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we reworked the animations during replay so you actually have decent replays to watch/record your landings. We have too much custom stuff to replay the "cockpit" of course, but all the control surfaces replay as expected. The video shows the changes. The landing was pretty bad, but I had a cheap joystick in one hand and was monitoring a bunch of stuff at the same time. Oh ya....new winglet shapes too.

Captains, We are pleased to announce the Douglas DC-3 v2 is near release! This has been in development for the better part of a year and a half, and it will be a significant upgrade to the current DC-3 that LES has had on the market since 2012. In comparison, it will be multitudes more realistic in systems simulation that you have come to expect from Leading Edge Simulations, and further, the 3D modeling and texturing has huge upgrades as well. For those of you that have purchased v1, we will be extending a special upgrade discount to you and will announce the details of this soon. Now, let's go over the feature list and then some screenshots! The following is what you can expect out of v2. 1. FLIGHT MODEL a. Accurate flight characteristics. b. Accurate engines performance. c. Accurate weight and balance model. 2. SYSTEMS Complete simulation of all aircraft systems including: a. Electric. b. Hydraulic. c. Pneumatic. d. Custom Sperry A-3A Automatic Pilot simulation. e. Custom fuel mixture logic for Auto-Lean and Auto-Rich functions. f. Custom lighting. 3. GRAPHICS a. Accurate reprecentation of the DC-3 aircraft. b. Full use of PBR materials with extreme weathering effects. 4. SOUNDS a. Complete FMOD sound package by AudioBirdXP 5. EFFECTS a. Full custom effect package including: i. Engine exhaust smoke and heat blur. ii. Props vapor condensation depending on ambient humidity. 6. UI (User Interace) Modern X-Plane 11 type User Interface for: a. Maintenance: Keeping track of aircraft and engines operating hours and execute maintenance as required. b. Options: Hardware options for differential braking and/or throttling during taxi, external power connection, and more. c. Aircraft Loading: Adjust number of passengers per compartment, cargo weight per loading area, fuel loading per tank, with repspective CG diagram. b. Checklist: Complete checklist for all flight phases. And of course, screenshots! We plan to have consistent preview updates with loads of information leading up to release from here on out...and we'll soon have this in your hangars too!

No single answer here - it just depends on personal taste too much. There is the "hardcore realistic" viewpoint - according to the FCOM from Boeing. Then there is the "go back as far as possible to see everything" option. Throw in different FoV settings. I think 60 deg is probably the most realistic - but you will have to turn and squirm a bit (or set up different views) to see everything. Going higher distorts the view unnaturally (fisheye view), but has the benefit of seeing more without having to turn your view. Ultimately the answer is VR. Yet that brings its own problems (mainly resolution and framerate concerns). I am considering moving the cockpit default viewpoint (W key) to cater to the new yoke height/slant...but am afraid that this will throw off a lot of people that are used to flying with it that way, too. The married man knows that problem. Whatever you do... Cheers, Jan

I'm sure, but I was under a spell by those fantastic screen grabs he shared. But thanks to both of you for confirming. I'll clear my calendar for some DC-3 refresher training, I know this one is going to be good.

We had a request to resize the 'mini EHSI', and also be able to toggle it on and off. That is now in for the next update.

Doing some testing and shakedown flights to make sure all new features and fixes work as planned. So far things are going really good. ...at least for the passengers on MY aircraft .

We squeezed in native AviTab support. What a great product! We definintely encourage you to get it and support the software author with a donation. If you have AviTab installed, you should see a new preference checkbox to enable AviTab. If you do not have AviTab installed, you won't see this preference option available. The video below shows the implementation, along with a bit of coroute usage. -tkyler

Hi all. This COVID thing has affected my employment and sent me in a different direction.....full time back on X-Plane! (note...I work on more than just the 737 though) We are working on the update every day as of late; however, we are still going to wait for some 11.50 stability before we release. In the meantime, we're cleaning up things we feel we can without putting the plane in the hangar with the major renovations like the FMS/holds/VNAV. We are back in the FMS code somewhat though and have made the coroutes loading more robust. We will be including that folder in our update so as to not cause confusion, but we also now support about 6 flight plan formats, X-Plane 10/11 (*.fms), PMDG and Quality Wings (*.rte), X-FMC (*.fpl), FSX (*.pln) and AirbusX (*.flp). Like the real FMS, if a waypoint can't be located because of database incompatibilities with the flight plan, then the FMS loads what it can until encountering such a point and then provides the message, "PARTIAL ROUTE LOADED". I was testing this code with random format downloads from Flight plan database...and nearly all of those flight plans contain out of date data, so getting the FMS to load a full route was a challenge. I had to go in and hand edit the flight plan files to 'up-to-date' data. Once done though, they can be saved through the FMS as before. These coroute. loaders do not load SIDs/STARS, only the enroute portions, which is typical. As time goes on, I'll continue to work on improving the route editing, which will have applicability for the holds and eventual "in air" vnav entries. More to follow as we get closer to our release point. -tkyler

so the option to disable the main menu as a popout has been implemented. The preferences window shows you the command you'll need to toggle the main menu ON/OFF (which is nice to know right before you disable the pop out). Once you opt for "command" control of main menu, its just a toggle command. There are 2 occasions where the menu will appear in the center of the screen 1). First execution of the toggle command after clicking the preference to disable the popup and 2). Anytime the command is toggled and the main menu title bar is outside the viewable area (or super close to being out of view...like within 15 pixels). This can happen if you accidentally drag too fast and slip off the mouse button and all the sudden the window is "off the page". Simply toggle the command and it will reappear in the middle of the window in this case. Other than those two occasions, the main menu window will remember its position, including between runs of X-Plane. -tkyler

Adding to what Goran said, it was also stated in the original announcement you're replying to that this would be the case.

Yes. It will be a paid upgrade but there will be a significant discount for V1 owners.

Among many other good stuff, i love the idea to feel the bird alive and care about her... She'll be in my hangar for sure! Can't wait!

Something appears off with that click spot, we are looking into it.

Engine start procedure has been reworked to reflect the real procedure.

Any plans to retrofit GPS and add avitab?

Hello Just a flightsim pilot here. I found the sweet spot to be between 75 and 85 percent for my 27" screen. Currently have it at 80. I think what´s more important, is your eyepoint in terms of how high you "sit" in the virtual seat. It can make a huge difference. This is my specific default eyepoint, adapted for every airliner I have in my hangar. Vertical camera tilt is always the same, three finger width between screen top and horizon: the camera is probably a tad high, but it gives me perfect vision and it is set up according to the boeing seat adjustment guide. But I see people trying to land with eyepoints like this: Wich to my experience is making a stable aproach and good flare nearly impossible. It is very noticable how much RWY visibility I lost in the second picture. Having a +1 to +2,5 degree deck angle at approach and flare will block all visibility of the RWY. That way landings are more guesswork than anything else. I mentioned my camera tilt do be always the same; to me it is vital because it gives my brain something to fall back on to judge the attitude of the aircraft. Having always the same camera setting on approach gives me the ability to juge the situation by fixpoints wich makes a bit up for the missing depth perception. Maybe this helps a bit. Let´s see what Jan has to say. Happy Landings SkyFly

Hi! Regarding the interior brightness, I would recommend checking your monitor's gamma setting, our graphics are tuned on calibrated monitors, appearances can be different on different monitors. You can also try turning on the cabin light, which should brighten stuff up a bit as well. Regarding SVS, I have forwarded this on to the SVS developer, not quite sure what is going on there, something seems up with the mesh parsing possibly. Regarding tail wheel handling. We are constrained by LR on the ground handling characteristics. There isn't an X-Plane setting to put the plane in an easy mode. Keeping the engine in Beta and being on top of the toe brakes is the most important thing for handling - the plane is a beast! We also include the retract tricycle variant for this reason, which has much easier ground handling.

Hi Cassio, The update will be applicable and work for all XP11.30+ users - and with some caveats to all other users at well: It must be noted (and we will make everyone aware at the time of download) that it is tuned for the "new experimental flight model". This means that if you run an X-Plane version that does not have this flight model option (which will become the norm in the future), your IXEG 737 will still work and fly - but the performance will be off (a bit). To make our 737 work well with the new flightmodel required tuning of the aerodynamic model in planemaker and airfoil maker, and it is not possible to switch those modifications on and off in the code like we did for our "scripted" flightmodel adjustments. So for the XP10 and pre XP11.3x fliers out there: The 737 will still work as before - you can either not apply the patch or you can live with the slight discrepancy in the flight model. I really don´t see a reason to not upgrade your XP11 version to the latest, though (you can still run OpenGL mode in 11.5x+!). In general it is obvious that we would like to have continuous support for all three versions (XP10, XP11.0x and XP11.3x+), but eventually the complexity of this is getting too big. Just like X--Plane itself our product is evolving and following progress...which means that older versions may become obsolete after a few years. I know that some people can´t afford to upgrade to newer hardware that supports XP11 or have built elaborate home cockpits that run XP10, only - but I don´t think it is fair to the vast majority of users that stay in tune with the development of technology and X-Plane to forego an evolving product to cater to this small (yet sometimes very vocal!) minority. Cheers, Jan

Windmilling Fans added. This example shows direct headwind and tailwind for simplicity. The magnitude is obviously diminished off-axis with practical limits..and the rotation speed is asymptotic, so 100 kt winds doesn't create unrealistic rotation animations. Tail winds are less effective on fan rotation than headwinds, due to wind turbulence through the vanes that saps energy. Also, alignment with the wind vector has to be closer for tailwinds than headwinds to yield fan rotation. -tkyler

Okay, I understand In this case, I'll have to ( unfortunately ) uninstall SkyMaxx Pro

As I said, I have no issues with all the other weather engines.... How comes ?

So we have reached the "minimum" of what we need to put out an update. I want to make sure all understand the nature of this update. It is NOT a major fix of FMS stuff. This update has significance to us as developers, which will lead to significance for customers. From our perspective, its validation of our current toolchain, i.e. we can output code and flight model / 3D changes quickly with modern tools...being that the entire product has been generated from this new toolchain. From the customer perspective, it is mostly compatibility changes to the flight model given the changes in X-Plane 11.5....with a few visual enhancements added-in as able and tweaks to the coroute loaders, scrollwheel support, etc. Those visual enhancements, as of this post are simply some "sharpenings" of the engine 3D/animation and a tweak here or there to some textures. Between now and the update though (occuring soon after 11.50 goes final)....we will try and squeeze in fixes and enhancements as able. I am currently working on the front galley and main door animation...I'd really like to get that squeezed in to the next update if possible. If not, then it will be soon thereafter. We are also perusing some forum posts to see what else we can address in the estimated time-frame before release. I have also begun refactoring my VNAV code...in anticipation of addressing that (and holds) asap after the release. So to recap, the priorities after this update will be FMOD sounds, VNAV and holds. I am optimistic that being back full time on this, we can address the FMS deficiencies in a timely manner and get out some much needed improvements. Again, I am supremely grateful for our patient supporters and we will continue to work on making the IXEG the most immersive airliner simulation available.. -tkyler

Thanks for reminding me how old I am. A lot has happened in the last decade. It's no secret that Jim, who was coding the Citation, was hired by Laminar soon after the Saab was done. It's a guaranteed income working on X-Plane. I don't know any developer who would say no to that. I decided to work on a new version of the C23, DC3, (including the mobile version), Saab 340 and get up to speed on PBR workflows, which included learning how to UV map and texture 3D mesh. Prior to the Saab, I had no clue how to do this. And then the TBM 900 project fell on my "virtual desk" at the beginning of 2018. Back then, when we were working on the Citation, we didn't think demand for the Saab would be what it is. There is an overwhelming response to get it upgraded to XP11+ standards. So, to cut it short, will it be finished? We want it to be finished, and we plan to get it finished. But it all depends on Jim's and my schedules. I still have 3D model and textures. ETA? We stopped giving out ETA's a few years ago. Simply because when we do, they always backfire on us. However, I'm hoping that in the meantime, the CL650 I'm working on will give the bizjet fans their bizjet fix.

Conversion of all 3D to the new toolchain is complete and we have exported out all of the 737 objects from the new version of Blender. Jan and I will begin testing the functionality to see what I may have missed in the conversion as I had to hand-edit an enormous volume of elements to prep it for the conversion software. Next up is converting the sounds. The attached screenshot shows a "quickie adjustment" I made to test drive the 3D update process......about 15 minutes of fooling around in Blender to see how quick I could make an update to the 3D with the new toolchain. (I know, the circle isn't perfectly round....but it was only 15 minutes) -tkyler

Hey Goran don´t let you trolling from this guy. This addon is a beauty and its not a problem for us to wait of for a update. Please take enough time and make it simply great.

Did you not read the reply above your post?

I'm not really sure why you're being petty and downvoting here, but my best guess is you're not even understanding what was told to you, so let me break it down in simpler terms: it's not a SkyMaxx Pro problem. Aircraft developers use various types of alpha and obj tricks to make products look cool. Sometimes this will interfere with draw order in interesting ways out of our control. So, will there be a "fix" coming from SkyMaxx for this? No. Read the advice sundog already gave you that you childishly downvoted me for. That's all we got for you.