Hermann
12.06.2009, 18:28
Grab it at:
http://www.x-plane.com/beta.html
Thanks to a meeting just outside of Paris with a bunch of French X-
Planers, we have a handful of bug-fixes, new features, and refinements
that are useful for the more serious users!
Jump on this and let me know how it goes! The next release will be
RC-1, as this build is getting VERY solid now!
austin
New features:
Plane-Maker: Option to run it in metric-dimensions mode!
Thrust and the like are still in pounds, but all dimensions are in
meters.
This should make things easier for our European customers.
New flap option in Plane-Maker: Flaps are INFINITE-ADJUST. HOLD the
button or keyboard flap command to move the flaps up or down smoothly
as long as the button is held. Please check ALL flap functionality:
Long deflection times of over 60 seconds, failure to deploy with flap
failures,
failure to deploy with and hydraulic failures if hydraulically
activated, failure to deploy with electrical failure if electrically
activated,
manual-pump deployment, auto-deployment with landing gear, or approach-
to-stall, and overspeed-protection on deployment.
(And, of course, aero, visual, and sound effects for all of the above).
New settings in Plane-Maker SYSTEMS window: Conditions under which the
gear warning will activate: You can make your warning systems a hair
more accurate here.
New Plane-Maker entry: Min runway length. Your moving maps will only
show you airports with runways longer than this length to cut down
clutter and select good airports for your particular bird. Also enter
whether you can accept grass runways and helipads on your moving maps
there.
New Refinements:
Frame-rate enhancements with cumulus clouds... you should see nicer
frame-rates with scattered and broken clouds.
Aircraft carrier catshot: Better physics and placement when locked
down for the cat!
When starting up WITHOUT engines and systems running, the manual
electric hydraulic pump will be left in the OFF position by the last
pilot.
Contrails should not typically come forward of the engine at hi-speed/
lo-power conditions.
Contrails should expand a bit slower. The contrails will start a hair
smaller, and fade in smoothly as the ice crystals form from the engine
exhaust.
there should be no rain under scattered or broken clouds if not
selected in the weather screen... let me know if you still see any!
Localizer on the map screen is plotted at EXACTLY the same width as
the localizer as presented on the HSI and VOR displays..
This means that if you are exactly full-scale deflection in the
cockpit, then you are exactly on the edge of the
localizer on the map. As well, the glide-slope on the map should
EXACTLY match the glideslope you have tuned, if any.
When using the FMC, the VVI will auto-set to the perfect VVI to hit
your target altitude for your next fix.
Feel free to over-ride it if desired.
Refinement to helo auto-rotation model... should be more accurate
descent rates.
Rotors should be visible on all craft, whether a zero-design-speed is
entered or not... Earlier betas did not handle the proper properly if
it had a zero-design speed. (What can I say: When I wrote X-Plane, I
was really only thinking about propellers that were design to.. umm...
move a craft forwards).
The control-o view should function just fine in external-views, as
long as you only wander around in the cockpit area.
Bug-Fixes or nice "Code-Tightening":
No more data output putting un-needed carriage-returns or un-changing
data when the disk or inet outputting is paused in the data-output
selection window.
N1 and N2 do not dip slightly below 0 when stopped any more.
No more burners being accidentally disabled after flying vectored-
thrust aircraft.
If you have a real Garmin-430 hooked up to X-Plane, the to/from should
be accurately displayed on the HSI.
New features for expert ACF-Makers:
New datarefs for the TCAS system, as requested to make custom TCAS
systems.
Quick tech note: If you are designing your own autopilot plugin, you
may want to set "sim/operation/override/override_autopilot" to TRUE
so X-Plane does not over-ride your autopilot commands.
Bouncers: Damping constants now go to 0.1 digits... so you can do
better bouncer control.
http://www.x-plane.com/beta.html
Thanks to a meeting just outside of Paris with a bunch of French X-
Planers, we have a handful of bug-fixes, new features, and refinements
that are useful for the more serious users!
Jump on this and let me know how it goes! The next release will be
RC-1, as this build is getting VERY solid now!
austin
New features:
Plane-Maker: Option to run it in metric-dimensions mode!
Thrust and the like are still in pounds, but all dimensions are in
meters.
This should make things easier for our European customers.
New flap option in Plane-Maker: Flaps are INFINITE-ADJUST. HOLD the
button or keyboard flap command to move the flaps up or down smoothly
as long as the button is held. Please check ALL flap functionality:
Long deflection times of over 60 seconds, failure to deploy with flap
failures,
failure to deploy with and hydraulic failures if hydraulically
activated, failure to deploy with electrical failure if electrically
activated,
manual-pump deployment, auto-deployment with landing gear, or approach-
to-stall, and overspeed-protection on deployment.
(And, of course, aero, visual, and sound effects for all of the above).
New settings in Plane-Maker SYSTEMS window: Conditions under which the
gear warning will activate: You can make your warning systems a hair
more accurate here.
New Plane-Maker entry: Min runway length. Your moving maps will only
show you airports with runways longer than this length to cut down
clutter and select good airports for your particular bird. Also enter
whether you can accept grass runways and helipads on your moving maps
there.
New Refinements:
Frame-rate enhancements with cumulus clouds... you should see nicer
frame-rates with scattered and broken clouds.
Aircraft carrier catshot: Better physics and placement when locked
down for the cat!
When starting up WITHOUT engines and systems running, the manual
electric hydraulic pump will be left in the OFF position by the last
pilot.
Contrails should not typically come forward of the engine at hi-speed/
lo-power conditions.
Contrails should expand a bit slower. The contrails will start a hair
smaller, and fade in smoothly as the ice crystals form from the engine
exhaust.
there should be no rain under scattered or broken clouds if not
selected in the weather screen... let me know if you still see any!
Localizer on the map screen is plotted at EXACTLY the same width as
the localizer as presented on the HSI and VOR displays..
This means that if you are exactly full-scale deflection in the
cockpit, then you are exactly on the edge of the
localizer on the map. As well, the glide-slope on the map should
EXACTLY match the glideslope you have tuned, if any.
When using the FMC, the VVI will auto-set to the perfect VVI to hit
your target altitude for your next fix.
Feel free to over-ride it if desired.
Refinement to helo auto-rotation model... should be more accurate
descent rates.
Rotors should be visible on all craft, whether a zero-design-speed is
entered or not... Earlier betas did not handle the proper properly if
it had a zero-design speed. (What can I say: When I wrote X-Plane, I
was really only thinking about propellers that were design to.. umm...
move a craft forwards).
The control-o view should function just fine in external-views, as
long as you only wander around in the cockpit area.
Bug-Fixes or nice "Code-Tightening":
No more data output putting un-needed carriage-returns or un-changing
data when the disk or inet outputting is paused in the data-output
selection window.
N1 and N2 do not dip slightly below 0 when stopped any more.
No more burners being accidentally disabled after flying vectored-
thrust aircraft.
If you have a real Garmin-430 hooked up to X-Plane, the to/from should
be accurately displayed on the HSI.
New features for expert ACF-Makers:
New datarefs for the TCAS system, as requested to make custom TCAS
systems.
Quick tech note: If you are designing your own autopilot plugin, you
may want to set "sim/operation/override/override_autopilot" to TRUE
so X-Plane does not over-ride your autopilot commands.
Bouncers: Damping constants now go to 0.1 digits... so you can do
better bouncer control.