Our good friend Robert Cezar of Canada, and the author of the brilliant though much underestimated It’s Your Plane FS add-on, not only is a gifted programmer……. he also writes books! And Robert now has combined his two talents by releasing a copy of his book La Guitarra to all of his pilots who reach 50 IYP Virtual Airline flights! Here’s his press release:
“….. IYP Virtual Air pilots who complete 50 or more IYP-VA flights will automatically receive a PDF version of Robert Cezar’s musical novel… La Guitarra.
Not only does Robert Cezar create terrific software, he also composes music in genres from contemporary to classical. He also writes books; covering everything from IYP User Manuals to novels!
La Guitarra intrigues its readers for two reasons:
It represents the first novel to include a fully integrated 70-minute soundtrack (12 songs and a complete orchestral symphony) that are tightly interwoven with the storyline.
Secondly, the story is actually narrated by the classical guitar – La Guitarra. Throughout this highly emotional autobiography, La Guitarra recounts her own intimate story of love, hatred, passion, pain, torment, and resolve. The novel closes with a symphonic requiem.
Click HERE to see when you’ll receive La Guitarra!
And no, they won’t lose a night’s sleep over it. But hey, they may have lost a few more than just Francois, the owner of this and many other sim(related) websites. With the announcement of releasing MS Flight soon, after a ‘token’ beta period it seems, Francois makes an exception and speaks his mind on his private blog. Why he thinks MS no longer deserves his support and should be ashamed of themselves on how they treated their staff back in 2009 and their flight simulator heritage today!
Here’s some news from our friend Garry J. Smith from ‘Down Under’ :
“…. Ford Tri-Motor Livery Extravaganza – all FREE for your flight sim entertainment.
Edward C. Moore and Garry J. Smith have teamed up to create an outstanding compilation of liveries for the Microsoft Default Ford Tri-Motor (FS2004 Version). Over 360 individual liveries covering a broad range of Real World liveries, Fictional liveries and a ton of fun vibrant liveries for your flying pleasure. Additionally there is over 130 AI specific liveries (Sim Friendly sets) with a couple of hundred more in the mill for repainting.
This project has become so large that a unique web site had to be created to accommodate the dynamically expanding project – see http://www.ford-tri-motor.net
For those that are familiar with the Microsoft Default aircraft, you will know that they have some serious limitations on texture mappings with many surface areas mirrored which restrict the development of overall repaints. However, Garry has put in a great deal of artistic creativity to ensure that each and every one of the hundreds of liveries for the Tri-Motor are meaningful renditions wherever possible.
To see an overview of this project feel free to check out the two slideshows:
Original Batch of liveries:
http://www.ford-tri-motor.net/Downloads/Ford-Tri/Page1/Ford_Tri_Motors.html
Bonus Batch of liveries:
http://www.ford-tri-motor.net/Downloads/Ford-Tri/Bonus/Ford_Tri_Motor_Bonus.html
Overall I think you will find there is something for everyone in this incredible suite of FREE liveries for your flightsim entertainment…..”.
You all know Flight1 of course as one of the largest US flightsim developers and software distributors. You may also know they make products for the real aviation world as well. But what you maybe do NOT know yet, is their new initiative called SimStop.com.
The goal of SimStop is to get more flightsimmers to connect to each other. Preferably in real life through meetings and clubs, but at the very minimum by connecting them through the Internet. SimStop is much more than just another ‘social network’. It is a technology platform that provides ways to see each other flying, to form clubs (groups) and yes, to buy software !
Yours truly appears to be joining Mungo and his team and if all goes as planned you’ll see regular articles from me on SimStop.
Meanwhile we’d love to see you register and start building this new community with us !
In a press release from Just Flight we learn that they are now selling the boxed version of the new helicopter game/sim Take on Helicopters.
“….. Take On Helicopters is a unique combination of accurate helicopter flight simulation and immersive game – learn how to master rotary flight in various helicopters while securing contracts and carrying out numerous different chopper operations in a bid to keep an ailing family aviation business afloat!
The Boxed edition is now on sale, priced at £30.60 / €38.75 / $45.95.
Take On Helicopters has been developed by Bohemia Interactive, who have many years of experience developing complex military simulators, and gives you the chance to immerse yourself in two detailed and accurate environments (Seattle and South Asia) while flying a variety of superbly modelled machines.
There are three different helicopter models to fly, and in-depth helicopter flight tuition is combined with authentic flight dynamics. You can choose from three Difficulty levels during Free Flight or while carrying out Single Player missions and challenges as well as online action. The missions demand a variety of different helicopter flying skills and techniques, from aerial crane lifting and law enforcement support to air ambulance duties and military transport, and Take On Helicopters also includes military/shooter elements in the gameplay.
See the screenshots on the Take On Helicopters page to get a good flavour of what this innovative new sim is all about
Thomas Molitor from Germany reports that he has released a new version of his Flightkeeper program.
This update adds the following features:
- Native iFly 737 (FS9/FSX) event logging Support
- iFly 737 flight plan format Support
- TOPCAT Support
- Sound items for V-Speeds when using TOPCAT
- Decimal display to engine N1 and N2 settings
- Pause and resume flight logging
If you consider yourself an experienced flight simulator (and maybe PC) user, then you may be interested in becoming one of our Experts!
SupportMyFS is a new company under the wings of FSAddon and Silver Cloud Publishing, aimed at providing paid support at very modest prices to flightsimmers around the world.
There are plenty of ‘simmers’ for whom their hobby is worth some modest amount to get their problems solved. Some are not familiar with free peer-support forums, but also quite a few are not comfortable or satisfied with just relying on volunteer support.
SupportMyFS will be offering Expert Support by flightsim enthusiasts-with-a-commitment (!!). Our Experts are carefully chosen, have a contract and are committed to giving timely and professional support. And we will also tell you if we do NOT have a solution. In which case the customer will NOT PAY, of course.
To extend our services and get off on a good start, we are LOOKING FOR YOU!
If you have more than 5 years experience in flight simulation (notably MS Flight Simulator 2004 and MS Flight Simulator X), have a regular and good Internet connection, have a good command of your LOCAL language (we serve customers in English, French, German and Dutch for now), are service-minded and PATIENT and if you have time to spare……. then contact us at sales@fssupport.com (preferred), or call, +31-229-214062 or (mobile) +31-640-885739. We’ll provide more information upon contact.
You can pick up and solve support questions ‘at will’, at your own desk, when you have time. Or leave them to other experts.
This is a PERFECT job for flightsimmers to do next to their work, study, retirement or other spare time. It won’t make you rich, but it may bring in a few extra Euros or Dollars, AND you will make some other flightsimmers HAPPY !
SupportMyFS public launch is scheduled for some time in November.
Arno Gerretsen and Francois Dumas will have a shared booth at the NL2000 group. They are both enthusiasts of Google Sketchup, with Arno being the ‘Pro’ and Francois the ‘Amateur’. Together they’ll do a presentation on Sketchup for Beginners at 15:00 pm.
In their booth they’ll be ready to tell you all about – and SHOW you! – Google Sketchup and its tools, ways and possibilities.
Arno is the ‘main man’ behind FSDeveloper.com, the world’s main forum, wiki-site and container-of-nice-tools for FS developers and enthusiasts.
Francois is of course the owner of FSAddon Publishing, SupportMyFS (soon!), AVClassics, Silver Cloud Publishing and a few other FS related ventures, and writer, photographer and traveler of anything-aviation for the past 40 years or so.
COME AND VISIT THEM to learn more, or just for a chat about our favorite passtime: Flight Simulator.
For those of you visiting the Sim Outhouse Forums daily, don’t despair. They’ll be back on-line, but currently are turned off due to maintenance.
Francois reports on his FSAddon site that “…… Sorry, no, not Flight Simulator software this time. But, if you like aviation, and you do or you wouldn’t be here, you may like this too.
I have started making small collections out of some 100.000+ photos I shot over the years, and package them in zip files for you. Once downloaded and unzipped, you can use the pictures to install as your Windows Background (slideshow or static) and have something else to look at when drinking your coffee.
There’s instructions included on how to install them and make them your (Windows 7) background slideshow, replacing the default MS stuff.
The first two sets are published on the webshop today! Enjoy !….”.
… and not by an aorcraft, or flightsim plane. Nope, by a real specialist.
Ive watched this little clip many times today. So much grace, so much efficiency….. a true warrior with wings!
“… We’re back from our travels to the Summer Office in France and hard at work preparing for a number of new activities!
First of all we’re happy to announce the products that will be part of the new-to-be-started 65+ Program, where those customers able and willing to show proof of their respectable age will get a 25% discount.
The products included for now will be the Westland Lysander, the Fieseler Storch, our RealEarthX Dolomitit range and the Gloster Gladiator. Many thanks for the authors for allowing us to include these products.
Details about the project will be published soon. But first we have to prepare for and attend the Simulation Mondial at the Paris Le Bourget airport and Air and Space Museum next week. After that we’ll have time to make the necessary changes in the shop !
STAY TUNED !…”.
FSAddon Publishing reports a new discount scheme to be set up soon :
“…. Yes, you read that right.
We know economic times are tough right now. We know, because we are suffering ourselves.
But things get even more tough if you’re on a small pension or retirement package, or not even that.
So we’re working on a plan to give a 25% discount on certain of our products for those flightsimmers that have passed the magic 65 milestone !
Obviously we need proof of age, so this may not be for those customer who value their privacy more than a 25% discount. But hey, you can hardly blame us for that! We trust that we’ll find an easy way to manage this program and that we can provide some extra joy for at least a small portion of our respected customers.
The program will ONLY work through our own webshop at Silvercloud-store.com.
Stay tuned for more news and details on how this will work !….”.
Simon Smeiman has done it again. Together with FSAddon Publishing he has managed to again increase the quality of his aircraft building. The result of more than half a year of hard work is his wonderful Fieseler Storch.
This German STOL aircraft of the second World War has been meticulously copied from the real thing – in our case a fully functional model that still flies in the capable hands of Kermit Weeks and his pilots at Fantasy of Flight, the famous aviation museum and theme park in Polk City, Florida. Yours truly made two trips all the way over to the US to get detailed information about the aircraft and shoot hundreds of photos of it.
The FSAddon Publishing Storch for FSX features the exact model as found in Florida (only the original tail painting has been altered to comply with German law and make it available to our German customers as well). But not only that. We have included a wheeled and a ski version and with a total of 10 different liveries there is something for everyone.
We even provide an ambulance version with or without two wounded soldiers on stretchers!
Not only is the aircraft a wonderfully detailed model, both outside and in, with VERY special flying characteristics, just like the real thing, but there is a wealth of animated functions included too. Even the wing folding is fully animated, complete with all the small security pins and handles moving.
We are still working on a set of ‘operations’, including some scenery, but due to vacations (and some technical problems recently) these will be published later this year. Free of charge for Storch owners, of course.
In spite of the high cost of developing this model, we decided to keep the price as reasonable as we could. After all the aircraft we publish are also OUR pet toys and we want as many people as we can to enjoy them as much as we do!
Check out the photos in the shop, and download the free manual to have a closer look before deciding. We are pretty certain you’ll press the ‘BUY’ button as soon as you have seen and read all the information! Enjoy !
The Fieseler Storch for FSX can be purchased at FSAddon’s webshop at http://silvercloud-store.com/.
Direct link to product page: http://silvercloud-store.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29841
Here’s some news from our friends at FSWidgets:
“…… FSWidgets has added another item to its line of Cloud Based (or internet delivered on demand) aero data add-ons for GMap, the free moving map utility. The new World Nav Data product contains over 33,000 airports, 6,900 heliports, 3,600 VOR beacons, 7,200 NDB beacons and 122,000 intersections.
The nav data items are displayed as icons on the map that can be toggled as desired. The icons are also clickable and open a popup to display detailed information. Cloud-delivered means there is nothing to download or install, the product automatically appears in the GMap menu of registered users, as is the case with the IFR and VFR aero charts.
To show how the nav data works, a free demo limited to the KSFO (San Francisco) area is included in each copy of GMap 2.0 for FSX, FS2004 and X-Plane (Windows). This release coincides with an update to the mapping engine which adds a new popup menu system and a bonus world-wide map layer called Shaded Terrain. Current users of GMap 2.0 do not need to re-download as this update is on the server side only and will be reflected in the map the next time GMap is launched.
For more detailed information please visit the FSWidgets website…..”.
Here’s a great video of some of our well-know FSX’ ers… a comparison between the real movie of Top Gun and FSX with special effects and awesome video editing. Well done !
FSAddon Publishing’s François Dumas reports about their Fieseler Storch Project progress. “….. Yesterday we received the first Beta version of our upcoming Fieseler Storch, craftily designed and animated by Simon Smeiman. I’ve said it before: Simon is getting better with giant steps and each new model! The Storch not only LOOKS gorgeous, it also has some awesome animations built-in already! Like a moving chain that activates the huge flaps, the folding wings procedure, moving machine gun, and many more!….”.
Further reports and pictures on the FSAddon company website.
I reported about them last year on simFlight I think, and I found this wonderful little video on Youtube today. Actually, this aicraft looks a LOT like the freeware amphibian by Simon Smeiman, published on Silver Cloud recently.
Check out the ICON FUN !
On SimHQ there’s a great article of the recently held Low Land Tiger Meet. The main organizer is still Jan ‘Ice’ Hilt, although the event has moved from his parent’s camping to a very nice building in Ahaus, Germany.
The LLTM is based upon the real world Tiger Meet where various western air forces get together for a friendly competition for their fighter pilots. The LLTM is a ‘LAN Party’ for all military FS flying, that started with the Falcon series of combat simulators.
Read what Jaris Koolen, a first time visitor to the LLTM, found upon arrival in Germany here.
FSAddon Publishing is happy to announce the release of Real Earth’s latest product in the Dolomiti X series: Tre Cime (or die Drei Zinnen for German speakers).
The Tre Cime are a famous landmark in the Italian Alps (Dolomiti Region) and faithfully reproduced by the Real Earth team, using a new technique. This is not a ‘mesh’ product, but rather an ’3D object’ embedded in customized landscape.
It costs 13 Euros and provides a new ‘waypoint’ for your alpine flights in Europe. Tre Cime is very performance-friendly and will run on medium PC’s. Anything that runs FSX reasonable, should not be a problem, thanks to the novel way of programming these mountain peaks!
Also, please note that there will be additional software available later this year to link Tre Cime to in terms of geo-location. We’re talking more area, like the Auronzo region, and new airfields in the region !
We already published Alpago, next will be Comelico, an area like Alpago, but more to the north, and then we will have Auronzo. Also under construction, in the same fashion as Tre Cime, is the famous Matterhorn (Cervina).
Real Earth will also publish two highly detailed airfields in the region, Belluno and Cortina d’Ampezzo.
The new Dolomiti X Series products are available exclusively from the FSAddon Publishing webshop here.
More info and pictures on the Tre Cime can be found here.
Yep, I’ll put SimNews on hold for now. You may find the occasional update, but I’ll be spending my main energy on FSNews for the foreseeable future.
Markus and I intend to make it a great source for the flightsimmers community, hopefully also attracting ‘new blood’ into The Hobby.
So, don’t dispair, I won’t be far away and will post here from time to time, as on my own blog.
But for the MAIN NEWS, go to our FSNEWS.COM !!!
*********
An interesting and hair raising experience for the pilot of this vintage Yakovlevl Yak-50 when he loses oil pressure, and subsequently the engine (and gear), flying over the Lake District in England. Live with the pilot who wore a helmet cam and see how he puts the old plane safely in a field near Bothel.
RoF reports they will soon have a new aircraft available in their store. You can already pre-order it now. It is the DFW C.V, a German WW1 plane. “…..
The folks at FSWidgets have updated their moving map applications for the iOS platform. “…. The new releases of iGMap (Version 1.2 for iPhone) and iGMapHD (Version 1.1 for iPad) add various enhancements including a HUD panel with basic flight parameters (Latitude, Longitude, Heading, Altitude, Ground Speed) and a compass rose overlay, both are optional.
The iGMap and iGMapHD apps allow you to use an iOS device as a moving map with support for the three most popular desktop flight simulators on the market – Microsoft Flight Simulator X, Flight Simulator 2004 and X-Plane 9…..”.
For more complete update information and screenshots please visit the FSWidgets website.
France VFR sent us the following press release:
“…… France VFR is happy to announce the release of Regional PHOTO Paris HD, being the very first scenery of a new collection of photo-scenery in high resolution within the French territories and overseas departments.
The PHOTO Regional product range provides a high resolution photoreal and terrain mesh coverage for each French region and island. This photoreal texture coverage replaces the standard Microsoft Flight Simulator X default scenery with a real landscape. You can then add local sceneries into this photoreal texture that provide you with a greater level of realism.
A high resolution photoreal scenery is provided for the 4 Parisian departments (12 000 km²) with 0.85 to 1m/pixel resolution ground textures obtained from aerial photography of IGN. High resolution real 19 meter (LOD11) optimized custom mesh is included and all lakes and rivers have been entirely cut out and represented faithfully. Extremely precise geo-referenced texture positioning is carried out in order to ensure a maximal compatibility with scenery add-ons for this region…..”.
The price of this product is Euro 17,90 and more information is available here on their website.
Yikes, ANOTHER 737 in the making? Yes, you read it right. But, knowing the quality of Captain Sim products in general, I think Boeing fans can rub their hands. The 3ds Max render looks promising, that’s for sure.
The new 737 will be publishe in their range of Pro Line Products, and will include at least a 737-100 base pack with all systems and interior, a 737-200 expansion and a 737 Freighter Expansion with cargo interior.
Join the discussion on their forum!
And that’s the title of a new set of pages here on SimNews. Since I’m playing/wrestling/working with developing objects for FSX again, using Sketchup and a number of other tools, I thought it may be beneficial for readers here to drop in a few links. On my quest of information regarding designing for FSX I happen upon some sources that you may not have heard of or seen. Check out the pages regularly (the new tab atop this page will lead you to them!).
For those of you who haven’t seen the latest videos from Cody Bergland, featuring the new TacPack weapons made by VRS, I have embedded it here. Jon Blum of VRS is offering it for pre-order now and from what we’ve seen from the videos this is absolutely stunning!
The ‘good news’ continues with a similar package being offered now by Captain Sim. Probably pushed on by the VRS revelations, they suddenly published their version out of the blue. SO quickly that it isn’t even mentioned on their own website! See here !
This isn’t particularly new of course, freeware libraries have been boring for ages now.
At least to me, maybe you just love the 34.245th Boeing 737 livery and are dying to log in tomorrow again to find another 25 of them !
I’m not.
Unfortunately that’s what I get when browsing through some of the ‘old’ major libs. I hadn’t done that for a few years, not since FSX appeared and I got too busy with lots of things. It seems I haven’t missed anything much. Most entries are for airliner liveries, many not even ‘great’, and most are for FS2004 even ! Maybe I AM in the wrong line of business after all?
Anyway, among all that stuff I did find 1 (read: ONE) entry that at least had me read about it… the airliner boneyard in Arizona on KHMV Mojave. And even THAT wasn’t a real freeware entry, but rather a placement of objects on existing Megascenery and FSGenesis mesh in FSX. But at least not as boring as all the rest! Check it out here at Flightsim.com. Good idea Chuck ! Here’s a place for all them tens of thousands of superfluous airliner liveries !
… alone in the scale modeling department of the Luchtvaart Hobbyshop (or Aviation Megastore) near Schiphol airport. And that’s not all. They also have some 5400+ books and magazines, 4500+ collector’s models, 600 flightsim items (software and hardware) and much more. Over 60.000 aviation products in all.
Visiting the shop in Aalsmeerderbrug always is a dangerous proposition and is guaranteed to cost you money! But oh so much fun!
You can subscribe to their newsletter here.
