X-Plane 10

[TSR2]

Ah! Cheers Guy. I couldn't work out what the commands would be, so I had them set to glance left / glance right etc. Its probably easier for track IR users, but for those with limited desk space, being able to use the HAT to look arround is ver useful.

The CRJ is superb! I must agree too on the aircraft available in the demo. They simly perpetuate the feeling of many that its FS98 quality, when this is clearly not the case when you look at your Comet, or the little CRJ. I like to fly airliners / large props or military heavies. I'm not a big fan of GA stuff usually. Are there any models (freeware) that you would suggest are good examples of good quality xPlane modeling?

[guym-p]

Not with a virtual cockpit. Not yet. However, there are two airliners that are regarded as excellent by the serious fliers:

The Boeing 737-800 by Benedikt Stratmann has a good exterior model and systems plugin:
http://www.benedikt-stratmann.de/

An Airbus by QPAC that majors on flight and systems accuracy. It received the highest praise from a young Airbus pilot who still enjoys flying a computer as a kind of bus man's holiday:
http://www.qpac.de/index1d9d.html?id=79&lang=en

Here's a bit of silliness. Great fun, though, carefully researched, nicely modelled, and shows how tyres, suspension and grip work well:
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app ... file=12991

Otherwise, to really whet your appetite, this is one of the projects I've been following. It's a Boeing 737-300 from IXEG. On a couple of occasions, I've argued that X-Plane is only limited by people's skill, imagination and the ability to get things done. This is a perfect example what we can expect if X-Plane attracts serious developers:
http://www.ixeg.net/gallery

[TSR2]

The chaps who have been here a while know how much I lothe the 737 (in all its guises) however, even I can appreciate the modeling in that 737 - 300 is like nothing I've seen. Amazing stuff

[guym-p]

This gives you an idea about how rapidly the updates come through. AI and ATC are clearly being worked on. Quite a few items on the latest beta made me shout "hooray!", not least that I will be able to make engine exhaust come out of the right place (I could not apply an offset for the inner engines).

http://wiki.x-plane.com/Beta

[Garry Russell]

For those that haven't clicked on the link below Guy's signature it's worth a look

Great link Guy ...nicely done

[ChrisHunt]

I downloaded the demo.

Gave it a whirl (almost literally). It may be the best "flight" simulator since sliced bananas but the user interface is bl**dy awful! Much as I hate to say it but Laminar could do with taking a whole tree out of the MS book on user interfaces for flight sims.

Uninstalled the demo.

Regards,
Chris

[TSR2]

Hi Chris,

I do agree, but im going to persist. Guy has given me some good tips to set up the various views. One thing that's obviously confusing is that the rotate (read pan view) left and right are not under the view command options, but under general! Yet the other view options are under view.

[airboatr]

I DL'd and installed ....... to many ... NM!

Anyways..

Chris how did you uninstall? I couldn't find it in program and features. .....

I read to just delete the demo folder.



Sorry Guy I gave it a whirl. I set the rendering to make all setting for fastest play , I can't imagine how many frames I counted in a min.

FSX runs a treat on this t4200 dual core with a Nvidia GT250M laptop, Of course most sliders are at half. but still.



Final Synopsis
8 hours waiting for it to dl and install and 10 minutes of h-e-double toothpicks.

[TSR2]

My system is pretty decent these days. Win7 x64, 8GB ram, Intel i5 2500K (3.3 GHz) NVidia GeForce 560Ti (448 Cores 1280MB GDDR 5RAM) all dives SSD's

out of the box it runs well, but I feel there is much tweaking that can be done. As has been said earlier, the UI is horible, but the underlying product is very good.

[airboatr]

Hi Ben,
I'll take your word for it.
I was able to fly around the patch in 747 and then land at Boeing Field, but I was sweating if I would make it before the Joystick time out.
I thought that was pretty good, so I went to the replay option to frap it but, I couldn't see the aircraft. But I know it was there because I could hear it!