X-Plane 11 - News and Releases Thread 2021

NEVO · December 30, 2020, 11:53am

long story short…

I wanted to buy something in the org sale so I bought something which wasnt discounted xEnviro.

Really wanted to have those nice puffy clouds. Unfortunately there was FSE installed already on my XP install (xEnviro isnt compatible with few weather utilities; check the Requirements page at org store)… So I installed second fresh copy of XP, installed xEnviro and begun to test.

First I need to mention that xEnviro has two main sliders which controls rendering of clouds = visual quality :

static clouds rendering
dynamic clouds rendering

Both sliders has following steps - Low / Medium / High / Ultra.

Obviously both sliders on Low produce good performing clouds nowhere near the visual quality one would expect.
Both sliders on Ultra produces great looking clouds, everyone can see on the pictures on the web, but can bring your system literally to its knees!

I run XP in 4K and the only acceptable settings were Static rendering on High and Dynamic rendering on Medium. That produced cca 35FPS… BUT, it was on fresh install of XP, default airplane, no updated OSM data, no Ortho, with XP Objects slider at High (or Medium, could not remember now).

Low for Static and Dynamic rendering produced 50-55FPS. Ultra for Static and Dynamic rendering produced 20FPS! Or maybe even lower, 20FPS was all Avitab displayed.

I was depressed! I really wanted those clouds in XP but not for that FPS cost. On Hight settings they looks really good, they dont randomly disappear, they are there even at 16x ground speed acceleration and one can fly around them and they provide great sense of movement! Perfect!

But not perfect on my current system. So I tried to contact org store and kindly asked for refund.
Was lucky and Eliot from org store was very kind and accepted my request even though based on T&C they dont do full refunds. Thanks Eliot!

Closing thoughts - if you have really powerful system go get them, they are (almost) perfect; if you have mid-range system like I have (i7 9700, 2070S, 32GB) think twice…

I ended up buying Ultra Weather XP instead…

stavka · December 30, 2020, 2:27pm

Thanks Buddy!
Yeah its what i thought, i have a very modest pc that runs my xp11 very nice with X-A clouds whatever addon (not remember exactly the name) and FSGRW, pretty and smooth and will stay with it
i7 920, 24GB RAM, GTX 1060 w/6GB is not the rig for xenviro.
Anyway, I’m really happy with what i get even with complex addon like ff a320/b757/Toliss a319/tu154m/a300/…

NEVO · December 30, 2020, 2:50pm

they surely recommend 8GB+ of VRAM so it is really resource hog… but man, it looked great

stavka · December 30, 2020, 2:54pm

Yes, i believe thats great, because i see from oficial screenshots, but to have the same inlive experience as if i’m still watching screenshots (like a slide show because very low fps and stutter like hell), no thanks.
Also for clouds addiction I open msfs

NEVO · December 30, 2020, 2:59pm

I also couldnt sacrifice my current settings and FPS I get at 4K. Flying now over South Africa I have it locked in nvidia control panel on 60FPS and thats nice and smooth ride

weaponz248 · January 2, 2021, 7:40am

Inisimulation, the guys who did the A300, have released some info on the next release…the A310!!!

Road map update 9

Looks like it could be released early 2021. More info after the 4th of January. Exsisting A300 customers are set to get a 35% discount off the A310.

NEVO · January 6, 2021, 8:35pm

Navynuke99 · January 29, 2021, 9:07pm

Apparently Torquesim is about to release a turboprop version of their BN-2 Islander.

https://www.x-aviation.com/catalog/product_info.php/torquesim-turbine-islander-p-201?mc_cid=54ea7a7aac&mc_eid=3354637f33&utm_campaign=54ea7a7aacSMP_Version_4_Discount_Coupon_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_source=XAviationNewsletter&utm_term=0_12a9783f1154ea7a7aac435447917&osCsid=5f44mqj0ll7m7iltanituv6iu1

smokinhole · February 4, 2021, 2:29pm

Snooze. Another helicopter. Just kidding! I can never get enough. I don’t know much about Cowan. Their marketing video shows lovely artwork and a feature-rich plugin. I’ve got an email in with the dev to see it it works with VR manipulators. If so, I’ll buy.

BeachAV8R · February 4, 2021, 3:32pm

Yeah…I saw that helo pop up yesterday on the .ORG front page. Looks kinda nice. My hospital system used to operate 222s (both wheeled and skids) so I have an affinity for them. That whoop-whoop-whoop of their blades could be heard from a county away as they approached.

PaulRix · February 4, 2021, 4:54pm

I picked up the 222 late last year directly from the developer. It’s not bad.

smokinhole · February 4, 2021, 6:15pm

Calm down, Mr. Rix, calm down.

I just bought the wheeled version. I’ll report back.

PaulRix · February 4, 2021, 6:17pm

stavka · February 4, 2021, 7:22pm

That heli is in my priority wishlist, is very beautiful and remembers me the Airwolf tv movie/series when i was kid.
I hope the FM and systems are well done.

smokinhole · February 4, 2021, 8:19pm

It’s OK.

Naw! It’s better than that! I bought it after the dev wrote me back with assurances that it would work fully with VR manipulators. (I hate being such a PITA with those poor people but, hey! He made the sale). In terms of refinement, I would put it above the two VSKYLABS helos I own (and am perfectly happy with). In terms of artwork, I place it just below Dreamfoil’s S300 and 407 and X-Trident’s 412. The cockpit and rotorhead are flawless–and I mean that in a negative sense. Some scratches, stains, a bit of missing paint would help a bunch. He makes up for it with an amazing array of configurations for both cabin and paint. The virtual plugin handheld app works really well. It also has a feature I haven’t seen before. In an seated position, you can use in-app arrows to adjust in 3 dimensions. You then look straight ahead and click “save”. The next time you boot the helicopter, your position is recalled. This feature seems to replace the standard X-Plane spatial slew keys as they don’t work. The advantage is that the setup in the 222 is never forgotten. The sounds are also very good. Right up there with the DF 407. Systems-wise I can’t really comment other than to say things seem to function plausibly. The flying qualities also seem believable. She’s quick and looks a million bucks. There is a perfectly fine (FREE!) Bell 429 out there though. I think this machine would better separate herself from that one if the cockpit art showed the age and character of the older machine. I’ve been boning up on helicopter aerodynamics recently and awhile back learned that the 222B was the first helicopter certified single pilot IFR without SAS. She’s stable the old fashioned way–good engineering.

stavka · February 4, 2021, 9:49pm

about systems? all works? (radios, engine management, electrics, …)

smokinhole · February 4, 2021, 11:14pm

I can’t answer that because I know practically nothing about the B222. I can only say that the model SEEMS believable and full-featured.

EDIT (2 days later): BS! I screwed up. Moving on…

stavka · February 5, 2021, 12:25am

Thanks!

NEVO · February 6, 2021, 12:31pm

I wanted to buy the wheeled version first but they did run xmas sale so I went for bundle. I did maybe two flights in it since but it feels very good imo.

I mean the price point is very good and it is very functional. The startup / shutdown procedures are realistic (engine management) and iirc all switches are clickable in the cockpit and all systems simulated to some extent (radios, electrics, … ).

And one another selling point, it is constantly updated. I just ‘cant keep up’ with the email updates receiving from Cowan Sim

If you have any other questions @stavka feel free to ask. That will at least allow me to update it and fly it again ( till I earn enough gold in AirHauler so I can purchase it for my virtual company she will be great hauler I guess ).
Wish every developer offers some kind of demo of their products.

stavka · February 6, 2021, 1:32pm

Thanks yeah definitely i will buy it soon