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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/15/2013 in all areas
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Hello, Captains!, Work continues and we're still working feverishly over here. We've concluded our testing on our latest feature implemented, and I wanted to show that to you here! Recently there was some internal discussion about how the Saab 340A lacks RNAV capability. It is, after-all, an old school aircraft by design, and primarily requires VOR/NDB type flying. The aircraft itself comes standard with two radios for VOR 1 and VOR 2 tracking which makes the autopilot as well as the aircraft interactive and fun to fly. Aside from general complexity in the simulation of this aircraft, the navigation aspect alone will really brush up your skills as a pilot in general. It's really a lot of fun to surf the skies and have something to do all the time! But, RNAV is becoming ever so popular and dominant in places like Europe (all over the world really), where a lot of radio frequency waypoints (like VOR) no longer exist. Instead, they rely on FIXs and that is something the Saab 340A is not capable of out of the box. In the USA it's a bit easier because VORs still exist, and any type of FIX can generally (usually) be associated to some form of radial on a VOR. All this said, to solve the RNAV issue we made the executive decision to create our own GPS in X-Plane. We are calling this a Mini-GPS, and it is accessible in the tool tray just like all of our other menus seen in our last topic covering this type of information. The Mini-GPS will work only with FIXs, as the aircraft itself can already handle radio frequency waypoints like VORs. The Mini-GPS window will give you three options when first opened. The first, is to set the initial position that the GPS will track from. For convenience we have a button to set it to your current aircraft position. The second and third inputs are for FIXs. We allow you up to two waypoints for convenience, and as you cross a FIX in flight, the second FIX you entered will move to the 'Active' position. This will make flying things like SIDs and STARs a lot more attractive to a lot of you. Additionally, the menu allows you to select checkboxes for what data you'd like to display on screen. This includes your active waypoint, a deviation bar (just like you'd find on a real GPS), and your 'Next' waypoint if entered. It looks like this: In the below screenshot, I have just taken off from KIAH and am on my way to the 'ZORLU' FIX. You can see the data in the upper left displays what heading from my current position this FIX is located at, and how far I am from the FIX based on my current position. This data constantly updates as I fly! You'll also note the deviation bar in the middle of the screen. The small diamond constantly updates, tracks, and displays the proper information for me to know when I am on the correct flight path between the two waypoints I have entered (in this case my position on the runway at KIAH and the FIX 'ZORLU'). Click image to see full size. So this is just a quick run down of our latest feature implemented. I believe this will be attractive for a lot of you who fly online and follow SIDs and STARs. It solves a problem in our virtual world for an aircraft that typically does not have RNAV capability, and still makes the flying fun just like VOR to VOR flying would be. Thanks for reading! We'll have more updates shortly as we progress to release!6 points
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Hi guys, Yes, STILL NOT A RELEASE but at least some new screenshots - and proof that this project is alive - from Canada which received a very nice landclass update over the last weeks which will make it a worthy addition in the HD Mesh v2 regions! You can check the pictures out here: https://picasaweb.google.com/101666907909842492197/XPlane10HDMeshV2CanadaPREVIEW For the final (I don't even dare to say, but I now really really hope for this autumn) release I am still waiting for a few things to happen: X-Plane 10.30 needs to become available, as it will bring a quite large set of texture updates and a few important new terrain types which the HD Mesh relies on. Without this, it won't work.Some final code changes in the scenery generator are in the makings which - I hope - will further improve the cities (but I don't want to tell too much)And some final data tweakings (but most of this is now done - thats why I can showcase Canada)And because of the postponed release I will also do one more complete OSM data import for the entire project in about two weeks (around the first days of October), so who ever wants to do some improvements in OSM, then this might be a good time to do so ... I would also repeat (before you ask) the planned coverage: Europe (this time, entire Europe)USA (complete)AlaskaCanada (possibly not all of it, but definitely the South and West ...)5 points
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There are quite a bit of controls in the UI that make a big impact on the overall look and performance of SkyMAXX Pro, for instance in this shot I increased the minimum and maximum size of the cloud puffs, used a lower contrast sky color and set the visibility CAVOK (inside the weather dialog). Is this more of what you are looking for?.....5 points
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And if they would have released it with a known bug, you'd be disappointed too. I'll take a few moans and groans over a delay to make it right than the thousands of gripes of released to early, buggy plane, etc. X-Aviation is known for it's quality. I, and for many here, are glad they stick to this level of excellence.2 points
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Hello everyone, Today the work for this awesome new scenery has been completed. It will be available in the next few days at simmarket, and in simmarket only. This is the FSX version only. The good news is that this incredible piece of work, will be available for X-Plane 10 as well. The authorisation for creating the X-Plane version has been given to me, and also the responsibility to represent Taxi2Gate in the X-Plane community. I am honoured to speak officially in behalf of the developers involved and will do my best to represent the interests of Taxi2Gate ensuring that the transition to X-Plane is successful. After some consideration, I have decided that the best way to enter the X-Plane payware development arena is with a strong product that reflects the high level of quality and functionality that Taxi2Gate has achieved through a long process of developing high quality addon sceneries for MSFS. What best to do that than with their latest and greatest, newest development? The idea is to implement X-Plane 10's technology thoroughly to make it fully compatible and to achieve the best possible results, both in quality and performance. The road ahead is long, and at this point have not determined an estimated time for release (don't even bother to ask). This will be ready when the product is completed and satisfies the meticulous scrutiny of all involved. Taking advantage of the, generally speaking, extremely friendly, generous and helpful X-Plane community, I will be consulting with seasoned developers, well known for their talents and expertise in the various aspects of X-Plane scenery system. We are also considering an alliance with a well known developer for X-Plane for a possible release as a joint venture. This will deserve an announcement of it's own. I refrained myself from posting pictures of this beautiful scenery, mainly because they only exists from the FSX screen captures, but rest assured that as soon as there is something to show from inside X-Plane, we will be the most interested in sharing those with you. But if you are curious you can see them here: https://www.facebook.com/Taxi2gate/photos_stream1 point
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Hello, Captains!, Today we're pleased to show you the official Saab 340A promo video! The video highlights a number of features on this aircraft, and also brings to light the fact we are using a brand new 3D sound engine called soundXtreme! This was developed in-house by X-Scenery to squash issues we felt were present in existing sound solutions. We will provide more info about the sounds on this aircraft in a bit, but to put it simple: the sounds on this aircraft are amazing. We felt this was a big part of the experience in order to make it real, and we went to great lengths to get every possible sound on the real Saab 340A to make this happen! This includes everything from all cockpit warnings, pump sounds, and exterior/interior sounds. Again, more on this part of the aircraft soon! Also present in the video is a number of unannounced liveries. This is still only some of the liveries we have in store for you, and we'll be sure to show all of those off soon too! The video has been produced by our talented friend Dave Robertson (aka redpiper1). Enjoy! Highly suggest you select at least 720p!1 point
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Hi Andy, I'm disappointed so I purchased the Jetstream 32. Nothing short of fantastic. I'll purchase the Saab 340A when it is released. I'm going for the MU2 Marquise. I read Cameron's comments. I went back and erased my post. I don't know why it is there. Thanks for your comment. Happy Flying, Eddie1 point
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Yeah you can't satisfy everyone that's why your UI is really smart I think ! And really great shotS by the way, can't believe my X-Plane will look like that when it's out ;-)1 point
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Hmmm... I'm not sure if I like this particular screenshot. It is very colorful and with lots of contrasts ... It somehow reminds me of FSX clouds and of video games. (Sorry to say that, but that's my honest opinion. You've shown more realistic shots earlier, though.)1 point
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Good luck with the upcoming release. It's been a long time coming and it is a delight to finally see it come to fruition. Best wishes for a smooth release any many happy customers.1 point
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X-Plane's .obj format is different to the wavefront .obj, confusing I know. Download the exporter for that version of Blender here: http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=47934&page=42 But TBH, it would be easier just to make it with a misc. wing.1 point
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For sure it will not be available in a few days. The intention is not to convert or replicate the appearance of the FSX version. Instead we want apply all the X-Plane's sweetness, this will take some time.1 point
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I stumbled upon this post and, has I am working in the game industry on graphics engines, I feel that I have to put things straight. It's quite the opposite, and has been for a while, all top professional game engines are multi-threaded. Given the fact that game companies want to get the best results and cram as much as they can in their games, why would they leave 75% of the processing power (in the case of a quad core CPU) unused in the first place ? Valve presented their work on their source engine in 2007, here are some interesting slides.Volition also presented their work in 2007, the presentation can be found here. This one is especially interesting as it presents the whole design process leading toward a multi-core engine.The same goes with DICE, a presentation can be found here.I had quite a long email discussion with Ben, back in 2008 probably, explaining him why the job architecture was the way to go with a multi-core hardware. So who knows, may be one day this will happen. PhM1 point
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Hey, It's been a while and a lot of things happened I just recently moved to UK and I only have a small laptop now. It has only 1024x768 screen resolution, so it's impossible to do any decent work on it. I hope my desktop computer arrives soon, but first I have to find an apartment to live So, hope I can get back on track soon and continue the development.1 point
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