Relase Note 0.9.10
Wide

FlightGear 0.9.10 for Mac OS X, Universal Binary

December 14, 2006

We are very proud to release FlightGear 0.9.10 for Mac OS X. The new FlightGear OS X featuring Universal Binary gives the "comfortable" flight to every single Intel Mac user as well as PowerPC Mac users. Now it runs on Intel Macs up to 160% faster. FlightGear 0.9.10 for Mac OS X comes with the new launcher, so you can change options for your flight much more easier. The new launcher also makes it possible to fly with your wing mates. Enabling multi-player mode pops up a fancy on-line map so you can find your new wing mates. Thanks to the easy installer in the new launcher, you can add new aircraft and scenery data in a few second - no need to find the data folder any more.

Have a nice flight!

What's New in This Release (since 0.9.9)

  • Universal binary package
  • The launcher is completely rewritten. Now it's with RubyCocoa, which will be included in Leopard.
  • The launcher displays the thumbnail image of a selected aircraft.
  • Help is available (as a link to http://macflightgear.sourceforge.net/home/documents/)
  • The Installer for aircraft / scenery data is available
  • More options are available - featuring multi-player mode
  • More textures on scenery objects
  • More aircraft including Zero Fighter (A6M2 - a.k.a. Zeke) from the latest FlightGear CVS
  • Bug fixes (see Known Issues below)

Known Issues / Bug fixes

There are several known issues through this release. Fixed items are shown in red.

  • The sun was not rendered properly (fixed on 0.9.10-pre2).
  • Shadows did not appear (fixed on 0.9.10-pre2); Don't forget to check the rendering options for shadows.
  • Re-sizing the window(while not full-screen) will sometimes lead to visual corruption (mostly fixed on 0.9.10-pre1).
  • FlightGear doesn't launch - closes after pressing "Start Flight" (fixed on 0.9.10-pre2).
  • Splash-screen images were broken on some PowerPC Macs (fixed on 0.9.10).
  • FlightGear crashes when some command-line options are enabled or disabled (e.g. skyblending).
  • FlightGear might crash when ATC is updating information,
  • FlightGear may crash on exit if Multi-player mode is enabled - under investigation.
  • FlightGear runs only on OS X 10.4.x.

Further Information and Help

FlightGear Mac OS X website is the first place to visit. Jump Start Guide, Users Guide, Troubleshooting, and documents for developers are available at the Documents page.

Mailing list, discussion forum, and various requests are also available at the Help and DIscussion page.

The official FlightGear web site is also a good source of information. Manuals, quick reference guide, tutorials, and additional documentation are available at the FlightGear Documentation page.


Typical Q & A

Here are some typical Q & A specific to Mac OS X version.

Q: FlightGear closes when I press "Start Flight" and nothing happens. How can I launch the simulator?
A: Launch Terminal.app (at /Applications/Utilities) and type the following command (without "$"):

 $ cd /Applications/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources
 $ ./fgfs --fg-root=/Applications/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources --aircraft=p51d --airport=KSFO

You can change the aircraft and the airport as you want.

Q: Can I install FlightGear other than the Applications folder?
A: Yes. you can install it anywhere as long as it is writable folder.

Q: I can't use Function keys because these are reserved for controlling hardware features. How can I use these keys on FlightGear? A: Open "System preferences" -> "Keyboard and Mouse." Then check "Use the F1-F12 keys to control software features." Unfortunately, MacBook Pro users cannot assign F9-F12 if it is used by Expose. Change the shortcut keys for Expose from System preferences as well.

Q: FlightGear crashes while I'm flying. How can I find the problems?
A: Open "/Applications/Utilities/Console.app" to see the error log that FlightGear wrote.

See also Troubleshooting for more information.


Contact

This release was produced by Tat Nishioka. If you have any questions or problems for this release, either email me (tat <dot> fgmacosx <at> gmail <dot> com) or post your question to:

  • Mailing List
  • FlightGear Mac OS X Website
  • Help and Open Discussion Please refrain from emailing me for the general questions about playing FlightGear.

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Please DO NOT post a crash log here. it's hard to read and is not worth reading for most of users. Email it to me directly with some additional information including exact FlightFear version, machine spec, and what was you doing when it went crash. Thank you.
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