FlightGear Newsletter February 2015

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February 2015

Development news
FlightGear 3.4 Released
PagedLOD for AI models
In the hanger
BAe Sea Harrier FA2
Citation II

Community News
FlightGear on YouTube

Contributing
Translators required
FGBanners
Screenshots
Desktop backgrounds

Development news

FlightGear 3.4 Released

On February 17, the FlightGear development team published the v3.4 release of FlightGear, the free, open-source flight simulator. This new version contains many exciting new features, enhancements and bug fixes.

A list of major changes can be found at: Changelog 3.4. FlightGear 3.4 is available for a variety of operating systems from http://www.flightgear.org/download/

PagedLOD for AI models

The rendering logic for AI aircraft has changed recently. Whether they are drawn or not now depends on their projected size on the screen and not on their distance. Please check these properties:

  • /sim/rendering/static-lod/ai-range-model-pixel (should be true)
  • /sim/rendering/static-lod/ai-detailed (should be 30)

With this configuration, AI aircraft bigger than 30 pixels on the screen should show up.

Note  There are other factors in OpenSceneGraph that decide if the Paged LOD nodes get rendered. It may sometimes take a couple of minutes or some view panning for the models to pop up.

Torsten Dreyer (2015-01-26). Re: [Flightgear-devel] Flightgear next (3.5.0) Does not render MP aircraft.

Interview with a contributor

New software tools and projects

In the hangar

BAe Sea Harrier FA2

For a long time, the FlightGear (Sea) Harrier has been unmaintained. However, in early 2014, it's development restarted. Red Leader, it's new maintainer and developer, has added a host of new features to it, including guided missiles, new Nasal scripts, and a Canvas HDD.

The 2.4.0 version of the Sea Harrier has been released, with the following changes:

  • Pushback truck is now fixed and works.
  • Bbackwards-compatibility bugs fixed.
  • A change to the sound system so that there is no sound when FlightGear loads.
  • PDFs on the weapons system and HDD added

See also the forum announcement and the wiki page

Citation II

Citation II with new Rembrandt lights
New instruments on Citation II's instrument panel
New objects on the flightdeck

Also the Citation II has received several upgrades - and still there's more to come! Ludovic Brenta and chris_blues put in a lot of time to polish her and bring her up to specs.

While overhauling the FDM, Ludovic also created a new aircraft for us: the Sierra Super II. This is essentially an aftermarket modifcation of the Citation II, with newer and more powerful engines. She's got an impressive rate of climb, and needs less fuel for an increased reach.

This is available via: --aircraft=Sierra-Super-II

The following items have been updated:

Systems

  • several checklists have been added.
  • A realistic startup procedure.
  • A major overhaul of the Autopilot-systems.
  • The FDM got upgraded and several bugs got fixed in the process.
  • All knobs can now be turned with the mouse-wheel.

Instruments

  • Added a new Lighting Panel to the pilots panel. All knobs and switches, which actually have a function are animated.
  • Instrument Panel got new textures. Looks a bit more used now.
  • RMI now is switchable on Nav1/ADF and Nav2/ADF.
  • HSI can be switched between Nav1/Nav2/GPS with the AP control panel's NAV-button.
  • a ZVK500 GPS instrument was added on the pilots instrument panel.
  • a CDU was added on the center pedestal.

Model

  • All exterior lights are now Rembrandt-capable.
  • The missing door-ladder was added and animated.
  • The speedbrakes got a major overhaul and are now much closer to the real thing, also the lower speedbrakes are added and animated.
  • Several small additions to the cockpit and cabin, including an accurate circuit breaker panel, sadly without functionality for now.

Still-To-Do's

  • Interior Rembrandt lighting
  • Finetuning of speedbrake's animations and add LoD
  • More interior model details
  • Create different liveries for Citation II and Sierra Super II.
  • CDU needs more functions and bugfixes

Scenery Corner

Community News

Wiki update

Forum news

Virtual Airlines

Multiplayer

FlightGear on YouTube

Channel: Flightgear's Tutorial

Note  Spanish language only.
(es) Cómo leer los instrumentos (en) How to read instruments

Contributing

Volunteers

Translators required

En.gif The FlightGear Wiki still needs help for translating it into various languages. If you are interested in making the FlightGear Wiki multi-language then start at Help:Translate.
De.gif Das FlightGear Wiki benötigt immer noch Hilfe bei der Übersetzung in verschiedene Sprachen. Wenn Du Interesse daran hast, das FlightGear Wiki Mehrsprachig zu machen, dann fang doch mit Help:Übersetzen an.
Nl.gif De FlightGear Wiki kan nog steed hulp gebruiken bij het vertalen van artikelen. Als je interesse hebt om de wiki meertalig te maken, raden we je aan om een kijkje te nemen bij Help:Vertalen.
Es.gif La FlightGear wiki todavía necesita ayuda para traducirla a varios lenguajes. Si estás interesado en hacer la FlightGear wiki multilingüe, entonces comienza en Help:Traducir.

FGBanners

If you own a web page related to FlightGear or you want to create a new one, (such as a hangar, YouTube channel, etc.), you may required some graphics elements. Please visit our logos repository. If you have some art skills, please don't hesitate to contribute with your own design creations.

Screenshots

The FlightGear project always needs screenshots for the website, which show features that were added since the last release.These shots should be of good quality — regarding contents and technical image properties. It is therefore recommended to use the best viable filter settings (antialiasing, texture sharpening, etc.). More info at Howto:Make nice screenshots.

Desktop backgrounds (by Aepcam)

FGBGBG.png Fgbg.png