AVSIM reviews Vancouver+ for FSX

Jeff Shyluk, AVSIM senior staff reviewer spent a lot of time up close and personal with Vancouver+ for FSX, and has written this detailed review.  Thanks, Jeff!

CYVR for FSX

Bill Womack and I have decided not to proceed with CYVR, Vancouver International Airport for FSX, for a variety of reasons.  In my case, I want to focus on smaller projects, as well as other non-FS work.  Bill gives his view in this post.  Bill will keep working on Tongass Fjords, Emma X and other eagerly awaited goodies, while I’ll be heads down for the next few months on Misty Fjords for FSX.

Somewhere in 2008, the Glacier Bay team, led by Holger, will also upgrade that product for FSX.

FSX Videos

Jun Kazama does the most beautiful FSX/DX10 videos I’ve seen.  Here’s a couple more:

Bella Coola (110 Mb)

Seasons Greetings (Vancouver+) (295Mb)

Installing Acceleration? SP1? SP2? Land where there should be water?

The biggest confusion for folks installing FSX Acceleration (or patching to SP1 or SP2 when it comes out) is that it modifies an essential file (terrain.cfg) that can cause problems with certain addons, such as Victoria+, Vancouver+, Ultimate Terrain, Megascenery and VisualFlight UK products.

In all cases it’s easy to fix.  First close FSX.

For Victoria+:  Start ->(All) Programs->FSaddon->Victoria+ FSX->Repair Victoria+ FSX

For Vancouver+:  Start ->(All) Programs->FSaddon->Vancouver+ FSX->Uninstall Victoria+ FSX then select “Repair”

(some version of Vancouver+ will have the Repair option like Victoria+)

When you select repair, if you get a “file not found” error, please uninstall the product and reinstall.  That’ll only take a few minutes.

For other products, consult their support folks.

Christmas gift idea: 2008 wall calendar from SimPilot

SimPilot magazine has announced it’s Flight Simulation Calendar for 2008.  It features screenshots from products from Captain Sim, Carenado, Eaglesoft, Flight 1/Scenery Solutions, FS Addon (Vancouver+ and Tongass Fjords), Just Flight, Orbx, and Sim Pilot Experience.  Cost is US$20 +$10 shipping and handling.  I don’t know how your currency is doing but most purchasers will benefit from the low US dollar.

Difficult conversations: turning challenge into opportunity

Attending ProjectWorld/Business Analysis World at Canada Place in Vancouver next week?  Drop by Room 16 at 1:45PM, Tuesday, November 6 to hear Mike Ray and I speak on Difficult Conversations.

A simple act to save lives

Joel Solomon, a Vancouver social entrepreneur, sends along the following note:

I am receiving a kidney from living donor, Shivon Robinsong, on November 14, 2007. This surgery will hopefully solve what is a lifelong genetic condition that has meant slow kidney function deterioration over decades. 95% success likelihood. Nevertheless, very major and serious. Dana and I can barely express the depth of meaning that this gift of love and an organ means to us, our family, and our work in the world.        

My long time business partner and friend, Martha Burton, faces an even more challenging circumstance around organ donation. Her wonderful husband Robert, is in a late state of lung disease and is high on the waiting list for a lung transplant that must come from a recently deceased person. It must be a person who has signed legal donation of their organs. Robert is otherwise super healthy and one of the finest human beings on the planet. We are all distraught and praying that a minor miracle will occur and he will hear the good news that someone has signed the forms making their lungs available.        

The point of this letter is to emphasize both the general and specific importance of all of us making the effort to sign up so that our organs may be used after our death, by others for whom they can be the gift of life. And for the extra courageous and hearty, there are organ and bodily donations that can happen while we are alive. Many people wait on lists desperately hoping for this miracle, and any of us may find ourselves or a close loved one in need at some point in our lives.        

The specific circumstance requires me to ask your understanding as I speak more poignantly about Robert’s situation. Should a freak accident occur to me in the coming weeks, I would want my lungs made available to Robert or someone else with the right blood and other match, who could use them after Im gone. Wouldnt most of us want that to happen?        

The sad fact is that a small fraction of the population has signed up to make such donations possible. At least by the laws in BC, without that few moments of paperwork, our body parts will simply go to the grave or crematorium.        

If you are a British Columbia resident, please go to the web site link that follows and sign up ASAP. If you live in another jurisdiction, take a few minutes and find out how you can do the same.
www.transplant.bc.ca

604 877 2240
For Robert, a lung might come from anywhere in Canada. He is at or near the top of the waiting list.        

Robert, Martha, Dana, myself, and our families and friends appeal to you to help in any way you can.

Joel

Vancouver+ screenshots

Jamie has posted some very pretty Vancouver+ screenshots …

More screenshots of Vancouver+ in FSX Acceleration

Mango has published a series of shots showing off DX10 in Vancouver+…

Vancouver+ in FSX - DX10 screenshots

Courtesy of our good friend Jun Kazama, here are some shots of Vancouver+ with DX10.  Note that I’m delaying posting my findings with Acceleration as I’m finding some backward compatibility issues with FS9 objects that use transparency, under DX9.  Stil working on confirming these issues.

Vancouver+ wallpaper

Jarn has posted some Vancouver+ wallpaper.  Thanks, Jarn!

Review of Vancouver+

This review is in Dutch, but the Babelfish translation is readable.

Behind Vancouver+

Jarn has gathered some background from Holger and I on Vancouver+, and added some of his own great screenshots.

The best of both worlds

The word has been out for a long time, and seems well understood by consumers: if you don’t have a newer computer (preferably dual core), with lots of RAM (1.5Gb+) and a good video card (256Mb+), best to stick with FS9 until you can upgrade.  And lots of folks with specs that can run FSX ok still spend a lot of time in FS9 and appreciate the smooth performance and high frame rates.  At the request of a customer, for people that are running both FS9 and FSX who have purchased Vancouver+ for FSX, you can now purchase Vancouver+ for FS9 and receive a 20% discount. 

Previously the discount only applied if you purchased the FS9 version first.  Thanks for the suggestion, Walt!

Some forum chatter on Vancouver+ for FSX

I haven’t got many links from the non-English boards, so if you have one, please send it along! 

Simflight

Vancouver FSX released!!!
http://forums.simflight.com/viewtopic.php?t=63248
Which scenery?
http://forums.simflight.com/viewtopic.php?t=63245
Squamish delivery (Vancouver+ FSX)
http://forums.simflight.com/viewtopic.php?t=63327
Happy 4th of July. Langley has Mooney
http://forums.simflight.com/viewtopic.php?t=63295 
Lights! City! Action!
http://forums.simflight.com/viewtopic.php?t=63334
exploring Vancouver+ (FSX)
http://forums.simflight.com/viewtopic.php?t=63410
Circuits at Chilliwack
http://forums.simflight.com/viewtopic.php?t=63429

Avsim

Heads up – Vancouver FSX released
http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=121&topic_id=407099&mode=full
A very good team
http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=147&topic_id=260432&mode=full
Buck fever
http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=147&topic_id=260361&mode=full
Downtown Vancouver
http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=147&topic_id=260423&mode=full
VANCOUVER + pour FSX
http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=270&topic_id=1009&mesg_id=1009 

Flightsimworld

- Good Morning Vancouver -
http://www.flightsimworld.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=120272&st=0&gopid=1478740&#entry1478740 

Sim-Outhouse

Vancouver+ for FSX Released
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?t=46407&highlight=vancouver
Vancouver for FSX, Comparison shot
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?t=46653&highlight=vancouver 

Flightsim.com

A little tour over to Whistler
http://forums.flightsim.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=10&topic_id=475561&mesg_id=475561
Go or No Go?
http://forums.flightsim.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=10&topic_id=475279&mesg_id=475279
It is live, or is it…?
http://forums.flightsim.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=10&topic_id=475276&mesg_id=475276
Early Morning to Langley
http://forums.flightsim.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=10&topic_id=475224&mesg_id=475224
Just one of Vancouver+
http://forums.flightsim.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=10&topic_id=475134&mesg_id=475134
Vancouver+
http://forums.flightsim.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=10&topic_id=475033&mesg_id=475033

Canadian Pilots

Vancouver+ FSX
http://z8.invisionfree.com/Canadian_Pilots/index.php?showtopic=8136

Flight Xtra’s

A Splashing Time
http://www.fsfx.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=2474

Friendly Flusi
Holger Sandmanns : Vancouver+
http://flusi.movie2digital.de/thread.php?threadid=4220

FlightSim.no
Bushflyvning på et helt annet nivå.
http://www.flightsim.no/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=348743&page=0&fpart=1

Jadair.com
fsx Vancouver+
http://www.jadeair.com.tw/modules/ipboard/index.php?showtopic=12908

Vancouver+ for FSX now available!

You can purchase it here.

Support forum here.

Vancouver+ for FSX is Gold!

It will now be released to the e-commerce folks.  Anticipate that it’ll take a couple of days there to ensure all is well, before it’s available for purchase.  Many thanks to the huge number of people that made this possible!

Here’s a shot of the configuration screen, where options can be chosen to optimize personal preferences and performance.

Minor change to RC2

We found that when tested with FSGenesis mesh, the US fields on the southern edge of the Vancouver+ FSX coverage area showed some odd terrain contours.  The FSG mesh is processed differently from ours, and currently will override ours in the US area, regardless of scenery priority.  So we created some custom contours (LWM2 and LWM3 polys, for the technically minded) around those airfields that will work with either mesh.

This didn’t impact our testing period though, and we have less than 3 hours left for the testers to find any show-stoppers.

Building RC2

Tonight we’re building Release Candidate 2 for Vancouver+ for FSX.  The team will have 48 hours to test.  Changes from RC1 are quite minor, but we needed to confirm that one minor glitch didn’t have bigger implications.  Which it didn’t.  Here’s what we changed from RC1 to RC2.  Several of this items were actually in the queue for a future update, but we decided to put them in now.  I’m pleased we waited to clean up this issues, and that our diligent testers uncovered them…

- CAJ8: removed crash box at dock (with crash detection on, you couldn’t have your wing over the dock)
- CYNJ: moved apron edge lights (some were offset from the apron)
- CYNJ: removed static J-3 Cub in playground (it’s been removed and the area made a playground)
- updated effects_Woodfibre_Mill_FSX.BGL (great haze layer effect in Howe Sound)
- added flatten to South End of Mission Bridge (makes the terrain line up with the bridge)
- CYPK: fixed sign on building M14 (bad texture on back side)
- CYPK: fixed gap between buildings
- removed shadows from log rafts
- CYPK: removed shadows from fence
- CYPK: adjusted position of building M1 to meet fence
- CYPK: adjusted fence to meet up with building M6
- fixed land texture in Iona settling ponds (should have been and now is water)
- removed waves from Iona settling ponds (so the poo can settle)
- removed tree in bridge: N49 23.10 W121 19.13 (annoyed drivers)
- fixed bridge texture offset: N49 9.49 W121 53.79 hdg 64 (annoyed pilots)
- corrected scale of generic airport building #5 (used in a number of places, this model was oversized!)
- removed redundant generic hanger models from individual bgls (affects CBD2, CYHE, CYPS, Abbottsford, Surrey, White Rock) (rationalized library access of hanger models)
- added Swangard Stadium in Central Park, Burnaby
- added Nat Bailey Stadium near Queen Elizabeth Park (looks cool)
- finalized manual (same version as you can now download)
- CYDC: added leading zero runway designaton
- changed landclass at UBC (was residential, now has lots of big buildings + residential in the right areas)
- changed polygon type at Mission drag strip to parking (was unpopulated industrial, looked odd)
- Configurator: restore default settings checkbox so it doesn’t persist after selecting  (worked ok, but was rather ambiguous)

Support forum info now up

The Vancouver+ for FSX support forum text is now in place, although it’ll still be a few days until the product is ready.