RealFlight version 7.00.035 is now public

[Ryan Douglas]

7.00.035 is now available as a free public release.

This update features a brand new challenge type: Quadcopter Trials. Take a new auto-leveling x-configuration quad through courses that require you to fly through rectangular gates and land on touch pads.

Earn a medal in this beginner-level challenge and you will be rewarded with the new Quadcopter X!

We also added the Flyzone Calypso in this update! The Calypso is a powered glider with a folding prop and a 73" wingspan.

See the full release notes below for more info.

Note that this update is cumulative. As long as you obtain the update via the Launcher, you do not need to update to any earlier/in-between versions first.

The LauncherHelper will need to restart partway through this process. Answer "Yes" when it asks if you want to continue downloading the new version. When this process is finished, you will have the latest available version of RealFlight 7.


NEW FEATURES:

• Quadcopter Trials challenge (uses a new unlockable quadcopter model)
• Flyzone Calypso
• Quadcopter X (a new aircraft that is unlocked by earning a medal in Quadcopter Trials)

FIXES/IMPROVEMENTS:

• Previously problematic collisions with airport objects are much better behaved. This typically manifested as the aircraft being violently sucked into or ejected by an object.
• Virtual channel keypresses (y, u, i, o) function properly within challenges
• The "in cockpit" effect applied to engine sounds in nose cam and onboard camera views does not get stuck on after switching to a PhotoField while it's active. This also prevents it from muting all engine sounds if you switch back to a 3D airport and reenter nose/onboard cam.
• Heli blade blur disks do not exhibit an unnatural wobble when the 3D art's rotor head frame hierarchy matches a certain pattern (more info)
• Opening the MP gadget does not affect the camera mode
• Multiplayer: Kicking or banning a player while looking at them with the MP gadget open no longer causes a crash
• Multiplayer: Host camera no longer changes to fixed if the MP gadget is open when a client joins the session
• Entering the Challenge system ends an active recording
• The View->Effects->All/None menu items have no effect on the Heads-Up Display
• The Gadgets->Close All menu item turns off the Heads-Up Display
• A new console command, "unlockRewardsFromEPs", unlocks reward content that previously existed in Expansion Packs/Mega Packs. It does this only when the associated EPs/MPs are installed. (more info)
• Online updates will always delete the cached collision files from now on

 

[Ryan Douglas]

Notes for public beta testers

If you previously downloaded the 7.00.033 public beta, here's what is different in .035. For everyone else, this is irrelevant.

• Quadcopter Trials: Finalized level times used for scoring
• Quadcopter Trials: Active gate object highlights are a brighter green
• Quadcopter Trials: Removed the triangular crosshair when the targeted object is within the targeting ring
• Quadcopter Trials: Improved camera behavior near objects
• Quadcopter Trials: Changed the task counter label from "Rings" to "Progress"
• Quadcopter Trials: Removed a leading space from the level 8 description
• Multiplayer: Kicking or banning a player while looking at them with the MP gadget open no longer causes a crash
• Multiplayer: Host camera no longer changes to fixed if the MP gadget is open when a client joins the session
• Made various improvements to the new Multi-Input Mixer electronics component
• Quadcopter X: Renamed onboard camera component to "Live FPV Feed"
• Online updates will always delete the cached collision files from now on

 

[Ryan Douglas]

As noted above, from now on updates will always delete cached collision files on your disk and force them to be regenerated.

Up until now, we have made a point of only deleting those files when absolutely necessary. But the logic gets a bit much (ex: "only if the user is updating from version 7.00.013, or updating from any version <= 7.00.031 to any version > 7.00.031 but not backwards"), not to mention the extra work of managing when it is and isn't necessary, and testing it all again each time.

Really it's safest to just always delete those cached files when the version changes, anyway.

The only downside for users, and the only reason I mention this at all, is that load times will temporarily increase slightly after an update. The first time any given object is loaded after the update, the sim will regenerate the collision file(s) on disk for that object. It will not need to do so again (well, until the next update).

I can foresee people saying, "Hey, RealFlight runs slower every time I update. Is it just me?" It won't actually run any slower; performance while flying will be identical. Again, it will just take a little longer in the load phase for any object that is being loaded for the first time. Not "put your controller down and go make a sandwich" slower. Just a little bit slower.

You probably won't even notice. But just in case, now you know.