OverviewFlight Simulator X marks the tenth version of the popular line of flight simulators. It was officially released to the US market on October 17, 2006. According to Microsoft's Web site for the game, a standard edition features everything from navaids to GPS and airways. It also includes 18 planes, 28 detailed cities, and over 24,000 airports with a deluxe version featuring 24 aircraft, and 38 cities.
Flight Simulator X was officially unveiled at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) as a gaming showcase for Microsoft Windows Vista and is now also compatible with Windows 7. Microsoft released screenshots as well as a list of frequently asked questions as a press release on Microsoft Flight Simulator Insider, and numerous flight simulator communities. This also included mission-based gameplay with mission specific aircraft as well as an upgraded rendering engine capable of increased detail. Following the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in May 2006, Microsoft published new screenshots, videos and an official trailer. The overall reaction by the community was quite positive, and the graphical quality of the simulator has greatly increased.
Sucsessor On 22 January 2009, it was reported that development team behind the product was being heavily affected by Microsoft's ongoing job cuts, with indications that the entire Flight Simulator team would be laid off. The news was later confirmed by Microsoft officials stating they were committed to the Flight Simulator franchise, with expectations to continue product releases in the series, but had nothing specific to announce at that time. On 17 August 2010, Microsoft announced Microsoft Flight, a new simulation game that boasts a further improved graphics engine, and enhanced simulation features.
Features Standard vs. Deluxe EditionFlight Simulator X was released in three editions: Standard, Deluxe, and later Gold. The Deluxe Edition incorporates additional features, including an on-disc software development kit (SDK), three airplanes with the Garmin G1000 Flightdeck, and the ability for the player to act as Air Traffic Control (ATC) for other online users with a radar screen.
The Deluxe Edition features 24 aircraft compared to 18 in the Standard Edition; 45 high-detail airports compared to 40; 38 high-detail cities compared to 28; and 51 structured missions compared to more than 30.
Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Gold Edition combines the Deluxe Edition and the Acceleration expansion pack into one.
New FeaturesThe new features in Flight Simulator X include:
Improved graphics including enhanced texture resolution, new Earth model facilitating polar flights, true road data, region-specific textures, minimal 3D animals, star constellations, etc. Also, the scenery textures now line up with the automatically generated (Autogen) buildings. Maximum rendering-engine-supported scenery resolution of 7 cm/pixel (not available with default scenery).
Airports now have jetways that move to the aircraft by the key combination Ctrl + J.
(happens for AI aircraft automatically) Airport vehicles also drive around the airport to the player's aircraft and AI aircraft.
(Baggage cars, pushtrucks, fuel trucks, etc.)
The built-in GPS support has been upgraded to include Garmin G1000 integrated glass roosterpit, (select aircraft in the Deluxe version only).
Improved ATC featuring certain non-FAA procedures where appropriate (for example, altimeter/QNH scale in metric units) and numerous minor updates such as an improved progressive-taxi feature.
Improved and new default aircraft including, for example, an Airbus A321. Default aircraft systems modeling is rather extensively improved, featuring, for example, APU, fire protection, passenger advisory sign switches etc.
Improved weather system, including better visibility modeling.
Revamped multiplayer functionality featuring Shared Skies, a feature allowing multiple users to share the same roosterpit.
Tower Controller, a feature in the Deluxe version allowing users to simulate local control at many airports worldwide during multiplayer gaming.
Revamped sound system with support for 5.1 surround sound.
In Flight Simulator X, the developers have decided to liven the game play, and along with Free Flight mode, introduced more than 50 different missions.
Proprietary SimConnectAPI to allow FSUIPC-like access to Flight Simulator functions and variables.
Mission engine allowing creation of dynamic missions with developer control of many simulation variables, sound file playback, AI aircraft traffic etc. in relation to what the user is doing — essentially an evolution over the APL and ABL adventure programming languages featured in previous versions of the software. Dozens of missions ship with the product.
Most of the vintage aircraft that were a key theme in the previous version have been dropped, with the exception of the DC-3 and Piper J-3. Both aircraft are featured in the default missions that ship with the product.
The maximum altitude in the game has been increased to 100,000,000 ft. Therefore, FSX maximum altitude is approximately 2.39 times the diameter of the Earth at the equator.
Camera shake in the virtual roosterpit as the aircraft banks, accelerates, brakes, flies through turbulence etc.
Realistic flexible wings in some commercial airplanes: the wings flex while going through turbulence, increasing rate of ascent or descending, undergoing major plane movements, flaps being fully extended, general vibrations to the plane, etc. An example of an aircraft with this wing movement is the Boeing 747-400.
New water effect which has 3D waves with curled up object refraction according to the wave movements and with sunshine reflection.
Ability to easily take a screenshot while in the game. Pressing the "V" key takes a picture of the game and saves it as a .bmp image in the "My Pictures" folder.
Aircraft can cast shadows on themselves.
Aircraft interiors and exteriors use different files. This allows an advanced user to take one exterior model of an Airbus A320 and merge it with an interior made by someone else.
Red Bull Air Race World Championship racing in the acceleration pack only.
AircraftAirbus A321
Air Creation 582-SL Trike Ultralight
AgustaWestland AW101
Beechcraft Baron 58
Beechcraft Baron 58 G1000
Beechcraft King Air 350
Bell 206B JetRanger
Boeing 737-800
Boeing 747-400
Boeing F/A-18 Hornet
Bombardier CRJ-700 Yes
Bombardier Learjet LJ-45
Cessna 208-B Grand Caravan
Cessna 172S SkyhawkSP Yes
Cessna 172S Skyhawk SP G1000
de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver floatplane
De Havilland Canada DHC-8
DG-808-S Competition Sailplane
Douglas DC-3
Extra EA-300-S Yes
Grumman G-21-A Goose
McDonnell Douglas MD-83
Maule Orion M-7-260-C Super Rocket on skis AI only
Maule Orion M-7-260-C Super Rocket
Mooney M-20-M Bravo
Mooney M-20-M Bravo G1000
North American P-51D Racer
Piper PA-28 Cherokee 180
Piper J-3C-65 Cub
Robinson R-22 Beta II
Please note some of these are AI or come with the Acceleration expansion pack or come with the Gold Edition Demo VersionsFlight Simulator X is notable for being the first product in Microsoft's Flight Simulator series to have a game demo, which contains a subset of features of the retail product (including a limitation to the duration of a flight) and requires Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista for installation.
The first limited demo of Flight Simulator X was released to the public on August 9, 2006, and put up for download on the website. Even though playable, the August demo represented a beta release of the product, and had a number of bugs, some of which were recognized in the official installation's README file. On October 2, 2006, the demo was superseded by a newer release, which, while having fewer bugs[citation needed], is almost identical to the first demo. The DHC-2 Beaver was removed in favor of a Learjet 45. Both the demos feature St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles and the surrounding area only, as opposed to the entire world. The main airport featured is Princess Juliana International Airport.
Current Demo Aircraft:
Beechcraft Baron 58
Bombardier Learjet 45
Bombardier CRJ700
Air Creation trike Ultralight
Robinson R22
FSX AccelerationMicrosoft released their first expansion pack for Flight Simulator in years, called Flight Simulator X: Acceleration, to the US market on October 23, 2007 rated E - E10+ for mild violence, and released to the Australian market on November 1, 2007 rated G. Acceleration introduces new features, including multiplayer air racing, new missions, and three all-new aircraft, the F/A-18A Hornet, EH-101 helicopter and the P-51D Mustang. In many product reviews, users complained of multiple bugs in the initial release of the pack. One of the bugs, that occurs only in the Standard Edition, is the Maule Air Orion aircraft used in the mission has missing gauges and other problems, as it is a Deluxe Version-only aircraft.
The new scenery enhancements cover Berlin, Istanbul, Cape Canaveral and the Edwards Air Force Base, providing high accuracy both in the underlying photo texture (60 cm/pix) and in the detail given to the 3D objects.
Flight Simulator X: Acceleration can take advantage of Windows Vista, Windows 7, and DirectX 10 as well.
The expansion pack includes code from both service packs, thus installing them is unnecessary.
Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fej9EWWLSswhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NntjDsONtF0&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yRaEmfPQsY&feature=related
