We are very proud and excited to release FlightGear 1.0.0 for Mac OS X. This release of FlightGear gives more "comfortable" flight to every single Intel Mac user as well as PowerPC user. Now it runs on both Mac OS 10.4(Tiger) and 10.5 (Leopard). FlightGear 1.0.0 for Mac OS X comes with the fancy GUI launcher that eases your flight. You can change aircraft, airport, and options as you like. The 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 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!
Installing
Simply drag & drop the FlightGear icon into the Applications folder. It contains everything including libraries in its folder so you don't have to install additional frameworks or libraries. It runs just out of the box.
Flying With FlightGear
To launch FlightGear Mac OS X, just double-click the FlightGear icon at the Applications Folder. Then follow the steps below:
- Launch the FlightGear at the Applications folder, and the launcher will appear.
- Select an aircraft and an airport (or a carrier).
- Check or uncheck "Download scenery on the fly" as you need.
- Click the triangle button and change options if you need.
- Press "Start Flight," and the main window will appear.
Wait for a while and you're ready to fly. For more detailed information on using FlightGear Mac OS X, read the documents on our website: http://macflightgear.sourceforge.net/home/documents/
What's New in This Release?
There are so many new features added to this release since 0.9.10, which include:
- Dynamic view
- Chat dialog on multi-player mode
- More AI models / scenarios (Tanker, Vehicles) are available (you need to edit preferences.xml to add AI demos)
- Keys are reorganized (e.g. use 's' to start engines)
- Tons of improvements, bug fixes, new features, and new aircraft
- Check http://macflightgear.sourceforge.net/home/documents/aircraft-links/ for additional aircraft.
See FlightGear's wiki page for complete changes since 0.9.10: http://wiki.flightgear.org/flightgear_wiki/index.php?title=Changes_since_0.9.10
There are also Mac OS X specific new features such as
- Airport search (The number of airports is limited though)
- Additional aircraft (A6M2, j7w, Ki-84)
- Additional/modified Joystick configurations (Logitech 3D Extreme and Saitek X52)
- Command line tools (fgjs, js_demo, and yasim) are added. (at /Applications/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources)
- The bug in Aircraft Installer is fixed (r150). FlightGear crashes when pressing "Install Add-on Data."
Known Issues
There are several known issues on this release.
- FlightGear Mac OS X runs on OS X 10.4.x or higher (doesn't work on OS X 10.3.x)
- Sound stutter or static noise rarely happens on some Macs (could be HW/driver problem?)
- Green HUD doesn't appear properly on MacBooks (maybe on iMacs too) - This is an OpenGL driver issue.
- You can disable transparent HUD from View menu to have proper HUD.
- Green/Red HUD doesn't appear properly on PowerBook (maybe on some other PPC Macs).
- --season=winter does barely work now (written on FlightGear wiki page)
- Some function keys are reserved on Macs. Use either Option or Option-Fn modifier for function keys
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: http://macflightgear.sourceforge.net/home/documents/
Mailing list, discussion forum, and various requests are also available at: http://macflightgear.sourceforge.net/home/list-forums-etc/
The official FlightGear web site is also a good source of information. The manual, quick reference guide, tutorials, and additional documentation are available at: http://flightgear.org/docs.html
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?
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?
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?
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. You can also try Option + function keys (or Option-Fn + function keys)
Q: FlightGear crashes while I'm flying. How can I find the problems?
Open "/Applications/Utilities/Console.app" to see the error log that FlightGear wrote.
Q: Where is the data folder?
It's on /Applications/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources/data
Q: What does r150 of FlightGear-1.0.0-r150 mean?
It's a FlightGear Mac OS X specific revision number. We use subversion to organize the Xcode projects and GUI launcher program, and the revision number increases every GUI launcher related bug-fix or update. You can check the revision number by opening "About FlightGear Mac OS X" from the menu bar. It's a good idea to tell revision number to us since we can easily find if your problem is already fixed in the latest revision.
See also Troubleshooting for more information.
Contact
The binary 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.