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FlightGear Changelog

What's new in FlightGear 2020.3.9

Jun 14, 2021
  • Bug-fix release

New in FlightGear 2020.3 (Nov 6, 2020)

  • Launcher:
  • Addition of a welcome screen on first launch, providing helpful information to first time users.
  • Aircraft can now be marked as Favourites, and filtered, making it easier to see find your favourite aircraft out of the hundreds available.
  • The launcher now supports aircraft carriers, including selecting a carrier and setting a start position.
  • Ctrl-F shortcut for when you just want to Fly!
  • Improved support for helipads and seaports, including detection of current aircraft type.
  • Numerous bugfixes and stability improvements, in particular for the aircraft and addons tabs.
  • Graphics:
  • To provide a developer preview, the Compositor renderer is included as part of this release. It provides a fully XML-configurable multi-pass rendering pipeline that is compatible with ALS and includes clustered shading.
  • Support for DDS Texture Cache, improving loading times for texture files.
  • Star visibility is configurable based on magnitude of star and atmospheric conditions.
  • Use of non-directional point sprites as a fallback for drivers that do not support triangles of point sprites is now supported by setting /rendering/triangle-directional-lights=false.
  • A new Tower AGL view has been added. This is similar to Tower View, except that it keeps both the aircraft and the ground immediately below the aircraft in view, zooming and panning smoothly as the aircraft moves. Good for viewing landings.
  • Improved airport grass textures
  • Implemented tidal movement for littoral areas.
  • Updated regional material definitions for California, Asia, Northern Brazil, Iceland, Jan Mayen island.
  • Active volcanoes - Katla, Eyjafjallajokull, Surtsey.
  • Instanced-based random and OpenStreetMap buildings, improving performance and graphical quality significantly.
  • Improvements to the Wingflex Shader.
  • Users may enable/disable the pilot model from the View Options dialog.
  • JSBSim:
  • Added the ability to set up the starter and acceleration times of a turbine (parameters , , , ).
  • The filter can now be reset to 0.0 by setting its property to a negative value.
  • The integration scheme of the filter can now be chosen among rect (Euler), trap (Trapezoidal), ab2 (2nd order Adams-BashForth) and ab3 (3rd order Adams-Bashforth)
  • The following functions can now be used in : floor, ceil and fmod. Their functionalities are the same than the corresponding C/C++ functions.
  • now checks the number of its arguments.
  • New system component linear_actuator
  • Export the fuel density to the property tree
  • Added cyclic clipping for FCS components
  • Added the ability to control the turbine engines spin down factor
  • [Backward compatibility breakage] Gyros are now measuring rotation rates instead of rotational accelerations. Gyros that measure rotational accelerations do not exist in the real world.
  • Output properties of flight control elements are no longer tied. This saves a lot of spurious warning messages and allows direct references of the same properties among several flight controls.
  • Water vapor in the atmosphere is now managed through its mass fraction rather than its partial pressure. The former being the physical quantity that is conserved when pressure and temperature vary.
  • Check that there are at least 3 contacts before trying to trim on ground.
  • Added optional transmission of the simulation time for FG UDP interface
  • The existence of the property that is used for table independent vars is now checked during execution rather than when the XML definition is parsed. This relaxes the order in which filters, table and more generally flight controls need to be declared in the XML definition files.
  • Electric engines RPM is now exported in UDP sockets.
  • The parameter now affects N2 rather than N1.
  • A warning is now given when max < min in a rather than throwing an exception
  • Added the ability to log properties in a CSV file with the new fgfs executable argument --jsbsim-output-directive-file
  • YASim:
  • Ground friction (stiction) changes
  • Support for transonic flow effects.
  • Control initial gear state directly by setting /fdm/yasim/respect-external-gear-state=true, rather then YASim settings this depending on whether the aircraft is in the air or on the ground.
  • Electric engines are now supported.
  • Weather and Environment:
  • Increased turbulence will be encountered near active volcanoes.
  • Configurable METAR URL.
  • METAR strings are decoded and displayed in a human-readable form in the weather dialog.
  • Carriers:
  • Two new carrier-specific starting options are supported in the launcher: carrier-takeoff and carrier-approach.
  • A new --carrier-position command-line argument has been added. This can be used to select the aircraft start position on an aircraft carrier. Either a catapult (e.g. cat-1), a parking position (e.g. park-1), on final approach on the FLOLS (flols) or abeam the carrier (abeam).
  • MPCarrier can now be detected by the GUI even if not available on startup. To enable this feature set /sim/mp-carriers/auto-attach=true.
  • AI:
  • New fgcommands add-aiobject and remove-aiobject for adding/removing objects to the AI subsystem.
  • New AI aircraft, including 747 Freighter, CRJ900, SR-71, Saab 340.
  • Numerous updates to AI traffic schedules and airline liveries.
  • Space Shuttle TAEM and approach at KEDW scenario.
  • Accurate Britten-Norman Islander performance data, from an Islander pilot.
  • Multiplayer:
  • Connection to VATSIM via swift is now available via the GUI.
  • FGCom now supports both COM1 and COM2, as well as volume settings.
  • The views defined by the user's aircraft (Pilot view, Helicopter view, Tower view etc) can now be used with multiplayer aircraft. Viewing a particular multiplayer aircraft is done by clicking in the Pilot List dialogue's "view' column (see the "Multiplayer/Pilot List" menu).
  • --disable-hold-short option which allows the user to force a start on the runway when multiplayer is enabled. This option should be used with caution - it can give other pilots and ATC a nasty fright to find an aircraft materialize on the runway!
  • Support for recording multiplayer data
  • Nasal Scripting:
  • Configurable load order for core Nasal modules.
  • Improvements and bug fixes to Emesary, the messaging interface.
  • Improvements to the core libraries.
  • Garbage collection improvements to reduce frame stuttering
  • Re-loadable nasal modules
  • Canvas EFIS framework
  • New methods in Canvas Image to set colors of pixels in the image.
  • Aircraft:
  • FG1000 Glass Panel improvements include user-configurable VFR transponder codes, volume controls, new fascia, UI is now resizeable, support for custom SVG files (e.g. for a G500). The FG1000 is now available on the Cessna 182T, J3 Cub, Diamond DA40.
  • Improved glider vario instrument.
  • New Aircraft:
  • Airbus A320 - airliner
  • Alisport Silent2Electro - glider with electric sustainer motor
  • Bombardier Q400 DHC8-402 - shorthaul turboprop airliner
  • Breguet Atlantic BR 1150 - long-range maritime patrol aircraft
  • Cessna 140 - GA aircraft
  • Cessna 208B Caravan - short range passenger, freighter and utility aircraft
  • Cirrus SR22T - GA aircraft
  • Diamond DA40 NG - GA aircraft, including FG1000 glass panel cockpit
  • Diamond DA62 Twinstar- Twin engine GA aircraft
  • Diamond HK36 Super Dimona - motorglider
  • Dornier DO 28 Skyservant - Twin engine STOL utility aircraft
  • Douglas TBD Devastator - WWII Torpedo bomber
  • Draco Wilga - turboprop taildragger bush plane
  • Fokker T.V - twin engine bomber
  • Glasfluegel H201B Standard Libelle - glider
  • Grumman F11-Tiger - carrier-based fighter
  • Grumman HU-16A Albatross - twin engine amphibian
  • Petliakov PE-8 (Ant-42/TB-7) - WWII bomber
  • Piper PA28-161 Warrior II - GA aircraft
  • Pipistrel Alpha Electro - electric training aircraft
  • Pipistrel Taurus Electro G2.5 - glider with electric sustainer motor
  • Rolladen Schneider LS8sc neo - standard glider with electric sustainer motor
  • Robin DR400 Ecoflyer - GA Aircraft
  • Scheibe Bergfalke II/55 - training glider
  • Schempp-Hirth Arcus S - high performance glider
  • Schleicher Ka6(CR) "Rhoensegler" - training glider
  • SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1 - jet attack aircraft
  • SUMPAC - Human powered airplane
  • Supermarine Swift - jet fighter
  • Yak 52 - training aircraft
  • Major updates to over 70 aircraft. Including 737-100, 737-300, 777, A-26-Invader, AR-234, ASG29, ASK13, ASK21, Aero-Commander, Aichi-D3A, B-17, B-24-Liberator, B-25, Bombardier-415, CH750STOL, CRJ700-family, Cessna-208-Caravan, Cessna Citation II, Cessna-L19, Cirrus-SR22, Concorde, DO-228, DO-335, Diamond-Da40, Diamond-Da42, Dragonfly, Embraer-ERJ-145, F-15, Fairchild-Metroliner, Falcon-50, Fokker-S-11, Fw200, H4-Hercules, Harrier-GR3, Horten-Ho-IX, Hughes-XF11, J3Cub, JA37, JAS39-Gripen, Jaguar, LS4, Lancair-235, Lionceau, Lockheed-NF104A, Lockheed-P38, ME-262, Mirage-2000, MirageIV, Northrop-xb35, PC-12, Piaggio-P166, Piper-PA-28, Potez-630, R44, Ryan-Navion, SIAI-Marchetti-SF.260, Socata-ST10, SpaceShuttle, Starship, Tecnam-P2006T, UH-1, Yak-18T, Zlin-50lx, an24b, bluebird, c182s, dhc1, f-14b, f16.
  • Miscellaneous:
  • Updated Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Polish and Slovak translations.
  • Map dialog displays heliports and allows configurable cursor key panning
  • Faster Terrasync: Download a tarball of airport information on first start and only check for updates every 24 hours rather than every simulator run.
  • GPS fly-by mode
  • Sentry.io integration to provide centralized crash reporting.
  • Change screenshot filename to have date and time
  • New thread safe particle manager -- should reduce random crashes around particles.

New in FlightGear 2019.1.1 (Sep 30, 2019)

  • Weather:
  • METAR interpretation: Change CAVOK visibility to 9999.0 metres
  • Fix for getting live weather
  • JSBSim:
  • Added the ability to set up the starter and acceleration times of a turbine (parameters , , , ).
  • The filter can now be reset to 0.0 by setting its property to a negative value.
  • The integration scheme of the filter can now be chosen among "rect" (Euler), "trap" (Trapezoidal), "ab2" 2nd order Adams-BashForth and "ab3" 3rd order Adams-Bashforth
  • The following functions can now be used in : floor, ceil and fmod. Their functionalities are the same than the corresponding C/C++ functions.
  • now checks the number of its arguments.
  • New system component linear_actuator
  • Bug fix of Euler angles computations in FGMatrix33
  • Export the fuel density to the property tree
  • Added cyclic clipping for FCS components
  • Fixed a regression which prevented the wheels rotation speed to slow down while the gears were retracted
  • Added the ability to control the turbine engines spin down factor
  • Yasim:
  • Yasim ground friction (stiction) changes
  • 3D:
  • Support for DDS Texture Cache
  • LOD: The scenery ranges for bare and rough are now deltas, to avoid overlapping values by user error.
  • Make star cutoff controllable at runtime
  • Compositor: New experimental rendering framework
  • AI:
  • fgcommands "add-aiobject" and "remove-aiobject" for adding/removing objects to the AI subsystem.
  • Aircraft:
  • The Boeing 777 received some updates:
  • You can save the amount of fuel between sessions (other useful functions will follow),
  • The radio stacks are now 8.33 kHz capable and you can store the frequencies between sessions,
  • The Fuel, Payload and Ground services dialogs and systems have received a lot of attention,
  • The 777 has now a realistic Fly By Wire (FBW) system,
  • Dynamic friction has been reduced, making braking action weaker and thus more realistic. Be aware that you might need a high autobrake setting on short runways (< 2000m), especially when heavy loaded or at altitude!
  • The new YASim static friction has been added.
  • Please request any new features on the official 777 topic on the forums, both Octal450 and Isaak are spending quite a lot of time on improving the 777, we are open to feature requests :)
  • Misc:
  • Change screenshot filename to have date time
  • Map dialog draws heliports now

New in FlightGear 2018.3 (Dec 18, 2018)

  • Usability:
  • Flightplan loading within the launcher.
  • Chinese, Russian and Italian translations for the launcher and UI
  • Improved support for the state of the aircraft depending on starting location - cold and dark on the ramp, engine running ready for take-off on the runway, or in cruise flight.
  • Input:
  • Improved joystick configuration and binding options.
  • AI / Multiplayer:
  • Multiple Levels of Detail (LoD) for MP and AI aircraft. To improve performance, low-detail models are used when the viewer is far from the MP aircraft.
  • Fallback models to display in the case where a viewer does not have the MP aircraft installed.
  • Many improvements to AI models including new liveries, timetabled movements
  • Graphics:
  • Support for retrieving Canvas images over HTTP. This is a useful feature for displaying instruments like a PFD, ND, EICAS or any MFD externally from the FlightGear 3D main window in a separate window or on a separate monitor, computer or a mobile device. See Read_canvas_image_by_HTTP for more information.
  • Improved cloud rendering with stronger Mie scattering on cloud fringes, improved scattering on cirrus clouds
  • Reset: wipe the Effect UniformCache
  • Scenery:
  • Improved scenery for Hawaii, the default location for this release.
  • New scenery for Jan Mayen, situated northeast of Iceland. Including the active volcano of Beerenberg (2277m).
  • JSBSim:
  • The feature fail_hardover of the component was not giving the correct output in some occurences when clipmax was smaller in absolute value than clipmin.
  • Tables CORNERING_COEFF could not be used for BOGEY contact points.
  • Bug fixes for JSBSim atmosphere model at very high altitudes
  • Fixed PID integration with the 3rd order Adams-Bashforth was inccorect.
  • The fail_stuck property of sensors (accelerometers, magnetometers, gyro, etc.) without a element was setting the output to zero instead of sticking to the last output value.
  • When a sensor was stuck, the drift, gain, bias and quantization of the last output before being stuck were ignored.
  • Fixed the Calibrated Air Speed (CAS) computations for supersonic velocities
  • Fixed the Nlf (Normal load factor) sign
  • Nlf can now be specified as an initial condition via the property ic/targetNlf
  • Added blocking sockets to the input features
  • Added a property to piston engines to get the AFR (Air to Fuel Ratio)
  • Added conversion from m/s to ft/s
  • Restored the initial conditions for engines running (-1 means all engines)
  • Significant Aircraft Updates:
  • "Metadata" has been added to many aircraft, making it easier to find new exciting aircraft to fly using the launcher, whether you are interested in aircraft from the 1920s or twin engined business jets.
  • B-25 : Various bug fixes and minor improvements
  • Cessna 172 : Improved cockpit, interior lighting.
  • Citation II : New panels, radio instruments. Complete remodeling of the electric system, with accurate bus voltage, circuit breakers. System test knob implemented.
  • F4U : new FDM
  • F-14 : V1.8. Improved flight model, particularly in a low-speed regime. Improved cockpit.
  • F-15 : V1.8. Updated flight model, particularly armament mass location. Performance optimizations. Autopilot improvements.
  • F-16 : v3.0. Store options. New liveries. Radar performance optimizations. Autopilot and system improvements. FDM fixes.
  • Saab 37 Viggen : Version 4.313. Various updates, particularly to radar and armament models.
  • Seneca II: Long range tanks, interior lighting,
  • SpaceShuttle : Milestone-10. Improved interior (including furry velcro), launch guidance and orbital plane targeting, more realistic OMS burn procedures, expanded systems including circuit breaker simulation and failure modeling.
  • 777: Our flagship airliner now fully supports checklists, allowing you to learn everything about the aircraft from within the simulator. Full support to auto-push was also implemented. Bug fixes and minor improvements.
  • Other:
  • FG1000 glass panel display, inspired by moving map devices like the the Garmin G1000
  • Improved Replay handling of AI aircraft and carriers - judge your own carrier landings.
  • KC-130 tanker aircraft for air-to-air refueling
  • Flightplan GPX import now supports elevation values.
  • TACAN: Add support for setting TACAN by frequency

New in FlightGear 2017.3.1 (Nov 6, 2017)

  • Aircraft:
  • detailed Carrier USS Harry Truman and escort group, with many animated elements, using experimental wave motion
  • Property tree:
  • C++ versions of props.nas setValues/setChildren() Improve performance of Nasal properties access by implementing the setValues/setChildren props.nas functions in C++ [1]
  • Nasal:
  • Multiple flightplans fixed and is now possible to be controlled from Nasal. See Nasal_Flightplan.
  • Startup:
  • Starting on carriers fixed
  • Simple API to add addons to FlightGear without the need to mess around with FGData/Nasal or FGHome/Nasal directories.
  • Performance:
  • Enabling of display lists for random vegetation provides a massive performance boost for random vegetation.
  • Usability:
  • More than 1000 screenshots now allowed
  • Scenery:
  • new Mediterranean tree textures, new desert shrub textures
  • JSBSim:
  • Support for AI wake turbulence added. (a small code snippet needs to be added to the plane)
  • ALS:
  • Volumetric grass effect utilizing a geometry shader, based on work by Fernando Garcia Linan
  • Helicopter rotor wash effect for volumetric grass and water shaders
  • consistent snow implementation for OSM roads and buildings
  • directionally visible car lights for the OSM traffic shader
  • realistic daytime-dependence of road traffic

New in FlightGear 2017.2.1 (Nov 6, 2017)

  • Aircraft Modeling:
  • Added support to allow a geometry object (a line segment with two vertices) that is used to define both the centre and the axis for an animation. This will work with rotate, translate and the knob animations.
  • YASim:
  • The YASim code is under heavy development and will continue to get improvements in the future.
  • Multiplayer:
  • Optional new protocol that improves efficiency (35% reduction in bandwidth). Older clients (pre 2017.1) will only see basic aircraft motion when new protocol selected.
  • New debugging options; local loopback, transmitted packet size, packet dump.
  • Extra generic properties; float[20..39], short[0..79], bool[0..90].
  • Connect dialog will use configured ports rather than always using 5000,5000.
  • Atmospheric Light Scattering:
  • G-force effect with greyout and tunnel vision.
  • HUD effect simulating more realistically the appearance of light projected onto glass.
  • Improved Aurora shader.
  • Environment Rendering:
  • Added a normalmap to the Earthview clouds and landscape.
  • Added a lightmap to Earthview at night, including thunderstorm visuals.
  • Earthview atmosphere Rayleigh scattering added.
  • Misc/Uncategorized:
  • A new, modern splash screen together with start-up tips.
  • The launcher's design is reworked.
  • Usability:
  • Improved aircraft discovery: Search tags and large screenshots in the launcher.
  • Boston is the default airport for this release.
  • Scenery:
  • Enhancements for the integration of osm2city generated sceneries:
  • Textures and effects are now part of FGData and therefore do not need to be distributed separately.
  • Traffic shader visualising cars on streets based on street type, time of day etc.
  • Shader for lit streets.
  • Custom sceneries can add and correct fixes and navaids.
  • This is the logical extension to what was already possible for airports using the NavData/apt folder inside a scenery folder.
  • FlightGear now looks for *.dat and *.dat.gz files in NavData/fix and NavData/nav in addition to NavData/apt (optional subfolders of each scenery folder).
  • See this message for details.
  • Canvas System:
  • Additional APIs to update text elements more performance-friendly.
  • Stuart Buchanan has just added some new Nasal Canvas MapLayers to support Slippy Maps, as used by most web-based mapping services such as openstreetmap. This allows us to display sectional charts (for the US - vfrmap.com), and airspace information (courtesy of openaip.org), as well as a openstreetmap data. The canvas Map dialog has been updated to support these layers. Map data is retrieved over http and cached locally.[1]
  • Nasal Scripting:
  • get_cart_ground_intersection() and aircraftToCart() added.
  • Highlighted new and improved aircraft:
  • Space Shuttle milestone 8 with complete 3d cockpit.
  • Saab Draken
  • Mirage 2000
  • Saab Viggen
  • Ercoupe with completely re-worked 3d model and effects.
  • Lockheed Constellation with new dual-control protocol for a pilot and a flight engineer.
  • Improvements to many AI aircraft.
  • Other:
  • Parameter --log-file renamed to --log-dir (FlightGear commit dab685).

New in FlightGear 2017.1.3 (Nov 6, 2017)

  • A bug in handling log messages was fixed.
  • Route Manager crash was fixed.
  • Correct runway selection depending on weather provided with --metar has been added.
  • Fixes to launcher issues.
  • Fixed a weather bug.
  • Fixed a bug with handling of integer factors in the generic protocol.
  • Option --log-file was renamed to --log-dir
  • Restore display of live metar data in the weather dialog.

New in FlightGear 2017.1.2 (Apr 1, 2017)

  • --console now works in the launcher.

New in FlightGear 2017.1 (Apr 1, 2017)

  • Core:
  • Support for additional layers of scenery, initially for use by OpenStreetMap buildings.
  • preferences.xml has been renamed to defaults.xml (FGData commit 0565ea).
  • Aircraft Modeling:
  • More realistic blackout/redout system based on studies for military training simulations (FGData commit 52e559)
  • Improved AI models for a number of aircraft, and AI schedules for an increasing number of airlines
  • Atmospheric Light Scattering:
  • New shaders for drag chute animation, allowing to render flexing and deformation under stress
  • New "grain merge" and Fresnel option for environment reflections on the aircraft fuselage
  • Environment Rendering:
  • For rendering views from orbit, Earthview 2.0 is now available, with support for normal maps, better upper atmosphere edge, cloud relief shader, improved dawn zone, horizon estimation and improved resource management.
  • Performance:
  • Canvas performance has been improved.
  • Support for SIMD operations added, improving performance on some architectures
  • AI performance has been improved
  • Usability:
  • Bergen Airport, Flesland (ENBR) in Norway is the default airport for this release.
  • Tutorial instructions are now played through the built-in voice synthesis system, making them easier to follow.
  • Scenery:
  • Accurate buildings generated through OpenStreetMap are now available via TerraSync. Buildings for the UK, Switzerland and large parts of Scandinavia are available already, with more to be generated in the future.
  • Improved scenery and terrain for the Azores
  • Canvas System:
  • Canvas performance has been improved.
  • Remote canvas is now available
  • Highlighted new and improved aircraft:
  • Piper J-3 Cub
  • Saab 37 Viggen
  • Schleicher ASK 21
  • General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon
  • Bug fixes:
  • Various bug fixes that cause crashes in multiplayer.

New in FlightGear 2016.4.2 (Nov 27, 2016)

  • Fixed crash on Mac OS X during startup
  • Fixed issues with multiplayer port and the launcher storing variant
  • Fixed wrong default airport when first starting FlightGear

New in FlightGear 2016.4.1 (Nov 21, 2016)

  • Contains many exciting new features, enhancements and bugfixes. Highlights in this release include C++11 Support, support for airport data files within scenery folders, a highly-detailed Space Shuttle model and much more.
  • Core:
  • FlightGear is migrating to C++11. Those of you who compile FlightGear yourself might find nasty compilation errors. In any case, ask on our mailing list!
  • Aircraft Modeling
  • JSBSim
  • Atmospheric Light Scattering:
  • Moonlight and moon positioning code under ALS has been improved.[1]
  • Environment Rendering
  • Performance
  • Misc/Uncategorized:
  • FGRun has been removed from the Windows release (commit).
  • ATC Chatter has been re-introduced.[2]. See here for instructions.
  • Usability
  • Internationalization
  • Scenery:
  • New STG verbs added[3]
  • Support for apt.dat files inside scenery folders.[4] See here.
  • Canvas System
  • Nasal Scripting:
  • --allow-nasal-read option added
  • Documentation
  • Highlighted new and improved aircraft:
  • Milestone 7 of the Space Shuttle has been released, with more impressive detail than ever before. Download it from FGAddon. Read more in the Newsletter.
  • Other:
  • Support for GoFlight EFIS and TQ6 added
  • Bug fixes:
  • See our bugtracker for a list, albeit incomplete, of the bugs fixed in this release.

New in FlightGear 2016.3.1 (Sep 13, 2016)

  • Core:
  • new XML Sound expression support
  • Enable the Qt gui inside the sim
  • Nasal Scripting:
  • Emesary MPI framwork and multiplayer bridge have been added
  • Highlighted new and improved aircraft:
  • Cessna 150

New in FlightGear 2016.2.1 (May 23, 2016)

  • Major enhancements in this release:
  • Core:
  • Video configuration can now be saved.
  • The TerraSync server has been switched to a HTTP-based system instead of SVN.
  • All scenery models have been cleaned up and moved to TerraSync.
  • ATIS and METAR:
  • Various improvements in the reporting of wind, atmospheric pressure, and sky cover
  • Custom ATIS formats for the US/Canada/Pacific region and the UK based on real recordings
  • Bug fixes and data updates to reduce occurrence of NIL weather
  • Atmospheric Light Scattering:
  • Filters have been added, enabling infrared and night-vision views.
  • ALS procedural lights have been added.
  • An ALS-based system for displaying birds has been added.
  • Environment Rendering:
  • A bug that prevented precipitation from appearing has been fixed.
  • Multiplayer:
  • A bug in the multiplayer protocol has been fixed.
  • Usability:
  • Route Manager now allows entry of a space-separated list of waypoints.
  • Internationalization:
  • The Italian translation for menus, loading messages and help for command line switches has been updated.
  • Scenery:
  • Further improvements to regional textures.
  • New buildings for Heathrow Airport and Barcelona–El Prat Airport
  • Nasal Scripting:
  • A bug in math.clamp() has been fixed.
  • Documentation:
  • A Chinese translation of the Manual has been added.
  • Highlighted new and improved aircraft:
  • Parachutist
  • Piper J3 Cub
  • Boeing 757
  • Extra EA-500
  • Saab JA-37 Viggen
  • Cessna 182S Skylane
  • Space Shuttle
  • Boeing 757
  • Beagle Pup
  • Icaro Laminar 13 MRX
  • Other:
  • FGPromo: A FlightGear Promotional Video
  • After more than 5 months of hard work, FGPromo, a video showing off FlightGear at its finest, has been released!
  • Bug fixes:
  • See the bugtracker for a list, albeit incomplete, of the bugs fixed in this release.

New in FlightGear 2016.1.1 (Feb 21, 2016)

  • This new version contains many exciting new features, enhancements and bug fixes. Highlights in this release include an integrated launcher that includes the ability to download aircraft, a reduction in the installation package size, performance improvements and many rendering improvements.
  • MAJOR ENHANCEMENTS:
  • Core:
  • Interactive traffic system re-enabled, having been disabled by mistake some releases previously.
  • Various security improvements, including the disabling of system.fgfsrc.
  • Reduction in the memory footprint due to scenery.
  • Improved performance when displaying large numbers of scenery objects.
  • Aircraft Modeling:
  • Tooltips can now be positioned at a specific place on-screen.
  • Wing flex module added, controllable via Nasal or Property rules.
  • Bug-fixes and improvements to the Failure Manager.
  • tag in the aircraft-set.xml file has been added (see FlightGear Newsletter March 2015).
  • Automatic checklist execution, which can, for example, be used for autostart.
  • 8.33 kHz spacing is now supported on comms radios.
  • JSBSim:
  • Sync with the latest version of JSBSim.
  • The pitot angle can now be tweaked with the tag in the block.
  • The refuel rate is now configurable with the tag in the block.
  • Rendering:
  • Improved vegetation including 3D grass and shadows for trees
  • New thruster effect (can be used for afterburners flames, rockets, etc.).
  • Lightning strikes illuminating the surrounding clouds during thunderstorms
  • Rainbows
  • Improved airport rendering, including runway skid marks and better effects for the runways and surrounding grass.
  • Optical phenomena in icy hazes:halos, sundogs, parhelic ring and light pillar.
  • Aurora Borealis at night
  • More realistic rendering of generic lights (runway, PAPI, taxiway, etc.)
  • Detailed procedurally generated lights for aircraft
  • A dynamical wingflex shader suitable for wing beats (see the Dragon)
  • Better cockpit rendering:
  • Interior shadows
  • Glass reflections, dynamical raindrops, fogging and frosting
  • Panel backlighting
  • Irradiance mapping for more realistic distribution of indirect light
  • Diffuse illumination of the interior by instrument lighting
  • Usability:
  • Many improvements to Phi, the built-in web interface.
  • GUI cleanup to improve support for multiple GUI styles.
  • The built-in Qt launcher is available for all of FlightGear's supported operating systems.
  • Additional latitude and longitude formats are now supported in the HUD.
  • Scenery:
  • Regional texture definitions for Florida, Brazil, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Southeastern Asia.
  • stgmerge tool added to merge objects in a scenery tile into a smaller number of meshes.
  • IN THE HANGAR:
  • Aircraft with major enhancements:
  • Complete refresh of the default Cessna 172P, including engine options, various tire sizes and floats.
  • Major enhancements to the Space Shuttle. The Shuttle can be flown as per the Crew Operations Manual from launch to touchdown.
  • The following aircraft have also received significant updates:
  • McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle
  • Rockwell B-1B Lancer
  • Saab JA-37 Viggen
  • Cessna 550 Citation II
  • Lockheed Constellation
  • Boeing 737-300
  • Mirage 2000-5
  • De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
  • MiG-15 (now supports Bombable, ultra-realistic FDM)
  • Bombardier CRJ700 series
  • Boeing 757: new variants 757-300 and C-32B, complementing the existing 757-200 and C-32A
  • New aircraft:
  • A dragon has been added, complete with fire breath.
  • Beagle Pup
  • Pottier 130 Utra Light
  • Boeing 767
  • Misc/uncategorized:
  • Improved support for KDI572-574 DME equipment.
  • Update to the World Magnetic Model 2015.
  • Nasal Scripting:
  • Global functions createViaTo() and createDiscontinuity() added
  • activate() method added to the flightplan ghost object
  • Documentation:
  • The FlightGear Manual is now available in Chinese.

New in FlightGear 3.4.0 RC 2 (Feb 18, 2015)

  • During compilation, multiple warnings were issued by the compiler (gcc 4.8.1).
  • Some of those are harmless (unused variables), some are fine as long as one knows what he is doing (comparing signed and unsigned types), some might be a cause of serious problems (possible use of uninitialized variables, reaching over array bounds, ...)
  • In-sim issues:
  • AI/MP LOD ranges - AI aircraft seem to be visible on very short distances only, setting smaller value causes longer visibility range! Default value causes too short visibility. Something is obviously wrong in the range calculation or comparison.
  • Submodels are visible over insanely short range or not at all. Weird dependance on AI/MP LOD range observed (similar as for AI aircraft), default value causes too short visibility. In case where the submodel is a bullet that is set to explode upon impact and the bullet is out of the visible range, the explosion is visible ONLY with Rembrandt on (there should be no difference between Rembrandt and standard rendering shemes in this regard).
  • In older versions, submodel visibility range was not limited (AFAIK), only by dist-scale and range animations on the submodel object itself. I think it should remain this way (or have a separate setting). Submodels aren't likely to cause problems because of their limited lifetime, contrary to the AI aircraft, where the range limitiation is obviously needed.
  • Earthview orbital rendering - When turned on, it confuses the AGL value as seen on the HUD. Also flyby view in dive causes view from below the (fake) surface which is placed very close. At about 100k ft the AGL value was a few hundred ft or less. When the Earthview orbital rendering was turned on on rather low altitudes (I know it in not to be used that way), it could cause aircraft crash into the fake surface.

New in FlightGear 3.4.0 RC 1 (Feb 5, 2015)

  • CANVAS SYSTEM:
  • FlightGear's fully scriptable 2D rendering system now includes improved APIs for creating maps and navigation displays amongst many other improvements. People no longer need to have programming experience to add a working ND to their aircraft, it can now be all done by copying and pasting 30 lines of text and customizing a few properties. The so called MapStructure back-end handles efficient updating of all ND layers transparently. Also, maps can now be mostly customized, including custom styling (colors, fonts, symbols etc).
  • Nasal namespace Browser
  • MapStructure is being ported to become a native Canvas Widget
  • work has begun to port the airport selection dialog to use the MapStructure framework
  • Tom has implemented keyboard handling support
  • Text/Input field support
  • Input dialog
  • HIGHLIGHTED NEW AND IMPROVED AIRCRAFT:
  • Extra EA-500
  • OTHER:
  • Firewall exceptions are automatically added during setup on Windows systems
  • Aircraft moved to a SVN repository.

New in FlightGear 3.2.0 (Oct 16, 2014)

  • AIRCRAFT MODELING:
  • A Failure Management Framework for FlightGear has been added
  • The JSBSim flight dynamics model now has support for ground effects like bumpiness, solid-ground detection and adjusting of friction factors. Additionally, bogey type contact points sink in non-solid surfaces, making it no longer possible to ride on water.
  • YASim now has versioning support. The YASim FDM now checks a version tag in it's configuration file to allow improvements to the YASim FDM without risking breaking older aircraft.
  • Additional aircraft have started adopting the Canvas navigation display that was introduced with FlightGear 3.0.
  • GRAPHICS:
  • Improved rendering of VASI, PAPI, runway and taxiway lights.
  • Orbital rendering using textures from the NASA Visible Earth project
  • Additions to the Atmospheric Light Scattering (ALS) rendering include:
  • an experimental framework to render cloud shadows on the ground (requires Advanced Weather)
  • a substantial extension of cloud layer visibility using impostor techniques to 150 km
  • a new agriculture effect allowing to render fields without tiling artifacts
  • a new forest effect to simulate managed forest, varying tree size by patch
  • sparkle and fog effect on runway lights
  • much improved visual appearance of rock faces
  • USABILITY:
  • An experimental aircraft package manager allows the download of new aircraft, and changing the current aircraft in-sim.
  • A new internal web server (aka httpd) based on mongoose httpd has been added. It supports various AJAX requests, a screenshot server, a property tree browser, and a web-based moving map and much more.
  • The integrated Map dialog now uses an azimuthal equidistant projection, for better representation in polar regions and across the International Date Line.
  • Windows users are now able to use the scroll wheel in dialog lists
  • CANVAS SYSTEM:
  • Improvements to Canvas, FlightGear's scriptable 2D rendering system include:
  • Better performance
  • MapStructure-based layers can now be customized and styled
  • Support for mouse button and modifiers
  • CanvasImage now supports the http:// protocol for dynamically retrieving raster images.
  • An experimental Map dialog using Canvas is available under the Equipment menu.
  • Canvas Layout Engine
  • NASAL SCRIPTING:
  • A new fully-interactive Nasal GUI console based on Canvas has been added: Interactive Nasal Console
  • the hard-coded flight path history subsystem which samples aircraft position is now exposed via Nasal.
  • DOCUMENTATION:
  • Nasal documentation is now included,
  • HIGHLIGHTED NEW AND IMPROVED AIRCRAFT:
  • Boeing 757-200: Improved autopilot and additional systems, like hydraulics and pneumatic. The aircraft comes with two engine options.
  • Cessna 337G Skymaster: Tuned autopilot and improved instrument stack.
  • Mainair Flash 2 Alpha: Simulated weightshift-control and new wing model.
  • North American P-51D: All new highly accurate external model based on factory blueprints.
  • Tupolev Tu-154B2: version 3.1
  • OTHER:
  • A text-to-speech system based on flite+hts_engine has been implemented, which is used for ATIS and other messages.
  • Improved loading behaviour for AI/MP aircraft
  • BUG FIXES:
  • A serious bug was found late in the release causing large numbers of crashes. Fixing this delayed he release, but had a nice side-effect of improving performance on some systems that were previously CPU-limited.
  • See our bugtracker for an extensive, yet incomplete, list of the bugs fixed in this release.

New in FlightGear 3.2.0 RC 2 (Oct 6, 2014)

  • This release fixes an important but with the interaction between the effects system and the property system that was leading to crashes. This fix has a nice side effect of significantly improving performance for many people.

New in FlightGear 3.0.0 (Feb 20, 2014)

  • Aircraft Modeling
  • All glider models have now Total Energy compensated variometers.
  • Environment Rendering
  • Sea color is more realistic, using a a global sea map is used to render shallow ocean a different color.
  • Improved random building textures
  • Atmospheric Light Scattering (ALS) improvements including:
  • significant work on a more natural appearance of a low haze or fog layer which includes now altitude variations
  • atmosphere rendering beyond the lowest fog layer takes now actual aloft visibility into account, leading to a blurred horizon
  • the horizon line is now rendered with angular variations, simulating different vertical extent of air layers far away in the atmosphere
  • the wake shader rendering the waves generated by a ship has been ported to ALS
  • Performance:
  • Terrain loading times improved by deferring loading of objects within scenery.
  • Usability:
  • Tab key is used to cycle mouse modes: aircraft control, view control, idle
  • TerraSync is pre-configured and works as is without user configuration required
  • FGCom, the multiplayer voice communications client is now integrated within FlightGear
  • Internationalization:
  • Italian translation of the FlightGear Manual.
  • Scenery:
  • Scenery 2.0 is now available, using improved elevation, road and terrain data.
  • Updated navigation data
  • Regional texture definitions have been added for Scandinavia, Corsica and Ascension Island.
  • Canvas System:
  • FlightGear's fully scriptable 2D rendering system now includes improved APIs for creating maps and navigation displays amongst many other improvements. People no longer need to have programming experience to add a working ND to their aircraft, it can now be all done by copying and pasting 30 lines of text and customizing a few properties. The so called MapStructure back-end handles efficient updating of all ND layers transparently.
  • Nasal Scripting:
  • Faster complex spacial searches
  • HTTP bindings
  • A new Nasal library has been added for implementing specialised soaring instruments. The library currently supports Total Energy compensated varios as well as Netto, Super Netto (aka Relative) and Speed Command variometers.
  • Documentation:
  • PDF/LaTeX docs of the internals of the Nasal engine (C code) have been added to $FG_ROOT/Docs.
  • An Italian translation of the FlightGear Manual is now available.
  • Highlighted new and improved aircraft:
  • Robin DR400 Dauphin 180ch
  • CAP10C
  • Boeing 707
  • North American P-51D
  • Boeing 777
  • Other:
  • Additional joysticks and rudder pedals are supported out-of-the-box:
  • Logitech Flight System G940 (joystick, pedals and throttle)

New in FlightGear 2.12.1 (Jan 25, 2014)

  • A bug fix release.

New in FlightGear 2.12.0 (Sep 23, 2013)

  • MAJOR ENHANCEMENTS IN THIS RELEASE:
  • Aircraft Modeling:
  • A new tracking animation provides an easy way for aircraft developers to animate complex kinematic systems like gear scissors or landing gear doors attached to struts. The animation can be implemented in Blender and then exported to FlightGear.
  • Environment:
  • Icebergs now appear in the arctic seas.
  • Deciduous trees shed their foliage if they are above the snowline, creating a convincing winter look.
  • The climatic snow line moves up and down as you fly around the world.
  • Basic weather is now integrated with Atmospheric Light Scattering.
  • Clouds are placed more realistically when using detailed weather modelling.
  • Transponder:
  • The transponder instrument system has been overhauled, making it easier to use from panels, supporting Mode-S altitude encoding, and sending the important properties over multi-player. This will allow more realistic ATC interactions, since id (squawk) codes now matter! See this wiki page for more information on installing / updating the transponder installation in aircraft.
  • Performance:
  • Many NavCache related startup issues experienced by Windows users (lag) were resolved
  • Portability:
  • Portability for older systems without GLSL (shaders) support has been restored again, so that FlightGear no longer crashes on such systems.
  • Atmospheric Light Scattering:
  • An ultra-high quality shader has been introduced, algorithmically generating detail down to the centimetre scale.
  • Autumn colors are now simulated from the middle of summer through to the beginning of winter.
  • Low visibility conditions are now more realistically rendered.
  • Trees move with the wind.
  • Surf is now visibile below steep sea-cliffs.
  • IMPROVED PERFORMANCE, REDUCED MEMORY OCCUPANCY:
  • Usability:
  • A knob animation generalizes the operation of knobs and switches in the cockpits of various aircraft.
  • The Weather dialog has been improved to make it easier to understand.
  • Tooltips (available under the Debug menu) provide feedback that computer pilots have to miss due to an absence of audio or haptic feedback. When you hover your mouse over a switch or lever, a little window tells you the current state of the switch.
  • The checklist feature has been expanded:
  • Checklist items are color coded to indicate whether they are complete - green for those items that are complete, yellow for those that are incomplete.
  • To ease cockpit familiarization, users can request that the relevant control is highlighted.
  • A virtual co-pilot can execute checklist items on behalf of the pilot.
  • Tutorials are auto-generated from checklists providing a virtual instructor to guide you through completing the checklist.
  • Internationalization:
  • The menu and system messages have been translated to Portuguese.
  • Canvas System:
  • The "canvas" system is FlightGear's fully scriptable 2D rendering system, which makes it easy for users to create new instruments, glass cockpit displays, HUDs and even dialogs and custom GUI widgets using FlightGear's built-in scripting language Nasal (which looks really similar to JavaScript).
  • Canvas improvements in this release include:
  • The style setter system has been reworked, style setters are now only setup once for each element type and not for each element instance as before. A static map holds the setters for each element type. Also an animation type is stored which will later allow to animate properties of Canvas elements without specifying an animation type.
  • The Nasal/cppbind framework has been improved to expose more Canvas internals to Nasal space
  • Canvas textures can now not only be used as aircraft/cockpit textures (instruments, MFDs) and for the HUD/GUI, but also for scenery objects. Canvas textures can now be placed on scenery objects. This allows for example creating animated signs/monitors such as a Visual Docking Guidance System.
  • Enable texture repeat for Canvas images
  • Improved support for displaying GUI widgets.
  • Nasal Scripting:
  • All methods exposed to the Nasal props module now accept an optional first parameter refering to another node by a relative path.
  • SimGear's SGTimer class is now fully exposed to Nasal, see the new maketimer() API.
  • Several Nasal bugs that could previously trigger a crash were fixed.
  • Rembrandt:
  • A growing number of aircraft are compliant with the Rembrandt rendering technique.
  • AI Improvements:
  • AI scenarios may now be loaded at runtime.
  • A broad range of AI aircraft received a fresh paint job. The Airbus A320 and A330 have been remodelled, while some other models got improved animations.
  • Air-to-air refueling has been improved:
  • Pilots can now have a choice of a number of AI air-to-air refueling tankers and can select the airspeed of the tanker to match their own aircraft if required.
  • Tankers are more realistic, support multiple refuelling points, configurable fuel flow rates, and the refuelling "envelope" centered on the drogue/boom position.
  • The probe position on the receiving aircraft taken into account when calculating whether contact has been made.
  • Refuelling difficulty is configurable in-sim by setting the distance from the drogue/boom that refuelling occurs.
  • The tanker is now able report a successful contact to the pilot.
  • Regional Textures:
  • The following areas now include their own region-specific texturing and auto-generated models/buildings:
  • Indonesia
  • The Middle East
  • The United Kingdom,
  • The North Atlantic Islands - Faroe, Shetland, Greenland
  • Madagascar
  • Highlighted new and improved aircraft:
  • Mudry CAP 10C
  • Tupolev Tu-154B-2
  • Schleicher ASW 20
  • Other:
  • Additional joysticks and rudder pedals are supported out-of-the-box:
  • GoFlight TQ6-ADV
  • Genius Metalstrike 3D
  • Microsoft SideWinder Precision Racing Wheel rudder pedals

New in FlightGear 2.10.0 R379 (Feb 18, 2013)

  • Improved modularization:
  • Architecture improvements introduced in this release mean that subsystems such as the traffic manager may be stopped and re-started dynamically within a simulation session. In future releases it is expected that more and more subsystems will support this function, making FG more scalable, and more flexible for distributed multi-machine simulators.
  • Atmospheric Light Scattering:
  • F-14b over the alps at dusk
  • Atmospheric light scattering is an alternative rendering framework, using exceptionally realistic environment-dependent fog and light computations for clouds and terrain. The simulation includes the following lighting models.
  • Rayleigh, Mie and diffuse multiple scattering of light in the atmosphere, on haze and on clouds, for more realistic atmospheric lighting.
  • Volumetric ground fog simulation, so fog varies in thickness both horizontally and vertically.
  • Realistic ambient and diffuse light curves for sunset and sunrise conditions, making evening flights more realistic.
  • Improved night VFR flying due to a moonlight illumination model.
  • Together with Advanced Weather, it functions as an integrated environment simulation in which the individual elements mutually influence each other.
  • For instance:
  • Clouds and winds are influenced by the distribution of terrain elevation
  • Prevailing winds, terrain slopes and stability of the lower atmosphere determine the shape of visible clouds
  • Cloud layers and haze influence color and intensity of light reflections
  • Winds influence wave patterns on water
  • Light at sunrise and sunset is position and altitude dependent, allowing for phenomena such as Alpenglow or brightly illuminated high-altitude clouds while the ground is dark
  • For more powerful graphics cards, the framework includes procedural terrain texturing, including features such as the following.
  • Non-tiling slope dependent terrain texturing, so scenery looks more featured but with fewer tiling artefacts.
  • High resolution close-up texturing effects with up to 10 cm detail resolution and dynamically added bumpmap for low-level flight and better depth perception
  • Environmental effects such as terrain wetness (including puddles), dustiness, mossiness, and snow cover. All adjustable by the user and respecting the terrain slope where appropriate.
  • Improved performance, reduced memory occupancy:
  • Startup time and memory occupancy has been reduced by the implementation of a cache of navigation data. Further memory occupancy reductions have been made by improved random buildings. Frame-rates have been improved when using 3D clouds, particularly in overcast conditions.
  • Usability:
  • Joystick Configuration GUI
  • Improving FlightGear's usability has been a focus for a number of developers for this release. Changes include:
  • A new tool allowing joystick configuration in-sim, making it easier for new users to configure their joysticks as they wish and get flying!
  • The Nasal Console has been improved to support copy/paste, making Nasal script development easier.
  • The About dialog now includes additional system information, and the ability to copy information to the clipboard, making remote diagnosis of users problems faster and more straightforward.
  • The Select Airport option now displays an overhead view of the selected airport, allowing users to preview their new location, and making it easier to choose the correct runway or parking position.
  • In-sim checklists have been introduced for a number of aircraft.
  • An in-sim documentation browser is included, so users can more easily browse all the documentation available in the base package.
  • The weather configuration UIs have been combined and rationalized into a single weather UI, making it easier to select a nice VFR day, or a difficult CATIII approach.
  • Flight path can now be displayed on the in-sim map.
  • Instant replay may now be saved as a flight recorder, edited externally to add a commentary, and then replayed as a tutorial, with the user able to take control at any point.
  • Multiplayer setup dialog now includes a dynamically generated list of active MP servers, making it even easier to take part in FlightGear's worldwide multi-player environment.
  • Internationalization:
  • FlightGear continued to benefit from contributions from across the globe.
  • The FlightGear Manual is now included in both English and French.
  • System messages on startup are available in eight languages, just like the in-sim menu.
  • Flight Planning and Route Manager:
  • Route Manager now has better support for Navigraph procedures.
  • Auto-generated SIDs and STARs are available for airports where real procedure data is not available. This generates plausible straight in approach and terminal waypoints based on the route course.
  • The "flightplan" Nasal extension function has been improved, making it possible to retrieve a hash representation of the flight plan stored in the route manager. It is now possible to directly show a SVG image for each waypoint and connect them using OpenVG paths.
  • Canvas System:
  • Airport Selection dialog, using Canvas to render the airport diagram
  • The "canvas" system is FlightGear's fully scriptable 2D rendering system, which makes it possible for users to easily create new instruments, HUDs and even dialogs and custom GUI widgets using FlightGear's built-in scripting language Nasal (which looks really similar to JavaScript). The Canvas can also be used for the creation of complex glass cockpit displays like navigational displays and other MFDs, none of this requires rebuilding FlightGear from source or writing C++ code.
  • Canvas improvements in this release include:
  • Lazy updating/rendering to improve performance in situations where a texture doesn't need to be redrawn
  • Creating GUI windows, including popup menus or menubars
  • Native copy/paste via 2 new Nasal extension functions
  • Nested canvases, where a canvas may contain images created by another canvas texture
  • Window stacking
  • raster images (vector images were already supported)
  • Improved event handling GUI events using osgGA
  • A new DOM-based event handling system
  • Rembrandt:
  • Rembrandt old film style
  • The Rembrandt renderer has been extended with a number of post-processing filters:
  • Night vision including amplification grain and restrained field of view
  • Cinema effect including:
  • Vignetting
  • Color shift, with Sepia as default value
  • Radial distortion (barrel and pincushion distortion, with scale compensation)
  • Lateral chromatic aberration (purple fringing)
  • Film wear simulation
  • Additional aircraft have been updated to make use of Rembrandt effects.
  • AI Improvements:
  • AI aircraft take-offs and landings are now more realistic.
  • AI tankers can now be found using the HUD target marker.
  • Regional Textures:
  • Building on the work in 2.8, the following areas now have region-specific texture-sets for more realistic terrain:
  • Caribbean
  • Western Europe
  • Iceland
  • Tropical South America
  • Highlighted new and improved aircraft:
  • The Boeing 777 has improved cockpit, PFD and NavDisplay.
  • The Dassault Mirage 2000-5 has various instrumentation, HUD and stores added.
  • The Douglas A-4F Skyhawk has an improved FDM and cockpit, including terrain-clearance radar and navigational computer.
  • The Hawker Hurricane has improved FDM and cockpit.
  • The Mudry Cap 10B, a classic French two-seat training aerobatic aircraft has been added by the PAF team.
  • Other:
  • Additional joysticks and rudder pedals are supported out-of-the-box.
  • An interactive aircraft download page allows users to filter aircraft based on their level of completeness and accuracy, making it easier to discover the true gems of our extensive hangar.

New in FlightGear 2.8.1 R276 (Sep 6, 2012)

  • Includes improvements making FlightGear world more realistic than ever before.
  • Placement of random buildings and trees match the underlying terrain texture, and urban areas now have denser random buildings.
  • Textures can be region specific, and users can select between summer and winter textures in-sim.
  • An improved atmospheric scattering and terrain haze model means the lighting of the terrain is more realistic.
  • Finally, a new automated system is now available for scenery submissions that automatically get rolled into the scenery distribution to be enjoyed by everyone.
  • A very exciting new addition is “Project Rembrandt”. This is still considered experimental and not enabled by default. This enables real-time shadows, and support for multiple light sources such as landing lights. Even rotating beacons illuminate the surroundings correctly.

New in FlightGear 2.6.0 (Feb 20, 2012)

  • Aircraft Operations:
  • At selected airports, FlightGear can automatically start at an appropriate parking spot based on the size and type of your aircraft.
  • At airports which support this feature, a visual display of the taxi route on the ground guides you to the active runway, while following the correct taxiways.
  • AI system / AI Traffic:
  • Less stutter in Multi-Player mode.
  • Less model-loading time by loading only the parts of the aircraft currently visible.
  • AI and multiplayer aircraft can produce sounds just like the main aircraft.
  • Flight Dynamics
  • The JSBSim flight dynamics model received a major overhaul.
  • Environment:
  • The Local Weather package is integrated with the FlightGear core as "Advanced Weather". New rendering techniques allow more detailed clouds with no performance impact. High altitude clouds are rendered more realistically, and clouds move with the wind without impacting performance.
  • Interface:
  • New replay mode
  • In-sim Multi-player configuration - You can change your call sign and MP server on-the-fly!
  • Much easier auto scenery downloader - just select a folder and turn it on.
  • More fps, less stutter

New in FlightGear 2.6.0 RC 1 (Feb 2, 2012)

  • There are two changes on the GUI Launcher and the Simulator menu. Now in-sim FlightGear menu appears on the Mac menu bar just like other Mac Apps. Another thing is that ~/.fgfs is not used anymore. it's moved to ~/Libarary/Application Support/FlightGear.

New in FlightGear 2.4.0 (Aug 17, 2011)

  • Aircraft Operations:
  • Embedded map system (usable as a brief navigation map)
  • New head-up display (HUD) system
  • AI system / AI Traffic:
  • Standalone AI flightplan generator
  • Ballistic objects can be slaved to any AI object
  • Flight Dynamics:
  • MIL-STD Turbulence model for JSBSim
  • Environment:
  • Local weather system to simulate physically correct local weather phenomena
  • Integrated TerraSync for on-the-fly scenery download and realtime update.
  • improved METAR
  • Interface:
  • Renewed autopilot
  • Support for textures generated from VNC clients
  • New HLA interface for distributed simulations
  • On-demand loading of Nasal modules
  • Navigation:
  • New route manager
  • Scenery:
  • Animated jetways
  • More buildings and more airports
  • Visual Effects:
  • Shaders such as 3D urban effects, reflections, water, skydrome scattering…
  • Persistent contrails

New in FlightGear 2.4.0 RC 1 (Aug 8, 2011)

  • The objective of this package is to improve the quality of the official 2.4.0 release

New in FlightGear 2.0.0 r284 (Jun 25, 2011)

  • Fixed a bug that crashes FlightGear while showing splash screen, with "unknown exception" log.
  • Fixed the clouds flickering on some nVidia chips such as GeForceGT 330M

New in FlightGear 2.0.0 (Apr 2, 2010)

  • The latest Atlas
  • Aircraft preview using fgviewer (using Preview button on the Aircraft tab)
  • More command-line tools (fgjs, js_demo, metar, yasim, etc)
  • Parking position is selectable from the Positions tab

New in FlightGear 1.9.1 (Feb 2, 2009)

  • Bug fixes:
  • Black box showed up on some video card (Rarely happens on Macs)
  • Possible segmentation fault while flying
  • Some causes of possible NaN (Not a Number) errors while flying (that may freeze the simulator)
  • Flickers on 3Dclouds (I'm not sure it this fix completely eliminates flickers but it seems OK to me).
  • The GUI launcher bug fixes and modifications:
  • Fixed: Archived aircraft couldn't be installed properly
  • Fixed: FlightGear couldn't start if the path for FlightGear.app contains one or more white space
  • Fixed: Some other minor bugs in installer (e.g. archived GUI-Updater was not installed properly)
  • Changed: No more alias for data folder under /Documents/FlightGear/1.9.0 (since you can open data folder via the GUI launcher)

New in FlightGear 1.9.0 (Dec 23, 2008)

  • A workaround for OpenGL driver bug that crashes FlightGear with nVidia GeForce 7x00 GT cards.

New in FlightGear 1.9.0 Pre 2 (Dec 15, 2008)

  • The latest JSBSim that provides hooks, parachutes, and lots more
  • New ATC
  • World Scenery version 1.0.1
  • vi-like Multi-key commands (you can type ':' followed by keystrokes to execute flightgear commands)
  • 3D clouds
  • OpenSceneGraph is used for scene graph generation and viewings
  • More AI models / scenarios are available (you need to edit preferences.xml to add AI demos)
  • More new and/or updated aircraft
  • Tons of improvements, bug fixes, new features, and new aircraft
  • Updated French Translation
  • ComboBox translation (Japanese only, but French version will be added soon)
  • Fixed a bug that crashes many JSBSim Aircraft
  • Improved 3D clouds
  • Aircraft candidates are changed
  • Some minor bug fix and improvements

New in FlightGear 1.9.0 Pre 1 (Dec 5, 2008)

  • New features:
  • The latest JSBSim that provides hooks, parachutes, and lots more.
  • New ATC.
  • World Scenery version 1.0.1
  • vi-like Multi-key commands (you can type ':' followed by keystrokes to execute flightgear commands).
  • 3D clouds.
  • OpenSceneGraph is used for scene graph generation and viewings.
  • More AI models / scenarios are available (you need to edit preferences.xml to add AI demos).
  • More new and/or updated aircraft.
  • Tons of improvements, bug fixes, new features, and new aircraft Check http://macflightgear.sourceforge.net/home/documents/aircraft-links/ for additional aircraft.
  • And lots more and more....
  • Bug fixes:
  • Atlas integration.
  • fgcom server can be configurable for future extension (No authentication is needed).
  • Multiple camera configuration.
  • More flexible installer.
  • French localization (courtesy of Miguel Saro).
  • Log can be opened via GUI Launcher (on General tab). You can also specify a log level.
  • Data folder can be opened via GUI launcher (on Others tab).
  • More options (like disabling/enabling AI Models).

New in FlightGear 1.0.0 R154 (Apr 17, 2008)

  • Fixed the problem on scenery downloading after Mac OS X 10.5.2 update
  • a network socket related source file in PLIB framework was wrong.
  • New Favorite list
  • provides a means of preserving a named set of current options like a book mark of Safari.
  • enables you to easily switch one configuration to another.
  • New Voice ATC (FGCOM) integration
  • enables you to make a real voice communication using radio setting.
  • provides you automatic FGCOM activation in Multi Player mode.
  • requires an account so get one and give it a try.
  • More stability
  • shows a warning message when launched from a mounted disk image (or read-only file system)
  • fixed a exception happening on a certain situation.
  • Fixed the problems on launching
  • couldn't launch from the disk image (should not, but must launch at least)
  • aircraft list was empty when launched from a path that contains a space character

New in FlightGear 1.0.0 R152 (Jan 30, 2008)

  • Fixed the problems on Tiger: text fields are grayed-out, gear buttons and FlightGear icon are not shown properly
  • Some thumbnails were blurred when opening/closing advanced feature tabs~(This is not a bug, but is made by corrupted DPI info in thumbnail)
  • Improved stability: fixed the error when .#*-set-xml# is in Aircraft directory (probably made by emacs), fixed the bug in specifying more than one "other options"
  • More improvements for usability
  • symbolic links (short cuts) for data folder to ~/Documents/FlightGear/1.0.0
  • snapshots are copied to ~/Documents/FlightGear/1.0.0/SnapShots/*.ppm when fgfs exits
  • accepts 7zip format for Aircraft data only if 7zip is installed on your Mac (Leopard has 7zip)
  • Improvements in Aircraft
  • Nasal cleanups
  • fixed ADF and VSI in A6M2
  • integrated package for both A6M2 and A6M2b (A6M2 has multiple livery(textures) - gray and green)
  • some minor updates