X-Plane 10 Official Guide

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EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT X-PLANE 10 AND MORE!

THE OFFICIAL GUIDE

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ALL THIS INSIDE
• A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO X-PLANE
• CONFIGURING THE FLIGHT CONTROLS
• OPTIMISING FRAME RATES
• X-PLANE VS FSX COMPARISON
• AIRCRAFT AND SCENERY REVIEWS
• EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH LAMINAR RESEARCH
• INCLUDES ESSENTIAL BEST BUY GUIDE

£5.99

From the makers of

the Number 1 Flight Sim Magazine

PLUS: Interviews, Reviews and Tutorials for X-Plane 10 - www.pcpilot.net
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X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | CONTENTS

Introduction

16

Interview with Austin Mayer
4
Laminar's founder shares his thoughts on X-Plane.
...........................................................................................................................

EDITORIAL

Editor: Derek Davis ([email protected])
Assistant Editor: Jane Whittaker
Technical Editor: Richard Benedikz
Contributors to this issue: Peter Wright,
Chris Frishmuth and Jessica Bannister-Pearce
Production Editor: Sarah Robinson
Designers: Matt Fuller & Debbie Walker

SUBSCRIPTIONS
Ann Petrie, Liz Ward, Joan Harwin
Tel: +44 (0)1780 480404
Fax: +44 (0)1780 757812
Email: [email protected]

EDITORIAL CONTACT
PC Pilot, Key Publishing Ltd, PO Box 100,
Stamford, Lincs PE9 1XQ
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.pcpilot.net

BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Commercial Director: Ann Saundry
Group Advertisement Manager: Brodie Baxter
Advertisement Manager: Sean Leslie
Advertising Production Manager: Debi McGowan

MARKETING

Marketing Manager: Martin Steele
Production Manager: Janet Watkins
Marketing Executive: Shaun Binnington

Reviews
X-Plane 10 Review

10

X-Plane vs FSX
We compare two of the main commercial
simulators in use today - X-plane and FSX.

14

Flight Factor 757 Professional
The Flying Pencil.

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16

Take Command Saab 340
Sweden’s game changer.

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20

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Carenado Cessna Centurion
A General Aviation classic.

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24

Aircraft
We look at the aircraft in X-Plane along with
the unique flight modelling properties of the
simulation.

24

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Adrian Cox

EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN

Printed by Warners (Midland) plc, Bourne, Lincs.
Repro by Key Publishing Ltd and AT Graphics
(Peterborough)
PC Pilot is published by Key Publishing Ltd, PO
Box 100, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1XQ, UK.
Tel: 01780 755131.

..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Readers in USA can place subscriptions by visiting
www.pcpilot.net or by calling toll free
800 676 4049 or fax 757 428 6253 or by writing
to PC Pilot, Pacific Ave, Ste 404, Virginia Beach,
VA 23451-9828.
We are unable to guarantee the bonafides of any of our
advertisers. Readers are strongly recommended to take their
own precautions before parting with any information or item
of value, including, but not limited to, money, manuscripts,
photographs or personnel information in response to any
advertisements within this publication.

Flight Controls
60
Find out how to customise the flight controls to
get the most out of the aircraft in X-Plane.
........................................................................................................................................................................................

B-25 Mitchell
Khamsin’s classic World War Two bomber.

28

Island of Oahu
A tropical paradise for X-Plane.

32

UK Photo Scenery
Exploring the British Isles.

34

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Weather
68
Configure X-Plane to replicate all that Mother
Nature can throw at us, with a detailed overview
of the various weather options.
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34

Scenery Add-ons
72
A comprehensive summary of third party scenery
and how to bring the X-Plane world to life.
..............................................................................................................................................................................

World Editor
76
A guide to improving X-Plane's default airports
using Laminar’s World Editor tool.
..................................................................................................................................................................................................

The entire contents of X-Plane the Essential Guide
is © 2014 and no part of it may be reproduced in
any form or stored on any form of retrieval system
without the prior permission of the publisher.
Key Publishing Ltd takes considerable care to
ensure the accuracy of the information published
in PC Pilot, including the contents of all its
covermounted CDs, however, we cannot be held
liable for any loss or damage resulting either
directly or indirectly from any error or omission
including any loss or damage arising out of the
use of any cover-mounted CD. We are pleased
to recognise all trademark and copyright holders
and try to where possible. If we have omitted this
then please let us know and we will correct in the
next issue.

48

Scenery
54
We explore the scenery in X-Plane, including how
to add custom files and a guide to popular third
party expansions.

Richard Cox

Postmaster: Send address corrections to PC Pilot,
Key Publishing Ltd, C/o Mail Right International
Inc. 1637 Stelton Road B4, Piscataway NJ 08854

Overview
42
X-Plane 10 is the most significant release of this
popular flight simulator. We find out what it is
all about.
.................................................................................................................................................................................................................

MANAGING DIRECTOR AND PUBLISHER

SUBMISSIONS
We will gladly accept and review for publication
any letters, articles, photographs or other
contributions. We cannot guarantee publication
nor, regrettably, return items sent to us or be
responsible for their loss. We will try and reply
where possible. Any letters are assumed suitable
for publication unless we are otherwise notified.
All items submitted for publication are subject
to our terms and conditions. These are regularly
updated without prior notice and are freely
available from Key Publishing Ltd or
downloadable from www.keypublishing.com

Tutorials

World Editor Update
81
Catch up with the latest changes, following the
release of the World Editor Gateway.
............................................................................................................................................................

Libraries and Plug-ins
82
We profile a variety of third-party plug-ins that
improve the parent simulation.
......................................................................................................................................................

Optimising Frame Rates
88
How to get the best performance out of X-Plane.
..........................................................................................................................................

Interviews
Flight Factor
38
In this exclusive interview, we speak with X-Plane
developers Roman Berezin and Philipp Muenzell,
the driving force behind Flight Factor.
...................................................................................................................................................................................................

X-Aviation FAQ
We interview Cameron Son, prolific X-Plane
publisher and owner of X-Aviation.

92

Best Buy Guide
Payware add-ons recommended by PC Pilot.

96

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Carenado
40
Carenado was one of the first to simultaneously
develop software for X-Plane and FSX.
We interview Fernando Herrera, one of its
founders, to find out more.
..................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Essential Software and Libraries
97
We outline some of the must-have plug-ins and
packages to enhance X-Plane.
..................................................................................................

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 3

X-Plane 10
FEATURE | X-Plane 10 – An interview with Laminar Research

An interview with Laminar Research
The PC Pilot team is proud to bring you this
complete guide to Laminar Research’s XPlane 10, what it claims is the world’s most
comprehensive and powerful flight simulator
for personal computers. X-Plane 10 is one
of the few products available on the market
that offers a viable alternative to Microsoft’s
long-running Flight Simulator franchise. It
has evolved significantly since its release in
2011, through both Laminar Research’s own
upgrades and those of an ever expanding
third-party industry.

In this special, the team behind the world’s
favourite flight simulator magazine, PC Pilot,
provides a series of tutorials to help you get
to grips with X-Plane 10. We also feature a
selection of reviews on some of the leading
aircraft and scenery packages currently available, along with a best-buy guide covering a
wide-range of commercial add-ons.
To kick off this special, we invited Laminar
Research founder and X-Plane creator
Austin Meyer to share his thoughts on
X-Plane 10 and the future of this popular
flight simulator.

The creator of X-Plane and founder of Laminar Research, Austin Meyer

A new camera-control system allows you to customise your viewing angles

New atmospheric effects look
stunning with subtle colours as
can be seen in this sunset image
4 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

X-Plane 10 – An interview with Laminar Research | FEATURE

The new X-Plane world is built from the ground up and delivers highly detailed cities and airports

PC Pilot: Thank you for agreeing to
speak with us about X-Plane 10.
Previous versions of X-Plane have been
primarily designed on Apple Macs. Is
this still the case or are you also giving
equal importance to its development
on the PC?
Austin Meyer: Although X-Plane will
run on Apple, Windows and Linux
systems, the development is done
about 99% on an Apple computer.
PC Pilot: We understand that X-Plane
10 has been in development longer
than any other version of X-Plane. Can
you explain what makes it different
from previous versions.
Austin Meyer:X-Plane 10 is by far the
most ambitious and comprehensive
release we have ever done. I started
off by telling my artists that we had to
build a plausible world, where every
city was built up from the first blade of
grass to a full 3D city, without a single
ortho-texture. [An Orthographic texture
is a method of projection or displaying
a 3D object in 2D, as on a computer
screen, so that it can be viewed from
different directions. For example, if you
are approaching a house from a 45
degree angle, you will see both the
front and also one side of the house.]

My artists then told me that this was
too simple a concept because not all
cities are built on the same type of
grass. We start off with grass or field
textures for the entire world, including
the cities, and then build up from
there. Every building will be a real 3D
object, planted by an algorithm.
Although we do not know the location
of every building on earth, we have an
incredibly detailed road database, and
we can place parking lots, pavements,
buildings, etc, all alongside these
roads. This means that our artificiallyintelligent city-planning algorithm will
build detailed cities in true 3D. There
will be no discoloration, blurriness,
satellite misalignment or 2D Escherlike
illusions, which is the first step towards
a really detailed and convincing virtual
reality.
X-Plane 10 is also highly scalable.
You are able to zoom down to ground
level and also all the way into space
and see earth from orbit. You can see
the reflections and lighting of the land
and sea, with smooth transitions all the
way from space to sitting in someone’s
front yard. There will be no sudden
switch-over to a different rendering
technology. The weather system

Cities are rendered in high detail right down to street level

It is possible to zoom to ground level and see moving traffic

The X-Plane world consists of a large
number of 3D objects

Shipping has received a
major face-lift

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 5

FEATURE | X-Plane 10 – An interview with Laminar Research

3D systems. This will result in more
variation and 3D wrap-around
randomness that will confound anyone
trying to get through IMC conditions
while maintaining VFR. This is the trick
to the cloudrendering in X-Plane 10;
we draw a lot of small puffs up close,
and a few huge puffs in the distance.
This gives you a high level of detail up
close, with more generic clouds visible
in the distance. There is no need to
draw tiny one metre-wide ‘puffs’ 100
miles away, as you will never even see
them from that distance.
Each resolution contains all the cloud
puffs around you including the ones
behind you. We don’t want to tell the
video card to draw the clouds that are
behind you, which would slow your
computer down for no reason, so we
break each resolution down into 27

Atmospheric conditions have been
modelled in detail. You can even
see the condensation on the top
wing surface of this Boeing 777

is detailed enough that you can see
cloud wisps around your aircraft, but
will go on for hundreds of miles in
every direction without any repetition.
I do not know of any other game or
simulation that has gone to this level of
detail for a planet-wide simulation.
PC Pilot: What improvements have
been made to the flight modelling in
X-Plane 10?
Austin Meyer: The X-Plane engine is
fully dynamic. For V-10, I have made it
so that each flight model runs on its
own CPU. This means that if you have
20 processors, you can run twenty AI
aircraft with zero frame rate hit. That is

because all of those flight models are
running on a CPU core, one after the
other, so if you have 20 CPUs, running
20 aircraft is no slower than running
one. We have also optimised the RAM
usage of each aircraft to be
considerably lower. So, X-Plane 10
uses less memory, and gives higher
frame-rates compared to version 9 (all
other settings being equal, of course).
This will allow ATC to control all the
aircraft in the sky, delivering an
incredible level of realism. Using prerecorded WAV files, you can hear the
controller giving instructions to the
other aircraft and see them following

The new version of X-Plane features improved default aircraft

those instructions on your TCAS and
out the window. You are able to
see AI aircraft takeoff, land, taxi, stop on
the ramp, perform missed approaches
and do touch and goes, while taking
commands from ATC, all of which you
can hear on your radio. Of course all of
the other aircraft will use the same
accurate flight model as your aircraft,
so you will see them move realistically
during all phases of flight, from takeoff to landing.
PC Pilot: What changes have been
made to the weather engine in X-Plane
10 compared with previous versions?
Austin Meyer: The new weather
engine is stunning! It has no concept of
‘a cloud’ and only understands entire

buckets (a grid, in 3D, measuring 3x3x3
exactly like a Rubik’s cube). Since
maybe half of the buckets are in front
of you, and half behind, we simply
draw only the ones that are in front of
you, only displaying cloud puffs that
you can see. This doubles the framerate again. This is what makes it
possible to run at 100 fps with one
video card with clouds visible. This
gives us the detail we want, with the
long-range visibility we also require, at
the frame-rate we need.
PC Pilot: X-Plane 10 has now been
on the market since 2011. Looking
back, what has gone well and what
could have been improved?
Austin Meyer: Well the most amazing

The overhead panel for the Boeing 747 is highly detailed

The weather engine has
been completely
rewritten and features
realistic atmospheric
conditions
6 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

X-Plane 10 – An interview with Laminar Research | FEATURE

thing, I think, is the night city scenery.
We have the ability to have literally
thousands of lights at once, and see
streams of cars and trucks being
illuminated at night as they drive
under the street-lights.
This has been fairly stable since
version 10.00, so I would say that
this part has gone pretty well. In
early versions, the lighting wasn’t
reliable but in 10.30, we have
managed to iron out these issues
and it is working perfectly as far as I
can tell and the visual effect is
simply amazing – you have to fly
X-Plane with a bright monitor in a
dark room to fully see and
appreciate it, though.
Now, digital download has not
gone so well; it is taking us forever
to come up with a good in-house

The water effects in X-Plane
are stunning

The northern lights are simulated in version 10

solution, although you can get
X-Plane on Steam.
PC Pilot: Can you explain the
benefits of offering X-Plane on Steam?
Austin Meyer: The main benefit is
you get X-Plane instantly. When we
released on Steam, revenue from
X-Plane for desktop went up almost 4
fold. So, the digital era is obviously
here (and has been for some time!)
PC Pilot: Now that version 10.30 has
been released, what will you be
working on next and what features can
we look forward to?
Austin Meyer: I recently hired
someone to work on speeding up the
load times. X-Plane runs at shockingly
high frame-rates for the amount of
scenery it is delivering… but the
loading takes forever.
PC Pilot: Many consider X-Plane to
be a platform for the serious flight
simmer – how does the work you have
done on mobile platforms such as
Apple and Android fit in with this?

You can fly a selection of aircraft including the Space Shuttle

Austin Meyer: The mobile and
desktop versions are different products
and I don’t see them interacting or
complementing each other in any way.
So, I view X-Plane for desktop as my
ultimate creation as it has Plane-Maker,
and the ability to enter the design
of your own hypothetical or any real
aircraft in the world, and fly it
fairly realistically.
But, since a good part of our revenue
comes from the mobile version of
X-Plane, I continue to fund its
development, and let’s just say we
have some interesting surprises
coming out in that arena soon, which
will provide some game-changers in
X-Plane Mobile.
PC Pilot: The user interface has been
a major obstacle for flight simmers
migrating from other platforms. Would
you agree this is the case and if so,
what is being done to address this?
Austin Meyer:Yes I would agree with
them. I have spent thousands of hours

The new X-Plane world delivers exceptional detail

behind Xavion, an App for iPad and
iPhone that backs up the instruments
in the cockpit of a real aircraft.
You can use Xavion to guide you to
safety after a number of instrument or
engine failures.
This means that I have spent a lot of
time trying to fly a real aircraft while
using Xavion on my iPad at the same
time. As most of your attention is on
flying the real aircraft when you are
close to the ground, it is essential to
build an interface that is clear and easy
to use. Consequently, I have spent a lot
of time getting the user interface (UI) in
Xavion to be totally bullet-proof. So,
yes, now I agree with the people that
say the UI needs to be updated and we
have some work going on behind the
scenes now to make that happen
in the future.
PC Pilot. What are your thoughts on
Oculus Rift and do you have any plans
to support this in future updates?
Austin Meyer: We have had in-house

support for Oculus Rift for the last 3
months. Using the Rift in a 3D cockpit
in flight in X-Plane is stunning – it feels
like being you are in the real aircraft.
So, we are ready to release support the
moment the consumer Rift is released.
PC Pilot: Finally, can we expect to see
X-Plane 11 in the near future and is
there anything you can tell us about it
at this time?
Austin Meyer:Yes, we will surely see
X-Plane 11 but it will not be in the near
future. I still have all of my people
focused on X-Plane 10. I want it to
deliver on the promise made of a
plausible virtual world, with such
refinement and tuning and
performance
PC Pilot: Thank you for taking the
time to talk with us at PC Pilot.
We wish you the best for the future!
If you want to find out more about
Laminar Research or X-Plane 10, visit
http://www.x-plane.com
By Richard Benedikz

The airports include a number of detailed 3D objects
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 7

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REVIEW | X-Plane 10

The Boeing 747 has been updated and now includes a virtual cockpit and cabin

X

-Plane 10 is the most ambitious
release of the franchise we
have seen to date. It was in
the making for longer than any other
version, introducing a number of
new and revolutionary features.
Although it was first developed in
the early ’90s as a basic IFR trainer,
it has grown over the years into the
complex flight simulation tool it is
today, which has attracted a small but
loyal following. Not only is it the only
desktop flight simulator that works
on PC, Apple and Linux systems,
it also has a vibrant third-party
community that regularly creates
add-on aircraft and scenery areas.
However it still remains true to its

origins as one of its major strengths
is fluid instrumentation which makes
it a superb IFR trainer – the purpose
for which it was originally designed.
Since version 10 was released in 2011,
X-Plane 10 has undergone some major
updates. The most significant is it
is 64-bit compatible which means it
doesn't suffer from the 4Gb memory
limit sof 32-bit applications. Similarly,
the latest 10.30 version includes
important updates and new features
such as improved autogen placement,
performance optimisation and a new
Garmin 530 GPS. We have also seen
the third-party market grow and the
quality of add-ons has increased
significantly.

Innsbruck Airport is one of the more detailed airports in X-Plane 10

Flight modelling
X-Plane’s key strength throughout its
various releases has always been its
flight modelling. It works on a
principle called ‘Blade Element
Theory’ which determines the flight
characteristics of an aircraft based on
its geometric shape. In essence, the
aircraft is broken down into small
elements and the forces acting on
each element are calculated several
times per second. As a result, the
flight dynamics are highly realistic
which makes X-Plane capable of
simulating almost any type of aircraft
from airliners to helicopters.
The flight model in version 10 has
seen a number of improvements

over its predecessor – X-Plane 9. For
example, it accurately models wing
flex based on the stiffness and weight
of the wings. Condensation, due to lift
has also been modelled which is
based on wing-loading, lift coefficient,
temperature and humidity. Spins
are more realistic - including the
possibility of flat-spins. The
jet engine has also been
redesigned and engine
flame-outs are now
achievable.
The failure model
has been
improved and
now includes a
more accurate

An Alternative to FSX

10 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

X-Plane 10 | REVIEW

Heathrow Airport includes detailed terminal buildings

hydraulic and electrical systems
simulation. Almost any system can be
failed either manually or randomly at
any time, for example instruments,
engines, flight controls, control cables
and many other systems.
X-Plane can also simulate external
stores including missiles, bombs or
drop tanks. Although the
weapons do not inflict any
damage, as you release
any ordnance the
aircraft will get lighter
and the weight shift
of missiles or
bombs is
modelled
accurately.

The aircraft
The selection of aircraft is extensive
and ranges from military aircraft to
general aviation, gliders, commercial
jets, helicopters and float planes.
However, it should be noted that the
quality of the default aircraft varies
significantly. Some have been
updated with more realistic flight
dynamics, 3D cockpits and detailed
interiors, two examples of which
include the Boeing 747 and the
Space Shuttle. The King Air has also
been remodelled and includes a
much better cockpit and external
model. Unfortunately many of the
default aircraft are unchanged since
version 9 and these are starting to

The Beechcraft Baron is a new addition to the X-Plane fleet

show their age. Some aircraft have
been removed altogether, such as the
Piper Malibu, the Sea King and the
Bell 47 which are no longer available.
New aircraft introduced in this version
include the Beech Baron that comes
with a detailed 3D cockpit and the
C-130 Hercules, although that doesn’t
include a virtual cockpit.

Scenery
The scenery in X-Plane 10 has
undergone a major upgrade from
previous versions. Firstly, the scenery
for Mars which was included in
version 9 is not present in version 10.
The Earth on the other hand is
covered from 74 degrees north to 74

degrees south and is populated by
default terrain textures. Included are
cities, farmland and deserts as well as
mountainous terrain and glaciers.
The terrain textures have been
significantly improved in X-Plane 10
and while they do not match the real
world in detail, overall areas match
the real world counterpart so you will
see deserts in Africa and farmland in
large agricultural areas. Similarly,
elevation data has also been
improved dramatically and you can
now see jagged mountains rather
than the gently curving landscape in
the

The Stinton L5 has one of the better flight models

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 11

REVIEW | X-Plane 10

The SR-22 Blackbird is a superb example of supersonic modelling in X-Plane

previous version. Coastlines are also
far more accurate compared to those
in X-Plane 9.
The scenery comes on eight DVDs,
which can take up to 60GB of hard
drive space if you install scenery for
the entire planet; although it is
possible to select which part of the
world to load using a new installer
that comes with a graphical user
interface (GUI).

A ‘plausible world’
A new concept introduced in X-Plane
10 is the ‘plausible world’. This means
that although the scenery is not
modelled accurately, objects are
placed in a feasible or ‘plausible’
location using an artificially intelligent
object-planning algorithm. X-Plane
uses a detailed road network for the
entire globe that is based on the real
world. Objects such as car parks and
buildings are then placed alongside
roads, so areas with a high road
density will have more objects
compared to those in remote
locations. Every building is modelled
in 3-D and is placed in a location that
is physically possible. In this ‘plausible
world’ you will see traffic travelling
along the roads and birds flying
around and even experience bird
strikes on occasion during take-off
and landing. A new lighting model
called HDR or ‘High Dynamic Range’
has also been implemented. Every
light source is modelled individually
which provides a very realistic night
environment - although the downside

is that HDR lighting can be heavy on
the frame rates if you dont have a
modern graphics card. The water
effects are similar to that in version 9.
Ocean swells are modelled so you can
see frigates and carriers pitch and roll
in the waves. It is possible to turn on
water reflections and see mountains
and clouds reflected in the water
which look impressive although this
effect is much clearer than in the
real world.
There are more than 33,000 airports
in X-Plane, although most are lacking
in detail and don’t include accurate
taxiways and ramps. However, Laminar
Research has recently started a
new website called the X-Plane
Scenery Gateway (http://
gateway.x-plane.com/). The aim is to
populate the airports in X-Plane with
accurate runways/taxiways and
buildings. Since the project was
launched earlier this year, over 1000
new airport submissions have been
made.
X-Plane comes with a variety of
scenarios such as carrier take-off and
landings, air-to-air refuelling, Space
Shuttle re-entry and aerial tows for
gliders to name a few. The X-Plane
world can also be populated with
frigates, carriers and oil
platforms from which
you can operate.

The Space Shuttle
can be ferried on the
back of the NASA 747
12 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

The Saab Viggen is one of the legacy aircraft ported over from X-Plane 9

Mountains in X-Plane look very realistic in appearance

Weather
The weather system is one of the
more significant improvements in
version 10. Clouds are rendered in 3D
and are made up of individual puffs to
create incredibly realistic cloud
formations. They are drawn in detail
when viewed up close and more
generic clouds are visible further away
to achieve reasonable frame rates.
Clouds, in general, do however have a
significant hit on frame rates at high
detail settings.
It is possible to customise the
weather and set conditions from
clear skies to thunderstorms with
zero visibility. Thermals are modelled,
so when flying gliders, you can
experience rising air due to thermals

or ridge lift. It is possible to
customise wind layers and specify
wind direction and speed as well as
wind shear, gusts and turbulence.
Weather trends can also be set for
deteriorating or improving conditions
or real weather can be downloaded
from the internet.
Landing in thunderstorms can result
in sudden wind shear, causing the
aircraft to sink or loose speed without
warning. As the temperature drops
below freezing, rain will change to
snow and in windy conditions snow
will drift across the runways depending
on wind strength. Wet runways are
slippery requiring greater braking
distance, hydroplaning has even been
modelled, which is the loss of traction
when a layer of water prevents direct
contact between the tyres and the
runway. Similarly you can see
windsocks flapping in the wind as
they do in real life.

X-Plane 10 | REVIEW

The F-4 Phantom has been updated in version 10

ATC and AI

Sunsets are highly picturesque

The coastlines in have been improved
significantly

The clouds in X-Plane 10 are one of its
best features

X-Plane includes fluid instruments which
make it a great IFR trainer

ATC is yet another area that has been
completely redesigned. It is possible
to communicate with ATC from startup to shut-down. AI aircraft are also
controlled by ATC and they will fly
their own flight plans and interact
with air traffic control. This is however
one area where there are still some
‘bugs’ present. For example, you can
sometimes see aircraft running off
the end of runways or flying into
terrain. Aircraft can also be placed
on runways that are far too small for
them, for example the 747 can be
seen operating from small grass strips!

The Interface
The user interface in X-Plane 10
hasn’t changed much since version 9.
Although it is flexible and it is
possible to configure controllers
using almost any key/button
combination, the downside is it
looks complicated and clunky
which can be confusing for
the beginner.
For example, there is no search
function for locating airports or for
finding aircraft. On the positive side,
a new camera feature has been
included which has a number of
different view options as well as a
free camera that allows you to move

The cockpit in the Phantom has been remodelled and now includes a virtual rendition

about in the X-Plane world without
any limitations. It is also possible to
use the mouse or a joystick to control
the camera.

Performance
X-Plane 10 has been upgraded to
64-bit and has been written to take
advantage of modern-day multi-core
processors. Each flight model runs on
its own CPU, so if you have 20
processors, you can run 20 AI aircraft
with virtually no hit on frame rates.
Although X-Plane 10 runs at fairly
good frame rates at moderately high
detail settings, increasing the cloud
detail has a significant impact on
performance as they are generated on
the fly. Enabling HDR lighting also has
a similar affect. Load times are a bit on
the long side and it can take between
two and three minutes from clicking
the icon to the aircraft appearing on
the runway. However once in the air,
frame rates vary between 20 FPS in
busy built-up areas to approximately
50FPS in rural locations, although this
depends on the level on the level of
detail.

Summary
Although X-Plane is one of the more
advanced desktop simulators on the
market in terms of flight dynamics

and atmospheric modelling, it has a
slightly ‘unfinished’ look.
This is because it is under constant
development as new features and
improvements are continually being
added. Many of the default aircraft
have been improved and they now
come with excellent flight dynamics
and detailed 3D cockpits. The new
scenery system for auto-generating
the plausible scenery for the entire
world is a novel concept, but at the
moment there is no custom
architecture for different continents,
so cities look identical all over
the world, although this can be
rectified by using scenery libraries
(see page 98).
Similarly, the weather system is a
huge improvement compared to the
previous version, and we now have
clouds that are highly detailed and
realistic. The frame rates are
generally fluid, particularly on a
high-end system and even midrange systems perform surprisingly
well although this depends on
the display settings. Although
X-Plane can appear complicated to
beginners, it lacks detailed tutorials
and has a steep learning curve when
it comes to finding your way around
the menu system. However the latest
10.30 update is the most significant
to date and a step in the right
direction to make it more acceptable
to a wider audience.
By Richard Benedikz

DETAILS

80

PUBLISHER & DEVELOPER:
Laminar Research/Aerosoft
PRICE: From €49.99
WEBSITE: www.x-plane.com and
www.aerosoft.com
AT A GLANCE: X-Plane 10 is the most
ambitious release of the franchise to
date.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: Windows
XP / Vista / 7, LINUX, Mac; Processor
(CPU): 2.0GHz minimum; 2GB RAM;
80GB Free Hard Disc Space; 128MB
Graphics Card.
RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS:
Windows XP / Vista / 7, LINUX, Mac;
Multi-core Processor (CPU): 2.6GHz
minimum; 4GB RAM; 80GB Free Hard
Disc Space; 512MB Graphics Card.
X-Plane includes a number of challenging scenarios including taking-off from and landing on carriers

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 13

REVIEW | X-Plane vs. FSX

FSX suffers from limitations such as excessive drag on the
ground and poor turboprop engine modelling.

The turboprop engine model in X-Plane is more realistic compared to
FSX, even on default aircraft such as the King Air.

X-Plane vs.
FSX

For most of us, Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX) is the simulator of choice. It has
traditionally had more appeal to the mass market as the user interface is fairly
intuitive, making it simple to set up and install add-ons. X-Plane on the other hand
has adopted a more scientific or ‘nuts & bolts’ approach and is often perceived
as being more complex and difficult to configure. The main criticism is the user
interface that is considered cumbersome and can be a challenge for beginners,
but conversely, it comes with almost unlimited customisation options. Here, we
highlight the main differences between the two platforms.

Add-on aircraft such as the PMDG Boeing 777 have taken FSX to the limit of
what is possible.

The Two Platforms
The FSX platform has been around
since 2006. When it was first
released, it was developed around
the technology at the time but
advances in computer hardware has
meant it doesn’t take full advantage
of new components such as
graphics cards and multi core
processors. This is further
compounded by the fact that FSX is
a 32-bit application so it can only
access 4GB of memory. This is a
major limiting factor – as add-ons
become more complex, many of us
are starting to experience 'out of
memory' or 'virtual address space'
(VAS) errors.
X-Plane 10 on the other hand is
under continuous development. It is
a full 64-bit application which
means it is not constrained by the

4GB memory limit and it has been
made to take advantage of multi
core processors and modern
graphics cards, enabling it to run at a
much higher level of detail than is
possible with FSX.

Scenery & Lighting
FSX comes with scenery that covers
entire globe and consists of airports
with buildings and object. However,
while global scenery in X-Plane is
very detailed, the default airports
tend to be unfinished. We are now
starting to see the X-Plane world
populated with realistic runways/
taxiways and buildings thanks to the
X-Plane Scenery Gateway (a
collaborative effort by the X-Plane
community to populate airports with
object).
Other features which make X-Plane

14 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

The Flight Factor Boeing 777 Professional is one of the
better add-ons that is available for X-Plane.

stand out is lighting – every light is
modelled as an individual source so
flying over towns and cities at night
is spectacular.

Weather
Compared to FSX, X-Plane comes
with a highly realistic weather
engine that uses a complex
algorithm to model the effects of
wind, turbulence and icing as well as
a built-in weather radar. It is,
however, possible to purchase standalone weather engines for FSX such
as Active Sky Next along with third
party aircraft that take advantage of
this such as the iFly 737NG and
PMDG 777. Similarly in X-Plane it is
possible to download add-on
weather engines, such as SkyMaxPro
which creates a stunning sky with
better frame rates.

Camera
FSX comes with a basic camera,
although it is possible to purchase
third party software such as EZdok.
X-Plane in comparison comes with a
built-in camera which allows you to
program pre-defined views using the
numeric keypad.

Flight Modelling
X-Plane uses blade element theory
to calculate the flight model and is
capable of simulating different
powerplants, allowing designers to
make realistic turboprops, piston
engines and low/hi bypass jets. FSX
on the other hand uses look-up
tables for the flight model. Whilst
this has the benefit of allowing
developers to create aircraft with
accurate performance figures, they
often feel like they are on rails.

X-Plane vs. FSX | REVIEW

It is possible to significantly enhance the default scenery in FSX with a variety of
packages such as Orbx Global (pictured) and Ultimate Terrain X.

The scenery in X-Plane can be improved with packages such as the alpilot mesh v2.

The lighting in X-Plane is superb and includes dynamic shadows and independent
light sources.

Although it is possible to enable features such as shadows and lens flare in FSX, the
overhead on the computer can significantly reduce frame rates.

It is possible to populate FSX with realistic AI aircraft that follow real world schedules.

The AI aircraft in X-Plane are still very basic and can behave erratically.

Turboprops in FSX are not modelled
accurately and ground friction is
excessive which makes taxiing and
braking unrealistic.

Aircraft
FSX comes with a good selection of
default aircraft ranging from gliders
to jetliners (all of which have 3D
cockpits), though the quality of
these models is average at best. The
X-Plane 'virtual hangar' is slightly
more varied and includes military
aircraft, General Aviation, gliders,
commercial jets, helicopters and
float planes. However, it should be
noted that the quality of the default
aircraft varies significantly. Some
have been updated with more
realistic flight dynamics, 3D cockpits
and detailed interiors, while others
are carried over from version 9.

Missions and Lessons
FSX comes with flying lessons
ranging from basic aircraft handling
to advanced instrument flying, while
varied missions can give your virtual
flying a purpose. X-Plane on the
other hand assumes a certain level
of prior knowledge and comes preloaded with situations that allow you
to perform a variety of challenges.
These include formation flying,
carrier landings and putting out
forest fires to name a few.

ATC and AI Aircraft
One area where FSX stands out is
with ATC and AI traffic. ATC is basic
but functional and it is possible to
file flight plans and interact with air
traffic control using a menu system.
ATC in X-Plane on the other hand is
difficult and cumbersome to use

(and extremely unforgiving). It is
also possible to auto-tune COM
frequencies in FSX whereas X-Plane
requires you to follow real world
procedures and manually dial in
radio frequencies.
Similarly AI traffic in FSX is very
basic, although it is possible to
purchase packages that add real
world airline traffic for the entire
globe. The AI aircraft in X-Plane on
the other hand behaves erratically
and is very much a work in progress.
One advantage that X-Plane has over
FSX is the behaviour of Navaids,
which perform like real world. For
example DME (distance measuring
equipment) gives accurate readings
based on the distance from the
ground station, whereas in FSX, it
measures the distance from the
centre of the runway. Similarly ILS

beacons in X-Plane are not omnidirectional, as per the real thing.

Summary
Despite the limitations of the FSX
platform credit has to be given to
third party developers. Many have
managed to push the boundaries of
further than anyone would have
believed possible, but regardless,
the FSX platform is limiting. X-Plane
is starting to come into maturity and
recently the quality of add-ons has
increased significantly.
Laminar has focused on building a
solid and stable platform that takes
advantage of modern hardware.
By the virtue that it is 64-bit, it
allows developers to really push the
boat out and we are now seeing
products that rival those available
for FSX.

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 15

REVIEW | Expansion for X-Plane 10

The Boeing 757 comes with four default liveries including the Boeing House Colours

T

he Boeing 757-200 was
designed in the 1980s as a
replacement for the ageing 727.
It entered service in 1983 and was
commonly used on high-density
routes in Europe and transcontinental
US flights. When it was ETOPS
(Extended Twin Engine Operations)
certified in 1986, the aircraft became
a popular choice on medium long-haul
transoceanic routes. It quickly became
known as one of the more versatile
airliners made by Boeing as it was
capable of long-haul flights whilst its
single aisle configuration allowed it to
operate out of airports that couldn't
accommodate twin-aisle jets.
The 757 was developed
concurrently with the 767 and in
order to lower costs, Boeing
designed a number of components

to fit both aircraft types such as the
APU, air conditioning packs and
electrical system components.
Another key factor was the identical
flight deck layout, allowing pilots to
obtain a common type rating on
both aircraft types.
The last 757 rolled off the
production line on October 28, 2004,
after a total of 1,050 had been built
and operated by 54 airlines
worldwide. The 200 series was the
most popular model with a total of
913 aircraft built.

A new airliner for
X-Plane
The Boeing 757 Professional was
developed by FlightFactor, the team
behind the popular 777 Worldliner.
This is its second high fidelity airliner

The external model is highly detailed with animated moving parts

and is based on the 757-200 series
that was one of the first Boeings to
be fitted with a first-generation
glass cockpit.
The external model is highly
detailed and includes reflective
surfaces, high definition textures and
moving parts such as control surfaces,
flaps, spoilers and the undercarriage.
The engines are similarly very detailed
with rotating fan blades and heat
blur from the exhaust ducts.
The cabin is modelled to a
high standard and
includes galleys,
lavatories and a detailed
passenger compartment.
The main exits are
animated as well as the
emergency exits,
although the cargo

doors are not modelled. The aircraft
also includes effects such as dynamic
window reflections, rain effects and
working windshield wipers.
The base package comes with four
liveries, the Boeing house-style,
British Airways (retro), Air France and

The Flying Pencil

FlightFactor’s

Boeing 757 P
16 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

Expansion for X-Plane 10 | REVIEW

The flight deck is almost fully functional with every button and knob being clickable

Lufthansa. The livery selection is a bit
on the lean side, but it is possible to
purchase eight additional packs at
$10 each.
The 757 comes with a
detailed 3D cockpit with
a fully functional main
instrument panel,
overhead panel and
centre console, as well as
a pop-up window for the
FMC. The attention to
detail is superb; almost
every knob and switch is
functional and the
custom-made gauges are
fluid and sharp in true
X-Plane fashion. The
switches and buttons are
clearly labelled and the
CRT displays

The first generation EICAS is a far cry from modern systems that are fitted in more
modern aircraft like the Boeing 777

authentically replicate those found in
the real aircraft.

Systems
The package comes with an external
plug-in that simulates approximately
90% of the systems, including the
electrical, hydraulic and fuel systems.
According to FlightFactor, only the
maintenance systems are not
modelled. Other features include
realistic triple IRS units with source
switching, dual ADC (Air Data
Computers) with custom failures and a
triple channel autopilot allowing you
to perform full auto-lands with flare
and roll-out. The Captain and First
Officer instruments work
independently with separate analogue
instruments, Primary Flight Displays
(PFDs) and Navigational Displays (NDs),

The overhead panel is crisp and clear with
almost every system modelled in detail

The passenger cabin is rendered in detail,
which includes galleys and lavatories

an operational weather radar and two
independent FMCS that can be
programmed separately.
The aircraft comes with
approximately 200MB of authentic
sounds including a 3D stereo sound-set
for the engines. You can hear the
cockpit come to life as you go through
the start-up checklist, for example, you

can hear the APU fire up and the airflow
as air conditioning packs are turned on.
The buttons and switches come with
custom sounds, and authentic Boeing
audio warnings and fire bells are
included. You can even hear cabin
announcements and background
chatter from the passengers when you
start loading the aircraft.

The Boeing 757 is one
of the most versatile
airliners in the world

For X-Plane

Professional
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 17

REVIEW | Expansion for X-Plane 10

American Airlines operated 757s on transatlantic routes from the US to London

It is possible to customise the aircraft with winglets

Ground services

It is important to summon the correct
services when loading the aircraft, for
example, you need to call the fuel truck
before refuelling the aircraft, and in
order to load passengers you must
open one of the front doors.
It is also possible to request a
pushback tug that can be controlled
using the throttles and rudder pedals,
although it is necessary to pressurise
the hydraulic system in order to steer
the aircraft.

The package includes a plug-in for
loading and customising the aircraft. It
is possible to specify a number of
options such as setting realistic limits
on the airframe and aircraft
performance, as well as a ‘Real Time’
option that sets realistic times for
loading fuel and passengers and IRS
alignment. It also includes a first officer
option that switches the viewpoint to
the right-hand seat. Winglets can be
toggled on or off although they are
decorative and don’t have any effect on
the flight model. It is possible to specify
a ‘High Challenge’ option that sets the
failures to ten times the normal rate if
you are feeling courageous.
It is also possible to clip charts, such
approach plates, to the control column.
The aircraft comes with a small utility
that allows you to generate these charts
in the correct format from PDFs. Sample
charts are provided for Brussels,
Frankfurt Main and Kiev.
The plug-in can also be used to
request ground services such as fuel
and de-icing trucks and connect an
external power source (GPU).

The attention to detail is superb and
every aspect of the interior is modelled

Public address system

The centre pedestal has been recreated
in detail with almost every button and
switch being functional

The first-gen ADI is simple compared to
next generation systems

Lufthansa is included as
a standard livery,
although the real airline
never operated the type

18 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

The aircraft comes with a new
innovative feature that allows you to
use a menu-driven system to make
passenger announcements during
different phases of flight, for example
if you experience an emergency
situation. There is even an interactive
cabin attendant who will inform you if
you don’t do things by the book.
The downside is he likes complaining,
so, for example, if you don’t make the
proper announcements, turn the
smoking sign off or if the temperature

in the cabin isn’t just right, the flight
attendant will be ‘on the horn’. There is
however a quick and easy solution to
dispose of him in a suitable manner: by
clicking repeatedly on the intercom
button in the overhead panel.

Checklists
The package includes interactive
checklists for normal, operational and
amplified procedures. The checklists
can also be used in automatic mode
where the actions are completed for
you by a virtual first officer. It also
includes tutorials on how to power up
the various systems and you are given
step-by-step instructions on operating
the aircraft from start-up to shut-down
and each step highlights the relevant
area on the flight deck with a red circle.
Both the tutorials and the interactive
checklist are a great way to learn about
this complex airliner, even for
experienced users, and if you go
through them a few times it is
going to take a big chunk out of the
learning curve.

Expansion for X-Plane 10 | REVIEW

A functional weather radar is just one of the many features that make this aircraft one
of the best airliners currently available for X-Plane

Failures
The 757 features a complex failure
model that can cause systems to
malfunction either randomly or
because of mishandling the aircraft. For
example, if you don’t turn off the GPU
switch on the overhead panel before
disconnecting the equipment on the
ground, the connector will be
damaged. Similarly if you don’t top up
the hydraulic system, it will run dry and
cause the pumps to overheat.
On that note, it is worth keeping an
eye on the hydraulic fluid levels as
consumption is on the high side
compared to the real aircraft, but it was
intentionally modelled to emphasise
the importance of servicing the aircraft.
The aircraft status will be carried over
to the next flight including any failures,
so it is worth keeping on top of
maintenance.

Installation and
documentation
The 757 is available as a 385MB
download. Although it doesn’t include
an automated installer, the set-up
process is very straightforward. You
simply unzip the package and copy the
files to the aircraft folder in X-Plane.
The first time you load the aircraft you
are prompted for a serial number to
activate it online, so an internet

The interactive checklists are a great way
to learn how to fly this aircraft

The aircraft includes a custom failure model with over 150 possible failures including
hot starts

LIVERIES
It is possible to purchase eight additional livery
packs for the FlightFactor Boeing 757.
- Asia Pacific
- Europe pack 1
- Europe pack 2
- Europe pack 3
- Middle East / Africa
- North America pack 1
- North America pack 2
- Russian pack

connection is useful, although it is also
possible to activate the package using
a manual registration process.
The aircraft comes with extensive
documentation that consists of five
PDF manuals, including three original
Boeing manuals of more than 1400
pages. Other documentation includes
instructions on how to display the FMC
in a browser on a Tablet and a 14-page
quick start PDF.

Flight test
Although the 757 is a fairly complex
aircraft, the cockpit layout is in typical
Boeing style and should be familiar to
seasoned virtual airline fliers.
The 757 is one of the first Boeings to
be fitted with the first generation glass
cockpits that are more basic than the
systems in ‘NextGen’ jetliners we see
today. The level of automation is far
less, which means you have to be more
hands-on, although you still have LNAV
and VNAV modes and full auto-land
functionality.
In terms of the flight modelling,
the dynamics are excellent. The
aircraft is very stable and the
handling feels close to what you
would expect in an aircraft in this
category. The 757 has a few quirks,
for example, the ILS box that is
located at the rear of the centre
console, can be hard to find if you
are not familiar with the type.
Similarly the spoilers automatically
deploy when applying reverse
thrust, which is apparently a feature
of the 757-200. In addition, setting
up the autopilot and auto-throttle
disconnect buttons requires you go
to the custom mappings section;

The Boeing 757-200 has become the backbone of the Icelandair fleet since it took
delivery of the first aircraft in 1990

although this is more due to the
way X-Plane works.
The aircraft comes with a number of
very innovative features. For example,
if you forget to turn the packs on, the
temperature will drop in the cabin and
you will slowly freeze to death (you can
even hear your teeth clatter as
hypothermia sets in). If it is raining, you
need to engage the wipers and you
have to turn on the anti-ice or suffer
the consequences. The aircraft even
has a simulated oxygen mask and
during the night you will see
reflections from the instruments, while
the VDUs flicker when the main engine
generators come online.
Even the fuel cut-off switches have a
‘rich’ position like the real aircraft
which should only be used in
extremely cold weather, although I
didn't see any effect on the engine
temperatures during start-up when set
to this position, so I don’t think this is
simulated.

Summary
Following the release of its 777,
FlightFactor continues to push the
boundaries of desktop simulation with
its 757 follow-up. As a result, it would
be fair to say this is probably one of the
best airliners currently available for
X-Plane. The aircraft is superbly
rendered and the systems are
modelled in detail, with a fully
functional virtual cockpit and a very
reasonable price tag considering the
complexity of the aircraft.
The interface that is used for the

checklists and the aircraft set-up could
be more refined, but apart from that
everything is first rate. The 757 is a
great aircraft to fly and a firm favourite
among its pilots and FlightFactor has
managed to capture the spirit of this
popular aircraft.
A full complement of ground
vehicles including a pushback truck,
custom failures, cabin announcements,
all add to the immersion of this
excellent aircraft. If you like flying
complex airliners, but are inclined to a
more hands-on approach rather than
relying on the automations, then this
one is for you. This is the most
enjoyable aircraft simulation I have
flown in a while, so I have no
hesitation in giving it a Platinum
award. By Richard Benedikz.

DETAILS
DEVELOPER: FlightFactor
PRICE: $59.95 (£36.00 approx)
WEBSITE: www.flightfactor.aero/
AT A GLANCE: The 757-200 Professional

is packed full of innovative features and
the systems modelling is first rate.
This is probably one of the most
enjoyable add-on aircraft for X-Plane I
have come across.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: 64-Bit
X-Plane 10 and OS are required to run
FlightFactor’s 757. Windows Vista/7/8
64-Bit or Mac OSX 10.7/10.8/10.9 or
Linux Ubuntu 12.04LTS or compatible
(older versions are not supported)
X-Plane 10 fully updated. 64-Bit
mode. (X-Plane 9 not supported.
X-Plane 10 32-Bit not supported).
8GB RAM/1GBVRAM (2GB VRAM
Recommended). 512MB available hard
disk space (download size: 375MB).

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 19

REVIEW | Expansion for X-Plane 10

The panel graphics are a refreshing change from the typical pristine and factory-fresh
representations we have seen before. Instead, the Saab panels more realistically
feature smudges and wear indicative of thousands of hours worth of use

I

t was way back in the May/
June 2009 issue of PC Pilot that
I first took a stab at reviewing
an X-Aviation offering for X-Plane:
the MU-2B Marquise. At that time,
X-Plane add-on developers were just
getting their feet under them and the

technological strides that X-Plane was
making were really ramping up. As a
fan of X-Plane, I was very hopeful five
years ago when I first started writing
about the third-party add-ons for
X-Plane. Over the years, X-Aviation
has continued to deliver and push the

The handy TQ Status Viewer pop-up is a handy tool that shows where the power and
condition levers are set. With multiple gates for both sets of levers, proper positioning
of the levers is important

boundaries of X-Plane further and
further. Just a few issues ago I raved
about the new JRollon JetStream 32
distributed by X-Aviation, and now
I’m having to come up with even
more superlatives for the newly
released Take Command!: Saab 340A.

Apparently, success is breeding
further success for the developers
under the X-Aviation banner.

The package
Users of X-Plane would be hard
pressed to find a more complete

Take Command!

Saab 340A
Another superlative release for X-Plane 10

The Saab 340A can operate comfortably at maximum
take-off weights to airfields just shy of 5,000ft
20 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

Expansion for X-Plane 10 | REVIEW

The Saab features one of the best Virtual Checklist implementations this reviewer has
ever seen. Multiple pages cover each individual item and clicking on each takes you to
a preset custom viewpoint to address each function. Simply brilliant!

package than what the Saab 340A
offers. The fantastic X-Aviation
installer and activation scheme
works well, downloading and
decompressing the package into a
substantial 2GB footprint. Included
with the download are passenger,
cargo and military variants of the
aircraft with 29 stunning liveries.
Artist Leen de Jager provided ten of
the custom liveries that really
showcase what high resolution
texturing can do. Documentation is
nothing short of perfection with five
PDF files covering: Performance
Charts, Tutorial Flight, Intro &
Settings, Quick Start and a stellar
209-page Systems manual. With the
level of systems functionality, the
guides are essential reading.

A comprehensive flight
experience
From the first impression, the Saab
340A will amaze and impress. The
best place to start is with the Gizmo
Tool Tray Menu System which allows
users to configure preferences and
settings for a vast array of aircraft
specific items including joystick
assignments, exterior objects and
ground support equipment, virtual
checklists and chart selection among
others. The Virtual Walkaround
Checklist is brilliantly done, allowing

you to select each item on the
walkaround and then be taken to a
preset external custom camera
viewpoint. This functionality is also
featured in the extensive, multi-page
interior checklist that includes all of
the normal operations checklists
(Before Engine Start, Taxi, Take-off,
etc). As each checklist item is ticked
off, you can press the adjacent VIEW
box and the interior camera will snap
to the proper location in the cockpit
to find that particular item. When
first getting to know the aircraft, this
feature is enormously helpful. For
those daunted by the extensive preflight and start-up procedures, an
excellent real-time automated startup tool will run a script that hits all
of the switches for you to bring the
plane out of the cold and dark state
to engines running. This is another
useful way to learn how the aircraft
operates. There is also the ability to
place custom approach plates on the
Captain’s yoke using the Chart
Selector utility. Up to five charts can
be displayed and are loaded by
placing your own charts (cut to
specific dimensions) into an aircraft
subdirectory. Moving from the
cockpit to the cabin, the main cabin
entry door and airstairs can be
operated with a multi-step process
using manipulators to open and

Systems fans will rejoice at the complexity and functionality of the overhead panel
with its crisp detailing and backlit lettering

For those who don’t want to go through the full manual start-up procedure, an
automated start-up option allows for a quick, yet still complete, start-up routine

close the door. The cabin features
rows of seats, but is not modelled to
an unnecessary level of detail. It
would be nice if the cargo variant
included an actual cargo interior.

Razor sharp panels
Given the complexity of the Saab
340A systems modelling, you’ll
spend a lot of time on the various
instrument and systems panels
flipping switches and pressing
buttons. The 340A is a true pilot’s
aircraft in the sense that it takes a
fair amount of familiarity and study
to become comfortable in it. It’s not
enough to just hit the switches – it’s
a good idea to know the ‘why’
behind how each system works.
Fortunately the interior virtual
cockpit is just about as good as they
come in any simulator (FSX or
X-Plane). Gauge update rates are
fabulous, panel legibility is crisp and
sharp throughout all zoom levels,
and there is even a nice gritty feel to
the cockpit with the included
smudge marks and worn knobs. This
isn’t a factory-fresh aircraft, it is a
well used workhorse! The pop-up
power and condition lever panel is
useful for those with controllers
without detents for idle or reverse.
Night lighting in the form of flood
and panel back lighting via

The Virtual Checklist includes a section
for the aircraft walk-around inspection.
Clicking on each position will take you to
a custom preset external camera location

The included manuals are professionally
written and illustrated, complete and
include performance charts and
simulation-specific information

A close-up view of the engine gauges shows how sharp and readable the cockpit
markings appear even at high zoom levels
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 21

REVIEW | Expansion for X-Plane 10

Smugglers beware! – the package includes the Saab 340
AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning and Control) configuration

adjustable rheostats is perfectly
implemented. I only have two small
gripes. The first is that the EFIS
displays might look a bit too sharp
and computer-generated as opposed
to the slight rastering you’d expect
to see in a small tube-driven
instrument. The second is that the
use of manipulators for some
in-cockpit functions such as spinning
the altitude preselect knob is a bit
laborious and time consuming. In
other applications, such as moving
switch guards, manipulators are very
well implemented, but there is a bit
of inconsistency with their
usefulness. The aircraft is not
equipped with a panel-mounted GPS
which hints at the utility nature of

the 340A modelled. A Mini GPS is
available from the Tool Tray that will
project basic fix information overlaid
on the screen with heading and
distance information. There is an
ability to put FROM and TO fixes in
the Mini GPS which will allow you to
fly off airway routes. The Mini GPS is
not coupled to the autopilot
however, so manual heading changes
must be accomplished with the
autopilot heading mode.

Sounds
Often overlooked is the impact that
good sounds contribute to the
overall add-on package. The Saab
340A uses the soundXtreme 3D
sound engine with 130 unique sound

The virtual cockpit gauges, annunciators and indicators are very nicely modelled
22 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

samples to excellent effect. The
clicks, rattles and whine of the
engines and hydraulics are all very
immersive and capture the character
of the aircraft. The pitch change of
the engine when going into and out
of beta is excellent and serves as a
good cue to power lever positions.

Ground and flight
characteristics
With engines running, a moderate
bump on the power levers will get
the aircraft rolling. Taxiing the Saab,
as is the case for most aircraft in
X-Plane, is a very agreeable and
dynamic experience. The plane feels
as though it has weight and inertia.
Toying with differential power will

result in shallow turns without even
needing to touch the rudder pedals.
Take-off power should be applied
evenly and the nicely modelled
Constant Torque System (CTOT) will
limit the torque to the preselected
setting. The CTOT modelling is one of
those fairly complex turbine systems
that most users will fail to
appreciate. Modelling turboprop
engine dynamics can be difficult and
the developers of the Saab did an
exceptional job on it.
The flight director and autopilot
function correctly in all modes and
the aforementioned excellent gauge
refresh update rates make flying the
aircraft on instrument approaches a
real pleasure. All of the advanced

Cockpit backlighting, flood lighting and instrumentation lighting are all perfectly done
with levels adjustable by rheostats

Expansion for X-Plane 10 | REVIEW

A host of external options can be toggled via the Ground Support menu including: GPU,
gear locking pins, pitot covers, chocks, and parking cones

With a 270 knot cruise speed and a max payload range of just shy of 800nm, the Saab
340A makes an excellent regional passenger and cargo hauler

Ground handling is exceptional owing to X-Plane’s excellent ground physics coupled
with very good implementation of the power levers allowing for the use of differential
power and reverse

X-Aviation brought aboard the skills of the talented Leen de Jager to spice up the livery
selection with ten unique ‘LDJ’ detailed liveries among the more than 30 that are
included in the package

aircraft systems are modelled
including the stick pusher, rudder
limiter, anti-ice controls and
hydraulics to name a few. A good
working knowledge of how the
systems interact will answer the
questions that will inevitably come
up. The flight model and systems
were tested and endorsed by a group
of former Saab 340A pilots, which
gives a clue as to why the aircraft
feels so authentic. I do feel that the
aircraft is a bit docile in the Vmc
regime. The stick pusher kicks in
lowering the angle of attack, but the
roll off tendency seems understated.
The included tutorial flight PDF is a
very well written step-by-step guide
to operating the 340A on a typical

Conclusion

route segment. Spending some time
with the tutorial will help familiarise
new users with the aircraft systems
and some of the aircraft-specific
features that you will not find on
other aircraft.

Externals
The Saab 340A external model is yet
another example of fantastic 3D
artistry. While the aircraft itself is
exceptional, it is nice to see details
included such as the modeled
ground power unit, chocks and the
airstair operation. On close
inspection, the bump mapping on
the skins and their interaction with
X-Plane’s lighting and atmospheric
effects are impressive.

The included
Cockpit
backlighting,
livery package
flood lighting
(31 liveries)
and instrumentation
spans the globelighting
with representative
are all perfectly
airlines
done
with levels
from
North adjustable
and South America,
by rheostats
Europe, Asia and Australia

It’s hard to believe how far we’ve
come with the complexity and
depth of X-Plane add-on modules.
The past few releases we’ve
reviewed at PC Pilot seem to have
reached parity with even the most
advanced FSX offerings. With the
Saab 340A, X-Aviation has
continued to push development
forward and it does bode well for
the wider X-Plane audience that
X-Plane and FSX are reaching an
area of equal footing. At $54.95 the
Take Command: Saab 340A is not
cheap, but the amount of research
and the correct implementation of
such advanced systems suggest
that the price point is warranted.

The Saab 340A isn’t an aircraft
you’ll purchase and allow to sit
idle; there is so much to explore
that it is easy to find the value in
the package.
By Chris Frishmuth

DETAILS
PUBLISHER: X-Aviation
PRICE: $54.95
WEBSITE: www.x-aviation.com
DEVELOPER: Leading Edge Simulations
AT A GLANCE: A well-researched and

implemented package with advanced
systems functionality. It also has
exceptional documentation and a
wealth of bonus features.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows
or MAC OS, X-Plane 10.22+ (64-Bit),
2GB HD

While the Saab 340A exhibits perfect flying characteristics within 99% of the flight
envelope, Vmc roll is still understated and the X-Plane-specific quirk of the slightly
windmilling feathered propeller remains
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 23

REVIEW | Expansion for X-Plane 10

X-Plane’s lighting, reflections and atmosphere make the Centurion appear almost real

Inbound for landing. Note the 3D recessed lights in the nose and the grime on the underside

et’s play a little word
association game. I say a word,
and you respond with the word
you most associate with mine. Here
we go: Carenado…
It doesn’t take a Vegas mind reader
to predict that the majority of you
will have said Cessna. It’s what
Carenado is perhaps most
well known for –
exquisitely detailed, high
fidelity simulations of
Cessna aircraft

gear. A redesign soon after launch
though lead to more design changes
to provide extra seating in the cabin,
as well as greatly improved stability
and low-speed handling.
As with most of Cessna’s line, the
aircraft went through countless
iterations. The 210M modelled here
arriving in 1977 and bringing a turbocharged 310HP TSIO-520-R engine
into the 210L package which provided
upgraded electrics and electrically
powered hydraulics.

L

within Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Recently though Carenado decided to
lead the charge of mainstream
publishers switching to ‘the other sim
– X-Plane. The Cessnas remain of
course, but within X-Plane they get a
whole new lease on life.
The 210M Centurion II, let’s be
honest, looks pretty much like any
other Cessna and with good reason.
The Centurion actually started out life
as the Cessna 182B, albeit with a
swept tail and retractable landing

Carenado

At the core, the 210M is still a trainer,
with all the characteristics instructors
and trainee pilots love in the 182, but
with enough seating, power and
reliability in which to take a well
heeled family on weekend trips across
the countryside. Carenado’s version
also delivers modern avionics,
including a KFC225 autopilot, and two
Garmin 430 GPS units. But does it
really offer anything extra - over and
above the default trainer?

Cessna C210M
Centurion
For X-Plane

What happens when you
combine a classic GA aircraft
from Carenado with the
X-Plane 10 aerodynamics
engine? Heaven!

24 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

Expansion for X-Plane 10 | REVIEW

X-PLANE VERSUS FSX
PURELY IN the interests of research I spent a few
hours in the older FSX version of the Centurion II
to draw a comparison, and was surprised to find
there’s no clear-cut winner here. The texturing
and detail of the GPS units in FSX is far superior
to the ones in X-Plane, while X-Plane’s rendition
of the flight model is light years beyond anything
FSX could achieve.
On the flip side though, FSX has slightly better
sounds than the X-Plane version, which in a fly-by
view at least can at times sound like an angry
bumblebee stuck in a drinks can. On the ground
though, the X-Plane sound-set wins hands down
with all the burbles and grumbles you’d expect to
hear from this aircraft in the real world. X-Plane’s
ground handling also wins, accurately conveying
bumps and creaks as you taxi to the ramp.
But all of this is quite subtle. This is not the
aircraft that will compel you to switch to X-Plane
any time soon, but if you do have X-Plane and
are looking for an incredibly detailed and highly
accurate Cessna to train with, this has to be at the
top of your shortlist.

The package
I’ll openly admit I’m not a big fan of
Carenado’s packaging. It makes great
aircraft, but they invariably arrive with
little more than a few short PDFs and a
cheery pat on the back. In fact, the
standard for X-Plane add-ons is to
actually go even more basic than that,
simply providing a directory of files
that most developers expect you to
manually move around to the right
location on your hard drive. This one is
not an exception.
After unzipping the small download
you get a single directory that you
need to manually drop into the
X-Plane aircraft folder, and within it is
a ‘Docs’ directory that includes the all

The level of
detail on the
textures is
unprecedented

too familiar selection of Carenado
PDFs. There’s one that covers the
autopilot, there’s another single-page
PDF with general performance
information on the aircraft, and then
another that provides checklists.
While I’m not a fan of this kind of
terseness, it does have some
strengths. It’s a: 'Just the facts Ma’am'
approach that gives you precisely
everything you need to get airborne
with no added fluff. The checklists
even go so far as to detail pretty much
every emergency condition you’re
likely to come across in flight. I’d love
to be able to curl for an afternoon and
read, but that’s not really what
Carenado Cessnas are all about is it?

The aircraft
In the simulation, this aircraft has a
few surprises. Sure, it’s one of
Carenado’s HD line, and that means
high definition textures, lots of detail –
all the usual stuff we all expect to see
in commercial add-ons these days. But
this one is different. This one raises
the bar. I zoomed in on a rear panel on
the fuselage wanting to see at what
point the texture would drop in
quality. I didn’t reach that point. No
matter how close I got, the textures
remained ludicrously sharp and
detailed, even down to the slight
ripples and imperfections where handcrafted panels are shaped with soft
hammers by skilled artisans in

Cessna’s factory. This isn’t a ‘detailed’
aircraft - it’s absolutely photo realistic
and picture perfect.
In the cockpit, the slightly weathered
interior confers a feeling of age and
use, a warm fuzzy feeling that this is
an aircraft that flies a lot. When the
sun goes down and the lights come
on, it’s bathed in trademark Carenado
swathes of soft-edged light and
diffusion. In short, it’s spectacular.
This C210M is however let down in
one area and that’s the GPS units.
While they are pretty good renditions
of Garmin 430 units, the resolution of
their screens is just wrong and that’s
very surprising for Carenado. In fact,
compared to the FSX version of

The lighting in the FSX version of the aircraft is beautiful

The cockpit as a whole is immaculate in this Centurion

The dashboard in the Centurion II is wonderful, except for the blocky GPS displays

Mood lighting and debris on the windscreen makes for a very atmospheric aircraft
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 25

REVIEW | Expansion for X-Plane 10

A handy pop-out panel lets you jump between views instantly

this very aircraft, the screens appear
blocky and awkward.
Getting to them though is not. As is
becoming increasingly common,
Carenado provides a floating menu
system that pilots can click to
instantly switch to another view
within the cockpit. It doesn’t work too
well if you have another view control
device in use, like Track-IR, but for
those who don’t it’s a handy way to
quickly get at every finely detailed
knob, switch, lever and button, and it
works really well.
Everything works too – every moving
door, lever, window and strut is
animated perfectly. You can even grab
the sun visors and move them
precisely to the position you want
them in just by clicking and dragging.
That’s a nice touch.

aircraft. In fact, there’s not much more
I can say other than this aircraft flies
just like the real aircraft. Anyone who’s
had a flying lesson should know pretty
much how a Cessna feels, and while
the FSX ones all get very close indeed,
this one actually feels right. You really
notice every bump in the airflow, feel
the altitude dropping as you feed into
a side slip and appreciate the
smoothness and satisfaction that
comes from a well coordinated turn,

All animated surfaces are modelled perfectly, including the awkward-looking landing gear

Even after zooming in, the textures
remain crisp and super detailed

In Flight
Cessnas are meant to be in the air
though and thankfully the beauty and
love poured into the visual modelling
is equal to the attention that’s been
paid to this aircraft’s flight model – it’s
wonderful. The C210M performs
almost exactly as the real one does
according to the performance charts
included, even down to being able to
tune the correct mixture in the cockpit
on sound alone (externally though, the
sounds are weak). Stalls are smooth,
slow and predictable, just like the real
aircraft. She floats on to the runway
and lands predictably, just like the real

Should you need to chill out, just jump into one of the back seats. “Are we nearly there yet?”

The FSX version of the C210M Centurion II

as opposed to an awkward violent
uncoordinated one.
I’ve said in previous articles that I
believe X-Plane’s flight model to be
the best there is on the desktop. I’ve
got other Carenado products in my
X-Plane hangar, but I’ll go so far as to
say that the combination of the
C210M with X-Plane’s flight
dynamics makes this the single most
realistic desktop simulated flight
experience, without exception. If
you’re learning to fly, or thinking
about it, get the C210M.

Conclusion

No matter what angle you look at, this is
an amazingly detailed model

I’ll be frank. Carenado releasing
another Cessna would appear on the
surface to be about as exciting and
surprising as summer rain in London.
But, there’s something to be said for
doing what you know, for tackling a

subject in which you are, without any
doubt, the market leader.
I still never cease to be amazed by
just how awesome each new Cessna
from the ‘Cessna gods’ is. The
Centurion is simply beautiful from
every possible angle. X-Plane’s flight
dynamics combined with an excellent
flight model makes her a wonderful
trainer and one of the very few
simulated aircraft out there that really
does convey the sensation of flight.
The enhanced GPS units also make the
Centurion a great cross-country
navigator. The phenomenal texturing
and the sublime lighting details make
her a swoon-worthy addition to any
virtual hanger.
All in all then, yet another classic
Carenado rendition of a classic Cessna
- and there’s nothing at all wrong with
that! By Peter Wright

DETAILS

90

PUBLISHER: Carenado
PRICE: $29.95
AT A GLANCE: The Carenado Centurion

The longer cabin and slightly swept tail
give the Centurion a ‘stretched’ feel
26 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

combines a beautiful 3D model with
an excellent flight model - one that
really conveys the sensation of flight making her a wonderful trainer.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows
Vista or Windows 7 (32- or 64-Bit)
or MAC OS 10.6 (or higher) or Linux;
X-Plane 9.6/9.7 or XPlane 10.11 (or
higher - 64-Bit compatible); Pentium
2GHz - 4GB RAM/1GB VRAM; 308MB
available hard disk space.

Chilliblast F_P.indd 1

30/09/2014 09:54

REVIEW | Expansion for X-Plane 10

B-25 Bomber
Khamsin's

The B-25 Mitchell was immortalised by the Doolittle Raid when 16 B-25s
were launched from the carrier USS Hornet to attack Tokyo.

N

amed after General Billy
Mitchell, the B-25 was
probably the most versatile
medium-sized bomber of World War
Two serving in every theatre of the
conflict. The prototype XB-25 made
its maiden flight in August 1940
and when production ended in 1945
almost 10,000 aircraft had been
built by North American. Various air
forces operated B-25s, and although
the US Air Force (USAF) retired its
last machine in 1959, the Indonesian
Air Force kept its B-25s in service
for another 20 years. Many different
versions were produced and carried a

B-25 LIVERIES
KHAMSIN'S B-25 includes the following liveries:
• Bomber – Apache Princess
• Bomber – Briefing Time
• Bomber – MB11
• Bomber – Miss Mitchell
• Bomber – Pacific Prowler
• Strafer – Devil Dog
• Strafer – Hot Gen

that can be downloaded from its
website www.khamsin.org; the de
Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk and the
North American T-28 Trojan and the
Pacific Islands Airfields – WW2
scenery package. Khamsin has also
made objects that are included in the
core X-Plane program such as the
default oil platforms, frigates and
aircraft carriers, including the USS
Nimitz. Khamsin has opted to
reproduce the ‘J’ variant of the B-25
which was the last model in the
production series.

Walk-around

Khamsin’s B-25 commences its take-off run

wide range of weapons, including up
to 14 forward-firing 0.50 cal machineguns, and even a 75mm cannon – one
of the largest guns ever carried by
an aircraft. After the war, surplus
examples were often converted
into trainers, VIP transports and fire
bombers, which may explain why, of
all the World War Two bombers, the
Mitchell is easily the most numerous

28 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

(although the film Catch-22 also
played a part, as 18 were used). There
are still about 125 intact examples in
existence and between 25 and 30 of
those are airworthy.
Now, Khamsin Studios is to produce
the iconic B-25 Mitchell for X-Plane.
The company has released a number
of add-on packages for X-Plane such
as the superb freeware Boeing B-17

The package includes a bomber
version with five HD liveries and also
the ‘strafer’ version, a shorter solid
nose variant containing fixed .50 cal
machine guns, that comes with three
liveries.
The aircraft is modelled to a high
standard with high definition (HD)
textures and reflective surfaces. Even
detail such as rivets on the fuselage
and carbon deposits around the

Expansion for X-Plane 10 | REVIEW

engines is visible. Similarly, each livery
comes with detailed nose art and the
transparent Plexiglas is reflective, so
you can see parts of the cabin
mirrored from inside the aircraft.
Other features include moving parts
such as control surfaces, flaps and a
retractable
undercarriage
that has various
hydraulic and
electrical lines modelled. The engines
are similarly very detailed with
rotating props and exhaust smoke.

The engines come with working cowl flaps

The detailed cockpit comes with period instruments

Other animations include operational
bomb bays and sliding cockpit
windows – even the crew has been
modelled in period clothing.

CHECKLIST

Cockpit and systems
The cockpit has been modelled to a
high standard with period instruments
and the controls have been recreated
in detail. It includes a functional main
instrument panel, and a centre
pedestal consisting of animated
throttles, prop and mixture levers as
well as levers for the supercharger,

ANOTHER INNOVATIVE feature is the pop-up
checklist, which can be accessed from the
checklist label on the left of the main instrument
panel. The following checklists are included:
• Pre-flight
• Starting engines
• Before take-off
• Run-up
• Climb
• Before landing
• Approach
• After landing
• Shutdown

carb heat and controls for the
undercarriage, flaps and cowl flaps.
The trim wheels for the rudder and
ailerons are located between the
pilots’ seats. The instrumentation is
clear and fluid and the switches are
clearly labelled. A NavCom unit and an
ADF are also included, allowing you to
tune in VOR and NDB ground stations.
Other systems that are modelled are
the auto-pilot, known as the gyro pilot,
which is basic but functional and
comprises heading and altitude hold.
The B-25 has seven fuel tanks that are
managed from the fuel tank panel to
the right of the co-pilot.

The B-25 comes with seven fuel tanks that are simulated

"The aircraft can be loaded with bombs that can be dropped and you
will experience the weight shift as the aircraft becomes lighter."

The bomb bay doors are fully animated
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 29

REVIEW | Expansion for X-Plane 10

STARTING UP THE REAL B-25 MITCHELL
FORMER EDITOR of Today’s Pilot and aviation writer, Dave Unwin describes the start-up
procedure he experienced during a flight test in the B-25 Tondelayo in the US:
A large flat section called the ‘control pedestal switch panel’ extends out from the centre of
the console to the throttle quadrant. This carries the magneto and master ignition selectors,
toggle switches for the fuel pumps, primers and starters and the two large red guarded ‘prop
feathering’ buttons. The fuel shut-off valves are on either side of the centre console adjacent
to the associated engine’s prop feathering buttons. A plethora of levers sprout from the control
pedestal. Along with the usual throttles/props/mixtures quadrant and their associated friction
locks, there are also levers that control each engine’s carb heat and supercharger and a switch
to select ‘carb air filter’. At the base of the control pedestal (on the floor between the seats)
there’s a small box that carries levers for the flaps, cowl flaps and undercarriage. Also on the
floor between the seats are large rotary knobs for the aileron and rudder trim, the emergency
hydraulic hand pump and the emergency brake lever. A large wheel on the left side of the
control pedestal operates the elevator trim.
Starting it is very much a ritual, with a great number of buttons, switches, knobs and levers to
be pushed, pulled, twisted, turned and set:
“Slowly, the giant three-bladed propeller began to revolve and after six blades had scythed
past my window, I pressed the primer switch with another finger of the same hand, counted
three more blades and turned both magnetos on. From deep within the bowels of the cowls,
the engine coughed and grunted as a couple of cylinders fired. Smoke streamed back from the
exhaust as the huge propeller turned faster and faster. Almost like an orchestra approaching a
crescendo, the remaining cylinders burst into life. "
“Three distinct blades of the propeller transformed into a giant, shimmering platinum disc
with the airframe shuddering in sympathy. The smoke was torn instantly into shreds by the gale
of wind blasting back from the ‘Twin Cyclone’ (what an apt name) and the engine settled down
with that wonderfully liquid big radial rumble."
“The second engine started equally easily, and once both were stabilised at 1,000rpm, I had
to wait for the oil temperature to reach 20°C and the cylinder head temperatures to rise above
100°C.”
"The pre-take off checks were pretty standard (there is a neat little pull-down checklist built
into the glare shield) and included setting the mixtures to ‘auto-rich’ and turning on the fuel
boost pumps, cycling the props and testing the feathering system. All the trimmers were set to
neutral, the cowl flaps opened to 1/2 and the flaps lowered to 15°. When checking the mags on
the right engine, I looked out of my side window to see if the engine shook on its mounts...”

The aircraft can be loaded with
bombs that can be dropped and you
will experience the weight shift as the
aircraft becomes lighter. It even comes
with a ‘toggleable’ gun sight – the
guns are modelled and can be fired
although weapons are not active in
X-Plane, so no damage is caused.

Crew stations
It is possible to switch between
different crew stations including the
engineer / gunner station, the radio
station that has additional guns
mounted on each side of the
fuselage, the fuselage nose gun
section and the tail gunner. Khamsin
has set up the numeric keypad to
switch between the different stations
and various views in the cockpit,

which is a nice touch.

Installation and
documentation
Installation is very straightforward.
Once you have purchased the aircraft,
you simply download and unzip the
file ‘North American B25J Mitchell
V1.1.zip’ and copy and paste the
contents to the aircraft folder within
the X-Plane folder structure. The next
time you load X-Plane the aircraft will
be available in the ‘Plane’ selection
menu.
The package includes a 20-page
manual that includes a short
description of the aircraft, detailed
diagrams of the switches and levers
and checklists and power settings for
the engines as well as instructions on

30 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

The B-25 comes with five high definition bomber liveries

The aircraft is superbly modelled both inside and out

how to set the aircraft up in X-Plane.
Also included is a tutorial on how to
operate the fuel system and autopilot
unit and instructions are given on
setting up the guns or arming and
releasing the bombs by opening the
bomb doors.

Flight test
Although the B25J was designed with
a ‘two crew’ cockpit, as with most
machines of this era the panel isn’t
fully duplicated left and right. Instead,
the flight instruments are on the left
side, with most of the engine,
electrical and hydraulic systems’
gauges on the right. The centre of the
panel houses the primary engine
instruments – a tachometer and
manifold pressure gauge. Both have

dual-pointers. As with most American
aircraft of the 1940s the layout of the
flight instruments is completely nonstandard and difficult to scan.
Conversely, the various temperature
and pressure gauges are logically laid
out. The autopilot is basic as in the
real B-25 and is fairly easy to operate
with basic pitch and heading hold
functions.
The take-off is typical of aircraft of
that era. Rather than rotating, you have
to raise the nose a few degrees and let
the aircraft fly off and accelerate to
126kts. Due to the torque from the
engines, it has a strong tendency to
pull to the left which can be
counteracted with the rudder trim. In
terms of handling, the aircraft is very
stable and it is easy to keep in trim.

Expansion for X-Plane 10 | REVIEW

It is possible to load the B-25 with a full complement of bombs that will affect the
weight and balance of the aircraft

The external model is highly detailed; even the nose art is crystal clear

It is possible to man the gunner stations

B-25 UPDATE
KHAMSIN RECENTLY released version 1.1 of
the B-25 Mitchell. The update contains the
following additions:
Added a Strafer version of B-25J Mitchell
(solid nose)
Three new liveries for Strafer version:
• PBJ-1J Devil Dog # 44-86758
• B-25J Betty’s Dream 0# 45-8835
• B-25J Hot Gen # 45-88823
Included new liveries for Bomber version:
• B-25J Mitchell “Miss Mitchell” 44-29869
• B-25J Mitchell “Apache Princess” 44-28059
• B-25J Mitchell “Pacific Prowler” 44-30823
• B-25J Mitchell “Briefing Time” 44-29939
• B-25J Mitchell “Martha Jean” 44-86777
• PBJ-1J Mitchell VMB 611
ACF: minor changes

The 12 forward-facing .50 cal machine guns can be fired although they don’t cause
any damage

The approach and landing phase is
also straightforward. The maximum
permitted speed to extend the landing
gear and flaps is 170kts and Vref is
between 96-104kts with 30 degrees
of flaps. It is possible to extend the
flaps to 45 degrees, however this
generates a large amount of drag and I
found 30 degrees to be the best
compromise.

Summary
Visually the Khamsin B-25J Mitchell is
striking. The aircraft is modelled in
detail with high definition textures
and the 3D modelling is simply

superb. The cockpit is well rendered
and functional with nice touches such
as operational bomb doors. The flight
model feels extremely realistic and
frame rates were excellent with an
average of 40 FPS in most areas.
Overall the Khamsin’s B-25 is a
superbly made aircraft, right down to
the rumble of the twin Cyclone
engines. Visually it is one the best
aircraft that is available for X-Plane, so
I am more than happy to award the
Khamsin B-25 a score of 90%.
By Richard Benedikz

DETAILS
PUBLISHER & DEVELOPER:

90

X-Plane.Org / Khamsin Studios
PRICE: US$24.95
WEBSITE: http://khamsin.org/
AT A GLANCE: Khamsin Studios’ B-25
is an excellent simulation of this classic
World War Two bomber.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows
Vista or Seven (32- or 64-Bit) / MAC
OS X / Linux, X-Plane 10.20 or higher
(64-Bit-compatible), Pentium 2GHz 4GB RAM/1GB VRAM, 200MB available
hard disk space.

The package comes with two variants: the glassnosed bomber version and the ‘hard-nosed’
strafer variant

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 31

REVIEW | Scenery Expansion for X-Plane 10

Real Scenery Enhanced

Island of

Oahu
For X-Plane 9/10

No coconut
bra included

W

hat is it
about the
Hawaiian Islands
that make them so compelling
to flight simulation enthusiasts?
Reaching back in my admittedly
diminishing memory banks, I can
recall the excitement of flying
over the virtual skies of Hawaii in
Microsoft’s Flight Simulator 98. In
every iteration of Flight Simulator
since then, the Hawaiian Islands have
been featured as default, freeware
or payware scenery. The attraction
of Hawaii is no doubt related to the
picturesque real-life environments
that are a staple of life in those
jewels of the Pacific. With elevations
soaring to snow-covered peaks above
13,000ft, to lush tropical ravines and
turquoise waters, the islands of Hawaii
offer a diverse flying environment
for all types of armchair aviators. It
is a testament to the allure of Hawaii
that Microsoft Flight launched its new

simulator with Hawaii as the initial
focal point. Now those of us who
enjoy the change of pace that X-Plane
provides can also ply the skies over
the island of Oahu with the highest
detail offering for X-Plane yet with the
Real Scenery Enhanced Oahu package
for X-Plane 9 and 10.

Real Scenery’s detailed overlay coupled with X-Plane’s gorgeous weather and
atmospheric modelling make for an awesome visual combination
32 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

Available via direct
download or DVD from the
distributor at X-Aviation, the
scenery package includes the
island of Oahu and weighs in at
888MB. Purchasing from the site is
straightforward and the download
and installation are a simple
matter of following the onscreen
prompts to direct the scenery to
the correct directory. To my
surprise, there appears to be no
documentation provided other
than a scan of the Hawaii sectional
chart. A description of the package,
simulator graphics settings, reference
material about the creation of the
scenery or even credits would be
useful documents that should be
included in any add-on package. Real
Scenery Enhanced boasts ultra-high
resolution imagery, improved colour,
fewer artifacts and seamless
integration of airports into the
surrounding landclass. Additionally,
this scenery utilises the texture paging

If you have a house on Oahu, you can
probably locate it thanks to Real
Scenery’s use of real imagery

The excellent rendition of Oahu will have
you longing for complete Real Scenery
coverage of the entire Hawaiian Island chain

system within X-Plane to more efficiently
call the scenery which results in faster
scenery loading and better overall
simulator performance. Indeed, I found
the performance gains to be substantial with overall greatly improved graphics
versus the default X-Plane terrain. The
reason for the performance gain,
however, might be at the expense of
other X-Plane features.

At everything but the lowest altitudes the overlay scenery is sharp, crisp and
accurately placed

Scenery Expansion for X-Plane 10 | REVIEW

Photographic quality overlays result in stunning water effects such as the appearance
of small ripples and wind patterns near Ford Island. Unlike other simulators with
cartoon-like colour palettes, Real Scenery provides accurate colour replication

A beautiful illusion
The high resolution imagery is simply
stunning. Much care and attention has
obviously been taken to provide a
high level of accuracy and precision
with regard to imagery placement.
When the inevitable comparisons
against the competition (Microsoft
Flight) are made, Real Scenery
Enhanced wins for what appears to be
the most realistic rendition of what
flying over Oahu really looks like.
A subdued colour palette, sharp
imagery of the landscape and a very
detailed terrain mesh combine to
impart an impressive feeling of
authenticity when flying at anything
but the lowest altitudes over the
scenery. The only real problem is the
lack of any 3D objects, custom or
otherwise. Since the scenery package
overlays the entirety of the island, it
does not allow for the default
‘autogen’ scenery of X-Plane to show
on top of the package. Therefore,
while the scenery looks fantastic from
nearly any altitude, as you get very
close to the ground you realize that
the illusion of 3D is just that – an
illusion. There are no 3D buildings,
objects, ships, terminals or anything. It
is as if a beautifully painted sheet was
laid over the entire island. This may
explain the performance gains when
using the Real Scenery package. While
the overlay scenery is simply
breathtaking from anything over a few
hundred feet of altitude, down low it
is a flat and barren world since you
lose the perspective and the illusion
of depth, as you approach the ground.
The lack of 3D scenery is also readily
apparent when viewed from a low
altitude slant range perspective since
cities and taller structures will not
appear above your line of sight. The
exclusion of 3D autogen scenery does
prevent the frequently-seen problem
in other simulators of having buildings
pop up on top of imagery that doesn’t
match the overlay. My main point of
contention with no custom 3D scenery
to augment the beautiful terrain
overlay is that so much of the type of

Though it takes a sharp eye to notice, owing to the fact that the overlay is photo based,
persistent shadows that are part of the imagery do not always align properly with the
ambient lighting conditions produced by the terrain and sun position

flying done over the scenic Hawaiian
Islands is low altitude VFR sightseeing,
with aircraft appropriate to the task
such as helicopters and small general
aviation aircraft.

Major airports look gorgeous and detailed
from above, but the lack of 3D scenery
while operating from the surface makes
them better to overfly rather than to land
or take-off from
Texture resolution is extremely fine
allowing you to pick out individual
houses, boats or cars

The Real Scenery depiction of night
lighting is fantastic

The primary drawback to overlay
sceneries is their ‘painted on’
appearance, which breaks down at
extreme low altitudes. The Arizona
memorial in Pearl Harbor serves to
illustrate this point

Conclusions
On the whole Real Scenery Oahu
represents a fantastic visual
representation of Oahu from
the perspective of overflying the
terrain. The experience would be
greatly improved by the inclusion
of either custom 3D models or some
form of merging autogen scenery
into the stunning overlay. Real
Scenery for X-Plane continues to
evolve and we look forward to future
packages to enhance the X-Plane
environment from this developer.
By Chris Frishmuth

Tons of atmosphere
With low altitude considerations aside,
the overall feeling of flight when Real
Scenery is combined with the
atmospheric effects of X-Plane is
phenomenal. The lighting, clouds, haze
and weather effects all come together
with the scenery to give
unprecedented visuals. Real Scenery
utilizes a painstaking process of pulling
imagery from many different sources
to provide both continuous high
resolution and colour continuity. The
technique also results in flawless
transitions and cloudless imagery that
prevents any visual conflicts with
X-Plane generated weather conditions.
As daylight transitions to darkness the
night lighting effects of the cities really
stands out as matching what one really
encounters during night flight. It is
worth noting that with all imagerybased scenery packages, shadows for
structures and terrains are static based
on when the imagery was collected.
Therefore, there are times when the
sun position casts shadows on the
terrain that are opposed to what the

scenery overlay is showing. The effect is
barely noticeable, but it does exist. The
package includes the six significant
airports on Oahu, but there again you
are given only overlay imagery and not
actual 3D constructed airports.
Owing to the use of imagery, the
water textures are simply phenomenal
since they use the actual colours, wave
and wind patterns. Coral reefs and
inland waterways differ widely in
appearance, which is a huge
improvement over the single type of
water pattern common to most
simulators. The drawback, however, is
that the Real Scenery water is modelled
as a solid surface. If you try to land your
seaplane next to the Arizona memorial
you will crash unless you have your
wheels deployed. It is both tantalizing
and frustrating at the same time.

DETAILS

As these comparative screens
demonstrate, Real Scenery Enhanced has
the most realistic airborne interpretation
of Oahu (Diamond Head) even when
compared to Microsoft’s latest rendition
in Flight

80

PUBLISHER: X-Aviation
(http://www.x-aviation.com)
DOWNLOAD PRICE: $24.95 USD
(download) / $29.95 USD (download
+ DVD)
DEVELOPER: Real Scenery (http://
www.realscenery.com)
AT A GLANCE: Beautiful high resolution
overlay scenery of Oahu with
unprecedented accuracy, colour and
continuity. The lack of 3D and exclusion
of default scenery makes it best suited
for viewing from altitude.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: X-Plane 9.55
or higher (including X-Plane 10). Mac or
PC compatible.

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 33

REVIEW | Scenery Expansion for X-Plane 10

X-Plane

UK Photo Scenery
Exploring the British Isles

A

s the quality of add-on
scenery has continued to
improve, we have become
accustomed to highly realistic
and detailed scenery packages,
particularly for Microsoft Flight
Simulator. This has allowed
us to fly over landscapes that
replicate the real world in
minute detail. However, with the
demise of Aces Studios, X-Plane
has started to become increasingly
popular. The third party industry
built around X-Plane is maturing and
we are beginning to see high quality
add-ons being developed. Leading
designers in the Microsoft Flight
Simulator industry have even started
to expand into the X-Plane market,
such as Carenado, which has been
making quality general aviation addons for Flight Simulator for a number
of years. In this issue we are going
to have a look at a new photographic
scenery package for England and
Wales, designed to run on X-Plane
version 9 and 10. It was developed
by Bristol-based flight simulation
specialist RC Simulations.

Description
There are many factors that make
X-Plane different from Microsoft Flight
Simulator. For example, it takes better
advantage of modern computing
power and consequently there is the
potential for running very detailed
scenery at more fluid frame rates than
we can ever hope to achieve with FSX.
X-Plane is also capable of rendering
incredible visual details including
clouds shadows and water reflections
with little impact on frame rates. Many

The white cliffs of
Dover are an iconic
view of Britain

of the
effects in
X-Plane add
significant
realism and are
not available in FSX
– such as uneven
runways and bird strikes.
X-Plane is also multi-platform
and works on both Windows
and Macintosh as well as on
Linux.
The UK Photo scenery comes in four
separate volumes that cover the
whole of England and Wales up to the
border of Scotland. The four areas are:
Volume 1 - South East and Southern
England
Volume 2 - South West England and
South Wales
Volume 3 - North Wales, North West
England and the West Midlands
Volume 4 - East Midlands and NorthEast England
Each volume consists of high
resolution aerial photographs taken
from 8000 feet at a resolution of one
metre per pixel. The elevation data is
based on a 10-metre mesh using data
from GetMapping and Intermap.

The rugged terrain of Snowdonia has been faithfully captured
34 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

Installation
The scenery areas are supplied on DVD
as each area is massive. Volume 1, 2
and 3 contain 3 DVDs each and
Volume 4 has four DVDs. The full
installation of all four volumes requires
a total of 220GB so even though a
large hard drive is essential, this really
shouldn’t be an issue as large capacity
drives are now common place. The
setup is very straightforward. All the
packages include an automatic
installer that copies the files to your
hard drive once you have pointed to
the location of the X-Plane system
folder. The process takes a relatively
long time due to the large amounts of

data, so you
may as well make a cup of
something and relax.

Exploring the British
Isles from the air
The landscape is a very accurate
recreation of the real world and
compared to the default X-Plane
scenery it totally transforms the British
Isles. In terms of realism it is a massive
improvement as landmarks such as
towns, rivers and road systems are
accurately placed. The terrain looks
clear from as low as 500 feet height
AGL (above ground level). There is

Coastlines and rivers are accurately depicted in this scenery package

Scenery Expansion for X-Plane 10 | REVIEW

Landmarks such as the Cotswold Water
Park can be used for VFR navigation

The Lake District national park is
recreated in detail

The North Yorkshire moors can be bleak
and feature-less

Snowdonia national park is worth visiting
on a clear day

virtually an unlimited
number of places to explore,
such as London, the White Cliffs of
Dover and the Lake District, which is
recreated gorgeously. You can explore
diverse and fascinating areas and spot
landmarks across the UK, with
seemingly endless possibilities. You
can use it for sight seeing and real
pilots may even want to use this to
hone their VFR navigation skills or
explore an area prior to flying there.

In addition,
the X-Plane graphics
engine features effects such as
shadows and water reflections that
further enhance the scenery. The
colours are clear and sharp and it
doesn’t get blurry – even when
travelling fast at low-level.
I didn’t experience any performance
hit using the VFR scenery compared

to using the
default X-Plane
scenery and frame rates remained
fluid despite the high level of detail.
Even in heavily populated areas, such
as around London Heathrow where
FSX struggles to cope, I still

experienced
frame rates between
40 to 100 fps.

You can even pick out iconic landmarks such as the White Horse in Uffington, Oxfordshire

Carsington Water in Derbyshire is a popular tourist attraction
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 35

REVIEW | Scenery Expansion for X-Plane 10

Heathrow airport on a quiet day!

Some of the coast lines were slightly
distorted, particularly around the cliffs
of Dover, but this is more a limitation
in X-Plane Version 9 – in X-Plane 10,
the coastlines are more realistic,
particularly where high cliffs meet
with the sea.

Comparison to FSX UK
Scenery
Compared to equivalent UK VFR
scenery for FSX, the first thing that is
evident is how fluid the frame rates
are in X-Plane.

Towns and cities are photorealistic and
accurately placed

This is particularly true around heavily
populated areas such as London and
Heathrow. The visibility and haze that
is built into the X-Plane scenery
engine is similar to what we get most
of the time in the UK and is very
realistic. The colours of the landscape
are also quite subtle and similar to
what you get in real life over the UK.
However, overall I found the quality of
the X-Plane scenery to be on par with
what you find in FSX.

Conclusion
If you like to fly around the UK, the
X-Plane UK Photo Scenery is a must
have addition to your library and I have
no hesitation in recommending it.
The level of detail is easily good enough
to allow us to use landmarks to navigate
by so you can jump in an aircraft of your
choice and start exploring. It is also an
excellent learning tool to practice VFR
navigation techniques or simply enjoy
the view from your virtual cockpit.
Every landscape feature, road and

Rolling fields are typical of much of the
landscape depicted in this scenery

London is highly detailed and yet it has no adverse affect on frame rates

building is visible in photographic
detail. The impact on frame rates is
minimal, even on mid range systems
at high detail settings. The terrain
mesh enhances the terrain and gives
better shape and clarity to mountains
and geographic feature.
Although the X-Plane photographic
scenery comes in four parts, a bundle
will be available to customers wishing
to purchase the complete coverage
of England and Wales.
By Richard Benedikz

When flying over cities, you can follow
roads and use intersections as waypoints
such as this M65/M6 intersection

Below: Bristol airport can easily be found as it is near the River Severn

DETAILS

85

DEVELOPER: Horizon and
RC Simulations
PRICE: £35.69
WEBSITE: www.rcsimulations.com
AT A GLANCE: The UK Scenery for
X-Plane will give you many hours of
pleasure exploring the British Isles. It
is highly detailed and will enable you
to navigate from coast to coast in VFR.
The price is very reasonable considering
the amount of data that is included.
SPECIFICATON: DVD DRIVE ROM
REQUIRED, Windows XP/Vista,
Processor: any 2GHz+
SYSTEM MEMORY: 1GB Available
Hard Drive: 60GB approx. (per package)
Video Card: 64 MB VRAM
RECOMMENDED: USB Joystick or yoke
256 MB VRAM recommended

36 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

Simflight F_P.indd 1

15/10/2014 10:10

INTERVIEW | Flight Factor

The Boeing 757 comes with five
default liveries including the Boeing
house colours

An Interview with

Flight Factor
Flight Factor has
established a reputation
for creating highly
realistic simulations
of the Boeing 777 and
757. We interview
Roman Berezin and
Philipp Muenzel, the
driving force behind the
company.

PC Pilot – Hi and thank you for
speaking to us. Can you tell us
who is on the team behind Flight
Factor?
We've always been a collection
of different people offering vastly
different skills, with Roman being
in the centre. Currently we are a
team of seven people each dealing
with different projects.
Besides Philipp, who handles the
navigation we have four
programmers including one who
deals with new technologies that
we plan introduce to XP this year.
PC Pilot – Do you work with any
other developers in the X-Plane
community?
Of course! We have a very good
relationship with Jack from
FlyJSim, who makes simply

Roman and Philipp have pushed the
boundaries of X-Plane with their highly
acclaimed Boeing 777 and 757
Professional

The flight deck of the Flight Factor Boeing 777 is modelled in detail including a
fully functional flight management computer (FMC)

amazing aircraft and has a deep
understanding of flight models and
getting the ‘feel’ of an aircraft.
If you have hand-flown our Boeing
757 you will know what I'm talking
about because thanks to his
dedication it is so much fun to
fly manually. Bruno Gregoire
from Khamsin is an amazing artist he has made some fantastic
vintage aircraft including the
B-25 and the Pacific Islands
scenery.
It was great to have him make the
3D cockpit of the 757. We also
have a very good relationship
with Dan Klaue with whom we
share new technologies and ideas.

The flight deck is almost fully functional with every button and knob clickable

38 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

Flight Factor | INTERVIEW

From a developer's point of view,
what do you consider to be the
strengths and weaknesses of
X-Plane?
The strength is clearly the easy
SDK. It is very easy to program, the
documentation is mostly concise
and the community support is
amazing. X-Plane always had a
higher developer to consumer ratio
in its user base compared with
Microsoft Flight Simulator, which is
easily explained by the fact that
X-Plane ships with PlaneMaker and
you can start doing your own
designs out of the box. Many
X-Plane users are tinkerers and love
the open structure of X-Plane - the
fact that you can modify almost
everything, and getting in touch
with the core developers of X-Plane
is as easy. But what truly makes
X-Plane stand out is it is underactive development. We are
embracing new technologies like
64bit quickly, which others have
trouble with. The pace of
development might also be
perceived as dangerous, which is
why many of the big developers
from the FS market are still having
trouble. When X-Plane offers a new
technology, it only takes about five
seconds before users ask add-on
makers to exploit it. For example,
64bit was introduced halfway into
the X-Plane 10, so it does not have
the predictable two or three-year
cycle like FS had, but rather a
constant evolution.
X-Plane is also a growing
innovative environment. Its
weakness is the same as its strength
- it is not quite complete and
always changing, which can make
development more complicated.
Following on, what challenges are
there in recreating the flight model
in X-Plane?
There are two ways to recreate the
performance of the aircraft. One is to
imitate its behaviour by tables. This
is an efficient method from the point
of view of the end result, however, I
feel it is more like cheating. X-Plane
was built on the idea of creating the
actual flight model and reproducing
the performance from bottom up.
This is challenging because XP is
close but not quite like the real
world so we employ tricks to get the
aircraft to behave just right.
How close are your models to the
real thing and how do you test this?
We rely on the real aircraft
manuals - not only the flight crew
manuals but also the maintenance
manuals which offer an abundance
of information about the inner
workings of systems that pilots don't
usually think about. So we mostly

approach aircraft systems from the
tubes and wires rather than from the
lights in the cockpit. But of course
that still doesn't tell us how it 'feels'
to fly the aircraft.
That's why we work with airline
pilots who fly the real thing every
day, and ask them for facts that are
not in the manuals – little things
they've become accustomed to and
rely on in every-day operation
without thinking about it. If those
little things work in our model as
well, we know we've accomplished
something.
You make extensive use of plugins to simulate systems, can you
tell us a bit more about how you
use these plug-ins?
X-Plane is not made to replicate
one particular aircraft but a wide
range of machines with different
systems. For example, if your goal
is to simulate a three-spool RB211535E4 engine with a patented IEPR
measuring system, you cannot
expect X-Plane to do this for you.
Another example is the electrical
busses are simulated to run with
the same voltage as most general
aviation aircraft but airliners usually
have high-voltage AC (alternating
current) and low-voltage DC (direct
current) busses. Getting this to work
is what puts you in the realm of
plug-in territory, like the FMS, which
is also all custom programming.
We also use plug-in to add special
effects such as particle, reflections
and custom sounds etc.
What are your most popular
aircraft?
While the 757 is my personal
favourite because I love the classic
cockpit with all the mechanical
gauges, the 777 is what is most
popular with our users.
Are you planning to develop
other aircraft?
We have just announced an Airbus
A350 Advanced. In v1.0 this will be a
less in-depth model than the Boeing
but will still have custom systems and
many effects, although some features
will be introduced for the first time.
The A350 is a very advanced plane
with lots of unique things. Our model
will have a very advanced fly-by-wire
system (FBW), multi function displays
(MFD), touch screens control system
etc. We plan to release the A350
Professional in v2.0.
How do you see X-Plane
developing in the future and what
changes would you like
to see?
X-Plane will continue to improve
on the visuals. In the short term we
will be getting a particle system,

The Boeing 777 is their most popular aircraft

The Airbus A350 will include an advanced fly-by-wire system when it is released

The Airbus A350 Professional will be available in version 2

The overhead panel in the Boeng 757 is crisp and clear with almost every system
modelled in detail

which is nothing short of what
you get in modern shooter games.
In the longer term we're looking at
OpenGL 4 and tessellation
(dividing a polygon into smaller
parts to create a more realistic
shape), which will allow for really
amazing landscapes.
Also I think with embracing Steam

and the Oculus Rift and the new
users coming to X-Plane, we
will see more high-quality
products in the general aviation,
aerobatics or vintage aircraft
category -aircraft that are
simply fun to fly with stick and
rudder and are perfect for virtual
reality. ■

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 39

INTERVIEW | Carenado

Carenado
Interview with

Carenado is known for producing high quality General Aviation aircraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator. PC Pilot
had the chance to speak with one of its founders, Fernando Herrera to find out more about the company and
why it decided to branch out into X-Plane.
PC Pilot: Hi Fernando and thank
you for speaking to us. Can you
start by telling us how you became
interested in flight simulation?
My business partner, Mauricio and I
were classmates at school. We
played Microsoft Flight Simulator
since version 2.0 and other related
flight games on an Atari computer.
Everything about aircraft and flight
attracted both since we were
children.

PC Pilot: Can you tell us a bit about
Carenado and the team behind the
company?
Currently we have a team of about 15
people and about 30% of us are real
pilots. More than half of our crew are
based in Chile and the other half is
spread around the globe. We are
divided into two main areas. The
graphics team is dedicated to 3D
models, textures and promotional
materials. This is primarily where
designers, modellers and sound
engineers work. The other is
dedicated to programming including
aircraft behaviour and developing the
systems, gauges and avionics. This
area mostly involves programmers
supported by real pilots or people
with aviation experience.
PC Pilot: How did you come up with
the name Carenado and Alabeo?
Carenado means ‘fairing’ in Spanish.

Alabeo means roll in Spanish. We
wanted Spanish words related to
aviation.
PC Pilot: What were your earliest
projects?
The Piper PA-28 Warrior I and Warrior
II were our first projects and then we
released PA-32 Saratoga TC / HP and
the Cessna C-172 Skyhawk II. All of
the aircraft are very popular,
commonly found in any general
aviation airport around the world.
PC Pilot: Can you tell us why you
launched Alabeo and how it differs
from Carenado?
We saw that the low-end market was
not well served. Cheap products were
and still are very bad in terms of
quality. We wanted to launch a brand
in that niche providing simple, good
quality and affordable aircraft.
Over time, Carenado has been
upgrading to a more sophisticated
aircraft entering the regional and jet
niche. Because of this, Alabeo has
started to e
  nter the niche where
Carenado was some years ago.
PC Pilot: What is the difference
between the HD line and the standard
models?
HD SERIES means all textures are in
high definition quality providing a
very detailed external model aircraft
and virtual cockpit. Additionally, they

As well as creating general aviation aircraft, Carenado has also branched into historic
types, as is evident with the Beechcraft Staggerwing
40 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

The PA-28 was one of the first models developed by Carenado. The aircraft has been
updated over the years and is now available for X-Plane

come with a number of effects,
especially for the windows and props.
PC Pilot: What made you decide to
produce aircraft for X-Plane?
Because one of our core principles is
creating high quality aircraft for a
wide audience, we want to have a
presence on all platforms that could
become important at any time. This
way, customers have to decide which
platform they want to run - X-Plane or
Microsoft Flight Simulator. We don't
want to limit our customers to a
specific flight simulator and will offer
our products on all the most popular
platforms.

Having said that, we have noticed
that more flight simmers are
migrating to X-Plane and as it is
becoming increasingly popular, we
decided to start developing there as
well in our production line. The same
happened with Prepar3D and the Jay.
PC Pilot: What challenges are there
in recreating the flight model in
X-Plane compared to FSX?
Both FSX and X-Plane are not perfect
simulations for recreating flight
models. Even after entering all the
numbers aircraft do not behave as
the real ones do. That is why it is
important to have pilots involved in

The Beechcraft B-200 King Air HD series is one of the more complex aircraft that has
been ported over to X-Plane

Airliner Flight Sim
Carenado
Training| |INTERVIEW
TUTORIAL

The C208 Grand Caravan has been upgraded to a high definition (HD) model, giving us
a detailed external model and virtual cockpit

The Malibu Mirage is one of Carenado’s best selling aircraft for X-Plane

Carenado has released the B1900 for X-Plane. It is one of their more complex aircraft
to be ported over to X-Plane

The Cessna C-172N Skyhawk II comes with a float and a ski variant

the process. They ultimately adjust
and calibrate the aircraft to make
them behave as realistically as
possible.
PC Pilot: From a developer's point
of view, what do you consider to be
the strengths and weaknesses of
X-Plane?
On the strengths side, the multiplatform feature is very important,
allowing people using Apple and
Linux to enjoy a first class simulator.
The use of one model is very
attractive from the developer's
point of view, but it is also a
weakness from the user's point of
view because X-Plane needs to load
everything, demanding higher spec
hardware.
Backward compatibility after small
version changes is something that
could be avoided in order to
prolong the life of aircraft and give
more stability to the platform. I
think this is a weakness that
Laminar could improve very easily.
In terms of materials, X-Plane is
limited, for example it is not
possible to recreate chrome
surfaces.
PC Pilot: How do you see X-Plane
developing in the future and what
changes would you like to see?
Based on its current popularity and
multi-platform support, I think
X-Plane has great potential for the

future. I see it competing very
closely with FSX/P3D or any
derivative and gaining a strong
foothold in the professional and
certified simulation market. Some
changes that I would like to see
regarding X-Plane are a significant
improvement in performance so it
can be run on standard computers. I
would also like Laminar to be more
aware of the requirements of third
party developers.
PC Pilot: What do you think will
happen to flight simulation in
general in the future, in particular
taking into account the news that
the Microsoft Flight Simulation
franchise was acquired by
Dovetail?
Dovetail's acquisition is good news
from our point of view. It has a
proven track record in the train
simulation market, growing and
improving the platform and
fostering the community. I think
(and believe) it will do the same
with Flight Simulation. But it will
find a hard competitor in Lockheed
Martin with P3D.
As long as the platforms improve
and allow backwards compatibility,
it will generate a very strong
product in term of capacities and
customer base. I foresee two things
here: a strong battle benefiting the
end user and an extension of the
old FSX platform for several years.

The Piper PA-34 Seneca II is one of Carenado’s more recent releases and like many
other aircraft includes features such as a toggle yoke, realistic lighting effects and
accurately modelled systems

PC Pilot: Your FSX line has seen a
move from the single engine GA
aircraft to the more complex types
such as the Phenom and the XP. Will
the more complex aircraft be
available for X-Plane?
Yes, we have plans for porting all our
fleet but because X-Plane engine
works very differently to FSX,
developing complex systems and
avionics takes much more time.

PC Pilot: What do you consider to be
the best aircraft you have made
for X-Plane?
I would say that our last three aircraft,
the Cessna CT206H Stationair, Beech
B-200 King Air and Piper PA-46
Malibu Mirage are our best X-Plane
aircraft. We have been adding more
and more features along with
increasing the quality of the models,
textures and effects.

PC Pilot: What are you most popular
aircraft in the X-Plane product line?
It is difficult to say but the
Beechcraft C90 and B200 King Air,
C172 Skyhawk, C208 Grand Caravan,
Seneca II and Bonanza F33 are high
on the list.

PC Pilot: Fernando, thank you very
much for speaking to us and sharing
your views on X-Plane and flight
simulation in general. We wish you
all the best for the future.
Richard Benedikz ■

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 41

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

X-Plane
A Beginner's Guide to

Part One - An Introduction to
X-Plane 10

S

ince its release, we have seen
X-Plane 10 grow from strength
to strength. The new version
includes a significantly improved
flight model. The global scenery has
also seen massive updates with more
accurate terrain and mesh. The clouds
are stunning and the new HDR (High
Dynamic Range) provides superb
night lighting effects as each light
source is modelled individually.
X-Plane is constantly being updated
with new features and performance
improvements, for example in version
10.2, X-Plane was made into to a full
64-Bit application. This was a very

important step as it will enable
X-Plane to access a theoretical
maximum of 192GB of RAM rather
than the 4GB memory limit of 32-Bit
applications. This will make it
possible to run X-Plane at a much
higher level of detail without running
out of memory, allowing developers to
create far more complex and detailed
add-ons - pushing the boundaries
of realism.
However, there are still some
issues that prevail. For example,
X-Plane lacks detailed airports with
complete taxiways and buildings.
Admittedly this is work in progress

The splash screen is a part of the user interface revamp. You can select the aircraft,
airport and time of day. It also has a selection of different weather themes.
and Aerosoft has updated some
airports such as Frankfurt, Heathrow
and Cote d’Azur to name a few. But
we certainly need more.

User interface

Many of the default aircraft come with a selection of liveries. For example, this Cessna
172 Skyhawk comes with four different paint schemes
42 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

The user interface is probably one of
the more criticised elements in
X-Plane. One of its strengths is its is
highly customisable and the flexibility
needed to achieve this has resulted in
a very complex user interface. The
catch is that this can be extremely
daunting for the beginner. One of the
aims of the last major update was to
make the interface easier to use.

For example, X-Plane now includes a
start-up splash screen that allows you
to quickly select the airport, aircraft
type, time of day and the weather
conditions. Similarly the aircraft
selection screen has also been
streamlined. However in reality there
is still more work to be done.

The aircraft
The default aircraft have been
improved significantly although they
are not up to the same level as many
of the third-party aircraft, particularly
when it comes to complex airliners.
However the simpler aircraft are

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

Left: It is possible to accurately
hover a helicopter in X-Plane.
This AI pilot has achieved a stable
hover in a 30kt wind gusting 45
Lead image: Here we see the
Boeing 747-400 which is one of
the default aircraft in X-Plane

modelled accurately and flight
dynamics in many of them are superb.
The instrumentation is very smooth
which makes it a fantastic IFR trainer.
The flight model has been taken to
the next level and now you really get
the feeling of flying through a live
dynamic atmosphere. It is also
possible to set the weight and balance
from the aircraft menu and specify
fuel and payload or load external
stores if the aircraft is capable of
carrying ordnance.
Failure scenarios can be customised
in detail. Any system from engine or
electrical to something as drastic as
structural failures can be programmed.
These can be set to be triggered at a
specific altitude, airspeed or time
frame. The failure options are very

comprehensive, for example a loss of
oil pressure will cause the engine to
overheat and the oil temperature to
redline - eventually resulting in
engine seizure.
The situations menu allows you to
load challenges that come with
X-Plane by default. These range from
shuttle re-entry, landing helicopters
on oil rigs, mid-air refuelling, carrier
take-offs and landings.

ATC and AI
The AI traffic will follow specific flight
plans and they will experience the
same flight physics and limitations
that you do. They follow fight plans
and take off and land. However in
terms of realism the AI traffic has some
issues. For example, the aircraft

Aerosoft has released some high-fidelity airports for X-Plane such as Heathrow

The ‘Rendering Options’ is the X-Plane equivalent of ‘Display Settings’ in FSX

X-Plane weather can be very challenging, the eagle-eyed may notice the oil
pressure and temperature warning lights
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 43

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

The water reflections in X-Plane are just stunning!
operate from very unsuitable airfields.
It’s not unusual to see AI 747’s
attempting a short-field take-off from
small grass strips. FSX has add-ons
packages such as MyTraffic X, Ultimate
Traffic and Traffic 360 that provides
real time traffic consisting of
thousands of world flight plans crisscrossing the world.
This is one area where X-Plane falls
short. Like FSX, the ATC in X-Plane
makes an attempt to simulate basic air
traffic control. It has some options that
have an advantage over FSX.
For example, you need to manually
tune in the correct radio frequencies.
Taxi lines appear on the ground after
receiving a taxi clearance which is
useful, particularly at large airports.
Also if you get the instructions wrong
and violate ATC your flight plan will
be cancelled so you have to take it
more seriously.
It is probably beyond the scope of a
simulator to replicate real world ATC
and perhaps it’s a job more suitable to
a third-party developer that wants a
challenge.

Many of the default aircraft have very detailed panels such as this Columbia 400

Location
The location menu allows you to
place your aircraft on any one of more
than 25,000 airports around the
world. You can choose any runway or
start from the ramp or at a gate at
some of the larger international
airports.
It is even possible to be placed on a
3NM or a 10-mile final to any runway.
The location menu also includes a
global map view and regional maps
that display your flight paths on
sectional charts.

Weather
The weather system in X-Plane is
very realistic and can be customised
in detail. It is possible to set up
wind layers, different cloud types,
visibility and precipitation and level
of turbulence. Alternatively, for
more unpredictable weather, you can
have random weather patterns or
download real weather.
The weather effects are excellent and
you really get the sense of flying in
bad weather.

The AV8B Harrier has received a massive face-lift and now features a much improved
flight model and external detailing

Despite the improvements in the
X-Plane includes a number of challenges
that can be found in the Aircraft & Situations external modelling, the Harrier still has a
very basic 2D cockpit
menu including air-to-air refuelling
It is also possible to practice formation flying although it is
a challenge that is quite hard to master

Setting up the flight controls is not as difficult as it looks

Getting the flight controls right is crucial
44 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

The default Baron in X-Plane has a simple cockpit, but it is one of my favourite
IFR platforms. A nice feature is a removable yoke - more of those please!

Rendering options
Setting up the display options is
critical in order to run X-Plane at
acceptable frame rates. This will vary
between systems and you will need
to experiment. This includes
specifying the amount of autogen
objects, cloud detail, level of HDR and
water reflections. You can also turn
on birds and deer. It is a bit frustrating
that Laminar Research has included
both options on the same checkbox
as the bird strikes are superb, but the
deer are less so. A bird-strike can
damage your aircraft quite severely.
Rendering options is one of the more
important screens in setting X-Plane
up and I recommend you spend time
getting this right for your
requirements.

Setting up flight controls
The joystick and equipment screen is
used to set up up your controllers and
key assignments. From this window it
is possible to assign axis, map keys
and configure professional hardware

The Stibson is one of the better modelled aircraft in X-Plane. The level of detail in
external view and the cockpit are on par with many payware aircraft

that is supported by X-Plane. One area
that is worth spending time on is
setting the flight controls. X-Plane will
make a ‘best guess’ of assigning axes
but most of the time you need to step
in and manually assign some controls.
This is particularly true of joystick
buttons.

The camera
The camera in X-Plane is very flexible
although the controls are slightly
unusual. It is also very powerful and
it is possible to move around inside
and outside the aircraft and be used
to look around the virtual cockpit.
The keys used to move around are
slightly unusual, so it is important to
assign head movement to the HAT
switch when in 3D cockpit view. The
keys used to move around the cockpit
are different from FSX and unlike FSX,
you will need to manually set up the
camera. It is essential you do this as it
can be very frustrating to struggle
with view keys while flying the
aircraft.

This is just one screen that allows you to assign buttons on your joystick. The
options are endless, but the flexibility is infinite

The system failures are imaginative

X-Plane also supports professional-level hardware
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 45

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

Many of the default aircraft still come with the old X-Plane external modelling as seen on this C-130 Hercules

Summary
The key to getting a good flying
experience in X-Plane is to set it up
correctly. FSX will work pretty much
out of the box whereas you need to
spend some time configuring X-Plane.
X-Plane has many good features.
The global scenery is fairly accurate
and the textures also give you a sense
of being in different locations. The
‘plausible world’ is an interesting idea
where roads are drawn using ‘open
street’ map data. Areas with high road
density will have a greater density of
autogen objects than areas with a
smaller road density, so you will see

reasonably accurate cities and towns.
Similarly the water is stunning with
fantastic reflections and dynamic
shadows, and HDR lighting makes night
flying unbelievably realistic.
The flight modelling has seen massive
improvements in version 10 and the
instruments are very fluid, which makes
instrument flying an absolute joy. It is
also possible to download a number of
free and payware aircraft and I highly
recommend you give them a go. Many
commercial developers such as
Aerosoft and Carenado are actively
The menu system may appear daunting at first glance but it will not take you
creating high quality add-ons for
long to learn
X-Plane.

The rock of Gibraltar is easily identifiable, which is a good indication of the
accuracy of the default scenery

Although the AI aircraft have realistic flight modelling and are affected by wind and
turbulence, they sometimes display some very erratic behaviour

The weather engine in X-Plane is one of the best in flight simulation

For the end user X-Plane has one
major problem: it does not feel like a
finished product. It needs realistic AI
traffic and more importantly airports
need to be populated with 3D
buildings. The flight physics and the
global scenery is very good in my
opinion but it is the little details that
are not complete. Unfortunately this
is what the end user sees.
The quality of third party add-ons
for FSX has never been better and as
they become more realistic and
complex, for many end-users there is
therefore a reluctance to switch to a
new simulator.
From a cost perspective, many of us
have invested a significant amount of
money in our FSX setup and starting

46 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

from scratch is an expensive venture
and potentially giving up your
favourite aircraft.
In order for X-Plane to succeed FSX
the developers need to have a
competitive pricing option in place.
The success of X-Plane depends
on creating an environment where
the flight simmer will see airports
with realistic air traffic - a world
where aircraft such as Piper Cubs fly
into small fields and airliners into
international airports as they do in
the real world and where there is a
probability of a bird strike.
A time-limited demo of X-Plane
can be downloaded for you to try,
which I highly recommend.
By Richard Benedikz

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TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

X-Plane
A Beginner's Guide to

The Aircraft

W

elcome to part two of our
tutorial series. This time
around we are going to
take a look at the aircraft featured
in X-Plane and find out why its
flight model differs from other
simulators. We are also going to
look at the systems and find out
how X-Plane replicates those of
real aircraft. Finally we will also
look at the different default aircraft
and find out about some of the addon aircraft that are available and
how to install them.

AIRCRAFT CATEGORIES
THE AIRCRAFT are organised into a logical
file structure:
· Fighters
· General Aviation
· Gliders
· Heavy Metal
· Helicopters
· Mega-Planes
· Radio Control
· Seaplanes
· Space Ships
· VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing)
· X-Planes

Blade element theory
X-Plane is based on a principle
known as blade element theory. In
basic terms, it is a mathematical
model used to predict the behaviour
of propellers. A blade is broken down
into several components in order to
work out the forces acting on each of
these ‘blade elements’. These
resulting forces are then added
together along the blade to
determine the aerodynamic
properties of the propeller or rotor.
This is different from traditional
simulators that use ‘look-up tables’
to simulate a flight model. While
look-up tables do a good job of
replicating the flight characteristics
of an aircraft that is already flying,
this method is not able to predict
the performance of an aircraft that is
still on the drawing board. In
essence the Blade Element approach
allows us to see how an aircraft
might fly before it is actually built!
There are some disadvantages to
adopting this method. While
blade element theory can be
used to determine the

48 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

PART 2

approximate characteristics of an
aircraft, it is still difficult to design a
virtual aircraft that flies exactly like
its real world counterpart.

The flight model
X-Plane models the atmosphere up to
an altitude of 600,000ft and can
accurately simulate both subsonic and
supersonic flight - including subsonic
transitions.
It includes features such as wingflex that is based on the actual
weight of the wings and the G-Force
acting on the wings, for example
during turbulence. Condensation
caused by lift is modelled which is
based on wing-loading, lift
coefficient, temperature and
X-Plane accurately simulates
turboprops and their various
features. Here we see the freewheeling prop on this King Air’s
Pratt & Whitney PT6 engine

humidity. Spins and flat spins can
even be simulated which is very
difficult to model accurately because
of the complex forces involved.
Helicopter dynamics are also
modelled and effects such as
translational lift and vortex ring are
built into the core simulator. In fact
developers for FSX have to go to
great lengths to create features which
are already built into X-Plane.
X-Plane simulates fluid dynamics
including hydroplaning on wet
runways and when floatplanes
operate on water. It is also possible to
experience realistic icing conditions
such as airframe icing or blocked pitot
tubes if you forget to turn the probe
heat on.

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

The Beech 1900 is just one of the many freeware aircraft that is available to download. It features an excellent 2D cockpit and flight model

The default Phantom F-4 has received a massive face-lift

Instrument flying takes on a new level in X-Plane thanks to its fluid flight instruments

On the ground, friction between the
tyres and runway is modelled. For
example, grass runways will have
more friction compared to concrete
runways which will affect take-off
distance. Aircraft will also be affected
by gravity on inclines such as sloping
runways.

drive hydraulic pumps. The viscosity
of the hydraulic fluid will even affect
how quickly the pressure builds or
falls in the system. Hydraulicallydriven flight controls are modelled; for
example, hydraulic flaps and flight
controls need a pressurised hydraulic
system to operate.

Aircraft failures

Engines and systems

Weight and balance

X-Plane models different powerplants
including turbocharged and normally
aspirated piston engines, fuel
injections, fixed and free turbo props
and low/high bypass jets. It even goes
as far as accurately simulating rockets,
vector thrust, helicopter engines
(turbo-shaft) and electric engines.
The electrical systems are also
accurately simulated, including how
much current each system draws.
Similarly the hydraulic system can
simulate engine and electricallydriven hydraulic pumps and it is
possible to use ram-air turbines to

The weight and balance is set in the
‘Fuel/Payload tab’ in the aircraft menu.
It is possible to specify the payload
and fuel and also set the centre-ofgravity which will affect the stability
of the aircraft. Fuel burn is calculated
in real-time which affects the weight
distribution as the fuel is used up.
Some aircraft can be loaded with
slung loads or ordnance such as air-toair or air-to-ground missiles, droptanks, guns, bombs and external fuel
tanks. The weight of the aircraft will
also vary when loading or releasing
ordnance.

Failures can be accessed from the
equipment failures window. The
failure model in X-Plane is extremely
comprehensive and it is possible to
simulate hundreds of systems failures.
A few examples include instruments,
engines, flight controls, control cables,
landing gear and electrical/hydraulic
systems - all of which can fail at any
moment.
Failures can be activated manually
or randomly at an instructor’s
command. Aircraft systems can also
be set to fail at a certain speed,
altitude or within a given time frame.
External factors such as bird strikes
and airport equipment failures can
also be set here.
In addition, it is possible to enable
structural failures due to over-speed
or Over-G situations. For example,
flying surfaces can separate from the
airframe when exceeding the aircraft’s
maximum speed or when over-

stretching the airframe. Similarly, flaps
can be blown off if they are extended
above Vfe (maximum flap extension
speed) and gear doors will blow off if
the landing gear is extended over-Vle,
(maximum gear extension speed).
‘Mean Time Between Failures’
(MTBF) is a value used to determine
how often, on average, each system
will fail. For instance, if the MTBF is set
to 1,000 hours, a system has about a
one in 1,000 chance of failing each
hour. This feature allows you to set a
high or low probability of a system
failing or replicate the probability of a
system failure in the real world.

Default aircraft
X-Plane comes with a number of
default aircraft. These include general
aviation aircraft, airliners, fighters,
float planes, helicopters, gliders,
helicopters and VTOLs. As well as
common aircraft like the Beech Baron,
King Air, Boeing 747, X-Plane

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 49

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

Afterburners are modelled accurately in X-Plane

also includes more exotic aircraft such
the AV-8B Harrier, the X-15 and even
the Space Shuttle.
These vary in quality: some include
very good virtual cockpits while others
only include a basic 2D cockpit. The
default aircraft are updated as X-Plane
goes through update cycles and
Laminar Research regularly improves
many of the default aircraft with

improved flight models and
instrument panels.
By default, when X-Plane starts, the
aircraft is placed on the active runway
with the engines running. It is also
possible to start from a ‘cold and dark’
cockpit or from the ramp by opening
the ‘Settings’ menu and clicking
‘Operations & Warnings’. In the panel
labelled ‘Start-up’ you can un-check

the box labelled ‘Start each flight with
engines running’ or check the box
labelled ‘Start each flight on ramp’.

Folder structure
It is very easy to add third-party addons to X-Plane. For example, add-on
scenery is installed in a folder called
‘Custom Scenery’. Similarly aircraft can
be found in a sub-folder called

‘Aircraft’.
The aircraft flight model and
configuration data is in an ACF file
format which is also the file that you
click on to load an aircraft in X-Plane.
Each aircraft also includes several subfolders. Here’s a list of the other folders
included in the folder structure:
· ‘Airfoils’ folder contains custom
flying surfaces that are used to

X-Plane 10 features some superb atmospheric effects

Thermals and ridge lift is modelled in X-Plane making it possible to fly gliders realistically

The 777 cockpit from VMAX is close to PMDG in terms of functionality

The 777 Professional is one of the best airliners available for X-Plane

50 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is one of the better default aircraft

The CRJ 200 from X-Aviation is a superb example of a regional airliner for X-Plane

The CRJ external model is built to a very high standard

The ATR-72 is one of the first payware aircraft supported by Aerosoft

determine the aerodynamic
characteristics of the flying surfaces
and propeller.
· ‘Cockpit’ folder contains the data
for the 2D cockpit.
· ‘Liveries’ folder stores different
liveries.
· ‘Objects’ folder allows you to
customise any 3D objects such as the
landing gear and doors.

· ‘Sounds’ folder stores custom
sounds for each aircraft.
· ‘Cockpit_3D’ folder contains the
files for those aircraft with a 3D
cockpit.

Installing third-party
aircraft
X-Plane is designed to be backwards
compatible, so it is possible to run

X-Plane 9 aircraft in version 10 although these aircraft will not be
able to take advantage of certain
features such as the updated engine
modelling, HDR lighting and the
improved X-Plane 10 flight dynamics.
In terms of freeware there are a
number of add-ons available - the
Beechcraft BE-1900C and the
Handley Page Hampden are just two

examples. Due to the nature of
X-Plane, there are also a number of
experimental aircraft available as
designers put their ideas into
practice, giving you the opportunity
to become a virtual test pilot.
Third-party aircraft can be
downloaded from a number of sites
dedicated to X-Plane, the largest of
these is www.X-Plane.org,

Water dynamics are
modelled accurately in
X-Plane. The default
Bombardier 415 even
replicates a water scoop
found in the real aircraft

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 51

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

X-Plane is a good IFR training platform

The default 747 looks very authentic, but the 3D cockpit is a bit rough around the edges

X-Plane comes with a Bell 206 helicopter as default

It is possible to position aircraft on short-final to practice landings

although there are a number of other
websites with excellent add-ons.
Many aircraft are free, although there
are also a number of commercial addons. Other sources of high-quality,
payware aircraft includes X-Aviation,
as well as AIR.C74.NET.
The aircraft in X-Plane are sorted
by category which makes it easy to
organise your hangar collection.
Add-on aircraft are typically
compressed as a zip file. Once the
aircraft has been downloaded, it
needs to be extracted from the zip
file and copied to the aircraft folder
in X-Plane. It is sensible to choose a
folder that best matches the type of
aircraft you have downloaded or
alternatively you can create a new
folder just for your own aircraft to
keep them separate from the default
X-Plane aircraft.

latter is one of the most
comprehensive glass cockpit airliner
add-ons available for X-Plane. The
CRJ200 by X-Aviation is also a highly
realistic regional jet.

‘NOTAM: Before installing
third-party aircraft, verify
that the aircraft is
compatible with your
version of X-Plane’
It is worth noting that if you
customise the default aircraft, the files
are overwritten when you update
X-Plane, so create copies of the default
aircraft if you want to modify them.
An increasing number of Microsoft
Flight Simulator developers have now
started designing add-ons for X-Plane.
For example Aerosoft and Carenado
are now creating aircraft for X-Plane
as well as FSX. Other developers
include MacPhat studios that have
created the ATR72 and the Boeing
777 Worldliner, designed by Philipp
Roman and produced by VMAX. The

52 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

Conclusion
X-Plane is a highly complex simulation
that models a lot of functionality that
FSX lacks such as a detailed engines
and systems simulation. Many
features that FSX developers have had
to go to extraordinary lengths to
achieve are already built into X-Plane,
such as accurate turboprop and
helicopter flight modelling, detailed
failures, realistic icing modelling and
water operations.
The file system in X-Plane is
structured in such a way to make it
extremely customisable and easy to
install add-ons, although there is an

initial learning curve to go through.
This is important as there are no
automated installers except for a few
commercial add-ons.
The good news for fans of X-Plane
is that both freeware and
commercial developers appear to
have stepped up a gear and we are
now seeing an increase in high
quality aircraft for this platform. For
example, the 777 Worldliner and the
757 by Flight Factor have been
approved by Boeing are as good as
anything that has been designed for
FSX.
X-Plane is not only a great
platform for our hobby, it is also an
excellent tool for pilots to maintain
their IFR currency and for engineers
to predict how a new aircraft will fly
before leaving the drawing board.
By Richard Benedikz

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TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

X-Plane
A Beginner’s Guide to

The World of Scenery
W

elcome to part three of
our tutorial series for
X-Plane 10. This time
around we are going to look at the
X-Plane world and find out how
X-Plane manages the default and
add-on scenery. We are also going to
check out some popular add-ons and
learn how to install and manage the
third-party scenery.

Adding new scenery
Adding new scenery to X-Plane is very
similar to installing aircraft. There are
almost no automatic installers, except
for a few payware packages, making it
necessary to copy the files to the
correct location. This may appear
complicated to the beginner but

54 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

X-Plane can be
configured from the file
system, so it does not rely on the
Windows registry. This makes it fairly
easy to customise and install add-on
scenery, and as long as you know
where to look, you can make changes
safely and easily.

PART 3

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

TIP:

When changing system files in the
X-Plane folder, always make sure
you make a back-up. This means
that if you ‘break’ something
unintentionally you can always go
back to square one. It is also worth
noting that when you run the
X-Plane Updater, it will tell you if
the X-Plane system file has been
modified and gives you an option
to keep or overwrite it. This can be
a handy tool if you lose or modify
a file that you then need to set
back to default.

The last major update from Laminar
Research made X-Plane a full 64-Bit
application. This is a very significant
setup in its development as it allows
it to access memory beyond the 4GB
limit of 32-Bit applications. What this
means is we can expect to see more
detailed scenery as developers will
be able to take advantage of
additional resources.

The plausible world
The scenery in X-Plane 10 has
undergone a number of changes.
Although effects such as shadows
and water reflections have been
carried over from X-Plane 9, the
biggest change in version 10 is the
plausible world. This is a concept to
create a dynamic world that is not
an exact replica of the real one,
objects are placed in a
feasible or ‘plausible’

location using an artificially intelligent
object planning algorithm.
For example, X-Plane uses a
detailed road network to place autogenerated objects such as buildings
and car parks. The number of objects
create is based on road density, so a

greater number of buildings will be
placed around a dense road network
found in populated areas compared
to those in remote locations. As a
result we will see cities in real world
locations although they will not be
accurate; they will, however, be

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 55

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

Scenery add-ons now come with high levels of detail

One of the major criticisms of X-Plane is the lack of good quality default airports

Landclasses, relating to the different 'types' of terrain, were increased in X-Plane 10
which improved the default scenery

It is possible to install objects from OpenSceneryX. In the example shown above, the
whole of Scandinavia – for free!

in the right place geographically.
Similarly traffic flow will be greater
on a dense road network compared
to rural roads, creating realistic traffic
flow. A new feature in X-Plane 10 is
HDR lighting or ‘High Dynamic
Range’. Every light source is modelled
individually which provides superb
night lighting effects – although the
downside is that HDR lighting can be
heavy on frame rates.

global overlay contains all the default
objects used in X-Plane. These include
roads, trees and buildings as well as
navigation and airport database,
stored in the resources folder. As well
as the default scenery objects, the
resources folder also contains artwork
including terrain and runway textures
as well as sky and clouds, cockpit
artwork, templates for buttons and
switches and aircraft gauges.

Global Scenery
X-Plane consists of two types of
scenery: ‘global’ that contains the
default scenery and ‘custom scenery’
that consist of third-party add-ons.
The global scenery comes on eight
DVDs that cover the entire globe. A
full install takes around 60-70GB of
disc space although it is possible to
specify which geographic areas to
install. The default scenery is stored
in a folder called ‘Global Scenery’
which covers the Earth from 74

degrees north to 60 degrees south. It
hosts over 33,000 airports as well as
aircraft carriers and helipads, oil rigs
and frigates.
Scenery in X-Plane is divided into
1x1 degree tiles that are bound by
latitude and longitude coordinates.
The tile’s naming convention is based
on the latitude and longitude of the
lower left corner of the tile. Positive
numbers mean north or east,
negative south or west. So, for
example +43-34 defines an area or
tile N43E034 to N44E35.
Scenery files are in a DSF file format
that stores elevation data or mesh.
Laminar Research introduced a new
extended DSF format in X-Plane 10
that uses vectors which result in even
more accurate elevations, coast lines
and water bodies. X-Plane is split into
two: global terrain and global
overlays. The global terrain contains
the base mesh, such as terrain
elevation data and textures, while the

One development we are starting to see is the introduction of more airports with
default buildings such as Glasgow shown above
56 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

Add-on Scenery
Custom scenery packages have a
priority order which is similar to FSX.
However, X-Plane prioritises custom
scenery alphabetically following the
ASCII rule. The Custom Scenery
folder also has a higher priority than
the default scenery folder. This
means that your scenery can
overrule any scenery listed further
down the alphabet. When installing
scenery, it is important to design a
system for prioritising the order in

which it is installed. For example,
large geographical areas should be
further down the list than the more
detailed local scenery such as
airports. Several developers
recommend sorting scenery by ICAO
code so airports in the same country
are grouped together.
As with third-party aircraft, add-on
scenery packages are usually
compressed in a zip archive that can
be downloaded from various websites.
Once the files have been extracted,
you need to locate your X-Plane folder
on your hard disk and place the
package inside the ‘Custom Scenery’
folder inside your X-Plane folder.

Popular third-party
scenery
There is a huge selection of high
quality freeware and payware add-on
scenery including aircraft, custom
scenery areas and objects available
for X-Plane. X-Plane.org is the main

OpensceneryX is a massive effort by X-Plane.org to import Openstreet map objects
into X-Plane

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

BIRK is a superb example of a high quality freeware airport made with custom objects

Water bodies such as lakes and rivers can be placed more accurately in X-Plane 10

The DSF file format in X-Plane allows developers to create more accurate coastlines
than ever before

The X-Plane world is populated with oil platforms and carriers from which you can
take-off and land

file library for scenery, aircraft and
utilities.
• Real Scenery (www.realscenery.
com) produces photographic scenery
for areas in the United States
including Ohau Island in Hawaii.
• TruScenery (www.truscenery.
com) is a community of Finnish
developers. It has made some very
high quality scenery for X-Plane 10.
Although its focus has mostly been

Openscenery

TIP OF THE DAY
IF YOU like bird strikes in X-Plane, but not
the deer, this is how to make them disappear.
Locate a file called deer_tex.png in the ‘X-Plane/
Resources/default scenery/sim objects/dynamic’
folder and make a back-up copy of it.
Next, find a convenient photo-editing package
(such as Adobe Photoshop) and make deer_tex.
png completely transparent. Then save it in its
original format and dimension. The deer will still
be there but they will be invisible. Just make sure
you back-up the deer_tex.png file first in case
something goes wrong.

on Finland, it has plans to expand to
other parts of the world.
• XP Scenery (www.scenery4xp.
com) has made excellent scenery such
as the Inside Passage and the Final
Frontier. Its latest package is called
The Canadian Rockies.
• RC Simulations (www.
rcsimulations.co.uk) teamed up with
Horizon Simulation to produce
photographic scenery expansions for
England and Wales.
• Alpilotx (www.alpilotx.net) has
created a replacement scenery
package for New Zealand. It is
freeware and covers both islands
in an extremely high-resolution
base mesh.
• Aerosoft (www.aerosoft.com) has
begun actively promoting X-Plane and
it has produced a number of high
quality add-ons including airports
such as Dusseldorf, Frankfurt-Hahn,
Hamburg, Zurich, Toulouse and its
latest airport Weeze.

Wales is one of the most scenic areas in the UK as illustrated here by the Horizon's
VFR Photographic Scenery of the UK for X-Plane

A recent development is the
OpenSceneryX project that is a freeto-use library of scenery objects. It is
a collaborative effort by members of
the X-Plane.org community to
provide high quality scenery
components for authors to use in its
scenery packages. The library
contains many pre-built 3D models
including buildings, aircraft and
vehicles as well as a large collection
of ground markings and trees for
both Europe and America.

Airports
In X-Plane the airports are stored in a
global airport and navigational
database in two separate files called
apt.dat and nav.dat. They define the
airport runway and taxiway layout for
each airport as well as the global radio
beacons that are stored in the
resources folder. However, like the
add-on scenery it is also possible to

create airports and navaids for custom
scenery and like custom scenery, the
apt and nav data files in the custom
scenery folder take priority over the
global scenery.
The global airport and nav data is
regularly updated in X-Plane updates
as new data is submitted. Robin Peel
maintains the file format and the
master database of airports that form
the ‘default’ scenery for X-Plane.
Updates can be downloaded from his
website (http://data.x-plane.com/)
although the database is also revised
automatically when X-Plane is
updated.

World Editor (WED)
While the default mesh (elevation
data) and textures (landclass) such as
farmland, forests, cities and deserts
are very good quality, the airports in
X-Plane are lacking in detail,
particularly when it comes to airports
populated with buildings.

Horizon's VFR Photographic Scenery is one of the more ambitious projects for
X-Plane that allows you to accurately navigate in VFR
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 57

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

San Francisco is one of the better payware scenery packages available from X-Plane.org

World Editor was introduced to
address this shortcoming. This is an
exciting project that is still in its
infancy. It consists of a free open
source editor that will allow users to
add buildings to airports from a
database of generic objects.
The aim is to enable the community
to create airports with generic
buildings and objects as well as
custom air traffic flow at airports.
Users will then be able to submit

airports they have created to be
included in default X-Plane airports. In
the future we will hopefully start to
see more airports appear in X-Plane
populated with buildings.

Summary
The file system in X-Plane is
structured in a way that makes it
highly customisable and easy to install
add-ons and once you have a basic
understanding of how it is set up, it is

possible to install scenery or objects
very quickly. However in order to
achieve this you must be fairly
competent at navigating the file
system as, unlike Microsoft Flight
Simulator, there are very few
automated installers for third-party
add-ons.
The separation of the Global and
Custom scenery is very intuitive
which makes it very easy to
manage, even with a very complex

scenery library which can be a
logistical nightmare in FSX.
Furthermore, the X-Plane
installation is very clean and doesn’t
clutter up your hard drive as no files
are added to the system folders and
no registry is created. As long as you
know how the file structure is
organised you will be able to keep
your installation clean and unlike
FSX, regular reinstalls are not
necessary. By Richard Benedikz

Aerosoft has added other airports that use the default objects in X-Plane, for example
Munich - seen in the example above

New Zealand Pro is a good example of many of the freeware packages that can be
downloaded from the internet

Prolific flight sim publisher/developer Aerosoft regularly adds high quality airports to
the default scenery in X-Plane such as Cote d’Azur

Truscenery is a new scenery developer for X-Plane which has released high quality
airports for Finland

58 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

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TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

X-Plane
A Beginner's Guide to

PART 4

Configuring the Flight Controls

T

o get the most out of X-Plane, it
is important not only to invest
in good quality controllers, but
also ensure they are configured
correctly to achieve a realistic flying
experience. There are a large
number of devices that are
compatible with X-Plane, ranging
from basic joysticks to more
advanced controllers such as yokes,
rudder pedals and throttle quadrants,
or even professional hardware such
as Precision Flight Controls (PFC) or

60 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

Garmin G1000 and Garmin GPS units.
Whilst it is possible to use a budget
joystick, in reality cheaper hardware
does not give you the control
feedback or reliability compared to
better quality equipment.
This is also true in terms of
functionality. Whilst a simple joystick
will provide pitch, roll, and in some
cases yaw control, by twisting the
joystick handle, high-end controllers
will usually include features such as
throttle, prop and mixture levers as

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

In this shot we see the Space Shuttle deploying a parachute during its landing - a
function which can be set to a button press

well as multi-engine controls. In
addition, most controllers come with a
number of buttons and switches that
can be programmed for operating the
aircraft systems such as raising or
lowering the undercarriage, the flaps,
lights, etc.
Selecting a controller to suit your
style of flying is also an important
consideration. A joystick is the best
choice if you prefer to fly fighters or
some of the more recent airliners.
Airbus airliners such as the A320/

A330/A340 and the A380 are, for
example, fitted with a joystick rather
than the more traditional yoke.
Alternatively, the trusted yoke, found
in most general aviation aircraft and
airliners, is the controller of choice,
obtainable from makers such as CH
Products or Saitek, to name but two.
Some yokes can also come with
throttle quadrants which allow you to
control the propeller, throttle, and
mixture independently, which is
invaluable if you want to fly multi-

It is possible to assign a button to raising or lowering the floats on seaplanes as well as
dropping an anchor

Before configuring the controls it is
essential to perform the calibration process

engine aircraft realistically.
For maximum realism I recommend
also using a set of rudder pedals for
yaw control. Most rudder pedals also
come with toe brakes which can be
set up in X-Plane. Rudder pedals are
essential to keep the aircraft on the
centreline during take-off and landing
and for making co-ordinated turns,
crosswind landings or when
recovering from stalls and spins. If no
rudder pedals are present, then
X-Plane automatically slews the

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 61

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

X-Plane is very flexible when it comes to assigning buttons and switches

X-Plane supports a variety of professional hardware such as the real Garmin 430 GPS

The control response and stability augmentation sliders, shown above, allow you to
fine-tune to the controls

compatible with most modern
controllers, the scale of the input
signals can vary significantly. For
example, some devices may send a
signal ranging from 0 to 10 when you
move the controls from one extreme
to the other and another device may,
for example, send a signal from 10 to
1000. X-Plane overcomes this by
determining the limits of each
controller when you calibrate an axis,
which is done via the ‘Calibrate
Joystick Hardware’ button. It is
important that when you calibrate
your controllers in X-Plane, you will
need to move all the sliders through
their full range on each controller to
set the limits. After the controllers
have been calibrated, you can then
map each axis from a drop-down box
and assign roll, pitch and yaw as well
as map the throttle quadrant levers to
individual engines. One thing to bear
in mind is that sometimes it is
necessary to tick the reverse checkbox
as some axes work in reverse.

rudder, although its auto-rudder
function is not intelligent for take off,
landing in a crosswind, when sideslipping or performing aerobatic
manoeuvres.

Calibration

It is also possible to reassign the default
keyboard mapping

X-Plane also automatically detects
USB devices and any hardware
controllers must first be connected
before starting X-Plane or they will
not be detected. Unlike Microsoft
Flight Simulator, before configuring
the controllers and assigning the
respective axes, they must first be
calibrated from the Joystick and
Equipment menu. Whilst X-Plane is

Assignments
The buttons and switches on any
input device can be assigned to a
variety of functions within X-Plane.
For example, when operating the
flaps, landing gear, autopilot or trim
switches. Compared to FSX, the
buttons assignment is far more
comprehensive and flexible in
X-Plane. As the buttons and switches
are depressed, you will see various
indicators change from light gray to
green. To change a button or switch
assignment, you simply operate the
applicable button or switch on your
joystick and then select the desired
function on the ‘Buttons Basic’ tab by
clicking on the small circular button.
This process can then be repeated for
each of the buttons and switches.

The Camera view
The advanced buttons tab allows you to assign almost any function in X-Plane
62 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

One area where X-Plane differs from
FSX is that the HAT switch used to
operate the camera view in the virtual

cockpit needs to be set up manually
in X-Plane, whereas in FSX the HAT
switch works ‘out of the box’ on most
controllers. Although this is a slightly
time-consuming process, it is
essential in order to be able to look
around the virtual cockpit using the
General Command -> up/down/left/
right in the ‘Buttons Basic’ tab in the
‘Joystick and Equipment’ menu
option. It is also possible to use the
keyboard to move around the virtual
cockpit with the arrow keys. Other
keys on the keyboard also allow you
to look left/right, up/down and zoom
in and out. It is worth learning the
key combination to move around the
cabin effectively. The camera in
X-Plane is incredibly powerful and we
will look at this feature in more detail
in a later tutorial

Null Zones
The null zone determines how much
you have to move the joystick before
X-Plane registers a movement of the
axis. It is possible to set the null
zone for each joystick axis thus
finely tuning how responsive the
control surface inputs are. However,
this function is typically used to
prevent your hardware from
‘creeping’ in flight or to ignore
‘jittering’ that many older controllers
may experience as any movement
inside the ‘dead range’ will not affect
the aircraft’s controls.
The tab in the ‘Joystick and
Equipment’ screen, labelled
‘EQUIPMENT’, is used to setup any
special equipment. This section
allows you to specify equipment such
as TrackIR and TripleHeadtoGo as well
as setting up special controllers like
the CH Throttle quadrant. Other
options allow you to set more
specialist hardware such as a real
Garmin GPS system or G1000 units.
There is also a dedicated section for
precision flight controllers including
yokes, throttle quadrants and centre
consoles, etc.

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

It is possible to configure throttle quadrants for a variety of different power plants
such as turboprops

The Thrustmaster T.16000 is fully
supported in X-Plane

Joystick sensitivity and
aircraft stability
It is possible to control joystick
sensitivity and aircraft stability in
great detail in the ‘Nullzone’ tab in
the ‘Joystick and Equipment’ menu
item. It contains two sets of sliders.
The right-hand set of sliders controls
the sensitivity curves, which in turn

The axis on the throttle quadrant can be
used to set up multi-engine aircraft

controls the responsiveness of each
axis. If these sliders are set all the
way to the LEFT, then the response
will be completely linear meaning,
for example, that a 50% deflection of
the joystick will deflect the flight
controls 50% of their amount of
travel. As the sliders are moved to
the right, however, the response

It is important to set up the HAT switch on your controller in order to move your view
around the virtual cockpit

becomes non-linear. For example, the
first 50% deflection of your joystick
or yoke may only deflect the aircraft’s
controls by 10%. Whilst this will
dampen any aircraft movements and
desensitise the controls for the first
50% of their travel, the remaining
90% of the control surface deflection
must therefore take place in the last
50% of your joystick’s travel. As a
result the controls will be dampened
for the first half of their travel and
then become increasingly sensitive for
the remainder of their throw. This
gives you the ability to fine-tune

control near the centre of the flightcontrol envelope to hold altitude and
roll precisely, but still let you achieve
full control authority. The only way to
adjust these settings is to experiment
until you find the setting that works
best for your setup, as it will vary
between aircraft or even different
controllers.
The left-hand set of sliders control
the X-Plane’s stability augmentation
mode by dampening the forces acting
on the flight control surfaces. If these
sliders are all the way to the LEFT, then
there is no stability

ROOM WITH A VIEW
Default keys to move around the virtual cockpit.
Enable virtual cockpit Shift + 9
Arrow keys move left/right and up/down
Tilt up R
Tilt dow F
Look left Q
Look right E
Zoom in / Out <>
Below: General aviation aircraft like the
Cessna 172 are fairly easy to set up

Rudder pedals will significantly increase
your flight simulation experience

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 63

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

Here we see a glider being towed up by a Cessna. Tow cables can be released by
pressing the spacebar

Using the appropriate controls is important to the sense of realism, for example, the
F4 Phantom should be controlled using a joystick rather than a yoke

CH Products are recommended by Laminar Reserch

Helicopters can be a challenge to setup up correctly in X-Plane

augmentation of your aircraft. As you
drag the sliders to the right, X-Plane
will gradually add more stability
augmentation by adding elevator
input to level the nose, aileron input
to minimize the roll rate, and some
rudder input to counter any aircraft
yaw rates. In other words, the
simulator will try to make the aircraft
easier to fly by adding small control
inputs. Consequently as you drag the
sliders to the right, the aircraft also
becomes less responsive and heavier
on the controls. The ‘joystick
sensitivity’ and ‘aircraft stability’

because if you are not getting the
correct values, then the issue is
possibly with your device drivers,
hardware calibration or the hardware
is simply malfunctioning.

sliders can be adjusted together to
customise the feel of X-Plane in detail.
It is possible tune the controls in
X-Plane in even more detail by
looking at the control surface
deflections during flight. To enable
this functionality, you can display the
axis in the data output screen, which
should vary between 1 to -1 for full
scale deflection. By moving the stick
and pedals, and monitoring these
values on screen, you can see if
X-Plane is receiving the correct input.
This is very useful when
troubleshooting your controllers,

Conclusion
In order to achieve a realistic flying
experience, it is important to spend
time calibrating and setting the
controls up correctly. For beginners
the interface can appear a little
‘clunky’ and unfamiliar, so there is a
learning curve to go through.
However, unlike Microsoft Flight

Simulator, X-Plane is far more
customisable and it is possible to
program a large number of functions
which makes X-Plane highly flexible,
whereas in FSX you need to use a
third-party program such as FSUIPC
to achieve the same level of
customisation, that is already built
into X-Plane by default. The
downside is that X-Plane, as a
simulator, is more hands-on and
complex, and fine-tuning the
controls to get your aircraft to fly
correctly can be time-consuming.
By Richard Benedikz

Thrust-vectoring can be
assigned to a slider
which makes flying the
Harrier AV8B an
interesting experience

64 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

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TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

X-Plane
A Beginner's Guide to

PART 5

Weather: Exploring the complexities of X-Plane's weather engine

X

-Plane comes with a
sophisticated weather engine
that is not only capable of
generating highly realistic
atmospheric conditions, it also uses
complex algorithms to calculate the
forces acting on an aircraft, based on
factors such as wind, turbulence,
temperature and pressure.

Generating weather
The weather, which is controlled from
the Environment menu, can be set in

four ways. The simplest method is to
set static weather for the entire globe
by entering variables such as cloud
type, wind, precipitation, thermals and
water conditions. It is however
possible to set randomly generated
weather by either creating a basic
weather system that changes over
time or manually drawing weather
patterns by the click of a mouse.
Clicking and dragging on an area will
randomly generate cloud coverage,
while repeatedly clicking on the same

Weather effects such as snow blowing
across the runway are also modelled

66 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

area increases the size and intensity of
the weather system. It is also possible
to click and drag an area and allow
X-Plane to randomly generate clouds.
Randomly-generated weather has a
number of variables that allow you to
control how the weather system will
develop over time, the extent of which
can be additionally controlled using
sliders that range from minimum to
maximum:
• Coverage specifies the amount of
clouds. It is possible to have anything

from clear skies to overcast skies.
• Intensity controls the strength of
storms in a weather system. With the
slider all the way to the left, there will
be no storms, whereas with it all the
way to the right, you can expect
significant storms.
• Temperature will determine the
probability of encountering icing or
thunderstorms. In cold weather the
probability of icing will be high, while
high temperatures can result in
thunderstorms.

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

X-Plane comes with a highly complex weather engine that allows you to fly in clear
skies or snow storms as can be seen in this image

• System size determines whether
you will encounter many small or a
few large weather systems.
• Randomness controls how closely
the weather matches the parameters
you set. It is possible to specify if you
want fairly static weather or it is
possible to set random weather that
changes rapidly.

Real-world weather
As an alternative to allowing X-Plane
to generate the weather, it is also

possible to download real weather
from the internet. X-Plane 10 reads
the weather at each airport
surrounding your aircraft from realworld weather stations and
interpolates the weather between
these airports, which prevents sudden
jumps between different cloud layers
or wind direction. Weather
information is automatically
downloaded at set time intervals. The
default setting is one hour, but it is
possible to force X-Plane to download

Cumulus clouds will affect how much turbulence you will experience

weather data immediately by pressing
the ‘Download right now’ button.

Clouds
With the release of version 10,
X-Plane’s weather system was given a
massive overhaul. One of the more
significant changes was the
introduction of 3D clouds to give true
volumetric effects. However, the new
clouds can have a significant impact
on frame rates, so it is important to
adjust the cloud puffs slider

‘Rendering Options’ to a level your
system can cope with. I found that
around 30% for most mid-range
systems works quite well.
It is also possible to specify cloud
types and the amount of coverage as
well as the tops and base levels for
three different cloud layers.
The types of clouds that are
supported in X-Plane include clear,
cirrus, few cumulus, broken
cumulus, scattered cumulus,
overcast and stratus.

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 67

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

It is possible to set a number of weather conditions such as low stratus and rain

It is also possible to experience volumetric fog in X-Plane

Windsocks are affected by wind and will flap in gusty conditions

• VFR sets the weather to good
visual flight rule conditions – clear,
sunny skies.
• CAVOK sets the weather to clear
and visibility OK. Typically, pilots refer
to this as ‘CAVU’ – Clear And Visibility
Unlimited.
It is also possible to set the amount
of precipitation, which is dependant
on the outside air temperature
surrounding the aircraft. In the right
atmospheric conditions, rain, hail or
snow will form.
The thunderstorms slider
determines the storm density and the
weather radar map in the lower right

of the window indicate where the
cells are forming. X-Plane models the
conditions in thunderstorms, so flying
into thunderstorms will result in
heavy precipitation and extreme
turbulence. The turbulence slider
automatically controls the turbulence.
Finally the temperature and the
barometric pressure or QNH at the
nearest airport can be set.

Icing
X-Plane also includes a very realistic
icing model. This includes airframe
icing as well as induced icing and icing
effects on the pitot static system. For

Ceiling and visibility
It is possible to manually set the
ceiling and visibility or alternatively
you can load pre-set weather
conditions such as Cat-III, Cat-II, Cat-I,
or CAVOK (Ceiling and Visibility OK)
using quick-set buttons:
• Cat-I sets the weather up for a
Category-I ILS approach, with a 200ft
ceiling and 1200m visibility.
• Cat-II sets the weather up for a
Category-II ILS approach, with 100ft
ceiling and 600m visibility.
• Cat-III sets the weather up for a
Category-III ILS approach. These are
extremely low instrument conditions
with almost zero ceiling and
visibility. Although there are three
Cat-III approaches (CAT-IIIa, Cat-IIIb
and Cat-IIIc), X-Plane sets the
visibility to approximately 200m
RVR and 50ft ceiling.
• N-prec sets the weather for a nonprecision approach with a three-mile
visibility and a 400ft ceiling.
• MVFR sets the weather marginal
VFR flying conditions, with seven miles
of visibility and a 1,500ft ceiling.

It is possible to control a number of
parameters such as visibility and
precipitation, as well as the level of
turbulence in stormy weather

The weather in X-Plane is highly dynamic and feels much less forgiving than it does in FSX

With the click of the mouse, you can affect the weather variables such as cloud coverage, storm intensity, while system size can also
be specified

68 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

Flying into icing conditions can result in failures like a blocked pitot tube

X-Plane also models water dynamics like skin friction and buoyancy

Soaring and ridge-lift is fully modelled in X-Plane. You have a choice of becoming
airborne using a winch launch or by aerotow

X-Plane comes with a built-in weather radar that can be used to navigate around
potentially dangerous storm cells

example, if your pitot tube is blocked,
you will get incorrect airspeed readings
which are similar to what you would
get in the real world. In addition, flying
into known icing conditions in aircraft
that are not equipped with anti-ice
becomes a real danger and in extreme
cases will take an aircraft down.
X-Plane also models windshield icing
effects, so you will see ice build-up
which will limit your forward visibility.

dependant on wind speed, so the
stronger the wind, the greater the
ridge lift. X-Plane even models wake
turbulence which will depend on the
weight of the aircraft. So, a 747 will
generate significantly more
turbulence than a gliding tug.

Wind
It is possible to control three wind
layers and specify the top of each

layer, wind speed, gust, wind shear
direction and level of turbulence.
Another feature modelled in
X-Plane is thermals coverage and
thermal rate of climb, which is
invaluable when flying gliders. In
addition to thermals, X-Plane also
simulates ridge lift, which is
modelled on wind direction and
speed over terrain. So, as wind
blows into mountains, you will
experience an updraft on the
windward side and downdraft on
the leeward side.
The amount of lift is also

precipitation. At low temperatures, a
wet runway will become icy.

Water dynamics

Surface conditions
The runway conditions drop-down box
allows you to set the surface to
various conditions: clean and dry,
damp or wet. In addition, conditions
can be either patchy or uniform which
is affected by the amount of

It is also possible to adjust the wave
height and wave direction for bodies
of water. Changing the wave height, in
feet, will also modify the wave length
and speed. X-Plane also models water
dynamics including buoyancy as well
as pressure and skin friction drag, so it
is necessary to bring a seaplane on to
the ‘step’ during take-off in order to
reduce the drag sufficiently enough to
get the aircraft into the air.

Wave conditions can be
set including wave
height and speed

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 69

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane
Setting the date and time
The date and time in X-Plane can be set
from the Environment menu. The top
slider changes the time, which is given
in both local and UTC time. Changing
latitude will accurately track the position
of the sun, which will in turn determine
how long the days and nights will be.
For example, as you go further north,
you will see nearly 24 hour days in June,
while in December the days will be very
short – just like in the real world.

WEATHER RADAR
UNLIKE FSX, X-Plane has a functioning
weather radar and if the aircraft is equipped
with one it is possible see where cells are
forming and to fly around them to avoid the
worst of the turbulence.

It is possible to experience microburst around storm cells

Lighting

X-Plane uses complex algorithms to
interpolate between different wind layers

X-Plane models the ‘Northern lights’
based on atmospheric conditions
which can be disabled or enabled in
‘Rendering Options’ and similarly
celestial bodies are also accurately
mapped so the sky at night in X-Plane
reflects the real sky maps.
HDR lighting was implemented in
X-Plane 10, which models individual
light sources. Although it is very
graphics card-intensive, particularly
on older graphics cards that pre-date
DirectX10, it results in very realistic
lighting. For example, street lights and
car headlights switch on at dusk, so as
you fly over cities and towns you see
lights from a town and car headlights
light up the road.

Conclusion
The weather in X-Plane is incredibly
flexible and complex. You can fly in
CAVOK conditions with no wind, or
you can navigate through
thunderstorms with wind shear,
turbulence and micro bursts.
Similarly, if you want to put your IFR
skills to the test, you can fly
through thick low lying stratus
while shooting an instrument
approach to minimums. It even
Thermal coverage, thermal tops and
thermal climb rate can all be customised

Flying ILS approaches down to minimums can be a challenging experience

models thermals and ridge lift, so it
is possible to fly gliders accurately
and experience turbulence due to
rising hot air.
X-Plane can generate its own
weather system which results in a
very realistic and dynamic
atmosphere. For example, if it is
raining and the temperature drops
below zero, it will start to snow
which in turn will reduce the traction
on the runway, increasing landing
distances. Similarly rain will make
the clouds overcast and heavy rain
will result in reduced visibility and

Main image X-Plane comes with superb lighting effects during sunrise and sunset

70 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

thunderstorms which can result in
wind shear and you can see
windsocks will flap in the wind as
they do in real life.
It is also possible to set up static
weather where you can pre-define
wind layers and cloud types and set
the visibility, precipitation and level of
turbulence to what you want.
Alternatively for more unpredictable
weather you can experience random
weather patterns or simply use real
weather. In short, when it comes to
weather, X-Plane has it all!
By Richard Benedikz

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TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

A Beginner’s Guide to

X-Plane
X-Plane Scenery add-ons - bringing the X-Plane World to life!

T

he X-Plane world has improved
over the years with more
accurate terrain elevation and
land-class data. As with FSX, while it
looks good at high altitude, down on
the deck it can look barren and
unrealistic. Fortunately, there is a lot
of add-on scenery available to
enhance the default scenery in
X-Plane ranging from airports and
autogen, such as buildings, landmarks
and trees, as well as better lighting
and new clouds. In this issue we are
going to have a look at some of those
add-on software.

Add-on Scenery
X-Plane has a folder dedicated for
installing add-on scenery named
‘Custom Scenery’. As in FSX, add-on
scenery is prioritised in layers. Where
FSX uses a scenery library, X-Plane
prioritises custom scenery
alphabetically by folder name.
Generally, when sorting out scenery
layers, large geographical areas and
photographic scenery is placed below
more detailed local scenery such as
airports or autogen objects. It is
usually a good idea to develop some
sort of a naming convention for addon scenery, for example I use ICAO
(International Civil Aviation
Organization) codes to group scenery
and airports by country.

X-Plane 10.20 introduced a new
method for organising scenery. Rather
than relying solely on folder names,
the priority can now be set in a file
called ‘scenery_packs.ini’, that resides
in the Custom Scenery folder.
The first time you run X-Plane, it
creates the scenery_packs.ini file that
has a line-by-line listing of the
contents of the custom scenery folder
in alphabetical order. As you add
scenery, new entries will be
automatically created at the top of the
scenery_packs.ini file. It is then
possible to manually set the order of
the add-on scenery by copying and
pasting line entries in this file.

PART 6

X-Plane has lacked detailed airports, but things are changing with World Editor (WED)

World Editor (WED)
Historically X-Plane has lacked detailed
airports. World Editor was introduced
to address this shortcoming. It is a
project that consists of a free editor
that can be used to build airports from
a library of generic objects such as
hangars, terminal buildings, aircraft and
vehicles that can be used to build
simple airstrips or large international
airports.
The idea behind WED is to enable the
community to create airports with
generic buildings and objects as well as
custom air traffic flow that can be
submitted to Laminar Research for
inclusion in the default airport

72 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

It is possible to brighten up the default X-Plane world with custom lighting models,
that enhance the effects of the ambient sunlight

Back it

up!
Alway
back-up s make a
before ovcopy of files
erw
case you riting in
undo any need to
changes.

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

As more airports are submitted to Laminar, we can expect to see more high quality
default airports added to X-Plane

The VFR Scenery from Horizon and RC Simulations can be transformed with thirdparty objects

BIIS is one of the airports that has been updated with default buildings

The default autogen can also be replaced to give a richer and more realistic appearance
to towns and cities

 

Many of the default airports now come with custom buildings and taxiways

database. The beta version saw the
introduction of 250 user-submitted
airports that have been approved by
Laminar Research.

Openscenery X
OpenSceneryX is a free-to-use
library of scenery objects for
X-Plane that provides a range of
high quality scenery components for
authors to use in their scenery
packages. It is possible to add threedimensional buildings, landmarks
and trees to enhance the
appearance of VFR Photographic
scenery for X-Plane. This includes
pre-built 3D models such as
buildings, aircraft and vehicles, as
well as a large collection of ground

England and Wales Custom Roads
Overlay – adds many of the default
roads, pylons, rail tracks, bridges, cars
and trains to existing photoscenery,
for example VFR England.
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.
php?app=downloads&showfi
le=19694
England and Wales Custom Autogen
– adds default buildings for the whole
of England and Wales. It even includes
night lighting which makes a big
improvement in dusk or dawn
conditions.
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.
php?app=downloads&showfi
le=19694

Air Navigation Obstacles – lists
objects in the ‘Enroute air
navigation obstacles’ bulletin that
are a potential danger to aircraft.
These are shown on the CAA charts
in the UK and cover 307 locations,
many of them with multiple
objects. The list contains obstacles
that are 300ft above ground level
and over. The objects are also
useful as a means of confirming
one’s position on VFR crosscountry flights and help provide a
three-dimensional feel.
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.
php?app=downloads&showfi
le=17773

markings and trees for both Europe
and America.
The OpenSceneryX project is a
collection of objects based on OSM
(Open Street Maps) data that has been
converted into a format that can be
read by X-Plane and is one of the more
important libraries you can add to your
X-Plane installation. It comes with an
automatic installer that copies the files
to the correct location in the X-Plane
file structure. It is available at http://
www.opensceneryx.com

Openscenery X projects
There are a number of scenery
packages available that enhance areas
all over the world, the following being
a few available examples.

It is possible to add autogen scenery that accurately represents its real world
counterpart
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 73

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

Treelines and farms make a lot of difference to the look and feel of X-Plane

Custom clouds can be added for more realistic atmospheric effects

Third party clouds not only look better, you can also see an improvement in frame rates

There are a number of high quality freeware airports available to download

Simheaven

consists of extremely high resolution
base mesh with detailed landclass
data compared to default Global
Scenery. In addition it has very
detailed road / railroad / powerline
vector, and highly accurate water
data including rivers, streams, lakes
and coastlines.
AlpilotX has released version 2 of its
HD Mesh Scenery. It is a free
donationware that covers many
interesting regions of the planet. It is a
massive download comprising over
55GB of data, covering Europe, the
USA Hawaii, Canada and Alaska.

Farms’ for X-Plane 10. The scenery is
an overlay that adds tree lines and
forests that follow many of the smaller
roads and you will find farms dotted
around which gives a more authentic
feel to the default scenery.
The package is derived from
OpenStreetmap (OSM) data and it
consists of tree lines and farms for
Europe and USA. It is available from
the website - http://www.alpilotx.net
Tree Lines and Farms work with
other scenery packages, but should be
placed above any HD Mesh Scenery or
photographic scenery.

Treescapes

Lighting

It is also possible to load treescapes
that replicate real world forests in the
USA and Europe. ALpilotx provides a
free package called ‘Tree Lines and

Night lighting in X-Plane has been
improved, particularly when using
photographic scenery, with the roads
and buildings lighting up, even

SimHeaven has one of the largest
scenery libraries for X-Plane 10. It is a
free website that has photographic
scenery, mesh and OSM data for large
areas of the world including a detailed
European library that adds European
style object to X-Plane 10. For
example, it changes US style buildings
and signs to a more European look for
signs, cars/trains, houses and
vegetation. It also blends in very well
with OSM Europe and photoscenery.
http://simheaven.com/

AlpilotX
Alpilotx (www.alpilotx.net) is run by
Andras Fabian and is a fantastic
resource for X-Plane. He has created
a replacement scenery for New
Zealand that covers both Islands and

The OpenSceneryX project populates the world with thousands of 3D objects
74 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

during dusk, while car headlights
and street lights start to appear
gradually during dusk and dawn. The
lighting, however, can still be
brightened up using Replacement
Day and Night textures.
http://forums.x-pilot.com/files/
file/435-replacement-day-and-nightlighting-lightstxt-for-x-plane-1020/
Replacement Day and Night
Lighting (lights.txt) by Chris K and
the ISDG Group makes the lights in
X-Plane larger and more visible. This
fixes issues with 4xSSAA which ends
up squashing the light billboards so
they can’t be seen at a distance. This
also fixes viewing night-time runway
lighting at off-angles, as well as
PAPI/VASI visibility in the daytime.
The file overwrites X-Plane’s built-in
library of light-source definitions

VFR England and Wales is one of the better payware sceneries available for X-Plane

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

alpilotX makes high quality scenery for New Zealand

It is possible to download treescapes and farms for the whole of the UK

and replaces the lights.txt definitions
with a duplicate file which exactly
doubles the size of many of the light
billboards.
There are four variants included:

Similar to the previous file, this gives
the best effect when using HDR
4xSSAA or higher, but includes large
light halos at distance.

available from: http://forums.x-plane.
org/index.php?app=downloads&sho
wfile=12836

5. Clouds – It is also possible to
change the default clouds in X-Plane.
For example, Federico Casalini has
created high definition (HD) clouds
(version 2.0) that use a 1024 pixel
texture size. The installation is very
straightforward: you simply extract
the contents of the package to
\X-Plane 10\Resources\bitmaps\
world\clouds and overwrite any
existing files. The package can be
downloaded from: http://
forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=
downloads&showfile=18213

There are a huge amount of free
downloads that can be used to
enhance the scenery in X-Plane. I have
highlighted some which I think are the
most important, but there are still
many other fantastic scenery add-ons
available. In order to get the most out
of X-Plane it is important to spend
some time installing add-ons. The
introduction of World Editor is an
important step as we can finally
expect to see the default airports
improve over time. There are a number
of websites that are an important
resource for photographic scenery,
add-on airports and autogen objects –
all of which improve the default
X-Plane world. We can also customise
atmospheric effects by using different
lighting models. There is a whole
world of X-Plane add-ons you can
discover, so get out there and start
exploring. By Richard Benedikz

1. Lights.txt-normal-distance-bloom /
lights.txt.
This file gives the best effect when
using normal viewing modes, or in
2xSSAA HDR or less.
2. Lights.txt-high-distance-bloom” /
lights.txt.
This file gives the best effect if you
wish larger light halos at distance. It is
for normal viewing modes, or in
2xSSAA HDR or less.
3. Lights.txt-4XSSAA-normaldistance-bloom” / lights.txt.
This file gives the best effect when
using HDR 4xSSAA or higher (due to
the ‘crush-the-bitmap’ way
4xSSAA/8xSSAA does billboarding)

TIP:

4. Lights.txt-4XSSAA-high-distancebloom” / lights.txt.

SCENERY ADD-ONS
THERE ARE a number of high quality freeware
and payware add-on scenery available
including aircraft, custom scenery areas and
autogen objects:
Real Scenery (www.realscenery.com)
produces photographic scenery for areas in the
United States and Hawaii.
TruScenery http://www.truscenery.com/ is a
community of Finnish developers who have
made high quality scenery for X-Plane 10.
Although their focus has mostly been on
Finland, they have plans to expand to different
parts of the world.
XP Scenery (www.scenery4xp.com) has
developed excellent scenery for the Pacific
North West such as the Inside Passage and the
Final Frontier. Its latest package is called The
Canadian Rockies.
RC Simulations (www.rcsimulations.co.uk)
teamed up with Horizon Simulation to produce
photographic scenery for England and Wales.
Aerosoft (www.aerosoft.com) has created a
number of high quality add-ons including
airports such as Dusseldorf, Frankfurt-Hahn,
Hamburg, Zurich, Toulouse and its latest
airport Weeze.
X-Plane.org is one of the largest resources
of add-ons for X-Plane, consisting of a library
of airports, aircraft and scenery.

Seeing objects further
away in the distance
Download ff_library_extended_LOD.
This is an extended LOD version of FF
Library. In comparison to the regular
version it will let you see objects from
a greater distance although this may
impact frame rates. The download is

Conclusion

If things go pear-shaped when editing scenery_packs.
ini, you can always go back to square one by renaming
or deleting the scenery_packs.ini file. The next time
you run X-Plane it will create a new file from scratch.

The often bland
default lighting in
X-Plane can be
brightened with
third-party lighting

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 75

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

A Beginner’s Guide to

X-Plane
X Plane’s World Editor (WED) - A Tutorial

W

hen it comes to X-Plane
there are often
complaints about airports.
X-Plane 10 offers more than 33,000
but most of them are little more
than a runway and set of taxiways.
Some of the smaller airports don’t
even feature taxiways, and the ones
that do don’t quite match the real
world. So, while the runways are
accurately placed, the rest is hit or
miss. It may be easy to throw one’s
hands in the air, curse to your
almighty, decry X-Plane as an
abomination and move on, or you
could help fill in the blanks
yourself. It’s probably easier than
being angry anyway.

WED
X-Plane maker Laminar Research
knows users like to see airport
buildings when flying, but with a
small team covering all 33,000
airports in X-Plane, it’s an impossible
task. Microsoft had a team of more
than 100 and a back catalogue of
airports from previous versions to fill
out FSX for example. Fortunately,
Laminar has given the user a tool,
World Editor (WED) to modify, flesh
out and build an airport. It’s simple
and free. I’m going to take you
through the process of improving a
simple airfield, so let’s begin.

Step 1 – Finding an
airport
First you’ll need to download WED
from the X plane developer’s website.

I will be using WED 1.2.1 R3 for this
tutorial. It’s a beta release but it’s
very stable. With it installed, you can
now decide which airport you want to
modify.
With 33,000 to choose from pick
your favourite to fill out. I’ve chosen
Aeroflex Andover, a small field in
upstate New York. It’s a little GA
airfield owned by the Forestry
Commission which once provided
emergency fire cover. It’s also open to
the public and makes a great base
from which to explore the Eastern
States. XP10 shows this airfield as a
single runway and little else. Google
Earth though, shows various taxiways,
parked aircraft and large hangars at
the field so Andover needs a bit of
love.

First things first: tell WED where to find XP10

Step 2 – Loading the
data into WED
Double-clicking on WED, the first
screen will offer three choices. Firstly,
you’ll need to tell it where your
X-plane installation is, then you can
click on ‘New Scenery Package’. This
creates a new folder in your ‘Custom
scenery’ folder of XP10. Rename it
after your airport. Now you can click
on ‘Open Scenery Package’ which will
lead you to the main WED work
screen. You’ll notice the words ‘No
current airport’. WED needs to import
the airport data file ‘apt.dat’ from
XP10 to know where all the airports
are. Go to ‘File’ and select ‘Import Apt.
Dat’. The file is located in
(Drive):\X-Plane 10\Resources\default

76 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

Next up, click ‘New Scenery Package’

PART 7

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

scenery\default apt dat\Earth Nav
Data. With the data installed, you can
call up your airport. A separate
window will open where you type the
airport’s name or ICAO identifier. Click
Import and you’re done. Back on the
main workspace, you’ll see your
airport.

Step 3 – Getting a
background image
With just the airport on screen, it’s
difficult to add taxiways accurately.
We now need to get a background
image to help us get the airport up to
real life standards. There are several
ways to do this, including taking a
screen grab from Google earth. For
the US you can use the USGS
seamless server to download free
satellite imagery. It’s a good option as
the downloaded GeoTIFF file will
contain the co-ordinates we took the
picture from and WED will place the
picture in the right place. For outside
the US there are a few programs for
X-Plane to get imagery and provide
co-ordinates but they use Java to
work via the web and could leave
your PC vulnerable to infection from

malicious code. Personally, I use
SBuilderx 3.13. Although it’s primarily
an FSX scenery program, its ability to
produce the background with
co-ordinates is useful for all scenery
design. The background image is
used to help position objects at the
airport and won’t feature in the
finished scenery.
With the image downloaded, you
can load it into WED by going to
‘View’ and ‘Pick Overlay Image’. Just
select the image. Chances are it will
be the wrong size and in the wrong
position. This is where our little
co-ordinates file comes in handy.
Open the file and you’ll find four sets
of numbers, North, South, East and
West. In WED select just the top lefthand point of our image. In the
selection area on the bottom-right of
your workspace, you’ll see latitude
and longitude co-ordinates. Copy the
North number from your file and use
Ctrl+v to paste it into the latitude box.
Next copy the West figure and paste
it into the longwitude box. Now, our
first point is in the correct spot on the
planet. Next, do the same for the topright, using the North and East

The world is now your oyster

Load in the Apt.dat file and zoom in using your mouse wheel

co-ordinates figure. Bottom-right uses
South and East and the final bottomleft point uses South and West. With
the four points now aligned, hopefully
your runway matches the background.
Sometimes it doesn’t, but for 12N, it’s
a perfect match. Finally, go to your file
structure window on the top-right and
click on the lock symbol next to your
background image. This will prevent
accidental movement of the image.

Step 4 – Measuring up
And we’re in! 12N Aeroflex as XP10 sees it

With the background in place, the first

thing to check is the runway details.
Selecting the runways tab on the
bottom-left, we see all the details
XP10 has for the airfield. Use Google
to find a chart or directory of the
same airfield and double-check the
information. From the information I
found, I see that 12N is fairly
accurate to its real-world counterpart
– things like the edge lighting match
up. The runway though doesn’t quite
fit the image. It’s a little too wide and
a bit wonky compared to the
background. Using the anchor

With our background picture in place we can see what the simulation leaves out
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 77

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

The picture is in WED, but it needs positioning for accuracy

Adding the first taxiway. Note the texture doesn’t suit our background

The default runway lines up pretty well with real life

Better texture, but it doesn’t quite match the runway. Adjust the ‘Texture heading’ in
the box on the bottom-right

points we can rotate and pinch the
runway to fit perfectly with the
background. Once you’re happy, lock
the runway in place.

where you started. I’ve chosen to
make the Taxiways at 12N bit by bit,
but you can if you wish, do the whole
area in one go. It’s easier though to
break them into more manageable
chunks. With the last point placed,
click on the first point to close the
pattern and voila, our first taxiway.
The surface is wrong though, offering
concrete instead of asphalt. To change
this, make sure the taxiway is selected
and go to the ‘Selection’ section on
the bottom-right. Where it says
surface, click on the pull-down menu
and select asphalt. Now we need to
change the direction of the texture. I
set the texture heading to 22, roughly
the same as the runway, so it matches.
I also set the texture roughness to
match. Fill in the rest of the airfield
the same way, using the taxiway tool
to create the apron as well.

Step 5 – Taxiway laying
It’s time to start adding the taxiways.
Select the Taxiway tool from the
toolbar on the left – it’s the third one
down on the right. Pick a start point,
preferably an end, then just trace the
outline of your taxiway. It’s fairly easy
except for curves, which take a bit of
practice. To create a curve place a

point before the curve and place a
second on after the curve, but keep
the left mouse button pressed. This
tells WED that you want to create a
Bezier curve. Gently move the mouse
away from the point keeping your
mouse button pressed and you’ll see
the curve begin to form. Adjust the
mouse position until the curve fits the
outline, and when you’re happy, let
the mouse button go. That sets the
point and leaves you free to move on
to the next point. Keep following the
taxiway around until you’re almost

Step 6 – Lining

The main taxiways now added and texture matched

Occasionally, taxiways will need adjusting to avoid gaps
78 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

Now it’s time to introduce the paint
brush and get some lines down on the
tarmac. Select the taxi line tool from
the toolbar, fourth down on the left.

Just by moving one node and we’re sorted

Next, hide your freshly laid tarmac by
clicking the eye symbol next to your
taxiways in the top right. Now we can
see our lines. Like laying your
taxiways, trace the lines using Bezier
curves where needed. Select each line
to change its attributes, in this case
the line type and pick the line to
match. In my case, taxi lines are
simple solid yellow ones. You’ll notice
an option for taxi lights. There does
not appear to be any at 12N, so we
can leave it empty.
The Line tool is for more than just
taxiway lines. It can be set to make
our runway hold markings. Just make
sure the marking is facing the right
way. (Starting on the right and move
left seems to work.)

Step 7 - Checking
progress
With our taxiways placed, it’s a good
idea to check out how the airport
looks in the sim. Go to File and select
‘Export scenery pack’ to put your work
into XP10, and then just start XP10
and head to your airfield. With the

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

Laying taxiway lines is simple – just remember to hide the taxiway first

Sorting the runway stop markings

Anatomy of our workspace
1. Library window and object display. 2. Hierarchy plane. 3. Editing tab 4. Main work window.
5. Toolbar.

Adding objects is as simple as ‘drag and drop’

sim loaded, two things stand out. One
is the lake near the end of 03. Its
position in the sim is not quite correct,
so the bottom-left taxiway is too close
to the lake. The second thing is that
there’s a road cutting right through
the bottom taxiway. The lake is stuck
there, but we can do something about
the road. Close down XP10 and head
back to WED. From the bottom-left of
the tool bar, select the Exclusion tool
and draw a box just over the bottom
of the lower taxiway. Next, go to
selection and click on the drop-down
from the Exclusions menu. Select
‘Road’. Export the pack and reload
XP10. Now you’ll see that the road
has disappeared. Back in WED, use the
taxiway tool to draw in the missing
road. No cars will use this as currently

we can’t use WED to create new roads
for XP10.

Step 8 – Object
placement
So, we have taxiways, lines and we
have sorted out a bit of annoying
autogen. It’s now time to add aircraft
and buildings. XP10 ships with a
library of objects for just this purpose
although it’s somewhat limited. To
expand, you can download free
libraries available on the internet.
OpensceneryX and RUScenery are two
options, offering a greater choice of
buildings, aircraft and objects to flesh
out your airport. The RUScenery
library is little use at my field, but
Opensceneryx will be great. The first
objects I’m going to add are

Positioning the background image is as easy as ‘copy and paste’ into the latitude
and longitude windows

Our default airport
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 79

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

The apron in position, note the annoying road to the bottom of our picture

Helipads introduced to flesh-out the place

Now we’re starting to look good. But the aircraft on the far left are almost in the water...

A simple example of a facade building

static aircraft. 12N has plenty of
aircraft parked up, so adding them will
really bring this field to life. To add an
object, select the object tool or simply
click on the object you want to add
from the library window on the left,
then just click over the spot where
you want to add the object. Use the
vertex tool to position the object
and that’s it.
For buildings you have two choices.
A building in the library is just the
same as any other object, but your
second option is to create a building
using a facade. Facades are like
texture files that can be drawn to any
shape. They’re great for creating quick
terminals or cargo hangars. I’m using a
facade for the main airfield buildings.
This is because 12N has some unique
buildings and I can’t find an
appropriate object to fit. Using
facades is just as easy as objects.
Select a *.FAC file from the library and
then, as with your taxiways, trace the
outline of the buildings. Click on the
first point again and you’re done.
Personally I don’t like facades. In the
future I may use ‘Sketchup’ to create
buildings to match the airfield, but
that’s for another tutorial.

The airport selection window. It will
pop-up behind the main WED window.
So if you don’t see it, minimise WED

Step 9 – Odds and ends
Most of the work is complete on our
airfield, but there are a few things left
to deal with. Firstly, there are two
helipads at this airfield that need
adding. This is fairly simple. Using the
Helipad tool, it’s simply a case of drag
and drop, then use the selection
section to adjust the size of the pads,
type of lighting and direction of
placement.
Next we need a fuelling area, which
in this case is opposite the helipads.
That’s a simple object drop.
Defining ramp-start positions is next,
so we need the ramp-start tool. This
allows us to tell XP10 that we can start
here, and gives the option of calling
the ramp-start a Gate, Tie Down,
Hangar or Misc. I chose Misc, as it
should cover a multitude of things.
Selecting ramp-start for this airfield in
the sim will mean starting from here.
Setting the tower viewpoint is next,
and is fairly simple. With that we’re
done. Bear in mind that this is a simple
little airfield. I’ll be covering some of
WED’s more advanced features in
another article using a bigger airfield
than Aeroflex Andover. See you then.
By Jessica Bannister-Pearce.

XP10 offers several types of facade for use in airport design
80 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

World Editor | UPDATE

World Editor and Airport
Scenery Gateway update
Laminar Research has announced the launch of the Airport
Scenery Gateway along with an updated and improved
version of its airport scenery tool – World Editor 1.3.

W

orld Editor enables users to
create and populate the
X-Plane world with detailed
3D airports. A key feature is the
ability for users to create airport
scenery and send it to the new
Airport Scenery Gateway so it can be
shared with the community. With the
launch of the new gateway, it is now
possible to automatically submit
airport scenery, which is then errorchecked by Laminar to ensure
compatibility with a standard
installation of X-Plane 10. Once
accepted, it will appear in scheduled
X-Plane updates, although it is
possible to visit the gateway and
search the database for new
submissions that can be downloaded
and installed manually.
Since its launch, the gateway has
been highly popular and over several
months, Laminar Research has

It is possible to quickly design small
rural airports using World Editor

received and approved over 1,000
airports, ranging from large hubs
like Shanghai/Podong International
and Boston’s Logan to small rural
air strips.
World Editor adopts a CAD-like
approach, with a drag-and-drop
interface allowing potential
designers to create airports using
‘assets’ or libraries, which consist
of hundreds of objects including
hangars, terminal buildings, aircraft
and vehicles. In addition,
thousands of objects can be
downloaded from Openscenery X
and other online sources.
To get started a set of video
tutorials can be downloaded from
the X-Plane developer website at
http://developer.x-plane.com/
videos.
World Editor 1.3 and the Airport
Scenery Gateway are available at no
charge. World Editor can be
downloaded from:
http://developer.x-plane.com/tools/
worldeditor
The website for the Airport Scenery
Gateway is at:
http://gateway.x-plane.com

World Editor
and the Airport
Scenery
Gateway
enables users to
design airports
that can then be
shared with the
X-Plane
community

It is possible to select a variety of
custom texture to create highly
detailed airports

A facade tool is included so users can
add fencing and custom buildings
using a variety of built-in textures

By Marty Arant

These airports range from large hubs to small air strips

The gateway contains a dedicated artist page, where the work of individual World
Editor designer’s is show-cased

World Editor allows you to choose hundreds of objects from a library including
hangars, terminal buildings, aircraft and vehicles
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 81

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

A Beginner’s Guide to
PART 8

Libraries & Plug-ins - Bringing the X-Plane World to life!

W

e are going to have a
closer look at installing
the libraries and plug-ins
in X-Plane. These are important
elements as they contain objects
and animations that third-party
developers can use for creating
custom scenery, including airports.
There are of course a variety of
scenery packages available to
download, but rather than looking
at individual packages, I am going
to highlight the main libraries and
plug-ins needed to bring the
X-Plane world to life.

OpenScenery X
OpenScenery is a free package based
on OSM (OpenStreetMaps) data that
has been converted into a format that
can be read by X-Plane. It is one of the

INSTALLING ADD-ONS
Installing add-on packages will change some
of the system files in X-Plane. Although it
is unlikely you will damage your X-Plane
installation, I would recommend you back up
any files before overwriting. If you accidentally
overwrite a file, you can restore it by running the
X-Plane automatic updater, which will scan the
X-Plane folder and restore any files that have
been modified.

more important libraries you can add
to your X-Plane installation.
In essence, it is a free-to-use library
of scenery objects for X-Plane that
provides a range of scenery
components such as buildings,
aircraft and vehicles as well as
landmarks and trees from Europe
and America that can be used by
scenery developers.

82 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

Above: Many of the default airports have been updated with 3D objects
Below: It is possible to install third-party clouds for more
realistic atmospheric effects and better frame rates

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

The OpenSceneryX library populates the world with thousands of 3D objects

Flags and windsocks are affected by the
weather in X-Plane

Taxiway signs can be updated to replicate
their real world counterpart

It is possible to install runway textures with four times more detail than the default
X-Plane runways

OpenScenery X comes with an
automatic installer that copies the
files to the ‘Custom Scenery’ folder
in X-Plane. It also includes an
updater that can be used to
regularly check for new additions
to the library. Simply download
the installer from the
OpenSceneryX website and run
the automatic installer.
Website - http://www.
opensceneryx.com

FF Library

trickier libraries to install as you must
download it from a website that is in
Russian. After several attempts at
obtaining the library, I found the best
way was to use the Google Chrome
browser as it will translate the
webpage on the fly.
Once you have downloaded the
library, copy the ‘ruscenery’ folder to
Custom Scenery in X-Plane.
Website - http://www.x-plane.su/
projects/ruscenery.html

R2 Objects Library
This project was started with the
development of VFR scenery for
the Czech Republic. Like
OpenScenery, it consists of a library
of objects that have been adapted
by other scenery developers. To
install the library, simply download
it from www.x-plane.cz and copy
the ‘R2_Library’ folder to the
Custom Scenery folder.
Website - http://xplane.cz/
en/2011/04/01/r2-libraryknihovna-3d-objektu/

This is a scenery library from
FranknFly with ‘German-looking’
buildings. It was initially created for
use in the Nürnberg VFR scenery
although many other scenery
projects have adopted it. An
extended LOD version of FF Library
is now available that allows you to
see objects from a greater distance,
although it will have an impact on
frame rates. The FF Library is
available from X-Plane.org. To install,
download the zip file from x-plane.
org and extract the ‘ff_library_
extended_LOD’ folder to the ‘Custom
Scenery’ folder in X-Plane.
Website - http://forums.x-plane.
org/index.php?app=downloads&sh
owfile=12836

RuScenery
The RuScenery library was created
for the Russian CIS scenery project
and like the other libraries, it has
also become a popular resource for
other developers. It is one of the

SimHeaven
SimHeaven has one of the largest
scenery libraries for X-Plane 10. It is a
free website that contains
photographic scenery and
OpenStreetMap (OSM) autogen data
for large parts of the world including a
detailed library that adds Europeanstyle objects to X-Plane 10, changing
the US-style buildings and signs to a
more continental look.
Website - http://simheaven.com

AlpilotX
AlpilotX is run by Andras Fabian and is a
great resource for X-Plane that includes
a high resolution mesh and a number
autogen libraries. He has also created
very detailed scenery for New Zealand.

AlpilotX USA and Europe
trees and farms
version 2
These two packages created by Alpilot
add treescapes that replicate real world
forests in the USA and Europe. The
packages are based on OSM data that
adds forests and tree lines that follow
many of the smaller roads. You will also
will find farms dotted around the
landscape, giving a more authentic feel
to the default scenery.
Tree Lines and Farms work with other
scenery packages, but should be placed
above any mesh Scenery or
photographic scenery in the ‘Custom
Scenery’ folder.
Website - http://www.alpilotx.net

Treelines and farms make a lot of difference to the look and feel of X-Plane
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 83

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

Autogate introduces animated jetways and docking guidance systems (DGS ) to X-Plane

HD Mesh Scenery v2
AlpilotX has recently released version
2 of its HD (High Definition) Mesh
Scenery. It is a freeware/donationware
package that covers many interesting
regions of the planet. It is a massive
download comprising over 55GB of
data, covering Europe, the USA
Hawaii, Canada and Alaska.
The HD Mesh scenery from Alpilot is
a much higher resolution base mesh
compared to the default Global
Scenery and is based on new OSM
data that adds a number of
improvements such as more accurate
lakes, rivers, coastline, roads, railroads,
power lines and urban park areas.
To install, create a Subfolder called
‘zzz_hd_global_scenery2’ in your
‘Custom Scenery’ folder (using the
zzz_ prefix to ensure the mesh is

loaded at the bottom of the scenery
list). Create a Subfolder called ‘Earth
nav data’ in the zzz_hd_global_
scenery folder. After you have
uncompressed the zip files, copy the
resulting scenery folders (they should
have names like +50-130,+30120,+40+010 etc.) in the folder ‘zzz_
hd_global_scenery/Earth nav data’.
Website - http://www.alpilotx.
net/2013/11/22/x-plane-10-hdmesh-scenery-v2-release

Autogate
Autogate is a plug-in made by
Marginal that introduces animated
jetways and docking guidance
systems (DGS) to X-Plane. It is a nifty
program as the DGS guides the pilot
to the correct stopping position and
animated jetways will dock with the

aircrafts’ main door when the engines
are shut down within 0.5m of the
correct stopping position.
It is worth noting that airports need
to have this feature enabled by the
developer. At the moment it is a bit
hit and miss if an airport supports
Autogate, although this can be
checked by looking at a specific
airport folder in ‘Custom Scenery’ and
finding a sub folder called ‘autogate’.
To install the plug-in simply copy
the AutoGate folder into the ‘X-Plane/
Resources/plugins folder’.
Website - http://marginal.org.uk/xplanescenery/plugins.html

Animated marine traffic
This is another plug-in made by
Marginal that I recently discovered. I
find it really good as it adds real

world shipping traffic to X-Plane, so
now you can see ships and ferries sail
the seven seas.
Copy or move the SeaTraffic folder
from within this archive into the
‘X-Plane/Resources/plugins folder’.
Website - http://marginal.org.uk/xplanescenery/plugins.html

Enhanced runways HD
by FlyJSim
This package replaces the asphalt,
concrete and grass runways with
more realistic and detailed textures.
The updated textures are four times
the size of the default textures, so
depending on your system, it is
possible to experience slower load
times and a loss of frame rates.
To install this update, download and
copy the ‘asphalt’, concrete and

AlpilotX has released new HD Mesh version 2 that covers a large part of the world

There are a number of highly detailed and free airports available to download such as
Ataturk (LTBA), notice the ships in the distance!

It is possible to add ships and ferries to the X-Plane oceans

Madeira is one of the better freeware packages that takes advantage of sloped runways

84 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

We can expect to see more high quality default airports added to X-Plane in the future

The default autogen can be replaced to give a more realistic appearance to towns
and cities

Website - http://forums.x-pilot.com/
files/file/435-replacement-day-andnight-lighting-lightstxt-for-xplane-1020/

Flags of the World: Real
Flag II

The VFR Photographic Scenery from Horizon and RC Simulations can be transformed
with autogen objects

goodgrass folders to X-Plane 10\
Resources\bitmaps\runways.
Website - http://forums.x-plane.org/
index.php?app=downloads&showfi
le=16270

Replacement’ into the ‘Custom
Scenery’ folder.
Website - http://forums.x-pilot.com/
files/file/406-wide-taxiwaymarkings-library-replacement.

Wide taxiway markings
library

Replacement day and
night lighting

This update modifies the default
taxiways of X-Plane, making them
wider so they better reflect the real
world. Airport pavement markings
also look much more like their reallife counterparts.
To install, unzip and copy ‘Wide
Taxiway Markings Library

This modification makes many of the
scenery related lights in X-Plane much
larger and more visible. The runway
and approach lighting at night has
also been improved.
To install, download and overwrite the
lights.txt file in: X-Plane 10/
Resources/bitmaps/world/lites.

Flags of the World is a plug-in that
allows developers to add flags to
scenery packages. To install, replace the
files in X-Plane/Resources/default
scenery/Sim objects/landscape and
X-Plane/OpensceneryX/objects/airport/
furniture/windsock
Website - http://forums.x-plane.org/
index.php?app=downloads&showfi
le=17090

Flags of the USA States:
Real Flag II
This is a library of flags of all 50 States,
the District of Columbia and the three
territories in the USA.

Installation
Copy the ‘flags_of_USA_states’ folder
to the Custom Scenery folder.
Website - http://forums.x-plane.org/
index.php?app=downloads&showfi
le=17092

Windsock Real flag sync
This add-on synchronises the windsock

and the Real flag libraries, so when the
wind changes direction, all flags and
windsocks point in the same direction.
To install, replace the following two
folders with the contents of the zip file;
X-Plane/Resources/default scenery/Sim
objects/landscape
X-Plane/Custom Scenery/
OpensceneryX/objects/airport/
furniture/windsock
Website - http://forums.x-plane.org/
index.php?app=downloads&showfi
le=20863

No deer or balloons patch
This patch makes hot air balloons and
forest reindeer invisible. It is useful if
you want to keep bird strikes, but want
to get rid of the more unrealistic
animations in X-Plane.
To install the update, simply execute
the patch inside and point it to your
X-Plane installation folder and
overwrite all files.
Website - http://forums.x-plane.org/
index.php?app=downloads&showfi
le=13786

UK-specific Add-Ons
Air Navigation Obstacles
Air Navigation Obstacles lists objects in
the ‘Enroute air navigation obstacles’

There are a number of high quality freeware airports available to download such as St Maarten
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 85

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

The version 2 Mesh from alpilotX is one of the
essential downloads although it comes in at over 50GB

bulletin that are a potential danger to
aircraft. These are shown on the CAA
charts in the UK and cover 307
locations. The list contains obstacles
that are 300ft above ground level and
over.
The Air Navigation Obstacles
database also provides a threedimensional feel to the UK VFR
Photographic scenery package for
England and Wales.
Website - http://forums.x-plane.org/
index.php?app=downloads&showfi
le=17773

England and Wales
Custom Autogen 1.1
England and Wales Custom Autogen
adds many of the default roads,
pylons, rail tracks, bridges, cars and
trains to existing photographic

It is essential to install the object libraries
when installing freeware airports

scenery for the whole of England and
Wales. It even includes night lighting
which improves the scenery in dusk or
dawn conditions.
To install, simply download and
unzip the file to your ‘Custom
Scenery’ folder.
Website - http://forums.x-plane.org/
index.php?app=downloads&showfi
le=19694

World traffic
World Traffic introduces AI traffic at
airports, including both civilian and
military air traffic. Flight paths can be
created by specifying the aircraft and
the steerpoints that the aircraft will
follow. Similarly arrivals and
departures controlled by World Traffic
are based on wind and aircraft type,
so they will land and take-off from

A number of third-party airports in
X-Plane support Autogate

SkyMaxPro produces one of the best atmospheric textures for X-Plane
86 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

suitable runways. Alternatively it is
possible to use a random flight plan
generator to quickly generate
hundreds of flight plans for specific
airports.
User-defined flight plans can be
used to specify the flight path of an
aircraft or a formation of aircraft
including helicopters, ground or sea
traffic. Ground routes can be used to
specify aircraft parking locations as
well as aircraft type and tail number
so you can have aircraft park in
dedicated parking spots or gates.

Clouds
It is also possible to change the
default clouds in X-Plane. For
example, Federico Casalini has created
high definition (HD) clouds (version
2.0) that use a 1024 pixel texture size.
The installation is very
straightforward: you simply extract the
contents of the package to \X-Plane
10\Resources\bitmaps\world\clouds
and overwrite any existing files.
Website - http://forums.x-plane.org/
index.php?app=downloads&showfi
le=18213

Aerosoft Skytools
Sky Tools is a collection of files that
enhance the sky in X-Plane 10. It is a
free package from Aerosoft and
includes:
Ten sky themes that change the
colour of the sky in relation to the
time of day and six cloud themes with
detailed 2048 pixel clouds or 512px
for better performance. Skytools also
includes three lighting themes and
improved sun halo and moon lighting
effects. To download the Skytools, you
will need to create an account on the
Aerosoft forum – http://forum.
aerosoft.com.
Website - http://forum.aerosoft.com/
index.php?/topic/77657-for-freeaerosoft-sky-tools-for-x-plane-10/

SkyMaxPro
SkyMaxPro doesn’t just replace cloud
and sky textures, but it is a
revolutionary new weather rendering
engine for X-Plane 10 that. The
program typically runs faster than
X-Plane’s default clouds and looks
better by adding crepuscular rays,
clouds aloft with wind speed and
truly 3D clouds.
The SkyMaxx Pro is a plug-in that
disables X-Plane’s cloud and weather
rendering engine, then replaces it
with the SkyMaxx version of weather.
It takes weather data from the
already existing X-Plane weather
menu and adds visual effects with
almost no performance hit.
SkyMax is a commercial product,
retailing at $39.95, but in terms of
weather generation it is the best
package available for X-Plane.
Website - http://www.x-aviation.
com/catalog/skymaxx-p-101.html

Conclusion
Enhancing the scenery in X-Plane
may look intimidating at first, but in
reality a fresh install of FSX is more
time-consuming.
To get X-Plane to a visually good
standard, there are relatively few
libraries and plug-ins that need to be
installed. I have included the main
plug-ins and libraries that I think you
need to get going, but there are still
many other fantastic scenery addons available. These can be found on
a number of websites that contain
photographic scenery, add-on
airports and autogen objects, all of
which serve to improve the default
X-Plane world. We can even
customise atmospheric effects by
using different lighting models and
clouds or generate AI traffic. So, what
are you waiting for, there’s a whole
world out there to discover!
By Richard Benedikz

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TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

X-Plane
A Beginner’s Guide to

Optimising frame rates

PART 9

Clouds such as cirrus or stratus are much
lighter on frame rates than cumulus

D

espite its complexity, X-Plane
is designed to be highly
customisable. It can run on a
variety of computers, taking
advantage of the latest multi-core
processors and high-end graphics
cards or it can run on fairly modest
computers. As part of the set-up
process, it is important to set the
level of detail that is right for your
system. The key to running X-Plane
at optimum frame rates lies in the
‘Rendering Options’. It is possible to
specify how much graphics memory
(VRAM) is used to display images
on-screen and tailor the processor
usage for running the physics in the
X-Plane world, such as weather
generation or AI traffic. As a
guideline, X-Plane needs a minimum
of 20 frames per second (FPS) to run
fluidly. Below this value it will begin
to stutter and the flight model will
start to break down, although in
order to maintain minimum FPS,
X-Plane will automatically introduce

fog to reduce visibility, alleviating
the load on the computer.

Resolutions and
special effects

‘Texture resolution’ determines how
much graphics memory is used to
display textures. Turning down the
resolution will reduce VRAM usage,
although on the negative side it will
make the X-Plane world appear
blurry. Modern graphics cards
generally have enough VRAM to
display high-resolution textures
without impacting frame rates but if
the amount of available VRAM is
exceeded, the frame rate will be
impacted as the computer will use
system RAM for drawing graphics,
which is significantly slower.
‘Anisotropic filter level’ in simple
terms makes objects less blurry at a
distance. It is possible to set it from 1x
to a maximum of 16x. At low settings,
it has a minimal effect on FPS on most
graphics cards, but at high settings the

88 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

impact on frame rates is significant. As
a rule, the default setting of 4x is the
best compromise between visual
effect and performance.
‘Run full-screen at this resolution’
will set the resolution in X-Plane to be
the same as that of the operating
system; alternatively it is possible to
select a custom resolution. It is
important to ensure the resolution
matches the aspect ratio of your
monitor or the image will appear
stretched. The old 4:3 ratio monitors
have been replaced with widescreen
monitors with a ratio of 16:9,
although rarely, some monitors have a
16:10 aspect ratio.
‘Gamma’ determines the overall
brightness in X-Plane. It does not use
any processing power or graphics
memory so frame rates are not
affected.
‘Framerate lock to monitor’ will
lock the FPS in X-Plane to the refresh
rate of the monitor, usually around
59Hz. Although X-Plane can usually

run at higher frame rates, locking it
will help keep the frame rate constant
and reduce stuttering.
‘Compress textures to save VRAM’
will compress textures loaded into
memory, in effect allowing X-Plane to
use about twice the amount of VRAM
without overflowing the video card.
On the negative side some of the
sharpness will be lost compared to
using uncompressed textures.
‘Screen anti-aliasing’ is used to
smooth the edges of objects and
prevent diagonal lines being drawn
with jagged edges. Running with high
levels of anti-aliasing will increase
VRAM and graphics card processor
(GPU) usage, resulting in reduced
frame rates. As a rule, the faster the
processor on the video card, the
higher the level of anti-aliasing can be
set. However X-Plane 10 was
designed to use high dynamic range
rendering (HDR) and HDR-specific
anti-aliasing for DirectX
10-compatible graphics cards.

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

Water reflections – The shadows in X-Plane are stunning although frame rates will be
impacted

HDR rendering
Two new rendering options are
available in X-Plane 10: ‘atmospheric
scattering’ and ‘HDR anti-aliasing’.
Enabling atmospheric scattering
causes objects that are far away to
appear more washed-out, as in the
real world. This option doesn’t have a
massive impact on frame rates as long
as the graphics card is DirectX
10-compatible. HDR anti-aliasing is a
much more efficient method of
smoothing jagged lines than the older
anti-alias, as it uses fewer resources
on the graphics card. The two primary

cases, changes in elevation may be
very abrupt, which can make runways
unrealistically bumpy or cause
buildings to float above the tarmac,
particularly with some third-party
airports. Unchecking this option will
cause X-Plane to flatten the terrain
under runways and eliminate the
floating building syndrome. This
setting has no effect on frame rates.
The following settings will have a
small impact on frame rates:
‘Draw forest fires and balloons’ will
randomly generate forest fires and hot
air balloons when the weather is clear.

Increasing the visibility will allow you to see objects in the distance, but it can affect
frame rates

HDR Lighting was introduced in X-Plane 10 which improves visual detail, and makes the
simulator run more smoothly, as long as the graphics card supports DirectX 10

‘Draw birds and deer in nice
weather’ will place randomly
generated deer near the airport.
Colliding with the birds (bird strike)
will cause damage to the aircraft and
can cause engine failures.
‘Draw aircraft carriers and
frigates’ will populate
water bodies with
frigates and aircraft
It is possib
le to dete
the amou
rmine
carriers.
nt of VRA
M used
by X-Plan
‘Draw Aurora
e
in
th
‘Renderin
Borealis’ will make
g Options’ e
dialog
box at the
X-Plane display the
bo
of the win ttom
dow.

Top Tip!

Cumulus clouds can have a major hit on frame rates

methods of HDR anti-aliasing are
‘FXAA’ (Fast Approximate AntiAliasing) setting which places less
load on the GPU, whereas SSAA +
FXAA’ (Super-Sampling Anti-Aliasing)
option has a much greater impact on
frame rates.

northern lights at night. While they
should only appear at northern
latitudes, they can be seen as far
south as Rome, which is unrealistic.
On most computers, the number of
autogen objects such as buildings,
trees and cars, as well as the number
of roads can have a significant impact
on performance, as these are CPUdependant rather than GPU-limited.
On most systems the default option
gives the best compromise between
frame rates and performance unless
you have a fast, multi-core CPU.

Objects

‘Field of View’ – older monitors
typically had a 4:3 aspect ratio
with a 45° field-of-view.
Widescreen monitors on the
other hand can benefit from a
wider 60° field of view of view.
‘Draw hi-res planet textures from
orbit’ – will display high-resolution
images of the earth when simulating
space flight. These high-resolution
images will be displayed at altitudes
of 100,000ft or higher and will not
affect frame rates below that altitude.
‘Runways follow terrain contours’ –
will make runways and taxiways
follow the terrain elevation. In some

X-Plane can run on a variety of hardware including cutting-edge computers or the slightly aged
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 89

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

Populated airports may look great, but the hit on frame rates is significant

MEASURING FRAME RATES
FROM THE menu, go to Settings > Data Input
and Output.
Check the far right box next to frame
rate (item 0, in the upper left corner of the
window). This will cause X-Plane to display
the current frame rate in the upper left of
the screen.
Close the Data Input and Output window.
The frame rate, given in frames per second
(fps) should now be visible on the far left.
19fps the absolute minimum needed to
run X-Plane.
25 to 35fps is the ideal range.
50fps is very high and indicates that the
system could probably draw more buildings,
clouds and other objects.

‘World detail distance’ determines
how far objects on the horizon can
be seen. Doubling the detail
distance will draw four times as
many objects. Powerful graphics
cards can usually cope with the
‘high’ or even ‘very high’ setting,
although it can be frame rateintensive on mid-range cards. In
most cases the ‘default’ setting
should be used although on slow
computers. Reducing this setting
may improve frame rates.
‘Airport detail’ controls the level
of detail at airports. While higher
settings will increase the level of
detail at airports and introduce
authentic 3D runway lighting which
looks great visually, this setting can
have a significant impact on frame
rates, particularly when flying near
large airports and in most cases it
should be left on ‘default’.

Dynamic shadows are one of the many features of X-Plane 10

Shadows
The X-Plane world can be populated
with dynamic and realistic shadows.
‘Static’ shadows simply draws flat
shadows of the aircraft on the
ground while ‘Overlay shadows’ is
dependent on the position of the
sun. X-Plane’s new rendering engine
allows an aircraft to cast shadows
on itself as well as on the ground.
Finally, ‘Global shadows’ draws
shadows for all objects such as
buildings and trees. This setting has
the biggest impact on frame rates
as it is both CPU- and GPUintensive, although frame rates are
affected by the number of objects
that cast shadows.

Reflections
Increasing the water reflection setting
can have a significant impact on the
CPU as reflections are calculated
using pixel shaders and the processor
must perform calculations based on
each pixel in the water, which can
have a significant impact on
performance near water. As a rule,
reflections should be kept at the
default setting unless your system has
a powerful graphics card.

Expert rendering
options
The 3D bump-maps and gritty detail
textures setting will make surfaces in
X-Plane appear more realistic. This
setting will have some impact on
frame rates on older systems as they
use both the CPU and some VRAM but

The level of detail in X-Plane is accurate down to street level
90 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

Running photoscenery at ‘Extreme’ resolution improves the visual detail although you
will need to watch VRAM usage

for most modern DirectX 10 graphics
cards the benefits will outweigh the
small hit on FPS.

Fog
Enabling the draw volumetric fog
generates small, localized fog effects.
The result is that objects and scenery
fade into the distance in a more
gradual and realistic way. On older
computers this can have a significant
effect on frame rates but for newer
systems the benefits significantly
outweigh the costs.

Weather
The clouds in X-Plane are generated
from many smaller cloud sprites, or
‘puffs’, giving the appearance of true
volumetric clouds. These develop over
time, just as in real life, depending on
weather conditions. Although the
clouds are highly detailed, they can

have a significant effect on
performance, so reducing the level of
detail, ie the number of ‘cloud puffs’,
can improve frame rates.
Drawing a few simple clouds and
reducing low visibility can further
increase frame rates. Setting the
clouds to ‘clear’ or ‘cumulus overcast’
has the least impact on performance,
although ‘thin cirrus’ or ‘stratus’ also
produces good frame rates. ‘Cumulus
scattered’ or ‘cumulus broken’ have
the biggest impact on frame rates.
The ‘number of cloud puffs’ slider
sets the level of detail of each cloud,
so increasing this setting will have a
significant impact on frame rates.
Similarly, you can set the size of each
cloud puff. The larger the size of cloud
puffs, the slower X-Plane will perform,
although this may not be very
noticeable on modern video cards.
Visibility will also affect frame rates.

The lighting effects in X-Plane are spectacular

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

Dynamic shadows look superb but the hit on frame rates is massive

For example when the visibility is 20
miles more objects will be displayed,
using more computing power
compared to when the visibility is
only five miles. Consequently,
lowering the visibility can improve
frame rates.
Finally, the last culprit that can have
a significant effect on the frame rates
is AI aircraft. Reducing the number of
aircraft you share the sky with will
improve frame rates as X-Plane will

A dense road network can put a significant load on the CPU

only have to calculate physics on your
aircraft.

Summary
The key to achieving acceptable
frame rates in X-Plane is managing
resources. One of the main
bottlenecks in the simulator is the
amount of VRAM used for drawing
textures. If the graphics card has
enough memory it is possible to set
it to maximum (extreme) resolution

It is possible to see how much VRAM X-Plane is using at the current settings
HDR treats each light source as an individual object which gives you spectacular night
lighting effects

Increasing the number of objects increases the load on the CPU rather than the
graphics card

with no loss in frame rates. However
as soon as the texture resolution
uses more VRAM than is available on
the graphics card, frame rates will
nose dive.
The latest rendering features in
X-Plane 10, including HDR
rendering, global shadows and
water reflection can have a massive

impact on older systems as these
are both CPU- and GPU-intensive.
Disabling HDR rendering in the
special effects section and setting
the shadow detail to either ‘overlay’
or ‘3-D on aircraft’ will drastically
improve frame rates as will turning
off ‘water reflection detail’.
By Richard Benedikz

It is possible to populate the world’s oceans with frigates, aircraft
carriers and oil platforms with very little hit on frame rates

Top Tip!

After cha
rendering nging the
often nece options, it is
ssary
X-Plane to to restart
ap
the chang ply
es.

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 91

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

X-Plane
A Beginner's Guide to

PART 10

An interview with X-Aviation

I

n this, the last in our series of
tutorials for X-Plane 10, we speak
to the founder of X-Aviation,
Cameron Son who heads the
company which is one of the major
in distributors of X-Plane add-ons.
Cameron tells us about his company
and shares his thoughts on the
X-Plane platform and the industry as
a whole.
PC Pilot: Hi Cameron and thank you
for agreeing to speak with us about
X-Plane. Can you start by telling us
how you became interested in flight
simulation?
Cameron Son: My interest in flight
simulation started when I was
essentially a young kid. My father had
purchased Flight Simulator II for the
Apple II and I can remember flying
around Meigs Field thinking it was
the coolest thing since sliced bread…
but look how far we’ve come now!
PC Pilot: What is X-Aviation and who
is the team behind the company?
Cameron Son: X-Aviation is a
publishing and distribution company

for X-Plane add-ons. I am the owner
and operator, and I contract out
some of the work to a guy named
Ben Russell (founder of the Gizmo
X-Plane plug-in) to assist in workload
and keeping the back end of the web
server going day in and day out. He
has proven to be a huge asset to the
operation! Aside from this, we have
teams of developers producing addons who have been around since
near the inception of the company
itself in 2008.

Above: The CRJ-200 is one of the most comprehensive airliner simulations for X-Plane
Below: The Bombardier CRJ-200 was the first aircraft for X-Plane that came with a
fully functional custom FMC

PC Pilot: What made you decide to
produce add-ons for X-Plane rather
than Microsoft Flight Simulator
(MSFS)?
Cameron Son: Good question! I
actually began developing freeware
add-ons for X-Plane in 1999 with the
opening of a site called the X-Plane
Freeware Project (XPFW). In short,
XPFW was created to be to X-Plane,
what Project Opensky was for
Microsoft Flight Simulator. This,
coupled with the fact that I only had
a Mac computer at the time pretty
much sealed my fate in the X-Plane
world. I will say, however, that a few

92 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

years later I did purchase a Windows
machine along with FS9 and began
creating add-ons for that platform
(payware and freeware). I ultimately
went back to X-Plane because I
enjoyed the people in the community
who I had developed good friendships
with and I loved how open the
platform itself was to modification.
Being able to ring up Austin Meyer,
the creator of X-Plane, at any moment,
no matter who you were, was also a

plus that made things feel a bit more
personal!
PC Pilot: You also run X-Pilot. Can you
explain to our readers what this is and
why you decided to set it up?
Cameron Son: X-Pilot (http://www.xpilot.com) is a community website for
X-Plane. It features news, forums and
a free download library for those who
register a free account. It is also used

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

The island of Oahu, Hawaii by RealScenery features highly detailed photographic
scenery with realistic airports including Dillingham, Ford Island Naval Auxiliary
Landing Field, Honolulu International, Kalaeloa and Wheeler Army Airfield

as the official support and work-inprogress forum for a number of the
top commercial X-Plane add-on
developers. X-Pilot was the brain child
of myself, Tom Kyler and Ben Russell.
We wanted a place where users could
freely and actively communicate
about all things X-Plane, and while
there was already a thriving X-Plane
website available, diversity is always
good! It’s a very active community
with lots of helpful members, so if
anyone hasn’t yet checked it out and
they own X-Plane, they really should!
PC Pilot: How are products selected
on your shop - do you approach
developers or do they approach you,
or is it a combination of the two?
Cameron Son: It’s a mix of both. More
often these days we get contacted by

developers. But our approach to
accepting add-ons in our shop is that
we focus primarily on the quality of
the products we sell. As such, any
product that comes our way goes
through a lengthy ‘inspection’ process
to ensure that what we’re about to
sell will make our customers happy.
We don’t want people buying
products and later wishing they
hadn’t invested their hard earned
cash on what we’re selling, so this
point is key to the success of
X-Aviation. This does limit the amount
of add-ons or products we ultimately
publish, but I’ve found that it’s for the
better and has allowed the X-Aviation
name to be held in high regard.
PC Pilot: Do you develop your own
add-ons in-house or are they made by
external developers?

The Mitsubishi MU-2B aircraft is one of the best simulations of the real aircraft
available in X-Plane. It really is an amazing simulation of the its full size counterpart,
featuring all the bells and whistles you’d expect in a turboprop

Cameron Son: Most of our developers
only release exclusively through
X-Aviation, and as such we are
somewhat ‘in-house’. By this I
mean that while the developers are
technically contractors, X-Aviation
maintains a very close relationship
during the production of any product.
This makes it easier to ensure that the
quality levels we want at X-Aviation
are maintained, and it also allows
us to provide exceptional customer
support. We’re able to know the ins
and outs of a product prior to its
release, which ultimately allows us to
answer our customers’ questions at a
rather rapid rate.
PC Pilot: What are your most popular
products?
Cameron Son: Right now our number

one selling product of all time is
SkyMaxx Pro. It’s a 3D cloud rendering
engine which not only offers faster
performance for X-Plane with
weather present, thanks to the faster
rendering engine in the plug-in but
it also looks more realistic. This one
moved up the charts really fast and
has proved to be a customer favourite
in a very short period of time!
For aircraft, our customers seem to
really love the CRJ-200 for its airlinerlike simulation. It was essentially the
first aircraft for X-Plane that came
with a truly custom-built FMC, so this
was a big deal not only for the
community, but also for us as
developers. Second to that is the
Mitsubishi MU-2B aircraft, which is a
really amazing simulation of the real
aircraft featuring all the bells and
whistles you’d expect in a

Below: Reno is the first enhanced scenery package from RealScenery

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 93

TUTORIAL | A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane

The Saab 340A features a highly detailed 3D model and a realistic systems
simulation. It was over three years in development and incorporates new
features never before seen in any simulator product

The British Aerospace Jetstream 32 was developed by the same creator of the CRJ-200
and features an accurately rendered 3D cockpit and exterior model, as well as
simulating a suite of numerous systems and failures

turboprop. And, lastly in the aircraft
department we have been getting a
lot of rave reviews about the Saab
340A release. This aircraft is
extremely detailed not only in 3D,
but also in its true-to-life systems
simulation. The development took
more than three years and the
product incorporates a lot of new
features never before seen in any
simulator product. If anyone out
there is a regional airliner fan, I
strongly suggest taking a look at this
aircraft.
For scenery, our customers seem
to really love the Island of Oahu and
Reno scenery packages. Both of
these are released under the
RealScenery ‘Enhanced’ product line,
which means they have hi-res
imagery and 3D mesh detail.
Definitely worth checking out.

interesting to watch, especially over
the last two years. This summer we
have sold more copies of X-Plane 10
than last by a pretty large margin and
the numbers continue to grow. It’s
also very evident in the sales figures
of our add-ons. I think between
Microsoft discontinuing development
for the MSFS franchise and the
introduction of 64-Bit X-Plane, people
have taken a second look at what
X-Plane 10 has to offer and are finally
making the jump.

download library of freeware add-ons
for X-Plane.
PC Pilot: Have you seen any difference
in the number of people using X-Plane
after development of MSFS stopped?
Cameron Son: Yes, this has
actually been really

PC Pilot: Do you have any freeware
add-ons that X-Plane users can
access?
Cameron Son: X-Aviation only
distributes payware products, but if
folks head over to the X-Pilot
community they’ll find an entire

94 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

PC Pilot: How many enthusiasts
do you think use X-Plane
compared to Microsoft
Flight Simulator and do
you see this changing
in the future and to
what extent?

Cameron Son: This is a really tough
question to answer. I don’t know
tangible numbers, but the MSFS
add-on market is still very alive and
thriving, and I know without doubt that
there are more enthusiasts there than
there are for X-Plane. That said, with
as much movement as has been made
between Laminar Research and even
add-on developers over the last couple
of years, there is no doubt that X-Plane
doesn’t feel nearly as ‘niche’ as it used
to and that will continue to change
for the positive. In the 16 years that
I’ve been around X-Plane, the last year
has definitely been the most exciting.
If there was ever a time to get your
feet wet and try out X-Plane, I think
it’s certainly safe to say that now is
the time.

A Beginner's Guide to X-Plane | TUTORIAL

Carenado, well-known for its superb range of GA aircraft, was one of the first
developers to start making add-ons for both MSFS and X-Plane. The B200 King Air is
one of its best sellers

Real Scenery State Washington includes the northern Oregon Cascade Mountains and
Mt Hood, Oregon's highest peak. The package also includes the Portland, Oregon
metropolitan area, including its main airports

PC Pilot: What do you consider to be
the strengths and weaknesses of
X-Plane?

and the AI traffic is in the same boat.
Additionally, I think something that
has hurt X-Plane over the years is the
lack of buildings (even if autogenerated like in MSFS) at airports.
I’ve heard a lot of people complain
about this, but I think with the
introduction of the new ‘Lego brick’
scenery system [a term used to
describe where a developer builds a
series of useful art components for
airports ('building bricks'), for
example, hangars, terminal buildings,
light fixtures, vehicles, etc – Ed] things
will start to change rather quickly over
the next year or so.

Cameron Son: Well, without a doubt
the open communication the team
behind X-Plane has with add-on
developers in the community is a
huge strength. I also believe that this
platform has become almost limitless
in the type of add-ons can be
produced thanks to the plug-in SDK.

So from a community standpoint this
opens the door to a lot of positive
contributions going forward. Of
course, it goes without saying that the
flight model simulation is really stellar
when applied correctly by a developer.
I also believe the autogen scenery has
reached a point where many are
satisfied.
On the weak side, there’s no doubt
that the Air Traffic Control (ATC)
system in X-Plane needs a lot of work,

PC Pilot: We have seen increasingly
sophisticated add-ons released over
the past year. Do you think this is a
growing trend and are there any
developers that stand out from the
crowd?
Cameron Son: Yes, this is definitely a
growing trend and one I expect to
continue to be the status quo. For the
longest time add-on developers were
not leveraging the X-Plane plug-in
SDK, but times have changed. My take
on the situation at this point is that if
you cannot produce a commercial
product with more sophisticated
functionality via the plug-in SDK, then
the chances are that your product will
not be very successful. Customers are
beginning to expect this from add-ons
and they really should. This has been
the norm in the MSFS world for quite
some time, so to see it happening in
X-Plane as well is a good sign of
forward progression.

The Beechcraft Mentor T34c by JRollon includes features such as rain effects,
metal reflections, a custom 3D cockpit and a modelled cabin interior

the list you have already provided and
the developers that I know currently
working, PMDG and Just Flight have
also announced their intentions to
develop for the platform as well.
PC Pilot: If a user is considering
changing from Microsoft Flight
Simulator to X-Plane, what advice
would you give and are there any
tutorials you have available to get
them started?
Cameron Son: The first bit of advice I
would give is to embrace change and
allow yourself the time to get used to
the new interface. This is no different
to switching from an iPhone to
Android device, or Mac to Windows.
At first you may be appalled,
confused or even disgruntled at what
you see, but if you give yourself time
to learn and adapt it will certainly pay
off. There are a number of tutorials
out there for X-Plane, and of course,
X-Pilot is also a great resource to get
help and find links from the
community.
PC Pilot: How do you see X-Plane
develop in the future and what are
the main changes you would like to
see?

PC Pilot: A number of Microsoft Flight
Simulator developers have started
branching into X-Plane, Aerosoft and
Carenado being two cases in point. Do
you see other developers going down
the same route?

Cameron Son: The team behind
X-Plane is very dedicated, and
because of that I’m extremely excited
about the future of this platform. I
know that X-Plane will continue to get
better, and more importantly, that
voices will be heard to help shape the
sim into something almost everyone
wants.
One of the main changes I’d like to
see is finality to the ATC system and
better AI traffic to fill the skies and
airports. Right now I find it rather
lacking, but I know this will change in
time.

Cameron Son: I believe other
developers will branch out over to the
X-Plane platform. I actually know of a
few right now who have not gone
public about this but are in the middle
of porting their products. Aside from

PC Pilot: The future certainly looks
bright for X-Plane and those who
support the platform. Thank you for
sharing your views on of X-Plane. We
wish you all the best for the future.
By Richard Benedikz

X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 95

Best Buy Guide & Essential Libraries

Best buy guide

The Cessna C-337 Skymaster by Carenado is an unusual
aircraft with a ‘Push-Pull’ engine configuration and
retractable undercarriage

The following table summarises some of the outstanding
add-on’s for X-Plane 10 that PC Pilot has reviewed. The
scores of some have been adjusted to more accurately
reflect current standards and quality. The Platinum award is
reserved for those products that demonstrate exceptional
features, show innovation and raise the bar for others to
follow. Prices and details change over time so please check
each product’s website for the most up-to-date information

The Airbus A320neo from JARDesign is built to a high standard with accurately
modelled systems and an operational weather radar

The analogue cockpit of the Boeing 737-200 is one of the finest examples in X-Plane
with sharp textures, fluid gauge update rates and detailed 3D modelling

Product

Category

Developer/website

Price

Score

At a Glance

Piper PA-32-301
Saratoga

General
Aviation

Carenado/www.carenado.com

$26.95

90%

Another step forward for X-Plane with a
beautifully recreated high performance singleengine aircraft. The documentation is the only
real weak point.

Cessna 210 Centurion

General
Aviation

Carenado/www.carenado.com

$29.95

90%

The Carenado Centurion combines a beautiful 3D
model with excellent flight dynamics – one that
really conveys the sensation of flight – making it a
wonderful trainer.

Cessna 337 Skymaster

General
Aviation

Carenado/www.carenado.com

$29.95

80%

An excellent all-round performer that looks great
and is heaps of fun to fly in all conditions and
environments.

Airbus A320neo

Airliner

JARDesign/www.jardesign.aero

$59.95

90%

The A320neo is a highly realistic simulation of
one of the mainstream jetliners in operation
today.

FlyJSim732 Twinjet

Airliner

FlyJSim/www.flyjsim.com

$47

90%

Excellent cockpit modelling and lighting. Great
functionality of a steam gauge era jetliner with
focus primarily on the flight deck experience.

Boeing 757
Professional

Airliner

Flight Factor/www.flightfactor.aero

$59.95

Platinum

The 757-200 Professional is packed full of
innovative features and the systems modelling is
first rate. This is one of the most comprehensive
add-on aircraft for X-Plane.

Boeing 777 Worldliner
Professional

Airliner

Flight Factor/www.flightfactor.aero

$59.95

Platinum

If you love jetliners and you have X-Plane, this is
an absolute must buy.

Take Command! Saab
340A

Regional
Turboprop

Leading Edge Simulations/
www.x-aviation.com

$54.95

Platinum

A well-researched and implemented package
with advanced systems functionality. It also has
exceptional documentation and a wealth of bonus
features.

BAe Jetstream 32

Regional
Turboprop

JRollon/X-Aviation.com

$34.95

90%

An exceptionally accurate and detailed aircraft
with a cockpit second-to-none. Documentation,
however could be expanded and refined.

ATR 72-500

Regional
Turboprop

McPhat Studios/www.aerosoft.com

€29.99 box/
€29.95 download

80%

Aerosoft’s ATR 72-500 comes with an unusually
highly detailed external model, mid-level systems
modelling and an excellent flight model, but with
room for improvement in the cockpit area.

Bombardier CRJ 200

Regional Jet

JRollon/http://www.x-aviation.com

$49.95

90%

The highly detailed model, combined with the
realistic flight characteristics and systems makes
this CRJ one of the best regional jet you can buy
for X-Plane.

Bombardier 300
Challenger

Business Jet

Ddenn Design/www.aerosoft.com

€27.99 box/
€27.95 DVD

85%

A well designed aircraft with authentic flight
handling, a fantastic cockpit and innovative extra
features. Documentation could be better.

96 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

Best Buy Guide & Essential Libraries

Douglas DC-3

Classic prop

Leading Edge Design/http://www.xaviation.com

$39.95

85%

A beautiful rendition of a flying icon, let down a
little by the lack of a variant with a modernised
cockpit.

Khamsin B-25 Mitchell

Classic Prop

Khamsin/ http://www.khamsin.org/

$24.95

90%

Khamsin Studios’ B-25 is an excellent simulation
of this classic World War Two bomber.

Virtavia C-17A
Globemaster III

Military
Transport

Virtavia/www.virtavia.com/

$34.95

85%

An impressive aircraft with a very nice panel
and flight dynamics. Good, but not exhaustive
documentation and an adequate level of systems
detail.

Island of Oahu

Scenery

Real Scenery/http://www.x-aviation.
com

$24.95

80%

Beautiful high resolution overlay scenery of
Oahu with unprecedented accuracy, colour
and continuity. The lack of 3D and exclusion of
default scenery ma it best suited for viewing from
altitude.

UK Photo VFR Scenery

Scenery

Horizon and RC Simulations/ http://
www.rcsimulations.com/

£35.95/area

85%

The UK Photo VFR Scenery for X-Plane will give
you many hours of pleasure exploring the British
Isles. It is highly detailed and will enable you to
navigate from coast to coast in VFR. The price is
very reasonable considering the amount of data
included.

Essential Libraries

New Zealand Professional by alpilotX features high resolution base mesh with detailed landclass data.
It also includes an overlay, which adds treelines and objects such as buildings and landmarks

Libraries and plug-ins are an important element as they contain objects and animations that third-party developers use for
creating custom scenery. We have highlighted the main ones below.
Product

Type

URL

Description

Openscenery X

Library

http://www.opensceneryx.com/

OpenScenery is based on OSM (OpenStreetMaps) data that
has been converted to a format that can be used by X-Plane. It
is a free-to-use library of objects including buildings, aircraft
and vehicles as well as landmarks and trees from Europe and
America.

Russcenery

Library

http://www.x-plane.su/projects/ruscenery.html

RuScenery was created for the CIS project but has become a
popular resource for other developers. The website is in Russian so it can be difficult to download – the best way is to use
Google Chrome as it translates the webpage on the fly.

Flags of the World

Library

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads
&showfile=17090

Flags of the World is a plug-in that allows developers to add
flags to scenery packages.

Flags of the US

Library

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads
&showfile=17092

This is a library of flags of all 50 States, the District of Columbia
and the three territories in the USA.

Windsock Real Flag II Sync

Library

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads
&showfile=20863

This add-on synchronises the windsock and the flag libraries, so
when the wind changes direction, all flags and windsocks point
in the same direction.

No deer or balloons patch

Patch

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads
&showfile=13786

This patch makes hot air balloons and forest deer invisible. It is
useful if you want to keep bird strikes, but want to get rid of the
more unrealistic default animations in X-Plane.

alpilot Mesh V2

Scenery

http://www.alpilotx.net/2013/11/22/x-plane-10-hdmesh-scenery-v2-release

alpilotX has released v2 of its HD (high definition) mesh scenery. It is freeware/donationware, comprising over 55GB of data,
covering Europe, the USA Hawaii, Canada and Alaska.

Mesh V2 Japan

Scenery

http://www.alpilotx.net/2014/07/23/japan-hd-meshscenery-v2-tree-lines-released/

The HD Mesh Scenery v2 and Tree Lines project covers Japan
with updated OSM data, improved landclass data and additional
tree lines.

Alpilot USA and Europe
treelines and farms v2

Library

http://www.alpilotx.net

These two packages created by Alpilot add treescapes that
replicate real world forests in the USA and Europe.

Air navigation obstacles

Library

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads
&showfile=17773

Air Navigation Obstacles lists objects in the ‘Enroute air navigation obstacles’ bulletin that are a potential danger to aircraft.
These are shown on the CAA charts in the UK and cover 307
locations. The list contains obstacles that are 300ft above
ground level and over.
X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net 97

Best Buy Guide & Essential Libraries

England and Wales Custom Autogen

Library

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads
&showfile=19694)

England and Wales Custom Autogen adds many of the default
roads, pylons, rail tracks, bridges, cars and trains to existing
photographic scenery for the whole of England and Wales.

New Zealand Pro

Scenery

http://www.alpilotx.net/downloads/x-plane-10-newzealand-pro/

X-Plane 10 New Zealand Pro is a replacement scenery package
for the North and South islands. It includes an extremely high
resolution base mesh with updated landclass data. It also comes
with an additional overlay, which adds treelines and objects.

Autogate

Plug-in

http://marginal.org.uk/x-planescenery/plugins.html

Autogate is a plug-in made by Marginal that introduces animate
jetways and docking guidance systems (DGS) to X-Plane. It is a
nifty program as the DGS guides the pilot to the correct stopping position and animated jetways dock with the aircrafts’
main door when the engines are shut down

Sea Traffic

Plug-in

http://marginal.org.uk/x-planescenery/plugins.html

This is another plug-in made by Marginal that adds real world
shipping traffic to X-Plane.

Aerosoft Skytools

Weather

http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?/topic/77657for-free-aerosoft-sky-tools-for-x-plane-10/

Sky Tools is a collection of files that enhance the sky in X-Plane
10. It is a free package from Aerosoft.

Skymax Pro v2.0

Weather

http://www.x-aviation.com/catalog/skymaxx-p-101.
html

SkyMaxPro replaces cloud and sky textures with a revolutionary new weather rendering engine. It runs faster than X-Plane's
default weather and looks better by adding crepuscular rays,
clouds aloft with wind speed and true 3D clouds.

FF Library - extended LOD

Library

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads
&showfile=12836

This library consists of German looking buildings, which was
initially created for the Nurnberg VFR scenery although other
developers have adopted it. The extended LOD version allows
you to see objects at a greater distance, although it will have an
impact on frame rates.

R2 Library

Library

http://xplane.cz/en/r2-library/

Like the FF Library, the R2 library was initially made for the
Czech VFR project, although it has now been adopted by other
scenery developers.

SimHeaven

Scenery

http://simheaven.com

SimHeaven has one of the largest scenery libraries for X-Plane
10. It is a free website that contains photographic scenery and
OpenStreetMap (OSM) autogen data for large parts of the world
including European-style objects.

Enhanced runways HD by
FlyJSim 1.20

Modification

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads
&showfile=16270)

This package replaces the asphalt, concrete and grass runways
with more realistic and detailed textures.

Wide Taxiway Markings
Library Replacement 2.0

Modification

http://forums.x-pilot.com/files/file/406-wide-taxiway-markings-library-replacement.

This update modifies the default taxiways, making them wider,
better reflecting the real world. Airport pavement markings also
look more like their real-life counterpart.

Replacement Day and
Night Lighting

Modification

http://forums.x-pilot.com/files/file/435-replacementday-and-night-lighting-lightstxt-for-x-plane-1020/

This modification makes many of the scenery related lights in
X-Plane, making them larger and more visible.

Left: The Bombardier CRJ-200 by JRollon was one of the first aircraft to take
advantage of some of the special effects in X-Plane 10 including wing-flex and
condensation trails

Below: Many of the freeware airports available for download have been made using
objects from OpenScenery X

98 X-Plane 10 - The Official Guide | www.pcpilot.net

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