Weather, Fog and a Cool View

 

Sometimes, the less than ideal weather that causes that voice in the back of your brain to scream, “don’t fly! don’t fly!”, really is the best weather to fly in.  Not only for entertainment purposes, but also because it can make you a better pilot.

I recently took the SSG 747-8f out for a spin around the Seattle area.  The Cargolux beast took to the air from Everett/Paine Field and quickly became consumed in fog.  Flying IFR was great on the ascent, but changed to chase view in X-Plane to capture the above image.  Sorta of reminds me of jaws coming out of the deep blue sea.  Without the tail, the sexy, curvaceous fuselage really pops.

Happy Flying!

 

FlyJSim Releases Boeing 727 for X-Plane

As if Christmas came early this year, FlyJSim beat Santa Claus to the virtual flying gift with their long awaited release of the Boeing 727 for X-Plane 10.  Available as stand alone packages or a complete pack, the group offers the 727-100, 727-200Adv, and the 727-200F variants.  If this release is anywhere close to the quality of their existing Dash 8 Q400 model, the 727 is going to be an awesome experience!

FlyJSim releases the 727 series

If that hasn’t gotten your mouth watering, available separately are livery packs, such as “The American Classics Pack” from XPJets for the -200Adv model.  You can also purchase a pack that contains all 54 liveries across all three variants.

What surprises me is that by the time you buy the Complete 727 Model Pack ($62) with the Complete Livery Pack ($19.95), you are pushing north of $80.  While the sticker shock makes me change my underwear, when you realize you are getting a complete package of one of the most detailed and advanced models for X-Plane 10, suddenly that sticker shock seems like a bargain.  Of course, you could just purchase your favorite variant $32 individually.

< click to see the purchase options at the .Org store >

I know what I am doing this weekend… flying the virtual skies in a classic three holer!

FlyJSim 727-100 on approach to KSEA. Detailed cockpit is awesome.

Update – Purchased the complete variant pack and the complete livery pack. After a simple installation, I took the -100 variant in an Eastern Airlines “whisperjet” livery out for a flight from KPDX to KSEA.  I can say that I am speechless.  Everything I love about the Dash 8, applies to the 727.  The detailed cockpit, sounds, and exterior model are simply the best and justify the expense.

Banking turn from KPDX on a test flight to KSEA in the FlyJSim Boeing 727-100

With three models and 54 liveries to explore, this X-Plane 10 add-on is going to keep me busy.  Time to  sit down with the manuals and start with cold and dark cockpit.  Full review coming soon!

 

A Cessna 182RG Turbo for X-Plane

Surprises are always great unless they involve death or car crashes.  Luckily for the X-Plane community, this post doesn’t have anything to do with death or car crashes.  That means good news for the general aviation crowd running X-Plane (9 or 10 works).

The great news is the .Org (X-Plane.org) purchased from Shade Tree Micro Aviation (STMA, checkout their awesome DHC-3 Otter!) their Cessna Skylane Turbo RG model and have made it free to their members.  Whenever a former payware aircraft goes freeware, you have to take a step back and bring your expectations down a level.   In this case, they don’t have to come down too far.

STMA’s Cessna SkyLane 182RG for X-Plane

 

I took the Skylane out for a test flight from Three Forks, MT to Bozeman, MT and have to say my expectations were beyond met.  Granted this is an older model and you can tell it is more of X-Plane 8.6 refinement, but the panel, virtual cockpit, flight dynamics, and overall package are superb.   While perhaps lower in quality compared to Carenado’s payware, the overall package delivered here for free sets it apart.

The modeled interior is a welcoming place to spend a few hours.  While the refinement will likely be hard for some to get over, the fact is that the interior is there.  Seating for four, door handles, and yokes have been fully modeled.  While I was a bit disappointed with the 2D-like panel in the virtual cockpit, you have to remind yourself that everything you need is there; light switches, HSI, altimeter, throttles, etc.

Hey, it has a back seat!

The Skylane Turbo packs a bunch with over 200-hp and a cruise speed of 150+ knots.  The retractable gear is also fully animated and its just cool to watch it fold back into the stowed position with this model.    The flight dynamics are “reactive” yet forgiving.  True to the X-Plane feel, you have to fly this plane or set the auto pilot.

Power and speed in a compact package, the SkyLane Turbo is a great companion.

Perhaps one of the best features is the return you get in frame rates.  Running this model on X-Plane 9.70 on my old 2007 iMac with settings cranked fairly high, I was able to get 45+ fps, easy.  That means more processor power for the world around you.

< Cessna SkyLane Turbo 182RG for X-Plane  >

So, if you haven’t already skipped to this part (who reads these posts anyway?), you can download the model over at the .Org.  Just make sure to say a thank you to Shade Tree Micro Aviation and the .Org while you are over there.

 

Carenado’s Cessna 337H

Carenado sneaks up on you at times and just screams in your ear, scaring you half to death.  Well, not quite, but seeing the release of their Cessna C337H for X-Plane was a big surprise.   Now this means that I have yet another awesome aircraft to buy…   Who knew running a flight simulator blog could get so expensive??

< Carenado’s Cessna C337H page >

Anyway, you X-Plane Cessna fanatics better get over to their store and buy it.

X-Plane 10 Error Message: Read Only File

I  fired up X-Plane 10 after a few week break and updating to beta 8.  Now, I get a series of error messages about files being marked as read only in windows. It seems that X-Plane 10 thinks the “scenery_packs.ini” and “X-Plane Pilot.txt” files are read only.  see screenshots:

The interesting thing here is that both of these are NOT marked as READ ONLY.  In fact, I can see the entries from my last flight in each file.   The problem  is that when the X-Plane Pilot.txt error message comes up, there is no way to get rid of  the message, I have to kill X-Plane.exe in Task Manager.

A friend  of  mine suggested that there is a bug in  the rendering settings that causes this and resetting to the default  fixes it  temporarily, but I can’t find where to reset X-Plane.

I am curious if anyone else has had this problem and what you did to fix it.  My copy of X-Plane 10 is dead until I find a solution.

———–

SOLUTION:  I finally found the solution.  The errors are due to Windows 7 changing permission of X-Plane 10 files as I had my X-Plane 10 folder installed in Program Files.  The solution is move the X-Plane 10 folder to a “non-system” owned directoy, such as your Desktop.  Visit this forum post at  the org for  details.   I copied the folder to the desktop and it is working okay now!

Cessna Caravan for X-Plane

Carenado continues to expaned their X-Plane hanger by adding a modern, sophisticated and rugged Cessna, the Cessna Caravan.  Available for around $30 US and available with HD textures, this is going to be a great addition to anyone’s hanger that appreciates sophisticated ruggedness.   Check it out at their homepage…

SSG Boeing 747-8i Beta 1.1 Released

For the X-Plane pilots out there, check out the latest version of the Boeing 747-8i by Supercritical Simulations Group (SSG).

Now on version beta 1.1, the latest release improves the shape of the nose, improved wings, and various other tweaks that improve the feel and autopilot. You are required to have the beta 1.0 version prior to installing beta 1.1.

While designed for X-Plane 9.70, it will function in X-Plane with a few issues that will be addressed at a later date.

I also added SSG to the X-Plane Directory hosted here at ARoMO.

Sweetness!

<download 747-8i beta 1.0 at x-plane.org>

<download 747-8i beta 1.1 update at x-plane.org>

<Visit the SSG Forum for Support & Questions>

Update 18mar12 – SSG releases the 747-8 Freighter beta 1.0 at the .org!

<download 747-8 Freighter beta 1.1 update at x-plane.org>

Further Thoughts on X-Plane 10, Part 1

Now that X-Plane 10 has been out for almost a month and seven “beta” releases have been distributed, I thought it would be a great time to take another look at X-Plane 10.  In this multi-part series, I will share further thoughts on X-Plane 10:

1. Part 1: Laminar Research Delivers a Sour Taste
2. Quick tips on Getting Started with X-Plane 10, both configuration and rendering options
3. The revised experience: I’ll share some screenshots and further discuss whether X-Plane is worth it after spending more time with the software on multiple platforms.

So without further ado (do you guys really read this?), Part 1:

Laminar Research Delivers a Sour Taste

In my previous post on XP 10, Initial Thoughts on X-Plane 10, I discussed how much of a nightmare the release was and how frustrating adjusting setttings could be.  I ended the post by suggesting that those of us with older systems stick with X-Plane 9.7 and kept to my “do not buy” recommendation.

This post also became a place for many readers to share their experiences with X-Plane 10.  It quickly became clear that I was not alone in my conclusions and many of you struggled with X-Plane 10 as well.  There was some harsh criticism for Laminar Research, referring to their recent as “disappointing”.

I would like to note that to date, no one from Laminar Research has bothered to address these comments on this blog.   In addition, I personally have sent three emails to Laminar Research requesting further comments.  None of my inquiries have been returned.   Shame…

Its Beta software!

X-Plane 10 is really beta software.  Maybe I missed a memo to their consumers, but with all the hype around how great X-Plane 10 was going to be, someone forgot to stick the “beta” label on it in a place consumers can read.   The X-Plane 10 release represents the worst software release in years, with so many bugs and a confusing installation (can’t use the installer on the DVD!), Laminar Research jumped the gun. Nothing says it better than pointing the seven “fixes” released since its debut.  That is almost two per week!

Mac Users Beware

X-Plane 10 is not optimized for Mac.  The explanation that I received on Facebook was that Macs are not optimized for gaming and this isn’t an X-Plane 10 issue, but an Apple issue.  Even still, Laminar Research could have stepped up and pointed out the performance variance a little more black and white.

$80 is a rip-off!

Its $80 for crappy, beta software.  While I recognize that Laminar Research has a lot of time resources invested, $80 is steep, especially for software that wouldn’t run out of the box (you must download a new installer from their website).

So, for $80, what am I getting?  The latest in graphic rendering, improved ATC (?), and a few extra planes that can only on “high end” systems.  The only thing is keeping me from filing a charge back with credit card company (fraud would be my reason for doing so), is that I personally jumped the gun when I ordered it even before downloading the buggy web demo.

Conclusion

Sadly, Laminar Research has left a very sour taste in my mouth from mis-leading marketing to a scalping cost for buggy, poorly checked software.  From what others have said, I am not the only one.   As a customer experience advocate, I proudly give Laminar Research an “F”.

My message to Austin and the rest of Laminar Research: “You boys are playing in the big league now, releasing buggy software and ignoring your customers isn’t going to get you market share.  Stop and think about who is really paying your paychecks.  Smart business is about the customer.”

Coming up in part 2, some quick tips on getting started with X-Plane 10, including how to get “decent” frame rates on older systems and how to configure your joystick.

Initial Thoughts on X-Plane 10

Update 12nov12: I wrote this post shortly after the initial release of X-Plane.  I didn’t have the best experience with the initial beta products.   However, almost a year has gone by and X-Plane 10 has evolved into a mainstream offering.   I am working on an update to this post and encourage everyone reading this to take these comments with a grain of salt.  If you just downloaded/installed X-Plane 10, grab the updated installer from the website and run the update as there are a lot fixes available.  Cheers! 

–begin original post–

Let me start by saying that my experience with X-Plane 10 was one of the most frustrating experiences I have ever had with a piece of software in my entire life.

Customer Experience Failure

I’ll skip the blow by blow, but the simple task of downloading X-Plane 10 web demo was a Thanksgiving nightmare, followed by the inability to even start the program, and finishing with such low frame rates, that I thought my monitor was showing me an old 8mm film. Then came a number of web updates and the requirement to download an installer from the website to install the DVDs.

The overall experience was a far cry from a smooth roll out of a new product. Clearly Laminar Research was not prepared for the release of software that still needed more testing and fixes prior to release.

X-Plane Eye Candy

With the full version of X-Plane 10 installed and about 20 hours dickering around with the rendering options, I have finally reached a point of content with X-Plane 10.  So, I thought I would post some screenshots of my initial testing.

The settings for my ’08 iMac

The trick to getting decent frame rates from X-Plane 10 is to turn EVERYTHING off and then start turning options back on and up.  It is a frustrating and lloooonnnngggg task.  Austin should design a little program that can set rendering options based on computer settings.  But then again, Austin is not that cool.

Challenger 300 at Sunset over Puget Sound

But after spending a lloooonnnngggg and frustrating time dickering with the rendering options, I was able to install one of my favorite X-Plane aircraft, the Challenger 300 by Ddenn Design, and fly from KPAE to KSEA and experience a few of the new X-Plane features.

The Stinson L5S, a very close cousin to the Piper Cub in FSX

I also realized that Laminar Research has clearly marketed X-Plane 10 as a direct alternative to FSX or Flight.  Included in the web demo are the Baron, a King Air C90B, and the Stinson L5S.  Similar aircraft in my default FSX hanger.  I was sad to see the Piper Malibu missing.

Initial Thoughts

My initial thoughts on X-Plane 10 are mixed.  While it represents a revolutionary step forward in simulation software, the customer experience of downloading the demo, installing it, and configuring it is down right atrocious. As an customer advocate, Laminar Research might have an awesome product, but the experience to use it is the pits.

To Buy or Not To Buy?

Is X-Plane 10 a “do not buy” product, as I stated in my tweet?  At this time, I will say that if you are willing to invest countless frustrating hours getting it configured and you own a powerful computer, buy it!

If you are an FSX user, I recommend waiting for Microsoft Flight, which will offer a far superior customer experience and better support. Since Microsoft has killed off Flight (rightfully so), the best alternative to X-Plane 10 is Prepar3D, despite its steep price tag.

For me, I paid $80 for this thing, so it will sit on my computer along side X-Plane 9.7, taunting me to mortgage my house so I can buy a super computer to properly run it. Until then, X-Plane 9.7 wins.

X-PLANE 10 IS HERE!

X-Plane 10 has been announced with the availability of a demo version and pre-order.  The long awaited, “game changing” desktop flight simulator that never really hit mainstream until the death of MSFS, is finally here.

X-Plane homepage screenshot

With advanced graphics, revised data models and a whole host of other goodies, X-Plane was worth the wait.  You can download the demo and you can pre-order your copy of 8 DVD’s, scheduled to ship December 7th. < link to X-Plane >

Oh yeah, Happy Thanksgiving!

PS – Currently, the X-Plane download servers are hideously slow… my current download time is 14 hours!  I’d say start the download, celebrate Thanksgiving and hope its done by tomorrow morning.