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Extraordinary X-Plane
By Bob "Groucho" MarksVariety Show
The variety of accurately modeled aircraft and flying conditions available in X-Plane is indeed mind-boggling. Sailplane aero tows are available, and can prove especially challenging on a windy day. The new multiplayer option in the latest build, v5.54, allows a buddy to fly the Aviat Husky tow plane while you pilot the sailplane! Seaplanes are modeled especially well, and with the ability to set sea conditions, can prove quite a hoot! Ever had the urge to fly a water bomber and dump retardant on a forest fire? Can-do in X-Plane. Operating a helo off of an oilrig? Yup. Just make sure you have rudder--er--anti-torque pedals!
To some, one planet is not enough. Apparently, Austin Meyers is one of those folks, so he’s set up a couple of runways on Mars. It takes some special aircraft (two are included) to fly there. The thin atmosphere and light gravity certainly make flying . . . different. While a perfect indication of what is possible with X-Plane, this isn’t my cup o' java. After all, I don’t know anybody who lives on Mars, though I suspect a few of my acquaintances may hail from there originally.
An F-105 forms up on other traffic.
Not for the Newbie, but Nirvana for The Knowledgeable
Since the very heart of X-Plane is the advanced physics, this is probably not the best sim for newbies. While features such as airframe and component failures may be switched off, the physics cannot. As such, there is no relaxed flight model available---the airplane will fly as a function of its design, period. Any attempt to fly the more exotic, hot aircraft will result in frustration.
There is a lot of user-created aircraft available, though nowhere near as many as, say, FS2K. This is to be expected, as designing an aircraft as is done in X-Plane is much more difficult and time-consuming than it is to put a pretty wrapping on a flight model, as in the Microsoft product. One frustration I’ve picked up on the boards from X-Plane designers is that with the succession of versions that X-Plane goes through, the rules of how the sim computes the aerodynamics can and do change. These core flight model changes can cause an airplane designed only a few short months ago to fly completely different on the newest build of X-Plane. This is the price paid for progress, I guess.
Most who may be enamored with the eye-candy of FS2K may not be as awed by the graphics in X-Plane. While the mesh terrain elevations seem to be very accurately modeled (at least in the areas I am familiar with), correct textures (woodland versus desert, etc) are often incorrect and detailed urban terrain is sparse at best. There are quite a few user-created textures that fix this, if such details are important to you. If there are no ready-made fixes available, the aforementioned World Maker included with X-Plane allows one talented enough to fix the discrepancy. While they are quite pretty to look at, the OpenGL accelerated graphics as used in X-Plane lack such niceties as transparencies. The panels of most aircraft are simply functional things---relatively few have been modeled inside with the same eye for aesthetics as the exteriors have been. The interface screens have a similar, function over form look to them . . . a trait that may turn off some simmers. It’s important to keep in mind that X-Plane is one of the few truly cross-platform sims as it also runs on Apple Power Macintosh G4's. This is one of the primary reasons for Austin keeping the 2D aspect very functional and simple. The OpenGL API used in X-Plane will also limit the types of video cards that work well. My GeForce2 64MB works great, though not without some aberrations. When firing up X-Plane, for example, my desktop goes into the ungodly 1920 X 1440 resolution. A quick trip into Display Properties allows me to bring the resolution down to less eye-squinting dimensions—an annoyance, but one that is easily dealt with.
All video wierdness aside, X-Plane has some of the most spectacular cloud, smoke, and haze effects on the market. These vision-obscuring graphics, when coupled with the incredible night-lighting effects, make the sight of a an airport ahead as you break through "the soup" an almost religious experience.
A good friend of mine, a commercial instructor pilot, and recent X-Plane convert (“Bye-bye FS2K,” he told me), recently pulled his ancient Voodoo Banshee card and replaced it with an inexpensive GeForce MX card to eliminate the OpenGL-induced difficulties he was having. He was looking for a sim that offered good instrument practice while still offering pretty views. That hardware changeover, and the newest build of X-Plane, put him into sim heaven.
Feature Feast
As well he should be. X-Plane offers the simulator gourmand a feast of features that is unparalleled in the PC (or Macintosh, for that matter) simulator world. It was built almost single handedly by a sim fiend, for sim fiends---not by a division of a toy company---and the attention to detail shows. With it now priced at $39.95 US and available in many of the same retail outlets as less capable yet more established sims, there is no reason not to try out X-Plane. If you have any inclination at all towards flight sims that feature Mother Nature and Newtonian physics as your primary AI opponents, you can face no greater or more realistic challenge than X-Plane.
X-Plane ver. 5.54
Reviewer's system:
- CPU: Athlon TBird 1GHz
- RAM: 384MB VC133 SDRAM
- Video: Hercules GeForce2 64MB (Detonator3 v6.31 drivers, 4X FSAA)
- Harddrive: IBM DeskStar 60GB ATA100 7200RPM HD
- O/S: WindowsMe
- Controllers:
- CH Products Flight Sim Yoke USB
- CH Products F-16 CombatStick USB
- CH Products USB ProPedals
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