FlightGear Mac OS X

File Release Notes and Changelog

Release Name: 1.9.0-pre2

Notes:
FlightGear 1.9.0-pre2 for Mac OS X, Universal Binary
December 13th, 2008

We are very proud and excited to release the first pre-release of FlightGear 1.9.0 for Mac OS X. This pre release 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 1.9.0-pre2 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. Tail-to-nose flight can be more fun with fgcom, an integrated voice chat client. It allows you to chat with you wing mate for better communications including Voice ATC. Moreover, FlightGear Mac OS X finally integrates Atlas - the navitation map that helps your flight plan. Thanks to the easy installer in the launcher, you can add new aircraft,  scenery, GUI updates, and update files for existing files in a few second. 

Have a great 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 right 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:
1) Launch the FlightGear at the Applications folder, and the launcher will appear.
2) Select an aircraft and an airport (or a carrier).
3) Check or uncheck "Download scenery on the fly" as you need.
4) Check  "Navigation Map (Atlas)" if you want to use it.
5) Click the triangle button and change options if you need.
6) Press "Start Flight," and the main window will appear.

Wait for a while and you're ready to fly. For more detailed information in 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 1.0.0, which include:
- The latest JSBSim that provides hooks, parachutes, and lots more
- New ATC
- World Scenery version 1.0.1
- vi-like Multi-key commands (you can type ':' followed by keystrokes to execute flightgear commands)
- 3D clouds
- OpenSceneGraph is used for scene graph generation and viewings
- More AI models / scenarios are available (you need to edit preferences.xml to add AI demos)
- More new and/or updated aircraft
- Tons of improvements, bug fixes, new features, and new aircraft
  Check http://macflightgear.sourceforge.net/home/documents/aircraft-links/ for additional aircraft.
- And lots more and more....

There are also Mac OS X specific new features / bug fixes including:
* 1.9.0-pre2:
- Updated French Translation
- ComboBox translation (Japanese only, but French version will be added soon)
- Fixed a bug that crashes many JSBSim Aircraft
- Improved 3D clouds
- Aircraft candidates are changed
- Some minor bug fix and improvements

* 1.9.0-pre1:
- Atlas integration
- fgcom server can be configurable for future extension (No authentication is needed)
- Multiple camera configuration
- More flexible installer 
- French localization (courtesy of Miguel Saro)
- Log can be opened via GUI Launcher (on General tab). You can also specify a log level
- Data folder can be opened via GUI launcher (on Others tab)
- More options (like disabling/enabling AI Models)


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 some Macs - 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).
- Some function keys are reserved on Macs. Use either Option or Option-Fn modifier for function keys
- FlightGear might crash if you quit it when showing the splash screen.
- Sometimes, not so often, scenery loading takes more than 30 seconds. 
  In this case, quit FlightGear by pressing Command-Q, and then restart it from the GUI launcher.
  You might have a crash log, but just ignore it and press "Start Flight" again.
- FlightGear might crash when the splash screen is (or about to) fading away.
  Then, restarting FlightGear will probably places you on an aircraft

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?
A: Launch Terminal.app (at /Applications/Utilities) and type the following command (without "$"):

  $ cd /Applications/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources
  $ ./fgfs.sh --aircraft=c172p --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.

Q: Where is the data folder?
A: It's on /Applications/FlightGear.app/Contents/Resources/data or
    $HOME/Documents/FlightGear/1.9.0-pre2/

Q: Where can I find a log file?
A: You can find it at $HOME/.fgfs/log.txt. Select "Go" >> "Go to folder" from Finder's menu and type "~/.fgfs".
     Then you can find log.txt there. You can also open the log file by pressing "view log" button on the GUI launcher.

Q: What does r150 of FlightGear-1.0.0-r150 mean?
A: 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.


Brief License Information for integrated software

1. Atlas
Atlas is a map showing utility for FlightGear developed and maintained by David Luff, Frederic Bouvier, and Per Liedman. Atlas can be distributed under GNU General Public License (GPL). See COPYING.txt for more detail.

2. FGCOM
FGCOM is a voice communication utility developed by Holger Wirtz. FGCOM can be distributed under GNU General Public License (GPL). See COPYING.txt for more detail.


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. 



Changes:
- Updated French Translation
- ComboBox translation (Japanese only, but French version will be added soon)
- Fixed a bug that crashes many JSBSim Aircraft
- Improved 3D clouds
- Aircraft candidates are changed
- Some minor bug fix and improvements