Goran_M

Repaint list so far: Definites:- Air Rarotonga Regional Express Airlines Sprint Air Next Jet Penair Northwest United Express A repaint kit will be made available very soon as a separate download. Also...price. After thinking long and hard about this, I have come up with a fair and reasonable price. I don't want to really come out and say what the exact $ amount is that we have in mind, but what I will say is the Saab 340A will be less than $30. I'm still deciding what kind of pricing system I am going to implement for the B variant. Whether it will be a whole new add on or a simple upgrade to the A variant remains to be decided upon. It won't be a quick upgrade as there has been talk of a custom FMC which requires programming and that will not be something we can push out quickly. If there are any questions about any of this, please feel free to post them in the forums as opposed to sending them to me directly. Cheers Goran

Everything on the Pennair is very easy EXCEPT the animals. We can't really find a decent high res image of a Pennair animal. Sure, we can find a hi res image of an average animal but it's not the same. So, if you guys can find a Pennair animal, no problem. We've looked and so far no luck. On the other hand, we can make a non animal Pennair. Goran

We wanted cheap air conditioning. Actually, Theo is refining the windows that Reuben made. We can't add them yet as that would mean adding a mesh that is a solid surface that has not been made transparent. Flying blind seems a little bit dangerous. When we're happy with how the windows look, we'll throw up a few more screenshots.

no more "estimate dates". Yes, soon. Notice the fps. 77 in the air and 53 on the ground.

First couple of screenshots of the saab in sim with the exterior (nearly) fully animated. I say nearly because the landing gear still needs to be fine tuned and the gear door adjusted. Anyway...

I am being picky.... Main gear "spade" doors arent that big or that shape and the nose gear doors should be open. Other than that, pretty speccy, well done. http://www.airliners.net/photo/Provincial-Airlines/Saab-Fairchild-SF-340A/1666147/&sid=03ceb38984cea44a72e3ed3dc5bf40e5 There is still some testing to be done. That includes giving it the once over about 4 or 5 times to make sure everything is how it should be. The gear doors for the nose gear are there but they are closed. They are not closed for any particular reason. They just are. To fix the main gear doors is a matter of selection and repair which will take about 2 minutes. The shape is actually that shape on the 340A. I have some close up photos. All will be as it should come release time. I have about 400 photos of the Saab and they have all been put to good use. I'm actually flattered that someone would take the time to do such scrutinizing. Cheers Goran

That's what Cameron said about your programming. :-* :-*

Well it's past the first half of March and still no Saab. Crossing of the fingers doesn't work. Exterior, from my understanding, is done with animations. FINALLY. Work continues. Interior shouldn't take too long. The B variant will follow soon after. Before the B variant is finished, I'll let my little bit of "news" out of the bag. Goran

Forgot two more aircrafts: Beechcraft Bonanza Pilatus PC-12 NG I'll be finishing off the Bonanza A36 and G36 in the very near future.

Gorzmo It's V2 of Gizmo ;D

I said early March. I didn't say 2010. Kidding! All joking aside, it's being worked on. I know I've said it before, but it's very soon. Theo has been getting the night lighting done and it looks damn good. The animating is being worked on in AC3D now. Blender was being a little difficult and AC3D is able to show animations in real time within the actual program. In saying all this, I will have something to mention in the very near future which will make up for the delay in getting the Saab out. More on that in another future post. Goran

You sound like Homer Simpson when he gets a donut.

I've learnt the hard way, it is impossible to give precise release dates unless the developer is 100% satisfied the project is complete. Then he/she can say the add on will be released at a precise date and time. In every project, there is always something to add/fix. The Saab is now completely out of my hands and in the hands of the person doing the animations and while that is being done, Theo is working on the night lighting textures.

The WHQL signature costs quite a bit of money. I'm not exactly sure, but I have heard stories of companies paying Microsoft upwards of $10 000 to have a driver WHQL certified. With most games, a card will run at about 60-70 degrees Celcius. However, running a game like Crysis, with high detail, the temp on my GPU reaches high 70's-low 80's. I'm fortunate that I don't depend on the drivers to control fan speed. I have a Zalman cooling fan that has adjustable speed (a small dial on the control box) and is connected directly into the PSU wiring. Not the card itself.

I was reading Nvidias forums and there are a few people demanding some kind of compensation for destroyed graphics cards. Some cards reaching up to 157 degrees celsius. 1 person even added a somewhat dodgy legal post threatening nvidia with legal action and a class action. The post right under his says "Did you ever read the Legal Mumbo Jumbo before you click "Agree and Download"?" It's extremely unfortunate this has happened but the guy is right. Nvidia have covered their bases quite well. Here's the link if you want a good read. http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=161391

TBA We don't know yet. It could be anywhere from $15 to $40.

TBA means "To Be Announced" I have a price in mind for it but we (Cameron and myself) want to see how it is in the simulator and then determine a fair price for everyone. Goran

For those of you running an nvidia graphics card, DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE 196.75 DRIVERS. Nvidia have since removed them from their site, but they were up for a few days. In the majority of cases, these drivers cause the card to severely overheat because of an incorrect registry setting that controls the fan speed. Uninstall these drivers immediately and roll back to the previous version. 196.21. Goran

It's about as optimized as it can get. I did give it the once over before getting it UV mapped. Theo gets very angry if I change something once he's uv mapped it. It means UV mapping that object all over again and he has had to give in and do it a few times.

There's obviously a reason for the secrecy. But all will be explained later. Goran

Thought I might start a new thread instead of continuing it in Javiers forum. Got these new images in my email. Once again, I have to say it is not me making it.

I still have to have it tested by 3 Saab pilots and they each have different systems but we're not at that point yet. I can speak for myself, though. My specs: Windows 7 Intel E6750 Dual Core CPU 4GB RAM Nvidia 9800GT 1GB DDR VRAM All x plane enhancements at max. AA at 4x Anisotropic at 16x And I'm getting around 30fps occasionally dipping to 20-24 around a highly detailed airport like YSSY (freeware version from x-plane.org) running at 1280x1024 resolution.

I'm quite sure people will be happy with what's being done. Hopefully not too long now. Goran

What I have tried to achieve with this project is to bring an aircraft into x plane in a short time with as many features as possible. Yes, there are some features that will not be added to it (custom programming for the displays) but these are simple diagnostics messages that give information to the pilots about the aircraft. There is also a function unique to the Saab called "CTOT". Basically (Very basically) what this does is maintain engine thrust on take off. The pilot advances the throttles to approximately 80% take off power and the CTOT system takes over by adding fuel to the engines and making sure the engines stabilize at the correct take off setting. Kind of like a TOGA function in an airliner. I guess it could be modelled with out of the box datarefs but it would not be as accurate as a custom job. Basically, a large majority of what is available in the real Saab will be available in this one.

LOTS has been happening, lately. I've been trying to use my time efficiently among my current projects to make sure everything will be done. Seems to be working. More mesh optimizing has been done to the 747 with a further 15 000 quads getting deleted and little to no detail being lost. The detail that has been lost will not even be noticeable. ALL gauges will have as much resolution and detail as I can efficiently put into them. What I actually wanted to mention was that the 747 progress has slowed down (not stopped) as I am focused on the Saab. I actually made a render of the 747 recently and haven't really gotten around to showing it. It's coming along nicely, though. The glareshield is a work in progress. Work continues...