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FlightGear Newsletter September 2011: Difference between revisions
FlightGear Newsletter September 2011 (view source)
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The [http://flightgear.simpits.org:8080/ Jenkins Server] has been updated to build FlightGear using Cmake and the last version of Visual Studio. This is probably the way future versions of FlightGear will be built. Installable "nightly" builds are available [http://flightgear.simpits.org:8080/job/Win32-installer-Cmake/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/ here]. | The [http://flightgear.simpits.org:8080/ Jenkins Server] has been updated to build FlightGear using Cmake and the last version of Visual Studio. This is probably the way future versions of FlightGear will be built. Installable "nightly" builds are available [http://flightgear.simpits.org:8080/job/Win32-installer-Cmake/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/ here]. | ||
{| class=toccolours align="center" style="text-align:center; width: 80%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:-0.5em; border-left: 15px solid orange;" | |||
| ''This article describes content that might not be available in the standard version of [[FlightGear]].<br>You may need to install some extra components or use the development ([[Git]]) version.'' | |||
|} | |||
=== Local Weather gets to render atmospheric haze === | |||
The [[A local weather system|Local Weather]] package is currently adding support for the skydome scattering [[shader]], and in the process gets a dedicated terrain shader capable of rendering a low-altitude haze later. The first results are quite encouraging: | |||
[[File:Skydome-terrain01.jpg]] | |||
[[File:Skydome-terrain06.jpg]] | |||
[[File:Skydome-terrain07.jpg]] | |||
Currently this code doesn't work with special shaders such as the urban effect or the water reflection and requires to keep track of visibility in a way conceptually different from what Flightgear has been using up to now, so the actual integration may take a bit. | |||
[[File:Fgfs-screen-334.png|thumb|[[San Francisco International Airport|San Francisco International]] becomes busy with traffic.]] | |||
=== AI Traffic updates === | === AI Traffic updates === | ||
As part of a new initiative to make the FlightGear skies more lively, we are currently in the process of adding 344963 new individual flights, from about 65 airlines to FlightGear's AI system. At the moment of writing, The schedules for the major american carriers (American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and United Airlines), as well as that of one of the Leading European Airlines (British Airways) have been added and more traffic will follow soon. | As part of a new initiative to make the FlightGear skies more lively, we are currently in the process of adding 344963 new individual flights, from about 65 airlines to FlightGear's AI system. At the moment of writing, The schedules for the major american carriers (American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and United Airlines), as well as that of one of the Leading European Airlines (British Airways) have been added and more traffic will follow soon. | ||
== | === Starting at the most appropriate parking position === | ||
At selected airports, it is now possible to let FlightGear decide at which parking it should start. You can do this by passing the commmand line option <tt>--parkpos=AVAILABLE</tt> to FlightGear. This way, you don't need to worry about the details of whether the parking is of the right type, whether it is large enough, etc etc. | |||
== | However, in order to get it to work, you need to set some properties: | ||
* <tt>/sim/dimensions/radius-m</tt> should be a nummeric estimate of the size of your aircraft. A small aircraft fits into a large parking, but a large aircraft does not fit into a small parking space. Because the AI part of radius is also used for slightly different purposes (prioritizing gate assignments), the given value may deviate slightly from the real aircraft's size. See [[Aircraft radii|our wiki for an overview of standard aircraft radii]] currently in use. | |||
* <tt>/sim/aircraft-class</tt> can be any one of "ga", "cargo", "gate", "mil-fighter", "mil-cargo", or "vtol". See [[Interactive traffic#A technical perspective|our wiki documentation]] for more information. | |||
* In addition, the property <tt>/sim/aircraft-operator</tt> can be set to a three letter icao airline code. The first two properties are mandatory for the system to work, the last one is optional, but will generally result in a better parking location. | |||
Fortunately, it is also possible to set these properties in the aircraft's configuration file. Currently, two aircraft have been updated to automatically take advantage of this new system. These are the Boeing 777-200ER, and the Embrear 170. The properties aircraft-class and aircraft-operator can also be changed by FlightGear's livery select mechanism, so that depending on whom you're flying for, you'll spawn at a different part of the airport! | |||
See [http://www.flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=13527 the corresponding forum discussion] for more information on how to update the aircraft configuration and corresponding livery select files. | |||
== New software tools and projects == | == New software tools and projects == | ||
* | *Brisa has hacked into the FlightGear data and with some clever coding he can pull out amazing airport maps we can use for planning. Independent of the operating system of your computer, just a pot of jar to click. [[Airport Diagram Generator|Read more here...]] | ||
* | *How would you feel with a true redneck as your co-pilot? He don't say much but he can do most of the flying for you. [[FGFSCopilot|Read more...]] | ||
*The [[AI Schedule manager]] is a GUI application that can manage and perform various operations on AI flight schedules, fleets and aircraft, using a database backend, while remaining compatible with the console set of tools. [[AI Schedule manager|Read more...]] | |||
== In the hangar == | == In the hangar == | ||
All the way back in May, we addopted a new status-rating system for aircraft. So far, only a few have actually been rated, as can be seen in the list 'hockenberry' set up at [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApzphjA4w05ndF94Y2F0bzJTbHQ5QTJXZXJRcUVRbWc&hl=en_US Google Docs]. If you're an aircraft developer and your aircraft is/are not on the list, please consider rating their status. All you'll need to know/do is described at [[Formalizing Aircraft Status]]. | All the way back in May, we addopted a new status-rating system for aircraft. So far, only a few have actually been rated, as can be seen in the list 'hockenberry' set up at [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApzphjA4w05ndF94Y2F0bzJTbHQ5QTJXZXJRcUVRbWc&hl=en_US Google Docs]. If you're an aircraft developer and your aircraft is/are not on the list, please consider rating their status. All you'll need to know/do is described at [[Formalizing Aircraft Status]]. | ||
== Scenery corner == | == Scenery corner == | ||
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Well, maybe one day it will be over. [[User:Psadro gm|Psadro gm]] is working hard to experiment with 8.50 support in FG. Have a look at the first results in the [http://www.flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13240&start=30 forum topic]. | Well, maybe one day it will be over. [[User:Psadro gm|Psadro gm]] is working hard to experiment with 8.50 support in FG. Have a look at the first results in the [http://www.flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13240&start=30 forum topic]. | ||
== Aircraft of the month == | == Aircraft of the month == | ||
Thorsten reviewed both the [[Eurocopter EC135]] and the [[Zeppelin NT]] this month. The full reviews can be found [http://www.flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11930&start=30#p134640 here] on the FlightGear Forums. Oscar uploaded a shorter review of both the planes in a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY7160m2spw video review] on YouTube. | |||
== Airport of the month == | == Airport of the month == | ||
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*LFLG airport ( France ) P.A.F. home base [http://equipe-flightgear.forumactif.com/ link] | *LFLG airport ( France ) P.A.F. home base [http://equipe-flightgear.forumactif.com/ link] | ||
*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIliB6FLFvc | *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIliB6FLFvc | ||
== Screenshot Challenges == | |||
We've started to have some screenshot challenges in the forum according to the following rules: | |||
<i> | |||
# The screenshot must be an actual frame from a running instance of Flightgear. It can be cropped or altered in size, but it may not be altered or postprocessed in any way. | |||
# Flightgear however may be altered in any way you wish (in fact, this is explicitly encouraged) - you may modify materials.xml, you may use custom scenery, you may use your own textures, liveries, your own aircraft currently under development, your patch to the core, ... The only condition is that it's understood that whatever you did is eventually made available to others - i.e. in case you have generated a livery which you intend to sell to others, you may not use it here. Any version of Flightgear is okay. | |||
# Flightgear does not need to be run in the configuration you actually usually fly with - for the purpose of the screenshot, you may run settings with 1 fps which you would not fly otherwise. | |||
# The screenshot must be related to the challenge theme and to aviation (don't just go there with the ufo and take a shot). | |||
</i> | |||
This month's winners are: | |||
'''Challenge theme 'Forest'''' | |||
[[File:Screenshot-challenge-1.jpg|800px]] | |||
by i4dnf. | |||
'''Challenge theme 'Passenger views'''' | |||
[[File:Screenshot-challenge-2.jpg|800px]] | |||
by skyop | |||
and '''Challenge theme 'Oldtimers'''' | |||
[[File:Screenshot-challenge-3.jpg|800px]] | |||
by Sealbhach. | |||
Congratulations to some exceptional pictures! | |||
== Suggested flights == | == Suggested flights == | ||
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Take off from LEMG (Malaga). Go South-West and find the runway of LXGB somewhere to the right of the rock. Happy guessing! | Take off from LEMG (Malaga). Go South-West and find the runway of LXGB somewhere to the right of the rock. Happy guessing! | ||
*More amazing flights can be found | *More amazing flights can be found at [[places to fly]]. | ||
== Wiki updates == | == Wiki updates == | ||
===New articles=== | ===New articles=== | ||
* [[Places to fly]] is a revisited wiki version of the [http://www.flightgear.org/places.html flightgear.org/places.html] page, with pictures and airport charts. | * [[Places to fly]] is a revisited wiki version of the [http://www.flightgear.org/places.html flightgear.org/places.html] page, with pictures and airport charts. | ||
* Lost in the air? No idea how to navigate with them pesky [[radio beacons]]? No worries | * Lost in the air? No idea how to navigate with them pesky [[radio beacons]]? No worries maties, help is here: [[Radio navigation]]! | ||
* [[IFR]]= InFraRed? [[VFR]]= VeryFraRed? Nooo, read here: [[Flight rules]]. | |||
== Community news == | == Community news == | ||
===Reminder: FSweekend=== | ===Reminder: FSweekend=== | ||
With little than | With little than a month to go, the largest flight simulator event in the world (the [[FSweekend]] at [[Lelystad Airport]], the Netherlands) is coming close. Make sure to mark the weekend of 5&6 November in your agenda as "occupied". A team of FlightGear developers will be present in Lelystad to promote FlightGear to the public. They highly appreciate it if you are able to stop over at the airport! | ||
Last year we organised a [[Howto: Multiplayer|multiplayer]] event in cooperation with [[TransGear]], in which FlightGear users from all over the world could virtually visit Lelystad and surrounding airports. We currently have no plans for something similar for this year's event, but we do invite everyone to pay a (virtual) visit and be part of our show. | Last year we organised a [[Howto: Multiplayer|multiplayer]] event in cooperation with [[TransGear]], in which FlightGear users from all over the world could virtually visit Lelystad and surrounding airports. We currently have no plans for something similar for this year's event, but we do invite everyone to pay a (virtual) visit and be part of our show. | ||
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=== FlightGear on YouTube === | === FlightGear on YouTube === | ||
* This nice [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD4yMaszdQk aerobatic flight video] ([[Zlin 50 lx|Zlin]] at LFLG) was uploaded by a member of the [http://equipe-flightgear.forumactif.com/ P.A.F]. | * This nice [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD4yMaszdQk aerobatic flight video] ([[Zlin 50 lx|Zlin]] at LFLG) was uploaded by a member of the [http://equipe-flightgear.forumactif.com/ P.A.F]. | ||
* CatchatyouFG uploaded a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5AMwjwvCvQ video] landing the [[Bombardier CRJ-200LR]] in US Airways Express livery at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in submission to | * CatchatyouFG uploaded a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5AMwjwvCvQ video] landing the [[Bombardier CRJ-200LR]] in US Airways Express livery at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in submission to Osjcag's monthly FlightGear community challenge. | ||
=== | === FlightGear in the news === | ||
* The Wilhelmshavener Zeitung, a German newspaper, has published an extensive article about FlightGear. It speaks about Paid flightsimulators (...) and The Open Source flight simulator FlightGear. A micro history about FlightGear and about the use of FlightGear by the FAA. Read more [http://www.wzonline.de/index.php?id=1050&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=145689&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=624&cHash=e14cb0a1d3dd1c64ff909b79eaef7f68| here...] (in German) | |||
=== | |||
== Useful links == | == Useful links == | ||
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=== Did you know === | === Did you know === | ||
There is a place for specific suggestions and ideas. The developers (you can be one) use this to plan their next project based on your suggestions. [[:Category:Contribution requests]] | |||
[[Category:FlightGear Newsletter]] | |||