RF-X version 1.50.004 is now public

[Ryan Douglas]

A major update to RF-X is now public! Version 1.50.004 contains significant improvements over RF-X 1.0. See below for details.

RF-X and the InterLink-X have both been discontinued. This will be the last update to this product, and Knife Edge Software will not further develop this title.

RealFlight 9 and the new InterLink DX are now available for purchase from your favorite local hobby shops and online retailers.

Existing copies of RF-X can still be activated, registered, and updated. Horizon Hobby will continue to provide product support, just as with other discontinued RealFlight products.

Please download and enjoy 1.50.004! It is a big improvement to the product.


Release Notes:
The public 1.50.004 release is identical to the version that was previously available as a public beta except for one important difference described in Post #2 below.

New Features:

• Float Flying - New water physics and visual effects!
• Wright Island - A lush green island in the middle of a calm ocean. This new world sports several flying sites, including a float-flying dock.
• New Airports - See the full list below.
• New Vehicles - See the full list below.
• Remember Reset Position - Press 'P' to store your vehicle's current position, velocity, motor RPMs, etc. for future resets. Press "Ctrl-P" to clear the saved position.
• Radio Display in HUD - Press 'R' to toggle between simple (stick positions and trims), full (channels 5-10), and off.
• Race Drone Flight Controller - This new electronics component simulates the behavior of current race drones. It supports Acro and Horizon modes.
• Enhanced Heli Blade Sounds - Helis have more "whump" sound during hard collective maneuvers.
• New Cloud System - Updated volumetric cloud generation.
• Smoothness Improvements - Content optimization to reduce hitching when flying from the ground.
• VR Support (Experimental) - Supports Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. This is disabled by default because performance is insufficient. We posted more information in the RF-X forum for those who are interested in trying it.
• Unigine Engine - Upgrade to Unigine version 2.4.
• Additional misc. fixes and improvements.

New Airports:
Grouped by the world in which they exist.

Wright Island
Harbor Dock
Lighthouse
Meadowlands RC Field
Radio Station
RC Ranch

Sierra Nevada
Alpine Lake - A new float-flying site in the existing Sierra Nevada world.

Misc.
Blimp Hangar - A massive and detailed structure for indoor flying. Not as lightweight as Green Grass Flatlands, but still much faster than Sierra Nevada or Wright Island. Exists in its own dedicated scene.

New Vehicles:

Airplanes
de Havilland Beaver float plane
Riley Model B

Helicopters
Gremlin 280
Synergy 766

Drones
Rise RXS255
Tiny Terror 150


Known Issues:
This version contains a few bugs worth mentioning.

• Motion blur does not work correctly in some circumstances. We recommend disabling it at this time.
• Headless mode (enabled on the xCraft X PlusOne) is not using the correct heading, and is not displaying correctly in the HUD.
• The 'H' & 'J' keys do not control input channels 9 & 10. Those channels still work if your controller supports them.

 

[Ryan Douglas]

More robust online update process

1.50.004 is a large update, consisting of many thousands of files that add up to about 4.5 GB. You can expect the download to take a while.

Some users had difficulty downloading this update back when it was released as a public beta. For this full public release, the RF-X software itself is unchanged, but the updater has been improved to be more resilient. If a download error occurs it will automatically retry the download. It retries silently up to 20 times per file before requiring any user input, so you should not need to monitor the process closely.

RF-X 1.0 users who never obtained the 1.5 public beta can stop reading here. They will get the improvements automatically.

Users who already have the 1.50.004 public beta don’t need to do anything. However, if you want to obtain the updated downloader, you can follow the steps below to get it. There are a couple reasons you might wish to do so. One is if you have never downgraded back to 1.0 in the past--which also requires a very large download--but would like to. (If you’ve done it before, those files should still be in your cache.) Another is if you ever expect to clear your download cache and re-download any updates. If that describes you, do the following:

1. Make sure RF-X and the RF-X Launcher are not running.
2. Inside your Documents folder, locate \RF-X\LauncherHelperX.ini.
3. Open that file in a text editor like Notepad.
4. Under the [General] heading, delete the entire “LauncherHelperVersion=X” line.
5. Save the file.
6. Run the RF-X Launcher.
7. Click Registration/Updates.
8. Click Update to Specific Version.
9. Select any available version and click OK.
10. The Launcher will download a newer LauncherHelper and restart.
11. You now have the latest. If you are prompted to continue the update, cancel.

 

[Ryan Douglas]

InterLink DX support

Several users have requested support for the new InterLink DX in RF-X. We can certainly understand that desire; we like the InterLink DX, too! However, for multiple reasons it is not feasible to add that support to RF-X. (A previous post from Jeremy touched on just one of them.)

RealFlight 8 and Acro FS support general HID game controllers. As such, they are able to use the InterLink DX--which is an HID controller--albeit with some limitations.

RealFlight 9 is the only Knife Edge product to fully support the InterLink DX by allowing tri-state controls and high-speed input from the scroll wheel.