Developer Update 1 2019

Hello everyone and fellow armchair pilots! We hope your year has kicked off to a good start! The FlyJSim team has been exceptionally busy with both current and new developments. With so much going on, we thought it would be best if we started providing updates to those who are not familiar with our current social outlets i.e. Discord and Twitch. We’ll aim to deliver these updates on significant intervals throughout the year based upon available relevant content.And without further ado... lets get to it!

Q4XP

The star of the show, and the one you are all probably most eager for news. For those unaware, the Q4XP is our brand-new rendition of the beloved turboprop, which we are developing to bring up to standards you expect from modern X-Plane aircraft. The original Q400 was developed in 2011, and thus we are presented with the challenge of updating the aircraft to contemporary standards. This month we’re going to be presenting some early work of the modelling and texturing. We’ve set a high bar for ourselves following on from the modelling of the FlyJSim 732 Twinjet V3. For the Q4XP, we’re making sure that the external visuals are carefully crafted to accurately represent the aircraft. We stress the following images are early work-in-progress and are subject to change, but hopefully will serve as a tease as to what is to come. The following images are also taken directly in X-Plane 11.

Here we have one of the main gear struts for the Q4XP, one of our most detailed external areas. With the help of our Q4XP experts and technical data, we have near millimeter accuracy on every wheel, strut, screw and pipe. It’s just a fraction of the amount of detail X-Plane can actually handle. The texture work here is done by Valdudes. His PBR workflow has captured the subtle roughness of the tires, and the mattness of the brake dust across the gear to create a Q400 which feels worn out and abused.

That detail extends to the Turboprop housing. We’ve split our model over multiple texture maps, ensuring that we can cram as much detail as possible. Every screw and dirt streak will be visible from close proximity. We can’t wait wait to see how painters utilize our HQ textures. We also cannot wait to see our YouTube pilots fly some interesting approaches, and replay their landings with the gears and engine in view.

And finally, a preview of the rear APU outlet and tail/stabilizer. Take particular attention to the discoloration of the APU exhaust outlet. Observe the linkages in the tail, or the dirt around the APU door housing. Everything represented is handcrafted modelling and texturing to invoke the spirit of the Q400. As we transition into the interior model, you’ll slowly see parts of the cockpit and cabin come alive, and we hope to bring you a truly stunning rendition of the aircraft.

As we continue development, we would like to take the time to thank you for all our fans and people who have helped us so far with this project. More often than you think, we really do take in your comments and feedback, and the support for this project has been fantastic!

732 Twinjet and 727 Series V3

We have not forgotten our current aircraft line-up either. 11.30 has had a significant impact on how much we can work on these aircraft. We are currently looking for feedback on the current flight-model, in particular to thoughts about fuel-burn, and anything you else needs tweaking from the latest update. We would like to remind you to not touch the experimental flight model with our aircraft, and we would also encourage other aircraft developers to take the same approach.In the upcoming weeks, there should be an upcoming “quality of life” patch to these aircraft that is going to lightly refresh the 727 and 732 with some small new features and aircraft performance/flight model tuned for X-Plane 11.30. What new features exactly? Well, you will have to wait and see…

That’s it for now, and we’ll be back in the summer with some more updates. As always, make sure you are following us on Twitter and Facebook. You can also join in with some friendly discussions over on our discord!I will say that we are extremely busy developing away… and cooking up some “things” in the kitchen that you might not know about yet…