PROJECTS ROADMAP UPDATE - JUNE 2020

As the M-346 is approaching the public release, I thought it was time to share my current plans.
This is basically what I have on my hard-disk...in no particular order. Completion of the projects will depend on a number of factors.

The general plan is as follows:

- Lead platform: for the time being, the lead platform is still Prepar3D V4.4 / v4.5 /v5.0. The lead platform may change in future. The general idea, however, is to pick the best platform for each project depending on where it will be possibile to create the best product.

- Microsoft Flight Simulator: the plan is to support the new Microsoft Flight Simulator, initially by converting the planes we thing are most fit for conversion and with proper quality.

- X-Plane 11. Still some work going on with XP-11...mostly conversion of existing projects.

- Other platforms: we are actively working on partnerships and cooperations.

F-35 LIGHTNING II - VERSION 4.00 for MSFS / P3Dv5

The general idea is to have a new baseline of the F-35 project, rebuilt to comply with MSFS standard.
At the moment, however, STOVL capabilities in MSFS are unclear… so the project is limited to the F-35A for the time being.
PROJECT STATUS: PRELIMINARY WORK

TA-4J FOR X-PLANE 11

The conversion is almost complete...it just needs some minor tweaks to the flight model and avionics before moving to the Beta stage.
PROJECT STATUS: ALPHA BUILD COMPLETE

MC.72 for MSFS / P3Dv5 (and XP-11 maybe?)

The Macchi Castoldi MC.72 is established the world speed record in 1934, and held it until 1939 and is still, to date, the fastest piston seaplane ever built. I thought it would be fun to have one in the sim.
PROJECT STATUS: PRELIMINARY 3D MODELING

F-14D SUPER TOMCAT REBUILD for MSFS/P3Dv5

The idea here would be to rebuild from scrathc my F-14D Tomcat. Given the high quality of the F-14B in DCS, the interest on this project may not be great. Still it is looking cool.

PROJECT STATUS: ON HOLD - PRELIMINARY 3D MODELING COMPLETE - NOT ENOUGH RESOURCES AT THE MOMENT.

BOEING T-X for MSFS/P3Dv5
I quite like this plane...but at the moment the infomation on the cockpit and the avionics is scarce. Waiting for more info.
PROJECT STATUS: ON HOLD - AWATING MORE INFORMATION

BOEING MQ-25 STINGRAY for MSFS/P3Dv5
This started as an experiment to make a naval drone. Looking good and seems a great complement to the F-35 in some scenarios.
PROJECT STATUS: 3D MODELING COMPLETE - NOT ENOUGH RESOURCES FOR THE MOMENT

BOEING T-45 GOSHAWK for MSFS/P3Dv5
I had started a remake of the Goshawk project… but there may be competing products in development...so no further progress has been done.
PROJECT STATUS: ON HOLD - POTENTIAL CANCELLATION

M-345 for MSFS/P3Dv5
There is now some information available on the new M-345 trainer...and it would be cool to transform the M-345 prototype in the M-345 production model.
PROJECT STATUS: ON HOLD - DOCUMENTATION REVIEW

Siai Marchetti S-211 for X-Plane 11.30 - Beta Test Application

My first project for X-Plane 11 is in short final for Beta testing - so, if you are willing to help with the testing, in this post you will find the instructions to apply.

First, this is meant to be a "budget" payware project (15-20 Euros maximum) - the scope of this project is to provide a decent light jet trainer simulation… and much like in reality, this simulation project is meant to be fun to fly.
It will not be a study-level simulation, but all essential systems should work as expected and you should be able to conduct both VFR and IFR operations.

As usual, I am looking for testers with various level of aviation experience and skill, but I am looking in particular for users who know the XP11.30 scene well and can help with an assessment of this project in comparison with other similar products.

Hardware requisites:
- Anything that can run XP11 well
- Given that the plane uses a lot of high res texture, I believe that 2Gb video memory are needed… but that is just my estimation

Software prerequisites:
- X-Plane 11.30 or newer (the plane uses the new jet engine modeling, so will not work with older versions of XP11)

As usual… the Beta tester for my projects is not a paid position, by any stretch of the imagination: you do it just for the fun of doing it.
If you are willing to help, send me an email to indiafoxtecho.gmail.com - the email shall contain:

- a BRIEF description of your system (no need of minor details, I just need CPU type and clock, RAM, video card and video memory)

- a brief description of your real world flight experience (if any) including (if any) your knowledge of the S-211 Aircraft (note… the Beta is open to everybody: from teenage desk flyers to WWII aces - I just need to know who I am talking with!). No need of long and detailed stories...just a line or two will do.

- your experience with X-Plane 11.

The topic of the email shall be "S-211 Beta Testing" (note...I thought this was an easy requirement, but apparently it is not...but it is very important: it helps me a lot sorting the messages and it shows that you can comply with instructions).

Note it may take 2-3 weeks to reply and provide a download link… so be patient.

Which Simulator Should You Buy (April 2019)?

Whenever I talk to people about my hobby, sooner or later during the conversation I always receive the same question: which simulator should I buy (and will my computer be able to run it)?
This is not an easy question, as it vastly depends on which kind of person you are talking to. He or she may be a gamer, an aviation enthusiast or an experienced pilot...and may prefer a long peaceful flight in an airliner, a scenic bush-flight over a wild region or an historically accurate air battle.
Therefore I typically reply with another question: what would you like to do in the simulator?
Depending on the question I will try and direct them to the simulator that may be the best fit between the ones I know (relatively) well.

So, as a quick recap and a go-to reference for the people I speak with, here is what I think of the simulators I use the most, and what I believe to be their strong and weak points as of today April 20th 2019.

But first, a word about the hardware:
In general you need a fast computer (I'd say a 3.0 GHz quad core minimum) and a good graphic card (by today standards a GTX 960 is probably the bare minimum). Some simulators run better than others, but running a modern flight simulator without a good computer is an exercise in frustration. A Windows PC is preferred over an Apple computer since not all the simulators are available on the latter.

Along with a fast computer with a good graphic card, you'll need memory (some sims can run with 4Gb but 8Gb should be the standard) and a sizeable available space in your hard drive. The required space will depend on the add-ons you will use, but I'd say that 256 Gbyte is the bare minimum...but be warned that many simmers typically have dedicated hard disks with 1 Terabyte or more: some add-ons (and in particular high detail photoreal sceneries) take a lot of space.

One last thing before we start: you'll need a flight stick. You do not necessarily need a replica of a real one, and you can buy a decent one for 40-50 Euros or less. But trying to use a flight simulator without one will drive you crazy. Be sure that it features a throttle control and a "twist" motion for the rudder.

Prepar3D v4

Published by: Lockheed Martin

Latest version: 4.5

Price: USD 59.95 (Academic); USD 199,95 (Professional)

Available on: Windows (64 bit)

Several years ago, Lockheed Martin acquired the rights to the Microsoft ESP platform, which was basically a tentative to market Flight Simulator X for professional simulation / visualization purposes. Lockheed Martin has constantly upgraded this simulator, adding a new rendering engine and a 64 bit code and maintaning a good backward compatibility with FSX. With the failure of Microsoft Flight and Dovetail Flight Simulator World, Prepar3D is the "de facto" heir to the venerable Flight Simulator legacy.
Disregard the incredibly expensive "Professional Plus" version which is meant for military use.

Strong Points:
- Backward compatibility with many FSX add-ons means that there are literally thousands of good quality add-ons, either free and payware. It is highly likely that a good rendition of your favourite plane or airport alreadyt exist for this simulator.
- Very flexible experience: you can fly anything from a glider up to a 747 anywhere around the world.

Weak Points:
- Default content is not great and the base scenery is outdated (looks a lot like Flight Simulator X). You'll need some add-ons to make it look good.
- Needs a very powerful computer to run well.

Recommended to:
Basically anyone who has an interest in flight simulation...but be warned: the default content is not great and you'll need to get some add-ons: there are some great freeware ones, but the best ones are typically payware.

Not recommended to:
Users who have no will to look for (and eventually buy) add-ons to improve the simulator.
Users interested in air warfare simulation: while P3D has a wide choice of (excellent) military aicraft, it does not support weapon functionalities by default (unless you buy the professional plus edition - which I do not recommend) although it can do that with packages such as vACMI, Tacpack or others. If you are interested in air combat you should first check DCS.

X-Plane 11
Published by: Laminar Research
Latest version: 11.33
Price: € 64,99
Available on: PC, MacOS, Linux

Strong Points:
- Simulation engines is based on an actual fluid dynamics model: arguably a superior approach with respect to table-driven engines like the one of FSX/P3D.
- Graphic engine runs well and does an excellent job in portraying small scale details.
- Some of the default aicrafts are really well done.
- Fantastic night lighting effects.

Weak Points:
- Default terrain textures are quite bland and repetitive. You'll need add-ons to make it look good.
- During the day, the default lighting engine is not great (poor water rendition, bland daylight brightness and shadows, poor cloud rendition).
- While there are some excellent add-ons out there, P3D in my opinion still has the lead with a wider selection of better quality add-ons (but the tide is changing).

Recommended to:
Basically anyone who has an interest in flight simulation. It is a great simulation and does a lot of things better than P3D (but not everything). If you have an Apple or Linux system, this is the best flight simulator you can buy. If you have a PC, choosing this over P3D may depend on your computer and which add-ons you would like to use.

Not recommended to:
Users interested in air warfare simulation: while XP-11 has a limited support for weapon functionalities, DCS is the simulator your should check first if you are looking for military flight operations

Aerofly Flight Simulator 2
Published by: IPACS
Latest Version: 2.
Price: € 59,99
Available on: Windows (64 bit), MacOS, Android

Aerofly FS 2 started as an attempt to bring a decent flight simulation experience to high end mobile devices and then was scaled up to a fully-fledged desktop experience. While its heritage still shows in the user interface, the fact that the simulator was designed for the limited resources of a mobile device makes it so that it runs really well on desktop computers, providing exceptionally good frame rates even if your hardware is not the latest and greatest. However there is no traffic, no multiplayer, no ATC and basically no weather system. It is just you, your plane and the photoreal scenery.

Strong Points:
- Exceptionally efficient graphic engine: runs really well and provides a fantastic performance in Virtual Reality.
- Very sharp photoreal textures (default scenery covers the majority of the western United States).
- Excellent choice of good quality default aircrafts. Both external and internal models are done really well.

Weak Points:
- No ATC, no traffic, no multiplayer: it is just your aicraft and the scenery.
- No water shaders, no cloud shadows, very basic clouds and almost non-existent weather system.
- Scenery coverage is limited to some areas of the world (coverage is slowly being expanded through add-ons).

Recommended to:
Anyone who would like to fly over a super-sharp phoreal rendition of the State of California or over the Grand Canyon. Flying in Virtual Reality is very impressive in terms of immersion and "feeling" due to the exceptionally high frame rate.

Not Recommended to:
Anyone looking into something more than basic flying: absence of traffic, ATC or multiplayer is a big drawback. And needless to say there are no military functionalities.

Digital Combat Simulator (DCS)
Published by: Eagle Dynamics
Latest version 2.5.4
Price: base software is FREE (one map, two planes)
Available on: Windows (64 bit)

Starting from the heritage of a successful combat flight simulator like Lock-On Modern Air Combat, Digital Combat Simulator (DCS) has become arguably the best air combat simulator available on an home computer. You can download the base software for free but it only features one map (Caucasus) and two planes (SU-25 Frogfoot and the TF-51 Mustang) - then you can buy a number of sceneries such as the Persian Gulf or the Nevada training range, and a growing selection of excellent aircrafts (including the F-14 Tomcat, the F/A-18 Hornet, the A-10 Thunderbolt and the AV-8B Harrier II). These add-ons are not cheap...but they are extremely realistic and detailed. WWII and Korean War warbirds are available too. DCS also includes a detailed simulation of ground vehicles and ships. 

Strong Points:

- Excellent rendering engine providing good performance and great scalability to small details

- The general quality of the add-ons is outstanding: while some of the planes are a little expensive, they are typically the best rendition available of the machine they depict.

- Arguably the best combat environment you can play on your PC

Weak Points:

- Some ground texture repetitions

- Weather engine is not great in some instances

- Scenery is divided in "maps" you need to buy. While they are large, you cannot fly anywhere in the world.

Recommended to:

Anyone interested in digital military simulations. DCS is the best combat simulator on the market.

Not Recommended to:

Anyone not interested in air combat. You may also want to check in advance if your favourite plane is or will be available for the platform, since the current selection of vehicles is somewhat limited.

Other Simulators:

The simulators listed above are the ones I know and use on a regular basis. But there are many Others you may want to consider… here are some of the most popular:

Flight Simulator X is still available on STEAM for 24,99 euros, although I think it is outdated and I do not recommend buying it. You may still consider it as an option if you do not own a high end PC.

Flight Gear is a collaborative effort to create an alternate, open source flight simulator platform - I have not checked it in a while but it seems way behind the simulations I have mentioned above.

If you are looking to WWII combat simulator, IL-2 Sturmovik is still considered by many the best simulator in that niche. I have to confess I have not tried it.

Believe it or not, Falcon 4.0 has still a large dedicated community that over the years has improved it considerably. Frankly I have not checked it in years and I think it is outdated.

...and then there are a many other simulators I have not played. But again these were just my two cents.

PROJECT ROADMAP FOR 2019

The E-2/C-2 project is close to completion, and given that this 2018 is slowly approaching to its end, I though this was a good time to share my current projects for 2019.
But first, let me thank you once again for your continues support to my projects - you enthusiasm and appreciation for what I do is much appreciated!

So, let's start with the easy things...

 UPDATES TO CURRENT PROJECTS:

As usual, I'd like to keep my projects up to date whenever possible...so here is what I am working on:

SIAI S-211 - A small patch is in the works to fix a couple of minor glitches. I am also looking to add a couple of liveries, a (much requested) smoke system and some sort of aiming support for weapons release (at least for the HUD-equipped versions). At least the glitches will be fixed before the end of 2018.

F-35 LIGHTNING II - Minor fixes to the BFI and MFD, possibly new liveries. The patch will be for P3D versions only. Release is planned before the end of 2018.

EUROFIGHTER TYPHOON - Also for this one, fixes to minor glitches are planned. I'd like to rework some aspects of the cockpit model too...but I am not sure I can find the time. Release date TBD.

F-14D SUPER TOMCAT - Although this project was "closed" years ago, I've been working on a P3Dv4 version to provide full 64 bit compatibility and AO support. I am not sure when (and if) it will be ready, so release date is TBD.

NEW PROJECT: McDONNELL-DOUGLAS TA-4J

If you follow my Facebook page this is hardly surprising, but my next project will be the TA-4J. The scope is to deliver a high quality rendition of this aircraft. By similarity there is some chance that the project scope may creep towards the inclusion of the TA-4F and/or the A-4F...but at the moment the focus in on the TA-4J.
With the current pace, a Beta version may be ready in spring 2019.

Lead Platform is Prepar3D v4, but with backward compatibility to FSX:SE in mind.

Also, the model will be built with provisions for an easy export to other platforms.

External model of the TA-4J in P3Dv4.3... it is already 50% complete.

Very early look at TA-4J cockpit… it will require months of work!

NEW PROJECT: BOEING T-X

I have been following the TX competition quite closely - and I have to confess that, technically, my money was on the T-50. However, for a number of reasons, seeing the victory of Boeing/SAAB design was hardly surprising.
I have been working on a T-X model lately, although at the moment, the information about the cockpit and pilot interface is insufficient for a reasonably accurate simulation. Provided that more information will become available in time, the T-X project should be available before the end of 2019.
Lead Platform is Prepar3D v4, but with backward compatibility to FSX:SE in mind (but chance is that the MFD may be too complex for FSX...much like it was for the F-35).
Also, the model will be built with provisions for an easy export to other platforms.

Early picture of the Boeing T-X in P3Dv4.3

...AND NOW THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: THE DECLINE OF FSX

As much as it is hard to admit it, I think that FSX is now technologically outdated, and its popularity is declining (albeit more slowly than most people predicted). And, while P3Dv4 is a good step forward, unless Lockheed Martin pulls a rabbit out of the hat with new shaders or a better rendering pipeline, chance is that P3D will follow. 

Continuing to support FSX is getting harder and harder, as basically you cannot use the new features of P3Dv4 if you want to maintaing backward compatibility - and developing multiple versions requires a lot of effort - especially if you are a small developer like me.

For these and other reasons, in the past years I have been closely looking at other platforms and made a number of experiments.

Still, at least for the TA-4J, I'll continue supporting both FSX and P3D as main development platforms. Then we will see.

X-PLANE 11

Unknown to most users, XP11 has a number of limitations in the aicraft modeling which make the conversion from FSX/P3D to XP11 not trivial (see the document I have published some time ago). Also, in terms of avionics, XP11 has almost everything you need for civil aviation...but not much for military planes, especially if they have digital instruments, MFDs and HUDs.

Anyway, I am moving forward with the conversion of the Siai Marchetti S-211, which feels at home in XP11, and, in 2019, the TA-4J. Given their avionics and cockpit features, they are relatively easy to convert.

I have been experimenting with the conversions of other aircrafts, too… but at this time I have nothing to announce.

The SIAI S-211 Flying in XP11 - it is almost complete...it just needs some work on the cockpit but it is already flyable.

AEROFLY FS-2 

While it is not much popular, I really like this sim for VR, sightseeing flights. Its excellent frame rate and high-resolution photoreal terrain make it the ideal showcase of my HTC Vive when friends come and visit me.

Unfortunately, with the current status of the SDK, developing aircrafts for this sim is very time consuming.

This is why I have recently released the unfinished S-211 for free lately.

I am not sure I'll have the time do other projects in future, but I'd like to, and then may be IPACS will improve the SDK. We'll see.

The SIAI S-211 in Aerofly FS2

DCS

The question I have been asked most in 2018 is, "Aren't you looking at DCS? Why don't you convert your planes for it?"...well… of course I've been looking at DCS. Below is a picture I took in an early attempt to convert the Eurofighter Typhoon to this platform.
However, the big problem with DCS is that it does not offer a "middle ground"...you either do simple mods (and rely on default functions) or you'll have to model each system on your own - which is very time consuming.
To develop a "decent" (and I am not saying "good" - by "decent" I mean FC3-level airplanes) you still need to assemble a good team, and it still requires a lot of work.
I am looking at different strategies for this, but, at the moment, no one is really a convincing way to move forward.

An early shot of the Eurofighter Typhoon in DCS - Don't hold your breath, at the moment it is just a test and may never become an actual product.

OTHER PROJECTS

...and that is not all. Back to FSX/P3D I have a number of other small projects on the drawing board… which include an MQ-25, the final release of the USS America model and the "pro" version of the T-45.

Also, I have been looking at making the M.C.72 as a divertissment, and I have been discussing cooperations for a number of other interesting projects - which I cannot disclose right now. The main problem is that I do not have much time - and, at the moment, quitting my real life job to only this is not an option...