Stephen

Then send me that log.txt?

The warning is not in the log.txt? you have to start from LFSB or at least load it to get the warning... I think you started at LOWW_Wien? wrong airport?

You need to do as the warning says... Go to your X-Plane Log.txt and see what the problem is and fix it, odd though because JustSim's scenery rarely uses external library objects? This is NOT Orbx scenery... so does not use Orbx objects, check the log.txt?

Aerobask tries to replicate the system in the real aircraft, so it may not look like a G1000 but the system actually is, no you are not going to get a full G1000 set up in the Victory, but try to use the system provided? I do admit the Victory is due for an an update as this release is 2016, so your prayers my be answered anyway...

Aircraft Review : Avro Vulcan B Mk.2, K.2 and MRR by JustFlight The Avro Vulcan (officially Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963), is a four-engined jet-powered delta wing strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. The Vulcan B.1 was first delivered to the RAF in 1956; deliveries of the improved Vulcan B.2 started in 1960. The B.2 featured more powerful engines, a larger wing, an improved electrical system and electronic countermeasures (ECM); many were modified to accept the Blue Steel missile. As a part of the V-force, the Vulcan was the backbone of the United Kingdom’s airborne nuclear deterrent during much of the Cold War. Although the Vulcan was typically armed with nuclear weapons, it was capable of conventional bombing missions, a capability which was used in Operation Black Buck during the Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina in 1982. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe and Company (Avro) designed the Vulcan in response to Specification B.35/46. Of the three V bombers produced, the Vulcan was considered the most technically advanced and hence the riskiest option. Several reduced-scale aircraft, designated the Avro 707, were produced to test and refine the delta wing design principles. The other V Bombers were the Vickers Valiant and the Handley Page Victor. The aircraft produced here also includes Avro Vulcan B Mk2 modeled on XH558 "The Spirit of Great Britain". Which is the last flying Vulcan that is flown by the Vulcan to the Sky Trust and the aircraft XH558 and is currently based at EGCN - Doncaster/Sheffield of which X-PlaneReviews covered in a review just earlier this year. The project here is a collaboration between JustFlight and Thranda Design, JustFlight with the initial modeling and design, and Thranda with the excellent X-Plane conversion, sounds, flight dynamics and systems. This is not the First Avro Vulcan however for X-Plane, there is an old FlightSim version that was converted to X-Plane and released as freeware back in 2014; Freeware Release : Avro Vulcan BMk2 by Daniel G and for the time period this Vulcan version was pretty good, but In reality you can't compare that aircraft to this ground up built X-Plane version, certainly not in the high detail. There are three variants of the Vulkan covered here, in the Mk.2, K.2 and the MRR Mk.2 Standard Vulcan in Mk.2 guise. K.2: Six B.2s were converted for air-to-air refuelling with the Mark 17 Hose Drum Unit (HDU) mounted semi-recessed in tail cone. The TFR was deleted. The Three tanks are positioned in the bomb bay giving the K.2 a fuel capacity of almost 100,000 lb (45,000 kg). The six aircraft were converted to used as an aerial bridge to the Falkland Islands after the War, as the Victors had by that date had more limited capacity and airframe (old) limitations. MRR: Nine B.2s were converted to the Maritime Radar Reconnaissance role, these aircraft came with the underwing MRR - (sniffer) Pods for taking samples of the upper air for scientific analysis and nose blade aerials. There are also seven individual optional equipment choices (done from the livery/‘config.json’ file) that includes: Inflight Refueling probe, Both 201 and 301 Rolls Royce Olympus engines (201 - 17,000 lbf (76 kN) thrust) - (301 - 20,000 lbf (89 kN) thrust), TFR Dome (Terrain-Following Radar ), Modern Aerials, ECM (Electronic Counter-Measure) tail cone, K.2 Drum Kit and the MRR air sampling pods and nose blade aerials. Detail In this price range you do expect great modeling detail. In fact JustFlight set themselves a very high level with their excellent BAe Systems Hawk T1/A, and a supreme high-quality machine that was... But they have done just as well here also with the Vulcan Mk2. This is respectfully a far a harder aircraft to get detail into, because basically the Vulcan is all wing, and not much aircraft per se... ... that full wing shape also created inadvertently a large advantage in that it also had a very small radar signature, In being a cold-war bomber that is certainly a bonus in warfare and the start of the race to create very low radar signatures on most current designs, with the F-17 Nighthawk being the most extreme example. The JustFlight modeling team had full access to Vulcan M655 based at Wellesbourne Mountford and is the default livery of the series, and that intimate detail is certainly shown here, but the aircraft noted is in it's current restoration state, and that is good in creating the right feel we would want from these old cold-war birds. So note the worn window surrounds and tired glass, this is not a new aircraft but a very authentic reproduction of XH588. It is all very well done. Gear detail is the same in aged, slightly corroded, but highly realistic. Internal wheel wells are filled out with great detail, so nothing is hidden here or missed. Complex, but original... the gear construction is first rate (so are the animations) with all struts and supports well modeled, and note the huge wheel well box sizes. That wing leading edge is complex with a big C from a modellers perspective. So it is very easy to take the easy way out and just do the straight wing, but here it is all the complex curves interacting with each other and the work is extremely well done. Wingtips are really art in the way they are created with such smoothness... impressive. Lovely bulbous tailcone is really again well modeled, note the engine exhausts that are neatly set into the wing, small details abound to again create that authentic feel, the Olympus engines are buried within the wings, sadly, but their internal shapes are well seen... .... again the tired worn glass of XH588 is seen on the tail, but this is a beautifully rendered tail, lots of shape and highly realistic. So the modelling overall is excellent and a great representation of this great old (cold) warbird. Note if the power is selected off and the parking brake is on then the Vulcan displays the static elements. They include engine inlet and exhaust covers, chocks, flags and the two pilots disappear in the cockpit (hard to see). Menu The JustFlight menu is to the left of the screen, the arrow tab can be hidden via a scrolling your mouse over the tab. There are 18 selections including the 2D pop-up panels: Checklist, Flight computer, Payload menu, Alternator control panel Secondary supplies panel/AAPP control panel and Autopilot control panel. And button selections for: Toggle cold and dark, or engines running (WARNING - Also totally resets the flight), Air refuelling hose (K.2 variant only), Pilot’s helmet sun visor, RAT deployment, (show/hide) ground equipment, (show/hide) control sticks, Deploy drag parachute, Instrument reflections, Window reflections, Show/hide the co-pilot, (open/close) Bomb bay doors and (open/close) Crew access door Checklist, Flight computer: Here you have a 16 page checklist that covers most aspects of starting up and shutting down the Vulcan. Second is a Flight Computer display that covers: Outside air temperature (OAT) – Celsius and Fahrenheit, Groundspeed (GS) – nautical miles per hour, statute miles per hour and kilometres per hour, Endurance – hours and minutes, Range – nautical miles, statute miles, kilometres, Nautical miles per gallon and statute miles per gallon, Density altitude and pressure altitude (feet), True airspeed (knots), track (degrees) and drift (degrees), Fuel flow – gallons and litres, Fuel used – total fuel burn (gallons), Crosswind component (knots), Headwind/tailwind component (knots) and the total fuel burn can be reset by clicking on the lower RESET FUEL BURN button. Payload menu: Next is an excellent Payload menu for easily setting up the aircraft of what type or combination of weapons and equipment you require for the mission. It is extremely easy to use (the menu looks nice as well) you can set your loads to match your mission. Choices are: Blue Steel... The Avro Blue Steel was a British air-launched, rocket-propelled nuclear armed standoff missile, it was built to arm the V bomber force. It allowed the bomber to launch the missile against its target while still outside the range of surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). The missile proceeded to the target at speeds up to Mach 3, and would trigger within 100 m of the pre-defined target point, it was a forerunner of the current Cruise Missiles. MK13 bombs: Three racks of Mk13 bombs. The Mark 13 is a nuclear bomb and its variant, the W-13 nuclear warhead. Mark 13 design used a 92-point nuclear implosion system (see Nuclear weapon design). It is a similar 92-point system was used in later variants of the Mark 6 weapon and the Mark 13 nuclear bomb design was tested at least once, in the Operation Upshot–Knothole Harry test shot conducted on May 19, 1953. The estimated yield of this test was 32 kilotons. WE.-177: The WE.177, originally styled as WE 177, and sometimes simply as WE177, was a series of tactical and strategic nuclear weapons equipping the Royal Navy (RN) and the Royal Air Force (RAF). WE.177A weighed 272 kilograms (600 lb), and had a variable yield of 10 kt (42 TJ) or 0.5 kt (2 TJ) and WE.177B weighed 457 kilograms (1,008 lb), with a fixed yield of 450 kt (1900 TJ). Both WE.177 A/B were flown on the Vulcan. With the JustFlight Vulcan you get two WE.177 nuclear bombs to play with. MRR-PODS: As seen in the MRR version above. The K.2 or MRR version is required for this option. Saddle Tanks and Cylinder Fuel Tanks: There are two 5,000 lbs of fuel Saddle Tanks available, these compare to the 8,000 lbs Cylinder Tanks used for refueling, but both sets can be carried. Other visual Menu items include: Alternator control panel Secondary supplies panel/AAPP control panel and Autopilot control panel. The alternator control panel features the following controls and indicators: Voltmeter and frequency meter for the selected incoming alternator. RAT and AAPP test push-buttons, used to obtain the readings for these supplies on the meters. Alternator selector switch, incorporating a push-button to facilitate synchronisation of alternators. Use the mouse scroll wheel to rotate it and left-click to push in on the centre push-button. EXTRA SUPPLIES TRIP push-button, used to trip any extra supply (RAT, AAPP, 200-volt ground supply) from the synchronising busbar. Mimic diagram of the 200-volt system. The diagram incorporates a voltmeter and a frequency meter to show supplies at the synchronising busbar, magnetic indicators which show continuity when an S breaker is closed and amber lights to show when an alternator is not connected to its own busbar. Magnetic indicators for the RAT and AAPP show continuity when they are connected to the synchronising busbar. Centrally positioned red alternator failure warning light (duplicated on the centre instrument panel) which illuminates steadily if one alternator fails and flashes if two or more fail. AAPP ON push-button. Beside each S breaker indicator is an alternator ISOLATE button. Beside each amber light is an alternator RESET button. NON-ESSENTIAL SUPPLIES TRIP/RESET switch, spring-loaded to the central (guarded) position. This switch can be used to trip non-essential supplies without releasing the RAT and to reset non-essential supplies once power has been restored. Left-click the switch to move it up to TRIP; right-click to move it down to RESET. Four KW/KVAR meters, one for each alternator; normally read KW with a centrally positioned button labelled PUSH FOR KVAR to read KVAR. Four ON/OFF switches, one for each alternator. The AAPP - Airborne Auxiliary Power Plant consists of a gas turbine driving a 40 KVA alternator in a bay aft of the starboard wheel bay. It can provide a 200-volt supply for use in emergency or for use on the ground when an external power unit is not available. On the ground it can provide bleed air to the cabin conditioning and air-ventilated suits. A Mk.10 autopilot is installed as part of the Military Flight System. The autopilot uses 115-volt AC and 28-volt DC. Power to the autopilot is controlled by a switch on the right console. It is a relatively basic autopilot, but missing on this panel are the direction controls in lateral direction and pitch. RAT deployment: The Vulcan is fitted with a Ram Air Turbine (RAT) under the left wing, that will drop down to give the aircraft power. Refueling Hose and Drag Parachute: Both the Refueling hose (K.2 Version required) and the drag parachute can be applied from the menu, both items are far more easier to activate than trying to find the switches in the cockpit. Ground Equipment:The Houchin ground power unit (GPU) can be used to provide electrical 28-volt ground supply power to the aircraft whilst on the ground. The GPU is parked underneath the port wing and is plugged into the aircraft just aft of the bomb bay. Also there is a Palouste compressor which is used to provide compressed air to the engine air starter motors, facilitating engine start whilst on the ground. The Palouste is parked underneath the starboard wing and the air supply hose is connected to the aircraft just aft of the starboard landing gear. Bomb bay doors and Crew access door: Both the Bomb Bay Doors and the forward Crew access (Hatch) Door can be operated from the menu. There are a few other menu items but we will look at them whist in the cockpit. _________________________ Cockpit The underbelly hatch is the access up to the cockpit... .... it is quite a climb all the way up there, or a long fall way back down if you slip! It is quite dark and foreboding in here, but eventually you see the twin huge Martin-Baker ejection seats. In the prototype they wanted an escape pod, a la the F-111, but that was seen as too costly and too heavy. Only the cockpit is modeled? The rear crew area is not in here, and so you are missing the other rear facing ejection seats and the pull-down 5th crew member seat, There are five member Vulcan crews including; Pilot, Co-Pilot, AEO - Air Electronics Officer, Navigator Radar and Navigator Plotter, and their rear area installed and their stations would have certainly added in a another dimension to the aircraft. But finally you are up here and into the cockpit... .... and how impossibly small it all is, on how everything is crammed into this small space and it is simply an ergonomic nightmare! But you have to admit is is a reproduction marvel, you can almost smell the musty tired leather of an old aircraft, lovely reflections come off the authentic gauges (did I mention the access to XH558, well that aspect is certainly on show here). One of the most interesting aspects is that once you have manoeuvred yourself into your seat, you can then pull back (pull up) the centre console with the fuel and autopilot panels attached by the rear handle. If we are in need to see anything inside this cockpit then we will need the power connected and switched on... Instrument Panels Obviously there will be a need to study the instrument layouts on the Vulcan Mk 2. JustFlight (thankfully) provide a very comprehensive manual, listing all the instruments and systems, so it is well worth your time in studying the manual and all the related details to the aircraft. Systems like Fuel, Electrical and Hydraulics are simplistic in a complicated layout, if you sort of know what I mean... so there is a need to work them out and of which button does what... this Vulcan is not your common Boeing 737, and throw in a military layout known as the MFS (Military Flight System) as well and so there is a lot to learn. Pilots main Flying instruments are quite standard, Centre line has the excellent Artificial Horizon (Director Horizon) centre, Beam Compass (heading) below and a Mach meter above. Left instruments are Speed (kts) and Altitude. Right instruments are Radio Altitude, VSI - Vertical Speed Indicator and lower a standby Artificial Horizon and slip indicator. Co-Pilot right hand side has the same MFS layout but with some additional instruments... these include (left) a ADF indicator, (right) a Fuel Flow Indicator, Total Fuel Flow (with reset switch) and Oxygen Flow Indicator. Middle panel is for the four engine instruments, which have that lovely post-war clockwork dial system. Non-Engine related instruments include: Accelerometer (G-meter - top left), Control surfaces position indicator (centre) and TACAN indicator (shows bearing to NAV 1 VOR). Note the MFS selector Panel (top right). This navigational selector has five positions: BOMB – non-functional REMOTE – the heading information is controlled by the default GPS Central (normal) – all heading indications by the heading pointer are magnetic LOC – ILS localiser beam or NAV 1 signals are fed into the system. The BEAM flag on the director horizon shows and the beam bar on the beam compasses indicates the aircraft position relative to the beam. GP – both localiser and glidepath signals are fed into the system. Both the BEAM and the GP flag show on the director horizons and the glidepath pointer moves relative to the centre dot to show the relative position of the glidepath to the aircraft. Top panel is: RAT release handle and the Engine fire warning lights and extinguisher buttons... below are the four main fuel cocks. Under are twelve warning indicator lights and doors (Canopy, Bomb and Entrance) unlocked warnings. Fuel in the Vulcan is carried in fourteen pressurised tanks, five in each wing and four in the fuselage, above and to the rear of the nose-wheel bay. The tanks are divided into four groups, each group normally feeding its own engine. A cross- feed system enables the various groups to be interconnected. Automatic fuel proportioning is normally used to control the fuel CG position. The Fuel contents gauges, one for each tank group, are situated on a panel forward of the throttle levers. The fuel switchgear is set just below on the retractable centre console, Cross-feed cocks and indicators are usable. The Bomb Bay Auxiliary tanks are controlled via a panel below the main Fuel Panel, and remember these tanks are also used in the air-to-air refueling system, so they have twin uses. Lower is the Autopilot Panel (Pop-up available via the Menu)... ... but these AP switches are used in conjunction with the actual direction controls in lateral direction and pitch that are situated directly under the throttles on the retractable console. Throttle Quadrant The four throttle levers are a work of art, as is the whole quadrant... note the built in engine relight buttons that actually work. To shutdown the Olympus engines the levers are pulled out and then pulled down to the shut-off position.... ... lower is the Airbrake selector switch, note the missing flap lever, as the delta wing does not require such flying surfaces. The really nice Control Sticks have four switches; Nose-wheel steering engage button, Elevator and aileron feel relief switch, Aileron and elevator trim switch and a Press-to-transmit switch, both Control Sticks disappear together either by selection or by the menu. Pilot's left side panels consist of (right to left): Oxygen Regulator, Radio altimeter controller, Store safety-lock and warning lights, Bomb doors control, RT2 tone switch, ILS/TACAN/ADF audio switch and TFR controller.... ... Audio warning isolation and audio warning test button, RT1 tone switch, V/UHF radio and the engine start buttons with Rapid start, Normal start selector, ignition switch, Air cross-feed indicator, Start master switch and finally the air-ventilated suits temperature controls. Lower panel are switches for; PFC and artificial feel start buttons (x3), Yaw Damper, PFC stop buttons, Mach Trimmer and Artificial feel warning and lock switches. On the Co-Pilot's right side (left to right): Oxygen Regulator, Temperature switches for Cabin, Cabin Control, Cold air unit, Ram air, Ram air Valve, AAPP air bleed, Cabin AAPP indicator, Abandon aircraft switch and Air-to-Air refueling panel... .... far right is the Anti-icing temperature gauges and Engine anti-icing switches. Lower panel are the pitot and external lighting switches - Lighting Master switch, Identification/Morse switch, Landing/Taxi Lights and Navigation Steady/Flash switch. As there is no rear compartment with an engineers station, the Electrical Panels are both pop-up: Noted both as ACP (Alternator Control Panel) and A.A.P.P. (Airborne Auxiliary Power Plant) which is an onboard Auxiliary Power Unit or APU. The lower section of the AAPP is a "Secondary Supplies Panel" or a continuation of the main electrical board. Other cockpit notes include... The Co-Pilot's station box (Radio) is right lower panel, and you have two very nice E2B compasses on each central window frame. The Wiper controls are hard to find, but they are high each side of the main instrument panel and are speed reversed, in faster first then slower in the third bottom position. Left switch is Pilot and central window, Right switch is Co-Pilot only. You have to remove the Martin Baker ejector seat pins before any flight (and yes the ejector seats actually work, so don't pull the handle?) The pins are positioned high on the side of the seats, and when selected they move to the side of each pilot on to the "Safety Pin Stowages" hooks panel. One option you don't have on a commercial airliner are "Flash Shields" or Nuclear FLASH shields. These are two sets of blinds set above the pilots and each can be separately pulled down to cover over the large circular side windows to provide protection from nuclear weapon flashes and radiation... .... the outer metallic one is still semi-visible, but the inner (heavy one) completely covers and blacks out the window, very handy to have when you need it. Flying the Vulcan Mk.2 It is known as the "Vulcan howl" which is a distinctive sound made by the engines are at approximately 90 percent power, due to the arrangement of the air intakes. It is a misconception is the fact that although the Vulcan shares the same name as the Concorde Olympus engines the versions are quite different, here we have the Olympus 301 were as the Concorde has the Olympus 593 with afterburner (or reheat), the only commonality is the two-spool axial-flow turbojet core... but it is known that the Olympus 593 did fly on a Vulcan airframe as a test bed for the engine (but not actually for Concorde but for the abandoned TR.2 Fighter). You get that lovely familiar whine as you sit ready to go, strangely there is not a lot of settings to set, no flap position, speed selection or altitude. But there is a lot of selection of switches to set like the ENGINE AIR and CABIN AIR switches, which you tend to change quite frequently... all selections are covered in the tutorial part of the provided manual. The Vulcan is quite a powerful aircraft (for the period). So depending on your mission weight it will taxi quite easily. Being in the cockpit though is bit like trying to fly from inside a post box and looking through the slot? It is dark in here and tight, it feels far more tighter than a fighter which will have that open glass canopy around you, but in here you do feel restricted as most Vulcan pilot's note... try this with a flying helmet on as well and then hope you are not the screaming claustrophobic personality type. The Beam Compass (heading) needs to be set... pull the knob (arrowed) out to turn the outer heading ring to your current heading. (note this ring will not turn as the aircraft changes direction, so you fly to the heading on the ring), push the knob in again to set the autopilot heading pointer. It takes some getting used to if you fly modern aircraft. You can move/hide the lovely armrests as they get in the way of the side panels, then check if there is oxygen flow... The VOR radio is on the left panel, you set it via the knobs and a very modern looking frequency, that disappears quickly. Time to fly, but the Vulcan is a past era dirty mongrel. The aircraft will gain speed very quickly and even with a heavy fuel and weapon load, rotate is around 155 kts at a pitch of 45º angle which can be maintained all the way up to the flight level.... .... and you really feel the huge lift from this flying wing, it will lift off anyway but you need to keep in control via holding the stick forward. Pitch is extremely pivotal, it is like the you are balancing the aircraft directly in the center with a very light nose and tail.... so you need to control the pitch movements with very small inputs and with smooth pitch changes, a few flights and you are usually ready next time, but it doesn't get any easier. Gear animations are excellent and cleaning up the underbody airflow helps with the handling and noise factors. The aircraft is surprisingly very nice under manual control, setting the trim is required, but it can upset the autopilot (AP) when switched on, so you have a choice... trim and fly manually or leave the trim alone if you are going straight to the autopilot. You can set the Autopilot ready via the switch on the Co-Pilot console and then pulling out the "power" switch on the AP panel, the white light comes on to show you the AP is active and ready. Level off and then "ENGAGE" then select TRACK to follow the set heading. You can select climb via IAS or hold the ALT (recommended). The forward panel then controls your lateral direction and pitch directions, remember this is a very basic 2-Axis system. The lower AP control are out of sight and too a point out of reach, it would have been nice to have had them on the pop-up panel with the rest of the AP controls, press the centre of the knob to lock in the trim... up or down is in 1000 fpm selections which are big movements in pitch. Specifications are impressive... Cruising speed is Mach 0.86 indicated and Max is Mach 0.93 (301 Engines), to note the early straight wing Mk 1 version was faster at Mach 0.95 indicated. Ceiling is 45,000 to 56,000 ft (14,000 to 17,000 m) which is high, but this is a nuclear bomber... Range is 1,500 nautical miles (1,700 mi; 2,800 km), but you do have the extra tankage available and that extends the range out to 4,603 mi (4,000 nmi / 7,408 km) or allow you to stay on station for hours. Getting up to 45,000ft is the easy part, then you have to come down again.... and it is a long way down without a decent Vertical Speed tool... ... helpful are the twin upper and single lower (originally double both upper and lower) airbrakes which are highly effective. Do you cheat by using a moving map to locate your position or try to do it the authentic navigation way, remember these aircraft had a dedicated Navigation Crew Member to do just that specific job. 3,000ft approach and the lights of EGCN - Doncaster are in the postbox slot... eh windows. Approach speed is around 170 kts but there is the known factor of a Pre-Stall buffet between 160 kts to 180 kts and that requires more rudder input in turns, but you still have to keep that tight, and remember the huge amount of lift this aircraft's wing can generate and with that also comes the huge ground effect reflection as you get down closer to the runway. Slowly you reduce your speed to around 150 knts over the threshold, but it is a fine line between going too fast and stalling... Vulcan's don't naturally stall in the slight nose up position, the ground effect gets too strong and they tend to seriously wobble on the large cushion of air then simply fall out of the sky as noted in a few Vulcan accidents, but touch down is around 140 kts. RAF Finningley (at EGCN-Doncaster) has a long 2,893m (9,491ft) runways as did all nuclear bomber airports, it is required as even at 140 kts as you fight the aircraft to slow it down. The manually operated airbrakes do help, but even then the parachute is still required to run off the excess speed. Overall the Vulcan is a terribly interesting aircraft to fly, and in many way quite different from your average commercial airliner... you must approach the Vulcan this way and expect time to understand and even plan each mission when you fly the aircraft, it will take time and study but in that aspect the Vulcan really delivers, it is certainly not a jump in and do a circuit sort of aircraft... it is a full mission aircraft with areas like said planned and be detailed ready from the start. Lighting UPDATED : this section of the review is updated to v1.1 that now includes large changes to the Vulcan's internal lighting. Before the Internal lighting was quite simple, one switch to light up the instrument panel and the side panels.... In v1.1 the side lighting knobs which were static before now work... The four lighting knobs are now active (orange arrows), but so also now is the functional swivel lights between the knobs, the swivel light illumination is controlled by the lower knob (yellow arrow) The same panel light knobs are on the Co-Pilot's side as well as is the same functional swivel light. Changed also is the main instrument panel lights which are now split for each side of the panel, the Co-Pilot's panel switch is on the panel far right (arrowed). The rotating knobs now give you two options, the original WHITE lighting or the very Cold War RED hue, it is very realistic... .... Main panels (separate) both side panels and the centre console are all fully adjustable individually, just like with the white hue. The functional swivel lights are very good as well, totally adjustable and not only for illumination, but also for compete axis movement... you can illuminate any part of the cockpit you desire.... .... turn the swivel light to light up the other side of the cockpit and it is highly effective, with almost daylight illumination. Externally there are options for ID Lights in STDY (Steady) and MORSE (Flashing) and Navigation lighting in ST/DY and FLASH. Three red beacons flash on the top of the aircraft or a steady in one single red beacon on the belly... navigation is wing and twin lower tail, strobes in the wings, in reality you don't want your nuclear bomber light up like a fairground do you, so it is very good... .... twin Landing/Taxi lights are build into the end of each wing and they are both retractable and have also been updated with refined functionality in v1.1 Liveries The scale of the liveries is quite impressive at seventeen, but many a registration are doubled for both Mk.2 standard and K.2 Tanker or MRR. USA and KIwi (New Zealand) and White Flash white nuclear test aircraft XL361 and XL426 are all represented as is XL426 in it's usual Camo livery... XM655 is default. Operation Black Buck had seven operations... During the 1982 Falklands War, Operations Black Buck 1 to Black Buck 7 were a series of seven extremely long-range ground attack missions by Royal Air Force (RAF) Vulcan bombers of the RAF Waddington Wing, comprising aircraft from Nos. 44, 50 and 101 Squadrons against Argentine positions in the Falkland Islands, of which five missions completed attacks. The objective of the missions was to attack Port Stanley Airport and its associated defences. The raids, at almost 6,600 nautical miles (12,200 km) and 16 hours for the return journey, were the longest-ranged bombing raids in history at that time. The Operation Black Buck raids were staged from RAF Ascension Island, close to the Equator. The Vulcan was designed for medium-range missions in Europe and lacked the range to fly to the Falklands without refuelling several times. The RAF's tanker planes were mostly converted Handley Page Victor bombers with similar range, so they too had to be refuelled in the air. A total of eleven tankers were required for two Vulcans (one primary and one reserve), a daunting logistical effort as all aircraft had to use the same runway. The Vulcans carried either twenty-one 1,000-pound (450 kg) bombs internally or two or four Shrike anti-radar missiles externally. Of the five Black Buck raids flown to completion, three were against Stanley Airfield's runway and operational facilities, while the other two were anti-radar missions using Shrike missiles against a Westinghouse AN/TPS-43 long-range 3D radar in the Port Stanley area. Shrikes hit two of the less valuable and rapidly replaced secondary fire control radars, causing some casualties among the Argentine crews. One Vulcan was nearly lost when a fuel shortage forced it to land in Brazil. Black Buck 1- Port Stanley Airport runway 30 April–1 May - XM598 (Reeve)XM607 (Withers)Performed; primary aircraft cabin failed to pressurise shortly after takeoff, replaced by reserve Black Buck 2 - Port Stanley Airport runway 3–4 May - XM607 (Reeve) XM598 (Montgomery) Performed Black Buck 3 - Port Stanley Airport runway 13 May - XM607XM612 - Cancelled before takeoff due to weather conditions Black Buck 4 - Anti-aircraft radar 28 May - XM597 (McDougall) - XM598Cancelled 5 hours into flight, due to a fault in the Victor fleet Black Buck 5 - Anti-aircraft radar 31 May - XM597 (McDougall) - XM598 (Montgomery) Performed Black Buck 6 - Anti-aircraft radar3 June - XM597 (McDougall) - XM598 (Montgomery) Performed; primary aircraft forced to divert to Brazil due to a broken refuelling probe Black Buck 7 - Port Stanley Airport stores and aircraft 12 June - XM607 (Withers)- XM598 (Montgomery) Performed My personal experience was with Avro Vulcan XL391, that sat at Blackpool Airport for years. I saw the aircraft on a visit home, but by this time the bomber was not in a great condition. Vulcans maybe prepared for nuclear attacks, but Blackpool's corrosive sea air did a lot of more serious damage to the aircraft. One aspect is that you could get very close and even look internally and the engines were still installed, but the aircraft was certainly never going to flown again... it was scrapped quite ingloriously on the June 20th, 2013. Summary This is a reproduction of the Avro Vulcan Mk.2, that was a 60's Cold War Nuclear bomber from the United Kingdom. Based on the last fully operative version of the aircraft XH558 "The Spirit of Great Britain", this same aircraft was used to create a very realistic rendition of this classic airframe. The aircraft comes in three variants with the standard Mk.2, K.2 Air to Air refueling tanker and the MRR - Maritime Radar Reconnaissance role aircraft. Detail and modeling is hugely impressive, so are the complex post-war systems. And the Vulcan comes with a lot of choices and features including the choice of the different Mk.2, K.2 and MRR setups via the liveries (can also be set manually), the range also is impressive in the liveries provided for the Vulcan's different mission roles including nuclear bomb testing flash white. Extensive menu is very good as is the choices of weapons (mostly nuclear with Blue Streak) and different belly fuel tank options. Sounds include the famous "Vulcan Howl" and are very immersive and 180º dynamic with 3D audio effects, atmospheric and distance effects and adaptive Doppler. Instrument panel, side panels, throttle quadrant and retractable centre console in detail is overwhelming, but missing is the rear crew cabin with stations for the other three crew members and importantly parts of the aircraft electrical systems panel, they are provided here only on pop-up panels from the menu? Internal lighting was also impressively updated in v1.1 In some ways the Vulcan is very easy to fly in a manual mode, and this flying wing has a huge amount of lift, but the ergonomic post-war instruments and 2-way axis Autopilot do require a lot of study and practice, so to fly the Vulcan in a serious mission role does require a lot of skill and practise on the airframe, but you don't doubt the authenticity of the Vulcan package to the high calibre and serious simulator user. Overall brilliant, but for the serious fliers only. _______________________________ The Avro Vulcan B Mk.2, K.2 and MRR by JustFlight is now AVAILABLE at the X-Plane.Org Store: Also available from JustFlight Avro Vulcan B Mk.2, K.2 and MRR Priced at US$49.99 Features MODEL Accurately modelled Avro Vulcan B Mk2, K.2 and MRR built using real-world aircraft plans and comprehensive photography of the real aircraft (XM655) K.2 air-to-air refuelling variant with Hose Drum Unit (HDU) and animated hose Maritime Radar Reconnaissance (MRR) variant with air sampling pods and nose blade aerials Many detailed animations, including: - Crew door - Bomb bay doors (with realistic deployment speed) - Multi-position airbrakes (accurately linked to landing gear position) - Drogue and main brake-chutes - Deployable ram-air-turbine (RAT) - Variable-speed wipers - Tilting main landing gear - Flying controls (including elevons) - Animated pilots - Retractable taxi/landing lights (with realistic ‘blowback’ above 180 knots) A range of payload options, selectable via a custom 2D panel: - Blue Steel nuclear stand-off missile - 1,000lb bombs - WE.177 nuclear bomb - Saddle bomb bay tanks - Cylindrical bomb bay tanks Ability to configure external model options for each livery – refuelling probe, 201/301 engines, TFR dome, modern aerials and tail fin ECM, HDU, air sampling pods and aerials Olympus 201 and 301 engine nozzle types Ground equipment, including Houchin GPU and Palouste compressor for engine start, and engine covers and chocks 4096x4096 textures are used to produce the highest possible texture clarity PBR (Physically Based Rendering) materials with real-time environment reflections for superb quality and realism Detailed normal mapping for down-to-the-rivet precision of aircraft features COCKPIT A truly 3D virtual cockpit right down to accurately modelled ejection seats and screw heads - every instrument is constructed fully in high polygon 3D with smooth animations Cockpit textures feature wear and tear, with PBR effects, based on reference photos taken in the real aircraft to produce an authentic environment Interactive engine start checklist Checklists for every stage of flight Panel state system which will automatically save the panel state whenever a flight is saved and reload the panel state whenever that flight is loaded Aircraft configuration system that will allow you to choose between 'cold & dark' or 'ready for take-off' Realistic V/UHF radio unit – save and recall commonly used frequencies Fully functioning magnetic indicators, warning lights and push-to-test buttons Numerous interactive animated blinds and visors Realistic flight instruments, including direction horizon, beam compass, control surface and CG indicators Option to activate flashlight from within pop-up window, to aid in those pitch-black cold and dark starts at night Option to remove window and instrument reflection effects All knob, switch and button animations routed through plugin logic, for optimum movement fidelity and sound synchronisation No detail is too small – even the option to switch between day and night modes on the landing gear indicator is included! AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS Numerous custom-coded systems: - Fuel system – fuel tank groups, transfer and cross-feed - Electrical system – alternators, Airbourne Auxiliary Power Plant (AAPP), Ram Air Turbine (RAT), synchroniser busbar and 2D AEO panels for controlling the AAPP, RAT and secondary supplies - Flying controls system – Powered Flying Controls (PFCs), Mach trimmer and auto-stabilisers - Engine start system – Rapid or normal engine starting, cross-bleed and Palouste external air supplies - Hydraulic system, including the electrically-operated hydraulic power pack unit (EHPP) - Oxygen system, including oxygen regulator system with realistic consumption based on altitude – watch the oxygen quantity drop with usage - Air conditioning system – cabin pressurisation and air conditioning, emergency depressurisation controls - Thermal anti-icing system, including airframe and engine anti-icing - Autopilot, including pitch and bank hold Airbrakes, bomb doors and brake-chute can be operated using standard control assignments for ease of use OTHER FEATURES Realistic and accurate flight dynamics based on real world performance and handling data Authentic sound set, generated using X-Plane's state-of-the-art FMOD sound system, including the distinctive Olympus 301 howl! Custom sounds for bomb doors, airbrakes, entrance door, switches, wipers and more, featuring accurate location placement of sounds in the stereo spectrum, 3D audio effects, atmospheric and distance effects, adaptive Doppler, exterior sounds spill in when the crew door is open, different sound characteristics depending on viewing angle etc. Dedicated pop-up window for sound mixing, allowing for individual adjustment of the volume of exterior sounds, in-cockpit sounds and various effects Comprehensive manual with panel guide and performance data PSD Paint Kit included so you can create your own paint schemes Interactive logbook panel for logging your flight details (X-Plane native) Custom external light logic with custom strobe light pattern and custom light halos for added realism Requirements X-Plane 11 CPU: Intel Core i5 6600K at 3.5GHz or faster 8GB RAM or more DirectX 12-capable graphics card from nVidia, AMD or Intel with at least 4GB VRAM (GeForce GTX 1070 or better or similar from AMD) Windows 10 / 7 / Vista / XP, MAC OS 10.10 (or higher) or Linux 2GB hard drive space Current and Review version: v1.1 (April 29th 2020) Installation and documents: Download for the Avro Vulcan B Mk.2 is 2.3Gb and the unzipped file is deposited in the aircraft "Fighters" X-Plane Aircraft folder at 2.37Gb. optional equipment choices can be done from the livery/‘config.json’ file. Librain (rain effects) plugin is required, get it here and install in your plugins folder: Click Here Documentation: Documentation consists of a 89 page overview and tutorial for the Vulcan Bomber, details available cover most areas including the complex systems. EULAstandardcommercialandacademic2019.pdf Avro Vulcan B Mk2 X-Plane manual.pdf ________________________________  Review by Stephen Dutton  29th April 2020 (updated) Copyright©2020 : X-Plane Reviews   (Disclaimer. All images and text in this preview are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications:  Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 1TB SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.41 - tested v11.50.b4 (fine) Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Traffic Global (Just Flight) US$52.99 Scenery or Aircraft - EGCN - Doncaster Sheffield by FlyX (X-Plane.OrgStore) US$17.99 

I am going to guess that is "Stuck", use the keyboard settings to get the selection too work correctly? Some Boeing's spoiler lever is the opposite way around, instead of up to arm, it is down to arm? Not sure what the ATC window is?

Yes the FF B777 autopilot is a messy tool? It has ruined many a good flight at the end via not disconnecting? You can however stop the warning noise by turning it back on and then back off a second time? odd I know but it works...

Aircraft Update : McDonnell Douglas MD-88 v1.43 by Rotate The Rotate McDonnell Douglas MD-88 has been flying in X-Plane for a fair while now, so as users we are not unfamiliar with the aircraft. The last significant update was in early in October 2018 (v1.42 with the WebFMC addition) and it is in the quality of the aircraft is that the MD-88 has been solid in that no more tweaking was required, in fact this new update is still quite small in fixes, that is until a new upgraded version comes along after the release of the long awaited Rotate MD-11 Tri-Jet. First a note... this aircraft version v1.43 came along at the start of X-Plane's 11.50 Vulkan beta, so it was actually my first test and transfer aircraft for the new API (see details here), so my notes say that the Rotate MD-88 is very good in the new API, even with a beta within a beta, so that shows the quality again of the aircraft in the depth of it's development... in other words the Rotate MD-88 is now already Vulkan ready. The breathtaking quality of those huge 4K textures is still present, and now more so in v11.50 of X-Plane as you can push the detail higher via the new API system, the MD-88 is still one of the most highly detailed aircraft in this category in X-Plane. McDonnell Douglas MD-88 is from another era, just the last of the few are actually flying, but that is not to say the legacy of the DC-9 was a short one, in fact these aircraft are one of the longest to have been in service in numbers all around the world, with many still flying the routes they pioneered decades ago, in fact half a century ago. So the cockpit is as they say comes from the steam era, it is just all dials and knobs and even the glass instrument conversions of the EADI (Electronic Attitude Director Indicator) and lower the EHSI (Electronic Horizontal Situation Indicator) are as old fashioned in design... .... I will state though that because of the aircraft's era statement, it does require a lot of well... love. And attention. The MD-88 is not the easiest aircraft to set up, start up and fly, but that is the attraction as well and a very good tutorial from Rotate helps a lot, in fact a real lot. But the MD-88 is like starting up a steam engine compared to say an Airbus A320, but very involving as well. I personally have a stack of noted noted (a lot of the notes are in red) to start the Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines. Ergonomics are not one of these old workhorses strong points either. I had to create a system to find switches on the startup procedure, just noting the "Yaw Damper" then means finding the actual switch, so Top OHP Left 3 down 2nd means looking at the Overhead panel top left, thrird panel down and second switch along allows you to find the switch, do that 20 or so times and you can see why my (red) notes are littered all over the printed out "Checklist". Deep down I would say the Rotate MD-88 is one of the most deepest simulations in X-Plane, and yes many a developer would counter that claim, if it is not then it is certainly at the top of the list. So the point is you are making a big investment in flying this McDonnell Douglas MD-88, in time, in study and in actually setting it up and also with the required skills of flying the machine... the rewards are high, even huge in what you get back in satisfaction and knowing your skills have conquered the era of the machine. In other words the aircraft delivers, in the deepest sense. Any downsides? The cabin is now starting to feel a little bit dated, although far better than many cabins out there, you do feel the detail could now be a step better and the many flat textures.... McDonnell Douglas MD-88 v1.43 Like noted this is not by any standards a big update with v1.43, but more of a tweak and a new feature. The new feature is the AviTab, a popular plugin that shows information to the pilot, the added bonus is that if you nave a Navigraph account is that it can be used with the AviTab tool. The free AviTab plugin is inserted into your X-Plane Resources/Plugins folder: AviTab features PDF viewer Airport info: See runway lengths, METAR info, ILS frequencies and more Moving map that supports online maps and offline maps, you can even scan your own map image and calibrate it to use it as moving map Navigraph integration: Link your Navigraph account and see the charts right in the cockpit Aircraft integration: Some aircraft come with a 3D tablet model so that AviTab becomes a physical tablet for VR (Virtual Reality) You can remove the tablet by pressing the suction cups on the side window.... .... but the hardest item to find is the power switch (even had me scratching my head), It is on the top (small) and to the left side... ... yes I am a huge fan, especially with the Navigraph charts and position indicator to find your way around the multitude of taxiways and runways. This was also one Avitab installation that didn't get in the way, I find a lot of these tablets are too big, or badly positioned... but this one is perfect. Departing EDDL - Düsseldorf to LEBL - Barcelona you can see the benefits on the Avitab in following the SID MODRU6Z departure route... Most of the fixes and tweaks are quite small considering the year and a half period the aircraft was not updated, but the MD-88 felt it wasn't actually wanting anything anyway. The biggest one for me is not actually in the v1.43 update, being able to use the aircraft in v11.50 Vulkan, and it works fine in there. So what is changed in v1.43, in the FMS it is the improved autopilot trajectory precision in allowing more RNAV procedures not available before, and fixing a bug in the CRZ page... both fixes are welcome. There is improved compatibility with SmartCopilot plugin and better compatibility with hardware controllers. The anti-ice system has been improved, and that would be in conjunction with the extra features in X-Plane from Laminar Research. The auto brakes behavior during rejected takeoff procedure has been improved, note the lovely design of the autobrake switch rear pedestal. The MD-88 is quite the nosiest in a nice way sort of aircraft in X-Plane. Sounds are very loud and certainly in the external sounds, but there was a very noticeable sound loss in certain areas, these have been attended to and fixed. The Rotate MD-88 has a slightly unusual way of adjusting the various knobs and switches. Not in a bad way, but the manipulators can either be too slow or too fast. The addition of better mouse scrolling makes the twirling just a little better now. Finally there has been a few minor errors in some textures and animations that have been corrected, did you notice anything? Not me the MD-88 has always been perfect in my eyes. Summary Overall a small but worthy v1.43 update to Rotate's McDonnell Douglas MD-88 lovely workhorse. The addition of the AviTab tool is the biggest change, plus some bug and refinement fixes to the anti-ice, auto brakes, sounds and manipulators, and more RNAV procedures are now also available for your use. Still the MD-88 is one of the really great simulations in X-Plane currently, a very deep simulation that requires a certain amount of study, attention and if I have to say it, work for your pilot's reward... but those rewards are simply very high. A great aircraft and it also flies now very well in Vulkan as well. Totally Absolutely recommended, and currently the McDonnell Douglas MD-88 is on sale for only US$45.00. (a saving of US$15 over the regular price) _____________________________________________________________________________________ Yes! the v1.43 McDonnell Douglas MD-88 Pro by Rotate is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : McDonnell Douglas MD-88 Pro Price is US$59.95 - Currently on sale for US$45.00 If you already have purchased the McDonnell Douglas MD-88 by Rotate, then go to your X-Plane.OrgStore account and download the free v1.43 update. Green Arc Studios WebFMC Pro plugin (US$19.95) is available here : WebFMC Pro v1.5.3 Dr Gluck's TerrainRadar Plugin (Free) is available here: Terrain radar + Vertical Situation Display 1.14 Developer Rotate - Rotate.Com Developer Support - MD80 - X-Plane.Org _____________________________________________________________________________________ Features: - Precise flight model and fine tuned engine performance. - Virtually all the instruments and controls are interactive. - Developed with the advice and counseling from MD-80 licensed pilots. Custom Flight Management System (FMS) and Automatic Flight Route, departures and arrivals procedures (SIDs and STARs). Custom LNAV and VNAV. Climb, cruise and descend management with altitude and speed restrictions. ARINC424 instructions support. Save and load route to/from text file. Performance management, with complete VNAV profile calculation, including T/C, T/D, and time, fuel and altitude predictions. Takeoff and approach speed management. Custom Navigation Display with curved transitions and MAG/TRU operation. DFGC, Thrust Rating management (EPR modes) and Flight Mode Annunciator. Aerosoft NavDataPro (2016) included (for updated database third party subscription is needed). DIRECT TO page. LEGS page with RTE DATA extension page. CLIMB page with CLB DIR function. DESCENT page with SPEED/PATH, DES NOW and DES DIR modes. Complete HOLD functionality with entry pattern calculation and Present POS. PROGRESS pages with pilot selectable waypoint. More accurate time and fuel predictions. PERF page with BURN SCHED, WIND/TEMP corrections and calculated remaining fuel. FIX page. Detailed simulation of systems WX/TCAS with TA/RA advisories. Power plant: accurate PW-JT8D-219 model, Fuel Distribution, Heat and Quantity Indication, Automatic Reserve Thrust. Electrical: Power Generating and Distribution, APU, Battery Charger, Emergency Power Supply. Hydraulics: Rudder and Elevator HYD/MAN operation, GPS, Reversers and Brakes accumulators. Air: Pneumatics, Air Conditioning and Distribution, Pressurization. Slat/Flap controls with Dial-a-Flap control. Takeoff Condition Computer. Complete Engine Fire Detection and Extinguishing simulation. Simulated Tests: DFGC, Altitude, Engine Fire, APU Fire, GPWS, Windshear, Flight Recorder, Voice Recorder, TCAS, Brake Temp, Stall, Anti-Skid, LED/Annunciators. Support for WebFMC Support for TerrainRadar plugin Pop-up Menu Ground operations page, with GPU/GPS request, doors management, and fuel/cargo/passengers load functions. Fuel & Load page, with load stations according to Weight & Balance manual. Weight & Balance section, with accurate custom CG computing, and Weight/CG predictions for Takeoff and Landing. Hyper-realistic visuals Highly detailed 3D cockpit, passenger cabin and exterior model. Normal and specular maps for enhanced detail. Thorough HD day and night textures. Accurate animations, including wing flex animation. All external and internal lights. Liveries: A set of ten ultra-high resolution liveries, including a paintkit. Custom sounds 3D sound engine with stereo and doppler effects. High quality multi-layered engine sounds. Wind and control surfaces sounds. Cockpit ambient and custom alerts. ____________________________________________ Requirements X-Plane 11 (Fully updated, non beta version) Windows , OSX 10.10+ , Linux Ubuntu 14.04 (or compatible) and up - 64 bit operating system Graphics: 4Gb VRAM (8GB+ VRAM or more for best performance) Current and Review version: 1.43r3 (April 16th 2020) Tested in X-Plane 11.50b4 Vulkan and there are no current issues. Changelog v1.43: MD-88 Update v1.43.txt _____________________________________________ Update Review by Stephen Dutton 18th April 2020 Copyright©2020: X-PlaneReviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)

Really I just don't know? their development program is a bit non-liner, the HUD has had attention in a few releases, but it is not yet a usable tool, personally I never use them...

Scenery Review : EDDN - Nuremberg XP by Aerosoft One thing you are not short of In X-Plane is a lot of very high quality scenery for Germany. Mainly that is because Aerosoft are based in the country (Paderborn) and are servicing their own market and also from JustSim, but that said the airport quality for Germany lately has been exceptional as with LFSB - EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg (JustSim) and with EDLW-Dortmund XP (Aerosoft - recently updated). This EDDN - Nuremberg scenery is by 29 Palms who are a German art house that has done scenery for Aerosoft and Orbx, This is their ninth scenery for X-Plane that covers Bavaria's second largest international airport. Nuremberg Airport "Albrecht Dürer" Flughafen Nürnberg IATA: NUE - ICAO: EDDN 10/28 - 2,700m (8,858ft) Concrete/Asphalt Elevation AMSL1,046 ft / 319 m First to note is the well intergrated scenery into the X-Plane surrounding envions, as the custom insertion here is about perfect... It is helped by the excellent autogen which is German (European), but even with that aspect taken into account it is still very good... here are a few arrival images into RWY 28 to highlight the arrival. The western RWY 10 approach was just as impressive over the Erlanger Str (4) autobahn as is the above eastern approach. There are four forward apron zones with M1(Cargo/Hangar A) left, M2 Terminal, M3 Remote Stands and far right M4, rear apron zones (stands) are again left to right with N1, N2, H4, N4. EDDN Terminal The single terminal is very big with four active airbridges and two walk-on stands... design and modeling quality is exceptional, and really well done. Glass is perfect and it is really all well co-ordinated in together, roof is supported and the support structures are also really well done... ... overall it is all very impressive and it is also very well designed under the airbridges on the lower service road... all (four) active gates are SAM (plugin required and supplied) interactive. A marshaller will guide you in and then the gate will become active (arrowed). Excellent airbridge Sixt Rent-a-car advertising is very authentic. Internal terminal detail is also very good, but only on the departure side... but it is very well done with a lot of detailing and not really lo-res like most internal lounges. Clutter is excellent and all vehicles are locally branded. There are a few static aircraft as well, mostly private jets and KingAirs which are very nice area fillers. Landside On the terminal landside the detail is excellent. There are a lot of areas to take in from the four massive carparks, Mövenpick Hotel and airport administration buildings... signage detail is first rate as is the cafe. Some signage is inverted, but it is a minor oversight here to the overwhelming detail... ... note the exhibition space (above left) and the well tended gardens. Control Tower Iconic control tower is really well reproduced, it has a revolving radar and great internal detail. Tower view is set perfectly just above for all approaches. There is a large general aviation area around the control tower with multiple large maintenance hangars.. Branded are FAI, FlightAmbulance, Aero Dienst, Fly-Alpha and DRF Luftrettung. A SAM feature is that you can open the FAI gates manually to their apron and hangar facility, it is in the APO/Controls. East there is a lot of airport logistics and support areas, with the site of the largest maintenance hangar in the EDDN scenery... .... again the detail and clutter is highly impressive, and the area includes the airport's Fire Station... .... But overall you have to be blown away by the huge detail on offer here at EDDN... hidden behind the east (M1) apron is the comprehensive cargo facility. Ground textures and field All surfaces are PBR (Physically Based Rendered) so you get excellent reflections and rain effects... Newly tarmaced (Asphalt) areas are well done, but overall the textures are first rate with a huge amount detail and wear and tear. Taxiway and runway signage is really good and clear, grass and the lovely spring flowers dot the field for a nice arrival. The scenery does come with the XP-SAM Seasons pack provided so you can have all the seasonal changes. I don't personally run this package (yet) as I use xEnviro for my seasonal coverage, but the SAM system is now very good. Lighting Overall the lighting is good, and I like twin hue apron lighting, although the terminal section is a bit yellowish. Terminal looks okay, but a bit darkish, but I still think it is actually authentic to the airport. Landside however is very dark... as there is no street lighting and it shows here badly. Carparks and advertising are well done, and so are the various working areas... .... the dark areas really show though, but the night signage is very good, you do wonder why 29 Palms came along so far but left out these significant street and carpark lighting effects? WT3 : There are no provided WorldTraffic files with the scenery. However the ATC taxiway system has been done and done well, so you get a good generation of the ground routes and overall the WT3 system works like clockwork with only a few pop-offs on the runway. _______________________ Summary This is a great rendition of EDDN - Nuremberg by 290 Palms for Aerosoft. Now well established this is a very professional scenery by this art house. The scenery is very well intergrated into the X-Plane mesh, with the excellent German autogen providing a very good cityscape of Nuremberg. Modeling and detailing is absolutely first rate, with some good internal terminal detail as well. Every area of the EDDN airport is well covered here, from the huge landside detail to all the private companies associated with the airport. Clutter is locally branded and again extremely well done. SAM is featured as well with the option of opening the FAI gate, all ground textures are PBR active and the textures wear and tear detail is again all top notch... Only blot in the copybook here is the lighting and the missing landside street lighting, this aspect makes the approaching and internal landside areas quite dark, a shame because this was easily a full 5 star scenery, that got lost at the very last hurdle... otherwise the scenery is exceptional and it is very well priced for good value. _____________________________________ Yes! EDDN - Nuremberg XP by Aerosoft is available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : EDDN - Nuremberg XP Price is US$22.00 Features: Highly realistic rendition of Nuremberg Airport based on most recent geodata 55 km² satellite imagery coverage with resolution up to 20cm/px including all seasons Highly detailed buildings with internal modelling of the terminal and Hangar 2 PBR ground and marking textures Athmospheric HDR night lighting Animated Jetways (SAM2 Plugin required) Custom seasonal textures (SAM2 Plugin required) Snow and rain effects Animated FAI gate (SAM2 Plugin required) Custom Runway lights automatically switched on in low visibility Detailed airport lighting including REILs, Running Rabbits and HDR Lighting Custom vehicle animations on the apron Animated tower radar (SAM2 Plugin required) Static aircraft with proper liveries and registrations XPlane conform export of all scenery elements using the latest techniques WT3: WorldTraffic GroundRoutes are not provided and a generation is required, and overall the airport generation functions perfectly. Requirements: X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 4GB VRAM Minimum - 8GB+ VRAM Recommended Current and Review version: Version 1.1 (April 6th 2020) Download Size: 2.3 GB Installation Download scenery file size is 2.30gb and with the full installation installed in your custom scenery folder as there are nine install folders in order below: Captain7 - 29Palms - EDDN Nuremberg 1 Captain7 - 29Palms - EDDN Nuremberg 2 There is currently a patch required (downloaded separately) to replace the Earth Nav Data, just overwrite your current EDDN (Nuremberg 1) nav data. Total scenery installation is a huge : 3.24gb As noted there is a seasons pack to be downloaded and inserted with the new SAM - Scenery Animation Manager - Suite 1.0 On your download this SAM install is listed as the AS-Scenery-Animation Manager? of which it is nothing to do with Aerosoft, if you have the current SAM v2 (current v2.05) then there is no need to download this pack. The update patch is at the bottom. Documents One extensive manual in German and English with notes (9 pages) EDDN-Nuremberg-XP11-DE EDDN-Nuremberg-XP11-EN _____________________________________________________________________ Scenery Review by Stephen Dutton 15th April 2020 Copyright©2020 : X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)

ToLiSS A321-231 is a no brainer, more range and a bigger aircraft..

Probably waiting for Vulkan! the B747-8F really needs Vulkan

Same aircraft? still in development as per the reviews..

I am disappointed that so many users don't get the issue that although the A321 looks the same as the A319 and yes they use a lot of the same components, the actual work and time required to put each together is about the same (it is not what you see modeling wise that counts here), NO there is not going to be a discount and NO why should the developer after all his hard work do so anyway, this is just X-Plane being very mean again and not supporting the simulator or their developers. The aircraft is worth it's full value!

Laminar Research : v11.50 Beta - Vulkan/Metal API by Laminar Research This is a first impression of the new X-Plane version v11.50, it is the update with the new Application Programming Interface (API) and the API replaces the decades old OpenGL API that was part of X-Plane since the first simulator was released in 1995. So it is a big deal. So why is the API a big deal? Mostly because it goes right to the heart of the core of simulator, but not on the aerodynamic side, but the visual screen rendering side of what you see and in the way you interact with your computer and the way that the simulator creates all those visual movements and objects that you see, and mostly in the past these aspects it came with all those stutters and blips that took all the fun out of it. The core detail here is in the way your computer or it's processors interact with the rendering and the creation of the X-Plane world, in the past and with OpenGL then most of this graphic processing was done on or via the Video Graphic cards, so the bigger and the more powerful graphic card engine you had, then the more better X-Plane ran. But this way of processing was certainly not very efficient by any means, in fact it was probably the worse way you could run a simulator, as in reality it was like pushing all the data just down one long tight pipe to be processed by your graphic card, so if the graphic card stumbled or became overwhelmed then so did the simulator. The powerful gaming industry demanded a better solution to processing graphics. We already had the powerful processors, but they were still extremely constrained by the slow coding pathways to actually process the growing multitude of the graphic elements required for today's graphic heavy gaming. Hence Vulkan and Metal in being new API's that do the core processing far better and with multitasking thrown in, it's main advantages are higher performance and a far more better balanced CPU/GPU usage. Basically OpenGL is a "One single global state machine" were as Vulkan is "Object-based with no global state". Vulkan is for Windows (mostly 10, but anything above Win 7 will run), Metal is for Apple and Linux (both Linux code based), they basically both APIs do exactly the same processing, but for the sake of this article I will note both the API's as in Vulkan. v11.50 Beta The beta release is activated via your X-Plane Installer, just make sure your "beta" box is ticked. It is very important to use a second copy of X-Plane for the new APIs (Again this can be done from the installer, and note don't load in your Global Scenery in the second copy, but when installed then transfer your current Global Scenery folder to the new installation). This way your current X-Plane v11.40 (OpenGL) version will still be available. Important! Update your graphic drivers before installing or running the v11.50b1 Beta. Current Nvidia GeForce version is v445.75, and YES you do need to update to this driver! On startup the v11.50b1 beta will still be in OpenGL mode. you have to then tick the "Use Vulkan for faster rendering" tickbox and then do a restart... ... when restarting the new API will then take a fair while to recompile your shaders into a new format, so you will have to wait while the system does this, every time you restart the system will do this until it has covered all the shaders, but as it processes each startup the loading times will get significantly shorter, finished loading times are still not going to be faster as in fact they are now going to be taking a little bit longer. Shader Loading The aspect of shader loading in reality explains the differences between the old (OpenGL) and the new (Vulkan). In OpenGL your shader files loaded actually on the fly, or as you flew and for when the simulation required the new shaders. These shaders were originally called to graphic cards only when they were required for processing, so hence the stopping of the simulator to process the required shader files, yes the processing was quick, but still it showed up in the simulation as a stutter or a slight stop in movement. Do these processing actions a lot and you get a lot of stutters and a multitude of stop and starts interfering into your lovely clean simulation. In Vulkan the processing is now done BEFORE you start the simulation, noticeable here in the start up as "Preparing World" during your now extended startup sequence. As the shaders have already been processed earlier and are ready to go, then anytime the simulator wants to change it's shaders in the simulation they are ready and waiting to go, hence no more stutter and a cleaner simulation. Another thing the new API's are good at is assigning certain aspects of the processing to different areas in either to the GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) or the CPU (Computer Processing Units). We already know that the Graphic cards had to do all the heavy lifting in OpenGL, but in Vulkan those processing tasks can now be not only differently assigned, but can be now also assigned to specific areas for better processing efficiency. The trick is also that X-Plane or Laminar Research can now assign certain processing tasks to different processing areas (in either the GPU or the CPU), and in again also separating the background tasks from the more on the fly required tasks, and so not requiring OpenGL to do everything in one huge processing task. It is yes a form of multitasking, but X-Plane is currently still only a one threaded processor simulator in it's construction, Laminar notes that further developments once the basic Vulkan installation is stable is that they will be then be able to explore the more interesting aspects of processor multi-threading that the Vulkan API allows, but the simulator is really at this point even with these new APIs is being developed as just a simple "one step at a time" process. Benefits v11.50 There is a lot of comparisons (mostly video) out there on the gains of framerate through the more efficient API processing and the gains are quite significant, but let us make it quite clear that really in reality in that no two computer systems are actually the same, so the results are GOING to be quite different for everyone of us. If you do want to take a general view then basically AMD-Radeon processors can have up to a 50% gain in framerate, but they are also coming from a very low threshold in the first place. For RTX and Nvidia processors then the framerate gain is around 20%, but again they will be coming from an already quite refined higher threshold, older cards like the RX5700 can though actually suffer badly if you want to use a very high end monitor, say a 4K But not all of this is the story in just all about the aspect of the actual framerate gain from Vulkan. Remember Vulkan readjusts completely the way that X-Plane processes it's core graphic data and although you may only get say relative gains in framerate in many instances, but there is also a major redefining of what you can actually gain overall in the different aspects of the way Vulkan changes the way your computer processes the data. First of all hare are my computer specifications: Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 / ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb As you can see I am not what you would call a high-end grinder, but I am not right down on the bottom rung either, so I see my setup as in the middle ground and the set up that most users should currently aim for (I will note my processors are in need of an upgrade, as is my main motherboard for better bus speeds) On the left (above) was my v11.41graphic settings, on the right (above) are my new current v11.50 graphic settings. And all through the v11.30 and v11.40 era versions my graphic setups rarely changed, and so my graphic settings have always mostly been set as per that left side panel. My output was basically 30fr - 35fr, yes I could get around the 45fr marker if I wasn't too greedy with my "Object" numbers, but I just couldn't run the simulator in anything less than the Maximum object setting. My most changeable aspect for framerate was the "Texture Quality", If I was running a light loading, say the default Boeing 737-800 and a light airport scenery, then I could go to the "Max" setting to keep above the high numbers, but if I was running say a very high textured aircraft, say the Rotate MD88 and a large airport scenery, then I would have to drop a slider a notch down to the "High" setting. So mostly this was the best way to keep my graphic card from breaking out from over its 8K limit and thus ruining my frame rate was with this adjustment... in most cases I was willing to accept the "High" selection setting for the most framerate count as possible and live with some blurry textures. Vulkan's settings are actually quite different and even very exciting! Visual Effects : I was rarely set above High (HDR) in my Visual Effect setting, but now in Vulkan I can easily set the maximum setting of "Maximum (HDR+SSAO)". HDR is minimum anyway, but the +SSAO setting is a nice addition. In reality the differences between HDR and + SSAO are negligible, but as we shall see it now becomes more important in the use with other settings. Texture Quality : First to note that the actual slider settings have changed... v11.40 the texture slider was labeled as: v11.40 Minimal - Low - Medium - High - Maximum - Maximum (No Compression) v11.50 Minimal - Low - Medium - High - Maximum So in v11.50 the "Maximum (No Compression)" setting has been taken away and the top setting is now just the "Maximum" setting... but something far bigger has also changed to the processing of the textures behind the scenes? Here at Barcelona (LEBL) looking inland there are a lot of city objects to process, and note the texture count of 3385mb... ... but reduce the object count by looking towards the sea, and texture count changes down to 2190mb! So the texture count is actually now being processed to adjust to your requirements now on the fly. In reality before you had to fit the slider to stay within (or below) the texture count, but now in v11.50 the texture count simply adjusts to you, this is a huge jump in efficiency and that aspect is reflected in your framerate.... but that does not mean you can now overload your systems with a lot of heavy textures, the 4K or 8K (or higher) limits still count as do texture heavy aircraft or scenery, but it does mean like in my case I can now leave my texture setting in Maximum and really forget about it as the rendering will now adjust to it's own requirements. Texture paging (this aspect actually caused a lot of why v11.50 is so late in being released) is the difficult area of rendering. In Texture Paging then the textures are moved between the memory on your graphics card (VRAM) and the memory in your computer (“system memory”). At any given time, X-Plane may have more textures loaded than you can fit on your card, but it doesn’t need them all at once. As you fly, different textures are needed, and the textures have to be moved around. As Laminar noted... "If it looks like it’s getting too close to full, then shrink the textures to a smaller size and prefer to shrink the textures you’re not looking at. Do the shrinking in the background or if it looks like VRAM has empty space free, grow textures, preferring ones you are looking at now and do the growing in the background". What we are doing here in v11.50 and Vulkan is managing the biggest user of your processing capability or space for textures, as we have seen the processing can now adjust to fit your current needs, but if you still have a limited graphic card and slow (old) processors then you are still going to come up against limitations of quality visuals and poorly rendered screens. Laminar will refine the texture paging process even more as time goes on, but currently the benefits are there to be seen already. Antialiasing : In reality nothing has changed here and it is still in the 4x SSAA_FXAA setting. Moving it to the 8x SSAA+FXAA used to cause issues in v11.40, it still does the same weirdness in v11.50, so why mess with it? A fix may come when v11.50 is stable. Draw Shadows on Scenery : In OpenGL there was a few areas that where essentially no go selections, and one was to "Draw Shadows on Scenery". Many users used their sheer grunt power to overcome the limitations of drawing shadows on objects. But in reality it is a very inefficient way to create shadows. And don't get it wrong here as the object shadow option still has a huge impact on your framerate, because it still has a lot of processing to do, Laminar also has a short shadow limit as well, so if you pull back from the scenery then the shadows will quickly disappear. The shadows do however give you scenery a major boost in realism. With the shadows selected off (above left), then your visual scene is far more blander than with the effects switched on, as the shadow reflections then work in creating a big fill in effect that is far more realistic. Noted above is the reflection of the lighting mast on the terminal, Airbridge reflections and the excellent ground equipment reflections. Also give plaudits to Vulkan in that the far better processing efficiency it creates in allowing the shadow effects that can now be used without THAT huge framerate penalty, the actual loss in framerate is now minimal compared to the huge draw that the shadows created before. We noted in the Visual Effects slider that to put the "Maximum (HDR+SSAO)" and into this selection will give you benefits, those benefits are now noted with the "Draw Shadows" selection turned on. What the Visual effects does in this +SSAO setting is fill in the smaller details of the shadows, again you can go a selection lower to save frame rate, but the differences in the framerate saving in my case are very and if minimal anyway. A note: Turning off the Draw Shadow option while you are running a simulation or in the simulator will currently cause a computer hang or crash, Vulkan certainly does not like you disabling this option while it is currently running. So set via the "Settings Panel' and then restart from desktop to avoid ruining your simulation and do this BEFORE starting your sim. (A Beta refinement may come). Number of World Objects : In reality this selection is not really changed, you certainly feel the far better refinement of object processing in Vulkan, but really the same rules apply as the number of Objects you select does have a processing effect on your computer, like noted I will keep far more of the other effects switched off (i.e. shadows) to keep my objects running at the Maximum setting. Reflection Detail : First the reflection detail option is nothing to do with the shadows, it is the reflection of mirrored surfaces, mostly water or building glass. In the past the Reflection Detail feature was not a usable option, it was a flawed feature that simply nuclear attacked your framerate if you were brave enough to ever turn it on. Most never did use use the reflection feature unless you could simply grunt your way through the overwhelming processing tsunami. In Vulkan and with it's more highly refined processing abilities then reflections are now actually an option... yes you can now actually turn on or adjust the Reflection slider in X-Plane. Yes reflections still has an effect on your frame rate, but to note I can run easily in Vulkan with not only the shadow option on, but also the reflection option on as well! Reflections switched off (below left) and reflections switched on (below right) creates a huge difference in your quality detailing. Water in v11.50 has also been (finally) been redone and the twin effects working together are simply mesmerising. Now the water has movement again and looks... well like water, benefits are far better coastlines that are now far better defined. Barcelona's port comes alive with reflections, the cranes are now reflected into the water, and the night lighting is simply glorious. Buildings will also nicely reflect, as do mountains to create a lovely scene of a higher realism. "Yes but X-Plane has had all this reflection do-da feature for years" you may ask, and yes I agree with that sentiment... but not with a 50 fr headroom and at the same time of having the shadows switched on as well... this is a new X-Plane nirvana for about 60% of X-Plane users and one of the main advantages of using Vulkan. Reflection Detail comes in five step selections: Minimal - Low - Medium - Medium - High - Maximum The twin medium settings could be called "Medium Low" and "Medium High", and there is a significant difference between these two settings. In reality everything below "Medium High" is too low with not much reflection detail, and everything above "Medium High" comes with too much blurriness, and there is not much change either which way you go, so the "Medium High" selection is the only one to really use to get the best effective sharp detail you see here. Laminar may refine the selection choices later to make them more different from each selection choice, but the "Medium High" setting is absolutely perfect for the best compromise between superior detail and framerate efficiency. Both Shadows and Reflections are limited by the LOD or loading distance, but so is all of the object loading. In v11.50 object loading LOD is far more refined and in my guess is that once X-Plane12 is released the restrictions of object loading range (and night lighting) should be extended as now the processing can now be expended outward to cover over far larger areas. Like with OpenGL, if your frame rate is suffering then it is still the Shadow and Reflection options that will still go off first and even in Vulkan, as they still are heavy processor users.. as they are still really a "nice to have" more than a "need to have", but they are a very nice to have if you look at the cloud reflections on the water. Currently I have found I can actually leave both Shadow and Reflections on features on permanently with no outward crashing of my framerate, and absorbing a loss of around 5 fr. Plugins If you are smart you would have started the Vulkan v11.50 with virtually no plugins installed (called a vanilla install). No matter what the packaging says that the plugin is now "Vulkan Ready" it is that most will have to still be very tried and well tested before letting them loose in your lovely new application. Plugins are crashing Vulkan, it is that simple, worse is that even a so called tested plugin will still actually conflict with something else and still black screen you out. The list will be long, the fixes will be slow but we will get there eventually. Myself I am putting them back in very (very) slowly, and basically one at a time and testing each one as they go into the plugin folder, chuck a load of plugins there together and I will guarantee you they will crash your system, I know because Vulkan has done it to me several times, and it is a long road back from the black screen to get Vulkan running smoothly (It is a beta) again. Plugin Menu To help you with plugins, then the drop down "Plugin" menu has been completely redone and finally in the current X-Plane11 window design. Oddly the old version is also still visible, my guess is for access to the Hotkey menu. There are now three selections on the new "Plugin Admin" pop-up: Overview, Performance and Information. Overview: In Overview it shows you all your current running or available plugins and a tickbox (enabled) to switch them off, so you can disable any plugins that you don't want to run (It is not advisable to disconnect any aircraft running plugin (i.e. SASL and it's current version)). The "Cost" column will show you the impact of the relative framerate gain you would get if you turned the offending plugin off, it is used mainly for users that have limited GPU power, but it is also a useful tool to search out very inefficient plugins (The nasties) and remove them, or send (nasty) notes to the developer. Performance: A new feature is the Performance tab. This graph shows you the performances of your current running plugins, again it is useful tool in searching out inefficient running plugins, or seeing which aircraft or scenery is doing the most damage to your framerate, as noted Rotate's MD88 is highly efficient. Information: the third tab Information shows you the details of the plugin with details covering: Description (What the plugin is), Signature (Who made the plugin) and Path (where the plugin is installed). _______________________________ Flying in Vulkan (for the first time) That said the basic running of Vulkan is absolutely superb. Yes it is still buggy, as this is also a very early 1b beta version... Even in my very first flight you are really overwhelmed on how very smooth it all is, nothing, I mean nothing, stops, stutters or hesitates... it is all as smooth as silk from the point of moving for the first time to putting the park brakes back on after the flight.... perfect! Rotate (no pun intended) the view and there is no hesitation, no thinking at all on the computer's part.... the simulation just does and moves smoothly to what you want it to do. I will admit I have none of my toys running in this simulation like WorldTraffic or xEnviro or the few do-da's that I use during a heavy simulation or in a review, so the framerate is screaming as it is free, but even now I am very excited in how X-Plane is so much more and better, and Laminar has not even refined the Vulkan package yet... Internal views are crisp (I can use a texture setting far higher) and shadows are perfect and sharp... move the camera or view around and it is as smooth as you could dream about, extremely impressive. If there is one thing I really hate is being distracted by the simulator, you know the things... like when you want X-Plane to do something and it doesn't do it, as it jerks, waits or hesitates, it takes your attention away from the flying and controlling the aircraft to manage the issue or just really annoy you. Point is in v11.50 X-Plane didn't do ANYTHING untold during the whole full circuit I did around LEBL, yes this was a simple flight and all the flying is manual... but what a simple perfect circuit it was. Beautiful reflections abound, it is a new world... .... you know it is coming... it is that boundary between the nothing (sea) and huge texture and object count of the airport.... .... X-Plane always, always stuttered as it vainly tried process the huge differences in data volume, but now here in Vulkan there is nothing, but just a smooth glide between the two worlds... yes Vulkan is seriously impressive. Problems... I will note my only real problem was if I tried to insert an aircraft (authorise) twice? the second (or every loading after) would give me the black screen of death unless I removed the offending aircraft. This was fixed by throwing away the new v11.50 X-Plane preferences and restarting it all again with a new clean aircraft file, then the offending aircraft would load... and a lot of plugin conflicts, so I keep them currently as few as possible. And no, there will certainly not be a Windows 7 version of Vulkan and Metal based simulation, that bird has flown... really flown, so you will have get over it. Changing the coding to match Windows 7 is to difficult, and for just say 2% of users, it is simply not going to happen. Overall for the new v11.50 Vulkan/Metal API is... Highly impressive, but it is only early days yet. As writing this article the v11.50b2 has been released and fixes a lot of bugs. ______________________________________________________________________ Analysis Review by Stephen Dutton 8th April 2020 Copyright©2020: X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)

News! - Released : v11.50b1 Beta - Vulkan/Metal API by Laminar Research Laminar Research has released the long awaited, long in development Vulkan/Metal API update in a beta version v11.50b1. The new Application Programming Interface (API) replaces the decades old OpenGL. The API is is a computing interface to a software component or a system, that defines how other components or systems can use it. It defines the kinds of calls or requests that can be made, how to make them, the data formats that should be used, the conventions to follow, etc. It can also provide extension mechanisms so that users can extend existing functionality in various ways and to varying degrees. In X-Plane's reference it is for the processing of the very highly processor usage of graphics, or what you see on the screen. In the past under OpenGL most of the graphic processing was done on the Video Graphic cards, so the bigger and more powerful graphic card engine you had, then the more better X-Plane ran. But that aspect is not very efficient to a simulator. Vulkan (Windows) and Metal (AppleOS) changes all that by redefining the way ALL your processors process the data and not just the graphic cards, this will also smooth out the processor calls into the urgent and the not so urgent changes you require. For instance the background in reality of your simulator does not really change much, but the aircraft and instruments do and constantly. So the newer APIs will now not just tunnel everything through the graphic card like OpenGL did, but also allow the use of the main processors to work as well in finding a better balance and of course far more efficiency in running your simulations. Overall the changes with the API will be far better for the Apple aspect (Metal) than for Windows (Vulkan) so don't expect huge changes (i.e in your frameframe) because there isn't any. But where you will see huge differences is in stutters and far a more smoothness coming out of the simulator, I found that the weather is far, far more less intrusive as well. Secondly is that the API is very new (it is a BETA as well), so like with the 64bit changes a few years ago, the main total benefits won't be seen for a while. v11.50b1 Beta The beta release is activated via your X-Plane Installer, just make sure your "beta" box is ticked. It is very important to use a second copy of X-Plane for the new APIs (Again this can be done from the installer, and note don't load in your Global Scenery in the second copy, but when installed then transfer your current Global Scenery folder to the new installation). This way your current X-Plane v11.40 (OpenGL) will still be available. Important! Update your graphic drivers before installing or running the v11.50b1 Beta. Current Nvidia GeForce version is v445.75, and YES you do need to update to this driver! On startup the v11.50b1 beta will still be in OpenGL mode. you have to tick the "Use Vulkan for faster rendering" tickbox and then do a restart... ... when restarting the new API will then take a fair while to recompile your shaders into a new format, so you have to wait while the system does this, every time you restart the system will do this until it has covered all the shaders, but as it processes each startup the loading times will get significantly shorter, finished loading times are still not faster, in fact they are a little bit longer (shaders are now loaded at startup). On release the current items that will not work with v11.50b1... Current list is: Aircraft using DreamEngine Sound Ground Traffic Flight Factor A320 JAR A320 librain SkyMaxx Pro ToLiss A319 & A321 Traffic Global xEnviro xPilot XPRealistic Pro xSquawkBox Incompatible with X-Plane 11.50: xVision (I believe that xVision has already done a 11.50 update) Most of the above will update in the next few weeks, as they are all currently working on the changes to the new API. Laminar notes "not all add-ons are compatible with Vulkan and Metal. In particular, when Vulkan and Metal are enabled, 3-d drawing callbacks and map drawing callbacks are not sent to plugins. If an add-on appears to not work correctly, you can disable Vulkan and Metal and restart X-Plane." v11.50 is a BETA, not a release, so expect CTD (Crash to Desktop) and loads of other weird things going wrong, the trick is to keep X-Plane v11.50 version as basic as you can, few plugins, few aircraft, but the custom scenery folder should be fine... then add as required and as tested. Most weather related Applications will currently not work and neither will the multitude of 3d shader projects. Current known bugs First load time with Metal and Vulkan will be surprisingly slow. This is lots of shaders/pipelines compiling for the first time; subsequent runs will be faster. XPD-7871 Dark contrails instead of white. XPD-9729 Contrails and wing condensation missing in replay. XPD-10458 Need control of eGPU selection. XPD-10506 First run shader creation is super slow. XPD-10569 VR Right eye not working with AMD + Vulkan. XPD-10607 Null pipeline when opening skycolors. XPD-10616 Water reflection off if wave height is non zero. XPD-10617 CTD when using “regenerate icons for current aircraft (and livery)”. XPD-10619 EGPU massive FPS loss with OpenGL Drawing. XPD-10623 Panel screenshots command not working/crashing. XPD-10629 Black screen on Nvidia. Features and improvements Can toggle between OpenGL and Vulkan/Metal in rendering settings. I will note the water effect has had attention, it is now working very well. Full analysis of the new v11.50 version release will come next week from X-PlaneReviews, and any notable new changes... You can get the full X-Plane 11.50 Release Notes and any new changes here: https://www.x-plane.com/kb/x-plane-11-50-release-notes/ Discussion and comment updates on current events is here on the X-Plane.org: XP11.50 beta ______________________________________________________________________ News by Stephen Dutton 3rd April 2020 Copyright©2020: X-Plane Reviews (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions)

Scenery Review : Cortina - Cadore by Frank Dainese and Fabio Bellini This is the second of five sceneries that will cover the Dolomite Mountain Ranges in the eastern north of Italy. This new area covers the Cortina and Cadore Valley areas, that are positioned just to the south and west of the first release in the Drei Zinnen National Park, full review is here: Scenery Review : Drei Zinnen Natural Park by Frank Dainese and Fabio Bellini First of all you need to get a location of where you are in the Dolomites. It is harder than it looks in X-plane because in reality all the mountain ranges look exactly the same. The earlier Drei Zinnen National Park (marked in red) is just above and to the side of the wide u shaped valleys of the Ampezzo and Cadore. We will start in Cortina go west along the Fanes Group, come back and then work our way anti-clockwise around the wide U shaped valleys to the Auronzo Valley then come back again to Cortina, and then finally we will go north. Ampezzo Valley Cortina d'Ampezzo (Curtain of the Ampezzo Valley) sits at the heart or it is really the crossroads of the Dolomites and the town (commune) itself sits in a huge wide valley at the top of the Valle del Boite... Top two images are (left) South looking North, (right) North looking South... .... (left) West looking East and finally (right) East looking West. Cortina is a major winter sport resort renowned for its skiing trails, scenery, accommodation, shops and après-ski scene, and for its jet set Italian aristocratic crowd and atmosphere. These Dainese and Bellini sceneries are all about the mountain ranges or the significant peaks in the areas, they are created to be explored and to create a significant visual aspect to the X-Plane simulator... you could throw in a serious geography lesson in there as well. On each corner of the Cortina township there is a significant range... Northeast is the Croda Rossa (left image below, centre rear)... In front is the Pomagagnon (2450m) - (right above, second left) and the lovely Cristallo (3221m) group of peaks, d'Ampezzo, Cristallo di Mezzo and Monte Crisallo (far right)... .... Northwest there are four peaks (left to right) Tofana di Rozes (3225m), Tofana de Pomedes (2750m) and the largest in the Tofana di Mezzo (3244m) and the Tofana di Dentro (3238m)... the peaks can't really be seen from low down in Cortina, but the Mezzo as the highest peak in the area just pops into view. South(east) down the valley and visible is the Punta Sorapiss (3205m) and the Monte Antelao (3263m) of which we will look at closer soon. Southwest corner is the significant Croda da Lago (below), the range was popularised in the film Cliffhanger in 1993 (other scenes were shot on the Tofane cliffs opposite the Croda da Lago), but the intro images are the Croda da Lago.. ... the highest peak of the Lago group is the Cima d'Ambrizzola (2,71 m) Cortina In the Dainese and Bellini scenery the town is represented by the standard village objects that are situated thoughout all their sceneries, and these objects create a sort of generalisation of Cortina more than a pure replication of the township. Cortina has hosted the Winter Olympics back in 1956 and subsequently a number of world winter-sports events. And Cortina will again host the Winter Olympics for a second time when it co-hosts the 2026 Winter Olympics with Milan. A custom number of the original 1956 Olympic facilities are noted in the scenery. _____________________ Fanes Group and West We will now fly a loop anti-clockwise around the valleys. Our equipment is again the excellent Bell 407 by Dreamfoil. Before we head south though, we need to actually head west from Cortina and climb up high... directly in front of you is the Cinque Torri a small rock formation belonging to Nuvolao group, and it is extremely well modeled and detailed... The Cortina scenery package extends quite a way west, and the significant ranges are on your right past the Tofana di Rozes formations... First up is Lagazuoi (2,835m), the famous cross is visable, and the mountain range is well known for its wartime tunnels and First World War mine warfare. The views out here are excellent, and there is so much detail to absorb, the valleys below are a highlight. Sited behind Lagazuoi is the Cimi Di Fanes and P.ta South. The famous Cima Conturines (3064 m) or Conturines are also part of the Fanes Group and has two subpeaks called Taibun Spitze (2928 m) and Cunturines Zahn (2693 m). The boundary of the scenery is a circular range that looks almost volcanic that is still part of the Fanes group that rises out of the Fanes Plateau, it is totally spectacular, and the rim includes the Piz de Medesc (2709m), Piz di Zuber ((2718m), L'Ciaval (2907m), Piz dle Diesc (Sasso delle Dieci) - (3026m), Sas dles Nü (Cima Nove) - (2968m), but the only way to get the sheer scale of the Fanes group is to fly away a fair distance from the mountain range to get the right perspective. These 3D models are obtained from DEM (digital elevation model) and transformed into 3D objects as if they were buildings, with hundreds of thousands of triangles, the amount of work above is overwhelming in creating such realism and detail. ____________________________ We now head back east towards Cortina and the the Cinque Torri acts like a sentinel as you come back down into the Ampezzo Valley... And at the Cinque Torri then Averau (2,649m) directly in your sight on your right... and directly opposite is the Rifugio Averau (there is a H here that we will look at later) The southwest corner of Cortina d'Ampezzo is the Torrione Marcella ( 2345m) - (rear) and the Cima Ambrizzola (2715m) and the Croda da Lago on the entrance to the Cadore Valley. Cadore Valley On the left of the Cadore Valley now flying south is the huge wall of the Punta Sorapiss (3205m)... ... and the Monte Antelao (3263m) now is directly in front of you. It is known as the "King of the Dolomites". (Marmolada, the highest of all the Dolomites, is the "Queen" although composed mostly of limestone) Like many Dolomite peaks, Antelao is steep, rocky, and pointed; it also sits close to the edge of the Dolomite uplift and so has dramatic drops to the nearby valleys. Visually Antelao is one of the most dramatic mountains in this Cortina Scenery, and the township of San Vito di Cadore sits directly below in the valley. On your right directly opposite Antelao is Monte Pelmo which is also a significant mountain of the Dolomites, The mountain resembles a giant block which stands isolated from other peaks, so can be seen clearly from the neighbouring valleys and from nearby mountains such as Antelao and Monte Civetta. Three mountains actually make up the Pelmo formation, the main two are Monte Pelmo (3,168m) the centre formation, Pelmetto (meaning "Little Pelmo" in Italian), at 2,990m high and at the rear the Cime di Forca Rossa (2716m)... Monte Civetta (3,220 m) is located in the background... Its north-west face can be viewed from the Taibon Agordino valley, and is classed as one of the symbols of the Dolomites. Pieve di Cadore You are now coming into the bottom of the U shape of the Cadore Valley, with communes of Cancia then Vodo di Cadore which are both each end of the lake, Peaio commune is then further along until you arrive at Sottocastello (lower) and Pieve di Cadore (higher) which a hilltop strategic location and the town was a medieval stronghold with fortifications, called the "walled city of the Veneto." Below is the Vodo di Cadore which is an artificial reservoir obtained from the waters of the Boite river. The main sight in Pieve is the Palazzo della Magnifica Comunità ("Palace of the Magnificent Community"), built in 1447, and the "Giovanni Paolo II" Hospital which is represented, there is also a H Pad located here as well. Departing Pieve you fly over the reservoir and start up the east side of the curve, passing Calalzo, Valleslla then Domegge on the left up to the Lozzo di Cadore.... ... notable here are the hundreds and thousands of objects in this scenery, every valley and hillside is filled with objects to give you the full vista of the valleys. Further up is a big surprise around the corner as you follow the valley as it then into turns into the very familiar sight of the Auronzo Valley (see Scenery Review : Drei Zinnen Natural Park) ... ... with the spectacular Drei Zinnen National Park now on your right. You can follow the Auronzo Valley right around and straight back to Cortina, a note that you are deep into the Drei Zinnen territory of the scenery here with the Marmarole range and it's highest peak the Cimon del Froppa (2,932m) is on your left or to the south... The del Froppa is however rarely climbed, as it is somewhat overshadowed by its higher neighbours in the Antelao and Sorapiss. The southern boundary of the Marmarole range connects up the two packages of the Cortina and Drei Zinnen sceneries, so make sure you have the correct connector scenery (D2G_Exclusions) and it is also set correctly in the right .ini scenery order to make a perfect transition between the two packages, the scenery join comes out between the Marmarole and Punta Sorapiss formations so as you reach the spectacular Cadini Range of mountains on your right you are now back into the Cortina territory again.... The Cadini Range (below) has four significant peaks in the Cadin di San Lucano (2839m), Cima Eötvös (2825m), Cadin Nord Est (2788m) and Cadin della Neve (2757m)... .... note the Tre Cime di Lavaredo formation in the background behind the Cadini formations, and this range is also on the boundary of Cadini di Misurina (the lake also in the Drei Zinnen package). Flying on westward and it will soon bring you back to Cortina in coming in from the east and then in passing the Cristallo range on my right, with the now famliar Pomagagnon formations directly ahead... ... a look down to the left and there is Cortina sitting in the middle of its large basin bowl.. _____________________________ North The Cortina - Cadore scenery is far larger than the Drei Zinnen package, you could say it is an extension west as much as south over an area of about 1000 sq km in this eastern part of the Dolomitesto. Flying north from Cortina you will first see the only airport LIDI (noted later) in the scenery... ... then you take a right following the Strada Statale 51 di Alemagna into the Braies Valley which goes around another very significant and spectacular mountain in the Hohe Gaisl - Croda Rossa d'Ampezzo in Italian (3,146m). The Croda Rossa's summit has a pyramid shape and the detail is exceptional as the mountain's slopes glow in a deep red colour, it is a feature it has in common with many Dolomite peaks. The mountain is however rarely climbed as it is particularly prone to rockfall. It is more appreciated for its beauty as seen here. Opposite the Croda Rossa is the Dürrenstein or Picco di Vallandro (869m), it is an odd shape but quite spectacular up close or from a distance. It looks like the formation is still coming out of the surrounding landscape, and is being thrust into the sky... Slightly further north than the Picco di Vallandro is the Val Pusteria (Puster Valley), turn right and you go to Dobbiaco, which was the main airport (LIVD) focus of the Drei Zinnen scenery, turn left and into the Cortina - Cadore scenery as it now extends the scenery far further west out to Valdaora. Going west down the Val Pusteria on your left is the Seekofel-Croda del Becco (2,810m) and the Grosser Roskopf (2559m)... Familiar? well they should be because the same mountains that frame Braies lake "Lago di Braies" as in the Drei Zinnen scenery, only now the significant mountains around the lake have now been completed... this chain is also still part of the same formations of the extensive Fanes Group. There is a H Pad (LIBRH-Drei Zinnen) here as well. The Val Pusteria peters out around Valdaora which is the northwest boundary of the scenery, however if you are enterprising enough you could go out further west and then circle around back south to the Fanes Plateau and then complete the full circle back to Cortina. Valdaora is reconisable by the lake (above) - Lago di Valdaora. Lighting Overall lighting is not the main aspect of this scenery... there is lighting of course, but it is mainly just housing (window) lighting to create an alpine village feel... here at Cortina it works very nicely in recreating the effect, odd buildings and the many football (Soccer) fields are also well lit in the scenery. _________________________________ There is one airport and five H pads in the scenery, which is significantly less than most other provided landing areas in Dainese and Bellini sceneries, provided are: LIDI - Airport - 46.5829754 012.1119898 – CORTINA d’AMPEZZO HELCO- HELIPAD – 46.57413275 012.11549615 AIRPORT CORTINA HLICD - HELIPAD - 46.5567965 012.1314460 – CORTINA CODIVILLA HLCR - HELIPAD - 46.4858144 012.1059620 – CRODA DA LAGO HLHP - HELIPAD - 46.4321646 012.3760996 – PIEVE OSPEDALE HLNV - HELIPAD - 46.4952058 012.0461872 - Ref.NUVOLAU LIDI - Airport – CORTINA d’AMPEZZO There is actually an airport in the Ampezzo Valley, but it is a very odd looking facility? An extremely long runway that is threaded between a hangar and the apron areas... but the details here are actually correct, but at the real airport the runway is now discontinued (surprise, surprise), the aprons however only provide helicopter services. The airport was built for the 1956 Winter Olympics. It has remained closed to traffic since an accident involving a Cessna 206 on 31 May 1976. HELCO - H AIRPORT CORTINA On the southern part of the apron there is a H Pad, and it is a tricky one because the fencing gets in the way of the southern approach line. HLICD - H CORTINA CODIVILLA Very odd H pad that has a very angled slope in front of the Istituto Codivilla Putti Di Cortina SpA a sort of (expensive) health retreat. Extremely hard to takeoff and harder still to land on without tipping over? HLCR - H CRODA DA LAGO This H pad sits by the lake Federa right next to the Croda da Lago Refuge, the Croda Da Lago then towers above you... HLHP - H PIEVE OSPEDALE (Hospital) This H pad is situated behind the hospital on a platform, tricky because of the tall trees surrounding the H pad, but it is well done. HLNV - H Ref.NUVOLAU Refuge Nuvolau hut is one of the oldest ones in all Dolomites as it was founded in 1883 and keeps its original aspect in all of its parts. Situated on top of the orcella Nuvolau, it is also known as the Averau refuge. it sits at 2,413m Summary Frank Dainese and Fabio Bellini create unique sceneries based on famous or iconic mountain ranges and their environs. This is the second of five sceneries that will cover the Dolomite Mountain Ranges in the eastern north of Italy. This new area D2 covers the Cortina and Cadore Valley areas, that are positioned just to the south and west of the first release in Drei Zinnen National Park This new Dolomite scenery dovetails into the first Drei Zinnen scenery, so in reality you will need both packages to get the full perspective of this growing Dolomite spectacular landscape... and brilliant it is. All the numerous mountains and glaciers are all very highly created mesh from DEM data 3D graphics programs, and the Hi-Res textures are all in 4K resolution. The focus mountains are simply excellent in their 3D reproductions highlights are Antelao, Tofane, Fanes Group and the Croda Rossa. This package is again extensive and covers the central point of Cortina itself, with all the landmark ranges surrounding it... represented is the Le Tofane, Pomagagnon, Cristallo, Lagazuoi, Huge Dolomiti di Fanes, Averau, Conturines, 5 Torri, Lagusela, Lastoni di Formin, Croda da Lago, Sorapis, Scoton and the spectacular Antelao and Croda Rossa. These excellent representations of iconic mountain areas of the world are for exploration, sightseeing or just plain exploring... and you could throw in a bit of geography as well. All are highly detailed of the areas they represent, the mountain ranges are of course the stars and the focal point. Should these sceneries come with a warning? well yes, as you can get seriously lost exploring the valleys and huge areas now at your disposal, but I do recommend the Drei Zinnen package as well as the Cortina to complete the full flow and the perfect transition between the two areas. Hugely popular and yes I really love these amazing and hugely detailed sceneries that can change your perspective of an iconic area and in this case Cortina and it's spectacular surroundings and allow them to come to life in your simulation world... Highly recommended, so now two down and only three more Dolomites to go! ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! Dolomites 3D Cortina - Cadore by Frank Dainese and Fabio Bellini is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Dolomites 3D Cortina - Cadore Price Is US$24.95 Customer who already own Dolomites 3D- Drei Zinnen Park can get this new scenery for $5 off. Please go to the original invoice for coupon code Features Included in degree + 46. + 012, territory of about 1000 sq km. 1 Cortina airport (LIDI) and several heliports in the most interesting points (Alpine refuges ...) 13 3D models of Dolomites with 4K textures All the tourist attractions of area with the queen of Dolomites: Cortina d'Ampezzo. Cortina reproduced for most part with all its ski lifts. All vegetation mapped and reproduced. Territory totally covered with polygons / textures that reproduce the real terrain. WT3: Your joking of course! no, you are on your own here Requirements X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 4GB VRAM Minimum - 8GB+ VRAM Recommended Download Size: 870Mb Release and Review version 1.0 (2nd April 2020) Installation Download scenery file size is download 870.20mb and with the full installation installed in your custom scenery folder as there are eight install folders in the order below in the .INI File (included and listing below also includes the Drei Zinnen packs):  SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D1A_DOLOMITI_3D_Part1/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D1B_AIRPORT_LIVD/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D1C_CableWay_Dolomitti1/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D1D_PUSTERIA_Comelico/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D1E_MISURINA/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D1F_AURONZO/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D1G_Exclusions/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D2A_DOLOMITI_3d_Part2/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D2B_AIPORT_LIDI/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D2C_CableWay_Dolomiti2/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D2D_CORTINA/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D2E_CADORE/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D2F_CRODALAGO/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D2G_Exclusions/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Dolomiti2_lib/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/MESH_DOLOMITI1/ Total scenery installation (Cortina) : 1.46gb connector scenery (D2G_Exclusions- Highlighted) is IMPORTANT in its position in the scenery order .ini to make sure there is a perfect transition between the two packages. Documents One manual with notes ______________________________________________________________________   Review by Stephen Dutton 4th April 2020 Copyright©2020 : X-Plane Reviews  (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.31 Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini  Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 Scenery or Aircraft - Bell 407 XP11 by Dreamfoil (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$35.00

Behind the Screen : March 2020 Are you coping? Do you need help? How are you doing in Self-Isolation? How do you want to get through this? Do you need tips to help you get through this? This is how to get through your day? These are messages that I get every day, I am thankful that people care, I really am... but. Well a month back in what was then looking like normal life and pretty well for a long time before this virus event unfolded this was my average day. Get up and have a cereal breakfast, go out and buy a newspaper, have a coffee and read the newspaper, come home and have more breakfast, then do six hours with a break on X-Plane in doing the site and reviews. Now today inside the virus event then here is my same day. Get up and have a cereal breakfast, go out and buy a newspaper, get a takeaway coffee, come home and read the newspaper, have more breakfast, then do six hours with a break on X-Plane in doing the site and reviews. You see the major difference, yes I now pick up a takeaway coffee and bring it home than rather drink it at my local coffee shop.... that is it, and yet people are telling me daily that I simply can't cope with all that significant change. Funny enough I have been doing this (now labeled WFH - Work From Home) do dah for over a decade? for myself nothing really has changed basically in my day to day structure and yet here I have loads of people telling me on how to cope and get through all of this event? I am lucky really that I found a medium to translate the way I want to live my life. And yes X-Plane can be seriously isolating, but funny enough it also opened up my world far, far more than it actually closed it down. I am still a 63 year old child that moved with the world, I am thankful (or just smart enough) to change with the world around me through the decades as I have always been right at the front in one form of the other in technological changes, and obviously when the internet and computers collided I used this new technology to live a more easier and less forceful life, although I will admit you do work far more harder from home than you will ever do than on the outside, as there is reality no boundaries and the work is right there waiting 24/7 to be done, but again self discipline can help in you controlling the monster than rather the monster in controlling you. But the overall moniker is simple, when it becomes work then it is time to walk away from it, so the X-Plane experience is fun and exciting with a lot of learning thrown in, and if that aspect can last ten years then being involved in simulation can not be a totally bad thing. That is the point to all these other people who really are struggling in their isolation. Don't tell me on how you are coping, because I am quite fine thank you very much because in reality very much in my life right now is actually that not very different, or even try tell me ways of on how to cope either. I hated the fact when people noted they had to adjust to WFH and are try to understand that, because I have doing this thingy WFH do dah for a decade, so is that a bit condescending their part. People are weird... But the X-Plane community is also a seriously modern and interconnected one, and we all share the same information, the same upward path to simulation nirvana and the same goals in just trying to get that landing as perfect as the next one, Isolation is certain not a word we use or even recognise because we are connected altogether through our computers and our networks (some users that fly together take this aspect even further), but we are singularly all spaced out but still also highly connected together with one focus and aim, and in that there is a lot of friendship as well. That is the incredible aspect of living in the current period of our technologically advanced world, we are all connected together with no boundaries or even walls around us... in our world there is no such words like Self-Isolation, that is unless you don't pay your internet account! Vulkan/Metal API I really didn't think it would have been three months into the new 2020 decade for Laminar to release the next update in v11.50 with the Vulkan/Metal update. My first guess was about two to three weeks into January, but here we are and it is still taking that long to sort out and refine... I don't doubt for a moment that Laminar Research have not been working very hard on this and for a very good reason, that the new API HAS to be right, HAS to work well straight out of the box. So overall the wait will be been worth it.... but on release of this goodwill message then we still don't have any Vulkan/Metal API's So confine people, promise them that in two weeks or so that the beta release will finally be active and you are asking for trouble, yes if you haven't noticed it is April Fools Day today, so releasing today would be seen as a joke, but many are starting to laugh anyway, and not in a practical joker sort of mad laugh way either, but more of a "this is turning into a big joke" sort of way. The worry is FS2020 and X-Plane needs to retain users faith now more than ever before, but in reality Laminar is caught on that question in that release a buggy beta and it all goes down badly, don't release the beta update and it still all goes down badly, either way Laminar can't win.... but then again how long can you really stretch the elastic before it breaks. But the signs are there as already many plugin updates are already noting to be updated and are 11.50 compliant, so yes it is now very close. On those 11.50 updates then be ready for a lot of them, in fact most plugins and fair amount of aircraft will need updating to be totally Vulkan/Metal compliant. On install you WILL find a lot of areas that won't work although Laminar has reassured us that the Open GL failsafe should cover most of the issues. Personally I don't like that, I would rather let things fail and fix them than sort of cover them over and generally hiding them away in the code that is going to be disconnected soon anyway. There will be a lot of complaining, there will be a lot of anguish... but like with the 64bit transfer it will all settle down quite quickly, which on situation sounds like a certain virus pandemic we are also having to deal with, which is funny on how X-Plane and life can parallel in the same circumstances. Certainly you can't compare the lives of thousands of innocent people to a simulator, but I think you sort of get the same conditions. The one thing we will be confronted with though will be a lot of updates, loads in fact, so maybe it is time like I wrote in last month's "Behind the Screen - February 2020" in doing a totally reassessment of your simulator, a fresh clean start, a more refined simulator... if one thing that does come out out of the Coronvirus is the fact that for a few weeks we have created a cleaner and better world around us and have finally given the planet a breather from our dirty habits... we may even finally learn something to make our surrounds actually better and not worse everyday... so again a mirror to our simulation life is that you can change, be better, throw away bad habits and choose to restart in a more cleaner and more environmental environment, will we learn anything, probably not but it is still a nice thought. See you all out of isolation next month Stephen Dutton 1st April 2020 Copyright©2020 X-Plane Reviews

The review is presented as seen on release or with an update, yes Star-Altas has done an update, but in reality the release version should have been completed with the complete WT3 or ground routes in the first place, that was a bad oversight for them.

Aircraft Upgrade Review : SR22 GTSX Turbo HD Series XP11 by Carenado For decades the big three American general aviation manufacturers of Cessna, Piper and Beechcraft have dominated the American light aircraft industry. Their aircraft are very good, but in reality their designs and aircraft construction were born out of the 1950's and early Sixties, and in time they kept to keeping in to what they knew or to what they could sell in high numbers. This blinkered approach made the big three very reluctant to change or even to innovate. Like for Tesla in car manufacturing this then left a huge gap in the GA market for any enterprising designer to try something a little different and even to create a far more modern single-engine four-or-five-seat composite aircraft. This idea has been so highly successful in the fact that since it's first flight in November 2000, the Cirrus SR22 series has been the world's best-selling general aviation (GA) airplane every year since 2003. With 6,149 units delivered from 2001–19 alone, and in combination with the earlier SR20, there is a total of 7,645, SR aircraft produced and quickly making the SR22 among the most-produced aircraft of the 21st century, and is also the single most-produced GA aircraft made from composite materials and accounting for over 30% of the entire piston aircraft market. The big three has suddenly become the big four. Carenado SR22 GTSX Turbo This is not the first SR22 GTSX Turbo from Carenado. In fact this is an upgraded version of the aircraft that was released four years ago in March 2016, the review is here: Aircraft Review - Cirrus SR22 - GTSX Turbo G1000 HD Series by Carenado The aircraft itself back in 2016 was very good, but it was lumbered with the internally very poorly Carenado developed Garmin G1000 avionics system. It had many features, but the system was extremely very inefficient that translated into a painfully slow interaction with the avionics, in time Carenado would completely dump the idea when Laminar Research released their built own default Garmin G1000. The original SR22 from Carenado was under the HD (High-Definition) moniker. But this was still back in X-Plane10 and not with the more highly refined current Carenado and X-Plane11 dynamics. Here the SR22 is upgraded and you notice the dynamic differences immediately from the more slightly semi-gloss version back in 2016, detail is far significantly higher as well of what is essentially the same aircraft. It is amazing what faster computers and a more highly refined process can do to the same design, it just also highlights the extraordinary quality of the original modeling and textures. But make no mistake it is still exactly the same as the original in every area, It has just all been just better defined. Lovely wing doors are still well done, and give ample access to the cockpit when open. It feels far darker and more glossier in the cabin. Carenado cabins are always dark and foreboding anyway and there still isn't much lightness or brightness in here to cheer you up. Again the seating materials are exactly the same, but don't look so much under the newer high-powered gloss treatment. The instruments and panels are all angled and set out around the flying left seat pilot. The right hand seat pilot can fly the aircraft with a yoke and rudder set, but the instrument screen panel and the switchgear would then be all offset to them. Overall the aircraft has minimum switchgear and controls, just provided are the basics you simply require for flying the aircraft and nothing more. That does not mean the aircraft is not well equipped because it is, but unlike the older generations of aircraft then these modern versions have been refined to a higher easier flying level and one of the major attractions to modern pilots. Yoke or flying handles are unique, in their push/pull and twist actions, but they also clear a lot of space in front of the pilots. Here they are both beautifully rendered. Biggest change here is obviously the Perspective G1000 (which is now based on default G1000 of X-Plane)... gone is the slow and clumsy Careando G1000 to be replaced with the usual and now very familiar Laminar version. You also lose a lot of features noted in the earlier review but the speed and efficiency of the new displays more than makes up for that. Pop-ups are the standard Laminar G1000 PFD (Primary Flight Display) and MFD (Multi-Functional) display panels in a window format... ... retained though is the excellent ENG (Engine) mode screen. Note; the engine parameters viewed here is shown to be not running. Engine parameters covered are "Engine Power%", "Engine RPM", "Man In HG" (Manifold Pressure), "FFlow" (Fuel Flow), "Oil" Pressure and Temp. "Engine Temperatures" are covered in CHT ºF and EGT ºF. Anti-Ice Amount (in GAL) and Oxygen Pressure. Electrical output section covers both Current (A) and Bus Volts (V). The Fuel section displays "Fuel Qty" (in GAL) for both tanks, and fuel calculation data in "Used" - "Rem" (remaining), "Time Rem" and "Range" on the remaining amount of fuel in both tanks. I found the fuel data really helpful in planning and in flight on managing your range and fuel tank selection. Air data in altitude and OAT (outside Air Temp). Notes include that the COM1 & COM2 are sited on the PFD, but most frequencies are here noted on the MFD, including the same COM1 & COM2 Frequencies, your active GPS/NAV1/NAV2, GS (Ground Speed Knts), DTK (Direction degree), TRK (Track) and ETE (Estimated Time Enroute). Pressing the RED button mid panel will convert both displays to the "Backup" function or "Get Home" situation, in that both displays are exactly the same in showing both PFD tools and MFD Engine parameters. I have always been a big fan of the design of the centre console. Instead of the MFD knobs being on the actual display they are all set out here for a much more ease of use and access on the centre console. Three sections cover (top to Bottom) MFD controls, Input keyboard panel and lower the AP (Autopilot) panel. It was always a great setup for creating flightplans with ease... but on this release the selection knob actually doesn't work, so you can't input anything or even select a saved flightplan? Not very good Carenado... as it makes the flightplan feature in the MFD totally useless? Lower is first the standard COM Radio and a Bendix/King KR 87 ADF radio, bottom panel is an Oxygen panel and Flap selection in: P - 50% - 100% Directly in front of the pilot are three lower standby dial instruments in "Airspeed", "Artificial Horizon" and "Altitude". All backup dials are very clear and well presented and a clever sited position of clear use. Main switchgear panel covers the Ice Protection On-Off, MAX or NORM Ice setting, Pitot Heat, Exterior lighting (Nav - Strobe - Land). Three knobs on the far right adjust the panel and interior lighting. First knob adjusts the instrument lighting, then the red cowl lighting and the last right knob covers the overhead spotlights. Nice big throttle lever dominates the lower console in look and feel. This "Single Lever Throttle Control” automatically adjusts the propeller speed through the use of the throttle lever. There is no separately-controlled propeller lever on the aircraft. To the right is the red knob "Mixture" lever with "Rich" to "Lean" adjustment. You can switch to each fuel tank via the switch, but have to press the red "OFF" panels to turn it off. Very nice tank gauges are set out above and are very clear for use. Sets of fuse breakers are on the left inside of the centre console (non-active). Menus There are three menu tabs on the lower left side of the screen. (A) is the Autopilot panel, but this is a significantly reduced pop-up menu panel from the earlier version, the MFD controls and Input keyboard panel are now missing and in now leaving only the AP part of the panel visible. This is a huge loss because I used this pop-up a lot to programme or input the flightplan (the older extended panel version is shown on the right). Standard Carenado in the (C) or Views/Volume menu has the standard internal and external views plus three views for the Throttle and Switches and the Avionics, the volume slider is up/down on the side and point of view slider across the top. Lower tab is the (O) or Options tab that covers Window and instrument reflections, Static elements in mostly just tags and bollards. Pilot, Passenger and left side baggage door of which all doors can be separately opened and closed, both main doors can also be opened by the latches inside. Single pilot has again been replaced by the more realistic newer twin pilots, and they will also disappear when you use the static elements. Flying the SR22 Overall there is the feel that there is not much difference in performance between the earlier and this later X-Plane11 version of the SR22, but Careando have changed the engine dynamics for XP11 and the flight physics have also been updated and optimised for XP11 standards. The 310 hp (231 kW) Continental IO-550-N piston engine has a lot of power to climb up to the 25,000ft ceiling available. But with a rate of climb of only around 1000fpm (official is 1,250fpm) that is slow for such an altitude, however it is here the Turbo comes into its own and more importantly it is the extra turbo performance boost you need as you go higher. The aircraft's ceiling is 25,000 feet, but it's easy enough to estimate that at an average of close to 1,000 fpm for the entire climb would take between 25 and 30 minutes from sea level to FL 250. So you would never really do that height as you would waste too much performance just getting up there. Top speed in that upper thinner air is impressive at around 215knts but the average speed is usually flown around 12,000ft which is then set around 194knts in the cruise mode. Range is 1,049 nmi (1,207 mi; 1,943 km) with reserves at a setting of 65% power. Lighting The SR22's lighting was very nice, it still is to a point with the white overhead lighting,and also still that RED hue that is also available and both are adjustable... and note the modern feel to the Whiskey Compass. But the roof rear cabin lights now don't work (they were also + manipulator adjustable), so that earlier lovely light filled cabin feel is now gone and has been replaced with complete darkness? Externally the three LED landing lights have been upgraded and are better, the rest is basic navigation, strobe and rear facing white lighting. _________________________ A few notes on the SR22 XP11 on a flight from the Gold Coast (YBCG) to Brisbane (YBBN). The SR22 has a castor front wheel, so it is not steerable, well sort of. Like we found in the original review in to change direction on the ground you had to have a bit of speed up, or if not then the castoring front wheel will lock. So you are putting on a lot of power to move quickly forward and then quickly reducing the power when pointing in the right direction. It maybe realistic in to trying to match the real world free castor nose, but it is also difficult and not very realistic in the simulator... in the end your turns are more shonky than real. A more halfway approach would have made the turning action a little more realistic. I really like the Cirrus aircraft, it is the right size, the right power to go distances and a very modern aircraft... easy to fly as well. But with this Careando version you are not getting the features and depth it deserves in this upgrade, it is nice, it is easy, but you get the feeling of wanting more and not less which is fact of what you are actually getting for the same money.... dirty as well, notice the amount of carbon coming out of the exhaust. The bugs keep coming as well... the pop-up AP menu panel works fine, but the centre console AP panel has areas that don't work, like with the V/S (Vertical Speed) wheel? vFlyteAir's version of the SR20 that X-PlaneReviews reviewed here, is far better in most cases than this SR22 Carenado release, but the SR20 also has not had an update or upgrade since v2.6 and April 2018 but it is X-Plane v11.20 tested and out of it's original X-Plane10 release version. The famous Cirrus built in safety feature of a parachute called the "Cirrus Airframe Parachute System" in case the engine goes wonky or you forget to switch over the fuel tanks. It is set out on the roof and you can pull off the cover and pull the handle. Unlike the VflyteAir SR20 version were as the parachute does actually physically work... here you are just sent to the closest airport runway in an instant. The parachute system in real life has been used and deployed 79 times in carrying or saving 163 survivors. Sounds are really quite good and has the highly customised FMOD sound package, consistent and 180º dynamic. But there is an unusual high-pitched noise coming from the centre console (radio?) but in most cases it is hidden via the main engine sounds, but overall I found them all and the range very good. Flying into YBBN (Brisbane) RWY14 and you realise the SR22 is a nice general aviation machine to travel around in, simple enough for the budding new pilot, but deep enough for the professional as well. A nice approach speed full flap was around 80 knts with a slow throttle reduction down to 74 knts that allows a slow descent down to the runway... 71 knts is touchdown speed... stall speed is around 60 kn (69 mph, 110 km/h) flaps down. You can't run off the speed completely as you need some to keep that front castoring front wheel in vogue, so you tend to leave the runway quite fast, and then even speed down the taxiways and then taking corners as you go. A note the vFlyteAir SR20 is very much the same in the castor, but it will hold a wheel to turn and you can rotate on that to turn the aircraft... overall it is a requirement for a speedy taxi or moving quickly around on the ground. Librain The librain rain drop effects are also now active for the SR22, and very good they are too. The plugin is required. Liveries There is one blank and five liveries... four are exactly the same as the original, but one that was once a flat Grey is the same registration N6693C but is now a lovely chrome metal. _______________________ Summary The Carenado Cirrus SR22 Turbo was released released four years ago in X-Plane10, and this is the upgraded version for X-Plane11. The SR22 is light modern four-seater aircraft that is one of the most popular aircraft in production today, and to a point Cirrus has taken on and even beat the dominating big three general aviation manufacturers of Cessna, Piper and Beechcraft with a far more modern and composite aircraft. In reality this XP11 version of the Carenado SR22 is just a total revision of the earlier aircraft. The basics in the modeling and design are exactly the same, but refined with the newer XP11 dynamics and PBR textures (deeper colours and more gloss) and better sounds. Biggest change is the dumping of the original if highly featured Carenado Garmin G1000 avionics for the Laminar Research default G1000 system, but with the twist of the fully featured ENG (Engine) mode screen. The Carenado Garmin G1000 avionics was in reality a slow, heavy and clumsy package that had more bugs than a beehive, but it was highly featured as noted. The default G1000 by comparison is quite basic, but still light, familiar and easy to use. Release version of Carenado's SR22 is quite buggy and mostly related to the MFD (Multi-Functional Display) interface centre console. A lot of the buttons and switchgear don't work, and the flightplan can't be either accessed or even created?. Worse is with the removal of the same panel of MFD controls and Input keyboard panel are now also missing and in now leaving only the AP part of the panel visible in the menu so there is now no other options of input available. Internal lighting has been ruined as well with now no rear spot lights in the cabin either. The SR22 is also still extremely tricky to turn and taxi on the ground. This new XP11 release feels like a one step forward and two steps backwards from Carenado. Yes the bugs will be fixed up and that will make the aircraft easier to use overall, but a release in this condition with glaringly obvious issues is surprising for this developer, but overall the Cirrus SR22 is a nice aircraft and nice one to fly regularly, and overall this release feels like a version update more than an totally refined upgrade except for the PBR effects. __________________________________________________ Yes! the Cirrus SR22 - GTSX Turbo G1000 HD Series XP11 by Carenado is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : SR22 GTSX Turbo HD Series XP11 Price is US$34.95 Special Features Full interior and exterior PBR. 3D interior and exterior with MANY details. Rain effect support* (dynamic drops movements). * Requires downloading Librain plugin: Click Here Customized FMOD sounds. Carenado Perspective G1000 (based on default G1000 of X-Plane) Features Full VR compatible Specially designed engine dynamics for XP11. Flight physics optimized for XP11 standards. Physically Based Rendering materials and textures throughout. PBR materials authored with industry-standard software used by the film and gaming industries. Realistic behavior compared to the real airplane. Realistic weight and balance. Tested by several pilots for maximum accuracy. Requirements X-Plane 11 (Fully updated) Windows, Mac or Linux 4GB VRAM Minimum- 8GB+ VRAM Recommended Current and Review version: 1.1 (March 25th 2020) _____________________________________________________________________________________ Installation and documents: Download is 296.93mg and the aircraft is deposited in the "General Aviation" X-Plane folder at 880.30 mg. Installation key is required on start up and is supplied with the purchased download file. Librain (rain effects) plugin is required, get it here and install in your plugins folder: Click Here Documents supplied are: Carenado Copyright.pdf SR22T Reference.pdf SR22T Performance tables.pdf SR22T Emergency Procedures.pdf SR22T Normal Procedures.pdf Recommended settings XP11.pdf Carenado G1000 SR22T.pdf X-Plane G1000 Manual.pdf ______________________________________________________________________  Upgrade Review by Stephen Dutton  30th March 2020 Copyright©2020 : X-Plane Reviews   (Disclaimer. All images and text in this preview are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications:  Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 1TB SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.41 Addons: Saitek x56 Rhino Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini Plugins: Environment Engine by xEnviro US$69.90 v1.07 : LIbrain rain effects - Free Scenery or Aircraft -YBCG - Gold Coast Airport 1.0 by tdg (X-Plane.Org) - Free -YBBN - Brisbane Airport 1.0 by tdg (X-Plane.Org) - Free

FF Airbus A320 Ultimate is more expensive for a reason with far more features, but system wise they are equal.

Actually about the same, dated and both need a version two update, both are well overdue.

Totally depends on what the MCDU update really is, is it just an addon SID/STAR to the current FMC, or a complete real working MCDU. If the former then no, if the latter then yes to your question, Personally the fully working MCDU will come in the v2.

50% love it and 50% hate it, personally I don't think it is too bad, the core of the issue is that the developer not renowned for doing any updates? so the aircraft tend to drift into disrepair.

In reality you can't compare them? The JF PA28 Series is a completely different class and price category than the AeroSphere, but the AeroSphere PA28-181 is certainly good value for the money, also just don't expect the detail, quality and features for the lower price. If two aircraft are close and comparable then usually they are mentioned together in the review, but in this case like I said they are not.