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Hello Captains!, I am pleased to announce that SkyMaxx Pro 2.0 will be released tomorrow, Friday, August 8th! Version 2.0 will be free for all existing SkyMaxx Pro 1.x customers! Frank and John have been showing all of you some beautiful screenshots over the last few weeks, and our beta team worked hard to find any bugs (thank you!) prior to this release. The following is a list of new features for SkyMaxx Pro 2.0: New cloud shadows with adjustable intensity - uses a new shadowing technique never before seen in X-Plane, with no measurable framerate impactNew hi-res cloud puff option - this uses a novel new hybrid approach to combine high-resolution phototexture detail with our volumetric rendering.New lens flare optionTowering cumulus clouds (new cloud type!) will be added when thunderstorms are presentAmbient light color on clouds more realisticNumerous cloud lighting improvementsThunderstorms are biggerCloud "popping" as the camera turns should be greatly reducedBetter dawn / dusk cloud lighting transitionsRare crash on MacOS when flying with low-quality overcast on should be resolvedFurther performance enhancements.Overcast conditions with "low" overcast quality improved visuallyNew sky color set additionsThunderstorms are biggerCertain airports won't get stuck in whiteout conditions upon loading when using X-PlaneSaving and restoring settings will work reliably.In the event you missed the videos produced by Dave Robertson, please be sure to check them out below! We look forward to getting version 2.0 out to you, and can't wait to hear your feedback! We've worked really hard and listened to your requests, so we feel this will be a positive change for all existing 1.0 customers, as well as new customers to come! Want to see screenshots? Click here! We'll see you tomorrow!

Not necessarily; SkyMaxx Pro 2.0 works just as well with X-Plane 10.25 as it does with the latest 10.30 beta. We don't anticipate any further changes in 10.30 that would cause problems. Here are a couple of new screenshots to tide you over These are from one of our testers, Emma, and shows the improved cloud lighting in SkyMaxx Pro 2 at sunset and dusk:

A big thank you to the developers, John and Frank, and Cameron at X-Aviation for providing V2 for free to existing customers. This excellent continued customer service/support and knowing that the products purchased on X-Aviation are often improved for no extra cost, only gives the customer confidence in your products as we go forward. I really do highly recommend X-Aviation as the number one place to purchase add-ons for X-Plane.

That weight distribution is unacceptable, the next time i will send an investigation team from the ICAO over to your airport Just arrived in EDNY Friedrichshafen after a flight from Frankfurt:

Ahahaha! It was my spare headset. Unfortunately my Lightspeed took a dump this week and I need to send it for it to get fixed. Anywho... back on topic King Air C90 over La Baule, France.

I would like to thank Frank, John and anybody else behind Sundog for their dedication to make an amazing product even better. Cameron and everybody on the X-Aviation front for making it available to us. Letting us have a free upgrade proves your appreciation for your loyal clientele and does not go unnoticed. Just so you know, i'd would not have mind to pay a small fee for the upgrade. I'll be buying another product of the same developer group in appreciation and will also get me a new add-on from the XA catalog to support all of your efforts and contribution to make X-Plane simply the best.

Brief sob story- My wife left me last February* resulting in my losing interest in simming and several other hobbies. Then I did a stupid and spilled coffee all over my sim machine, effectively killing it. After a while I began to visit the forums to see where my old passion had been during my hiatus. I have to say these screen shots are a huge motivation to build a new machine and start over. Not sure when that will be, and maybe SMP will be at version 5 by the time I get there, but these threads have rekindled the spark that once burned away many hours of my day. Thank you for your contributions to create a beautiful world that someday I may get to revisit. *I have a wonderful new girlfriend. No need for any sorry bro's

All of this and free for V1 users as well. Amazing, thanks so much guys, can't wait to try it out. Does it work OK with the artref tweaks?

JohnMAXX and everyone involved, thank you for considering us V1 folks, this is looking awesome, thanks !!!

Your support for SM is overwealming and we want to show our appreciation by offering V2 for free.... Your input drove this update and we are excited that we could address many key concerns. Frank pulled some magic and provided our own cloud shadows and it looks fantastic guys....... Our beta testers really dug in and provided us with great info, Im happy to say this is the most refined and optomised version of SM to date..... I cant wait to see the reaction from the community knowing how awesome V2 turned out....

better than scrolling back to the end for bug fixes only, search for "beta 8" and find all the added features, datarefs, etc.. Also, see this: http://developer.x-plane.com/2014/08/some-recut-dsfs-for-x-plane-10-30/

Amazing ! Can't wait to test it . And most of all , as happy customer of SkyMaxx pro V1, THANK YOU !!

Clearly Southwest takes better care of their equipment

After a longer waiting time, I could finally complete the new addition to the HD Mesh Scenery v2 series, Japan! Basically it shares the same improvement, which were already present in all the other HD Mesh Scenery v2 regions. The highlights in Japan are: updated OSM data (Japan received a very big update trough government sponsored data)vastly improved landclass data (© JAXA)additional tree linesYo can find the download links (torrents are not up for Japan, but should come online in the coming days) - as always - on my website: http://www.alpilotx.net/downloads/x-plane-10-hd-scenery-mesh-v2/#DownloadPlease also make sure, to read the installation instruction (which are identical across all HD Mesh Scenery v2 tiles): http://www.alpilotx.net/downloads/x-plane-10-hd-scenery-mesh-v2/#InstallationAnd there is also an addition tree lines (without farms - would not have worked so easily for Japan) overlay scenery, which you can get on the respective download page: http://www.alpilotx.net/downloads/x-plane-10-tree-lines-and-farms-v2/Finally, there are - of course - also some screenshots (mostly comparison between default and HD): X-Plane 10 HD Mesh Scenery v2 JAPAN - default and HD comparisons

Do you prefer this one? My passenger was busy gasping in the coastline beauty and taking selfies...

Hold everything, you've made a serious error my friend. You always want to load your aircraft for a rear centre of gravity, thus the largest passenger must be seated in the rear. Thus the passenger of the fairer sex sits in front, and the pictures turn out better as well.

C172 with G1000 around Sarasota, Florida.

Some Jetway WIP....

Meanwhile a second hand Garmin GNS-530 sells for $7,000 http://www.ebay.com/itm/GARMIN-GNS530W-WAAS-GPS-NAV-COM-/111427164327?

Departing Cannes-Mandelieu...

Fear not; we've been careful not to impact performance, and our beta testers have reported no framerate problems even with all the new features on. Just in case - all of the new features have associated configuration settings, so you can tune and enable or disable them as you see fit.

Nothing to show. We're in a short hiatus at the summer transition...I have kids moving out and into college, etc and had to take some time for other obligations. We'll be rolling along shortly though and will show whatever it is we think might be worthy. It will be quiet for some time though as most of the 3D is done and we will work on programming and docs etc. TomK

I'm sure your enthusiasm is well appreciated, but that still remains to be seen...

...because I'd rather have a nasty case of Hep-C than spend any amount of time on Faecesbook.

COLLISION!!! Just Kidding