PTaylor's WebLog

I opened the doors on a new blog here so that this blog remains clean and FS focused. The new blog will primarily be about graphics, GPUs, gaming, architecture, and whatever else strikes me as relevant. Besides the first obligatory Intro post, I...

Sometimes you run across an opportunity that is so big, so cool, that you just have to take it. Intel has offered me a position on the Larrabee team helping deliver the Larrabee launch titles. Having been involved with the last two big PC graphics transitions...

which lists available scenery worldwide, at http://walhalla.mine.nu/fsx.php very useful to bookmark.

Newly released and looking impressive. At http://www.fsdreamteam.com with a few interesting FSX-only features.

As part of a discussion thread or 2 on AVSim.com and FlightSim.com, I researched smaller GA airport sceneries available in North America: 1)Floyd Bennett Field in NY was just announced ( and CGAS Brooklyn ) http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/notams08...

To complement my list of high-detail airports and cities here http://blogs.msdn.com/ptaylor/archive/2008/06/25/high-detail-feature-list-and-then-some.aspx SimTours is a great place to know about. Check it out here http://www.simtours.net/ ...

showing available from EB Games here ( on 9/30 ) http://www.ebgames.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=72573 and Amazon here ( on 9/19 ) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Flight-Simulator-X-Gold-PC/dp/B001E95V5K/ref=pd_sxp_f_i/026-3989278...

SIDickDastardly has just posted about an amazing freeeware 2D Panel add-on called PanelMania that has: 1. Panels for all default FSX aircraft with fewer than 2 engines 2. A total of 24 new fullscreen panels (48 including night versions), ideal for...

XSI Mod Tool There is a discussion of how to use the XSI mod tool here to create models for FSX. XSI Mod is a freeware tool from Softimage, see this page . There is clearly room for someone to take these instructions, deal with the animations issue...

Team Eaglesoft, discussion here . Ron notes the GA roster is already "FSX only", and explains why the 2 FS9 aircraft on the Corporate Aviation roster will not get the FSX treatment. Which is a totally understandable decision, BTW. It's great to...

Gary Summons, of UK2000 scenery fame, announces his intent to go "FSX only" in 2009 He discusses it here .

Lately the chorus of voices complaining about lack of add-ons for FSX has stopped complaining about payware add-ons because the aircraft, airports, and scenery add-ons have really multiplied in the last few months. I have linked to more than a few of...

Aerosoft, read about it here http://www.forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?showtopic=19472 it makes sense if you think about it.

here http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=121&topic_id=453294&mesg_id=453571&page = this contains excellent advice for anyone who doesnt know how to do this, and is a good review for those who think they do know...

Connie DC-7 The FSX add-ons are really starting to roll out. Now if Nehalem delivers the performance everyone needs, then the future is indeed so bright we need to wear shades.

From Aerosoft, see TahitiX MadeiraX VFR London Charles de Gaulle These are amazing, congrats to Aerosoft and their developers. Really nice stuff in the works for FSX these days.

Carenado, a major add-on aircraft developer, has announced they are going "FSX only" with all future development. See the update here . With FSX 2 years into its cycle, and 2 years or so remaining, it is time for this and I expect over the next 6 months...

is at Oshkosh and one of the models flew, how cool is that! a nice writeup on msnbc.com at http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/29/1232296.aspx more good coverage at aero-tv.net http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=f644eea8...

I worked with Chuck Jodry and John Walton on an article to showcase how to convert 3DSMax model content so it can be used with GMax. It turns out this is hard and may be a limiting factor for freeware model developers. The article is here an I hope...

GameFest 2008 slides are available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/xna/aa937787.aspx GameFest is the annual developers conference run by Microsoft. The focus is split between XBox 360 and PC, with a decent amount of material for the PC side. Of...

So, in case you missed it, TS2 was publicly demoed at the National Train Show last week. And the web site at http://www.tsinsider.com had a major facelift. Plus some new information is now publicly available. See http://tsinsider.com/product/overview...

Almost 2 months ago I briefly noted there is a new MSDN ESP Dev Center. Available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/esp/default.aspx It includes: 1) the entire ESP SDK doc-set, 2) whitepapers, 3) new downloadable samples as well as samples that were...

We’ve published a list of Seaplane bases in the article here . I have not seen a list of “High-Detail” features and thought I would offer one up J . There are two features touted as “High-Detail”; airports and cities. It is a bit trickier to come...

I still see a lot of confusion about Acceleration ( aka X-Pack ). X-Pack is an expansion pack for FSX. X-Pack contains the following new features: 3 aircraft 1) F/A-18 (military jet), 2) EH-1O1 (helo), 3) P-51 (racer variant) 4 systems...

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=557 has what they purport is the Intel CPU release cycle for the next 3 quarters ( Q3 08, Q4 08, Q1 09 ) and it shows: 1)a decent price drop for current generation CPUs in Q3 08, plus 2 new variants...