X-Plane 9.40 Beta-1 is here Mac, Windows, and Linux!

New URL:

http://www.x-plane.com/pg_Beta.html

austin

Here is what's new for 9.40 Beta-1!

New features, mostly added for total system-realism for FAA-
Certification:

New elec sys modelling improvements. Now you can have up to 4 buses,
and each system can draw from any of, or all of, those buses.
As well, you can assign any generator and any battery to any bus.
As well, each generator can have a different max amperage.
This really lets you start to dial in the electrical systems really
well!

New feature in the IOS: Shut down tailwind ILS. This checkbox in the
map screen lets you shut down all ILS's that are not aligned into the
wind, as is typically done in reality
This is really needed at airports like KLAX, which have ILS's in
opposite directions BUT ON THE SAME FREQUENCY!
Any shut-down and failed NAVAIDs turn red so you can see that they are
not operational. Kind of nice!

New setting in Plane-Maker systems screen: Number of degrees of
heading error needed for the autopilot to switch turn directions.
180 by default, 20 for the G-1000.

New instrument: Radio alt decision-height light... A little light that
goes off when you make it down to decision height.

Oil pressure modelled a hair differently to show change in response to
rpm change a hair more.

Emergency gear extension override commands now avail... Can be
assigned to any joystick button of course!

New Plane-Maker feature: Import AIRCRAFT... This imports everything
EXCEPT the panel... nice if you want multiple acf files that are the
same except the panel!

The ENGINE_VAC gages in the ENGINE ROUND folder show the suction from
each engine... You can have two of these.
The SUCTION_LO_LITE_GA instruments show the suction from each
engine... You can have two of these.
The SUCTION gage in the SUPPLEMENT folder shows the total suction of
all available vacuum pumps... It shows what the instruments are
GETTING, and you only want ONE of these!

Inverter failure will fail the trq indicators now if the trq
indicators are hooked up to the inverters as per the system screen in
Plane-Maker.

Click on any airport in the IOS screen... You should get airport info
and the weather at the airport as well.

New option in Plane-Maker: The altitude tracks the aircraft current
altitude when the cws button is down: yes or no.

Set your ports for listening and receiving in the net screens now.

Oil pump failure a little more realistic... We see more gradual engine
failure, with rise in oil temperature.

A few (real) G-430 failures, useful if connected to a real Garmin-430.

Cool new Plane:

New plane: Stinson l-5.,. It is in the general aviation folder, and
very nice.

Nice little features and UI tweaks:

Glideslope plot on the IOS now shows the width of the glideslope
region, and shows the marker beacons as well.. kind of nice!

Reversed/beta/forward thrust engine-mode saved in replays.

Better throttle response from the fadec.. closer to linear.

3-D cockpit will let you look around when paused now.

Toll-spoiler logic just a hair smarter with speedbrakes: Spoilers will
not extend beyond max speedbrake deployment.

Boat-drawing rendering-option is now separated from the forest fires
and balloons.

NAVAID failure-page shows the type for each NAVAID... makes it easier
to see exactly what NAVAID you are failing.

All 'situation-movies' are now referred to as 'replays' everywhere in
the UI

Engine-failure options that do not apply to the type of engine in your
plane do not appear in the engine-failure list... A bit easier to spot
the failures you want.

New instruments and commands:

New flight director/autopilot commands and instruments in the BUTTONS
folder to turn the flight director and autopilot servos on and off.

Commands restored:
"sim/instruments/ECAM_mode_down"
"sim/instruments/ECAM_mode_up"

New command that you can hook up to any key or joystick button: Marker
beacon mute. It's in the ANNUNCIATORS group.

New annunciator: GPU connected. You can assign any joystick button to
the COMMAND to connect the GPU, and when you hit it,
you will see the gpu-connected light activate, and also get plenty of
power to bus #1 on the airplane.

Minor tweaks and Bug-Fixes:

Mean time between failure causes random failures when checked in the
failures screen, otherwise does not!

IOS glideslope map properly labelled as AGL, not MSL, altitudes.

EFIS-app tweaked a hair to display both adf's and display a few more
things a hair more accurately, and let you enter initial fuel

No blackout in external view modes ,and Cinema Verite should not
respond to G-load at very low G.

Planes with only 1 inverter switch should still drive all inverter-
driven systems ok!

Flaps deploy at the right speed now, ion all cases... they were
sometimes too fast before.

Arrow keys to scroll large 2-d panels in side-views, as is used for
some older planes, now work!

X-Plane 9.40 beta-2 is here, Mac, Windows, and Linux!
 
Now at:
 
http://wiki.x-plane.com/Beta
 
austin
 
NEW STUFF:
The filled autopilot annunciator now displays pitch-mistrim 'TRM'  
alert if the autopilot is unable to trim out
the pitch-loads, as it is in the real plane.
 
Improved FDR (Flight Data Recorder) replay: We always read every line  
of the replay,
and the propellers and rotors spin during playback of FDR files, as  
desired.
 
New button in the weight and balance screen to set to max gross  
weight...
Kind of convenient to flight-test at gross weight every time.
 
Improvement in FADEC mode on recip engines to limit power more  
accurately for turbocharged engines.
 
Plane-Maker:Panel Editor:
You can now specify the buses that each instrument depend on,  
regardless of the number of buses on the plane.
Remember that you can have up to 4 buses, and each instrument can  
depend on any bus!
The generic needle can rotate around an arbitrary location. Useful for  
making various types of "wiper" instruments and fuel gauges.
Key frames can optionally wrap around. Use the generic pointer with  
wrapping and clipping to make a "tape" or "ladder"-style instrument.
Instruments can be tied to more than one electrical bus.
Non-generic instruments can be tied to an electrical bus too!
 
FIXES:
Piper Malibu throttle handles should not turn gray in clouds.
No stars in the water at very low reflection settings - before the  
reflections were pixelated and ugly.
Real weather and version-checks should work.
Glass instruments on bus 2 won't turn off when bus 1 loses power.
Electrical system settings for panel should import better from 930  
planes.
 
IMPORTANT: if you have a 930 airplane you should go back to the 930  
version for beta 2 - do not use the conversion for beta 1.
940 beta 1 had bugs in the airplane conversion code, so your  
electrical system and instrument bus settings will not have converted  
properly.
940 beta 2 should fix this.

X-Plane 9.41 Beta-3 is here now!
 
We are really starting to get those bugs ironed out... this is
starting to look pretty slick!
 
Grab it by running your installer and checking the BETA box, or
running to:
 
http://wiki.x-plane.com/Beta
 
Have at it and let me know how it goes! This is really starting to get
good!
 
austin
 
New stuff:
 
King-Air and a number of other planes should function normally that
had an electrical-system glitch in beta-2.
 
Mouse-wheel throttle should not conflict with joystick throttles any
more
 
Brakes should hold the plane back a bit better during runups, etc.
 
The trim-deflection time is entered in Plane-Maker in seconds, rather
than ratio, so we all understand exactly what it means. This lets you
do a better job of acf-design: Measure the time it takes the trim to
move full-distance from one extreme to the other and enter that in
Plane-Maker to get the perfect trim speed.
 
New feature in Plane-Maker Equipment Options screen: all engines: Shut
off fuel when prop control at minimum! Check this to have the fuel to
the engine shut off when the prop control is pulled back to minimum.
This is used on some turboprop aircraft.
 
New autopilot altitude-warning options. Check out the Systems window
in Plane-Maker to see them all. Basically, you can have the X-Plane
autopilot beep at various altitude warnings or excursions.
 
Airports with old runways won't appear incorrectly oriented or mis-
sized. LIET serait donc réparé ?
 
New datarefs for additional failures and glide-slope detection.
 
UI should always be visible... it was sometime a hair dark, or very
dark, or red at night. We now just keep it the same no matter the
lighting conditions to be a bit more consistent. Can anyone find any
case where any bit of the user-interface is improperly-colored at night?

X-Plane 9.40 Beta-4 is here for Mac, Windows, and Linux!

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

Beta 4

WE ARE RELEASING THIS BETA WITH MANY INTERNAL CHECKS TURNED ON! THIS
WILL MAKE THIS BETA RUN AT VERY SLOW FRAME-RATES, BUT WE WILL TURN
THIS OFF FOR THE NEXT BETA IF WE LIKE WHAT WE SEE WITH THIS BETA!
ALSO, THIS BETA IS NOT GOING TO RUN ON POWER-PC MACS... WE WILL RE-
INSTATE POWER-PC VERSIONS AFTER WE ARE HAPPY WITH THE INTERNAL CHECKS
THAT ARE BEING TESTED ON THE INTELS, WHICH WILL BE SOME TIME LATER IN
THE BETA PROCESS FOR 9.40.

NOW, UNDERSTANDING THAT THIS BETA WILL RUN VERY SLOW, AND NOT ON POWER-
PC MACS, AS WE RUN A HUGE NUMBER OF INTERNAL TETS EACH FRAME, HERE IS
THE NEW STUFF:

A number of odd graphical artifacts fixed.

You can now select buses for all systems in the amperage-selection
screen in Plane-Maker... You could not select the amperage for a few
systems before.

Autopilot can be set to auto-load the current altitude into the
altitude pre-select window, or not, in the Systems page of Plane-Maker.

Spoiler deflection limits should now be perfectly respected.

UI should always be visible... it was sometime a hair dark, or very
dark, or red at night. We now just keep it the same no matter the
lighting conditions to be a bit more consistent. Can anyone find any
case where any bit of the user-interface is improperly-colored at night?

A few more electrical-system details ironed out.

austin

X-Plane 940 Beta-5 is here, Mac, Windows, and Linux!

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

WE ARE RELEASING THIS BETA WITH MANY INTERNAL CHECKS TURNED ON! THIS
WILL MAKE THIS BETA RUN AT VERY SLOW FRAME-RATES, BUT WE WILL TURN
THIS OFF FOR THE NEXT BETA IF WE LIKE WHAT WE SEE WITH THIS BETA!
ALSO, THIS BETA IS NOT GOING TO RUN ON POWER-PC MACS... WE WILL RE-
INSTATE POWER-PC VERSIONS AFTER WE ARE HAPPY WITH THE INTERNAL CHECKS
THAT ARE BEING TESTED ON THE INTELS, WHICH WILL BE SOME TIME LATER IN
THE BETA PROCESS FOR 9.40. NOW, UNDERSTANDING THAT THIS BETA WILL RUN
VERY SLOW, AND NOT ON POWER-PC MACS, AS WE RUN A HUGE NUMBER OF
INTERNAL TESTS EACH FRAME, HERE IS THE NEW STUFF:

Refinements in EGT-modeling. We get closer to redline in redline power
and mixture conditions. Refinements in CHT-modeling. CHT should not go
to huge negative values when you enter unrealistic values in Plane-
Maker.

Better ability to hold position on the runway under high power
settings, if the real plane would have the braking ability to do so.

Flight path should plot in the proper place in the weather-map in the
set-weather window.

If the localizer fails on a localizer or ILS with DME, the DME will
continue to broadcast, as in reality.

If you are in approach mode and hit the APR button, it will drop you
out of all approach modes, as in reality.

New button in Plane-Maker to enter the number of degrees off that the
autopilot will auto-select back-course on. Enter 0 to not auto-select
back-course.

X-Squawkbox works again!

austin

If you are running the WINDOWS version of X-Plane and have X-Plane 940
Beta-5 and it does not run for you, then please DELETE that Plane-
Maker executable and re-run the installer now (with the BETA box
checked, of course) and the installer will drop a new Plane-Maker 940
Beta-5 in there for you that should run just fine.

Thanks!

austin