X-PLANE 8.10 BETA 1 IS HERE MAC AND WINDOWS!
Grab it at http://www.x-plane.com/ (the link is near the top of the
page)
The Linux version is being worked on.
So, what's new? TONS.
In this release, I am doing many dozens of things people have been
asking me for recently.
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NEW INSTRUMENTS:
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Custom LIT instruments are now possible! See the example plane for an
example!
You can now have custom LIT panels, and custom LIT instruments.. every
one of the 4 layers can have a LIT version!
Cool! You can really go wild with NITE-LIT panels now!
New burner enable button! Turn this OFF and you can punch the throttle
to the stops on afterburner-equipped planes
WITHOUT the afterburner kicking in... good when you want dfull
military power, but no burners using all your fuel...
then flip the burner switch ON when you are ready for maximum kick.
New Angle of Attack gage: stall reference... this is an easy way to
tell if you are about to stall... it is convenianelty labelled
with arcs for desired approach angle of attack, and stall angle of
attack!
New autopilot: S-Tec 55, common in many planes, including the Cirrus
SR-22.
New GPS: Garmin 430 instrument, common in many planes, including the
Cirrus SR-22.
(Note: This is a somewhat SIMPLIFIED Garmin right now... if we tried
to program every function in the REAL unit then we would not get
X-Plane
8.10 for another year! Right now you can use the Garmin to tune
radios, enter GPS destinations, get a moving map, look at the
destination airport
runways and altitude and frequencies, and get speeds as well as
descent and time enroute profiles: In short, everything you need to go
GPS-direct.
All of this is done exactly like the real Garmin 430. What we do NOT
do is the million OTHER things the real Garmin does, like SIDs and
STARs,
save flight plans, and save waypoints. This is stuff almost nobody
would use and the interface
is just too SMALL for anyone to read it if we went into that much
detail! Bottom line: We simulate the amount that you use 99% of the
time in the real airplane.
New autopilot displays: OBS-1 and OBS-2. These are mechanical,
Boeing-style displays, just like the heading displays.
We already have rheostats to CHANGE the OBS, so the rheostats combined
with the displays give total OBS control to you in an autopilot
console.
Cool new instrument for the cockpit: tailwheel lock!
Put the handle in the UP position and the tail-wheel will FREE-CASTOR.
Put the handle in the DOWN position and the tail-wheel will LOCK IN
THE CENTER.
A good test of your skils and X-Plane's flight model is to experiment
with various tail-wheel options while trying to take off and land!
Cool new equipment-failure options: Gear and flap ACTUATION SYSTEMS
(be it electric or hydraulic)
When you trigger those failures, the gear and flaps will stay in their
current position, UNTIL
YOU PUMP THEM DOWN MANUALLY WITH THE NEW EMERGENCY GEAR AND FLAP PUMP
BUTTONS! Hit those (mouse or assignable joystick button) as many
times as you specify in Plane-Maker (10? 50? 100?) to get the gear
and/or flaps down after an actuation system failure.
It's kind of fun watching the gear and flaps slowly jerk down as you
pump!
(of course, it's easier to hit the mouse or joystick button 100 times
than crank a big pump 100 times!)
The total-energy variometer now runs smoother, and has a mild delay,
like the real instrument.
Radar altimeter now has custom angular limits assignable in
Plane-Maker, so if you get really excited over exact replicas
of strange radar altimeters, your day has come! (well, some guy DID
request it!)
New N1 smaller engine instrument that shows 1/10s of a percent of N1!
New APU N1 instrument, and we have APU SOUND now as well... of course
you can customize it like any other sound...
look in the RESOURCES:SOUNDS folder for the example.
New instrument panel type: FIGHTER IFR. This is just like the fighter
cockpit but with more space allocated to
the instrument panel so you can get more instruments in there.
New Directional Gyro type: LINEAR. This is a really old-style type
that looks like a compass.
New Compass type: ROUND. This is a really old-style type that looks
like a directional gyro!
New instruments: aileron, elevator, and rudder standalone deflection
indicators. These are in the "supplement" folder,
and are mechanical indicators that show your control deflections.
These are used in the (real) Concorde.
These shows the final, actual flight control deflections, so they will
NOT perfectly track the joystick in aircraft that have
fly-by-wire (or stability-augmentation) systems! We have linear AND
round control indicators available.
We have had fuel transfer selectors to go TO a certain tank... now we
have fuel selectors to go FROM the selected tank!
New instrument: Fuel indicators that show the TOTAL FUEL ON BOARD,
summing up all the tanks for you.
New DIGITAL oil pressure and temperature instruments in the "engine
supplement" folder.
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NEW PHYSICS TUNING:
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Next level of navigation realism: The NAVAIDS now flicker and wander
around near the edge of their reception range, as the real ones do!
Cool! As well, the loclaizers and glideslopes will NOT always go out of
range at the same time, so you can have a localizer capture on an ILS
even though the GLIDESLOPE is not received yet, or is barely received,
and thus wandering around. This happens in the real plane, and is a
major cause of high blood pressure when shooting an ILS in actual
instrument conditions.
While we are talking about flickering signals, the star colors tuned,
with a bit of star TWINKLING as well!
Better autopilots on ILS, localizer, and VOR intercepting and tracking.
Better flight-director response as well... more accurate, and more
like the real airplane.
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FLIGHT-MODEL ENHANCEMENTS:
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Incredibly cool technology: Weight-shifting to change the CG in flight!
We have had "weight shift" in the special controls for some time, but
now we take it to the next level:
We have "weight shift" in the weight and balance screen in Plane-Maker
now so we can most quickly see and change it for the aircraft. This
allows you to enter the max allowable weight of a pilot in a
hang-glider, for example.
We have "weight shift" in the weight and balance screen in X-Plane now
so we can most quickly see and change it in flight.
This allows you to set the weight of the pilot in the hang-glider for
each flight.
We have a "center of gravity" indicator as an available instrument (in
the "Supplement" instruments folder) so we can see the current CG.
This allows you tomonitor the CG in planes like the Concorde that
require fuel to be pumped fore and aft in flight.
We have a new fuel transfer selector now to transfer between 2 tanks,
to quickly and easily pump fuel fore and aft in flight,
monitoring the (changing) CG indicator as the fuel is pumped.
So, we can now shift weight either with joystick control or by pumping
fuel, with the ability to enter any shifting weight
amount and see the center of gravity indicator change. Cool!
More accurate thrust, and windmilling, of jet engines... the inlets
slow the airflow to keep the engines from overspeeding at supersonic
speeds... This is what real inlets do, and is now done in the sim.
As well, the air DENSITY into the engines across a wide arange of mach
numbers has been improved, recovering total pressure when BELOW the max
inlet efficient mach number, and suffering normal shock losses when
ABOVE that number.
OIL COOLERS get ram-air effect, just like the engines, for cooling now.
Differential left and right defelctions for rudders!
Why? Because planes like the Long-EZ have 2 rudders (one per wingtip)
and each one deflects ONLY ONE WAY.
Now you can get the rudders just perfect for those planes.
Just like we have 2 sets of ailerons and rudders, now we have 2 sets
of elevators!
Then, to REALLY expand your options, look at the JOSYTICK AXIS
ASSIGNMENT SCREEN... there are now "pitch 2", "roll 2", and "heading 2"
options... why? Well, set any joystick axis you want to the "2"
settings, and that joystick axis will control only the SECOND ailerons
or the SECOND elevators or the SECOND rudders (remember, you have ailn
2, rudd 2, and elev 2 in Plane-Maker now), so you can have one joystick
controlling the primary flight controls, and a second
joystick controlling the secondary set! Strange? Yes. But possible! If
you do NOT assign any of your joystick axis to the secondary controls,
then the secondary control just follow the primary joystick input, just
like always.
Enter the speed and altitude and heading for placement on the PLANET
map as well... these numbers are used whenever no airport is found
nearby.
Lift fans work differently now: the fan is geared directly to the
engine compressor stage, so the fan does NOT lag behind the engine in
speeding up and slowing down, but instead tracks the engine N1
perfectly, as is the case in the real F-35.
Better ground-effect modelling: Now we model the GROUND EFFECT of the
DOWNWASH from one wing onto the other as well! This makes
airplane-handling more realistic in the pitch-response in the flare.
Better aspect-ratio determination, now considering the various
variable-sweep/taper combinations across the span of the wing and tail.
Major improvement in joystick handkhandling for joysticks that have
drifting pots:
There is no longer a joystick "null zone". Instead, it is a joystick
CENTER.
Center your joystick when in the second joystick tab and that location
will be used as the center
of action of the joystick! This give center-point accuracy with
immediate response on either side,
unlike a nullzone where you lose control accuracy because of a
non-centering stick! This way is much better!
Refinement of speedbrake model.
Refinement of the water model: waves are a bit more randomized now, as
in nature.
Refinement of the fuel-flow model.
Refinement of the fuselage sideforce and vertical-force model.
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SCENERY ENHANCEMENTS:
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The VASI and PAPI approach glidepath lighs are now only visible from a
30 degree approach cone either side of the runway, as in reality.
Various scenery improvements in rendering technology, to prepare for
the big global-scenery upgrade that we are working on now.
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GENERAL FEATURES:
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New feature in Plane-Maker... all the WING editing screens now have a
"snap to" feature,
letting you snap any wing to any other wing, exactly, with a single
selection of what wing you wish to snap to!
Now we get truly jiggy with it: X-Plane will now work flawlessly with
a REAL Garmin 430 radio.
How? Take a REAL Garmin 430 and saughter a switch inside the unit to
drop it into SIMULATION mode.
This Garmin 430 radio will now take input from X-Plane via com-port
instead of satellites in the sky.
In other words, X-Plane tells the Garmin 430 where you are... you can
now use this real Garmin 430 with X-Plane
JUST EXACTLY AS IF YOU WERE IN A REAL AIRPLANE. The Garmin will show
the moving maps, and you will enter destinations, radio freqs, and
flight pans all in the Garmin 430, driving X-Plane as you do.
Finally, you can practice using your Garmin 430 in a flight
simulator... this is a first: NO OTHER FLIGHT SIM DOES THIS.
The training potential here is huge: Garmins a re a bit tricky to use
with their HUGE functionality, so practicing for free
on the sim is INCREDIBLY VALUABLE. The alternative is to learn to use
the radio while you are hauling across the sky
in your Cirrus burning 15 or 20 gallons per hour at 200 miles per hour
just to learn how to push a few electrons
around... THAT IS JUST PLAIN STUPID. Flight schools and anyone else
that wants to train pilots with Garmin 430's
on the ground rather than in the air burning fuel like crazy and
racing across the sky should grab a (real) Garmin 430
and a copy of X-Plane right away... the training benefits will be
huge, and the safey and envirnonment impacts of
learning how to use the complex, quirky radio on the groud rather than
in the air with the engine gulping gas are signifigant!
Now you want the numbers?
Garmin 430 radio: a bit over $10,000, assuming you can become a
certified dealer, and nobody gets any discouts, even dealers. X-Plane:
about $50 If you are a want a Garmin 430 right away, email
mike@flypfc.com... he is a Garmin dealer now and can get you simualtion
units to use in your copy of X-Plane to finally learn how to use a
Garmin 430 the way EVERYONE should learn: in an excellent flight sim,
on the groud, with zero stress, zero noise, zero distraction, zero fuel
burn, and zero risk.
Then, once you have mastered the 430 on the GROUND, it is time to go
flying!
F5 and F6 keys control prop pitch for all prop types now...
collective, direct-control pitch, whatever.
Take a look at the landing gear sreen (tab-2) in Plane-Maker... check
a "start in water" box there for your flying boats if you like!
Cinema verite for the external shots... the camera is held by a
camera-man in those cases. ...and, while working on the cameras, the
spot-view starts farther back from the craft, so big ships like the
Hindy can do a total fly-by.
World-Maker can go into 3-D mode... pretty cool!
Plane-Maker section-editing is handled a tiny bit differently... the
nodes will NOT "jump" to the mouse-click area
when you are editing them... instead, Plane-Maker "auto-adapts" to
your mouse-click location and only moves the node
as much as you move the mouse! THis applies to section-editing mode
only.
Plane-Maker automatically sets the decimal places for the SFC to a
reasonable value for that engine type.
The 3-D flight-path color (o-key to activate it) changes based on the
ambient lighting conditions to always be visible.
Maps are smarter about when to plot DME frequencies.
Glideslope indicator lights on the ground (both VASI and PAPI) are now
tuned per airport to be accurate for the actual commanded slope of that
particular airport.
You can now enter a MAX frame-rate in the rendering options screen if
you like...
just enter a number LOWER than your machine can really handle and you
will always run at exactly that frame-rate.
Cockpit designers: look in the NAV DISPPLAYS folder at the various VOR
instruments... we now have TEXT files
for all those VORs to specify the deflection ranges for all the VORs
so you can customize the deflections.
Com-port signals are now faster.. you will nw get less, or no, pausing
when using the outputting to moving maps, garmin 430 radios in
simulation mode,
PFC hardware, etc.
Wind noise: The PITCH is based on the TRUE airspeed, and the VOLUME is
based on the indicated airspeed... more realistic, I think.
New "High-Speed" map tab in the map output screen to get mroe
quickly-responding maps... thogh without the terrain details.
New text-file lin in the HUD Horizon instrument... pitch reference
offset from center,
used to draw the pitch-ref bars farhter down than up, or vice-versa.
Plane-Maker flashes the curently-editing wing in the editing screens
so you can quickly see which wing or body you are trying to edit!
Visual force-vectors (/ key) are now scaled for the area of each
element, giving a lift distribution on the flying surfaces that is more
intuitive to look at.
View to show cockpit and exterior of craft at once is back.. ctrl-\
New option in the "Special" menu to show the name of each instrument
in the cockpit as you hold the mouse over it motionless for a second.
The mileage scales are back on the maps... those were removed when we
went to all-3-d technology, but are back now!
Now you can enter a minimum CONTROL DEFLECTION TIME in the "Controls"
window in Plane-Maker.
This is useful for controls that can only move at a certain RATE, as
is the case with hydraulic control systems.
A fun experiment is to load your favorite airplane up in Plane-Maker,
enter a minimum control-deflection time of 4 seconds, and see if you
can still fly the plane... can you? This is effectively a "drunk pilot"
simulator... you are always running a few seconds behind... but if your
skills are sharp enough, you should still be able to fly well... I can!
Can YOU???
A commonly-requested autopilot feature: You now have saeperate
GLIDESLOPE, ALTITUDE, and VNAV autopilot buttons. GLIDESLOPE follows
the glideslope once it is intercepted.
ALTITUDE follows the altitude you have entered in the altitude-entry
box
VNAV follows the FMS altitude, whatever that may be
of course, you may toggle between modes at will, and you can arm the
GLIDESLOPE while in ALTITUDE or VNAV...
the GLIDESLOPE will take over once the GLIDESLOPE needle comes through
center position.
More data output variables!
Frame-rate improvements in the orbital rendering.
Better internet-connections between multiple computers running X-Plane
now...
slower machines can still keep up with faster ones... it used to be a
problem if multiplayers had machines running at
different speeds, or external visuals were running slower than master
machines, as the slower machines simply could
not keep up... this is now fixed: the slower machines still process
every message, so they never fall behind.
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BUG-FIXES:
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Moon phase SHOULD be correct for the date
Negative flap deflections are OK... and FUN!
Take a look at "Austin's Private Flyer"... it has huge,
heavily-reflxed flaps... raise the flaps to the upper (reflexed)
position if you are too fast on final approach and watch the plane
drop out from underneath you! RAISE the nose WAY UP
to hold lift, getting drag from the fuslage and leading half of the
wing. You are now bleeding off energy at a tremendous rate from the
wing and fuselage hitting the air at a high angle.
Does this sound familiar? It should! This is very similar to the
"Feathering" concept used by SpaceShip One!
Field-of-view tweaked slightly, to be more accurate
The art stab system is now kept within control-deflection limits no
matter the craziness of the art stab constants or the flight condition.
The "create object from aircraft" option in Plane-Maker now does a
better job, handling strange cases like offset bodies perfectly.
austin |
, je viens de regarder 
.
)
(le week-end risque d'être sympathique, enfin, peut-être pas pour ton amie le cas échéant 
.
:
![[:yaisse]](https://forum-images.hardware.fr/images/perso/yaisse.gif "[:yaisse]")
(et je ne suis pas déçu par la mienne), mais on s'égare là 
