FlightFactor Boeing 777 Pro Extended v1 9 4 X Plane 10 11
FlightFactor/VMax have updated their excellent Boeing 777 Series Pro and Extended versions to v1.8. This update is basically revolves around the cockpit and not many changes to the flight or external sections of the aircraft.
This aircraft is quite mature now (as I have noted in other updates) but the odd tweak now and again does not hurt the design. There was a lot of discussion around the cockpit textures since the release of the aircraft, most notable was that they were average or poor. Personally I couldnt see the argument to the point of how notably the textures of being that bad, not perfect I admit as were the gaping holes in the windshield. Even a 3rd party redid the whole lot of textures to which again I couldnt see the really big significant difference? and it was worse on your framerate. But everyone was happy, and what we need in X-Plane is happiness.
So FlightFactor/VMax has redone the cockpit textures and cleaned up a lot of the knobs and switchgear and the right hand side MFD can now be used. At first it doesnt look much different (because it is so familiar) but after a short period of flying the aircraft you do notice how much more sharper and cleaner everything is, notice the active lighting on the buttons and you can see how much more realistic they are, and some areas are based on the textures used by the 3rd party (pumper) that was significant in the redefining of the cockpit textures. The side (autopilot) eyebrow/glareshield form is much more better as well, and finally you cant finally see the outside scenery through the main instrument panel (top under the glareshield) so your eyes are picking off the changes all over the place and overall it looks far better. There has been far more changes here than meets the eyes, but most will be overlooked as we are very used to most of it.
The older night textures looked like this...
They have gone from a yellowish glow to a greenish glow, but the newer upper images version does look more restrained and more natural. Spot light lighting is also improved as you can see behind the pilots chairs, these lights are well up and behind and buried in the rear of the cockpit. Side airport map panel looks better as well for quality and readability. There is now also new mouse wheel support (Microsoft C++ redistributable 2013 is required for this to work) for Windows users.
Another change is that now you click the actual speedbrake lever and not the area by the side of the lever. For me this is welcome because you actually had to move you point of view to arm the speedbrakes, a small thing but nice... I also found you can now see the Co (company) route to load it into the FMC system. That will save you having to go to the aircraft file and delving through the plugins folders to remember what route "Co" name you saved it under, a nice time saver.
There is no doubt the Boeing 777 philosophy in this being a great aircraft for simulation in X-Plane. FlightFactor/VMax have been very good in the updates and keeping the aircraft as one of the best for deep simulation and incredible systems that give you a real understanding and feel of what the Boeing 777 is as an aircraft.
I will just re-note the packages in the Boeing 777 Series.
Boeing 777-200 LR - (Boeing Worldliner Professional) Boeing 777-200 ER - (Extended Pack - With PW4090 engines) Boeing 777-300 ER - (Extended Pack) Boeing 777-200 F - (Extended Pack)
777- 200LR
777-200ER
The -200ER is significant because the Pratt&Whitney PW4090 engines are noticeably smaller than those giant GE90-115B turbofans on the -200LR.
PW4090
GE90-115B
777-300ER
The B777-300ER is a 33ft stretch over the standard Boeing 777. Now one of the most common B777 version with 721 ordered and only 250 aircraft left to be delivered, you will see plenty of these at your major local hub.
777-200F (Cargo)
The excellent 777-200F comes with a huge side loading cargo door, great for all the haulers... The v1.8 update covers all versions including the Professional and Extended packages.
Summary No doubt any update is a good update and again this is a good one, the greenish texture colour is debatable but far better than the ghastly yellow hues. Some areas that should have been addressed, like the over animated wingflex and still none opening front doors? and still you have no-accessible second officer separate FMC (input) unlike what you have on the FF B757 and that is surprising considering how long the aircraft has been released.
But this is a great aircraft, extensive systems machine designed to work like the thing with an accurate flight model. It is certainly a classic in X-Plane and one of the top ten in the simulator. Yes get the Boeing 777, in fact get all of the versions in the extended package you will be wanting nothing.
Full changelog:
1.8.0 change log (all X-Plane 10.30+ 64bit) - added mouse wheel option - added new panel 3d and textures (based partially on pumpers add-on) - added right side mirror control and MFD screen manegment - changed the way the speedbrakes are armed - click on the lever Note: starting from v1.8.0 FMS version and model version might differ. This is done for the convenience of the customer which does NOT need to update this libraries and redisributables.
