mail de ce matin:
NEW X-PLANE STUFF!
OK here is what iz goin' down in da houze:
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FIRST
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I am very close to releasing X-Plane 8.17... it will have almost NO new
features! (HUH?) 8.17 will only be designed to fix the annoying
"Certain Flight-Plans Crash X-Plane" bug, and test the incredible new
INSTALLER, which will make the downloads MUCH smaller by ONLY
(automatically) downloading the NEW files in each release.
So, X-Plane 8.17 will really exist to test the new INSTALLER.
Then, very quickly, once I am happy the installer is well-tested, I
will jump right in with X-Plane 8.20 Beta-1.
What is new for that?
TONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
More on that at the end of this email.
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SECOND
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While coding, I am listening to:
"Rusted Pipe" by "DNA & Suzanne Vega" (get it at I-Tunes.com),
"50 Ways to leave Your Lover" by "Plummet" (get it at I-Tunes.com),
and tons of "Sterolab" (especially albums: "Sound Dust", "Aluminum
Tunes", and "Magarine Eclipse"... get them at Amazon.com)
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THIRD
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Do any Germans reading this live around Nueremburg?
And know where I can stay near the track there?
And where I can rent a Porsche, Ferrari, or (better yet) C-6 Corvette
there?
Please contact me if you have this info, or a place for me to stay
there... I want to drive Nuerembergring!
Anyone who watches Top Gear (Tivo it. You'll thank me.) saw that it is
about 15 miles with about 145 turns.. the ULTIMATE track.
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FOURTH
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OK.. 8.20... here is what I have done for 8.20 SO FAR:
The Big Features:
You can now GRAB AND MOVE ALL THE COCKPIT CONTROLS WHEN THE COCKPIT IS
IN 3-D MODE!
This applies to EVERY plane, whether the basic "default" 3-D panel, or
you have a fancy custom cockpit!
How do you do this? Go to the joystick screen and set the joystick
buttons to pan the 3-d cockpit around... and choose a different button
to center it.
Then, hit those joystick buttons to look around the cockpit...
Then, while doing so, use the mouse button to click on controls! Cool!
Of course, you can also hit "Control-O" to look around the cockpit with
the MOUSE, but that makes clicking pretty tricky, as you will see! ;-)
As well, the full 1024x1024 panel can be used in 3-D cockpits, even if
the sim is only in 1024x768 resolution!
Choose slung load OBJECTS in the Weight and Balance screen by choosing
a Slung Load Object!
The object format now has a label called "slung_load_weight"... see the
EXAMPLE PLANE for an example.
So now, you can design slung load objects with any textures and shape
you like, and any weight you like!
Then, just attach them to the craft in the Weight and Balance screen!
You can store your slung load objects anywhere you like in the X-System
folder, and name them anything you like...
The same folder as the aircraft itself is a handy, and recommended,
location.
Specify the Slung Load Attach Point in the Weight and Balance screen in
Plane-Maker.
How much weight can you lift in a Blackhawk, or drag behind you into
the air in a Boeing 777?
You can now change the Autopilot and Artificial Stability system
constants WHILE YOU FLY!
Do this and watch the control deflections that result as you fly along!
Cool!
Access the various windows for this in the Special Menu.
New Instruments:
Thermometer to show atmospheric temperature WITHOUT considering
compression heating.
(Unlike the default thermometer which is affected by the compression
and resultant heating of the air hitting the plane)
...As well, set the custom limits of the thermometers in the "Custom
Limits" window in Plane-Maker to get them scaled as you like.
Afterburner level: Put the burners on lo or hi with this switch, found
in the "Engine" folder in Plane-Maker.
Generator power switch for APU... let the APU have a generator to power
electrical systems, or not.
New buttons in Plane-Maker: Magneto switches!
Turn the left and right mags on and off with switches, like in the
Piper Malibu.
Engine fire extinguisher button... Hit it to put out those pesky
smoking engine fires.
Of course, once you've hit it, don't plan on getting any power out of
that engine!
Flight-Model Enhancements:
Refined Reciprocating Engine model... The engine DRAG is what we are
really tweaking here to get the power-OFF descents just right.
Seaplane water dynamics improved to understand the "slicing" effects of
v-hulls thru the water.
Manifold Pressure and Fuel Flow tweaks now done to be a bit more
accurate, based on Cirrus flight-testing.
More accurate indicated airspeed at high altitudes and Mach numbers...
the TRUE airspeeds and Mach numbers remain un-changed,
but we now have a more accurate airspeed INDICATOR model that considers
the compression on the pitot tube due to compression effects
as you approach the speed of sound, as airliners do.
Zone of confusion! Huh?
In a 10-degree wide cone over the VOR you will not get any signal from
the VOR, just as in the real plane!
Specify the minimum prop governor RPM now in the Engines screen in
Plane-Maker!
(No, you do NOT enter 0 here if the prop feathers... you enter the RPM
achieved when the prop is pulled as far back as you can WITHOUT
feathering it).
More realistic downwash modeling... small things like antennae, for
example, will NOT create too much downwash on large things like wings.
You should be able to have plenty of large wings and small antennae
without creating any flight model problems.
As well, PARTIAL-ELEMENT downwash is now simulated, where only PART of
a wing element is in the downwash of the wing in front of it.
This takes Blade-Element-Theory modeling up to a new level, as we break
the model down to even little PARTS of elements.
Better Biplane-Interference modeling... We even handle biplane VERTICAL
STABILIZERS now! (uhhh.. if you ever have one).
You can now specify whether weapons are external or internal stores in
Plane-Maker, to get them tucked inside with zero drag
on the B-1 and planes like that, and external on planes like an F-16.
Speed Improvements:
Scenery-loading should be faster because X-Plane now only loads
textures when they are needed in flight, lowering load times.
The texture-loading has been made as fast as possible, making the
load-time in flight very minimal... try it out!
Now here is where it gets REALLY good: If you have TWO processors, or a
DUAL core, then the SECOND CPU will load textures
while the FIRST CPU runs the simulator! Therefore, you can load scenery
and fly at the SAME TIME, really lowering scenery-load pause times.
(Hint: to get the fastest load times from DSF, shut off roads and
objects.)
Object-loading is now faster... up to 10x faster for really really
LARGE objects.
Visual Enhancements:
Better HUD and runway lighting effects in bright-light (daytime)
conditions.
Reduced-res textures (if you do not have the Extreme Res" rendering
option) are now reduced via linear instead of nearest filtering.
This looks better.
Texture Compression! This may improve your framerate, but it may not.
It may let you run at higher texture resolution, getting crisper
graphics.
Your OGL card must support this.
Graphics in the Data Output screen automatically scale to maximize
visibility of the variables THAT YOU HAVE SELECTED.
This is used by the National Test Pilots School for data acquisition
and training!
As well, open the Data Output Screen on second (or third or fourth etc)
computer that is set up as an "External" anything
and check the data you wish to see, and then go to the "Data See" tab
to watch the data come across in real-time as you fly!
(NOTE: For some of the more obscure data selections, you may need to
select that data for output to the IP address of the External machine
from the master machine)
Stratus cloud layers can now be any thickness.
This lets you do West-Coast style IFR, where you go into a layer of
some thickness, and then pop our right on top exactly where you
expect...
unlike the Cumulus overcast you find in the SouthEast, where the tops
are variable by 10,000 feet on summer days.
General Enhancements:
LOTS of autopilot tuning to fly LOTS better.
The default constants should work pretty well for a very wide variety
of planes...
Try those default constants if your plane does not handle to well on
autopilot now with custom constants.
The whole new autopilot customization theory is now much better
thought-out and organized...
The constants now make more sense, give you more control, and have less
modifications performed by the sim
so that what you ENTER is exactly what you GET in the sim.
As well, the auto-throttles are a bit smarter now: They will not bust
your N1 or EPR or RPM limits as set in the Limits tab in the Engines
screen in Plane-Maker.
All the runway lights lights phase out smoothly as you fly off-axis and
out of their visible cone, as in reality.
The propeller rendering is a bit different for any failed engines that
are windmilling to give a visual indication of a failed engine.
(This is something that you would be able to feel in the real plane,
and possibly see as well, depending on the conditions).
New tab in the Engine screen in Plane-Maker to set the color of each
arc, if you like.
New options in Special Controls screen in Plane-Maker:
-Auto rudder deflection on engine failure.
-Auto-stabilizer-deflection with flaps.
X-Plane should be more robust at finding real-weather to download even
if the NOAA is putting up 0-size files for the current weather, as they
do sometimes.
Plane-Maker: "Make Ellipse" button under each body section to get a
quick round section.
Landing Gear screen in Plane-Maker: Specify the wheel separations in
both the lateral and longitudinal directions for multi-wheel trucks.
This lets you tune the gear for the 777, C-5, or whatever other plane
you are modeling.
Choose the frequency to output data to both the disk output and the
internet UDP output in the Data Output screen.
The IOS has a new option: Show Basic Flight Instruments.
This lets the instructor see what the student is doing in real-time...
kind of nice.
Support for the Garmin GPS-3 pilot... Try it out if you have one and
let me know how it goes.
X-Plane will now do physics calculations with multiple hard polygons -
straddle a Helicopter between two roofs if you can!
The flight-path is now stored for 84 minutes, rather than the 20
minutes it used to be stored for.
This allows a full hour-long flight plus taxi and stuff to be recalled!
(The sim records two data frames per second rather than 5 though, like
it used to).
Better syncing of External Visuals to the Master Machine... allows for
smoother external visuals in the really big multi-machine setups.
Marker Beacons are now fully displayed on the map.
Click on the map to place a compass rose on an airport or NAVAID or
anything you like...
and then the specs for that airport, NAVAID, or fix will appear in the
upper-right of the map!
FMS/autopilot interaction tweaked a bit to be more accurate.
Many aircraft tweaked and refined a bit, especially the B-2 and the
National Aerospace Plane...
Can you get the B-2 around the Country? Can you get the NASP to a
stable orbit? I can!
You can now label the Misc Bodies in Plane-Maker so you can easily see
what all those little misc bodies are in Plane-Maker.
Replay mode is now accessible through Map screen... it's kind of cool
to watch your little plane creep across the map replaying a flight you
just flew!
More information is tracked in the situation movies, situation files,
replayed flights, and external cockpits...
much of it being increased detail for FAA-certification.
Hit "control-x" to leave little "markers" in your data output graphs...
the National Test Pilot's School wants this to mark when various
manuevers were performed,
and you can use it too!
RTE's: (Really Tiny Enhancements):
Custom Cockpits, and weapons, show on OTHER planes than yours now.
Rendering Option to lock the Master Machine to a forwards-only view or
not.
You can now control the rotor pitch by UDP on helos.
Up to... ummm... 99 blades per propeller now allowed. Set in the
Engines Screen in Plane-Maker.
3-decimal precision in texture-coordinate selection lets you get
texture-selection to the pixel.
The chronometer in the King-Air gets the date exactly right.
Default texture regions in the Visual Texture Regions editor are now
tweaked a hair to match the Instructions texture perfectly.
All the direct trim-control axis with joystick are now fully
auto-scaled to perfectly match the trim authority of each individual
aircraft.
The Custom Digital Limits screen in Plane-Maker now applies to the
digital fuel gages as well.
OK, fine. The little yaw string hangs DOWN now when there is no
airspeed.
Bug-Fixes:
Real-Time-Tracking-Offset in Time window changes local but not zulu
time.
"!" key disconnects the autopilot.
ITT responds to fuel-flow only when the engine is actually running.
Old v-7 panels can handle higher-than-standard res.
Autopilot does NOT auto-set the heading whenever you engage it unless
your plane lacks any sort of autopilot setting bug.
Tail-wheel lock operative.
All types of clouds should be synced across external visuals... Let me
know if you can find a case where they are not.
You can now grab all the throttles and props with the mouse just by
clicking in the center of the group even at hi resolutions.
Localizer back-course now has non-reversed deflection when the BACK
COURSE autopilot button is hit.
More graphics features work on more video card.
Old Version-7 scenery works more like it USED to... with no impact on
Version-8 scenery, thus giving the same terrain and no "floating
roads".
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A straight line is a special case of a curve. It's a curve which is uncurved. -- Susskind.