Sunday Review: 2nd September
A noteworthy week for aircraft simulation:
It has been a very slow news week, with just two noteworthy stories. Midway through the week, SkunkCrafts released their P-51 Mustang. The P-51 is their first X-Plane 11 venture - having earlier released aircraft for older versions of the sim. There's an update for the LES SAAB 340, announcing the end of support for X-Plane 10, and a new partnership being cooked up between AFM and Attitude Simulations.
Skunkcrafts releases the P-51 Mustang
Albeit the first XP11 project for SkunkCrafts, the P-51 in no way lacks features. It has full PBR texturing, an overhauled 3D model, new flight-dynamics and an FMOD sound pack to cap it off.
Two teams, one vision:
Closing out the working week, AFM & Attitude Simulations announced a new joint venture; TORQUESIM. TS will combine the aircraft development prowess of Advanced Flight Modelling and Attitude Simulations' 3D modelling and visuals with incredible attention-to-detail.
The group’s first product will be the Impulse 100 “Pocket Rocket”. Formerly an Attitude development, the Pocket Rocket has been transferred to the new group.
To celebrate the new partnership, developer Steaven Mckenzie has also released some new renders of the Impulse 100.
LES Saab 340 updated
Leading Edge Simulations have released version 1.5.1 of the Saab 340. The update addresses numerous bugs and various animation fixes. It is also the end of the line for X-Plane 10 compatibility, meaning that the Saab is now an X-Plane 11 only aircraft. A few notable visual changes were introduced: PBR textures for the glass objects are adjusted, and the stair animation is fixed. Under the hood, the multiple adjustments and changes were made to the logic of control surfaces, doors, parking brakes, avionic switches and more. Here is the full changelog (which has also been mailed to customers):
- X-Plane 10 no longer supported
- Steering tiller adjustments
- Stair animation fix
- Nosewheel deflection adjusted
- Control surface logic adjusted to prevent surfaces from randomly moving around
- Angle of yoke roll animation adjusted
- Changed rudder pedal logic and added toe brakes
- PBR glass has been adjusted
- Altitude select is now in increments of 100ft
- Changed door and parking break logic
- Adjusted oil pressure warning logic
- Adjusted avionics switch logic
- Fixed AIRAC info for Garmin 530
- Fixed issue with warped textures on radios when texture compression turned off
To update, simply log-in to your X-Aviation account and re-download the aircraft. If you don’t already own the LES Saab 340, you can purchase it for (sale price) $34.95 USD. RRP is $49.95.
PilotPlus EGKK updated to v2.2
UK-based scenery team PilotPlus have released a small update for Gatwick EGKK. This update comes after the release of EGKK version 2 a short time ago. This update fixes a few bugs and also introduces a “lite” version for compatibility with X-Plane 10 and for slower computers. Lastly, EGKK now has full World Traffic 3 compatibility, courtesy of Captain K-Man.
You can purchase PilotPlus EGKK from the X-Plane.org store.
VSkyLabs Cabri G2 previewed
In heli news, VSkyLabs have published a new video of the upcoming Guimbal Cabri G2. The video shows off some new pilot animations viewed from outside the cockpit.
“Because the pilot is completely visible, especially without the doors attached, some more detailed animations were needed so the stick will not go through the pilot's legs while moving it side to side. This all-aspect hands and legs animations are working good, and will be improved with the needed finesse down the road throughout the scheduled update plan.”
New shots of ground texturing at Terni
Skyline Simulations, developers of the upcoming Terni airport have shown off some screenshots of the ground work at the Italian airfield:
Promotions:
Here is a new addition to the Sunday Review; promotions! We watch the stores so you don’t have to! So far, we’ve only had one Labor Weekend sale to hand and it is courtesy of X-Aviation.
This weekend only, select items have a nice discount attached, including SkyMAXX Pro v4, TerraMAXX and the aforementioned Saab 340 from LES. Check out all of the deals here.
Looking forward to a more eventful week! Meanwhile we all can bask in the sunlight today with a computer in hand flying the new P-51 by Skunkcrafts:
