Another single file download source for Victoria+ for FSX

Ian Salter has kindly made available this single file link.

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.

And finally up on AVSIM ….

Some bad behaviour on my part has been corrected on Victoria+ for FX is now available on AVSIM:

http://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=112674
http://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=112675

So lots of choice now …

Jon

Single file download link for Victoria+

For those downunder or in Asia, or wanting a single link for the download of Victoria+, the Jay Kae and the good folks at VOZ provide this link:

http://fsfiles.org/PA/index.php?act=view&id=25

Thanks guys!

A bit more info on Victoria+ for FSX

You can visit my website for some more info, or download the manual here.

Victoria+ for FSX released!

Go get it! It’s in two parts: download both, unzip to the same folder, and run VicPlus.exe.  AVSIM seems to be somewhat slow in posting and Mark Avey has kindly provided a site for direct download:

http://www.flightsimx.co.uk/hosted/vicenh7a.zip

http://www.flightsimx.co.uk/hosted/vicenh7b.zip

Thanks, Mark!

Jon

Noël à deux

For folks in Victoria, Soundings Vocal Ensemble is teaming up with the Inspirata Women’s Choir to present an eclectic mix of both familiar and uncommon Christmas music from many traditions including Medieval, Renaissance, Appalachian, French, Danish and even some jazz.  Two concerts:

Friday, 8:00 PM, December 14, 2007, The Mews, Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC
Saturday, 8:00 PM, December 15, 2007, Gordon Head United Church, 4201 Tyndall, Victoria, BC

Click here for a poster.

Victoria+ for FSX update

We’ve just the released the 2nd beta version to the team.  We expect this to be very close to the final version, and this will likely be the last version they get to test.

Besides many fixes, Don has added a nice version of the Coast Guard vessel “Sir Wilfred Laurier” to the Victoria Outer Harbour.  We have 6 more AI Beaver repaints (I think 38 now in total) with US registration numbers, including 3 Kenmore Air.  CAM3/Duncan is now included in detail.  Much more detail has been added, which does impact performance.  So new performance options have been added, including much better control of the users of the number of detailed objects, based on the Scenery Complexity setting.

The team will now have 10 days or so to play with this until we build the final version.

Victoria+ released to beta team

Beta 1 of Victoria+ has been released to the beta team.  Development is complete, but there are a number of minor glitches.  We’ll now get feedback from the team and add that to list.

EH-101 at Camel Point

Now pulling Victoria+ and the new FSX product together, here’s a shot of the new EH-101 in FSX Acceleration landing at the Camel Point heliport, CBF7.  This is DX9.

And in between mucking about …

… with FSX Acceleration, Don, Holger and I have been busy with Victoria+.  Holger just received word that excellent free hydrology data is now available for most of BC, and he’s added streams in the Vic+ coverage area.  Other stuff we’ve been doing:

• completed road traffic vectors
• integrated Don’s CYYJ
• used Holger’s cool new blending textures on unlisted fields
• many detailed revisions to the Victoria area landclass
• thanks to Industry Canada, we received a detailed database of the nearly 10,000 radio transmitters in the area, we’ve chosen a couple of dozen on the prominent ones to include
• added in road bridges
• added trestle bridges to the E&N railroad
• added new improved objects/textures to heliports
• adjusted ferry dock objects in the Gulf Islands and San Juans
• finished adding nearly 300 marine lights
• received and tested the FSX version of the Asuka cruise ship from hama
• finished testing the AI at the US floatplane bases
• completed the addition of many static objects: marinas, warships at CFB Esquimalt, boats, and other goodies

Here’s the detail on facilities.  * denotes airfields with sloped runways

Land-based airports – Canada 

Name	ICAO	Location	Elev.(feet)	Runway Length(feet)
Victoria International Airport	CYYJ	N48° 38.816′ W123° 25.550′	603	09/27 – 7000’13/31 – 5003’02/20 – 5026’
Butler Field, Central Saanich		N48° 33.699’ W123° 25.652’	335*	1050’
Gaines Strip, Saturna Island		N48° 47.611’ W123° 6.883’	85*	492’
Hastings Strip, North Pender Island		N48° 46.942’ W123° 17.046’	114*	1580’
Hudson Island		N48° 57.842′ W123° 40.638′	56*	1923’
James Island		N48° 36.687’ W123° 21.719’	79*	2690’
Thomas Strip, Salt Spring Island		N48° 51.796’ W123° 31.459’	106*	1735’
Village Bay, Mayne Island		N48° 50.363’ W123° 18.498’	144*	3018’
Raven Field, Quamichan Lake, Duncan	CML2	N48° 48.717′ W123° 39.042′	148*	1575’
Saltspring Field (Closed)		N48° 46.274 W123° 28.250’	75*	2025’
Sidney Island		N48° 36.507’ W123° 18.092’	79*	2887’
Whiskey Point, Mill Bay		N48° 39.838’ W123° 32.584’	216*	1050’

 Land-based airports – United States 

Name	ICAO	Location	Elev.(feet)	Runway Length(feet)
Blakely Island	38WA	N48° 34.767′ W122° 49.424′	66	2200’
Burden Field-(Rabbit Run), San Juan Island	61WA	N48° 28.368′ W123° 0.865′	50	2270’
Center Island	78WA	N48° 29.412′ W122° 49.899′	115	1600’
Clam Harbor, Orcas Island	WA35	N48° 37.339′ W122° 56.827′	213	1411’
Crane Island		N48° 35.866’ W122° 49.869’	100*	1350’
Decatur Shores, Decatur Island	WN07	N48° 29.990′ W122° 48.827′	20	2550’
Decatur-Jones, Decatur Island	WA18	N48° 30.606′ W122° 48.177′	125	1500’
East Sound-Waldronaire, Waldron	90WA	N48° 42.706′ W123° 1.095′	140	2700’
Eastsound – Orcas Island	KORS	N48° 42.490′ W122° 54.628′	31	2898’
Friday Harbour, San Juan  Island	KFHR	N48° 31.318′ W123° 1.462′	113	3340’
Friday West, San Juan	1WA9	N48° 32.145′ W123° 2.649	150	2100’
Lopez Island	S31	N48° 29.034′ W122° 56.261′	171	2903’
Pile Point		N48° 29.223′ W 123° 5.381’	67*	2500’
Roche Harbor, San Juan Island	WA09	N48° 36.680′ W123° 8.256′	112	4300’
Shaw Island		N48° 34.578’ W122° 58.557’	264*	1581’1912’
Stuart Island Airpark, Stuart Island	7WA5	N48° 40.404′ W123° 10.522′	16	2000’
Stuart Island West, Stuart Island	2WA3	N48° 41.040′ W123° 13.401′	184	1560’
Wilding Farm – Shaw Island	6WA5	N48° 34.494 W122° 56.641′	60	1000’
Windsock – Lopez Island	4WA4	N48° 33.057′ W122° 53.176′	36	1850’

 Floatplane Facilities 

Name	ICAO	Location
Bedwell Harbour, South Pender Island	CAB3	N48° 45.213′  W123° 14.505′
Victoria International Seaplane Base	CAP5	N48° 39.345’ W123°  27.025’
Port Washington, North Pender Island Port Washington, North Pender Island	CAP8	N48° 48.775′  W123° 19.346′
Mayne Island	CAW7	N48° 51.218′ W123° 18.095′
Ganges Harbour, Salt Spring Island	CAX6	N48° 51.213′ W123° 29.505′
Maple Bay, Duncan (CMAP unofficial ICAO)		N48° 49.017′ W123° 36.000′
Shawnigan Lake	CAV8	N48° 37.923′  W123° 38.233′ Elev. 388.0’
Victoria Harbour	CYWH	N48° 25.493’ W123° 23.256’
Friday Harbour, San Juan Island	W33	N48° 32.490′ W123° 0.803′
Fisherman’s Bay, Lopez Island	WA81	N48° 30.695′ W122° 55.144′
Rosario, Orcas Island	W49	N48° 38.740′ W122° 52.078′
Roche Harbor, San Juan Island	W39	N48° 36.728′ W123° 9.444′
Westsound, Orcas Island	WA83	N48° 37.006′ W122° 57.783′

  Heliports 

Name	ICAO	Location	Elev.(feet)
Ganges Hospital	CAL7	N48° 51.7520′ W123° 30.5193′	158
Mayne Island Medical	CBF5	N48° 50.7946′ W123° 17.0472′	193
Camel Point Public Heliport	CBF7	N48° 25.0776’ W123° 23.2810’	8
Jubilee Hospital	CBK8	N48° 26.0591′ W123° 19.5094′	64
Victoria General Hospital	CBW7	N48° 28.0841′ W123° 25.9676′	65
Madrona Bay, Salt Spring Island	CBW9	N48° 51.3402′ W123° 29.1375′	16
Shoal Point, Victoria	CBZ7	N48° 25.3846′ W123° 23.2465′	8
Mount Belcher, Salt Spring Island	CMBH	N48° 50.0001′ W123° 30.2700′	1032

Victoria screenshots: the Empress and the Legislature in FSX

Here ya go, Bernie.

Victoria+ Screenshots

Here’s some screenshots from Victoria+.  Click on any image for a larger view.

CFB Esquimalt - Dockyard

Coast Guard Dock and Ogden Terminal - Cruise ship part of other products

Ogden Point Terminal

Trial Island

Rosario Seaplane base

KORS Orcas Island Approach

Orcas Island

KFHR - Friday Harbor

Tsheum Harbour

Maple Bay

Saltspring Island

Ganges Harbour - Saltspring

Pender and Saturna Islands

Update on Victoria+

Some of the team have been busy much of the time with the FSX Acceleration beta (which I can’t comment on), but in the next couple of days I’ll be posting some screenshots of Victoria+.  Standby.

P.S. Here’s an early blurb on Acceleration, specs subject to change.

Taking a look at Victoria+ in Google Earth

Here’s a Google Earth placemark file that shows all facilities in Victoria+.  Here’s a screenshot of that.  Note all facility names show when zoomed out this far.

Putting the “Plus” in VictoriaPlus

Holger and I have decided, with the support of Don Grovestine, to expand the scope of Victoria+ in FSX to include the San Juan Islands, including Blakely, Decatur, Lopez, Orcas, San Juan, Stuart, Waldron and many smaller islands.

We will be adding accurate mesh, landclass, shorelines and hydrology, roads, correcting airfields and making floatplane bases AI capable (Don is working on that).   This adds 16 airfields and 5 Floatplane bases, bringing the total number of facilities in Vic+ to 50.

This will make Victoria+ contiguous with Vancouver+, and with Holger’s North Cascades addon, when that becomes available.

Here’s all the facilities in Victoria+.  * Denotes new facility in this version.

Canadian airfields

• Butler Field
• CAM3 - Duncan
• CYYJ - Victoria International Airport* (Don’s superb version)
• Gaines Strip
• Hastings Strip
• Hudson Island*
• James Island*
• Qaumichan Lake - Raven
• Saltpring (closed)*
• Sidney Island*
• Thomas Strip
• Village Bay - Mayne

Canadian floatplane bases

• CAB3 - Bedwall Harbour
• CAP5 - Victoria International
• CAP8 - Port Washington
• CAV8 - Shawnigan Lake
• CAW7 - Mayne Island
• CAX6 - Ganges
• CMAP - Maple Bay
• CYWH - Victoria Harbour
• Whiskey Point

Canadian heliports

• CAL7 - Ganges Hospital
• CBF5 - Mayne Medical
• CBF7 - Camel Point
• CBK8 - Victoria Jubilee Hospital
• CBW9 - Madrona Bay
• CBZ7 - Shoal Point Coast Guard
• CMBH - Mount Belcher

US airfields*

• 1WA9 - Friday West
• 2WA3 - Stuart Island West
• 38WA - Blakely Island 
• 4WA4 - Windsock
• 61WA - Burden Field
• 6WA5 - Wilding Farm
• 78WA - Center Island
• 7WA5 - Stuart Island Airpark
• 90WA -Eastsound - Wardonair
• Crane Island
• KFHR - Friday Harbor
• KORS - Eastsound - Orcas Island
• S31 - Lopez Island
• Shaw Island
• WA09 - Roche Harbor
• WA18 - Decatur/Jones
• WA35 - Clam Harbor
• WN07 - Decatur Shores

US floatplane bases*

• W33 - Friday Harbor
• W39 - Roche Harbour
• W49 - Rosario
• WA81 - Fisherman’s Bay
• WA83 - Westsound/wsx

James and Sidney Island in Victoria+ for FSX

There will be three new airstrips in Victoria+ for FSX: Hudson Island just off Thetis Island (as a result of extending the coverage area North), and James and Sidney Islands just East of CYYJ.  James Island is privately owned by billionaire Craig McCaw, unless someone has grabbed it for the US$50M price he’s put on it.  It includes an 18-hole Nicklaus-designed golf-course as well as other amenities.  Sidney Island is largely strata-owned by about a dozen owners, but under strict conditions to preserve the majority of the land as undeveloped.  These screenshots show FSX-default (but include Don’s CYYJ) vs. the islands as they will appear in Victoria+.  The airstrips are clearly visible in these views, as well as the more detailed shoreline (with custom shore texture) and improved landclass.

Victoria+ for FSX

I’m pleased to say that Holger and I have started work on the conversion of Victoria+ for FSX.  There won’t be much in the way of new features, perhaps a couple of new airfields, and an enhanced coverage area (going a little further north).  The exciting news is that we will be working with Don Grovestine to integrate our work with his CYYJ to create a single addon for the area.

This will be for FSX-only, release date not yet defined.  We also want to make sure that Victoria+ for FSX works will with Ultimate Terrain X - Canada and FSX SP2.

Great demo of the Matrix TripleHead2Go

Sneakers Computers in Victoria has a great setup of the magic box that drives 3 monitors at a time.  They’ve got it set up with FSX and Vancouver+.  Very impressive!

I also installed a beta version of Don Grovestine’s latest CYYJ for FSX.  He’s added a bunch of AI that really spruces the facility up.  I’ll post a link when it’s ready.

Networking opportunities in Victoria and Vancouver

I’ve been having a lot of fun over the past few weeks engaging with the business community at networking events and presentations.  Here’s some of the recurring events that I’ve attended or been brought to my attention on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.

Selected Networking Events

Check the website or contact for more information on membership requirements, cost, dates, and locations. 

Event/ Organization	Frequency	Location	Contact	Focus/Comments
BC Human Resources Management Asn (BCHRMA)	Monthly	Victoria	www.bchrma.org	Human Resources.
BCAMA (American Marketing Association, BC Chapter)	Several per month	Vancouver	http://www.bcama.com/	Sales & Marketing.  May have activities in Victoria as well.
BC Technology Industry Association (BC-TIA)	Frequent	Vancouver	http://www.bctia.org/	Business/technology.
Business Network International	Weekly	Victoria	http://www.bni.com/ http://www.bnicanada.ca/	Business. Many chapters in Victoria, required attendance and other criteria.
Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce	Frequent	Victoria	http://www.victoriachamber.ca/	Business.
Green Drinks	Twice monthly	Victoria	http://www.greendrinks.org/	Environmental.