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X-Plane 11 is now officially available with day-1 Linux support

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The advanced flight simulator X-Plane 11 [Steam, Official Site] is now available and the developers put out day-1 Linux support.

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It does look pretty good and simulates a ridiculous amount of things at once. I love the way you see the heat coming off the engines, looks fantastic. A game that would probably be immense with the right flight stick setup, can't imagine it being as fun on a mouse and keyboard.

It's not cheap at £44.99, so unless the developers plan on getting in touch it's not one I will personally cover in any more detail. It does have a demo though, so you can properly try it before buying. The demo can also update to the full version, which is neat.

Features
  • A completely redesigned, intuitive user interface that makes setting up and editing your flight a breeze.
  • Consistently usable 3-D cockpits and stunningly high-resolution exterior models for all included aircraft.
  • A new effects engine for lighting, sounds, and explosions.
  • Realistic avionics: all planes are IFR-ready right out of the gate.
  • Busy, “living” airports with pushback tugs and roaming fuel trucks, able to service both your aircraft and the simulator’s AI planes.
  • New buildings & roads to better simulate European cities
  • And more!


Will any of you be picking up a copy? Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Simulation | Apps: X-Plane 11
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Shmerl Mar 31, 2017
I saw some commented it's using compatibility OpenGL profile. That's too bad, no one should be doing this today.
saildata Mar 31, 2017
Quoting: lucifertdark
Quoting: Mountain Man
Quoting: lucifertdarkI had one of the older versions before Steam was a thing, never could get past crashing on take-off so I'll probably give this a miss & NPC passengers around the world heave a sigh of relief.
Do you mean a program crash, or you would crash the airplane?

If it's the latter, I'll say again, X-Plane is not an arcade game, it is a flight simulator intended for real-world pilots and flight simulator enthusiasts who enjoy a realistic experience. The software now includes some basic tutorials for "newbies", but my advice has always been that the real X-Plane manual is a pilot training handbook and operating handbook specific to the aircraft you want to fly. Basically, you're going to have to spend some time learning to fly a real airplane in order to get the most out of X-Plane.
Definitely plane crash not program crash, that's why I won't be buying this one, I spent hours & hours poring over the manual, familiarising myself with the controls only to crash the plane, so I'm not going to be a pilot.

That's what I like about the ultralight. It's so easy to fly even I can do it.

Give me a 737.. "Folks, this is your captain. I can't figure out how to turn this thing on."
Mountain Man Mar 31, 2017
Quoting: lucifertdark
Quoting: Mountain Man
Quoting: lucifertdarkI had one of the older versions before Steam was a thing, never could get past crashing on take-off so I'll probably give this a miss & NPC passengers around the world heave a sigh of relief.
Do you mean a program crash, or you would crash the airplane?

If it's the latter, I'll say again, X-Plane is not an arcade game, it is a flight simulator intended for real-world pilots and flight simulator enthusiasts who enjoy a realistic experience. The software now includes some basic tutorials for "newbies", but my advice has always been that the real X-Plane manual is a pilot training handbook and operating handbook specific to the aircraft you want to fly. Basically, you're going to have to spend some time learning to fly a real airplane in order to get the most out of X-Plane.
Definitely plane crash not program crash, that's why I won't be buying this one, I spent hours & hours poring over the manual, familiarising myself with the controls only to crash the plane, so I'm not going to be a pilot.
I can't imagine why you had so much trouble. The Cessna 172 is so easy to fly that it practically takes off by itself. You ought to at least give the X-Plane 11 demo a look.
saildata Mar 31, 2017
Quoting: Mountain ManI can't imagine why you had so much trouble. The Cessna 172 is so easy to fly that it practically takes off by itself. You ought to at least give the X-Plane 11 demo a look.

I agree 100% - download the digital demo (not sure if the Steam version has a demo?). Anyways, it should give a good estimate of whether your hardware will support it. As noted before, this is likely one of the most demanding "game like" applications on Linux. I say "game like" because obviously running something like make -j8 to compile the kernel is right at 100% CPU while keras (Python library for deep learning) is extremely GPU heavy. But for stuff that's discussed on this site - it's one of the most demanding ^_^

Looking at the Steam pricing and http://www.x-plane.com/product/steam/ I would recommend running it outside of Steam. The digital app can be run just fine without Steam, and is supported by the original team, not a third party. There is a limit on the number of installs that can be used, so that is something to consider. I guess the Steam version would allow you to install multiple times like other products in your Steam library.

Also, I'm not sure if you'd have to jump through any hoops to get it to truly use all 64-bit native libraries. One thing is for sure - it would be compiled/linked against libsteam_api.so, which likely adds a layer of logging and overhead. So check out the demo from their site http://www.x-plane.com/desktop/try-it/ and consider the benefits/trade-offs of running from Steam.

Food for thought :)
Mountain Man Apr 1, 2017
Quoting: saildataAs noted before, this is likely one of the most demanding "game like" applications on Linux. I say "game like" because obviously running something like make -j8 to compile the kernel is right at 100% CPU while keras (Python library for deep learning) is extremely GPU heavy. But for stuff that's discussed on this site - it's one of the most demanding ^_^
Indeed. If you have a top-of-the-line PC and want to push it to its limits, this is the software for you.
saildata Apr 1, 2017
I also saw that they have an "FAA approved" version that seems to take away a lot of the "extras" and add some special planes. It that doesn't say "this is a sim not an arcade game", then nothing does :)

I've definitely noticed a lot of pilots/captains/other in the forums. Seeing them support it is part of why I went ahead and got it. I hadn't played a flight sim since early 2000's and that was MS Flight Sim. Odd they don't have a Linux port (joke!)

I would like to learn more about Blender and how to use it to mod some of the skins.. maybe make a Tux plane ;) not sure if Blender is the right program for a beginner in this case or not. Has anyone modified skins for a Linux game in Blender or any other software? Would you recommend it to someone who understands the basic theory (e.g. the 2D/3D transformations and linear algebra) but not familiar with the related software.

Thanks!
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