for Qantas (yes Qantas do have a huge maintenance facility at L.A.) FedEx, American and United. The airport's main fuel depot is also centered here. There are two areas of remote parking in one centre by the United Base and in the far west with the larger "West Remote Gates" (top). South Cargo The southern boundary of LAX is mostly all Cargo facilities. All the big cargo names are here with Lufthansa Cargo, FedEx, DHL, JAL Cargo, Polar, Korean Air Cargo, Singapore Airlines Cargo and Nippon Air Cargo. Qantas Freight is not the cargo operation but only hold carrying as Qantas doesn't run large international cargo operations, it may yet in the future as Qantas has just reentered the domestic market again after using 3rd party operators for a few decades. There are two private jet areas with Signature and Atlantic Aviation represented. South West are all the catering companies with Gate Gourmet, Flying Food and LSG Sky Chiefs providing the onboard feasts. Lighting Lighting is good, but not overly exciting. Runway and taxiway lighting is fine and good for landing and taking off operations... but the main ramp and area lighting are the all same lights, which are quite dull. Central area with "Theme Building" and Control tower are good but one style of lighting is boring. TBIT is okay, but nothing spectacular, glass has been used more creatively than here. Ramp lighting is a great spead, but it is a bit dull down there... overall the lighting is workable, but nothing special. Services LAX is LAX and one of the most major airports in the United States, but also the world with significant services top all point on the Pacific Rim and South America. Highest passenger numbers are mostly west coast with only New York of the east coast destinations in the top ten, Chicago is the best at 3rd and Atlanta at 7th place. London is still overwhelmingly the most preferred overseas destination from LAX, followed by Tokyo then Seoul. Sydney/Melbourne numbers shows distance is still no barrier for today's traveler, but China and the Gulf states are making inroads. Domestic San Francisco, California - 1,834,000 - American, Delta, Southwest, United, Virgin America New York–JFK, New York - 1,655,000 - American, Delta, JetBlue, United, Virgin America Chicago–O'Hare, Illinois - 1,399,000 - American, Frontier, Spirit, United, Virgin America Las Vegas, Nevada - 1,337,000 - American, Delta, Southwest, Spirit, United, Virgin America Seattle/Tacoma, Washington - 1,234,000 - Alaska, American, Delta, Spirit, United, Virgin America Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas - 1,178,000 - American, Delta, Spirit, United Atlanta, Georgia - 1,070,000 - American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, Spirit Honolulu, Hawaii - 1,070,000 - Allegiant, American, Delta, Hawaiian, United, Virgin America Denver, Colorado - 1,033,000 - American, Delta, Frontier, Spirit, Southwest, United Phoenix–Sky Harbor, Arizona - 904,000 - American, Delta, Southwest, Spirit, United, US Airways International London (Heathrow), United Kingdom1,493,0104 - Air New Zealand, American, British Airways, Delta, United, Virgin Atlantic Tokyo (Narita), Japan - 1,102,1720 - ANA, American, Delta, Japan Airlines, Singapore Airlines, United Seoul (Incheon), South Korea - 1,083,5223 - Asiana, Korean Air, Thai Airways Taipei (Taoyuan), Taiwan946,4264 - China Airlines, EVA Air Sydney, Australia - 934,2158 - American, Delta, Qantas, United, Virgin Australia Vancouver, Canada - 896,49019 - Air Canada, Alaska, American, Delta, United, WestJet Guadalajara, Mexico - 746,0170 - Aeroméxico, Alaska, American, Delta, Interjet, Volaris Mexico City, Mexico - 725,5755 - Aeroméxico, American, United, Volaris Toronto (Pearson), Canada - 619,2272 - Air Canada, American Paris (Charles de Gaulle), France - 579,3112 - Air France, Air Tahiti Nui Hong Kong, Hong Kong - 553,2148 - Cathay Pacific Shanghai (Pudong), China - 512,4564 - American, China Eastern, Delta, United Dubai (International), United Arab Emirates - 486,97513 - Emirates Beijing (Capital), China - 464,8324 - Air China Melbourne, Australia - 445,5253 - Qantas, United Summary Mega airports are always a compromise in simulation, and so it with this very good LAX from FunnerFlight. You can't replicate everything with so much area to cover and that also is a mirror for your framerate as well. In fact this scenery is very good on framerate, but you do have to compromise on the extended default autogen to use it with a bit of headroom to spare. Otherwise it is very good and highly usable scenery. Negatives. With the use of good ortho-photographic textures they can be a huge advantage and disadvantage at the same time, great from the air in the intergration with the default area around the airport but prone to flatness and burnt in images on the ground as they are again a needed compromise that works more for you here than not. But the missing north World Way flattened hotel buildings are a major element of the airport that shows up how the ortho flatness can be a huge distraction in an otherwise well completed scenery... this area needs to fixed with 3d buildings and quickly as it takes away a lot of good points off a good scenery for creating such a blank empty area of the airport.. Lighting is only good to average at best. The airport's infrastructure in buildings and ramp elements are all very good and detailed as is all the excellent animations (including hangar doors). The visual impact of landing at LAX is very complete and as scenery it works very well as LAX is a main connecting segment of any good X-Plane routing network either domestically in the U.S. or Internationally over the Pacific Rim, Canada or Europe. So yes this is a very good LAX from FunnerFlight and a welcome addition into your X-Plane network ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the KLAX - Los Angeles International by FunnerFight is Available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : KLAX - Los Angeles International Price is US$24.95 Features Custom objects to mimic the real airport Over 13000 objects are included in the scene ATC taxi routes and 4 runways with Wind rules. Animated Airport Over 100 Animations, most using GroundTraffic by Marginal. Dozens of gates with Marginal's Safegate Docking System Photo Scenery Airport Close to 20 sq mi of aerial photography High-Definition resolution: 30 cm (1 foot) X-Plane or ortho-texture terminal taxiway option ______________________________________________________________________ Installation : Download scenery file size is 629.50mb. Installed file size is 1.80gb "KLAX Los Angeles International" being inserted into your X-Plane "Custom Scenery" Folder. But you do have a selection of options in first a download from Jeff Mueller's X-Plane.Org page to be able to download free two items in "Static' aircraft and "Airport Animations" for this scenery, both folders are dropped into the "Custom Scenery" Folder". Other options include in to having "greener grass" and the newer "asphalt" runway and taxiway looks. Documents : Included is a "Quickstart" install and notes on how to install the extra options. Requirements : X-Plane 10.30+ (Any edition) Windows, Mac or Linux 2Gb Video Card Minimum. 3GB+ Video Card recommended - 16Gb RAM Please read the manual before you start. Download size: 600+MB ______________________________________________________________________ Review by Stephen Dutton 3rd December 2016 Copyright©2015: X-Plane Reviews Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - GeForce GTX 980/SSE2 - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 10 Global ver 10.45 Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Scenery or Aircraft - Douglas DC-8 by Wilson's Aircraft (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$25.00

Little early yet... XP11 is still an early beta, but most current aircraft should be updated quickly, but the B787-9 is an odd one as the developer died last year, but I am sure someone can do the update as it is based on X-Plane's PlaneMaker app and not a plugin. SD

Aircraft Plugin Review : Reality Expansion Pack (REP) for Carenado B58 Baron SimCoders have released their latest REP or Reality Expansion Pack for Carenado's B58 Baron general aviation aircraft. This expansion pack covers many areas including the aircraft's flight dynamics, more onboard systems and failures, extra tools including maintenance hangar, a kneeboard, the weight & balance and an extensive walkaround, sounds are also more highly advanced. Carenado B58 Baron Before we cover the REP package, let us familiar ourselves with the original Carenado B58 Baron. The aircraft was released now in Nov, 2012 and that is four years ago to date. That is not to say the aircraft is old or out of date, in fact it is the opposite in the fact with the many updates and revisions the current v3.0 release is a pretty solid aircraft now with very few if any bugs or quirks. Admittedly it is a fairly basic aircraft, and has few real special effects. But that is to the good as the aircraft is brilliant and simple to fly, and a great starter for anyone who wants to learn to fly a good solid twin-engined aircraft, as for being a very good twin training aircraft I can't think of any better aircraft to use. The B58 Baron still looks and feels great as well, the lines are clean and unfussy, and it is quite fast at 205 knots (380 km/h, 236 mph) at sea level, with a Cruise speed of around 190-180 knots. Cockpit and panel is fairly basic, but again great for a first time user or if you just want a no fuss fly to somewhere. Most instruments are oriented for the pilot and the right seat is really just for casual flying. Switchgear is set out all together behind the pilot's yoke, not a lot of adjustment here like with the panel lighting (on/off) but still very comprehensive in detail. centre pedestal has all you need but nothing more in the standard throttle, propeller (feather) and rich/lean mixture levers and trim wheels. Equipment stack is dominated by two Garmin GNS 430's GPS. Both pop out for ease of use. Standard issue Garmin 347 audio panel is top with the KFC225 Bendix King autopilot below (then the two Garmin's) with a Garmin GTX 327 transponder centre and finally lower a KR87 TSO ADF unit. Cabin Cabin seating is arranged in a four seat club layout with a folding out table (very nice). Cabin detailing and (spot) lighting is excellent, and as this is an early Carenado, you still get the baggage items behind the seats and in the forward baggage compartment. Only two pop-out menus with the standard Carenado "Cameras" panel and the lower "options" panel, both are basic and there is no "autopilot" pop out that you usually get with current Carenado's. Liveries There is one blank (white) livery and four graphic liveries with the aircraft SimCoders Reality Expansion Pack (REP) for Carenado B58 Baron So the Carenado B58 Baron makes a very good basic platform to add on a REP package. These Reality Expansion Packs are created to extend many areas of the aircraft's flight dynamics and systems and to improve on the already very good layouts from Carenado. Installing the REP Installing the REP package is really quite easy, as in the download package you get just one folder named "REP" and that folder is installed in the aircraft's plugin folder (just drop the whole folder in) and that is it, very easy and done quickly. I do recommend to have two complete versions of the Carenado B58 Baron, the standard one and one I labeled "Carenado B58 Baron REP" because you never know if you just want the basic version to just simply fly, as we shall see. When you start up the REP version of the B58 Baron you are asked for a key (provided) and the authorisation page is on the X-Plane "plugins" menu under "SimCoders.Com - REP" The drop down menu also gives you a "settings" panel to: Enable the plane damages Show Failure messages Enable Mouse gestures Save and restore aircraft staus between (flying) sessions Enable hypoxia effect use imperial or metric units With the REP package installed you also get a five tab menu on the left side of your screen. These tabs cover: Kneeboard - Walkaround - Tow - Maintenance Hangar - Weight & Balance Kneeboard First upper tab is the kneeboard or checklist feature. pop-up Kneeboard is very good and covers Normal Operations, Emergency Procedures and References (v Speeds). The kneeboard is very handy and comprehensive, but annoying as well because it constantly pops up for no reason if you press items on the panel or touch other things releated or not to the feature. Walkaround Second tab is the walkaround feature. Walkaround features are now very common in X-Plane, but this was one of the first and it is still very good. You press to check and go around the aircraft in a clockwise motion... ... It is more involing than most as many items are animated like your Ailerons, flaps, elevator and rudder. You press the centre button to check (animate) with sound all the flying surfaces, it is comprehensive and very good. You can hide/add external elements like tie-downs, chocks and engine covers... ... but the walkaround goes a lot further than that as you can also check tire wear, Oil Quantity, fuel Quantity and even the water contamination within your fuel tanks, it is as note a very comprehensive check of the aircraft. Tow You can manoeuvre the aircraft around with the third tab tow feature You need to turn off the brakes, then use your joystick with up-down for forward/reverse and left-right for left turn/right turn. Maintenance Hangar The fourth tab is the Maintenance Hangar feature that allows you to check wear and tear on the aircraft and if required then perform Maintenance to fix or rectify the issues. First two tabs relate to the two engines and their general wear and tear. As I have not done too much flying yet, the settings are still mostly as new, but you need to keep a eye on the items on this panel as you use the aircraft or suffer the consequences. There are two options on the "Engine Tools" tab. One is the "Winterization Kit" that puts two cowl fairings in the engine inlets, but watch your temperatures to not over heat the engine if you move to higher temperatures. Second is another winter tool in that you can pre-heat the engines with a (noisy) heater provided outside the aircraft. Last two items on the maintenance hangar panel is the Maintenance for both "Electrical/Electronics" and "Landing Gear/Brakes". Also note that many items on this maintenance panel are also noted on the walkaround feature and vice-versa, and all items in the maintenance panel to be changed/fixed can also only be done with the engines switched off and you have to be on the ground. Weight & Balance Another item that was rare but now common on X-Plane aircraft is the "Weight & Balance" panel. The SimCoder's version is very good with a "Centre of Gravity" graph to show you your balance and weight on the aircraft. All weights including pilots and passengers can be inputted along with their baggage. Fuel can be added or emptied, and you get C.G. predictions with estimated flying time. A total summary of all weights is shown bottom left. You can then apply all weights and fuel input to the aircraft. (note just check you do have actual fuel on board before you fly, as most times the aircraft is shown empty and not half-full as usual by X-Plane standards. Flying the SimCoder's B58 Baron Although the Carenado version is of very high quality, you do have say another complete step of features by using this expansion package. SimCoder's have made sure you get the best possible real life experience that you can get with the REP package, but one feature that I can't simply surmount every time I use the REP is just starting the engines? Yes I understand that old aviation piston engines are cranky things, just like old cars can be. But the time and effort required here to start the engines can be a bit daunting... worse here as you have two cranky engines to start and not just one? There was the point that just simply cranking over the engine with no go can go past the point of just leaving the REP package and just going back to standard Carenado aircraft to just go and fly. I have the REP package on the excellent Carenado Bonanza F33A and although I loved the added realism of the REP package, the starting feature continued to beat me and maybe I should have persisted more than returning to the standard Carenado version. Worse here than the single-engined Bonanza is my add-on Saitek throttle works both the right and left engines at the same time. SimCoders do provide hints, but they don't seem to work well for me, the starting window is sometimes just toooo tight in making it believable and accessing the rest of the package. In the most cases when they do start it is in just sheer luck or persistence, and with no constant patterns to follow, you just start churning again when you come back to restart the engines? If they flood your sunk... No doubt this is all very authentic, and I don't say that SimCoders have not done a brilliant job in recreating a perfect feel for this environment, but a slight helper or reset would make all the difference to this sequence of the simulation. If they do actually start I do love the adjustments to warm up the engines, no doubt this is highly realistic, and you can't fly until the engines are actually ready to go and all the needles are showing all the correct numbers and temperatures. You have to find the right RPM or otherwise the engines will growl at you (or at the worst conk out!), too fast and you are running too fast and too slow is the death zone. But you find the right setting by leaning the engines and adjusting the throttles, certainly a split throttle system is a real bonus with this REP here. We could never criticise Carenado's packaged sounds, but SimCoder's have certainly added a lot to the variety and depth of the sounds, certainly in the range in the engines. You now go from engine clicks and stutters, to and excellent start sounds, to the many varied sounds in the lower lean and idle throttle zones. To a point these sounds are important for you to guess the condition of the engines and the correct lever adjustments make the correct feedback including the horror "stutters" and misfiring fouled plugs... It is all very well done for realism if not for the stress it can also cause to your already fragile heart. Fine details like propeller sync can also effect the torque of the engines and you have to use it realistically here and switching on is under 25% RPM, if not you get a warning. As you adjust the engine RPM (locked together here under the single throttle control) there is a noticeable difference between each engine in performance. Certainly these differences will expand more as wear and tear with more hours of flying take their effect, and any maintenance performed is noticeable on the sounds and gauges as well. Excellent extra sounds continue in the air. Wind sounds and landing gear activation and wind noises all add into the effects of realism, but the cruise engine drone is an acquired taste, and you lose a little of the those lovely 3d surround sounds that come with the Carenado version. SimCoder's advise to use their excellent "Headshake" plugin and I would certainly second that, in fact I always use headshake as it is a very good effect plugin on all aircraft... take it away and you certainly see and feel the difference, so it is a must have in X-Plane. Systems in oil and electrical are highlighted as well and you can have oil pump failures and realistic vapour lock. SimCoder's have tuned the Baron for more realistic stall speeds & behavior, correct climb speeds and more realistic cruise speeds, the aircraft does feel significantly different. I flew the standard Baron down from KLAL to KRSW Florida and with the REP version doing the return trip, and yes the aircraft is a marked contrast from the original in all aspects of the flight model, certainly you notice the engine behavior is very different machine from the more highlighted sounds and gauges. Summary The start point with the standard Carenado version (which you have to already have to use this REP package) is certainly an excellent base line, as it is a great simple twin-engined aircraft that is sweet and easy to fly. So the extensive intergration of the Reality Expansion Pack (REP) does feel and add in a huge difference and experience to that base model design. And extensive it certainly is... the package covers a huge amount of detail, but mostly it concentrates on the feel, running and realism of running those two IO-550 engines. You work hard in this cockpit just working the levers to get the right outcome of keeping those two cranky engines flyable and in a good workable condition, and that certainly expands out the experience of using and flying your own B58 Baron aircraft and in the end that is the ultimate goal of these packages in realistically replicating the ownership of a certain type of aircraft. Negatives... for one mastering the start and operation of the engines is one of the biggest challenges you face, most owners of these REP packages will have easily done so, so don't fret it can't be done, but do expect to find that an early learning curve. The constantly popping-up kneeboard is seriously annoying, as it come on the screen at important points in your flying, like taking off or landing, and yes it is a distraction you don't need unless called for, and the drone sounds are for a particular ear. But I did really like the ultimate realism of running the aircraft and maintaining those engines, this is of course no load in X-Plane and fly aircraft, as the walkaround has to be completed and the engines when started need time to warm up and settle down (just like the real thing). Maintenance needs to be completed and this is an aircraft that would require a log book and running details noted down, but then that is what the REP is all about, ultimate realism of running your own General Aviation aircraft... and in that scenario you get the full works here. ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! the SimCoders Reality Expansion Pack (REP) for Carenado B58 Baron is available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Reality Expansion Pack for Carenado B58 Baron Price is US$19.99 Required for the use of this plugin! B58 Baron by Carenado: Carenado B58 Baron Price is US$29.95 REP Plugin Features Include: Ultra Realistic Flight & Ground Dynamics Realistic stall speeds & behavior Realistic climb speeds Realistic cruise speeds Realistic Weight & Balance Realistic taxi behavior Complex Damages System Triggered by the pilot actions Based on real world data Target every system in the aircraft Meant to teach you how to correctly manage an airplane Realistic IO-550-c Engine Simulation Realistic propeller animations as never seen before on X-Plane Realistic differencies between the engines Different throttle/propeller/mixture setting required for each engine Different CHTs and oil temperatures Realistic engines synchronization Custom propeller governor Correct fuel consuption Cowl Flaps Drag Oil System: Realistic oil viscosity Interchangeable oil type Oil pump failures Realistic oil filter Injection Fuel System: Realistic fuel pump behavior Realistic fuel filter Interchangeable spark plugs: default or fine-wire Spark plugs fouling Realistic Lean of Peak and Rich of Peak operations Starter Realistic startup procedure Realistic engine temperatures Vapor Lock Simulation Fuel Flooding simulation The engine parts are damaged if not managed correctly Engine Preheater and Winterization Kit The engine may be warmed up upn start with the provided electrical heater Once activated, the electrical heater runs even when you close the simulator A winterization kit let the airplane to operate at very cold temperatures Realistic Landing Gear The landing gear is damaged by hard landings and overspeed operations The brakes and tires are damaged if not managed correctly Electrical & Avionics System Realistic Battery The avionics are damaged if on when the engine starts/shuts down Learn with the in-flight tips A non invasive tip with a suggestion about the conduct of the flight is shown when you are not flying the airplane properly A non invasive tip with a suggestion on how to recover the problem is shown when you damage the airplane Simulation of Hypoxia Tunnel Vision Hard Breathing Stunning sounds Realistic engine clicks and stutters Realistic engine humming sounds when the engines are not synchronized Real starter sound Fuselage wind sound Landing gear wind Independent touch down sounds Real avionics sound Realistic open window wind sound Interactive Walkaround Cockpit checks Aileron, rudder, elevator and flaps check Tire check and choks removal Tie-down removal Pitot tube check Engine cowl check Fuel quantity check Oil quantity and quality check Interactive towing Push, pull and steer using the joystick Towbar simulation Weight & Balance Tool Load the airplane and check the C.G. and weight limits at takeoff and landing The airplane behavior changes when the C.G. moves Popup Kneeboard Complete normal operations checklist Complete emergency operations checklist Complete reference tables (speed, fuel consumption etc.) May be shown/hidden with mouse gestures Simulation state saving Every single switch and lever position is restored when you reload the aircraft The battery may discharge if you leave it on and then close X-Plane When X-Plane is launched, the engine and oil temperature are restored basing on the time passed Maintenance Hangar Engine maintenance tab Electrical systems maintenance tab Oxygen system tab Landing gear, brakes & tires tab ______________________________________________________________________ Requirements : X-Plane 10.50+ (any edition) The B58 Baron by Carenado is required for this add-on. It will not work on other aircraft Current version: 2.61 (last updated Nov 22, 2016) ______________________________________________________________________ Installation : Download is 5.80 mb which is unzipped and inserted to the Carenado B58 Baron "Plugins" folder. Key authorisation is required. Documentation : includes Manual.pdf README_INSTALLATION.txt REP-b58-checklists-references.pdf ______________________________________________________________________ Plugin Review by Stephen Dutton 30th November 2016 Copyright©2016: X-Plane Reviews Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 16 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - GeForce GTX 980/SSE2 - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 10 Global v10.50 Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Headshake by SimCoders (free)

Laminar Research : X-Plane 11 Beta Released! Laminar Research have releases as predicted on Thanksgiving 2016 a "Beta" copy of X-Plane11. That note of a "Beta" is very important in the fact this is not a release version of the simulator, but an early in test version of what X-Plane11 is. And yes it is quite buggy, so if you want the full effect of the new X-Plane version, then I recommend a wait of a few weeks for the system to find a better level. You have two choices at this point in downloading the free "Demo" version or with a payment of US$59.95 for the Global version (key) with X-Plane10 thrown in for free. A second note is that to run the global version you will need the X-Plane10 "Global Scenery" as at this point in time there is only a internet download version of 6.90gb available to acquire X-Plane11. Getting the X-Plane11 Beta To download the X-Plane11 beta then go to the Laminar Research site here... www.x-plane.com From this download page you can download a X-Plane11 installer that is pretty similar to the one used in the past for X-Plane10... On startup of the installer are five segment in installing the simulator with the first with you have to agree to "End User" license and for that Laminar Research can use your user data for diagostic purposes Second segment the installer will check your servers (hard drives/SSD) for where to install X-Plane11. If you don't agree to the favored selection then give the installer your own install address position. You still have the options to cancel the install or buy the full "Global" version before continuing with the installation. Press "Continue" and the install will commence... There is as mention 6.90gb to download, and mine over a slowish ADSL2 broadband took around 1h.30m which was quite good with no issues. X-Plane11 Where as in X-Plane you had one long startup procedure. It is now split into two sections, and initial start to the selection page is quite short. The full screen setup is very, very nice and feels far more modern than the old startup screens In the Demo mode you get the introduction video to X-Plane and again like X-Plane10 the Seattle area is the default demo area. Main selection page Four selection choices cover... New Flight Load Saved Flight Flight School Settings "New Flight" goes to the main "Configuration" setup panel... This allows you to set up the Aircraft, Location, Weather and Time of Day selections. When done just press "Start New Flight" and X-Plane11 will do the final loading of the selections and area selected. No doubt X-Plane11 does load far faster than X-Plane10, and is far smoother in its complete operations, but I did get a few screen freezes and more than I would like at this stage. I have a Saitek x52Pro (black) joystick & Throttle, I have been able to set it up, but have issues saving the settings as it crashes the sim every time, and I can't set the switches and buttons on the add-on to my liking (yet). Menu Bar There is a new drop down menu bar with now two sets of menu options with Titles left and Icons right Title (word) menus consist of Five drop down menus including: File - Flight - View - Developer - Plugins Icon Menus consists of Six selections Pause Icon : Now you can "Pause" the simulator via an icon besides still using the standard "P" key Aircraft Icon : Pressing the Aircraft Icon brings up the earlier "Flight Configuration" panel Headset Icon : Pressing the Headset Icon brings up the ATC (Air Traffic Control) panel Pick Icon : Pressing the Pick Icon brings up the "Local Map" panel with built in glideslope (which makes it much more accessible) Settings Icon : Pressing the Settings Icon brings up the "Graphic" settings panel The "Graphics" set up page is now greatly simplified (maybe too much?) with most selections replaced by sliders... biggest change is that the standard - HDR setting is now one setting, so there is no HDR off selection! Monitor settings are here also, but make sure you get the right monitor settings correct or it affects your computers settings as well! Other Menu Tabs here consist of: General - Sound - Graphics - Network - DataOutput - Joystick - Keyboard - GPS Hardware ? Question Icon : Pressing the ? mark Icon starts up your default browser and loads up the Laminar Research "Manual" page You very quickly find your way around this excellent menu system, and it is fast, very fast and smooth in operation. But many items required do require a drill down procedure to get to the setting you require. But overall it is a very efficient interface. First Impression Overall still a bit buggy, CTD (Crash To Desktop) is common when configuring the joysticks (as noted) and I haven't yet completed the settings. First notes on the forums note poor gamma, and X-Plane11 is very bright, and there is no gamma setting as I can find it Reducing the day light towards dawn or twilight, brings a little colour (top) but otherwise it is all very bright. The Citation Aircraft is missing as well? Summary This post was never meant from the start as a full in depth review of X-Plane11, but just a how to load the new version and a first impression point of view. It looks good, but you feel a loss of a lot of settings as many have been combined together to do the same job, but you do feel a little loss of visual setting up control. Certainly the adjustment will be in there, and with time and a learning curve you will get the visual feeling correct. But X-Plane11 feels very efficient, smooth and quick in loading and use. The simulator here is also set at it's (very) basic settings. So there are no 3rd party aircraft or plugins yet running in here, as noted you can with the download version swap over your "Global Scenery" and "Custom Scenery" folders, but I recommend to add in your 3rd party aircraft into X-Plane11 and don't just swap over the "Aircraft" folders because of the new way the aircraft are noted in the new visual menu system. Certainly more to come to this post as the menus are quite deep and slightly complex. So X-PlaneReviews will keep posting more on the simulator as it settles down from the beta versions to the full release version... but it looks good. Stephen Dutton 26th November 2016 Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews

No offense, but I feel you have spent little time with the Challenger 300. A glance over and not really flying the aircraft for a period of time. It is not called the best Private Jet in X-Plane for a reason. Choices are hard in picking what you want, but they are just that a choice, you can't just return everything you don't like, but overall you need to give all aircraft time to become part of your hangar selection, the flying is just as important as the visual satisfaction... SD

News! - Black Friday Sales Now On! Yes Folks it is that time of year again as the post thanksgiving hangover screams into looking at all the niceties on offer at prices you can actually afford on the X-Plane.Org store site. Yes all offers range from 20% to an amazing 60% off and that is off everything except the very latest releases. Yes there is some significant deals on offer here and you have only till Tues 29th night to get the deal done. Go to the -> X-Plane.OrgStore now Stephen Dutton 25th November 2016 Copyright©X-Plane Reviews: X-PlaneReviews