cw7

Australia vs California? Geesh, try Montana, where men are men and the sheep are scared.

an interview with Eric at RealScenery has been posted at: http://xplane10.wordpress.com/

an interview with Eric at RealScenery has been posted at: http://xplane10.wordpress.com/

An interview with Eric at RealScenery has been posted at: http://xplane10.wordpress.com/

And even more news. Check out the blog for an update on the emerging solutions for the M-20-J. Fascinating happenings.

Update on autopilot issues in Mooney. We posted an advisory yesterday (http://xplane10.wordpress.com/) about some erratic behavior in the Mooney's A/P after reading of it on the ORGs forum and testing for the issue ourselves. We asked for any other people who've experienced the issue to contact us after we confirmed the issue in our test flight. We have had independent confirmation of the issue today.

Re: sounds. I briefly made note of a recurring "clicking" noise in the sound file, as if - when the sound recording reaches the end of it's "loop" - there is an audible click before it recycles. I'd also recommend turning the "prop" effect way down in the Sounds prefs panel in XP, as in this file, when Prop volume is set above 50%, it really sounds like a case of bad flatulence. I think a lot of GA singles have this malady, however, as only a few very good files have escaped it so far. I think some Read Me files advise doing so, as a matter of fact.

Update on panel lighting: Received a note from Dan Klaue today, very pleasant I might add. He advised that additional panel lighting in the "six-pak" area can be turned on in flight by turning on the LANDING LIGHTS. (No, that is not a misprint. Consequently, I think it's time I retired to a Buddhist monastery in Tibet, or perhaps Nantucket.) So... The LANDING LIGHTS control also controls panel lighting. Got that? I've posted an image on our home page: http://xplane10.wordpress.com/ along with a brief update of other M-20J and ERJ-140 information.

I don't have the Mentor yet, so can't offer advice in that regard, but if you like steam gauges and have either the Sundowner, the Falco, or perhaps even the Duchess (though she's a twin), I think you'd find the Mooney redundant. Unless you're a big Mooniac, that is! I enjoy the panel in the stock Cessna 172 SP as well, and believe it may equal the Mooney in this one area (though certainly not in feature set and exterior modeling!). If you enjoy GA singles in general and want to collect them, then this is a worthy file to add to your collection. On the A/P issue, I tend to level out and trim for level flight before engaging the A/P, so hopefully that's not been the cause. I tend to fly the Rockies and the Sierra a lot, so this issue precludes use for me. I bought the file to review, but frankly it will find little use with me. I may take a look at Carenado's 33 Bonanza if it gets released, but only if there are clear signs the panel is being carried over from the FsX version, and only if the night lighting is better implemented... My opinion, of course, and your mileage may vary.

I've handed off the review for Simon to proof and critique, so it ought to be up soon unless major changes are needed. The non-standard ADF implementation carried over to setting altitude for the A/P as well. You set altitude by putting the cursor over the numerals and clicking. Issue: the numerals fly by so fast there is no way, and I mean no way other than pure chance, of setting an accurate altitude. Max ALT set in A/P is 10ooo so if you need to cross the rockies or the Sierra you'll just need to set +VS and monitor alt until to you get to cruise then zero out VS. Awkward but it works. On two occasions around 12ooo the a/p started an uninitiated left climb; I let it go on to stall then recovered. I've read of another person experiencing this one. Also, with A/P engaged the wings rock pretty good (uh, well, not so good) and the heading wanders a bit. I included this information in the review so will expect a squad of ninjas to visit the boat soon after posting. Adios, amigos!

Tom, I concur with your conclusions. Nice exterior, the panel is in need of work, but the flight model, particularly the a/p, is downright strange to me and is taking time to get used to. There is an interesting implementation of the ADF, however. You tune by putting the cursor over the numeral in the display; the cursor changes to the +/- arcs and you click each numeral up or down. Simple, direct, effective, and while completely non-standard it works well. Radios have Dan's X:Y axis tuning. Writing a review for this one is tough, as you can imagine.

Wow. What else can you say. A big spine-tingling WOW!

And I had absolutely no FPS issues with Sundowner or Duchess! Tempted to try the A380 just to see if I can cook-off the CPU! Anyway! Lookin' mucho good, Simes, really. I think you're spot-on about keeping things freeware for now, too. That said, I can't wait for the NORCAL scenery package! The High Sierra mountains will hopefully look every bit as grand as I expect they will. I have a feeling the Bay Area will be astonishing, but California is so huge and varied a landscape. We'll keep busy doing airports there for years!

We'll be posting updates on activity to KMPI and KMMH, as well as whatever comes next, at: http://xp10designgroup.wordpress.com/ There are a few entries up now, mainly building designs. Enjoy. Cw

Here's hoping everyone enjoys KMPI as much as we do! Don't forget to detour over Yosemite National Park! And you may want to check out another spot, too... Simon wanted to take this opportunity to pass on that we are hard at work on KMMH Mammoth/Yosemite, which serves Mammoth Mountain Ski Area & June Lake Ski Area. A preview of the main terminal building is below. We're going for major accuracy on this one. Nine buildings modeled so far, four more to go, including one hangar that is 2500 ft long. Horizon Air operates out of the facility, and bizjets often crowd the ramps, but the scenery around KMMH is what makes this setting such a gem.

Working on a review of the Sundowner. Really quite a good SIM:

Tom: The knobs and switches change is just great news. AND with a working ADF?! Nirvana! THANK YOU! Cw

I have to second the thanks as well, Lis. Simon and I talked about the need to 'get the word out' while conversing at the Flight Simulator Network, and as I can't stand the poisoned atmosphere in "other" forums it was sort of a natural to start doing something we felt was lacking in our corner of the world. The Problem? There is so much development going on and the scope of this development is fragmented and difficult to grasp, but vital to our community's growth. Building excitement for a product is vital as well to it's success (example: if someone just barely mentions the CRJ-200, X-Planers start to swoon and drool!), yet the forum to spread information is, well, limited by constraints that are inappropriate to the free exchange of ideas. We hope to bridge the gap, help developers get word about their projects out to a broad audience, yet the one thing Simon and I agreed on was that we'd never put other people's work down, limit our criticism to constructive comments. I've come to appreciate just how daunting a task creating one of these files is, and I want to share that understanding with the X-Plane community. I think when people truly understand the nature of these creations they will regard them as Art, possibly great Art. A new artform, to be sure, but one worthy of awe. And respect. Cw

Cam: Do these screenshots bring back memories! Seven thirty in the morning on a very distant birthday, I soloed in a red & white one, N22259, long since scrapped I think, but you have really captured the look. Funny personally because when I looked at these screen images I could feel those same sensations of nauseated fear and "I can do this!" all over again... My point: you ought to put a sign outside of your door: "Caution: Enter At Own Risk... Magician at Work."

While working through this review I talked with Peter about a few of these issues, and he shared the beta of his latest plug-in driven FBW enhancements with me. I don't want to steal his thunder but I get the impression he has a very important upgrade in the works. It's my understanding that he has to date used a combination of generic PlaneMaker software structures and at least one custom plug-in; I'm guessing what he has coming up is going to replace many systems that are currently handled by generic plug-ins. Improvements to the reality of the SIM, e.g., to both procedures and the feel of the SIM should be dramatic. Stay tuned. We'll have an update on this soon. About the "Best Lighting in X-Plane" comment. That's my opinion, obviously, and simply that. I have both Falco and the MU-2, and love them. I do, however, love "heavy metal" - and that simply reflects my own bias. But, every time I open the 380 and set the night lighting it simply takes my breath away. That's MY reaction, and I hope people don't take it the wrong way... I'm not saying that it should take YOUR breath away. But this reaction made me feel the statement warranted. Nothing else so far makes ME react quite the same way. About one statement here: I enjoy beautiful engineering and functional elegance, whether in 2D or 3D. And I appreciate the amount of hard work that goes into making these creations spring to life. And I have an open mind: I know when the CRJ comes out that the X-Plane axis is going to tilt wildly out of control. We'll all be amazed, and I can't wait! And Goran with the 74/2! Tom and the King Air... Really, if you think about it, years of innovation and hard work are set to yield huge improvements to the X-P environment. The next year should be amazing. Anyway. Hope our 380 review was helpful. chipsim7

I use the 27" imac with the 2.66 i5 Quad Core, 8GB ram and ATI HD 4850 w/512mb; have very few complaints though get some chugging around LOWI extended and Paris with all of the extra scenery installed. I keep all the options at "insane" levels... buildings trees and roads, etc, and it almost always just purrs along.

G: re the 74-2 Could I put in a request for the Braniff International "fat albert" paint job. It would mean a lot to a bunch of folks.

Here's another thought: Take an iPad and have (for example) the FMC pop up on it, or the COMM panel. Now you have a touchscreen 10 inch display working in real time on which you can enter data using (gasp!) - your fingers! And you sell the app on the iTunes store for ten dollars/euros or whatever, and get 70% of each sale. You'll be driving a Ferrari by 2011! Come on, people! Let's do it!

TK The Falco is great, and I too see it as a stepping stone to the new MU. After flying both (admittedly the little cousin for only a day...) I have some thoughts. 1) The artificial horizon is a huge improvement, but the one installed on the Falco seems about 10-15% too small in diameter to be a real focal point under IFR, especially for the MU2. 2) I'm having a bear getting the VOR heads to talk to the Garmin in Falco, but not on the MU. 3) I love the Falco's functional ADF but much prefer the dual needle indicator in the MU. 4)The central needle in the Falco's HSI washes out a little under night cockpit lighting, unlike the MU's (or maybe my eyes are going). All in all, Falco has only stoked my interest in this looming update. The MU2v2 and the new CRJ are going to transform X-Plane, and Falco will be leading the charge. Biggest thanks for all your hard work.