Xsimreviews

Well, v10.10b3 is out, and sheesh, is it giving me fits! What with all my hair now gone (uh, pulled out after v10.10b1), I’d have gone stark raving mad without a new airport from frede to go over! Man, did I luck out today…he’s pulled off a real corker with his latest, which we’ll look over below. First let’s look at a few of the lowlights in 10.10b3!

The EADT x737/8NG (v4.6) simply crashes the Sim, first time, every time.  Well, almost. I did manage to fire off a few images with it in there, but as soon as I tried to change the time of day? Whammo! This with res at “high”, and a scenery size of 350Mb. I think I’ve got about 24Gb of RAM – so hopefully memory isn’t the problem!

Another little rendering issue, perhaps? Seen below, those are streets down there, not canals, yet those streets sure look like water! And the sun still shines through buildings…as well as the Earth – from about 3 degrees below the horizon!

And really, we are getting so many ACF with huge numbers of liveries, yet why do we have this scrambled mess of a livery dialogue box? The x738, the QPAC A320, and xxxxx’s new XXXxxXX all have about ten gazillion liveries, so why not a scrolling dialogue box for all that paint? Hey…I’m just sayin’!

Okay, let’s look at some other goings-on.

So, you caught the KILM + Wilmington announcement? Good looking file, and definitely a pleasure to see custom buildings showing up, but combined with GI lighting this one looks to be a killer combo!

STMA’s Tracker XP motion/head tracking software has a few nice enhancements in the latest v1.17 update:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV5ryIz8sng

And a quick note for all us Otter-heads out there, STMA is planning on releasing a major patch to the recently released Otter collection THIS FRIDAY. Don’t miss it!

Now…before the dudes in white coats come to take me away…let’s look over frede’s latest Lego-brick creation!

Jumpin’ Geewillikers! I mean – Wow!

And here I was convinced that Lego-brick airports would get dull after just a few releases!

Well…NOT SO! I mean…just scroll through these images and keep your jaw off the carpet. We could see some seriously interesting airport files over the next, what, several years…and this is only frede’s third Louisiana airport! This Lego-brick stuff? This is gonna be fun!

So anyway, let’s take a look at frede’s latest: KLFT + Lafayette Louisiana. We think it fair to say now that his work is setting a very good – and clear – example of what devs wanting to tinker with Lego-bricks ought to be shooting for, too:

• Getting the placement of buildings down as close as possible to what’s really on the ground
• Lot’s of lighting and small ramp objects to create depth through light and shadow
• Appropriate static ACF (no Emirates A380s on the ramps just ’cause they look “cool”)
• Good integration with OSM roadways

As well as the overview showing the relationship of this newest file to frede’s earlier efforts around Baton Rouge. And looky here, connections to Atlanta, DFW and Houston Hobby from here too?

So we have another über kewl RJ airport down south? Soon we’ll have a complete network of really nice RJ airports throughout the region… What, who’s up for a new round of Q-flights?

Sorry these daylight images are a little washed out. Had gamma set to 2.5 in 10.10b3, and while good for nighttime OPS, you’ll probably want some RayBans for daylight OPS, but once again…frede has really got placement of lighting down. Depth, sense of scale, even the placement of trees appears done to enhance this sense of spacial depth, and even in daylight all those light towers helps to create a sense of depth through vanishing perspectives…

And it all comes together at night to create something very special indeed.

And look! Rotorheads are gonna love this one! Pads right by the main gates!

Below, a few more nights capes. Just compare this effect to airports that have only 2-3 light towers.

It’s that sense of depth, of scale, that helps make frede’s efforts so outstanding. Again, this looks like artistry to me, artistry achieved by taking the time to get useful angles of view looking “just so”. The Caravan is definitely in it’s element here, wouldn’t you say?

Parking deck looks great here too, but it’s the light towers that captures your attention, isn’t it? Note how these placements help turn this into a real 3D landscape!

Ah, that Braniff orange would sure look good again! Nice to see some ERJs on those ramps too, but see how all the little carts on the ramps are placed where they ought to be? Not just tossed around haphazardly? When all these “little” elements are so carefully placed the end result is a convincingly immersive scenery file, and one we’ll all use. More importantly, this type of conscientious effort sets a good example of what XP10 can offer users of other SIMs.

But… but all is not rosy at KLFT, no sir, not at all. Over by the air cargo ramps we saw evidence that Klingons have been experimenting with anti-gravity cargo pods once again! Two of the nasty little puds are floating around over there, just waiting to knock the hog-snot out of some unsuspecting MD-11 drivers tail. The nerve of those pesky Klingons!

So anyway, these images were with v1.0 installed, and frede will probably be up to v235.2271 later this afternoon, so we’ll just have to go back and shoot some more images. Shucky darn.

That said, here’s v1.2 just above! Note the better OSM integration on the roadway between the airport and that endearingly lovely Rancho Cucamonga Estates housing.

Oh. My Carenado F33A was solid white. Liveries all gone.  Time for another refrain from the TrailBlazer’s Lament!? What was that song… “They’re coming to take me away…hee hee hah hah!”

Oh well, we didn’t name this place Chaos Manor without good reason! We’ll seeya soon, and Hasta Later – C