News: FSX Steam on Sale

| Tom Tsui

Wanna to try out the Steam Edition of FSX for quite some time after hearing good feedback from friends and on the internet.  However, there were worries about the adding of FSX Steam might somehow mess up my non-Steam system.

The wait is over. FSX Steam

Steam Online store is undergoing Summer Sale until 22nd of this month.  My newly purchased copy of FSX Steam in bundle with Cargo Crew and Dangerous Approaches ($19.99,  66% off from regular) is being installed onto a separate SSD with Windows 10 via VMWare Workstation.

Will FSX Steam have a place among my current simulators?   Time will tell.

 

 

290: Standalone C172 Gauges

| Tom Tsui

My C172 Integrated Gauge Series combine 14 instruments plus many other functions found on the C172 cockpit.   The project was started a year ago since I only had seven FIPs at that time.   And it was not economical (still true) to put some of the simple instruments each onto standalone FIPs.

However, never stop receiving inquires from friends asking for their standalone versions.   So, before moving forward onto twin engines, I will spend some times working on these standalone gauges first.   They include: Continue reading →

289: Automate Shader Cleaning

| Tom Tsui

TechLevel01W

Rebuilding the shader cache of the simulator helps fix problems suddenly coming up without a proper cause.   The reasons explained in my Post 58: Rebuild FSX Shader Cache for FSX.  It is applicable to P3D as well.

There are friends asking if it is possible to automate the deletion process right before the running of FSX or P3D, when needed.

Surely it is possible.   Continue reading →

288: Attitude Indicator Brown Version

| Tom Tsui

Here comes the brown color variations of the Attitude Indicator as promised months ago.   Notification and download links for this update have been sent to all users. C172_ATTAN_150523A  C172_ATTAN_150523B Unlike the previous updater, Continue reading →

287: Putting the GPS onto the FIP

| Tom Tsui

Yes, you saw it right.   Besides the usual gauge instruments, you can now put the GPS onto the FIP !
FIPTools-GPS

Last November, Alexey Podrezov’s FIP Customizer gave us the ability to freely replace the FIP’s default product image as well as to easily disable the serial number from showing up on the FIP.

This summer, Alexey further enhances his utility by adding a number of great features to it.   The new utility is called the FIP Toolkit.

In addition to the already mentioned “GPS Display” function, the utility can also project Continue reading →

286: Tame the Rudders Update 3

| Tom Tsui

My logic of tuning the rudder pedals for Prepar3D in the first place was to reduce the sensitivity of the axis control, assuming the adjustment could make them more manageable.   Also, it was Rudder-FSX
Rudder-P3Dbased on the default setting in P3D as well as all the good results I got from my experience in FSX (as shown in the setting pictures on the right).

Sadly, after all the adjustments I made over the years as described in Post 242, 248 and 249 for P3D, I still had difficulties to avoid over-steering and under-steering the aircraft during taxi, especially at turns.   Continue reading →

285: Attitude Indicator Update

| Tom Tsui

The Attitude Indicator has just been updated to include the OMI Markers.   They will C172_ATTAN_MarkerOMI light up accordingly when beacons are encountered around any airport that provides these signals.

C172_ATTAN_150508BRNNotification of this update patch has been sent to all existing users.

This update patch (so will be the future ones) is included with an automatic updater to make installation and update of my gauges as simple as possible.

The brown-color version of this gauge shown on the right is coming soon.   Improvement doesn’t stop at what we are. Continue reading →

284: AirSpeed Indicator & Turn Coordinator

| Tom Tsui

The AirSpeed Indicator and Turn Coordinator of my C172 Integrated Gauge project have just been completed.   Both are equipped with the Automatic Installer.

C172_ASCLK_150501  C172_TCBAL_150507

Features on the gauges are straight-forward and their operations have been demonstrated in the videos shown in Post 283.

Two things worth mentioning are: Continue reading →

283: My Integrated Gauges Video Show

| Tom Tsui

Some friends are curious about how my C172 Integrated Gauges all together look in real simulator.   Here are four quick videos showing how they perform from Engine Startup, Taxi, Take-off to Maneuver.    Background airport is Bowerman KHQM in the United States.   Simulator is Prepar3D v25 with the free Bowerman airport addon from Orbx.

Truly, since my one hand Continue reading →