Review System

• PII 233mhz, 32 meg
• Pure 3d V1
• NuSound 3d (DSP)
• Trident AGP 3dImage 9750

There are flight Sims and there are FLIGHT Sims. This Sim is a gem, a real little jewel, that just happens to have big plans. Thanks to it's author, one man from Italy, all of us Simming and flying addicts can experience the simplest, purest type of flight available to mankind to date (short of Icarus and his wax wings).. hang gliding. The program is called Hang Sim and is the first simulation for Hang Gliders. A demo can be downloaded HERE. The demo version comes with 3 gliders (one powered) and one scenery set. More scenery can be downloaded separately.

At a time when programming teams supported by big development houses are the norm it is a bit of a shock to see what one obviously talented man can do. Over the course of only twelve months Mr Papini has put together a Sim with some of the most sophisticated graphics and flight characteristics I have seen. No doubt his background has something to do with it. Ilan is an aeronautical engineer with considerable experience in software development and he also flies what he "Sims". He has been flying hang gliders for real, for some years now. With that kind of background you might expect something pretty good, and you would not be disappointed.

If you have any plans or even just dream of doing some hang gliding some day, this would be the Sim for you. It is also at present, the one and only Hang Gliding Sim in existence. And judging by the quality of it, there will likely be very little incentive for anyone else to develop another. If you are thinking of taking those Hang gliding lessons, take a flight in this first, I think you'll be amazed at how much you'll learn and how really different it is from powered flight.

One note here, this is not the usual Combatsim.com fare, if you just have to shoot something, (I can relate :) you can't do it in Hang Sim, but you may be surprised how many other things there are to do.

The first thing you learn is that the control of a hang glider is almost opposite that of a fixed wing powered aircraft, to climb you must generate airflow over your wing surface (forward speed) so initially you must push forward on the joystick (or mouse) until you have enough forward air speed and at some point the speed will translate in to lift, and up you go. At first this can be quite confusing so it'll be good experience to learn this safely in front of your computer's monitor before you try it for real above the cold hard ground.

Next thing you learn is that to keep yourself aloft for any length of time you need the altitude that you can then trade for forward speed and then lift. The only way to do this in an unpowered aircraft is to find a thermal, or updraft rising columns of warm air, that you can use to gain that all important altitude that you need if you are going to glide any distance. The program includes tutorial and training flights, that will teach you how to take advantage of thermals and where to find them in some cases. You can edit flights through the interface or with a text editor, specifying wind speed, direction, visibility, clouds number of other gliders and more.

The program was designed by Ilan with an "open architecture" not unlike MS FS. File formats and custom scenery add ons and new aircraft are highly encouraged. Right now, to add a new glider all you do is enter the parameters in a text file and away you go.

Here is part of an interview I did with the author.

CSIM: The scenery is some of best I have seen, where did you get the data for this? How do you texture (color) it?

Ilan Papini: The scenery is based upon two sources , one a true color (multi spectral) satellite image, and the other is a DTM that I extracted from a topographic map.

CSIM: I understand a lot of it is based on satellite data, but how would you get that into the Sim

Ilan: To put it all together I used another software tool that I developed especially for this purpose. I can give details on how to create add-on sceneries to anyone interested, but the best thing for me is to cooperate with anyone who has a good satellite image and create the add-on myself.

CSIM: If I wanted to put my local scenery in, where would I get it and how would I put it in?

Ilan: Coming by a good satellite image is not easy or cheap and that is why I prefer to do it for others at present, this is so that it benefits all users of Hang Sim.

CSIM: You say somewhere that you have made the Sim accessible to add-ons, a very good idea IMHO by the way, what are the standard data types that you mention?

There are several types of data that are accessible to any one who wishes to change and create new ones:

1. Flights and challenges can be created very easily using a simple text editor .
2. Gliders can be modified very easily using a text editor.
3. New Gliders can be added but it will take some documentation on my part.
4. static objects can be added to existing sceneries and make them more fun to fly. Here also some documentation is needed on my part.
5. New sceneries can be added relatively easy , but I prefer cooperation on this matter because I would like to have some new satellite images.

Click to continue . . .

CSIM: How long did it take you to put this all together?

Ilan: The Sim itself took me about a year to make , slowly at first as I had to make small tests to see that I knew how to do it, but faster in the last 6 month.

CSIM: What are your plans for the Sim, e.g.. more scenery, more a/c? Which ones?

Ilan: The plans I have are:

1. More add-on sceneries , I would very much like to have famous places like Rio De Janeiro , the Alps and more , I am currently checking ways to purchase these images but they are very expensive and this purchase depends on the amount of people who buy Hang Sim.

2. I am working very hard to make version 2.0 , this version will combine several flight models - an ultra light , a glider and a light aircraft but I am not totally sure about that , it will also improve a lot of small things that people have suggested.

3. I want to add objects into one or more of the new add-ons , I am thinking of runways and buildings that will be as photorealistic as possible.

4. most important of all - as Hang Sim becomes more popular I intend to publish all the technical information about it's data structure , and to assist anyone who wishes to develop add-ons for it or make changes to existing data.

All these plans require a lot of work and resources, I truly wish to dedicate as mich time as possible to developing this product because I believe it fills a gap in flight simulator market. The rate of which these plans will be carried out and their extent depends on the quantity of people who register Hang Sim.

CSIM: Thank you very much Ilan, and very best of luck.

Tally Ho
Peter "FighterJock" Waddell

From the Promo material:

The main features in Hang Sim:

• · Highly realistic flight model built especially to simulate the Hang Glider flight characteristics and control.
• · Unique atmospheric model which simulates the flow of air over 3D terrain , specially tailored to meet the atmospheric effects encountered by Hang Gliders in real flight.
• · True to life thermals which makes soaring as real as possible, plus an option for visible thermals thus allowing to base soaring techniques upon precise visual inputs.
• · Photo realistic true to life 3D scenery based upon aerial photography and topographic data, making soaring a visual pleasure as well as a realistic experience.
• · Built using the latest technology in 3D graphic acceleration and Sound mixing through the use of DirectX5.
• · Built to exploit the new 3D graphic accelerators in order to deliver excellent graphic quality with maximal frame rate.
• · Advanced graphics including Day/Night lighting , Fog , texture blending , Z buffering and mipmapping.
• · Advanced yet easy to use virtual cockpit, allowing 360 degrees look around while maneuvering the glider.
• · A simulation that is truly built to expand using open formats for all files, thus making third party improvements as easy as possible.

Minimum Requirements:

• · Pentium 133
• · Windows 95
• · DirectX 5.0
• · 3D Graphic accelerator with 4MB.

Note:

Although the program may actually run without the use of 3D graphic accelerator with 4 MB is not recommended for use without one, as the most impressive performance and the most fun comes when playing the game using the proper hardware.