Misc

323: Don’t be Fooled

| Tom Tsui

Received quite a lot of spam mails regarding a self-claimed award winning and most realistic flight simulation on the market recently.   Did a search and found that this ProFlightSimulator is actually a rebrand of an open-source flight simulator developed by FlightGear.    The guys just copied and markets the free product for $197 (discounted to $97).   Unbelievable!

Here’s the statement regarding the scam by FlightGear.   Most sadly, there’s nothing the developer can do about it under the Open Source GNU GPL v2 protocol.   So be careful and don’t be Santa in this way.

 

312: Make a Better World, Virtual and Real

| Tom Tsui

Rebuilding shader cache is a commonly used method to fix many issues suddenly coming up without a proper cause in either FSX or P3D.  Shaders Cleaner helps clean Shader Cache right before the loading of FSX or P3D.

  

Anyone interested to get a copy the utility please make a donation to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) / Doctors Without Borders so as to help those people out there needing the love and care from the medical humanitarian organization.

Proposed donation amount is USD 5.0 for either the FSX or P3D version of the utility, or USD 8.0 for both versions.   More are appreciated, of course.

To make your donation now, click here.   Or you can click on the Shaders Cleaner images above, and then click on the [DONATE NOW] button and forward your MSF donation receipt to me at tom.fsxtimes@gmail.com.  Do specify which version (FSX or P3D) of the utility you prefer.  Download link will be sent asap.
MSF_dual_English_SMALL1
What the world needs now is love.  Let’s give a hand to make a better world, no matter it’s virtual or real.

 

 

299: The FTX Central 2 — I Never Like It

| Tom Tsui

I never like the new FTX Central 2 because it combines the previous FSX and P3D versions into one single package.   If you have both FSX and P3D installed like I do, FTX_Central_Newyou then have to choose for the simulator you want to modify every time it is started.  That’s inconvenient and an overkill.

In addition, it compels you to read the company’s product advertisements on the program banner which you might not be interested at all.   It’s distracting and irritating.

And the worst of it all, the new FTX Central 2 forces you Continue reading →

258: P3D v2.3 Finally Up and Running

| Tom Tsui

Even though my simulator is running smooth again after rolling back to v2.2.   My thought is still haunted by the mysterious cause and reluctantly to let it go.

After carrying out various deep cleanings on my computer and reinstalled a clean upgrade from a new download onto the same but reformatted SSD, eventually, the P3D v2.3 is up and running now.   Very likely that there were somethings missing in the first download or the stutters were caused by some unknown leftovers from the last version.

Well, there are still significant stutters encountered over certain areas sporadically.   But in general, the v2.3 upgrade is so far performing as it should be.

For the moment, it’s premature to say that the new version is better or worse than the previous one since nothing has been added to it yet.

Will update more after system is properly tuned.

For the moment, Continue reading →

256: Switching to P3D — An Afterthought

| Tom Tsui

I being as a long-time FSX users switched to P3D recently, followings are my thoughts given to a friend who asked if it’s worth to “upgrade” from FSX to P3D.

Merely as a general pilot flight training aid, P3D doesn’t differ much from FSX in my experience.

Therefore, its $199.99 Professional (I’d rather call it a Basic) Licence price-tag is comparatively quite high.   If someone wants to develop software for it, he/she has to pay an extra $9.95 to Lockheed Martin every month.

Even though its $59.95 Academic Licence seems to be more reasonable, users of this Licence should note that they are positioning themselves as undergraduate or K-12 or pilot students.  I wonder how many users of this group are actually coming from the defined categories.

Moreover, Continue reading →

Location Suggestion in Switzerland and Italy

| Tom Tsui

Hi Friends,
–
I’ll be in Europe for a two-week travel in September.    During the stay, my son and his fiancée are planning to spend two days for wedding photos.
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Wonder any of you have any good locations in Switzerland and Italy (not necessarily big cities) to recommend for such occasion.
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I’d appreciate it very much.
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I’ll arrive in Munich first and the rest of the journey hasn’t been finalized yet. Perhaps we will be meeting somewhere, sometime then.
–
Tom
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Edit:
Received many good suggestions in just a few hours. Thank you!

254: The SkyShifter

| Tom Tsui

TechLevel03W
I don’t know how you use REX (Real Environment Extreme) in your system.   I just choose the environment textures I prefer and then install them into FSX or P3D for good.   True, I might pick a different cloud or sky texture once or twice a month to give the simulator a fresh look.   But that’s all.

Based on the concept from my earlier ShadeShifter, which allows the changes of tones and colors of the environment in the simulator everyday, I recently wrote another utility that SkyShiftercould inject different pre-extracted sky and ocean textures from REX according to the calendar day of the month, prior to the loading of FSX or P3D.   And these textures have been further mixed to maximize allowable texture-combo variations.  In other words, my sky and ocean now look differently each day.

Continue reading →