Changelog 2.4.0: Difference between revisions

From FlightGear wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
mNo edit summary
Line 15: Line 15:
'''Aircraft operations:'''
'''Aircraft operations:'''
* A new head-up display (HUD) system
* A new head-up display (HUD) system
* An in aircraft moving map dialog box
* An in-aircraft moving map dialog box
* ATC/ATIS improvements
* ATC/ATIS improvements
* Improved autopilots
* Improved autopilots
* Indicated airspeed (AIS) limitations can be indicated on the airspeed indicator
* Indicated airspeed (IAS) limitations can be indicated on the airspeed indicator
* TCAS, works with AI and multiplayer aircraft, provides aural warnings for conflicting traffic and is also capable of driving a realistic traffic display. AI aircraft also respond to TCAS alerts and take evasive
* TCAS, works with AI and multiplayer aircraft, provides aural warnings for conflicting traffic and is also capable of driving a realistic traffic display. AI aircraft also respond to TCAS alerts and take evasive action
* Updates to the KLN89  
* Updates to the KLN89  
* Wind-up prevention on simple autopilot systems  
* Wind-up prevention on simple autopilot systems  
Line 32: Line 32:


'''AI Traffic'''
'''AI Traffic'''
* General and gommercial aviation traffic at LOWI airport
* General and commercial aviation traffic at LOWI airport
* Malaysian Airways / Kuala Lumpur based traffic
* Malaysian Airways / Kuala Lumpur based traffic
* Traffic for Adria (Croatia)
* Traffic for Adria (Croatia)
Line 41: Line 41:
'''Environment'''
'''Environment'''
* A local weather system to simulate physically correct local weather phenomena
* A local weather system to simulate physically correct local weather phenomena
* Discard of outdate METAR weather information sources and improved METAR parsing
* Discard of outdated METAR weather information sources and improved METAR parsing
* New Fog layers with limited elevation
* New Fog layers with limited elevation
* Scenery can be downloaded and installed on-the-fly via an in-sim TerraSync interface
* Scenery can be downloaded and installed on-the-fly via an in-sim TerraSync interface
Line 49: Line 49:
* Autopilot controllers can be used for general purpose processing through a “property rule” system
* Autopilot controllers can be used for general purpose processing through a “property rule” system
* Better integration of separate weather systems
* Better integration of separate weather systems
* Mouse acceleration, one can click on the lever and drag the mouse forward in order to advance thrust. Or any other lever-action.
* Mouse acceleration, one can click on the lever and drag the mouse forward in order to advance thrust, or any other lever-action.
* Support fo VNC clients. This allows an external application to output its data to a texture placed within flightgear
* Support fo VNC clients. This allows an external application to output its data to a texture placed within flightgear
* Unified runway selection code that is shared between user controlled and AI controlled aircraft.
* Unified runway selection code that is shared between user controlled and AI controlled aircraft.


'''Highlighted new and improved aircraft'''
'''Highlighted new and improved aircraft'''
* A new and highly detailed IAR-80 (a Romanian produced WW2 fighter)
* A new and highly detailed IAR-80 (a Romanian-produced WW2 fighter)
* A new Highly detailed piper Cub
* A new highly detailed piper Cub
* An improved P-51D, completely remodeled and containing improved flight dynamics
* An improved P-51D, completely remodeled and containing improved flight dynamics
* Bell AH-1 Cobra Helicopter
* Bell AH-1 Cobra Helicopter
Line 91: Line 91:
* Many buildings for small airports in the Italian Alps
* Many buildings for small airports in the Italian Alps
* Many contributions to the Switserland area, including building models and shapefiles for future terrain improvements
* Many contributions to the Switserland area, including building models and shapefiles for future terrain improvements
* Many historic and Current launch sites have been added to the Kennedy Space Center Area, including some AI controlled rocket launches
* Many historic and current launch sites have been added to the Kennedy Space Center Area, including some AI controlled rocket launches
* The city of Dubai (terrain, city buildings and AI traffic)
* The city of Dubai (terrain, city buildings and AI traffic)
* Time dependent placement of buildings.
* Time dependent placement of buildings.
Line 99: Line 99:
* A reflection shader that allows the realistic modeling of metallic aircraft fuselages and glass reflections
* A reflection shader that allows the realistic modeling of metallic aircraft fuselages and glass reflections
* Dynamic moving water
* Dynamic moving water
* Easy GUI based acces to a host of stereoscopic 3D rendering effects
* Easy GUI-based access to a host of stereoscopic 3D rendering effects
* Improved shader based rock textures
* Improved shader-based rock textures
* Panoramic distortion
* Panoramic distortion
* Persistent contrails
* Persistent contrails
* Sun reflections in water
* Sun reflections in water
* Support for lightmaps, which allow aircraft and scenery developers to create realistic lighting effects relatively easy.
* Support for lightmaps, which allow aircraft and scenery developers to create realistic lighting effects relatively easily.


'''Bug fixes'''
'''Bug fixes'''

Revision as of 21:35, 14 July 2011

This changelog is a draft

It should not (yet) be seen as an official document..


FlightGear 2.4.0 ChangeLog

The FlightGear development team is happy to announce the release of FlightGear 2.4.0. This new version contains many exciting new features, enhancements, bugfixes, and other improvements.

By adopting the newly available shader technology, FlightGear’s graphical quality has been substantially improved, compared to the previous release. Assorted highlights of this version include: new shader based water textures, capturing the sun’s reflection, three dimensional city block textures, more realistic rendering of rocks and mountains, a configurable local weather system, many new and improved aircraft, and numerous scenery additions.

Some of the major changes include:

Aircraft operations:

  • A new head-up display (HUD) system
  • An in-aircraft moving map dialog box
  • ATC/ATIS improvements
  • Improved autopilots
  • Indicated airspeed (IAS) limitations can be indicated on the airspeed indicator
  • TCAS, works with AI and multiplayer aircraft, provides aural warnings for conflicting traffic and is also capable of driving a realistic traffic display. AI aircraft also respond to TCAS alerts and take evasive action
  • Updates to the KLN89
  • Wind-up prevention on simple autopilot systems

AI system

  • A standalone AI flightplan generator program
  • Approaching aircraft now follow realistic approach trajectories.
  • Ballistic objects can be slaved to any AI object
  • Improved AI ballistics behavior
  • More communication / interaction between AI aircraft and ground. Support for multiple frequencies for AI/ATC interaction.
  • Speed-up for AI traffic initialization by means of an aircraft usage statistics collection mechanism

AI Traffic

  • General and commercial aviation traffic at LOWI airport
  • Malaysian Airways / Kuala Lumpur based traffic
  • Traffic for Adria (Croatia)

Flight dynamics

  • A new MIL-STD Turbulence model has been added to the JSB Flight Dynamics Simulation Engine

Environment

  • A local weather system to simulate physically correct local weather phenomena
  • Discard of outdated METAR weather information sources and improved METAR parsing
  • New Fog layers with limited elevation
  • Scenery can be downloaded and installed on-the-fly via an in-sim TerraSync interface
  • Specific multiplayer pilots can be selectively ignored

Interface

  • Autopilot controllers can be used for general purpose processing through a “property rule” system
  • Better integration of separate weather systems
  • Mouse acceleration, one can click on the lever and drag the mouse forward in order to advance thrust, or any other lever-action.
  • Support fo VNC clients. This allows an external application to output its data to a texture placed within flightgear
  • Unified runway selection code that is shared between user controlled and AI controlled aircraft.

Highlighted new and improved aircraft

  • A new and highly detailed IAR-80 (a Romanian-produced WW2 fighter)
  • A new highly detailed piper Cub
  • An improved P-51D, completely remodeled and containing improved flight dynamics
  • Bell AH-1 Cobra Helicopter
  • Boeing 717 and 757
  • Bombardier CRJ-900
  • CRJ 200
  • Douglas A-4F Skyhawk
  • Improvements to the Boeing 787
  • MiG-15bis
  • PZL-Mielec M18B "Dromader"
  • Short S.23 Empire flying boat
  • The Boeing 737NG Series
  • The Boeing 747-400 has received night lighting effects
  • The Douglas DC-8 Series
  • The Eurocopter EC130 B4 Helicopter
  • Tire smoke effects on many aircraft
  • Zeppeling L121 Nordstern

Navigation

  • A new route manager
  • Autopilots can be driven by NAV or GPS instruments
  • The beginnings of an EICAS instrument are available on a selected number of aircraft.

Project infrastructure

  • Change to Git as revision control system
  • Set up a bug tracker
  • Support for automatic nightly snapshot releases
  • Support for placing addon aircraft in a separate aircraft directory, separate from the main data directory

Scenery improvements

  • Animated jetways
  • Improvements to the Innsbruck area, Austria
  • Las Vagas McCarran Intl. Airport
  • London Gatwick Airport
  • Many buildings for small airports in the Italian Alps
  • Many contributions to the Switserland area, including building models and shapefiles for future terrain improvements
  • Many historic and current launch sites have been added to the Kennedy Space Center Area, including some AI controlled rocket launches
  • The city of Dubai (terrain, city buildings and AI traffic)
  • Time dependent placement of buildings.

Visual effects

  • 3D urban effects
  • A reflection shader that allows the realistic modeling of metallic aircraft fuselages and glass reflections
  • Dynamic moving water
  • Easy GUI-based access to a host of stereoscopic 3D rendering effects
  • Improved shader-based rock textures
  • Panoramic distortion
  • Persistent contrails
  • Sun reflections in water
  • Support for lightmaps, which allow aircraft and scenery developers to create realistic lighting effects relatively easily.

Bug fixes

  • Fixed incorrect METAR weather fetching code
  • Fixed many sources of the infamous NaN errors
  • Improved placement of random objects
  • Inconsistencies in scenery tile scheduling
  • The replay system now works again as advertised
  • #98 - GPWS mk-viii not working
  • #114 - ATIS fixed
  • #123 - 3D clouds flicker on Mac
  • #221 - AI traffic stack/jump in the air, when taxiing or parked