FlightGear Newsletter November 2018
We would like to emphasize that the monthly newsletter can not live without the contributions of FlightGear users and developers. Everyone with a wiki account (free to register) is welcome to contribute to the newsletter. If you know about any FlightGear related news or projects such as for example updated scenery or aircraft, please do feel invited to add such news to the newsletter.
Development news
Stricter JSBSIM tag checking
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Hi all,
since the change to the parser, JSBSim is not only a lot more verbose about issues (good!) but also a lot more picky about accepting syntactically bad tags (somewhat problematic). The implication is that this is again a change that will render aircraft which previously worked okay non-functional on next - so an unknown fraction of our JSBSim fleet currently won't start. (And yes, I've seen issues in someone else's code, so it's not only my sloppy habits ;-) ) The good news is that we get explicit locations for the offending tags including line numbers, so generally the issues are easy to fix. Also, these are tags which never worked as intended in the first place, so fixing them to a working condition is likely easy. My recommendation is that anyone who sees such issues on the repo simply goes ahead and pushes a fix if he has commit rights. If not, or if you feel unsure because you have no experience with JSBSim, give me a note with the errors and I'll go ahead and do the maintenance. — Thorsten
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New software tools and projects
FaceTrackNoIR Support ported
FlightGear was one of the first programs which had been supported by FaceTrackNoIR, a headtracking program which registered the movements of the head by a webcam, no additional hardware (eg. markers) are required. With the switch using FGAddon the support was lost for a time. HHS now ported it now into the new scheme. More information about and how to use it you can find here: http://wiki.flightgear.org/FaceTrackNoIR
In the hangar
New aircraft
Robin DR401 155CDI
iamzac created a Robin DR401 155CDI using the FG1000 panel by Stuart. This aircraft has sound improvements and bugfixes, new ALS effects, and improvements to the 3D model. By default it starts with the existing classic cockpit and FG1000 is not loaded or initialized for maximum performance, once you toggle it from he menu or by pressing "g" it's loaded and initialized the first time, and if you toggle it again it remains loaded and running in the background even if it's hidden. The FG1000 is completely vanilla and it's loaded from flightgear's folders so any improvement in the future of the instrument with flightgear will be used automatically. You need FlightGear 2018.3.1 RC or newer to use it - the download is at https://www.dropbox.com/s/nbon8klpes3g9s0/DR400-dauphinR1.zip?dl=0.
Updated aircraft
Citation II
The Cessna 550 Citation II was once again updated, with the addition of external power which can be toggled from the menu. The reversers can now only be stowed if the throttle is at idle, and the throttle behaviour with joysticks was improved. Furthermore, a new key, Ctrl + O, was added, which toggles the cutoffs. Finally, the state system received a few bugfixes, correcting the fuel boost pump states. These updates are available from FGAddon or through the launcher.
777
A long standing bug in the 777 has been corrected, where the views would be broken after adjusting minimums. Furthermore, the checklists have been updated to better match the real aircraft's procedures. The IDENT button on the transponder is now functional, and the transponder now transmits information over multiplayer. These updates are available from FGAddon or through the launcher.
Lockheed 1049h
Lbrenta released version 3.03 of the Lockheed 1049h, implementing more realistic engines with better supercharger parameters, volumetric efficiency, and bsfc. Furthermore, a debugging tool to compute endurance and range was added, which can be seen at the following properties:
/consumables/fuel/endurance-remaining
/consumables/fuel/range-remaining-nmi
Liveries
Aeromexico 767-300
The Aeromexico skyteam livery on liveries.flightgear.org was correcting, removing an accented character in the xml file which broke the aircraft.
AI
The AI team makes FlightGear more realistic, colorful and lively every month. You can support the important development of Interactive Traffic and contribute at the FlightGear AI forums.
Scenery corner
Osm2city
Belfast
OSM2City is now available along with legoboyvdlp's Ireland-fg-CustomScenery: https://github.com/legoboyvdlp/Ireland-fg-CustomScenery. This osm2city covers all of Northern Ireland. It is quite heavy on performance, but looks very good - thanks to Vanosten and the other osm2city developers!
Community news
FlightGear on Facebook
Since early December 2010, FlightGear has an official Facebook page. If you have a Facebook account please feel free to join the page.
FlightGear on Google+
Since November 2011 there is a FlightGear page on Google+. If you haven't done so already, please add us to your circle and stay up to date on the latest FlightGear news, cool screenshots and release info.
FlightGear on Instagram
In January 2018 the @flightgear_sim Instagram account was brought back to life. If you've got nice screenshots to be featured, feel free to contact the maintainer.
FlightGear on FlightSim.com
Flightgear has also a sub-forum on flightsim.com - just like the commercial flightsims. It is an opportunity to showcase what FG can do, get people curious and answer any questions they may have with regard to the software or the project.
Multiplayer events
Contributing
Translators needed
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The FlightGear Wiki still needs help for translating it into various languages. If you are interested in making the FlightGear Wiki multilingual, you can start by looking at Help:Translate. |
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Le wiki de FlightGear a toujours besoin d'aide pour être traduit en différentes langues. Si vous êtes intéressé par le rendre multilingue, commencez par lire Help:Traduire. |
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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 mit dem Help:Übersetzen an. |
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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. |
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La wiki de FlightGear todavía necesita ayuda para traducirla a varios lenguajes. Si estás interesado en hacer la FlightGear wiki multilingüe, entonces comienza en Help:Traducir. |
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La wiki de FlightGear encara necessita ajuda per traduir-la a diverses llengües. Si esteu interessat en fer la wiki de FlightGear multilingüe, llavors comenceu a Help:Traduir. |
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A wiki de FlightGear ainda necessita de ajuda para traduzi-la em vários idiomas. Se estás interessado em tornar a wiki de FlightGear multi-lingual, por favor começa em Help:Traduzir. |
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FlightGear 百科仍然需要志愿者将其翻译为各种语言。如果你有兴趣让FlightGear百科支持更多语言, 你可以查看 Help:Translate. |
FlightGear logos
If you want some graphic elements for your FlightGear-related site (such as a hangar or YouTube channel), please feel free to visit FlightGear logos for a repository of logos. And if you have some art skills, please don't hesitate to contribute with your own design creations.
Screenshots
The FlightGear project always needs screenshots, which show features that were added since the last release. These should be of good quality, especially in content and technical image properties. It is therefore recommended to use the best viable filter settings (anti-aliasing, texture sharpening, etc.). More info at Howto:Make nice screenshots.
Screenshot of the Month
FlightGear's Screenshot of the Month November 2018 is Moonset over Antartica from 3000 miles elevation by eatdirt:
If you want to participate in the screenshot contest , you can submit your candidate to this forum topic. Be sure to see the first post for participation rules. For purposes of convenience and organization, after all the entries have been submitted, a new forum topic will be started containing all shots in an easy-to-view layout. The voting will then take place there. Once the voting has finished, the best screenshot will be presented in the Newsletter.
Thanks for reading FlightGear Newsletter November 2018!
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