The new theme of FSX Times is basically set. There may still be some minor adjustments but they should be invisible to most subscribers.
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Note that the Day Cycle Calculator is now put under the Tools section on the Menu bar, and the link for its mobile version is also added.
News
News: Colorado Camping Last Weekend
Vertical Studios‘ Mountain Flying in Switzerland Mission Pack has always been one of my favorites. Especially when used with Flylogic’s Swiss Professional X and Sion, and FranceVFR’s Rhone-Alpes, the Mission Pack is not only fun but also realistic. Indeed, adding the extra addons makes the whole trip very expensive, even though the product itself is low-priced. Anyway, the company’s Mission Pack has since stayed on my must-buy list.
Colorado Camping Weekend is the company’s second Mission Pack. It lauched probably a year ago. Although I wanted to get it so much, I didn’t do it because the Mission Pack wasn’t a complete one. After a long wait, the company finally released its last part, Day 4, yesterday. The area coverage of the mission seems to coincide with BlueSky Scenery’s Colorado series, which is high quality freeware. Check it out yourself if you are keen on flying Missions like I do.
News: Cessna FIPs from Saitek
Got this information from Hans (a friend of FSX Times) right before my holiday last month that Saitek had created three FIPs for Cessna aircrafts. Just recall this earlier today.
Don’t know how many of you who own FIPs know about it. I didn’t — can’t help complaining about the company’s poor customer works again — it’s notorious anyway.
Doesn’t want to post screenshots for the company. Here is the download link: ftp://ftp.saitek.com/pub/profiles/CessnaFIPSDownload.rar
News: Orbx’s NA Southern Alaska Released
Orbx just released its NA Blue Southern Alaska addon. Just placed my order and downloading the file.
Despite the fact that I am not fully satisfied with some of Orbx’s addons, this one is still worth waiting for to supplement one’s NA Blue and Tongass Fjord collections.
Do note that missions from FSX or other third parties may no longer be usable. For example, the picture below shows a destination point in a mission which has been changed from originally a dock by the lake shore to a position now on the land where the water plane can never reach. In other words, the mission will fail.
News: Accu-Feel v2 Released
A2A Simulations’ Accu-Feel is a no stranger to most FSX players. Just purchased its newly released version 2, which has a codename of Air, Land and Sea. 
Compared to the last version, the new one not only enhances the controls of air and land interactions with aircrafts, but also adds supports to water planes.
Installation of the upgrade patch is a no-brainer, and its default settings already provides an impressive realistic effect.
I would say it is a must have for FSX since it does bring extra fun to any flightsim session.
NOTE: if DX error message is encountered during installation, simply ignore it if you already have the correct DX files.
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Update: 11-Jan-2013
Rob mentioned in the comment section below that some users reported system crashes due to severe buffeting and turbulance. Worth a note if fixes to be released.
News: Orbx’s EU England Released
Orbx just released its EU England scenery addon. Just purchased and downloaded the file.
Even though I have reservation over some of the company’s airport addons, these regional scenery products are no doubt my must-buy. (Edit: See my next Post 182)
I have PlayHorizon’s UK VFR. It’s pretty good. My only complaint is the lacking of 3D autogen objects. Orbx’s new EU England is surely may be a strong competitor. (Edit: See my next Post 182)
Moreover, from the company’s forum,UK2000’s detailed airports are in some ways compatible with this new addon.
Even though I’ve been tied up with something else these days, will still spend sometime to have it installed. And look forward to seeing how it compares to UK VFR and how it works with UK2000’s airports.
News: Trained to be a Combat Pilot
It surely sounds like a cliché, but I did dream to be a fighter pilot like many other kids. Forget about the heroic thing, just the name of it thrilled my little heart. Although as usual it remains a child’s dream, my enthusiasm on FSX no doubt is a true reflection of it.
Recently, my long-forgotten fantasy towards fighter pilot was resumed by the just released Combat Pilot developed by ThunderHawk Studios of Mad Catz.
According to the game’s description, Combat Pilot is built on the FSX environment and uses a proprietary multiplayer engine with dedicated servers to implement realistic on-line interactive combat experiences among virtual pilots via features such as A.I. controlled ATC, fully integrated weapons suite, custom UHF communications, etc.
The most exciting part to me is that this flightsim product provides players with various aircraft and weapon trainings during the course of their pilot careers from cadets to officers.
Although all these joys come with a premium, it is still worth spending some times looking at these fantastic features on the game’s website whether you once dreamt to be a fighter pilot or not.
News: Orbx’s New Freeware Available
Orbx has just released a freeware download for West Wind (7WA3), Riverside (4WA8) and an unmarked airstrip in the Washington area.
Anyone who has the company’s FTX PNW scenery installed shouldn’t miss this.
My FTX NA Airports Maps for Google Earth has also been updated accordingly.
News: FlyZone Switcher Released
To all those subscribers who signed up to request my FlyZone Switcher, the download link has been sent to your mailbox today as promised.
However, you are still required to complete the LAST step-by-step system preparation guide described in Post 159 in order to run the utility properly.
Have fun !
FS Times 