[X-PLANE 11] A BASIC SETUP TO JOIN

[Miki]

Hi chaps,

Here are some basic things, for newcomers, in order to enjoy X-Plane rapidly. I'll keep it simple and will use freeware :

PART 1 : FEW MODS TO ENJOY THE SIM

THE AIRCRAFT

BOEING 737-800 MOD by ZIBO

This mod will bring the default 737-800 to a new an high level. Not as high as payware, but good enough to see how an airliner works.

Main page for the mod : http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/fo ... modified/&
Sound mod : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... TE1Z2dPdDQ
Terrain radar and vertical display : http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/fi ... n-display/

Nice video to have all those things sorted :


Edit : and a nice checklist => http://forums.x-plane.org/applications/ ... ?id=277971

THE AIRPORTS

Ok, now we need some airports for our Boeing.
X-Plane cames with a lot a airports, but only few of them get a high representation level.

So, let's use :
EDLP Paderborn-Lippstadt


And LOWI Innsbruck


With those two, you have nothing to do. They come like this from the box.

THE PLUGINS

There are tons of plugins. I'll only point you to one of them : theULTIMATE.
This one brings some nice clouds, water etc.

Here is the link : http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/fi ... imate-mod/
Follow the standalone installation instruction. That means you'll have to instal FlyWithLua 2.6.2 and if you wish, SkyColors.
Put FlyWithLua into your X-Plane 11\Resources\plugins folder, then delete X-Plane 11\Resources\plugins\FlyWithLua\Scripts\please read the manual.lua script and put at the same place XP11 TheUltimate Mod.lua

And that's it. You are ready to enjoy X-Plane !

[Miki]

PART 2 : MORE ADD-ONS !

Ok, in this part we'll bring more things to X-Plane

IMPROVING LOWI

Follow this link to add a nice ground rendition surrounding LOWI Airport : http://zonephoto.x-plane.fr/dl.php?f=ZP ... 2012-09.7z
To be placed in X-Plane 11\Custom Scenery folder.

ADDING AN AIRPORT

KBOS BOSTON

This is one of the best, if not the best, freeware airport you could find.

Link :http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/fi ... l-airport/

You can see that you need a LIBRARY, MisterX Library 1.2.
Library are about objects. If you don't have the needed library, the airport won't load.
Libraries allow to build "rapidly" and airport. But there are tons of them, and some times it's quite difficult to find the ones needed.

In this link, you'll find the main libraries : http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/fo ... libraries/

LOOKING AT SCENERY_PACKS.INI

Ok, now we have a new airport, KBOS, a LIBRARY, and a TILE.
All those things should be in your X-Plane 11\Custom Scenery folder.
Each time you launch XP, the game will look inside this folder and check if new scenery has been installed. If so, it will create an entry in the scenery_packs.ini. The point is that this entry will be at the top of the file. And that's not good ! Think about layer. If the tile layer is on top, it will cover everything.

So, what do you need to do ?
Ok, you have a new scenery, you've put it in the right folder. Launch XP and then exit XP. Open \X-Plane 11\Custom Scenery\scenery_packs.ini with Notepad or else and then we go :

You'll have to edit the file to respect the right order 1/airports 2/libraries 3/OSM 4/tiles.

In our case, KBOS should be on top, MisterX Library below all your airports, and zPhotoXP at the far end of the file.

MORE PLUGINS
AUTOGATE, animates jetways http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/fi ... te-plugin/
BETTERPUSHBACK, no need to look for another one https://github.com/skiselkov/BetterPushbackC/releases
XCAMERA, create your own point of view - demo/limited to inside views http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/fi ... win-32-64/
XFMC, add a good FMC to aircraft https://www.x-fmc.com/

CREATE YOUR OWN TILES

You can easily create your own tiles, using ORTHO4XP freeware software http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/fo ... -ortho4xp/. Look at Oscar Pilote's signature and you'll find all the necessary links.

[Miki]

PART 3 : MULTIPLAYERS and SHARED COCKPIT !

Ok, in this part we'll see how to fly online.

IVAO / VATSIM

SHARED COCKPIT

Here is the plugin to do that : SMARTCOPILOT => https://sky4crew.com/download/
Smartcopilot will let you fly in a sharedcockpit with all the aircraft, as soon as a specific config file exist.
Config files are based on dataref. You can create your own. Not too difficult when you know witch dataref to look for. If not, it's a nightmare.

For the ZIBO MOD, here is the config file : https://sky4crew.com/download/zibos-737 ... rpushback/

SMARTCOPILOT give you acess to a DEMO. There is no limitation of time, but with the demo, you can't act on anything. You need to own the same aircraft as the other pilot as well.

A very important point about shared cockpit is that both players need to have the same scenery/environment configuration.
For example, one having some mesh, and the other one not, will induce some crashes.

With my experience, here are the points we need to look for :
- sceneries : same for both,
- runways follow terrain option : checked or unchecked, but the same for both,
- orthophoto : orthophoto is more than a picture. It's associated with a mesh. So having one pilot using a satellite depiction of the ground, and the other not, will induce troubles,
- aircraft : same state, load, and AIRAC data. Depending of how good is the cfg file associated with smartcopilot, weight and balance should be taken from the master, but that isn't always the case. Regarding the AIRAC (your navigation database, valid for one month), not having the same won't be good. That's a big point to deal with, as it will require to go trough some payware add-on to keep it up to date...
- weather : a bit like weight and balance. Some cfg file take this from the master, some not. Furthermore, weather depiction could be different form one PC to another, if you're using some weather engine or change clouds puff volume.
- game version : I don't really know if having two different game versions is a problem...

So what can we do ?
1/ GAME VERSION : update to the last BETA stage of XP. Use the installer for that. Quite easy to do, and you can reverse back the version to the last stable version if needed.
2/ AIRCRAFT : same version of the aircraft + same version of the smartcopilot cfg file. My advise is to set the aircraft in the same state, like cold and dark and look for the same weight and balance.
3/ FMS / AIRAC : get the last version of the AIRAC. No freeware as far as I know. Best option (IMO) is to go for NAVIGRAPH. It gives you the ability to have up to date AIRAC and a powerful map and airfields procedures charts. You can choose monthly upgrade or go for one year subscription.
4/ AIRPORT : same for both. Quite easy. But to maximize people doing shared cockpit, I would recommend to limit as mush as possible the payware airport. Here is a fantastic link to find the freeware you're looking for : http://apxp.info/. Before doing a complete flight, my advice is to go to the arrival airport, then move to the departure airport, to check that sceneries are working well for both players. Choose the same gate, position before establishing the connection.
5/ SCENERY (GENERAL) : no orthophoto. Sounds bad, but ATM is should be too complicated to have the same orthophoto scenery. No mesh, or same mesh, trough ALTIPILOTX http://www.alpilotx.net/downloads/x-pla ... cenery-v3/. Runway follow terrain to be checked if wanted. By the way, flying on VATSIM or IVAO, it's recommended to have it unchecked as you will see other aircraft floating over the ground or being stuck in it.
6/ WEATHER : same state if you are unsure that the cfg file take the master weather into account. Same rendition engine or same clouds config.

CHECKLIST

GAME ----------------------------------------- version
ORTHOPHOTO ------------------------------ none, or same
MESH ----------------------------------------- none, or same
RUNWAY FOLLOW TERRAIN ------------- check at discretion offline, unchecked for IVAO/VATSIM
AIRCRAFT ------------------------------------ version
------------------------------------------------- AIRAC
------------------------------------------------- weight, fuel and balance
------------------------------------------------- state (cold and dark)
SCENERY ------------------------------------ same, working on both side, for departure, arrival and diversion
LOCATION ----------------------------------- same gate, stand
WEATHER ----------------------------------- same weather engine or same settings

PART 4 : LET'S DO IT !

1/ GAME / instal X-Plane
2/ AIRCRAFT / download and instal ZIBO MOD for the 737-800
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/fo ... modified/&
3/ AIRCRAFT / download and instal sound mod for ZIBO
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... TE1Z2dPdDQ
4/ AIRPORT / download and instal KBOS by MisterX6
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/fi ... l-airport/
5/ AIRPORT / download and instal MisterX Library
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/fi ... extension/
6/ PLUGIN / download and instal FlyWithLua, with improved weather and runway advisory system
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2f01ss1sjnxha ... a.zip?dl=0
7/ PLUGIN / download and instal AutoGate
http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/fi ... te-plugin/
8/ PLUGIN / download and instal BetterPushback
https://github.com/skiselkov/BetterPushbackC/releases
9/ PLUGIN / download and instal SmartCopilot
https://sky4crew.com/download/
10/ CFG FILE / download and instal the config file for Zibo’s 737-800X + BetterPushback
https://sky4crew.com/download/
11/ FLY ! /

[Miki]

Post #1 edited, adding link to a checklist.

[Miki]

So, who's up for some X-Plane in the next days ?

[Woop]

I think I might be in love with you.

Thanks for posting this, I'll get the stuff together and figure out how it works. This definitely will help with the simple things at the start, as I found everything quite overwhelming when I first bought.

[Miki]

I'm on holiday, so when free, I'll jump to TS.

[Broadsword]

I think I might be in love with you.

We all end up feeling that way about Miki sooner or later

[Woop]

I think I might be in love with you.

We all end up feeling that way about Miki sooner or later

That may be the accent

[Pariah]

Quite tempted to get X-Plane 11 to give the Rotate MD-88 a go. Especially since you can get things looks damn good for free.