xp+10+reviews + 27.01.12 + FT56′s DHL Tutorial + XP10 Clouds/CloudsMAXX + Reader Screenshots

We’ve got some clouds and settings in XP10/3 to go over today, as well as some images taken using CloudsMAXX – in both versions 1 and 1.3 – and we’ve got FlightTime56s DHL B752 livery installation guide to get into your mitts for the weekend, and there’s a new Beta for XP10 just out as well and we’ll be going over this later over the weekend and have a first look up then.

But we’ll lead off today with reader’s screenshots submitted earlier in the week. There’s some fantastic work included here today, and we’re posting these images in the order received so don’t read anything in the order of presentation here! Now let’s take it away!

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John’s Baron

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from Graham H

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And these from the SuperCritical Simulations Group, and thanks, Carlos!

And one more image from Carlos, for good measure! This one flies a little differently then the 748, no?

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And then we received several images from Kevin Grimm, and I almost fell out of my chair when I saw his work. Kevin’s been converting MsFS scenery and then really going to work on the files, modifying layouts and tweaking textures and in the process creating some of the most stunning imagery I’ve ever seen in a SIM environment. Let’s read what he has to say then look at this work, because it’s a real eye-opener:

“I still fly in X-Plane 9 to certain airports just because of the time I have invested in building them up and adding to the scenery around them. The first image is a Fly Tampa payware conversion of Kia Tak in Hong Kong. The daylight image of Hong Kong and the rainy night shot of the 747(i added the reflection) are from X-Plane 9, all the other images in this email are straight from X-Plane 10.

“The two images of the grass field and airport are examples of one of my creations. I started with a great free airport scenery package of LHPP and extended the runway, added tons of new structures and buildings in and around the airport.

“The last 3 panoramic shots are from Saint Maarten, It started as a Fly Tampa payware conversion, but I added 3 other scenery packages to it to enhance the ground textures. I opened them up each texture and repainted them also, I added tons of buildings, boats and planes… and then I added new X Plane 10 lighting. it’s one of my favorite airports to fly into in X Plane.”

In the last image above, look at the boats at anchor to the right, and note the shadows they cast on the sandy seafloor just a few meters below. This kind of detailing just boggles the mind, but scenery developers need to study Kevin’s work, because he appears to be a real master.

And here are a few more images he sent along.

The image above and the two below are at KPHL Philadelphia. Just stunning images.

Maybe we can talk Kevin into writing up his experiences and techniques? Oh, he advises he’s not tweaked images in Photoshop, and all the effects seen here are straight from the SIM.

So! This was a good first time out for images and we hope you’re inspired by what you see to go out and take some good ones! And again, if you feel like dropping a few screenshots our way feel free. We’ll post the best each Saturday for the time being, and don’t forget that the Flight Simulator Network has a great screenshots gallery and a monthly screenshots contest! Now…let’s look at some clouds!

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XP10 rapidly developed some bad press concerning clouds after a very promising start in the first few Betas, as around Beta 1/8 settings were simplified and seemed to make getting realistic clouds almost an impossibility. Even so, with the first versions onward it remains an impossibility to create those spring and summertime monsters that inhabit the great plains of the central United States…

What, you’re not familiar with these creatures? Well, take a look:

These monsters put the fear of God in pilots, and they brew upwards to FL450 – and even higher midsummer. Finding yourself in one of these is usually a death sentence too. They are unforgiving, violent creatures, and best avoided at all cost:

And I think omitting these from the SIM environment is a real bad move, no matter how difficult they may be to achieve. As a training aid, simulating these monsters is vital. You don’t want to fly through them of course, but learning how to recognize these features at night and in low visibility (with radar or via ATC instructions/WXR updates) is a vital skill too. Second point to consider: these monsters are gorgeous. If you’ve ever been up in the front office at night skirting these lightning-filled behemoths you’ll know what I mean, but there’s a certain anxiety that comes along with all this beauty, too. Maybe respect is a better word, because tangling with one – just once – in the SIM would be enough to convince you to never go anywhere near one of these out in “the real”. I’ve been in a couple, the worst experience in a 421, and we were caught between two fast-blooming cells over central Texas – at two in the morning! One moment we were climbing through 8000 and the next we were almost inverted at 6500 and it was like we were being pushed into the ground by a wrathful demon. ATC was asking us to check Mode C, the folks in back were screaming and everything smelled like barfed-up cheeseburgers (let’s not talk about the cleanup, okay?). When we landed at Hobby everyone, I mean everyone, had soiled their jeans and walked unsteadily for hours. You don’t take these puppies for granted, and XP needs to account for them. That said, the weather landscape in XP will remain an unfinished work until these monsters are a part of the simulation. Someone will figure it out.

While working through settings in v10/3 we found that the CLOUD DETAIL setting on the main rendering/settings page has a lot to do with more than just the appearance of clouds in XP10, and that this control in fact changes density – and dramatically so. As such, we thought it was sharing what we’ve uncovered so far, but keep in mind the situation with weather and clouds is changing rapidly in each new update. AND, each time you make a change in weather settings the cloudscapes are regenerated, so these images are at best an approximation, so keep that in mind.

Let’s look at this first set of images, of a single layer of SCATTERED CUMULUS clouds set at o to 2000MSL:

Simply by changing the DETAIL setting, coverage AND density increases. Next, below, THREE layers of SCATTERED cumulus are set from 0-2000, 4000-6000, and 8000-10,000 MSL. With detail set at below 30% the clouds were all but invisible, but by moving DETAIL up first to 40%, then 70%, once again density increased along with detail. And again, this was in v10/3, and not the latest 10/4 released a few hours ago.

Now, switching from scattered cumulus to broken cumulus, let’s look at a single low-lying layer over downtown Seattle.

At 70% only a few building tops emerge from the clouds (above), while at 50% more building detail emerges and some street level details emerge.

There are some subtle changes in this paradigm in XP10.04.1, the latest Beta release. Let’s take a look:

Using SCATTERED CUMULUS (above) and BROKEN CUMULUS) below, you can see that the DETAIL setting still has some effect on cloud density, but not as much…

In the latest beta, there’s a marked difference between SCATTERED and BROKEN cumulus that wasn’t there in the last few betas. Good move, but broken cumulus at low detail is still very much like scattered.

Another consideration here, and most relevant: if broken cumulus at low detail is the same as scattered at higher detail, and if higher detail settings eat framerates, then using broken cumulus at lower settings ought to be a nice way to improve framerates if you want some subtle VFR weather. Check it out!

Now, let’s take a look at another paradigm. CloudsMAXX.

CloudsMAXX is a new product from the developer of UrbanMAXX, and the aim with this file is to improve framerates while improving cloud shape and color.

These first images are from an early Alpha of the program, and with multiple layers (three layers of scattered cumulus set at 0-2000, 4000-6000, and 8000-10,000 MSL), and once again CLOOUD DETAIL influences appearance greatly. First up, the CloudsMAXX clouds at 30% detail:

Then at 70% detail. Framerates WERE a little improved…maybe 3-5 fps being a good average figure.

John at MAXX advises he feels CloudsMAXX will best render a single layer and at lower detail settings, and we tested this in the latest version (v1.3) to see what this looks like. First, we ran it a the three layer/50% configuration and this is what we saw:

In early morning light there’s some yellow and purple just fringing these newest clouds, a nice, subtle detail.

And here’s MAXX with a single layer (below), and at multiple detail settings. For true “scattered cumulus” look, I’d say 30% -50% detail is about right, as with higher detail levels the clouds begin to look more like “broken” or even solid overcast.

CloudsMAXX is available here. It’s freeware and worth tinkering around with. We’ll keep you updated on new releases/features.

Now let’s wrap up todays post with FlightTime56′s DHL livery tutorial, so pull out a pencil and notepad and let’s go back to school!

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XPFW Boeing 757-200 DHL Installation and Use Tutorial by FlightTime56

The Boeing B757 from X-Plane Freeware is taking on the mystery of some mythical legend, created in a time beyond our past.

Some say it was born of parents long gone of 2004, anyway it is still here, with us and alive, in fact this amazing product is running quite well and runs in the new XP10 world better than most aircraft created only a few years old, more amazing is that the B757 does not in anyway look it’s age, the x737 from EADT is X-Plane’s best freeware, but the XPFW B757 is the sentimental core of the simulator.

It has been passed from one generation of X-Plane to the next, and in every version it is added to or enhanced, the latest from donbach is another D Check and some mods added, the problem is it is quite a big D Check, which helps in the _LIT department, It puts in _LIT type objects .obj into the B757 of which create a nice feeling aircraft in the dark, I never saw the point of having an aircraft pitch black, pain to land, not as much now in XP10, but certainly in XP9.

The reflection works of course far better in HDR, It positively glows under any lights,

Another fix is the front steering gear which stuck out under the aircraft and now it stows correctly,

Another enhancement is 3d cockpit lighting, turning up the panel brightness to maximum and it will enhance an already well lit cockpit, the new view from the outside is excellent as well,

To complete your D Check is the fitment of engine covers, which is a lovely touch if you are leaving the aircraft outside in the cold northern winter,

So lets do our D Check…

When you have downloaded the file from XPFW, it comes with all the parts and instructions, which are quite detailed, but not as hard as they look.

I took my XPFW B757- 200 RR WL Continental and duplicated it, most XPFW Aircraft don’t have livery folders, so you need to create one within the main File, then take the DHL folder from the download and insert it into the liveries, it should look like this:

Because there are new files in the livery folder for _LIT objects, you have to replace the old main object files to see the difference,

There are instructions if you want to change the files via each TEXTURES_LIT object, but that is not required, all you have to do is open the” edited default objects folder” in the download and replace them with the main object files in the “objects” folder:

That is the _LIT files placed,

Now we will install the engine covers, open the DHL engine cover folder from the download and “B757DHL_enginecover.png” in the:

livery/DHL/object folder

the same folder you created in the liveries folder, and make sure it is with the rest of the _LIT.png files in the objects folder.

Next take the leftover “DHL_engine_covers.obj” and put that in the main “Object” folder,

Both completed files should look like this:

Another change is to open the “cockpit/engine/engine-number folder and insert the dig_FF4.png from the download file:

To finish just transfer the “XPFW_B757PF_Repaint.png” into the main folder

That is the completion of the transfer of the different files, now we have to activate them to make them work, to do that open the aircraft in planemaker, and then select the DHL livery.

You will notice two things, first if you used an airliner as the base RR file the windows will  be removed, second is the the nosegear will be missing, the nosegear is correct, just stowed, it will be fine when opened in XP.

To set the 3d lighting which works in XP v9.4+ and v10, Open in the menu

 Standard/veiwpoint/Int Light,

 which you open in planemaker, in the “3d cockpit lighting section”, adjust the settings as the seen in the diagrams and double-check they are correct. Be aware that one in the upper section and one in the lower section is a – Minus sign.

On dataref 1, 2, & 3 select “Flood”

Then move back to main menu and then to Standard/Misc Objects/OBJECTS 2

And adjust all the 757vc# T.obj files to” inside”, make sure you tick the “Cockpit object gets interior lighting box” down in the lower left.

Select OBJECTS 1 (Misc Objects) and find an empty file, locate the “DHL_engine_covers.obj” from the aircraft/objects folder (as installed earlier) and select it, nothing else needs to be done other than the selection.

Save the file and quit planemaker:

You have completed the D Check.

Amazingly this old file will solder on like its real world companions for a few years yet, certainly through v10, and why not as that 3d cockpit is one of the really great ones, the 3d lighting shows well also through the cockpit windows,

Adjustment I found could only be done in the 2d cockpit via the  PNL switch,

you can adjust the 3d lighting if you want to via planemaker, but I am happy with what I already have and it is simply a great file in v10, only a couple of notes, I noticed the red fuselage beacons didn’t flash, and the main gear doors don’t quite fit flush,

There was a difference with HDR on and HDR off, in the HDR on position you had great lighting that in this case came from a waiting B777,

When HDR was of it was highlighting over areas, it a preference which one is better as both have their points, personally I prefer the HDR off as it highlights the excellent taxi lighting.

And when you have finished flying for the day, shutdown the engines and turn off the “BATTERY” and she’s all covered up on the engines…and ready for work again the next day.

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Okay, that’s all she wrote for today! We’ll be back with news and files in the weekend update, as well as a close look at KMIA.

We’ll see you then, and thanks for dropping by. Keep it dark!