Confused on Steam Play and Proton? Be sure to check out our guide.
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Free and open source flight sim 'FlightGear' has a brand new release

By - | Views: 22,750

FlightGear is a rather advanced free, open source flight simulator that's very much alive and kicking with a big new release now available.

This new build with FlightGear 2020.3 is what they're calling a "Long Term Support" release, as they nowadays offer a full stable build and much more regular content updates. Developed by volunteers, they're trying to make the most advanced flight sim that's entirely free to use. Most people interested probably don't stick to the LTS versions, as the in between releases always have the exciting stuff.

Since the last release there's various launcher improvements, tidal movement is in for the littoral areas close to shore, there's new AI models, updates to a lot of existing aircraft, updated translations, a thread-safe particle manager to reduce crash bugs and lots of other optimizations.

FlightGear - Fly Free! Picture ours.

What's impressive is that it's been going in some form since all the way back in 1997, and they just keep on improving all the tech behind the scenes. At times there has been companies coming along trying to rip it off entirely too, like VirtualPilot3D, ProFlightSimulator and others trying to sell copies of it under a different name. Nice to see they kept fighting them off and working to improve FlightGear freely for everyone.

Want to see everything that's new? The full changelog can be found here, and you can download here.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
14 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
13 comments
Page: 1/2»
  Go to:

Jollt Nov 9, 2020
Great Simulator, awesome to have those kinds of advanced simulations open source, and FlightGear always with the good quality. I just wish we had a driving car simulator too (not racing)
Tchey Nov 9, 2020
On Manjaro, i installed it from the manager (building from AUR, it seems).

It took a while, like 15-20 minutes, and manager says all good.
So i suppose the data are DL and somewhere on my PC.

When i go to game/FlightGear, it says the folder doesn’t appear to be a valid location /usr/share/flightgear/data and i need to download a zip file.

Should i ? Where are the Gigaoctets lost ?


Last edited by Tchey on 9 November 2020 at 5:25 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Nov 9, 2020
Quoting: TcheyOn Manjaro, i installed it from the manager (building from AUR, it seems).

It took a while, like 15-20 minutes, and manager says all good.
So i suppose the data are DL and somewhere on my PC.

When i go to game/FlightGear, it says the folder doesn’t appear to be a valid location /usr/share/flightgear/data and i need to download a zip file.

Should i ? Where are the Gigaoctets lost ?
I was a bit confused, the AUR for the game itself said the data package from the AUR was a dependency but it didn't seem to install it, so I had to do that manually and then it just worked.


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 9 November 2020 at 5:27 pm UTC
EagleDelta Nov 9, 2020
Anyone else having issues with the Setup Dialog not downloading the files when you click Download?

I'm on Pop!_OS 20.10 and see these in the logs every time:

 
SIMGEAR_TLS_CERT_PATH=/tmp/.mount_FlightdJQgVR/usr/ssl/cacert.pem
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/tmp/.mount_FlightdJQgVR/usr/lib:
gio: /tmp/.mount_FlightdJQgVR/usr/lib/libselinux.so.1: no version information available (required by /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgio-2.0.so.0)
mkdir: /tmp/.mount_FlightdJQgVR/usr/lib/libselinux.so.1: no version information available (required by mkdir)
/usr/bin/microsoft-edge-dev: /tmp/.mount_FlightdJQgVR/usr/lib/libselinux.so.1: no version information available (required by /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgio-2.0.so.0)
/usr/bin/microsoft-edge-dev: symbol lookup error: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libatk-bridge-2.0.so.0: undefined symbol: atk_component_scroll_to_point


EDIT: I just switched from using the AppImage to using the PPA and now it works


Last edited by EagleDelta on 9 November 2020 at 9:13 pm UTC
Calinou Nov 9, 2020
Quoting: JolltI just wish we had a driving car simulator too (not racing)

I think Rigs of Rods might be your best bet for now. I'm not aware of any open source ETS2-like game where you just drive from a point to another in realistic-looking cities.


Last edited by Calinou on 9 November 2020 at 11:18 pm UTC
GustyGhost Nov 9, 2020
I flown several different aircraft in this and I can definitely say you need at least a joystick controller to be able to manipulate everything. Flightgear might be what pushes me to finally try a full joystick.
Jollt Nov 10, 2020
Quoting: EagleDeltaAnyone else having issues with the Setup Dialog not downloading the files when you click Download?

I'm on Pop!_OS 20.10 and see these in the logs every time:

 
SIMGEAR_TLS_CERT_PATH=/tmp/.mount_FlightdJQgVR/usr/ssl/cacert.pem
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/tmp/.mount_FlightdJQgVR/usr/lib:
gio: /tmp/.mount_FlightdJQgVR/usr/lib/libselinux.so.1: no version information available (required by /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgio-2.0.so.0)
mkdir: /tmp/.mount_FlightdJQgVR/usr/lib/libselinux.so.1: no version information available (required by mkdir)
/usr/bin/microsoft-edge-dev: /tmp/.mount_FlightdJQgVR/usr/lib/libselinux.so.1: no version information available (required by /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgio-2.0.so.0)
/usr/bin/microsoft-edge-dev: symbol lookup error: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libatk-bridge-2.0.so.0: undefined symbol: atk_component_scroll_to_point


EDIT: I just switched from using the AppImage to using the PPA and now it works

Yeah I'm having the same problems with it on Fedora :(
Mountain Man Nov 10, 2020
Quoting: GustyGhostI flown several different aircraft in this and I can definitely say you need at least a joystick controller to be able to manipulate everything. Flightgear might be what pushes me to finally try a full joystick.

If you're serious about flight simulators then a joystick is a minimum requirement. Even better is a yoke. I have CH Products Eclipse Yoke which has integrated rudder paddles. It makes flight simming so much more enjoyable (although I don't fly as much as I used to).
Megaf Nov 10, 2020
For everyone having trouble downloading data, here is the official link.
http://download.flightgear.org/builds/2020.3/FlightGear-2020.3.2-data.tar.bz2

Just extract the folder and then use point it to it using "Choose Folder"
Cyba.Cowboy Nov 10, 2020
Quoting: JolltI just wish we had a driving car simulator too (not racing)

Do you not have a (Real World) car? Or do you just want to "explore" far off lands / "drive" cars you don't own?


Last edited by Cyba.Cowboy on 10 November 2020 at 12:31 pm UTC
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.