Leaderboard

With modern tools, comes modern features.

another update, for those who may not have seen discussions in other threads. As much as I've spoken about FMS work...that was mostly because all the other aspects of our project, the 3D, the sounds, etc....were bound up in deprecated technology and tools, making it VERY difficult to update things....whereas the FMS was just code work. This was not really a lack of foresight on our part regarding the 3D tools, but rather being so far ahead of the game way back when we started, we came up with our own solutions.....that were not quite compatible with the way X-Plane moved with regards to developer tools. WELL.....thanks to Ted Greene of Laminar.....he has coded up a "converter" between the old toolchain we used and the 'toolchain of today'. Only in the last week did we work out some critical bugs that allowed us to begin converting all our assets into the modern workflow supported by Laminar. We are currently in the process of converting all our work to this new toolchain and have converted some of the most complex aspects of it already...so we do not anticpate much resistance converting the rest of the work. This converter by Laminar is a huge lifeline of sorts and will allow us to again respond quickly to bugs and manage updates once we establish a new baseline with these tools. -TomK

Hello All. This post will be locked as its only intended for public statement. While many people are aware of the IXEG Development status, many others will not and so this post is intended to provide clarifying information. For a while now, IXEG development has sat relatively idle. The reasons for this are multiple and have been stated in other forums; however, two significant factors contributing to that idleness have since wained and IXEG are looking at how to best move forward with IXEG updates again. There are two areas we are looking at for updates, 3D cabin/doors/animations and the FMS. Regarding the FMS, IXEG are looking at transitioning to the XP1100 Navdata format, which is derived from the ARINC 424 standard. Moving to this dataset format would yield increased accuracy in the representation of procedures and more practical data with which to improve LNAV / VNAV / performance caclulations. If it turns out that porting our code to the new XP1100 format is too cumbersome in the short term, then we will seek to patch what we have now and transition at a later time. The important thing is that IXEG are moving again to improve the FMS. Regarding the 3D, this will be a bit more of a undertaking. The development tools IXEG used for 3D development are nearly fully deprecated and there has been a major transition to newer tools and methods. This necessitates IXEG reconfigure our source material to the new formats and we have a LOT of 3D material to translate. This means that the 3D updates will be longer in coming than the FMS updates. Once the 3D is ported to the new tools though, any updates we implement thereafter would come much quicker, simliar to what was done shortly after our release for those that recall. We apologize for the idle time and appreciate all our customers and any patience you've exercised. We are sincerely committed to making the most immersive and accurate simulation of this aircraft as we can and will continue to push towards that goal, no matter where its end may be. -Tom Kyler

So its been a while, time for another update. There was a pause after the rush of FMS work mentioned above. During this pause, I have finished up my NASA obligations...and demobilized from Houston back to San Antonio, where I live, and some much needed stability to my schedule. Last week, I dug back into the FMS code and started coding up the route editing features using the new XP1100 dataset. This is the backbone of the FMS future with regards to performance.....for VNAV calculations, performance progress and also holds. Its one of those things that I wanted to be real sure I was ready to dig into before doing so. This route editing coding will go on for a bit......'route editing' involves building the route data that the FMS will use during lnav and vnav tracking and so is critical to be flexible and correct. It is my belief that if carefully done now, the FMS will be functional and stable for many years to come, which is the most important thing. -TomK