Will this become the best airliner for FS9 and FSX?

[Skybird]

In the making since 3 years, now being annoucned for release:

AIRBUS: Technology & Features

The Airliner XP Airbus A320 is essentially a separate simulation within Flight Simulator. Unlike the majority of aircraft simulations that attempt to work within Flight Simulator's operating parameters and requirements, our Airbus makes Flight Simulator do what we want it to. This allows us a much greater degree of freedom and flexibility, overcomes any Flight Simulator issues, and allows us to achieve a much higher degree of operational realism.

Technology: Taking FS to new heights
The Airliner XP Airbus A320 is developed with the Reality XP Next-Gen SDK (Software Development Kit). While the FS SDK is an outdated pre-FS98 era C framework, stringent in data structures and performance, it is also poor by today’s graphics and multimedia standards. Reality XP Next-Gen SDK replaces the default FS SDK entirely and enables the management of gauge resources (bitmaps) in a more memory-efficient way, permitting full use of JPEG and PNG file formats (compressed, 32 bits). Not only it offers very high resolution/details bitmaps in our gauges to accommodate any screen resolution, but also fully enables 32 bits colors with alpha blending. Coupled with the additional sub-pixel bitmap rendering engine enabled with our technologies, we can deliver Photoshop like gauge bitmaps with shadows, highlights, glass effect in a real time rendering fashion! In short, our products will look sharper, better, life-like and will run faster than default SDK based products.

In addition to the Next-Gen 2D panel and gauges, the Airliner XP Airbus A320 features an enhanced 3D engine for FS9. With FS9, it features real-time/no-FPS-hit 3D shader for a mind-boggling visual experience beyond compare. You will be thrilled with real-time adjustable independent per-panel real integral lighting and real flood lighting which are available even in daytime and react correctly to sun’s illumination, correct 3D mirror-like reflections in the VC EFIS and cockpit windows, and a number of Hollywood-intense visual special effects.

The Airliner XP A320 is using the latest edition of the award winning Reality XP True Display XP EFIS vector drawing API. With rendering speed up to 100 times faster than the competition running with GDI+, the EFIS are fluid smooth and crisp. In addition, with the Reality XP Next-Gen SDK, they render in the 2D panel and the VC at the same speed as the Flight Simulator Frame Rate Counter! While traditional airliner add-ons drag the customer down with a lot of options to dumb down the rendering quality and speed of the EFIS to gain some FPS in the simulator, the Airliner XP Airbus A320 always runs the EFIS with no tradeoff whatsoever, and with no FPS hit either both in the 2D panel and the 3D Virtual Cockpit.

The sound experience goes beyond the traditional add-on and even beyond the FSX capabilities. The Airliner XP sound simulation is designed with real Level D simulation technical specification and features a unique 7.1 3D sound mixer, running faster than Direct Sound for faster frame rates and higher quality audio with professionally recorded sounds in 48Khz. The sound simulation is modeled with multiple layers and varieties for any single ambient and engine sound. In addition, every single switch and knob has been recorded in a real cockpit for a true-to-life audio user experience. With the additional HRTF technology that permits recreating surround sound with only 2 speakers, the sound experience delivered with the Airliner XP A320 is beyond reach from the competition.

.Features: Operational Realism on a new level
The Airliner XP A320 system simulation is the Flight Simulator port of a Reality XP professional simulation software designed with the Aircraft Training industry. It is designed with a sub-component organic approach. In short, every single element of the aircraft, a computer, an electrical bus, a switch, an hydraulic pipe, a pump, a valve etc.. is modeled and simulated at its fine low-level within the entire aircraft simulation. All these elementary blocks of simulation are then connected to each other exactly like the real aircraft and cross interactions between elements are naturally simulated. With this fine granularity in the simulation, any single element can be failed and proper interactions with the connected elements will take place automatically. For example, a bulb light, an electric relay could fail, a pipe could leak, a pump could slowly fail over time up to a complete failure threshold.

One great difference between the Airbus and the other airliners is the ECAM. This is a suite of computers and system monitoring the various aircraft components. Known for displaying do-lists and check-lists (do-lists tell what action to perform now, check-lists help the pilot to check actions are done), the ECAM system is less known for its ability to help the pilot make sure all systems are in normal configuration. Should a switch is in a wrong position, or an system is not running nominally, the pilot will receive proper indications and recommendations to solve the issue. Thanks to the granular/organic design in our simulation, we are able to offer this level of assistance too!
What does the ECAM mean for the pilot, is that besides the advance capabilities it offers to help solve particular issue, it most noticeably helps the pilot be ready to fly as soon as the aircraft is loaded in having as much guidance as possible to reach normal configuration.

The EFIS simulation in the Airliner XP A320 is also designed with a high-fidelity model, recreating the exact RGB (Red, Green and Blue) components of every single item calibrated from the manufacturer CRT specs. It also features the exact Airbus font with the correct font size on screen. It is so advanced that even the CRT over-scan black edge is properly calibrated to the real world CRT specifications.

The EFIS Symbols are also carefully recreated exactly at their correct size, location and display conditions: the Airliner XP A320 EFIS have been designed from the ground up to train pilots to transition to Airbus EFIS and are dead-on accurate in look and feel.

The Airbus systems are identical to the real aircraft with a complete hydraulic, electric, pneumatic and fuel simulation. They are designed to recreate their real world counterpart in their entirety. The systems simulation is also designed to function in a standalone fashion and does not require Flight Simulator to run. In turn, it is the Airbus simulation that bends Flight Simulator SDK variables and not the reverse for the most accurate simulation of these systems. It even features a working anti-skid system which performance is directly related to surface contamination, and of course, availability of the normal or alternate brake system in the Airbus simulation.

Unlike other simulations designed for Flight Simulator, the Airliner XP Airbus A320 simulation features an organic simulation approach. With this type of approach, all the hydraulic, electric, pneumatic and fuel simulation are not running in a finite state machine, where each state is predictable and coded for. Instead, every system is running with a life of its own, within the organic simulation, and behave over time like their real world counterpart. Hydraulic pressure builds-up, temperatures changes, computer-driven valves open and close to cope with the changing conditions. In short: the Airliner XP A320 makes the pilot feel the machine is living under his command, and not under the commands of a canned, pre-determined, state.

The Airbus unique computer based architecture is also fully recreated with dozens of individual computer simulations, like a dual CPC (Cabin Pressure Controller) with the correct Airbus pressure laws, triple DMC (Display Management Computer) with all the correct EFIS reversions simulated, the complete ELAC, FAC and SEC computer suite and all the other computers driving the functions and features of the Airbus. All these computers are internally simulated like their real world counterpart, connected with ARINC-like data buses. Even communication between the computers and the EFIS are driven through a data bus and permits separating the aircraft simulation from the EFIS.

In addition, the Airliner XP A320 simulation features a real EGPWS with terrain, Weather Radar with correct physics simulation of radar beam energy absorption/reflection and TCAS simulation passing the industry-standard 250 TSIM tests.

Plenty of more info and a flood of screenshots available at their main website:

http://www.airlinerxp.com/index.html

[Steel_Tomb]

Skybird have you tried the PMDG 747-400? Its THE most detailed aircraft currently on sale for FS9/FSX. I've been flying it more or less none stop since I bought it a few days ago. I printed off the manual, about 600 pages of it! Its 3D pit is second to none with loads of buttons... makes the stock 747 look like a paper aeroplane by comparison!

Heads up for the PMDG MD-11 that is reportedly close to release, I'll be getting that one for sure!

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Steel_Tomb

Skybird have you tried the PMDG 747-400? Its THE most detailed aircraft currently on sale for FS9/FSX. I've been flying it more or less none stop since I bought it a few days ago. I printed off the manual, about 600 pages of it! Its 3D pit is second to none with loads of buttons... makes the stock 747 look like a paper aeroplane by comparison!

Heads up for the PMDG MD-11 that is reportedly close to release, I'll be getting that one for sure!

I know it. the benchmark class for airliner and commuters imo includes the Level-D 767, the PMDG 747 and the Flight1 ATR-72. Acceptable but not without faults (and showing it's age in VC graphics) is the PMDG 737 800/900 NG. The 747 is slightly more detailed than the 767, but the 767 AP works a bit smoother and creates a better ride. Also, the 767 with me always earns a sympathy bonus - i know it since the first reincarnation for FS2000 under the name 767-Pilot in Command.

You do right to love the 747. It's probably one of the three best aiurliners packages around. Choosing any of these will never be a mistake.

You use FS9 or FSX? If you love the complexity of the 747, check the ATR as well. It compares in complexity and realism, but adds more differences than the 767 whose avionic and FMC layout owes heavily to the 747. the ATR panel layout tends more towards Airbus designs (which is no wonder when considering how close ATR and Airbus are).

Avsim review library holds reviews of all packages.

I also always mention the Piper Cheyenne by Aerosoft, which also plays in the top league. But the FSX version seems to have some minor issues. My FS9 version runs fine, though. It is as realistic in avionics and cockpit issues as it can get for a plane of that size and class. The simulation is almost complete.

All titles i mention come with extensive manuals, of course.

Something tells me that the XP Airbus will top them all, though. By description, it definetly has the potential, since it does not serve within Fs environment, but runs independantly and uses some content and variables from FS, bending them for it'S own purposes. One could say that Fs will be the addon for XP Airbus, so to speak. that way, they have avoided, solved or gone beyond many technical limits of FS.

[Steel_Tomb]

I'm an FSX flyer, and although performance isn't superb even on a high spec system I think it models the "invisible" weather systems like turbulence etc much better than FS9 which felt a lot more scripted. Personally I can't wait to get my hands on the MD-11, I've always liked that aircraft and 3 engined planes always get a thumbs up from me so perhaps I'm a bit biased lol.