really really nice
looks better than fsx imo

Did they improve the flight models at high AOA? Do you still bounce off the ground when you hit it at certain AOA even though you set the realism to max? I had version 5 and feeling of flight felt so much better than MSF. FSX looks pretty darn good, too.

whwen I upgrade my comp (well, get a new one) for SoW:BoB I'll definitely install X-Plane 9, it looks as if it has really come along. By then it ill be a nice mature install as well.

It's coming to almost 3 years with me being fully in control of the direction of my gaming hobby...basically leaning almost totally towards racecar and train sims (with occasional forays into SWAT and FPS).

Packed away most of my aviation stuff :- books, literature, collectibles. Controlled my spending with demise of chasing flightsim add-on packs, necessary upgrades, etc etc.

Happy at the state of orderliness in my recreational activities.

And this Beach fellow pops out of the clouds and throws an X-Plane 9.0 curve ball that looks practically irressistable.

Thanks man...you probably planted the seed that will mess up my life once again.

I'm downloading the demo now. Those screens are incredible!

thanks for posting that Beach.

Two questions, if you have the time, Beach:

1) How many default aircraft or high quality addons have you found so far?

2) How many of them have 3d pits?

Thanks...

Almost all the aircraft have 3D panels now. Addons will take time to convert since Austin
once again changed all the build parameters and add-on builders must all adapt to the new
way to build.

Super High res shots taken @ 1920x1200 32 bit

http://www.xplanefreeware.net/jim/jpegs/XP9/X-Plane%209b2/1006.jpg

http://www.xplanefreeware.net/jim/jpegs/XP9/X-Plane%209b2/1019.jpg

http://www.xplanefreeware.net/jim/jpegs/XP9/X-Plane%209b2/1025.jpg

http://www.xplanefreeware.net/jim/jpegs/XP9/X-Plane%209b2/1028.jpg

http://www.xplanefreeware.net/jim/jpegs/XP9/X-Plane%209b2/1030.jpg
All the Shots

can't help thinking that it does look a bit like a cartoon world, and that the russians doing Lock-on and Black shark are closer to a gritty real-world look. I wish somebody would put a big huge wad of money into austins one-man project so it could really really take off (maybe being too harsh there, sorry...).

Quick question.. how does the choppers handle, if I remember rightly that was one of x-planes stronger things wasn't it? helicopters are better modeled??

Downloaded the demo. Sure looks pretty. Sure blows up real good (crashes). I'll pass.

If you ask me FSX has the more "cartoony" feel, more so then X-plane. From viewing Beach and JimK's shots, with the exception of the overbright Bell 47, the world looks a lot more "earthy", if you know what I'm getting at.

Yes, the default aircraft are often garbage. Sure wish all my 8x aircraft worked in 9x. Can`t get
any of them to work without crashing back to desktop. But then again, this is only beta 2. I placed
my order for 9x tonight and hopefully by time it get here in December it will be up at least beta 14
to get things working again.

Been an X-Plane user since 1999 when I bought 5.42 Been promoting it ever since.

Looks pretty good. MS have some competition now.

Well, I downloaded it and unfortunately I couldn't get the sim to load after setting various options in the rendering screen. I have always wanted to give X-Plane a shot especially now that you can you use higher screen resolutions with the panels. But, the sim keeps crashing with .exe errors so I'll wait until it develops further.

X-Plane 9 beta 2 wmv 720P video: 1280x720 @ 42mb & 1mn 16sec.

Did not have time to upload the 1080P yet, coming tomorrow.

Am I missing something? The demo listed on X Plane's site says it's version 8.64. Am I looking in the wrong place? Thanks.

I can't speak to the realism of high AOA really. I mean..I've done plenty of stalls in real aircraft..but trying to compare that to a sim is difficult since sim flying is usually far more aggressive. I'll try to look into it more next time I fire it up. Unfortunately I had to fly all day today..so didn't get a chance to use X-Plane today.


Well..look at it this way..X-Plane (the beta) is free..so you can always just scoot around in it for 10 minutes and see if you like it. It isn't cut out for everyone..that's for sure. And the beta is extremely buggy..it crashes often, locks up, and is generally a pretty poor candidate for public release. When it is working..it looks fantastic..but the lock-ups and CTDs will drive away customers. In my opinion it isn't a good idea to release a demo that will turn so many people off...


I think Austin likes being a solo project. If I'm not mistaken though..he has a side-kick working with him. To me, X-Plane has never really been about the visuals..but rather the fun of taking all these different types of airplanes out and seeing if I can fly them. Some of the user created planes are great looking..but terrible flying..which is sort of fun because then you can sort of pretend you are a test pilot. If you can horse some of them around the pattern and get them back to a safe landing..well, it is quite an accomplishment. Particularly some of the more exotic creations from the designers own mind.


I think they have retained their excellent handling qualities. I fired up the Sea King and it was awesome. Definitely need rudder pedals to fully appreciate the dynamics of helo flight. Constant attention is required. Some of the rates might be a bit high in X-Plane..but I'm not a real helo pilot..so they would be more qualified to make an accurate comparison.


Yep..she's an unstable beast. Too bad too..because as I noted..people aren't going to plunk down cash for the real product of the beta is so prone to crash. I still think it would have been far wiser to have a closed beta and then release the product at a point further along. That said, I'm guessing there will be plenty of people that will buy the beta since you will grow into the stable release as Austin releases updates. That is one thing I can say for X-Plane..it is constantly evolving. Sometimes only a couple weeks go by between updates.


Ah..that is a bummer to hear. I hadn't tried importing any of the planes over to 9 yet. I wonder, can you open the old ones in the Plane Maker then re-save them or something to make them work? Or is it apples to oranges?? That would be a shame because I have soooo many quality version 8 planes in my directory. I just checked and my X-Plane 8.62 aircraft folder has over 3 GB of aircraft in it now! Still think the Lavi is my favorite...



Yeah..that sucks..same problem I've had. Switching rendering options seems to cause havoc.. Sorry to tease you and then have it crap out on you like that. I really hope they get the bugs worked out because it really is a fun sim to fly...but releasing it in this state wasn't the best idea...

I'll post some more stuff when I get a chance to fly it more this weekend..

Regards..
BeachAV8R

Go here: http://www.x-plane.com/

The second line under the screenshot of the Boeing 777 should say something like "X-Plane 9 beta is here.."..

BeachAV8R

Thanks BeachAV8R.

The page I was looking at looked similar, but dodn't list X Plane 9 beta. I see it now. Thanks.

Beach:

I haven't tried it in the new beta, but for most of the other versions simply opening and then saving the aircraft in plane-maker will bring it to new spec. Of course, if there are new variables that will need to be set, it will let you know about it when you try to save.