MSFS2020

News: Zinertek Strikes Back

| Tom Tsui

To those who haven’t decided to choose from Zinertek’s Enhanced Airport Graphics or REX’s Real Global Airport Texture, their headaches should get intensified as version 2.0 of Zinertek Airport Graphics is scheduled to come in a few days on 20 June — a strike back to REX’s airport texture release ?

The company says that there will be new and reworked textures to bring various improvements to the existing version.

Mark the date on your calendar and stay tuned.

Edit: Update to version 2.0 has been postponed to 26 June to ensure the new version won’t cause CTDs with World Update 5, according to Zinertek.
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702: Airport Enhancement – REX vs Zinertek

| Tom Tsui

After Zinertek released its Enhanced Airport Graphics for MSFS a few months ago, REX Game Studio just follows to announce their Real Global Airport Texture for MSFS as well.  To me, it’s pretty similar to what they compete in FSX/P3D environment before.AirportTexture_REX AirportTexture_Zinertek_resize

In terms of pricing, REX’s version is $17.95, which is about a dollar more than Zinertek’s $16.97.

Does that extra dollar makes REX’s new product better than Zinertek’s?

Let’s put aside the quality of enhancement first, the extra one dollar does give users a choice of 4 combinations spawned from New & Used Taxiway Markings and Heavy & Light Rubber Buildups, against Zinertek’s only one universal style.

How are they different and are they better ?

Followings are two sets of photos briefly comparing the two products.  I’ll give my choice at the end of the story.

Since the size of the photos are a bit large (1,800 x 1,100) , be patient if your network isn’t fast. Continue reading →

699: Payware Meshes are still worth it

| Tom Tsui

Unlike the way I spent for FSX and P3D, I am quite cautious about getting airports and sceneries for MSFS these days as the overall presentation in the simulator is quite good already.

One exception, however, is the enhancement addons, such as Meshes.
SwissMesh_01W
No doubt, there are some pretty good freeware meshes or DEMs available as mentioned in my Post 689. But I must say that many payware products are still worth of what they are — the New Zealand Mesh from Orbx and the Switzerland Mesh from FSDreamTeam are two good examples. Continue reading →

698: Aerolite 103 Bundle Gauges

| Tom Tsui

The Aircreation SL582 in FSX/P3D was one of my favorite aircraft since I like low and slow VFRs.  In MSFS, I prefer the Aerolite 103 by Nemeth Designs over it for similar flights.  In particular, the dynamic rotary-style ADF and ADF Signal Reception Features are fun and useful.
MSFS_AL103_ADF_GIFS MSFS_AL103_ENG_GIFS
The other three gauges Continue reading →

697: My Full Forward View Update

| Tom Tsui

After months of tuning the Full Forward View adjustments described in Post 638, I have standardized the settings of the following three (3) paramters in “LandingPilot” [CAMERADEFINITION.2] on all aircraft as follows:
FullView01
InitialZoom = 0.6
This gives me a zoom level generally the same as the external aircraft view.

InitialPbh = 0, 0, 0
This puts all aircraft on the ground horizontally without any tilting.

InitialXyz = x, x, x
These three values are aircraft-specific, in which I adjust: Continue reading →

696: SkyElite Version 1.3 Preview

| Tom Tsui

In the last few days, I got a chance to test the beta version 1.3 of the SkyElite for MSFS by 4FlightSims.

One of the improvements that impresses me is the fixing of text displays on soft keys and info pages that I reported in Post 659.  Now they are properly aligned.
SkyElite13-GIF1Regarding new features, the most significant should be the SE1000 AHRS mode in the PFD.  Although it is different in style and operations from the G1000s on the default aircraft in MSFS, it functions equally as good in general.
SkyElite13-GIF2
In addition, Continue reading →

695: MSFS Gaming Services Error Fix

| Tom Tsui

Rick Sheehan, a friend in the US, reported that he recently ran into a problem updating Gaming Services; showing an error 0x8007139f.  Since then, he couldn’t load MSFS (Microsoft Store version) any more.

After searched more than 50 sites and tried numerous possible fixes including several PowerShell fixes to no avail in a few days, he found a solution to get past the error, at the brim of reinstalling the simulator.

All he did was Continue reading →

694: PA28R Turbo III/IV Gauges Included

| Tom Tsui

With the launch of the Just Flight PA28R Turbo III/IV, additional ASI, ATT, MFP & RPM custom-made for the new aircraft are added as free updates to the original Arrow III Gauges.  No upgrade fees required.
MSFS_PA28R-JF_ARW_ASI MSFS_PA28R-JF_ARW_ATT
MSFS_PA28R-JF_ARW_MFP MSFS_PA28R-JF_ARW_RPM
Users of the Arrow III Gauges should have received the Download Links in their mailboxes by now.  If not, Continue reading →

693: Gauges for PA28R Turbo III/IV Scheduled

| Tom Tsui

Just flew about an hour with Just Flight’s newly released PA28R Turbo Arrow III/IV with my Arrow III gauges.

Besides the ASI, RPM and MFP, all remaining gauges in the current Arrow III series are good for the two new brothers as well.

That’s good.  I will schedule to work on those three gauges for the two aircraft.   And for those who already owned the Arrow III gauges, there will be discounts when the three gauges are ready.

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