Changelog 2016.1
This changelog is a draft. |
The FlightGear development team is delighted to announce the v2016.1 "San Fransico" release of FlightGear, the free, open-source flight simulator. This new version contains many exciting new features, enhancements and bugfixes. Highlights in this release include an integrated launcher that includes the ability to download aircraft, a reduction in the installation package size, and improvements to the rendering of cockpits.
Founded in 1997, FlightGear is developed by a worldwide group of volunteers, brought together by a shared ambition to create the most realistic flight simulator possible that is free to use, modify and distribute. FlightGear is used all over the world by desktop flight simulator enthusiasts, for research in universities and for interactive exhibits in museums.
FlightGear features more than 400 aircraft, a worldwide scenery database, a multiplayer environment, detailed sky modelling, a flexible and open aircraft modelling system, varied networking options, multiple display support, a powerful scripting language and an open architecture. Best of all, being open-source, the simulator is owned by the community and everyone is encouraged to contribute.
Download FlightGear v2016.1 for free from FlightGear.org.
FlightGear - Fly Free!
Major enhancements in this release
Project Organization
- The base package has been reduced in size to 1.3 GB and moved to http://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/fgdata/. All aircraft except the Cessna 172P and UFO have been removed.
- All core repositories have been moved to SourceForge. They can be found at https://sourceforge.net/projects/flightgear/.
Core
- Interactive traffic system re-enabled, having been disabled by mistake some releases previously.
- Various security improvements, including the disabling of system.fgfsrc.
Aircraft Modeling
- Tooltips can now be positioned at a specific place on-screen.
- wing flex module added, controllable via Nasal or Property Rules.
- Bug-fixes and improvements to the Failure Manager.
<variant-of>
tag in the *-set.xml file has been added. See FlightGear Newsletter March 2015.- Automatic checklist execution, which can, for example, be used for autostart.
- 8.33 kHz spacing is now supported on comms radios.
JSBSim
- Sync with the latest version of JSBSim.
- The pitot angle can now be tweaked with the
<pitot_angle>
tag in the<metrics>
block. - The refuel rate is now configurable with the
<refuel-rate>
tag in the<propulsion>
block.
Rendering
- The addition of 3D grass to the random vegetation system.
- Tree shadows
- Interior cockpit shadows.
- Interior glass reflections, frosting and fogging.
- Interior panel backlighting.
- New thruster effect (can be used for afterburners flames, rockets, etc.).
- Lightning effects
- Runway skid marks
Usability
- Many improvements to Phi, the built-in web interface.
- GUI cleanup to improve support for multiple GUI styles.
- The built-in Qt launcher is available for all of FlightGear's supported operating systems.
Scenery
- Regional texture definitions for Florida, Brazil, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Southeastern Asia.
- stgmerge tool added to merge objects in a scenery tile into a smaller number of meshes.
Highlighted new and improved aircraft
- Complete refresh of the default Cessna 172P, including engine options, various tire sizes and floats.
- Major enhancements to the Space Shuttle. The Shuttle can be flown as per the Crew Operations Manual from launch to touchdown.
- The following aircraft have also received significant updates:
Misc/uncategorized
- Improved support for KDI572-574 DME equipment
- Update the World Magnetic Model to version 2015.0.
Nasal Scripting
Documentation
- The FlightGear Manual is now available in Chinese
Bug fixes
- See our bugtracker for a list, albeit incomplete, of the bugs fixed in this release.