Although it is not finished yet and much work remains to be done, I decided to put news ONLY THERE from now on. Too much time lost trying to maintain multiple websites !!
Not so much to report this weekend. We are all waiting for the FSX model of the Lysander to be delivered from the 'workshop' in Canada. Once we have it we can start working on the gauges, the sound (Aaron Swindle) and the flight model (Rob Young). And of course the scenery and missions that are planned to come with it.
Here are a few shots of the textured cockpit, to make your mouth water....
March 13th, 2008
Progress Report on our aircraft and AES for Grenoble
Nina and I are leaving for the mountains for a short break, so here's a quick update before we leave:
The Cessna 180 Skywagon is in research stage. I have posted some pictures of the models we will be using here (and below).
The Lysander is in design stage as you know, and a few more pictures of the 3DSMax model can be found on the other site too.
Last but not least some more news on our Grenoble Isère Airport: there will be AES support for it too in the near future. Oliver Pabst is now working on that and pretty soon you will be able to purchase AES (marshaller, follow-me cars, push back vehicles and staff, etc.) for Grenoble!
That's it for this week folks, we're off for our little brake and back in a little over a week or so!
A bientot! ;-)
March 6th, 2008
Grenoble Isère Airport for FS2004 Released
Grenoble Isère Airport by Totingue!
We haven't forgotten our still large contingent of FS9 customers and Grenoble Isère Airport is a wonderful addition for those flying in France. Even more so for users of the FranceVFR FlightAlpesNord package ! Antonio Totingue has made Grenoble Airport fit into the FranceVFR scenery and adapted a few textures for it as well.
You can use it without too, of course.
Grenoble comes with all the buildings painfully copied from the real ones, with airport traffic, lots of animations, changes according to season, opening hangar doors, and much more.
Most of all it provides a very realistic 'feel' of a typical French regional airport and allows for great flights in the area, where other such airports (like Chambery and Annecy) can be found too.
Yesterday we released Jim Keir's fabulous Mission editor for FSX. Due to all last-minute changes we had it on simMarket before we could even spread the word on our won web sites. Never mind, it is available now..... and FREE to try (or even keep) in a limited version!!!
You can download it from the simMarket product page (WITH the User Manual) and try your hand at making missions for as long as you wish. For the REALLY yummy features we'll ask you to PURCHASE the full version of course, but at only 14,95 Euros ex. VAT that can't be a problem.
Now you can unleash your imagination and creativity and make your own missions. And even publish them for free or for a small fee.
(For our professional colleagues we have a special licensing schem in place, so pleae contact us if you're interested).
So it took awhile. We had some problems with customers running Vista systems, but that’s now addressed.
So here is Joe’s second installment of his Central Florida range, adding yet another slew of enhanced airfields to the Sunny State.
Check out the product page here for a list of all fields included. Volumes 3 and 4 will follow within 2 weeks from now. Each one only costs US$ 11.11 and is sold using the Flight1 system. Soon on simMarket too !
I applaud our Customers..... and some more news !!
Yes..... AND 'my' developers too.
This has been on my mind for some time, so I'd better get it out......... :
Ever since I have started FSAddon.com (and a few other activities on the side) I have had the distinct privilege of working with some of the best, and above all conscientious people in the business. They ALL go the extra mile to help customers when in trouble. There is NEVER anybody left hanging out to dry in our support forums, and I can count the people on the fingers of ONE hand that did not get a solution in the end!
At the same time, our Customers are just fabulous ! I can't remember anybody 'making trouble' or being rude in any way. On the contrary, many actually HELP us make our products even better, finding that LAST little itchy quirk that we overlooked, and providing ideas for improvement.
Our products, PLUS Flight Simulator, PLUS Windows AND PC's are ALL very complex things with almost a guarantee of something going horribly wrong at times!
And yet we get nothing but understanding and yes, help, from our customers...... which I would almost title as 'fans'!
For which, my dear people, I would like to thank you! I feel we have built not only a company, but indeed a community of mostly like-minded people who support each other. Thank you again, all of you.
And now the news.....
Jim Keir is now just about finished building his brand new Mission Editor for FSX.
If you ever tried making your own missions, you'll have noticed that it is NOT easy. With Jim's new editor and above all his User Interface, it is still 'work', but made a lot easier !
The JK Mission Editor will be FREEWARE for the 'base version', and a more extended version, including MSI installer, will be for sale via FSAddon Publishing.
Check out some of the demo's Jim made:
Although we're still working to get a 3D model of the Lysander ported to FSX, before Ron can start doing his magic on the flight model, we are already working on our NEXT FSAddon.com aircraft.....
And yes, we aim to make an FS9 model as well as an FSX model !
Since we're fast becoming the 'bush specialists' in the business, the choice of our next baby will be no big surprise to you.....
a Cessna 185 Skywagon
First phase has started.... getting photos from an existing model. Our intrepid photographer in BC is on the job already.... !!
And last but not least.........
..... we are working on a THIRD aircraft project..... another old-timer!
This we cannot divulge yet, but we aim to work with yet another group of people who keep old aircraft flying, and we want model one of their oldies..... and support them to keep it airborn for as long as possible.
More news as soon as we have more details.... I can assure you, you'll love it !!
January 30th, 2008
Lysander progressing.....
Whereas we could only show a mesh model a few months ago, and after some unexpected delays, there is progress in the building of our Lysander, FSAddon's FIRST aircraft. As you can see texturing is now almost completed (this is a copy of the aircraft as it is flying out of Old Warden's Shuttleworth collection!). Next it will go into the workshop to get a proper (FSX) flight model, made by none other than Rob Young.
January 17th, 2008
It's Your Plane new version, new pricing, new features
Pacific Feelings and FSAddon Publishing are.proud to announce the release of version 3.0 of our highly advanced It's Your Plane add-on to FS2004 and FSX. IYP now comes in 4 versions:
-
a free trial of a Cessna 172
-
2 'light' versions (C172 and Boeing 737 both with full checklists)
- the Standard Full edition with checklists for ALL default MS aircraft, and then some!
IYP is now sold on its own website for ease of access and reference and for allowing separate pricing (as shown below). Apart from the versions above there is also an UPGRADE available to go from any of the 'light' versions to the full version!
MAJOR ENHANCEMENT in Version 3.0 is the ability to use IYP off-line, without being connected to the Internet (of course you WILL miss certain features in that mode).
As for pricing: IYP is now offered for 14,95 and 24,95 (light versions) and 34,95 for the full version.
Let me spell that out for you: this means for customers living in Europe the price remains Euros 34,95
as before, but for our American customers it is US$ 34,95 (instead of US$ 50 with exhange rates), In Canada IYP costs CAN $ 34,95 and in Australia AUS$ 34,95. All other regions pay the Euro price.
FSAddon Publishing and Pacific Feelings have promised to reach out to a majority of our customers being 'punished' by bad exchange rates and we are now doing so, paying for the difference out of our own pockets.
There are two other exciting products waiting in the wings as well, also based upon the main engine of IYP. Stay tuned !!
It's Your Plane information and purchase available on the dedicated IYP website here.
January 17th, 2008
'Plug' for a non-FSAddon product
Today I’d like to introduce a new ‘Discovery’ of mine (pun intended), namely the Space Shuttle Mission 2007 product. I have been reporting on it at simFlight, kindly got a beta and then full version and wrote ashort review on simFlight too.
Space Shuttle Mission 2007 is a REAL simulation, and NOT an add-on to any existing flight simulator. It does a lot more than just shoot you into oblivion, errrrm..... orbit, with gorgeous graphics, too! You are supposed to 'manage' the Shuttle and all its systems, handle the cargo arm, do spacewalks, and get her safely back to earth again without turning all into a giant barbecue.
This product is a major achievement and (after a learning curve) a real joy to 'play' !
I think we are not alone here at FSAddon.com Publishing worrying about the US economy and feeling sorry for our US customers. Being a European based company we have to charge in Euros for our products, but that nowadays means that things have become very expensive for our US customer base and all those whose income is linked to the US Dollar.
So we have been working on a solution, which we will put in place over the coming months! We will set up a new website where our customers can buy DIRECTLY from us. Thats not earth shattering news, is it?
However, you will be able to buy in YOUR OWN CURRENCY (depending on where you live) WITHOUT currency exhange rates applied!!! Now THAT IS earth shattering, right!? There are some limitations: Euro region, US $, Can $ and AUS $ only.
So how does this work? Simple. WE - the publisher and developers - take a 'hit' on the currency problems, instead of YOU, the customer.
It means that you can buy a product like 'It's Your Plane' for 34,95 Euros in Europe, for 34,95 US Dollars in the US, or for 34,95 CAN$ in Canada.
Now how's that for doing FAIR BUSINESS !!??
In addition we will found a new, foreign based company this year, thereby leaving the expensive 'VAT Region' that Europe has become. It means that European buyers will be responsible for paying VAT themselves if they so choose to, but our prices will NOT have VAT imposed onto them!
The first product to benefit from this new setup and policy wil be Robert Cezar's wonderful It's Your Plane series, and we'll start selling the new version on February 1st !!
Stay tuned !!
December 30th, 2007
Vancouver+ FSX gets Gold Star Award from Avsim
Jeff Shyluk, one of Avsim's Senior Staff Reviewers, has awarded our Vancouver+ for FSX an Avsim Gold Star Award for Excellence and published a very extensive and well-written review on their website. You can read the review PLUS an interview with Holger Sandmann here.
We're of course tremendously happy with the honest Avsim review, knowing that lots of people will read it. And if you found our site through it, even better, so we can show you around (see our Products Pages) and introduce you to some other top-notch products...... and more FSX and FS2004 products to come in 2008
Last but not least, where to BUY Vancouver+ FSX? For now it is available only through simMarket.com, but in early 2008 you will also be able to buy it on CD directly from us. Stay tuned!
December 20th, 2007
Product updates, news, and a warning
Grenoble Isère Airport is in 'packaging phase'. Unfortunately this last part of our production process proves to be exceptionally difficult. We have to deal with a number of variations in the installations, and figuring out how to make the installation as smooth as possible for the user is giving us some headaches = delays. We are sorry.... but keeping in FSAddon's true spirit of 'stellar customer support' we are NOT prepared to market a half-baked product. So we'll need to fix this. We beg for your patience !
We ran into a snag with the installer program of Central Florida Airports.... turns out that Windows Vista (foreign language?) users may have a problem installing it. We are feverishly working on finding out what happens and in fixing it ! Meanwhile it works just fine in XP.
AND customer reactions so far are encouraging !
We'll keep you posted !!
Last but not least an IYP 'lookalike' has been published; Flight1's Cockpit Chatter. And we're thrilled !!
For one because it proves that we were right! There is a market for these products !
And also because it shows we are WAY AHEAD in terms of functionality. There's a lot of ground between 'chatter' and a full-fledged co-pilot who can actually FLY THE PLANE for you, and do a myriad of other things RIGHT.
We're working on a nice comparison table to show you the difference... stay tuned ;-)
Meanwhile the first NEW IYP package is being tested and will be published early next year, soon followed by a range of exciting extensions. We'll have a TOUR GUIDE for you, AND a Tour Guide DESIGNER package in test as well! And of course (limited) cheaper 'entry packages' and a limited (to Cessna 172 and Boeing 737) demo.
The new version will also run OFF-LINE, so you do not need to be connected to the internet anymore if you don't want to (you will miss a few exciting features of course...... ).
Oh, and last but not least, we will have some exciting news early next year for budding MISSION BUILDERS !!
From the entire FSAddon 'crew' we wish you and yours a
MERRY CHRISTMAS
and a wonderful, healthy, prosperous and
HAPPY NEW YEAR !!
December 17th, 2007
FScene Design Network's first title
Yup, finally got 'round getting most of the preliminary work done. You have NO IDEA how much work it is to get a new series set up, including a new way of selling it.... or perhaps you have and I am just the biggest clums in the business. Who will know !??
Anyway, I can now present you Central Florida GA Airfields - Volume 1
for FSX, by none less than Joe Watson, well-known for his many freeware contributions to the hobby.
Go straight to OUR PRODUCTPAGE for more info and to purchase it ! We use the famous Flight1 Wrapper system for our FDN products, so you know you're in good hands !
Of course I am not sitting on my hands, and already working on the other three volumes of this series, so you can have all of central Florida complete in no time!
AND....... the packaging of the next FSAddon title (for FS2004 !!) is also almost done and should be ready for Christmas!
This is the already announced Grenoble Airport
by Antonio Totingue of France.
Last but not least we have a brand new page added to our website, especially for the FScene Design Network titles and upcoming titles..... check it out here !!!
As soon as I find some time (yeah, right) you can expect the following: - a series of Joe Watson add-ons for FSX, under the new Triple-7 ‘brand’
- a wonderful airfield near Grenoble, France, by Antonio Totingue, for FS2004
- a whole new series of IYP products, with varied pricing and additional functionality!
- the beta start of Tongass Fjords for FSX
- previews of Emma Field X ….. depending on Bill for now.
- newly packaged FSAddon products ON CD, produced ‘in-house’ !
- the ability to shop from my own website via the Flight1 wrapper system !
- a new FSAddon website…. see a preview here
- a Lysander add-on (with or without scenery)…. when our UK designer gets it out the door!
- a real e-commerce shop of our own… if and when I can solve some really nasty technical problems (i.e. I need a few months to get my programming skills back up to par)
- a real expansion of our ‘apparel’ shops
- a review of the new Space Shuttle Mission simulator
- a review of the Digital TripleHead2Go from Matrox
- write in Computer Pilot Magazine
I guess the GOOD NEWS is that a lot of things are coming…… the bad news is that I must ask you to not hold your breath because my insurance wouldn’t cover the claims that would undoubtedly ensue from such a life threatening action
Wishing you all a good Friday and a Good Weekend !
November 20th, 2007
We're back ! And It's Your Plane will go in hyper drive !!
With our Family Trip annex BMW Riders Meeting in Florida, the Microsoft FS Developers Conference in Seattle, and our Canada Trip out of the way, we're now back to talk business !
I will pick up work on the web site changes and internet shops we're building, but foremost on the list is a total 'restyling' of our IYP package. We know Flight1 is coming out with something similar, although it can't be better *cough*, so we'll have to parry. And we will !
For one, It's Your Plane is now 'proven technology'.... all our customers just LOVE it (click here, scroll down and see the comments we received). Robert has continuously improved and expanded it... even too much! We can't keep up!
So we're going to change a few things over the next few weeks.
We will have MULTIPLE offerings now, including some LIGHT VERSIONS for those who want more than a trial period, but do not want to spend all their money on the full package. So you will have a choice of a CHEAP PACKAGE if you want (and you can UPGRADE later on).
We will also have 'off-line' versions, both in download and in CD format, so you no longer have to stay connected to the internet (of course there are some things you will miss by doing so).
AND we will have two very specific ADD-ON programs to all these versions..... but we won't tell you until the competition is out with their product. ;-)
STAY TUNED FOLKS ! It's Your Plane has grown up now and is an adult killer app just waiting to be applied!!
October 23rd, 2007
Before I leave.........
Bags are packed, managed to keep them just a tad under 20 kilo... all THREE of them !! My notebook is still humming on the other desk, camera sits in the little rucksack, passports, credit cards, driver license checked. Adventure, here we come !!!
I don't want you to 'remain behind' empty handed though, so before I leave let me give you two small peeks of what I've been working on these past days....
The bit of news for my Flightsim friends and customers....
this one is VERY MUCH 'under construction', but just so you know things are a-coming !!
Taddaaaaaaaa..... !!!
My good friend Didier who made the pictures of the real one for us:
Hope to have more news for you (lots more, actually) upon our return, November 16th !
We'll hopefully have news and pictures of Florida (Fantasy of Flight maybe??), Seattle and the Microsoft FS Developers Conference (although most will be under NDA), and Vancouver (planned visits to Pitt Meadows, Vancouver Island, Vancouver itself, a ride in a Beaver.......
........... stay tuned ... and wish us good weather ! ;-)
October 11th, 2007
Westwood Inn Flying Club
Something else for a change. NOT the announcement of a new FSAddon.com Publishing product, but rather the announcement of a club of people who do their virtual flying in an area and with add-ons that we at FSAddon love so much too: bush flying in the Pacific North West! They had a 'closed club' for some two years now, and decided it is time to 'open up'.
Here's their official press release, please join me in wishing them well !
We are glad to announce ... The Westwood Inn virtual flying club
No, we are not a virtual airline. It does not even come close to that.
The club members are a small bunch of german speaking back country pilots who are dedicated small aircraft nuts. Whether we fly Bellanca Scouts or Piper Cubs, Pilatus Porters or Beavers, as long it has one propeller attached to the nose and big fat tundra tires or pontoons, we regard it as the real stuff. We drive 'em hard between the rocky mountains, over the endless tundra of the alaskan hinterland or at treetop levels in the heart of BC.
The Westwood Inn flying club is all about online flying (FSaddon's server) and what is related to it. Well, there are some minor deviations: discussing whisky, listening to real stories, ...
Located at ... well, the first Westwood Inn exists no more. It has long been burned to the ground. We feel at home where we are: by the camp fire at the shore of a lonely lake, at the bar in Maloney's Tavern, or in the air on a long trip to Sheldon's Cabin.
But a new one is on the drawing board. It will be one of the deserted airstrips at the Alsek River Dry Bay.
Its time now to open the doors and welcome new participants who are also interested in back country flying. If you are willing to fly with us on a regular base (almost every Monday), feel free to join us. The forum is our meeting place where things get organized and discussed. As a German and Swiss community we speak German, although we can understand some English too.
All you have to have is a weakness for small airplanes and the urge to fly them into the bush of the grand pacific northwest area. We have no fancy flight schedule, no duty roster, no heavies. But we have a lot of fun !
Alright chaps, get hold of the stick of your lil' plane, fly over and have drink at:
Antonio Totingue is one of our new authors and now working on his first commercial product. Antonio stems from Russia originally, but now lives in Europe's highest city, Grénoble, the capital of the Alps. So it is no coincidence that he decided to try his hand at an airport near to him, being able to make photos and get information first hand!
Antonio is building the St. Geoirs airport of Grénoble-Isère, a nice regional airport in a wonderful area, just at the foothills of the French Alps. We have the much appreciated co-operation of FranceVFR thereby enabling Antonio to make it fit the excellent FranceFRV Alpes Nord scenery and render that much more realism to the field and its surroundings. But he is also making a 'default mesh' version of it.
We have now posted more information on the product, including a bunch of screenshots of the Alpha version of St. Geoirs. Check out the Preview Page here !
September 28th, 2007
FDAddon's current projects
It has been quiet around our projects lately, for a few good reasons. Of course Summer is always a bad time for this business, both in terms of sales and of development. And FSX has made it necessary for most developers to learn lots of new things, and subsequently re-plan their projects.
But don't worry, we haven't sat on our hands at FSAddon, as the list below will show you. Here are some of the projects we are currently working on (and TWO projects are even for FS2004!):
NEW! Grenoble Isere Airport for FS2004, in conjunction and co-operation with FranceVFR's Alpes Nord Base Pack and Autogen Pack.
NEW! Emma Field X : you all know this one I presume. Bill and Holger have started.
UPGRADE. Tongass Fjords X : Holger has an early Alpha version already.
NEW! Lysanders at Moonlight : our FIRST complex AIRCRAFT (for FSX), with some scenery and missions. The base model is ready and Rob Young (of RealAir and MAAM fame) will start on the flight modeling soon!
NEW! 777 Series: FDN Joe Watson X Vol 1-4. 4 add-on packages for FSX to enhance the default scenery of ALL small Florida airfields.
NEW! European Mountain Airfields : This is will be a series of fields situated in the Alps in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and France.
NEW! Emma Field Flying School : after we launch Emma Field we'll also launch a brand new flying school for FSX (and later for FS9 probably too). It will use the IYP Server Technology, but encompass 'dynamic scenario's' with an instructor able to take over and get you back on track when you deviate from the lessons.
NEW! Misty Fjords X : later, folks.... Holger's gotta do Tongass first NOT 'just' an upgrade, because there will be major changes in this one.
NEW! 777 Series: FDN Scenery Collection : some authors are designing scenery objects to be sold separately and to be used for 'placement' in FSX by either Microsoft's standard tool or 3d party placement tools. First ones are basically ready.
NEW! The Big Secret : sorry, can't tell you about this one, just that it will be HUGE and aimed at having FUN in your FS World. Think 'The Sims' ..... ;-) Maybe even your wife will now learn to love Flight Simulator!
NEW! FSCargo X : started already many months ago, but stalled. The new FSCargo for FSX will have NEW functionality and concepts.
Special Projects
Boxed products : having boxed products produced for Flight Simulator is VERY expensive and a total waste of time to have it done by major publishers. The money that remains for the actual authors is just not worth it at all. So we decided to start making them ourselves and only sell them on request/order. Thereby we forgo the expense of having them produced in numbers AND distributed to retailers. The FSAddon Boxes will be expressly produced for people who can not download huge amounts of data, or want to have a CD in their hands.... in a plastic protective box, of course.
FSimShop : FSAddon Publishing will open its own on-line shop in addition to our major partner simMarket, for a number of reasons. We want to market low-priced FScene Design and other non-FSAddon products and can not bear the additional cost of a distributor. We also want to provide our customers an alternative place to shop for FSAddon products. And last but not least we want to have the ability to market some products of other developers and publishers as we see fit.
FSAddon US Shop : What with the problems in exchange rates these days, i.e. the US Dollar having dropped in value so much, many product's prices have become a real 'pain' for our US Customers! In order to support those customers specifically, we will open a US-ONLY on-line shop, with US Dollar prices. We will sell our products at competitive prices, thereby reducing the 'gap' between European and US customers possibilities. Since it means being paid LESS for both developers and publishers, we can only do it for products where the developers agree. I will be in the US and Canada in November to meet with local partners and make arrangements for this initiative.
FSSupport International : founded already back in 1999, this idea is finally being worked on. Over the years we got so many calls for (paid) help, that we feel now is the time to start this up officially. Not something that seasoned simmers and/or PC users will be interested in. But the group of 'first time users' is growing rapidly, there are still many people that live in remote places, or do not have many internet skills. We will provide FS support to them AND our partner (an established international company) will provide professional PC support where needed.
September 19th, 2007
FREE Newsletter for IYP
FSAddon.com's latest product "It's Your Plane" for FS9 and FSX is constantly being expanded and improved.
For instance it now not only supports most default MS ai craft but we also started implementing add-on ai craft, with Carenado's Cessna 182Q being the first fully featured model.
IYP now also supports OTHER speech technology and voices (AT&T's for instance).
There is too much going on to print in press releases every week, so we have started a newsletter service to keep you updated. You can subcribe to this FREE newsletter by clicking HERE.
Don't miss ANY of the enhancements and expansions anymore!
September 15th, 2007
Mystery at Emma Field
Sunday morning
It was one of those rather murky Sunday mornings with moisture dripping from the trees - teardrops of fog falling softly on the bed of old pine needles below. Sounds were dampened by the fog and visibility was poor all around. Even the animals stayed huddled up in their holes, dens or whatever sort of shelter they occupied.
Emma Field Airfield, normally bristling with life and a pool of noise in the otherwise quiet forest, was now a pool of silence. Not even the stork could be seen or heard. Gone was the usual hammering sound coming from the hangar near the runway. No smoke rose from the clubhouse or restaurant chimneys. Airplanes were tied down; their cockpits covered and wings glistening with moisture.
There was some movement at the far end of the deserted runway. It looked like a white-grey rabbit of sorts, diving back into its burrow. Perhaps it was just a trick of the light.
All doors on the buildings were closed and so was the gate to the field.
The quiet, almost solemn atmosphere was not that unusual this time of the year, with the summer gone and the rainy season starting in a few weeks, but it emphasized the somewhat decayed state of many of the buildings. At one time Emma Field was really thriving with over a thousand enthusiastic club members. Now, most of them remained only on paper, and forgot to pay their contributions, or to spend any dollars in the restaurant on Sundays. The tied-down aircraft along the runway belonged to the last hardcore Emma pilots!
The club had all but run out of money and things looked bad lately, especially since Fritz, the caretaker, was often away trying to find some other income somewhere.
But unknown to most, this was going to change!!!
If one could have taken off from Emma Field and flown west and if there hadn't been this darned fog, one would have seen a thin column of smoke rising from the dense forest towards Lake Cushman.
SOMEBODY was out there!
And it was this hint of smoke, or rather what was at the base of it, which would change the history of Emma Field once again!
Visitors
That Sunday morning a car engine could be heard approaching from the south. The driver slowed down as he approached the gate to the airfield, and then pulled over across the road from it. Two men got out. They looked like hunters and were dressed for the damp and cold circumstances. They locked the car, looked around, studied the deserted airfield for a while and then suddenly took off into the woods across from Emma Field. The only witness was a small dog sheltering from the drizzle underneath the overhanging roof of an old shed. The puppy didn't think much of it, of course, other than that he would have a few extra car tires at his disposition to pee upon.
Now, just walking off into the woods like that would be a tricky thing to do. You see, rumor has it that there is a still being operated in them there woods. Mind you, rumor also has it that a few ATF inspectors are said to have mysteriously disappeared over the past few years. Perhaps all this talk about stills, moonshine, shotguns and Fritz' old Uncle Elmer was just something to take the mind of flying on those dreary winter evenings, while propping up the bar at the Emma Restaurant,. None of this has ever been officially confirmed but locals would think twice before heading out into those woods.
Anyway it was already getting dark that day when the two fellas reappeared from the depths of the dark forest. They seemed pretty happy, laughing and slapping each other on the back before they climbed aboard their Ford truck. They took off with some vigor and headed back south to where they had come from.
Rumors
The reason I have reported the above story is because there are more rumors - AND some facts - to share with you.
The rumors have it that the two guys mentioned above came down to Emma to do 'business'. And with 'business' we mean that they talked to Uncle Elmer about expanding his ‘fluids business’ to a much larger area than just family and the local flying club!
THAT would explain where Fritz, all of a sudden, found extra funds to have a MAJOR upgrade done to some of the buildings. And perhaps how he got the money to finally get that old Piper Cub airborne again?
And facts......
Well, I leave the rumors for what they are and you can discuss them in the bar or in the clubhouse. Let me get down to some facts about Emma Field X then:
FACT #1: the work on Emma Field X (our rendition for the new Flight Simulator X), that had already started, has been stopped. The original main author, Richard Goldstein, regrettably has no time to work on it anymore and had to bow out of this long-running project.
So, with that bad news out of the way, here's the good news:
FACT #2: we have found two worthy successors to Richard and the NEW Emma Field X will be built from the ground up by them. They are Bill Womack and Holger Sandmann !!
FACT #3: Emma Field X - and its community - will continue its long tradition of being a cozy, secluded and quiet place for GA pilots, built with the highest quality of techniques, creativity and support. Yes, there will be some changes but the atmosphere of the place will remain the same!
FACT #4: we have started work on the new title and we welcome ideas and suggestions from all customers and potential customers. That said, we will NOT add an ILS or other newfangled stuff that bush pilots and Sunday flyers really can do without ;-)
We will keep you all updated via our various websites and forums, and above all via the Emma Field Community Forum on simFlight!
September 8th, 2007
Partnership with Carenado
FSAddon.com and Carenado are happy to announce that FSAddon Publishing's unique "It's Your Plane" software now also works for Carenado's excellent Piper Dakota aircraft. We have included the full checklists for the aircraft. And of course Michelle, your virtual co-pilot, can assist you through every minute of your flight. Or just help you with certain things if you like.
Carenado's Piper Dakota was originally designed for FS2004, but with a patch provided free on their website, all aircraft can be upgraded for use in FSX! More information on the Piper Dakota can be found on Carenado's website and it can be purchased from simMarket.
"It's Your Plane" will add a virtual co-pilot to your aircraft AND a full range of checklists. You can interact with Michelle via voice commands and she will understand ALL regular (and even not-so-regular) aviation commands from you. Not only that, she will also EXECUTE all requested actions from you and can even fly the plane entirely by herself!
Plans are for other Carenado aircraft to be interfaced as well. We will keep you posted of progress!
September 2nd, 2007
Sneak Preview of Tongass Fjords FSX
Holger Sandmann is hard at work to bring us Tongass and Misty in FSX !
Tongass Fjords will be the first one out the door, because Misty needs more work in adding more detailed airfields, to make it up to the same level as the (newer) Tingass Fjords.
Holger writes "......When I showed those first shots last December (!) I was blissfully unaware how much work really is needed to develop a landscape/airfield package that fully utilizes what FSX has to offer in terms of data/texture resolution and features. Basically, we started from scratch......". Find thescreenshots here !
July 5th, 2007
It's Your Plane - Dedicated Website
It's Your Plane is a program with a considerable threshold and some learning curve. That means that many people find it somewhat daunting to get it installed and running.
Fact is, it's easy! But so is everything once you know how it is done, right? So our efforts are twofold ever since we've released it:
continuously expand the program with more functions, more aircraft and more checklists
trying to make it easier to install and use
In order to do the latter we now have added a dedicated website (AND integrated in our FSAddon website here), that will hopefully address some of the problems users have been battling with lately.
We also have GOOD NEWS...... we are going to offer you an INTRODUCTION PRICE of 30 Euros (instead of the regular 34).
And we have MORE good news: if you already own Vancouver+ for FS9, we will give you a DISCOUNT of 20% on the FSX Version (when bought through simMarket.com!!!).
Stay tuned for a release date somewhere early July !!
May 31st, 2007
First VancouverPlus for FSX pictures
Jon and crew have picked up work again after Microsoft's FS SP1 was 'frozen', and work on VancouverPlus for FSX is now progressing rapidly. A LOT of enhancements AND additions have been worked into the original FS2004 version, a LOT of work had to be 're-done' due to technical changes in the FS technology, AND there are new features added, such as the complete, highly detailed airfield of Langley !
CLICK HERE for some of the Vancouver City shots and CLICK HERE to see what is going on at Langley Field !
May 19th, 2007
Crashing Heavies - And learning to live with Michelle!
We have been watching the hesitant first steps of a bunch of people taking us up on the 15-day trial. Surprisingly we have NOT heard from most of them, although they are on-line most every day. So we are in some sort of vacuum in space and time, not knowing what is happening.
But we DO have a suspicion!
We suspect that the learning curve is rather steep.... and we are working on a better website to help users on their first steps !
But it may also be that users are too shy to admit they are having some 'challenges' with getting Michelle to be cooperative.
Just to show you that this isNORMAL, I have written down my OWN experiences when starting with It's Your Plane. Bear in mind, I am a General Aviation, VFR pilot in real life.. and a very unexperienced one at that, and usually fly similar smaller planes in the sim as well.
So driving a Boeing 737 is NOT something I do often, I didn't like it very much up till now, and am certainly not experienced in the whole procedure of getting from A to B in one.
Okay, so we took a few days longer to get it in the shop..... but it's here now!
We were fiddling with a few minor items that popped up in the last minute, and decided to postpone selling It's Your Plane for a few days..... while people could already start playing with the Trial anyway!
We've had over 500 visitors to the sample pages in the past two days, so there is enough interest it seems.
We continue to URGE you to try before you buy, because we KNOW it takes some getting used to. We also know that once you have it all running, you will NOT want without Michelle anymore. So, once you reach that point, go to the simMarket product page here, and buy your license !!
Meanwhile we're already hard at work to add more aircraft to the Base Pack and the FSX version is already running and 90% ready !!!
May 1st, 2007
It's Your Plane now available for TRIAL
As promised, May 1st sees the release of It's Your Plane - Base Pack !!
And oh surprise... you can NOT purchase it yet !! Nope, we'll keep the shop closed until Friday ... ! We do NOT want your dollars when you don't like this product.. so try it first!
The trial is FULLY FUNCTIONAL, no limitations.... just that it will STOP working after 15 days ! Check back here on Friday, May 3rd, 2007, or go directly to simMarket at that time.
We have ALL found that this is GREAT software and a true enrichment of our simulation experience, but IT NEEDS TIME and a little perseverance to get to know it and fully appreciate it.
So do yourself a favor.... and set some time aside ! You will thank us for this later !!!
Richard Goldstein and I have started discussing the actual scope of the 'new' Emma Field (for FSX). Richard has now finished his Yellow Stone Park product, moved house, got a new Internet connection and can now finally focus his attention on this long-promised new Emma Field.
We already have a pretty good idea of what will be 'in' and what will be 'out' (after all, this is a 5 year old product now, and not everything is still interesting), but we still want YOUR SUGGESTIONS. No promises as to whether or not we can include them, but we'll try !
Jon Patch and Team have been hard at work these past months to make a new version of Vancouver+ 1.1, so FSX owners can enjoy the added reality as well. VancouverX will be much MORE than just a 'port' from FS2004 to FSX. Jon and Holger have added many new features, making the 'X-version' definitely an 'extension' to the FS2004 version !!
One of those 'extra's' will be the inclusion of a further detailed airfield, Langley Regional Airport. Read below what Jon has to say about it:
"....Inspired by Kevin Herlihy (who contacted me over a year ago), we’ve been working on adding a new detailed airport to Vancouver+ for FSX: CYNJ, Langley Regional Airport. Airport manager George Miller has allowed Kevin excellent access to the site for photography, and we are in process of purchasing high-resolution airphoto data from the Township of Langley. We will provide photoreal models of major buildings and objects, and photoreal display of the airport area. Runways and other maneouvering surfaces will be FSX standard textures.
The facility is currently adding new hangers, and turf runway 07/25 is temporarily closed during construction, and will be shifted in position slightly when re-opened. We may be able to squeeze these changes into the release.
Home to 300 aircraft, I’m very pleased that we’ll be able to add this busy field to Vancouver+.....".
April 18th, 2007
"It's Your Plane" Software gone GOLD
After many 10's of thousands of miles of testing and more testing, "It's Your Plane" Base Pack software is now finished and ready for production. We are working on getting the final documentation up to specs and add some more documents to help you use IYP and ALSO to help you make better use of your Flight Simulator. THAT is what much of the product is about.... increasing your enjoyment and the level of realism !
Target date for release is May 1st..... please help us cross our fingers... this IS a software project after all ;-)
Although FSAddon.com and Silver Cloud Publishing so far have mainly marketed their own products, we are now happy to recommend something that is not ours, nor made for MS Flight Simulator.
Being a helicopter fan myself I have 'played' every helo simulation and only one or two were good enough to keep me glued to the monitor. The first was
the good old Longbow, and the other was Enemy Engaged.
Released in 2000, the original Enemy Engaged set the standard for 21st century flight sims with stunningly realistic visuals and attention to detail. Enemy Engaged 2 is set to take the series even further with new dynamic missions and a complete overhaul of the graphics and audio to bring the game up to date with the latest and best flight simulations available.
Enemy Engaged 2 has been in development since early 2005 and is scheduled for release in April 2007.
JUST CLICK ON THE BANNER BELOW to pre-order ENEMY ENGAGED 2 !!!
March 29, 2007
Try Before You Buy
I have always found that a great concept. How many times have you wondered about this or that 'tool' for your PC, but were not sure if it would REALLY do what you were looking for?
In the FS industry it is often difficult to incorporate that option into products. We're having stuff pirated enough as it is already. But with It's Your Plane we can offer the option, because it runs on a central server that we can easily control.
So It's Your Plane will have a try-before-you-buy option and we hope our customers will appreciate it...... and THEN buy it, of course *grin*.
March 26 , 2007
Mysterious Michelle is on her way to your PC
Captain, it's your plane....', Michelle says with a melodious but firm voice.
You grasp the yoke a little firmer and peer through the fog, trying to make out the runway lights that should be visible by now.
"Flaps 20", you bark to your co-pilot, hands moist with tension.
"Flaps 20...", Michelle repeats and moves the flaps lever to the required position.
You 'feel' the slight attitude change of the big aircraft, and you see the speed reduce further.
Where the heck are those lights.... !!??
At that point your wife pokes her head around the door of your 'office'.
"Dinner is ready in 5 minutes, hon !"
Poof ! There goes the 'dream'....
Michelle says nothing......
Another botched landing in London's dense fog......
Well, we can't do anything about your wife intruding in your simulated flying, nor would we want to, really. But we CAN make your experience so much more real !
When you install 'It's Your Plane', thereby adding our wonderful co-pilot Michelle to your Flight Simulator by doing so, we can guarantee that your flying will never be the same again.
It's Your Plane is different from all 'speech' and 'sound' add-ons for MS Flight Simulator published so far. It goes way beyond being just a sound addition, or even an artificial co-pilot. It's Your Plane adds virtual co-pilot Michelle, who TALKS to you, and LISTENS to you AND actually performs ALL co-pilot functions that a real co-pilot would perform. It's Your Plane uses Peter Dowson's FSUIPC interface to accomplish the latter.
In fact, you can now fly a Boeing 747 from cold and dark start-up all the way till landing 1000's of miles away without EVER touching the controls YOURSELF...... and without touching the KEYBOARD! Or various other planes, for that matter.
You tell Michelle what to do and she will fly the plane, if you so choose.
It's Your Plane is the first in a series of products that will forever change the way you use Microsoft's Flight Simulator. No longer are you alone in the cockpit, no longer are you talking to yourself or to a non-listening artificial ATC, or even VATSIM controllers. From now on you have a companion who will help you fly your aircraft, read out all the checklists and make sure that checks are complete, communicate with the outside world and even control the various switches, levers and dials for you !
It's Your Plane is conceived and programmed by Robert Cezar of Canada, and brought to you by FSAddon.com Publishing
This is an exciting program. WE are excited that it is almost ready. Our beta testers are excited at how GOOD it is. And we are convinced that YOU will be excited once you have started using it.
You want to know who this mysterious Michelle is? You are curious to learn which aircraft have been prepared for you and her ? You are itching to learn our further plans for the series?
Holger posted a few pictures himself in our Beta Forum, and I didn't want to withhold them from you. Just an impression how wonderful this FREEWARE title is going to be...... it will complement Misty Fjords and Tongass Fjords wonderfully !!
Last night I toured around Holger Sandmann's Beta Version of his new Glacier Bay product. Glacier Bay Version 2 will be freeware and quite a few other authors have chipped in to make this yet another breath taking Alaskan experience. It includes wonderful airports such as Juneau and Yakutat, many smaller fields and settlements and basically all the goodies you find in products such as Misty Fjords and Tongass Fjords.
Glacier Bay connects seamlessly to the north of our Tongass Fjords, thereby making the total 'real life' area in that part of the world one of the best available in all of FS2004 !
The first is a small PATCH for Tongass Fjords. It turned out that one particular seasons file was at fault, causing problems in adjacent areas of photo scenery (among others Orcas Island was affected. Holger fixed it and now all is well in that region !
The other addition is the newer version (update) of Mark Smith's Bremerton Airport. It has been available for a long time, but I always forgot to upload it here.
January 9th, 2007
A New Year and a NEW Multiplayer Server !!!
After having wrestled with the availability of the Multiplayer Server, I have finally found a new provider. This one is based in the US as opposed to the old one in The Netherlands. That will probably mean better performance for US users, and a bit slower response for us Europeans... we'll see.
Unfortunately in order to get a better price I had to pay a YEAR in ADVANCE, and the funds for the old one were already depleted. So...................
although the use of it is FREE to anyone, some financial 'help' is VERY WELCOME !
If you want to help me finance the server, then please donate some money via my PayPal Account (on the name of Silver Cloud Publishing, my private company):
AlternatIvely you can also use simMarket, but in that case not the entire amount will be used for the server.
December 30th , 2006
Another rave review of Vancouver+ 1.1
Larry Mudge, together with Nick Churchill (pictures) wrote another enthusiastic review about our Vancouver+ product. We're too modest to repeat his words here (well, not really, but we'd rather you read it ALL...<ahem>) so here is the LINK to read the review !
Many thanks to Larry for his kind words, and to the many customers who already bought Vancouver and sent us their compliments!
Let us also take the opportunity here and now to wish you ALL
a very
HAPPY, PROSPEROUS AND ABOVE ALL HEALTHY 2007 !!!
December 14th , 2006
More awards for FSAddon and its Authors .... !!
Today the Austrian based and German-language Bush-Pilots.net published their 2006 awards on their forum!
The Bush-Pilots are a fast growing
virtual club catering for the needs of the German language enthusiasts and were actually founded when Misty Fjords was published! No wonder then that they just love such landscapes and sceneries.
FSAddon.com is proud and happy to share in their enthusiasm and be at the 'base' of it in many ways.
Today Holger Sandmann recieved the Bush-Pilots Award for BEST FREEWARE (for all his work), and FSAddon.com and its authors received the Bush-Pilots Award for BEST PAYWARE SCENERY with our Tongass Fjords.
A warm THANK YOU
to all Bush-Pilots members who cared to vote !
December 7th , 2006
FSX just got a whole lot better .... !!
No, they didn't release another patch....... something BETTER ! Holger Sandmann (and our other authors too) has been very busy trying to get to grips with the new simulator 'inners' and he just posted the first results on the Tongass Forum. But it looks SO good, that I wanted to put them up here too.... just for those of you who don't watch the forums ;-)
Holger writes ".......Below are a couple of landscape shots I took this evening. The ground textures in use are actually the 4-m res Tongass sets (the FSX versions will probably include 1- or 2-m sets) but it looks pretty neat even with those; and no desert-like default textures anymore!
Special thank-you to Jay Langham whose ice float models you see in the glacier shots. Very cool the way they reflect in the water........".
I just HAD to put these up here....... isn't it amazing !??
November 28th , 2006
FSCargo Large Areas uploaded to FSAddon
To get you started flying larger cargoes, Jaap van Hees has kindly provided a zip file with some larger cargo areas, situated in Western Europe. You can find the file in the Cargo Area Download page here on FSAddon.com (check here).
With the built-in editor in FSCargo 1.2 you can of course easily make your own areas, anywhere in the world, for any size aircraft and airport now !
Have fun you freight dawgs !!!
November 23rd , 2006, Thanksgiving Day !
FSCargo Version 1.2 for FS9 NOW AVAILABLE !!!!!!
Ha ! We did it a few hours before our self-imposed deadline...... and 4 months later than planned.. oh well... !
FSCargo 1.2 is NOW ready for download for existing customers... FREE !!
Just hop to your simMarket account and get the Upgrade Patch that will be available at your original purchase page.
And for the HEAVY FLYERS..... now is your chance.. we support anything from the 172 to the 747 now !!!
Have fun !!!!
November 21st , 2006, Europe/US
FSCargo Version 1.2 for FS9 ready!!
.... and will soon be published...... THIS WEEK !!
For current owners of FSCargo 1.0 there will be an 'upgrade' available on their simMarket User Account Area (in purchase History), that will patch BOTH existing versions (1.0 and 1.1) automatically.
NEW customers will get Version 1.2 from simMarket on purchase and do NOT need the Upgrade Patch.
I will post a message HERE and on our Support Forum when the version is available later this week.
For more information about WHAT is INCLUDED, check our FORUM.
November 12th , 2006, Europe/US
Vancouver Upgrade to Version 1.1 Available!!
As announced (below) the new versin of Vancouver, Version 1.1, is ready and now also available.
There seem to have been quite a few questions from existing users, so let me answer a few of them here:
- YES, Vancouver 1.1 is for FS9 only.
- YES, Vancouver 1.1 is FREE for existing customers, and you can download it from simMarket fater logging into your account there.
- PLEASE NOTE, that existing users FIRST have to run the 'CONFIGURATOR' (which you used on initial installation), and choose Restore Defaults from it !!
This will restore some of the changes that have been made for Vancouver 1.0. THEN you need to UNINSTALL Vancouver 1.0 (the option can be found via your Start menu in Windows), and AFTER all that you can install Version 1.1.
We hope this clears things up a bit. But you can always visit our dedicated support forum, and ask for help there ! We'll be happy to get you going again!
Jon Patch and Team have finalized the Upgrade of VancouverPlus for FS2004 and we will upload it to the distributor (simMarket) this week. VancouverPlus Version 1.1 is available for FREE for existing customers. New customers will get VancouverPlus 1.1 automatically on purchase from simMarket.
Just a very small pick of the many improvements, fixes, additions and enhancements: new, additional AI float planes such as the DHC-3 Otter and the DHC-6 (Twin Otter), extensive AI float plane traffic modelled after real-world flights, and fixes of minor problems on AI aircraft.Fixed problems on some airports, improved quality of building models and textures, modified various airports. Added many buildings, improved textures on them, and created new textures for corrugated roofs. The SkyBridge was added and other bridges were enhanced. Boats and AI ships were enghanced and some problems fixed (such as AI boats shpwing up in the Aircrft list).
Also some issues with Ultimate Terrain were corrected and new installation options added to further improve compatibility.
And many many more... they are all listed in the 65-page manual accompanying the product (included in the download).
We'll post a brief message here as soon as the simMarket product page has been updated !
November 1st, 2006, Europe/US
Finally, some news !
So FSX has hit the streets and PC's of customers. And sparked the 'usual' spike in forum posts all around the world, but primarily from (not-so-happy) hard-core flightsimmers. No surprise really, and no different from most previous new releases. What IS different this time is that MS has already promised a follow-up, because the current hardware and software is not really 'up to it'. MS planned for FSX to be run on Windows Vista, and with use of the new DX10 graphics software and new graphics cards..... none of which are available to the public yet !!
Unfortunately this is somewhat of a mystery to many customers, either because they are not aware (all those beginning simmers out there !!), or because they don't understand. Whatever the case, it DOES mean that one has to upgrade his/her hardware and software some time next year (again), it means that currently nobody can run FSX anyhwere near its maximum potential, and it also means we'll certainly be supporting FS9 products for more months than we anticipated!
On to some news then:
FSAddon.com on the Dutch FS Weekend
Firts of all, we really look forward actually MEETING our (Dutch?) customers. FSAddon.com has rented a booth (table <grin>) at the Dutch FS Weekend this Saturday and Sunday (4 and 5 November) at the Lelystad Airport (Aviation Museum Aviodrome).
This is our VERY FIRST presentation 'as FSAddon' and we're really looking forward to it. Although we have only very limited means (an old, slow spare PC with a very mediocre ATI 9600 graphics card in it), we can at least TELL you about our products and plans ! ;-)
This is truly the world's largest FS event (don't bother with the other claims ;-) ) and you can find more info about it right here.
VancouverPlus Version 1.1 is almost ready for publication. This will be a free update for existing customers. Jon has added tons of stuff such as new buildings, addtitional AI planes, flight plans, bridges and more. He also changed, fixed and improved a myriad of small details (and some bigger ones). A complete list is part of the (adjusted) documentation.
FSCargo Version 1.1 is also almost ready. We have now added cargo items for mid-sized and larged aircraft. It means you can now load up your old DC-3, or your 747 Combi Freighter! Not only the freight objects have been added, but also the cargo area objects. For larger freigt operations we have new light poles. AND there now is an indicator showing you where to find the cargo area. We expect release soon after the Lelystad FS Weekend.
Emma Field for FSX -- for all of you familiar with this wildly successful and innovating scenery product originally released by LAGO in Italy, there is good news. Since LAGO all but retreated from the FS add-on market the only thing keeping Emma alive was the vibrant user community on the Emma Field Flying Club, hosted and managed since its inception by yours truly, on the simFlight Network.
FSAddon.com has contacted both the original authors AND the LAGO organization, and it looks like we're very close to taking over the 'brand name' and able to build a NEW Emma Field, for FSX, published by FSAddon.com. We will keep you informed on any progress on this exciting project !
September 30th, 2006, Europe/US
Finally, some news !
Yes, it has been quiet around here, but that doesn't mean nothing is happening. As with most developers and publishers the upcoming FSX has a big influence in the day-to-day runing of things. Not different here. And we have some exiting news... BUT... we are not yet abandoning FS9 as some of our colleagues prophetize ! Of course most NEW development will be for FSX now, but we have some good news for current FS9 customers too. Let's get to it:
First of all, Vancouver+ Version 1.1. Jon and crew are almost done with a major upgrade of Vancouver+, making it Version 1.1. It has just landed on the machines of our Beta Team and should be ready for publication in a few weeks. That's a FREE upgrade for existing customers !
Secondly, FSCargo Upgrade: this one has been long planned and been delayed quite a few times. But we now have a new Beta Version ready that will go to the B-Team this weekend ! The MAJOR improvements are two-fold: an indication of WHERE the cargo area is..... and LARGER cargoes so our airliner pilots can start having some fun too !
FSX News:
There is that too. As you all will have noticed it has gone VERY quiet around Vauchez and his plans to build us Vancouver Interational, CYVR, as we and he intended a year ago. His Portland was delayed until today, and hence so was Vancouver. Even to such an extent that we have now decided together that he will NOT continue to plan on it.
That's the bad news.
The GOOD news is that instead Bill Womack and Jon Patch will work to build a detailed CYVR for FSX, fitting for Vancouver+ !!
More good news comes from Maurizio Gavioli, the 'Wizzard of Oz'. He has managed to 'crack the code' of FSX, needed to build a NEW FSCargo that will have similar ... and MORE... functionaility as our wildly succesful FS9 version of it.
We can't give you ANY timeframe yet, because we will want to add some new and very interesting functions to it..... some of which we are already testing now !
So you see... there IS news, and some of it will be ready to download fairly soon even !
Now.. back to work... thanks for reading !
August 24th, 2006, Europe/US
More Awards for FSAddon's Products !
FSAddon's top products Misty Fjords and Tongass Fjords raked in more awards !! We would like to take the opportunity to thank our customers and the various magazines, FS sites and reviewers for publicly showing their appreciation. Half of the fun of creating something is to see others are happy with ones creations!
Misty Fjords received a place amongst the 'Best of Flight Simulator 2004' products list of the French Micro Simulateur magazine. They published a 'special'
to honor all special FS2004 add-ons that have been piublished for the sim over the past three years! We are proud to be in the company of such brilliant programs as FSNavigator, MAAM's B-25, FSUIPC, Bill and Lynn Lyons' creations, FlightZone's Rhode Island..... and Emma Field !!!
Tongass Fjords too received some awards already, most notably TWO from Flugsimulation.com of Germany. They awarded us an Award for Excellence and an Award for Innovation. We got two more awards from two different Polish reviewers, with which we ar equally happy !
Even though FSX is around the corner we are very happy with the interest for our Tongass Fjords, which indeed makes the area look better than ANY other add-on.. and we're pretty confident that this will not change anytime soon ;-)
August 11th, 2006, Europe/US
Performance Update for Tongass Fjords
Bill Womack and Holger Sandmann have been hard at work to make some changes to increase performance of Tongass Fjords. A small number of customers experienced problems in certain areas of the scenery, and so Bill and Holger set out to try and tweak Tongass Fjords some more. After all, no matter how well a product gets tested, each and every PC setup is different and there will always be cases where a product causes problems non-observed by others.
The result is an Update that can be downloaded from our FSAddon Download Page and installed onto the original Tongass Fjords. Instructions are provided of course. Click here to go to the Tongass Download Page.
July 29th, 2006, Europe/US
Add-on for Tongass Fjords -->> FSCargo Areas !!!
Jaap van Hees and Emmett McRobie have made another wonderful FREE addition for FSAddon's FSCargo. This time they are offering you over 50 Cargo Areas for the Tongass Fjords area, including an excellent and extensive manual !
Download it from our donwload pages (check here !).
AND we have a new video, showing some of the many features of Tongass Fjords. This one is contributed by Jeff Greth and can be found on the download page too.
Tongass Fjords has already sold hundreds of copies in the first few days after being released and is well on its way to become another 'classic' FS scenery ! Please see our product page and the simMarket shop for more information !
July 26th, 2006, Europe/US
Tongass Fjords is LIVE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our BEST title to date without any doubt.....Tongass Fjords covers 70.000 square kilometers of breathtaking Alaskan landscapes between Misty Fjords and Juneau. An area far larger than Switzerland, for
instance. Also included Sitka Airport and town, Petersburg, Wrangel and many more. Airfields, seaplane bases, AI shipping and air traffic.
Also in BUNDLE with Misty Fjords.... with a 25% discount on the latter !!!
"....It has ALL of the REAL landscape's features; exact coastlines, lakes, rivers, mountains..... based on topographical maps of the area. Special textures to show you glaciers, forestry work, gravel beds in the rivers, forest and snow dependeing on altitude and season, townships etc.
All the roads (not that there are many), settlements, towns, with special Landclass files.
And, very important novelty compared to Misty Fjords, there now are airfields, airstrips, settlements, seaplane basis. Some extremely detailed such as Sitka. But Wrangel and Petersburg and many others are now included, thanks to Bill Womack's excellent work !
Did we mention animated shipping, people paddling in kayaks, extensive seaplane AI traffic all over the place?
The new title is completely compatible with Misty Fjords, Freight Dogs, Ultimate Terrain and FSGenesis products !!! ...."'
More Tongass Fjords screenshots..... end of July release expected!!
I don't need to tell you what Tongass Fjords is anymore..... you either read it in previous news items here, or on the various forums... or you just came here becasue you know and all you want to hear is WHEN we will RELEASE IT !!
Well, don't despair... we're almost there ! Just one or two niggling anomalies have to be solved this week, a few typos and faults in the manual to be corrected.... and we'llupload it to simMarket ! Hopefully the end of the month will be do-able now.. so STAY TUNED !!
Meanwhile Nick Churchill and others have providsed us with some wonderful new screenshots, which we will gladly share with you :
Ah, and the latest news is that Tongass Fjords CUSTOMERS who do NOT own Misty Fjords yet, will get a discount of 25% on Misty Fjords if they buy BOTH titles IN ONE ORDER from simMarket!
June 11 2006, Europe/US
New Tongass Fjords screenshots posted......
Tongass Fjords is making real progress, with the FINAL BETA being loaded on our tester's machines now !
Holger Sandmann has made a series of screenshots to illustrate the astounding difference Tongass Fjords makes as compared to the default Microsoft landscape AND to other add-ons such as Ultimate Terrain. On a separate page we have added quite a few screenshots to show some of the new objects and other features that will be available to you after installing Tongass.
Check out the Preview page for a set of comparisons shots and on the bottom of that page is a link to a second preview page as well !
We're still shooting for a July release...... just in time for the summer holidays !
May 21, 2006, Europe/US
Development of Tongass Fjords progressing......
Soon, very soon the Final Beta of our next 'Big Hitter' will reach the test team and then we're on the home stretch for a Summer Release. Tongass Fjords is the successor to the incredibly successful and popular Misty Fjords, and will continue northwards where Misty Fjords stopped.
It will be LARGER, BETTER, MORE BEAUTIFUL and with even more features than Misty Fjords, bringing that part of the world to an unprecedented level of reality for FS2004. Not only will there be the AI shipping and all buoys known from Misty, but now we'll include AI seaplanes, BIRDS, custom-built houses for over 20 settlements, improved textures AND a COMPLETE AIRFIELD........ no, there will be MORE than that.
Check out the Preview page for a few initial pictures today. We'll update the page soon with an extensive features list and Final Beta Screenshots soon thereafter.
You DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS ONE ..... okay, so we're excited... does it show !!???
April 7 , 2006, Europe/US
FSAddon teams up with Griffin Studios......
And brings you the wonderful DVD called Idaho Exposed, distributed via simMarket. Kevin Griffin of Griffin Studios is the videographer of this extremely interesting and beautiful video, showing you the Idaho backcountry flying done by Herb Millhorn in his Cessna 185 taildragger. Herb flies us around from one small airstrip to another, to ranches and even to the Mile Hi strip which is even LESS than a 'strip'.
The the product page is up and ready and the video is available from simMarket now. It is tested in both the US (with NTSC tv's) and Europe (with PAL systems) and it works fine on 97% of all DVD players.
The DVD sells for Euro 24.50 plus shipping and comprise 89 minutes of awesome nature and exciting flying, narrated in a relaxed way by Herb Millhorn himself !
April 6 , 2006, Europe/US
FSAddon Multiplayer Server is running dry......
Although there are less simpilots on-line lately (due to Spring coming ??) I assume there still is a desire to have some MP server sessions running. Unfortunately I am running out of funds to pay for the server.. the next 3-month rental period is up at the end of the month, and with only 74 Euros left in the till, there is not enough to pay for it (needs over 200 Euros each Quarter).
So, to all of you who would like to keep this service (and server!) running, you can help me by donating a few Euros again...... I'll etch the names of the supporters digitally in the Support Page 2006 !! :-))
Thanks for all your support so far..... and please USE the server.. that's what it is there for !!.
Yup, it's available now from our trusted distributor, simMarket.com. Bill and Lynn's latest title is all about flying VIP's around from one exotic place to another.... come rain come sunshine. And all that in a nice, sleek and shiny private jet.
When we decided to launch Salt Lake City Photo we did not want to make it a 500Mb file to download.... so we only included the Summer textures. (That's all we have source data for, after all). But invariably that means that you get to see 'grey textures' when choosing to fly any other season. Not perfect, but hey !
However, Rémy has come up with a solution for it. When you download his 'patch' and install it as advertised, then run the little batch file, you will see summer textures during ALL seasons.. and no more grey areas.
Check out our download section, look for Salt Lake City...... hope this solves the problems you might have had with our new product!
Kindest regards,
François
March 28th, 2006, USA
'Flying with the Stars' by Bill Lyons
Who doesn't know Bill Lyons.... or his Customs Classic series of old airrcraft, his 'adventures', his knack for something 'different and fun' ?
Well, Lynn and Bill have chosen FSAddon.com as their publishing house, and are making a 'come-back' in the world of Flight Simulator aircraft and scenery design after having taken a well deserved break. Bill's first project with us is a rather special one; he's protrayed a cute little business jet, the Sino Swearingen SJ30, and its 'inhabitants' !
Yes, quite different from what you are used to expect, but it being a Bill Lyons creation, please take my word for it: it is FUN !
We've drawn up a preview page, so you can read and see what's coming.... and there is already another title on the drawing board too... more on that later.
Yup, we've made it. Thanks to CoBoy Design, Ken Peters and our Beta testers we managed to get it out as announced... Phew !!
This is CoBoy Design's (AND FSAddon's) first photoscenery and we're excited about the possibilities. We hope you are going to like it as much as we do, and that it will fill its niche on your hard disks and in your hearts.
Salt Lake City Photo is a learning experience and we're committed to make it a success. And the successor is already in the works too!
You've probably read it already in the news or on forums, but my good friend Bill and his wife Lynn have decided to 'come on over' !!
Bill Lyons has been a 'hallmark' in the FS industry for many years, and his name is equivalent to high-quality, and above all very original, fun products at very reasonable prices... ;-)
So obviously I am extremely happy AND proud to have him join our little company and have the opportunity to serve our growing list of customers to an even larger array of great FS products !
Bill and Lynn have started a new company for this, JLAB Simulations, and their first product will be the 'Flying with the Stars' project, featuring a somewhat 'a-typical' (for Bill) bizjet !
Although the Sino Swearingen SJ30-2 is NOT what you'd expect Bill to come up with, his 'added adventure' certainly fits the well-known mould ! The jet is a relatively simple-to-fly
copy of the real one, but with LOTS of fun features and additions! The idea is that you fly for Red Carpet Xpress and your main task is to usher VIPS of the entertainment industry from one place to another.... fast and safe!
We'll have the full product page with preview shots up later today or tomorrow.... so check back soon !!
Salt Lake City Photo on schedule !
We're still good for a Friday 24th release of this exciting new forray in the world of Photoscenery, brought to you by another new partner of FSAddon.com, CoBoy Design from France !
We already posted some preview shots, and we'll finish the final product page for this title within the next two days ....
François
February
23rd,
2006, Europe
What we are doing.......
Due to a lot of other work, both FSAddon and other, I haven't had much time for updates lately. Since I see a lot of visits to the site, I figured you're all looking for news..... ;-)
Some of things we are/I am working on then:
Salt Lake City Photo - a new scenery based on photos for the ground textures, something quite different from our other products. This one is being developed by CoBoy Design and in final beta testing now. Testers are enthusiastic about it, even though it is 'different' !
Sado Island Photo - another photo scenery, by Fumio Kitade from Japan, that has been long in the making. Other work got in the way... my fault mainly.... but now we're working on it again. The last update that is being made now is to make the trees season-dependent..... after that we will start making the installer!
Tongass Fjords - Holger is back on base and both he and Bill Womack are hard at work to deliver the first Beta of this new work of art. We had a first Alpha version already late last year, and that looked just as fabulous as Misty Fjords and Vancouver......
FSCargo 1.1- was released a few days ago, adding a lot of new things to the product, and changing some of the exisiting features on popular demand. Maurizio is now working on '1.2', adding some more features. We have sold over a 1000 now (including Freight Dogs), so there must be LOTS of crates and boxes being hauled in FS9 right now !! Many thanks to all customers !!
Freight Dogs and Freight Dogs, The Scenery - were both released by Aerosoft and are doing well. The BOXED VERSION will go in production this month and should be available in March in stores and webshops !
We have two new projects under investigation with Aerosoft...... we'll announce as soon as we reach agreement... stay tuned.
We are also talking with other publishers to enlarge our distribution potential, both for download and for boxed products. Expect to see out products on shops like PCAviator as well in future.
I have been writing again..... articles of me appear in Computer Pilot Magazine AND now also in PC Pilot! CPM is now also available as a download (pdf) from simMarket.
The freeware CFG Changer program is ready for publication and we'll put it up the site for download soon.
I 'have' to go on a short break and will be in France from March 2nd till March 11th.......... ;-)
Hope I haven't forgotten anything...... ah yes.... you can always check my BLOG for the latest news, musings and gossip ! :-)
François
February
19th,
2006, Europe
FSCargo UPGRADED to Version 1.1
As always we have been listening (and talking) to YOU, our esteemed customers and fellow flightsimmers, wanting to always improve our best selling products. We promised upgrades to our FSCargo product once the first itteration would be out the door. And today is the time to deliver on that promise.
FSCargo Version 1.1 is NOW AVAILABLE from our Download Pages, as a free upgrade. Not only addresses it a few issues that were found after we launched the initial program, but we have also ADDED some new functionality already.
Some of the things that you will find in this new version are the ability to enable/disable installed cargo areas, a more realistic assignment of medium runways to larger aircraft, a slightly changed 'scoring algorithm', and more. We also addressed one of the main requests: that of allowing the departure airfield to be 'fixed'. You can now choose to depart from the airfield you are currently located !
And there is more.... how about realistically choosing the 'load stations' when loading your plane? Cargo doesn't fit? Take out those pesky passengers and free up more room. NOW put thos crates in. But..... don't load them in the back... it will make your Baron or Dakota stand on its tail !!!
We have had our beta testers look at more aircraft than before and most add-on planes can now be realistically loaded. It still depends on how an add-on plane is programmed though, so you may find the occasional 'ooooops' ! For those the initial method of 'one big bulk' load has been retained !
We hope you have fun with this upgrade..... Maurizio is already working on the next one, which we plan to deliver in 4 to 6 weeks from now. Version 1.2 will also contain more cargo loads and (hopefully) some additional cargo designators and cargo area objects.
Have fune,
The FSCargo Team
January
20th,
2006, Europe
Lots
of things happened
Flightsim things...
and personal things... so time to update you on a few of them.
Of course we launched our VERY popular FSCargo and Vancouver+ titles,
and in spite of some last minute difficulties (aren't there always
some?), they were and ARE doing extremely well.
One of those difficulties was a jaw operation that yours truly had
to undergo.... turned out more of a 'situation' than I had hoped for,
and smack in the middle of our busiest time of the year !! All is well
now, sort of, and I survived ;-). So that ruined our plans for a short
ski holiday. Then my dear Nina went to see her father and family in
Romania, and returned ill...... then subsequently passed that on to
me again..... All good fun... not.
Reason why the website did not get updated, among other things.
We also launchedFreight
Dogs, or better said, Aerosoft GmbH in Germany did. We made
it for and with them. And we learned that launching on Friday 13th
perhaps was NOT such a good idea. After various problems Freight
Dogs Download Version was finally released on Sunday
January the 15th. But no matter, Freight Dogs too is doing very well
and was well received by our and Aerosoft's customers.
Freight Dogs BOXED VERSION will be released in February !! Watch
this space!
Some GOOD NEWS is that Aerosoft will also be releasing the 6 Airfields/Floatplane
bases of Freight Dogs as a SEPARATE title, for those customers who already
have the aicraft and/or FSCargo included. Loyal customers (i.e. people having either of the full versions of the
Aerosoft Beaver or Beech18, Misty Fjords or FSCargo) will even get a nice
discount!
Next on our list pf products you will (still) find Salt Lake City,
Sado Island, Tongass Fjords and Vancouver+ CYVR. We'll keep you posted of progress
on those.
AND we are working on a list of enhancements for FSCargo, that will make
it an even more popular product than it already is !!
In the mean time Microsoft finally officially announced that the next
version of Flight Simulator IS in the making, and will be released somewhere end
of 2006, before the holidays. So now we can also officially tell you that
it is called FSX for now. You can find detailed news about it just about
everywhere by now, just check out simFlight, my Blog (with links to Microsoft
developers blogs), or any other gaming or FS website.
And last but not least, I joined the ranks of the 'wired world' and started
my own BLOG. So now you can read my thoughts regarding
flightsimming, technology, sick teeth and musings on other worldly affairs.....
or just skip it ;-)
December
18th, 2005, Europe
New
FSCargo Manuals added
Wow, more than 8 days
have passed already since the last news update. And we had news nearly
every day.... but no time to update the website !!
Expect to see a brand
new website some time later next year.. this one is just too much work
to update now that we have grown so much!!
The most important
news today is the availability of translations in French and
German of the FSCargo manual. Courtesy of Manfred Herz of the Bush-Pilots.net and
Sébastien Bulleteau (the chief editor of simFlight France, and of ).
Please find them in the FSCargo page of the Download area.
Other news is that
we have additions in the Vancouver+ download area (an FSNavigator plan
and Cargo area to discover the Vancouver Helicopter Bases), and updates
in the FSCargo Download area (more free cargo
files!).
We are also finishing up the Freight Dogs package for Aerosoft. Expect
a product page to appear in a few days here. Freight Dogs will encompass
6 airfields/floatplane bases, custom made, a 'lite' version of FSCargo
and two Aerosoft aircraft (Beech 18 and Beaver) also in 'lite' versions.
The package is intended for the 'boxed' market first and foremost, but
will also be available as a download product.
To stay in synch with a few changes we made for Freight Dogs we are also
testing some minor imrpvements in FSCargo itself. More
on that later this week. This is NOT YET the major enhancement we
are working on. Expect that somewhere in January (yes, dangerous mentioning
dates... I know!).
Last but not least we are happy to report that both FSCargo and Vancouver
are very popular with the public (looking at our sales figures) and have
been received extremely well by all buyers. Only some minor compatibility
problems have surfaced, 99% of which are caused by the concurrent installation
of other add-ons for the region.... and so far all problems have been
solved via the Support Forums !
A good time and place to THANK ALL CUSTOMERS for their most enthusiastic
feedback and response !! It is wonderful to hear so many happy 'voices'
!!
December
10th ,
2005, Europe and Canada
'Vancouver+ -
Part 1' Available on Sunday morning (GMT+1) December 11th !
YUP, we're ready, and
we managed to 'stick to our planning' once again. Exceptional work by
all involved and a Big Thank You to everybody who helped us achieve our
target!!
As of tomorrow morning
you will be able to buy Vancouver+ (Part 1) from the simMarket
on-line shop. Be early, we expect a 'run' on the server, and hopefully it can hold
up to the traffic. Vancouver is not a small product and the download
is 132 Mb !!
We are fully comfortable
in guaranteeing you that you will LOVE this product, and I think we all
agree that it is the most comprehensive title we have published so far.
There are two, no,
three ways to get informed before buying:
1. have a look at the various forums on the internet. You'll see rave messages
everywhere! There even is a 'fanclub already !!!'
2. check out the abundance of preview screenshots we have published over
the past weeks: click here......
3. download
the color manual and be amazed. It is FREE ! (2 Mb pdf file).
But first the news. CoBoy Design from France has joined the FSAddon ranks
and is readying its first product under the FSAddon flag.
It is a phototexture rendition of the area of and around Salt
Lake City in the US, complete with customized autogen that so often is 'forgotten'
in phototerrain products!
We have set up a few preview
screenshots here and will soon report on progress
of this new title that has gone in Beta now.
There is also news on Bunbury!! Work has recommenced and the first Beta Release
is in the hands of the betatesters. First reactions included a lot of 'Aaaah!'s
and 'Oooooh!'s, so we figure it must be good ;-) We'll have more screenshots
of that next week!
And then, Vancouver...
yes.... we're in the final (installer) test, one more chapter needs to
be entered into the manual, a few pictures made and then it is READY
!
If all goes well we might publish it already the coming Sunday
(December 11th)..... so cross your fingers !!!
November
18th, 2005, Europe
Vancouver+ Beta Version
Screenshots
Previously known as
VancouverX, we have now settled on the official name for the 'series':
Vancouver+
And yes, it is a 'series'. Planned for release in December is Vancouver+ Part
1 - CYPK, Cities and Landscape.
Part 2 will be Vancouver
International CYVR, and that part will be made
by Vauchez of FlightScenery fame. CYVR will be embedded in the
Part 1 landscape!
Here are (just some) features of Vancouver+ -
Part 1:
- 30.000 squalre kilometers of landscape enhancements with shore lines, rivers,
roads, railroads, logging roads, waterfalls and even ski runs !!
- more than 110 smaller road bridges, custom made
- over 60 custom built railroad bridges
- CYPK Pitt Meadows Airfield
- improvements for all 19 airfields in the area
- 13 heliports, of which 3 on elevated platforms
- representation of 11 abandoned airfields
- photoscenery for selected areas
- 7 AI-capable seaplane bases
- AI traffic all around: GA, helicopters, seaplanes, cruise ships and smaller
vessels
- and of course hundreds of custom made gmax buildings and special structures
All of this is fully compatible with Ultimate Terrain for Canada/Alaska, and
with FSGenesis or other third party terrain mesh.
And last but not least, a 'control panel' that lets you configure the installation
!
We now have 4 pages of screenshots posted, which you can find on our NEW
development page.
November 10th, 2005,
Europe
FSCargo
Released !!
Buy
it here - only Euro
14,95 (and 17,34
with VAT)
Yes, it is released and
can be purchased from simMarket, just click
here !
You can also download the Color Manual there to have a look
first, before deciding (the manual is free, of course). And check
out the screenshots we have provided for you, both on our own site and on
simMarket.
The first 100 have been sold already as we write this, and 98% of the buyers
are enthusiastic. You can't please everybody all the time of course.....
hence the 2% 'off the mark' ;-)
Check it out for yourself. The first additional cargo files have
already been designed and are uploaded and we expect many more to
come, judging from the enthusiasm of the users!
And to download the Cargo files, please go to the 'downloads' area on
the website !
November 8th, 2005,
Europe
Only
Two More Days !!!!
And then FSCargo will
be available for download ! It is ready, uploaded to the simMarket servers,
tested, expanded, tested again.... and waiting to revolutionize
the way you use your flight simulator !! No kidding !
We have added a few wonderful screenshots made by Jaap van Hees, which
you can find on the Product Page.
Added to the product are features such as a list of installed cargo
areas, a large number of ready made areas (courtesy
of our Beta Testers), a 'history' of your past flights,
with your scores..... and additional cargo items to ferry
!
We will also provide a space on our servers for additional cargo files
(definitions of cargo areas all over the world) for you to download (for
free of course). And Bill is already working on making new cargo objects....
Maurizio is pondering on some new ideas we threw at him.... so there will
be more to come in the next few months!
We
announced to release the long-awaited FSCargo this weekend, but had to postpone
that release for a little longer. The reason: we feel customer support
and service is more important than just selling stuff and slam the
door shut. Fact is that both authors had to leave for a very important meeting
in the US. That would mean there would be no second-line support for the
product immediately after release. And that is not acceptible to our
in-house quality rules.
So therfore the release has been postponed to Thursday November 10th, when
full support will be available by the original authors.
Not that we expect any problems, but with information technology one just never
knows.
FSCargo is a program of a new breed, adding 'action' to Microsoft's Flight Simulator
and provding flightsimmers with new and exciting 'things to do'. FSCargo will
sell for Euro 14,95 ex. VAT, which translates to approx. US $ 18,16 for non-EU
customers.
October 22nd, 2005,
Europe
FSCargo
Pricing Revealed
We are happy
to tell you now that the much-anticipated FSCargo Base
Module will
be reasonably priced, certainly in view of the many months
of additional pleasure it will add to your Flightsim Experience!
We have decided to keep the price modest and sell a LOT ! Sounds
too good to be true? Yet it is true.
You will be able to buy the download version of FSCargo 1.0 for
Euro 14,95, excluding VAT for the EU customers
(which is 17,34 Euros incl.
That means (depending
on ever-changing exchange rates) some US
$ 17.87 in the US and
elsewhere outside Europe.
There will be free additions (such as cargo areas and
new cargo items) available after release, and further products using
the same 'engine' are planned over the next few months, further expanding
the possibilities and keeping the project very much 'alive'.
There is a description of what FSCargo is on our preview pages, where
you can also see screenshots
of the product. And we have added a second
page with images, showing some of the menus you will encounter when using
the product.
October
21st, 2005, Europe
FSAddon's
Multiplayer Server Finances
Just an update for
all those who have so kindly donated some Euros or Dollars to keep
the server up and running!
We are happy to tell you that the server has been PAID until
December 31st of this year, and there is still money left for another 3 months
after that !
So far we have received 678
Euros, paid 136 Euros to simMarket for hosting our 'product', paid
298 Euros to the service provider, and we have 245 Euros left for the
next 3 months.
Thank you ALL who have contributed!
Some news on FSCargo
Are we going to make it out the door this month !? Hmmm.... questionable.
One of our beta testers found a last minute bug in the extensions,
Maurizio fixed it AND added another new feature (HISTORY of
flown assignments !!), which we now must test and adapt in the manual. We will be close
to October though.... so sit tight for another 2 weeks or so.... ;-)
October 19th, 2005,
Germany
FSAddon's
authors win awards !!
The 3rd German Flightsim
Show in Paderborn/Lippstadt, organized by Aerosoft GmbH, was a tremendous
success for FSAddon. Although we're only on the 'market' for little over
a year, and 2005 is our first 'full' year, we already were
awarded TWO First Prize Awards. Misty Fjords of Holger Sandmann was elected the Best Scenery, and Richard
Goldstein's Lake Wenatchee/Skykomish was elected Best Airfield !
It is of course always great to receive recognition, but the simFlight
Awards are some of the more prestigious ones in the industry because unlike some
of the 'other' awards, these are elected by the USERS of the products (the
readers of the various simFlight FS news websites) !
On this occasion we would like to thank all the voters and above all, all
our customers for their loyalty and enthusiasm, allowing us to continue to
make even better and more exciting add-ons !
September
24th, 2005, Europe
Of websites,
visitors, beta tests and more.....
Things are going good
at FSAddon.com..... since we started measuring on June 15th (yes, late,
we had more important things to do) we have counted more
than 21.000 unique visitors to this very website. And
25% of them checking back in on a daily basis... obviously hoping
to see a release date on some of our exciting new products <grin> !!
That is wonderful and we are really grateful for all the attention !!
We are also getting more and more authors added to the teams AND finding
ways to co-operate with other development groups. Our
main aim in the latter activity is to try and guarantee compatibility
with popular products from other authors (Ultimate Terrain, FScene, FSGenesis,
FE) ) but ALSO to enhance the products available to you. Not only
ours, but others as well.
We strongly believe
that although we all compete for the same "Flightsim Dollars" - a healthy
free market mechanism - there is also a major benefit in
working together in this small niche market that flight simulator is.
Our latest 'beta exchange' with Stephen Stevers, who is developing BEV (BirdsEyeView) is one of those examples. Through it we hope to ensure
that you can buy his product AND ours and reap the full benefit of BOTH!
Another good example
of such co=operation is that with Gates.to (FSNet
and Co-pilot) of Ugo Grandolini. Ever since we first tried the product
(the first of more to come) we just KNEW that this would become a success.
Ugo and Maurizio are working hard on the public release, and FSAddon
is one of their prime partners. You will be able to 'win' - or should
we say 'earn' - FSAddon products (and others) by racking up on-line flying
hours using the Co-pilot/FSNet program! Stay tuned for more info, and
meanwhile you can check out the Gates.to site here.
There is also good
progress on FSCargo.... although we made some changes over the last 2
weeks.... ADDING to the flexibility and already expanding it over the
initial plans we had. We are now waiting for a few additional cargo packs
to be 'delivered' by Bill Womack, and once they are in place and tested,
we are almost done. Release still slated for somewhere in October !!
September 14th, 2005,
Europe
More
Vancouver news !
We have the news many
enthusiastic simpilots have been waiting for: not only are we building
a magnificent city and surrounding region of Vancouve - already well
under way - we now also can confirm that Vancouver's
airport (CYVR) will
be made as Phase 2 of our joint Vancouver project and fit into the landscape
being built now.
CYVR will be made by Vauchez, already a rising star
in airport building. Work on the airport will start in November and initial
planning is for
a First Quarter 2006 release !!!
Holger meanwhile has made a bunch of new screenshots showing that there
is progress with Vancouver..... a lot of it actually !!! Check out the
updated preview page here on FSAddon.com
September
12th, 2005, Europe
We made
a mistake !
Yes, we are only human.....
!
What did we do? We changed the name of our upcoming FSCargo product in
sothing else....... turns out, that was WRONG!
We received quite a few comments, remarks and enquiries..... and since
we listen to our customers, friends and even foes, we changed
it BACK !!
So as of today we're back to FSCargo, made by VistaMare..... and working
on the final beta (version 3.0 by now) to get it out to you to 'play'
with somewhere in October hopefully.
September
8th, 2005, Europe
FS9.cfg
'switching utility' in the works
Our friend Takanobu
Motoki from Shizuoka in Japan is working on a solution for
the ever-increasing need to regularly change the FS9.cfg file!
He has built a little program that will allow us to SWAP between various
FS9.cfg 'versions'....
(and to create and edit those versions of course).
The program is called CFG-Changer, it is currently in Beta,
it
will
be
hosted on FSAddon.com, and it will be FREEWARE !
CoBoy Design has now released their third title in the FrenchCoast
scenery serioes,
Baie-de-Somme !! Another beautiful rendition of 80 kilometers
of coast, reaching some 70 kilometers inland, featuring phototextures, 3D cliffs
and beaches, many
landmarks, the Le Treport airfield, and much more. All with seasonal changes
and
night lighting too ! More info can be found on simMarket, and here on FSAddon.com.
September
3rd, 2005, Europe
FSAddon Publishing
and CoBoy Design join forces
CoBoy Design is a French company that
started to produce add-on scenery for FS2004 early this year. They
focused on the French Normandy coast to start with and produced
several titles so far: Deauville, Etretat, Dieppe and Baie-de-Somme - all on the Normandy coast - and Vallee
de Seine, covering a large
area to the west of Paris all the way to Rouen. is his first commercial
software.
CoBoy Design and FSAddon Publishing agreed to
join forces and plan for some exciting new projects together
in future. One project that we put upon the drawing board is Normandy
1944 for FS2004...... ;-)
Tongass Fjords gets a web site....... and
FSAddon.com adds freeware!!
Our news section is starting to look like a Blog, isn't
it !?
First of all a big THANK YOU to the more than 11.000 simmers who
visited the site over the past 7 weeks ! We are thrilled an honored!!!
Tongass Fjords
'fan site'
Now for the news of today.... Misty Fjords triggered a lot of activities.
The Misty
Moorings website and
community is one of them. In Austria another group of people, led
by Manfred Herz, started a similar
community, in German. You can find them at their Bush-Pilot.net
website and forums (worth
a visit!).
Manfred is also one of our Beta testers and so enthusiastic about
the upcoming Tongass Fjords, that he decided to start a
dedicated website for it. Together with Jo Wood he has
started designing it, and you can see the first wonderful steps
here: tongass.bush-pilots.net
Mind you, it is 'under construction' and subject to (many) changes
no doubt. But we are already very happy with their combined effort.
Thanks guys !!!
FS9.cfg Changing Tool
Another interesting development is a freeware program designed
by one of our Japanese simming friends, Mominoki.
It will allow users to maintain SEVERAL FS9.cfg files,
and change them using a custom editor. No more
searching your hard disk for the skillfully
hidden FS9.cfg, no more editing in the Notebook editor! CFGChanger will
help you do all this AND maintain several versions of your FS9.cfg.
This way you can easily swap, which is more and more needed
for the various scenery products that you can install these days.
CFGChanger will go into Beta this week!
August
27th, 2005 - Europe
Preview and information on FSAddon's Cargo
Package !!
So what is FSCargo ? Where is it more than a 'load manager'
?
FSCargo is the first interactive system that will allow you
to get an assignment
(of carrying freight), SHOW you the cargo waiting for you at
an airfield, allow you to LOAD it into your plane, fly to somewhere else, DROP
it at that destination and actually SEE it again after unloading !!
Sounds simple!? It isn't, really!!
Sounds fun!? IT SURE AS HECK IS !!!!
FSCargo (we might change
the product name still!) was conceived by yours truly.... being an 'old' bush
pilot flying around with EMPTY aicraft in Alaska. The men who made my virtual
dream come through are Maurizio Gavioli (the master of FS interaction and author
of such wonderful tools as IntelliScene, ViMaCore and many more !!) and Bill
Womack (who you may know of the 'MAAM airfield' in Reading, 'our' Antelope Trail
Ranch in Misty Fjords and so many other wonderful sceneries).
We are now confident that we can release a high-quality package and can therefore
offer
you
much
more
detailed
informationand
show
you
some
screenshotsof the beta version.
Have a look and read at our preview page !!
August
25th, 2005 - Europe
Preview of Vancouver X, Books, T-shirts
As
promised yesterday, more news. FSAddon is really on a roll, getting
ready for the oncoming Autumn, time when all simmers return to their
PC's ;-)
We have some exciting products in the works, and today have posted
a few (rudimentary) screenshots of the Alpha
version of Vancouver X. We're still debating a
good name for the series (that's right, there will be more!). Vancouver
will include a huge area surrounding it,
Misty Fjords-like, and Holger Sandmann's involvment is a guarantee
for fantastic landscapes! Also included will be moving shipping traffic,
custom AI aircraft and traffic, many landmarks and a city
that looks like a city !! Stay tuned for more updates, since it is almost ready
for Beta now!
We are also working on getting our 'Print
shop' up and running. For
now we've put up some really nice caps, t-shirts and other
clothes,
WITH the FSAddon Logo... so you can show whose products you REALLY
like,
when visiting FS events for instance ;-)
But there will be more products on sale, such as FS and Aviation
calendars, mugs, bags and what not. Check back often, we're hard
at work !
Last but not least: good news from FSCargo development....
we're on the home stretch now for the first release. Functionality
is all there... we just want to add some more cargo 'packages' for
you,
to make it really interesting. Never fear, you'll have freight
to carry this autumn !!!
Oh, and we'll add Amazon UK and Amazon Germany to our list of affiliates, for our European customers :-)
August 24th, 2005
- Europe
FSAddon adds more books and hardware
Already
customers have started buying books through our 'books pages' (thank
you!), and we also have received suggestions for more book titles,
which we are adding as we speak. We have also added some joysticks
and other flightsim related hardware. When you buy it through the
internet, you might as well buy it through the FSAddon store....
it won't cost you more and you are helping us to continue to grow....
meaning MORE great products for you in the future !!
Flugsimulation.de has
published their (German) review of the Polikarpov-2
by RusAviaGold, giving it a 9-star thumbs-up ! Thank you Andreas
Schmidt !
You can read his review
here, and find out more about the Polikarpov
on our product page, or buy it at simMarket.
And last but not least: don't forget to put October 8th in
your diary!
FSAddon.com's François Dumas will do a presentation about the Future
of add-on building during the 3rd Paderborn FS Event organized
by Aerosoft. You will also be able to talk to him personally, and
to a host of German and Dutch simFlight editors during the day and
the subsequent Captains Dinner! We look forward talking to you all
!!
Sure,
you can buy books anywhere on the internet. Everybody knows Amazon.com
and a host of other distributors. And there still are plenty of brick-and-mortar
bookshops too. The problem is: which books to buy on a
specific topic?
This is where FSAddon is going to help aviation and flight simulator
enthusiasts. We will do the 'searching' for you and offer you
a selection of interesting books in our new bookshop. It is connected to Amazon.com for
now, so you really buy from them ! We just do the browsing and
research of aviation related titles for you ;-)
We
are now happy to report that the first (modest) batch of previewscreenshots of
the Sado Island coast have been released. You can see them on the Sado
Island Preview Page. Work
is steadily going forward, but there remains quite some work to be
done, notably in the documentation, installer and packaging area.
Beta testers are also still chugging away at some newly implemented
features.
Also new
on the FSAddon website is a 'recommended'
page. Here we list those companies that we find
of exceptional value to us.... and hence, perhaps
also for you!
If you are looking for a good web host, a way to record your visitor stats,
or a place to post and share your photos.... we found JUST those place
for you !
Further expansion in the coming months will be in 'associated
products'. We have pointed so mnay 'bush pilots' to Delorme's
Atlas and Gazetteer and many other publications, that we figure we might
as well make it part of our business. So watch this space !
And
finally we have managed to put some time aside to set up our Server
Donation Plan. We're talking about François'
multi-player Windows server here. Many on-line pilots using
it have indicated they'd be willing to chip in and help keep it alive.
You can do so now by going to this
simMarket page and donate a few bucks. The first
people already have (thank you for that!) and hopefully this way we
can keep it up and running and cover the cost together.
August 8th, 2005 -
Europe
Holidays over - work on new products is progressing
With
the holidays out of the way (well, mine at least) we're now back to the
grind of getting you more wonderful products. So here are some news updates
for you:
First
of all the Bunbury Field work is progressing well now, and we'll have
some more details and screenshots for you in a week or two. It will
go in Beta next week !!
Then there is Sado Island in Japan that has gone into
official Beta.... and the testers are really enthusiastic!! But much
work remains to be
done, especially in regards to documentation and translating. The author
has also developed a new technique to make a much nicer 'join' of photographic
textures and the default ones, that we are testing now.
Tongass
Fjords, the successor and 'companion' of the now world-famous Misty
Fjords will be released for Beta within a few weeks as well.
And
Jon Patch and Holger Sandmann are also working hard to get Vancouver
'X' to Beta stage in the months to come.
Oh
yes, and FSCargo (still the development name) has been tested and tested.....
and we keep adding things to it.... like a nice front-end editor so
the customers can add their opwn cargo assignments? ;-) A bit more
patience is required, but we KNOW it will be worth the wait!
Unfortunately
some other projects have been pout on hold, mainly because the authors
have a life next to their FS life...... which is more important if
you do not do this for a living. And they simply ran out of steam. Salmon
Nation is one of them.... until Bill gets more time, it will be shelved.
Jaap
van Hees has released his second in a series of Flying Guides, fantasy stories
providing you with a REASON to go somewhere and see things.But..... there is
more
! Jaap's stories include weather situations
and
flights
for
you, and they even come including some FSE files for the area pictures
(for LAGO's Scenery Enhancer). Together with customized afcad files, traffic
files and tips for freeware scnery, this makes the Guide a COMPLETE package
for you to enjoy.
It will provide you with an adventurous flight, using a road map (not
included) and Jaap's descriptions to find your way, and ALSO gives you
an excellent historic background of the cities and places of the area you
visit, and lots of touristic information as well.
If
you are not going on a holiday to Greece this year, then Jaap's 87-page
Guide together with MS's Flight Simulator 2004 will be the next best
thing !!!
After PCAviator released thei Pacific Northwest photographic scenery,
users of our Harvey Field found themselves with a few discrepancies. Unfortunately
we did
not get a copy of PNW so there was no way of knowing beforehand. These
things happen, with so many developers working on the same areas.
Bob has been working hard and has now released a patch that
will solve the problems for the PNW users. It proved a bit difficult to
make a simple
installer for it, so he offers it as a .zip file with a batch installer.
Separate installation
instructions are available here, and the patch
is on our download pages here.
You can also go to our Main
Download page of course, perhaps you find something
else of interest there too !
June
10,
2005 - Europe
New VFR Guide nearing completion
Jaap van Hees is almost ready with his latest VFR Guide. The new one will be
titled VFR Guide Greek Islands, and it contains a whopping
100 pages in PDF format. Also included AI traffic for the islands, AFCAD
files,
weather situations and extensive
information about the islands and other places the story will take you to.
Jaap is proposing some
14 'trips' for you, encapsulated in a wonderful fantasy story about
a pilot having to do some emergencey transports to
the various islands. We are sure you will like it. The trips can also be
taken separately, if you like. Have
a look at our product page. Stay tuned
for more news on release dates !
Sado Island - Japan
- a new series !
Also coming along nicely is a package from Fumio Kitade, also known as
Higechan. Fumio has joined us from Japan and will be a real asset for
bringing you scenery from thart part of the world.
Sado Island is a big product. It covers not only the beautiful
island of Sado near the Japanes west coast, but also large parts of the mainland
towards the south. Included are a few airfields as well, and especially
the airfield on Sado is a little gem. The island is entirely done with
photo texture, the new 'craze' these days. As we all know, you either
love it, or you hate it. The nice thing about Sado Island are the different
colors..... different in that they look different from the western world
scenery that most of us are used to.
We hope Sado Island will be the beginning of a collection of Japanese
products. There are many talented designers there and it is a huge country
with much to see, and much to learn from.
We expect to release Sado late summer/early fall 2005.
May 20, 2005 - Europe
Polikarpov-2 bi-plane released on simMarket
The
Polikarpov-2 is an old, linen covered Russian bi-plane that first flew
in 1928. In the 'west' we sometimes call it the Russian Jenny, referring
to its resemblance (at least in role, but also in looks) to the Curtiss
Jenny that was used as a trainer in the US.
The Polikarpov-2 for
FS2004 is built by a relatively new team of genuine Russian flight simmers,
Igor Goncharov, Aleksandr Belov and Mike Svetloff, and a welcome change
from all the new fangled, FMC and GPS toting flying equipment that we
see advertised almost daily on the major webshops and FS sites (just
kidding, we all LOVE these push button things of course).
François A. "Navman'
Dumas, co-founder of FSAddon.com, founder of FSSupport.com and owner of
Silver Cloud Publishing, has again provided a Windows Server to enable
Flight Simulator players to go on-line and fly toghether, using the multi-player
facilities built-in in FS2002 and FS2004. The server runs FSHost
and TeamSpeak (various sessions) and can be used for free, although a donationware
product is being set up to help Francois to ccontinue funding it.
Another new service is the Marketing and Project Support now available
from FSAddon.
This is a service aimed at individual and independent authors/groups (software and writers) helping them to market and sell their products,
without doing
so under the FSAddon brand name.
Jens
Winkler's Zeppelin LZ1 has now been released on simMarket. Jens
has been working on his model for quite some time now and the work has resulted
in a nice model that allows FS9 users to gently 'float' around the skies in
a leisurely pace, taking in the beauty of the scenery below. The Zeppelin comes
with its own floating hangar off the coast of Friedrichshafen in Germany. As
opposed to earlier plans, FSAddon.com is now providing marketing services to
Jens' JS-Design, while Jens is publishing it himself.n May.
You can see more and purchase the Zeppelin package here
from simMarket.
April
20, 2005 - Europe
RusAviaGold
and JS-Design join FSAddon Publishing
A designer group from
Russia - RusAviaGold - has recently joined our ranks, and their first
product, the old Russian Polikarpov-2 bi-plane, will be released
in May already.
The
work
is in final Beta and we'll post more screenshots soon. The Polikarpov
will be part of the new Vintage Aircraft Series and will be friendly
priced.
In the same series we will be publishing Jens
Winkler's Zeppelin LZ1.
Jens has also joined us recently and has been working on his model for
quite some time now. The Zeppelin too will be released in May...
at an even friendlier price !
We'll have some better screenshots of both products up soon (early May).
April
10,
2005 - Canada
Misty
Fjords updated for Ultimate Terrain
Not long after Misty
Fjords was released Allen Kriesman published his Ultimate Terrain.'Unfortunately'
it covers the Misty Fjords area too and we did not have a beta copy when
developing Misty Fjords. Holger and Allen have worked together now to
make Misty Fjords and Ultimate Terrain blend perfectly.
So if you have Ultimate Terrain AND Misty Fjords, then you want to download
and install this update !
March
26, 2005 - Europe
Harvey
and Monroe reviewed in Australia
Woops, just too late
for yesterday's 'press'........Steve James of the
Virtual VFR Flying Club (VisualVFR.com) from Australia also
tested the new Harvey & Monroe and was equally impressed as the reviewers
from
Germany
and
Brazil
!
You
can read his full
report here, showing more
pictures. In case you STILL are not sure about whether or not to buy Harvey
perhaps Steve's wonderful review can convince you ;-)
March
25, 2005 - Europe
Harvey
and Monroe reviewed
Jorin Bonney of the
Germany based Flugsimulation.com has recently reviewed Harvey and Monroe
and given it a 9 out of 10 points! You can find his review
here. A while
ago the same website interviewed François and the (German) interview is
still available on their pages, click
here !
Another Harvey review was done by the famous Brazilian website Virtual
Flight. They posted a Portuguese and
an English
version. Marcelo Foscarini writes that after seeing Harvey
he hopes Bob Bernstein will make more sceneries. Marcelo, we are working
on it !
Stay tuned for more
announcements over the next few days..... FSAddon.com is NOT sitting
still !
March
23, 2005 - Europe
Westsim
Design Group to join FSAddon
We are really happy
and proud to announce that theWestsim
Design Group from
'down under' have decided to join FSAddon Publishing with some of their
work and are hard at work to get Bunbury
2005 ready for beta testing. FSAddon is constantly looking for
authors of high quality products, especially when they are from the not-so-obvious
places in the world. The Westsim team fits perfectly, making some superb
quality scenery with high resolution and razor sharp textures, wonderful
blending of the terrain and wonderful obejcts. We urge you to download
their freeware
Jandakot Field, which will give you a good idea of things
to come!
Being busy as a bumble
bee we 'forgot' to update our own news page.... meanwhile Bob Bernstein's
Harvey & Monroe for FS2004 was released on simMarket late
February 2005 and is now available there for download. There are two ways...
no, three... to find
out more about Harvey.
First: you can check out our Harvey
Page on
this site!
Secondly.... and very exciting... go to the Griffin Studios website and
see some actual video
movies of real flights to Harvey and Monroe.
Third: got to simMarket and check out the Product
Page, where you can
also purchase this wonderful product.
January
23, 2005 -
Europe
FSAddon
has news !!
Jaap van Hees' VFR
Guide Azur-Alpes has been
released and is available
from simMarket! Jaap has again
made a beautiful travel guide for us, taking the FS
pilot (i.e. YOU!) from the wonderful city of Nice, Côte d'Azur,
France, northwards to the
French Alps and via the Swiss and Italian Alps back to the Mediterranean.
Along the way you will learn about the the country you are flying over.
And you will get a great customized mesh terrain with
it, courtesy of
Raimondo Taburet !
Some Misty
Fjords news too!
First of all.... Misty Moorings, our 'fan site', is growing
by the day and has surpassed all expectations. There are DAILY updates
to the site,
sporting Doug's marvellous charters and trips, and a
truck load of additional
freeware files that can be downloaded for your pleasure. The
freeware files add life to the base that Holger has provided. You can
find Misty Moorings here.
And...... Misty Fjords
will appear in a boxed version in a few months time.
The boxed version will have a special 'custom charter' by Doug and of
course some adapted
documentation. It will be sold in a number of European countries and
make Misty available to a larger audience ! We are excited about this
breakthrough, triggered by the enormous success this product has, with
already more than 700 copies sold in the first 6 weeks of its publication
!! Misty Fjords Boxed will be distributed by FSQuality of Austria.
And...... we have a
small UPDATE for you, which you can download from our Download
Pages.
Holger has corrected a few minor errors that slipped through the testing
process (or were discovered too late to be included in the first version).
The floating tugboat and a few places where the water would 'climb'
the shore have been corrected now. Please download and read the 'readme'
file !!
Some news
on Harvey Field. We are getting the Gold version ready
within the next two weeks. The initial problems with the sounds have
now been solved, thanks
to Oliver Pabst. The only reason why it is still not 'on the shelves'
in your local store is TIME. Or better said, the lack of it for the creator
and your publisher. We will work hard in the next few weeks and expect
a
release in the last week of February !!
Last but not least we have also changed
our Download Page a little,
so that we can grow in future and not have all products mixed up in one
big page. As with all these things, when you start it it looks perfect,
then when you grow it all of a sudden becomes very clumsy. We will continue
to change as we continue to grow !!
December 17th, 2004 - Europe
New product announcements !
After the raging success of the Misty Fjord release we could almost forget
that we have MORE great titles brewing for you!
The first to be released (before Christmas
!) will be Jaap van Hees' VFR
Guide Azur-Alpes. Jaap has outdone himself on this superb 'touristic'
flying guide, made exclusively for FSAddon. Building on his success with
the free
'Emma Tours', Jaap has now left Washington to bring you a flight in the
south of Europe, taking you from the beautiful sunny beaches of the Côte
d'Azur all the way up the the French, Swiss and Italian Alps, and back
again.
The VFR Guide (which is in .pdf format) also includes custom made terrain
mesh for the area of the trip, additional AFCAD2 files, GA traffic and
preset weather and flights.
Get some pictures on the VFR Guide Azur-Alpes
Product page.
The other title nearing completion is Bob Bernstein's Harvey & Monroe.
Bob has made two freeware versions of Harvey Field for previous versions
of Flight Simulator, and has now bundled all his previous experience and
new skills into this wonderful package. Not only do you get two
airfields and associated photographic ground textures, but
it ALSO includes custom
made mesh, courtesy of FSGenesis, and some very special
animations from
'the makers' of Emma Field ! And of course ALL the actual buildings with
photorealistic textures, GA traffic made by Peter McLeland, and some 'easter
eggs'.
Screenshots can be seen on the Harvey & Monroe
Product page.
December
4th,
2004 - Europe
Misty Fjords was released this morning !!!
After a week of sleepless nights, getting final, finallly-final and the really
last things called 'final' put together, Misty Fjords has finally seen the
light.
You can pick it up from simMarket, the on-line
shop, where you can also see another set of screenshots. AND you can
download the Black & White version of the manual there FOR FREE....
if you want to have a peek before deciding to buy Misty ! Just
check here !
We think that Holger Sandmann's Misty
Fjords really is the Rolls Royce under the
landscape sceneries. It is so big
(more than the size of Switzerland !!) yet so detailed, that it not only
competes with some of the photographic sceneries available,
but actually takes scenery design quite a few steps further. It ALSO
includes landable water as an option (lakes and inlets freeze over!)
and, shows glaciers where there are glaciers. And rivers, lakes and
islands where they are in real life. AND buoys with lights, passing
ships with
animated
effects, marina's, and jetties. And included also are many scenery objects
and buildings, an entire bush strip complete with buildings, hangar,
jetty
etc.,
and much
much more.
You will have to see it to believe it.....
On top of it all there is already a 'cult' forming.. with people like
Doug Linn, Bill Dick, Phil Cayton and many others providing web
sites, additional scenery, videos, instructions and flying guides and
forums.
Misty Fjords is the beginning of a renaissance of bush flying, started
back in the FS2000 days by people like Ken Betts, Don Moser, Ken Nelson,
Naji Chehebbedine and so may others. Misty Fjords even has been altered
to allow for quite a few existing freeware titles to fit the beautiful
landscape !!
Today we have added a More Preview Pages for our upcoming GeoScapes
Misty Fjords title.
This time we are showing Izuru Yokomi's masterful 'comparison
shots' to give you an idea as to the extent Holger Sandmann's Misty
Fjords will enhance your current (default)
Alaskan flying environment. I am sure you will agree with me that the pictures
are nothing but stunning.
FSAddon's Misty Fjords will no doubt spark a whole new wave of Alaskan
add-ons for FS2004 and a new interest for flying in this beautiful area.
Misty Fjords is nearing completion and will be accompanied by an extensive
free GUIDE of where to fly and what to see, made by Doug Linn. It will
also include a slew of other add-ons, new objects by Mark Smith and Bill
Womack, AI ships from Mitsuya Hamaguchi, a high-quality bush airfield
by Bill Womack, new sky textures by
Jun Kazama and much much more.
Today we have added a Preview Page for our upcoming GeoScapes Misty
Fjords title, so you can get an impression of what Misty Fjords will look like
and what
it
will entail.
It is MUCH more than just a landscape improvement,
as you can read from the accompanying text. Holger Sandmann has outdone
himself clearly on this
astounding title and you will be as amazed as we were when testing it the
first time. Words just cannot describe the effect it has on our flying
in the area and FS will never be the same without it. Just words??? Have
a look here !!!
A NEW Product has been released and the website updated !
The new product of course is Wenatchee-Skykomish
by Georender, the next
in our New World Series built by Richard Goldstein. Where the previous
title, Orcas Island, is a big success for our fledgeling company, with
over 900 copies delivered already, this new title will no doubt continue
the tradition of 'Georender Bestsellers'.
Wenatchee and Skykomish are two small airfields in Washington modelled
in the best Georender tradition, with awesome landscapes based on manual
painting
of
real photo's,
meticulously built and textured buildings and other objects and much more.
AND.... the sounds and moving objects are back, courtesy
of Mike 'Doc' Apsey, Maurizio Gavioli, Oliver Pabst and last but not least
Peter McLeland. In addition to all that the Georender (and other FSAddon
titles) now also have their own mesh, allowing you to enjoy the 'real'
mountains and not just the Microsoft default. The mesh for this title was
kindly made by Raimondo Taburet of FSFreeware.
August
1,
2004 - Europe
Yes, we have been quiet for a bit. Why? Because we were working so
hard that we did not even have time to communicate much. However, between
May and now we have been able to get a team of freelance developers
together WITH a set of projects that have actually started taking shape.
We think it is nothing less than an 'FS Dream Team'... and there is
more to come !!
So, please read the
following Press Release that we put out yesterday and get an idea of
where FSAddon.com is heading...... if not for the
skies (we're rather down-to-earth sort of folks), than
at least to an exciting future !!!
Press Release July
31st, 2004 - Netherlands
FSaddon.com, the GA Pilot's add-on
publishing company, is proud to announce a number of new projects in different
stages of completion and planning. And since there are no products without
genious designers.... we would also like to give credit to some of the people
working with us to bring you these beautiful products !
In stead of giving out small Press Releases over the next months, we decided
it would be more efficient to just drop the following bomb on you... a
major press release filled with incredibly exciting news...
so please sit down and take some time to read it all !!
Two new titles coming!
First of all.... a new 'Georender' is in the making.
Another fabulous work of art by your own Richard 'Georender' Goldstein.
The working title is Lake Wenatchee and it consists of
TWO airstrips in Washington (Lake Wenatchee and Skykomish). Since we have
also secured the help of other
famous people such as Maurizio Gavioli, Oliver Pabst, Mike 'Doc'Apsey,
Peter McLeland and Raimondo Taburet (!!!), you can be assured
that this is going to be another 'Classic Georender Hit'!! The package
is
already
in Beta and we expect to have more information on a tentative publishing
date soon.
Another product that will reach the Beta Stage this weekend is the brainchild
of Bob Bernstein, another well-known name in the Flight Simulator add-on
world. Bob has been working long and hard on a commercial version of
his earlier freeware Harvey Field. The new package is going to consist
of Harvey Field and Monroe, both in Washington. For 'Harvey Field' we
have the additional support of Maurizio and Oliver to make it come to
life too. More detailed information on this title will be forthcoming
in August !
But there is more !!
Since the initial success of FSAddon.com's first titles (the Video
Training by Tim Mandeville and Orcas
Island by Georender), many more authors and
designers have joined our team, some with their own specific product
plans, others to 'just' support them.
Attracted by FSAddon's business philosophy of aiming to produce
ONLY high-quality, general aviation related products AND stay very close
to
our customers, more and more designers are finding their way to our 'house'!
Two people more than worth mentioning here are Peter McLeland
and Mike 'Doc' Apsey. These two gentlemen have been extremely
gentle to us in providing us with lots of there free time and skills.
Mike is currently making
a whole range of custom sounds for our scenery, and
Peter has been adding 'life in the skies' by providing flights to
Orcas Island and now to the new Georender title. Their work is very
much appreciated and without
it FS would be a lot less 'realistic' !
Strategic alliances !!
Sometimes you simply cannot go it alone, either because one lacks the
skills or it just does not make sense to duplicate efforts.
One of the major problems for all secenery designers has been the 'mesh' (simply
said: the definition of mountains in Flight Simulator). Most support
issues revolve around this problem. Customers
install all
sorts of additional mesh files and are then surprised (and sometimes
even angry) when scenery add-ons show weird things. The scenery is usually
built upon default MS mesh and not on anything else. The solution?
We now have acquired the support of FSGenesis (Justin Tyme) and Raimondo
Taburet (FSFreeware), two of the very best mesh designers
in the industry.
They will provide high resolution mesh files for the new FSAddon.com
titles, thereby making the scenery fully independent from anything else
one might have installed and greatly reducing the risk of any of the
objects not showing the way they are intended !
By providing this service to us, our customers will also see the major
benefit of having higher-resolution mesh in their simulator. Both FSGenesis and FSFreeware can provide that for almost any part of the globe and
have very interesting subscription deals for you!
So what else is happening?
We have Bill Womack who joined FSaddon.com quite some
time ago already, working on a number of projects. You might know Bill
from his excellent
Reading Airport, the one that comes with the MAAM B-25 project ! One
of his projects is to build a series of airfields all along the Western
Pacific coast in a region known as the 'Salmon Nation'.
We will be announcing the first title in this series pretty soon. Bill
is also working on another
project that we will not reveal as of yet.
Another very well-known author has joined us recently. It is Holger
Sandmann, famous for many of his landscape enhancements in many parts
of the world. Holger has embarked on a new FSAddon series that will start
in Alaska ! Yes, great news for bush pilots all over the world !! His
first production for us has the working title of 'Misty Fjords'......
Stay tuned !!
And then there is Mark
Smith, who recently brought you Bremerton
Airport,
again, in Washington. Mark is now setting out to design another medium
sized airport in the area..... small enough for GA pilots to
visit, big enough for some freight and passenger operatins as well. If
you haven't
downloaded Bremerton (KPWT) yet, then do so now and you'll be astonished
by the wonderful detail Mark has put into it! You can find Bremerton
at FSAddon.com's Download Area, look for OTHER interesting files, down
the page.
And together with Ken Peckham we are
slowly working on a
book about cockpit building (François recently wrote an article
based on our initial drafts in
Computer
Pilot Magazine, July issue). Ken is our cockpit
guru and has been involved in other projects as well. I am sure you'll see
his name
pop up one of these days!
Europe !
Good news for European GA Pilots too, with Pär
Bergqvist from Sweden
joining us. Pär is working on a series of Swedish airfields, with
associated landclass, roads and the lot! You will like his work......
we do !! No dates yet, but these will be multi-airfield packages!.
More on Europe! You already have seen that Maurizio Gavioli has joined
us with licensing his IntelliScene FS interface to us. That wonderful
program allows our authors (with help from Oliver Pabst in Germany) to
add sounds and movement to the airfields and landscapes. And Maurizio
is involved with another project too.... on which more later.
So that's it !?
Nope ! There is more.... but we're not going to tell you everything
yet ;-) Some things are in design phase, some only on the drawing board,
and some are so commercially sensitive that we cannot possibly lift the
veil yet.
One project is worth mentioning here, although it is still very much
in its infancy. We have done tests, and know the basics work..... Many
FS enthusiasts have been 'complaining' that MS Flight Simulator
is great,
but there is just no guidance on what to do.. where to fly.... when to
fly.. WHY to fly. In other words, it lacks a 'drive', a 'purpose'. Some
people don't mind at all, but others would like to see something more.
Well.... we are working on an exciting addition that will bring you exactly
that ! Something more. Something 'to do', in real time, visible,
tangible.
That's all I am going to say about it now.. the project is in Alpha
Stage and much needs to be done to make it an attractive commercial package....
but we already KNOW it will be a HIT ! ;-)
More information ?
Keep your eyes peeled on the FSAddon.com website. It may look quiet
at times, but as you can see from the text above.... things ARE happening
here ! And we will post more detailed information on all of these products
THERE, as soon as the information becomes available. Stay tuned !
And you can of course always contact us directly via francois@fsaddon.com,
for questions, comments, ideas and...... GASP.... compliments !! ;-)
May
10, 2004 - Europe
More updates on the FSAddon's Download
Page !! Today we have added a 'flatten file' from Joe Watson
in Florida. It will replace an existing .bgl file in the Orcas Island\scenery
folder (if you want) and is meant for thos of our customers who have
FSGenesis free Westcoast mesh installed. This mesh file will make the
buildings at Orcas Island Airport sink into the ground. Joe's replacment
bgl will flatten the ground in that specific area. Use it at your own
risk of course and don't forget to make a backup first !!
Last week we had Daum's wonderful video depicting
Orcas Island, this week we have TWO MORE of such videos.
The first, called
Orcas Letter, again by Daum. The second
is Orcas Mist by Mike "Doc" Apsey. Daum's
video has some wonderful effects in it, and he uses the model of a paper
aeroplane
to take us on a tour over the island. Beautifully done and showing a
really creative mind. Doc's video shows us Orcas Island Airfield on a
misty Sunday morning. No traffic, no sounds.. just a lonely fisherman
and Enya's melancholic music. A wonderful moody creation by another very
talented individual. Both videos are more than worth your downloading
time !!
The 'vote' is going well, showing a preference
for the Washington area. Since mostly current customers are voting, that
was to be expected. You like it, you want more ! Okay..... don't say
we are not listening. We now have THREE different authors working on
Washington airfield titles for you !!! Two of the titles might reach
beta status already this month, but we'll keep it open until we know
for sure. I'll put up some early screenshots later this week.... to drool
over !! ;-)
May
4,
2004 - Europe
FSAddon's Download
Page has been updated again. This time we have added Richard's
VASI Fix.
As some of you might have noticed, the VASI lights did not function
correctly. Unfortunately due to the nature of how MS is programmed,
the author had to make a choice between working VASI lights and his
own special runway textures. He chose for the latter of course. But
now you can download a set of replacement bgl files that
will allow you to make the choice all by yourself. If you like to have
working
lights, install it. If you don't like the runway edges and don't need
the lights..... keep the original!
Also added for your enjoyment is Daum's excellent video presentation of
Orcas Island, viewed from his Corsair warbird. This is a hefty 20 mb
download, but worth every second of it !! Thank you Daum !!
Last but not least we can also tell you that the very next FSAddon
title in the World Scenries Series will be a TWO MORE Washington
airfields...
we'll keep the wraps on it for now..... but work on it has started
a few weeks ago after we had to dump another idea for the time being.
This is so far all in line with the survey we are
conducting on simFlight. You may want to vote yourself
too... just
click here ! Stay tuned for
more !
April
26, 2004 - Europe
Yet more news regarding
Orcas Island. Peter McLeland has made us a moving windsock
and a fueling position, following the release of Microsoft's latest SDK. As before
you can find the file at our downloads page, and install it into the
Orcas scnery folder (it is a .bgl file). Many thanks to Peter for his
continued contributions to our favorite Washington island.
Other news is that more and more people are 'flocking' at Orcas, enjoying
it in itself, but also enjoying the company of other simmers. 'Doc'
Apsey, who made us some beautiful sounds, has even set up
residence there
and
is devoting quite some space on his private
forum to Orcas and everything
that goes on there ! Doc has created a very special environment and
is one of our much respected and appreciated supporters ! If you have
a few minutes left, please pop over and take in the friendly and calm
atmosphere at Doc's forums, and read some of the best FS stories too
from his many talented visitors !
April
23rd,
2004 - Europe
More Orcas Islands news. Sales
are still booming and with so many new owners of Orcas Island there are
many 'home-grown' additions popping up. A very special addition is the
FSE Sounds file made Mike 'Doc' Apsey. It is a 19 mb download, but absolutely
worth the bandwidth and installation space required. You can find his file
on our downloads page.
Also rewarding are the reviews that start to appear in the press. Very
notably the one by Andrew Herd on Flightsim.com (click
here to read). Andrew
is one of the leading reviewers in the FS industry and his opinions are
well respected and much appreciated.
Another one in the Dutch press, on Simdeparture.nl. Nice of you can read
Dutch, I am sure !
And last but not least we now have a Multiplayer Server up and running
for FS2004, sporting FSHost and TeamSpeak2. For now it is up and running
in test mode, with just one session available for public, but we'll expand
as needed.
To see if there is anybody flying, just enter this in your browser (or
click on it now) : http://66.235.194.24:85/ In order to use it from within FS2004, just enter the IP Address
66.235.194.24, and the same for TeamSpeak voice application.
March 5th, 2004
- Europe
News for Orcas Island Owners! We
have added a new section to our website......
'Downloads'. And for a good reason. Invariably something
WILL go wrong when publishing software, and patches, fixes and other upgrades
will be necessary.
In our Download Section you will find these upgrades and 'repairs', as
well as other interesting files that you might want to download (such as
FSE files and other scenery additions that complement our titles).
Orcas Island by Georender is selling well and after almost two weeks on
the market, we are very happy. Espcially enjoyable are all the kind comments
by you, our customers. Thank you! And equally rewarding is the low level
of support that is needed, in spite of a few small goofs.
Here are some of the many
many reactions we received from happy customers and the FS press so far......
From the Brazilian VFlight.org "..................after
reviewing Orcas Island I just HAD to take a time to write to you both
and congratulate
for an
amazing
work.
Francois
for producing, and Richard for developing it. Wow... I don't even know
what more can I say, congratulations !Hope
you both accept our Delta
Award too ! ............."
Another very nice one "..........
Congratulations! You and your team did it right, and did it when you
said you would. The scenery is superb, Richard has outdone himself, please
let there be more. Everything about this package spells professional,
and I am extremely impressed that you announced a date and made it!............."
One from an actual Orcas islander !! "..............I would just like
to express appreciation to Richard for the outstanding rendering of Orcas.
I live there and I can tell you that he has re-created the airport to
an unbelievable degree of accuracy.
Those of us who live on Orcas are well aware of how beautiful it is and
now everyone else will be too. I am everso pleased that Richard chose
to create this masterpiece and I am curious as to how he selected the
island for his work................"
February 22nd, Europe
Orcas Island has gone 'live' on schedule and
is a great success already. Judging from the comments we receive from customers
they are as happy with using it as we were in making and testing it! It can
be purchased from simMarket now, either as a download or
on a CD, just click
here for more information. If you want to have a look at
the manual first, then you can download
it for free!
Meanwhile Richard has already started working on his next FSAddon title
for the New World Series, and we are also talking with a number of other
authors
to bring you exciting new add-on programs for your FS2004 !! We'll
keep you updated here and in the international FS press !
February
6th, Europe
- Orcas Islands is now in Alpha phase, which means final
testing and cleaning up. Next step is to build the entire package for production
release, add the proper documentation etc. We also have added a new feature,
dubbed GeoMotion. GeoMotion will add animated objects to the scenery, adding
a really lifelike atmosphere to some areas! The target release date is
now set for February 21st, price will be 22.95 Euros and the package will
be released as a download title from simMarket! Stay tuned !
- A second new series published by FSAddon will
be called 'FS Mountain Flying' (working title) and development
has started on the first title in the series. Expect to see a Georender
quality with
even more goodies added in. It will also be the FIRST European title from
Richard Goldstein and will be very interesting for pilots all over the
world. The European simpilots will finally get a place to fly 'near home'
and
for the non-Europeans it will be a great opportunity to get a totally new
experience. The first title will include the high-level mountain airfields
of Courchevel and Méribel in the French Alps.
- To follow up the Orcas Island scenery we will
have another (smaller) title, initial release target somewhere
in April/May this year. This scenery will make the 'connection' between Orcas Island
and Richard Goldstein's previous creations under the Georender name. We'll
keep the actual location and title under wraps for a bit longer, but stay
tuned for more news in the coming months.
-
FSAddon is also working on a few other products. One
is a brand
new
concept for Flight Simulator 2004 where the aim is to provide
the simpilot with
an ever-changing environment through a database-controlled automatic download
system. This system is in concept-phase with initial test design underway.
Working title is 'FSAddon Dynamic World', but that will
surely change over time. No release date planned yet.
- Another project that has started a few months ago already is a
book and related web site on cockpit building. Again, no release
date yet, but the first chapters are in 'Alpha stage' and work is ongoing.
The idea is to
show how to make your own cockpit from a very simple 'just a yoke on the
desk' type of setup to a near professional cockpit layout. Emphasis will
be on CHEAP and do-it-yourself, although 'buy and assemble' will also
have its place.
- Oh and did we tell you about our On-line
Flight School Project ?? Ahhhh, no...?? Oh well, then that is something to elaborate
on in our next news installment. For now, enough PR... let's get the first
title out the door and onto your machine and then we'll have time for further
stories !!
Things never go as fast
as one would like, but we are not complaining as long as they move
forward. AND
THINGS ARE MOVING. In a few weeks we will launch our second product under
the
FSAddon
label.
This will be one of Richard Goldstein's wonderful creations
in scenery design.
We
will
publish it in our new FSAddon
New
World
Series range aimed at the General Aviation (sim)pilots that love nature
as much
as
we do and have an eye for 'atmosphere'. Have a look at some screenshots from
the beta product to give you an idea of what is coming! You can find
them here.
September 19, 2003, Mainz
YESSSSS!!
We
are open for business and real proud to be able to offer you our first products,
made especially for FSAddon by Tim Mandeville of VisualReference. Tim opens our
range of products with a few of his new Video Tutorials that
show how to use certain areas of your Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight..
FSAddon will
continue to bring you products that have both an entertainment value and an educational
side, aimed at adding value for both beginning and seasoned simpilots.
For any questions and suggestions please visit our new Forums on simFlight.com.
You can find the main FSAddon Support forum by clicking here.
August 21, 2003, Mainz
Finally,
we have news. One of our very first products that will be published under
the FSAddon brand is
nearing completion. And we have set up a Beta Testers group for follow-on
products. We also will be announcing another interesting bit of news
in a few weeks from
now.. so stay tuned. As with any new company, and any new web site, things
take time to set up and settle in. So bear with us over the next few
months... we're
working hard behind the scenes to bring you a range of very interesting
products, all aimed at making your flight simulator experience so much
better !
We ran into a snag with the installer program of Central Florida Airports.... turns out that Windows Vista (foreign language?) users may have a problem installing it. We are feverishly working on finding out what happens and in fixing it ! Meanwhile it works just fine in XP.
NOT 'just' an upgrade, because there will be major changes in this one. 
