Pimping Google Earth's Flightsim

That's a little of a kinda old topic. Did you see the new feature where GoogleMaps look GTA style? Well, maybe only in particular or as some early state dev showcase. I duno but that reminds me that GoogleEarth offers some vehicle driving fun and this keeps this piece of software insteresting for me (while Google might launch a game based on GoogleMaps sooner or later, who knows).

(Ay, flying in space is a different topic)

A GoogleEarth community mod for it's flight sim part
We all know the flight simulator that comes with GoogleEarth but did you know that it's one of the most sophisticated flightsims around? It goes far beyond the basic keyboard setup and grants a very detailed flight model. It's tricky to fly but the only place where the maps are real including heightmaps and 3D buildings and so on. But theres only a HUD, not even a cockpit. And there are only two planes to play with. Guess what, there is a way to mod it and theres a set that may contain your favorite sightseeing aircraft. However, the graphic detail is simple and I have no info on the flight model.

This makes GoogleEarth's Flightsim feel more fun
Now, instead of having a boring flight experience, add-load a plane, activate it's animations and press "H" to get rid of the HUD, niiice! There is a set of aircraft included, e.g. the "Super Connie", the Twincopter "Osprey", a F-Jet, a BF 109 or a 747. Skilled Modders could even add more planes.

The installation could not be made easier 
It's: Download > pick a planes texture size (big or standard) > double click on it (it's a Google Earth *.kmz file type) > have fun!

Heres the link with a instalattion guide

Comments
This is more or less a Reblog with my own words since the original topic from Amir B is quite old now and I guess not many people stumbled upon his outstanding solution. It's free and fun. It's not perfect, it just enhances your GoogleEarth experience. Oh and I found another approach on the web but the website of it was down. I will continue looking around and if I find something I will update this post.

Free Head Tracking alternatives

While TrackIR ain't that new to us and Oculus Rift is something relatively new, how about some free head tracking solution that uses the webcam instead of external hardware? Heres a little review of such optical motion tracking applications. 

(Things will be different in the year 3000)

Where was that button again? 
It keeps me strugglin. I'm playing so many different vid games that sometimes I forget my controller and keyboard setup. In general, this whole thing makes me sick, it could be so simple: All I need to do is to take a look around the map, especially when playing in cockpit mode. Are buttons a must? Not at all – thanks to everything we life in middle of the future and here we can find nerdish solutions for a better digital lifestyle. So, let's give it a try.

Test experience
Starting with a headbanging session and yeah it works! The download was easy but the installation needs some attention. It seems lots of games support this type of input methods. I also tried this with War Thunder and it was big fun. However, it could lower your ingame FPS (depends). The decision about the right software is a question of choice since both have a unique set of features. Which software fits best, you might ask.

FreeTrack
This software piece can also be used for a better computer accessibility as a kind of input device. It runs with a standard webcam and FreeTrack states the the majority of webcams work with their solution. It uses markers to track your heads movements. Conclusion: You will need to put something onto your head, so in order to make it work you could wear a Headset or a hat. Those markers could be a infrared source, a LED or some retroflective surface material. Freetrack offers a Single Point mode, a 3 Points Clip mode, a Points Cap or 4 Points Cap mode. On their website theres a so called "LED Assembly Wizard" that will teach you how to do the LED part. For a list of supported video games check this link.

FaceTrackNoIR
This software works without a marker. You don't need anything besides a webcam. Also, it can track multiple objects at the same time. It runs with a lot of so called "Protocols" that grant many type of use. You have to choose one of the Trackers and this also means a bit of cunsumption for your individual setup. Then you can pick Filters as presets for different environments (e.g. dark places). This piece of software is modular so we can expect further improvements. FaceTrackNoIR supports about 400 different video games having a special workaround for non-supported games, too. Heres a huge list of supported titles.

Thoughts
In the past, I did a couple of projects with the MS Kinect system and compared to that those free tracking methods are not that sophisticated but at least a cheap workaround that really can be recommended for a better gameplay. But: This might not work in dark rooms or inside a nerds lightless room where theres no way to find the potatoe chips. I'm not sure about the impression we leave to people watching us play like that – it looks a bit strange I guess. And the biggest question that remains ununanswered: What's next, no more buttons? TrackSteering?

Find out more and download one of both:
FreeTrack 
FaceTrackNoIR


Note: As usual this ain't gonna work with Macs or Linux OS.

DC S World - Now this is a real Simulator

Many of you allready heard of it – talking about the DC S World sim. It is called 'The Simulator OS'. So, in fact this will only be a little review compared to what could be said about this upcoming video game. 

(Wow, look at that plane, wow that plane)

Gameplay
Very simple: this feels real! You are inside that plane, you can only leave it with the eject seat and theres nothing you know about that plane except you took a look at the manual. This is for pro sim gamer enthusiasts and what awaits them is no 'casual gaming experience' at all. Getting to the runway takes approx. ten minutes and only in case you learned how to move that plane on the ground. There are a lot video tutorials on YouTube and they should be considered in case you want to take-off at proper safety. You have to manage your flying aswell as that planes onboard systems and Fly-by-Wire only helps in case your plane has that specific feature in real life. The multiplayer mode is a great feature and nothing that could be descibed as mandatory for such a ambitious 'non-game'.

A good reviewer should allways give a minus point, too: The buttons in the cockpit can only be pressed using the keyboard and you can not click on modules directly with the mouse. Maybe this gets improved and this ain't even a minus point since that game offers a variety of input devices.

Vehicles
One word: DLCs. But you can start for free with the Su-25, a nice solution to enter DC S World. I still don't have a clue how to fly that thing, I guess I should RTFM. You can find plenty more air vehicles, also helicopters and tanks. The most fascinating one could be the F-15 but it depends on you. In total, currently 14 vehicles (at the moment) are offered for a price that is exactly below 10 bucks.

Graphics
This game needs good graphic cards (so I can't play it). The model quality of this games vehicles is for real the max. you can get so far. DC S has a Insanely HighRes mesh and texture quality. However, the ground level detail ain't that high.

Game Engine
The developemet is steady going and makes this Simulator better – step by step. This video game, ehm I mean Simulator has great capabilities and we should give it a place in the Hall of Fame of all-virtual Simulators. The all-over aviation physics and the capability to add different input devices along with Multiplayer support speaks for itself.

Summary
This game gets my 4.8 rating out of 5 so we can assume it's a 5 Stars triple-A title worth a thousand words. It has originality and as a standalone Simulator Operating System it's definitely a good thing not needing much more extras and stuff. Since this game has a better broadcasting scala than past or unkown simulators, we can expect to hear more from DC S in the future. See you in there (you can find me parking on the ground, scratching my head on how to close that canopy).

Heres a 'trailer' kind of video from YT:

For more info, go to: digitalcombatsimulator.com

F2P: And what about account selling without bad intentions?

Some of those Free2Play games are really good and I guess a lot of them have that dual gameplay thing where you can pay to win or waste your time like a sinner. 

The problem
I've had it often, I like a specific game, I play it to obsession till that moment where I begin to realize that I should grab a calculator to measure the needed time resources for needed ingame items and gameplay levels. Right besides that theres that point where a game wont offer any of our favorites on the patch-wishlist any soon. So the end of the story is a broken heart player and he has no urge to start the game client any soon. [ Hmm, let me say this helps with keeping it real, going out of the house, real life might be no fun but it is a must. And then I encounter another Free2Play game and I like it, the whole situation restarts, It happended to me with a couple of F2Ps but I will not name any because I think I really like them?? ]

The solution
It's very simple because all I can say is: 'There are players out there and they only play for prestige, they only wanna own every little thing they need for their ingame experience". And it's true, prestige means in my case, I want all fancy vehicles and I don't care on their XP, HP, DP and stats capabilities. I want to 'drive' them like a classic car and while even n00bs can blame my planes or spaceships or what so evers skill points I would still be having a lot of fun if I can manage to collect my favorite ingame items. And heres how it could work: "Allow account selling, this way everyone could buy a entirely up-leveled game account". The only other thing which is needed is granting a nickname and ownership change = a better balencing between player types IMO. There still will be a lot to play / grind for players so nobody can say a good filled game account is only something for n00bs.

The ignorance
There are many great F2Ps and I would like to buy official game account offers. People can find unofficial account selling at online marketplaces. This is no solution. Again, all I can say is: "No level by level, please". Keep the free and keep the pay to win. I just don't understand why taking over a mates account the legal way is such a no go. We can only hope that people start to talk about this topic while video games are getting more and more to be our daily entertainment. Having fun everytime I play a specific game would be great, absolutely.

Not that I have the money to do so^^ ;)
Disclaimer: Do not offer game accounts, it is not allowed. Also, do not buy offered game accounts!


This article has been written by Simulator Miaow. Not really, she typed it, ok ok tbh I have no cat but could a virtual cat be as important as a real cat? Uh, too tricky to comment. Let's say ingame items are as worth a real cats mouse toy. 

On a fun level – playing War Thunder

While I ain't had that much time recently heres how I describe War Thunder.

Pretty unknown? No, not any more thanks to WT. 

This is a He 112 in the B-1 variant, YAY

The first thing I had to do is buy me 500 Golden Eagles, a good invest in a bird called He 112 B-1. I really needed to have that plane because it was my main airplane while playing Hereos in the Sky (a more or less unkown MMORPG). AFAIK that other game offered the He 112 B-2 type but who cares (seems I do). This He 112 has a charming look and it's the perfect workhorse for leveling up, e.g. climbing the WT tech tree and spending 3 Euros wasn't that hard with the result of a plane with fast turn speed IMO. Too sad that it's only a Tier 1 plane. It is one of my absolute favorites.

While in World of Warplanes in the beginning you can start with Ar 65 and where WT begins with He 51 as the starter plane, in WOWplanes you can choose between Fw 56, Ar 68 and the He 51. Both games WOWarplanes and WT offer a different variaty of planes, you ain't gonna miss a single plane but this only counts when playing both games at a time. Both have great GFX and accurate modeled aircraft. However the real IL-2 player will miss the realness-factor since WOWarplanes and WT are no simulators. Here is where WT gets a plus point since it offers cockpits and major airplane controls like gears, flaps, elevator trim and what so ever. However, theres a possibility to setup lots things and it seems that since WT is from one of the former IL-2 series developer studios that indicates a masterplan of IL-2-ilizing the whole world on a it's multi plattform game. The all over summary would lead to a casual experience but who knew that this would feel like a dream becoming virtual reality. This ain't no simulation = who cares, it might end up beeing one, no doubt! This time things like camera positions and stuff are really made for the moment and lead to a epic ingame experience. What I really call epic is the OculusRift like feeling when playing WT with a gamepad and pressing the target focus button. Yeah, it's quite easy to handle WT, that's why it's the smarter IL-2 but never tell that to a IL-2 fan, please. Let's just not forget that WOWplanes offers other interesting aspects and that I would play it from time to time again if my PC would not suffer from it. Let's say it has great GFX and my PC not ;) My favorite waste of time will be WT because I really like how they push the game to certain directions, digging their Dev blog and reading patch notes are the first proofs of addiction.

What fascinated me most at WT was the following:
- awesome atmosphere, breathtaking action with lots of control
- the combination of air, ground and sea (sea will be adeed I guess, e.g. the WT logo)
- a contemplative implementation of at least a first bunch of dream planes
- steady development, new planes, tanks and maps all the time
- stunning level of model details (the movie GFX option is great for screenshots)
- your own skins and you can even upload meshes (awesome)
- even my badly half-broken cooler handles the FPS with even good looking results

I would say this has future. I expect modern times jet aircraft to come sooner or later but first more of those historic airplanes, please ;) My first impression of WT is really really good. You will miss all the expert skill and hardware leveling stuff. It's very comfortable to play with not much to do (R & D parts of game are boring but anyway usefull). Usually I would say no way I want to select different engines, hull platings and stuff. But I guess I'm not the only 'virtual collector', means the gameplay is built around the research tech tree and this is a great thing since I can have best equipped stuff without all the struggle that it ment when I was playing other tech tree and equip games. It's a race for the highest tech tree plane and the Tier system is very easy to understand (unlike other games). The dev blog shows that there a five more german planes in development. And those are impressive like the Fw 200 or the He 219 'Uhu'. I wonder if they ever can have the amount of a game called Heroes in the Sky or the legendary IL-2 '46 game. A US military historian once said a funny thing about aircraft developings of WWII, especially in terms of germans: 'Instead of building one plane and making it better and better the germans built dozens of planes'. So the biggest question will be (while even Wikipedia ain't got a full list of aircraft yet, neither I). Will there ever be a entire summary of all aircraft of that time? ...I'm not sure ;)

My two cents, actually three. No, I forgot one, uhm
- theres a big difference when playing with mouse-aiming or with a gamepad. Players tend to call gamepad users n00bs but actually they have a way trickier gameplay to handle. Theres also a difference when playing on a console and on a PC and that difference is clearly visible and within gameplay when comparing PC and console version. This is a call for more respect on us gamepad users, you keyboard-mousers, you ;)
- This game could have more features but they might be added some how, some way, who knows.
- uhm? << to be solved

I will definitively create skins for War Thunder, stay tuned. I have to finish a He 162 for IL-2 first. Today I finished the first He 112 test skin, this means I will offer it here for download when the word 'test' can be replaced. :D

And let me finish this post with this kinda saying comment: 'There are too many airplanes that you wanna fly around with but only a few games to jump inside'. Those would be IL-2, Wowplanes, War Thunder and HitS. At least four things less to worry about. It's depends on you to seek for your favorite planes, WOWplanes has lot's of fancy ones, too and remember, WOWplanes has some WT doesn't has and so on. But it could be that WT will get to be the only game needed in future. Now that will never happen since IL-2 stands alone on it's throne and similar to that WT will take it's time to reach almost perfect state and while good things take time I will continue the game switching even WT will be the first instance from now on.

Requests: On the need of finding something of use

Inspiring Submarine designs with a lot of Steampunk

We need more fancy rides, so I seeked for 3D Meshes for futher implementation into some Simulators and what I had to find was that most things don't even exist in the virtual world. While researching I found out my preferences are somehow unseen or let's say if you ask me, I would reflect a very specific nerd-faction. This means I'll take my opinion and I'm asking in the name of all vehicle related sim players that want to be early adopters, too. Here is some opinion leading for all of us. I hope you agree with me in particular. This list is aimed to bored Modders in search of something special. Thanks in advance!

These are some of the 3D-Meshes or Mods me and others would love to see:

Marine
U-Boat Type XXI (kewl design, hot historical specs)
U-Boat Taifun Class (huge and modern)
Seabreacher X Shark, Dolphin or Orca (fun and innovative)
Sailing Boat Dehler Dehlya 25 (tiny and cute)
Deepflight Black Hawk or Deepflight I or Challenger or Super Falcon Mk II

...

Air
The Jet from the movie G.I. Joe 1 (the non AI two-seater variant)
Synergy Aircraft (a crowd funded futuristic plane)
Mi-24 (a russian helicopter)
He Triebflügel (epic WWII concept aircraft)
He 112 (good looking, good manuevering)
Some Horten Glider Planes (one-wing concepts, needs flight skills)
Wingsuits (YAY, needed)
...

Space
Mars Attacks Flying Saucer (kewl design, epic gadget)
The Flight of the Navigator (unique design, for fantasy purposes)
BSG Rising Star (one of the most beautiful ship designs ever)
A super movable Spacesuit (needed for some)
...

Terrain
Some more very freaky Concept Cars (from real manufacturers).
Some hotter Mech Warrios (more sleek, please).
More different Byclicles or how about some virtual Inline-Skating?
...

Notes
All should have cockpits, except the two last ones. Thanks for developing! Ah and thanks for creating any awesome vehicle design that not got mentioned in here. Keep up the good work! :)

This topic is sheduled to be filled from time to time with whatever I end-up researching while looking for hot mobiles. Soon with pictures and more fancy entries.

Wing Commander Saga – The LOLCATS strike back! Most epic game ever!

A true Hall of Fame entry:
The LOLCATS strike back! The Most epic game ever: Wing Commander Saga!



Cat's are fun: A Cat on the ISS would be the most ever clicked YouTube video I guess.
I don't know how, but cat's somehow appeared in space, they call themselves Kilrathi now.
And they evolved to be lovely monsters. Yep and we and them became equal so watch it, they fly spaceships. BTW: The cute angry cat on the left actually ain't a Kilrah (those look more like tigers).


Oh yeah, so linear story based gameplay can be big fun, entertaining and thrilling. It's about atmosphere and you can feel it even theres no atmosphere in the vast of space. The storyline is like this: A Squadron, Carriers that house you, lot's of cat's everywhere. They call us furless freaks (maybe because we freaked out on funny cat-vids, yeah no doubt). They have CapShips / BigShips and lot's or medium and catsize support crafts. They fight hard but they don't risk too much. They entirely blame your flight skills (at least till right before you finished all campaign missions) + they hit hard.

The seven lifes thing works for cat's even in space, be it as if you need to restart a certain mission or because they can eject their ship just like you could. You pathetic descendant of monkeys! ...that's one of the more gentle things they said to me. Since they really make you want to find arguments (because of their flight skills or what they say) you can enjoy listening to what your taff wing mates have to counter. Fly in groups of 8 or more or do a recon mission with only one wingman. Play all those "I always wanted to" things. De-stabilize the Kilrathi presence at different sectors of space, get them away from any resources, aim for their Carriers and whatever (try damage it part by part, if they let you).

Having a great time:
Do two atmospheric flights, safe people, safe your Carriers. Encounter a loyal Monarchy of cat's following their Kings / independant leaders and say miaow to many high society cat's. A couple of the interesting stories and sceneries know from the various Wing Commander releases await you behind the ingame part where you have to stand them while you and they play hide and seek. This is no old-to-new: It has been made from A-Z for it's pilots. This also means the storyline introduces you the the world of Wing Commander. It's a tribute to Chris Robert's Wing Commander (which many of you might played before as it was the first top seller PC games, had movies and merchandising decades ago). WC Saga is made by fans for fans. Unlike Battlestar Galactica Diaspora – which also is a very epic game based on the FreeSpace2 Engine – Wing Commander Saga feels a bit more comfortable. I recommend flying only with "Glide Mode ON" (adds fun and simulator charecteristics). Meet famous cat's (you will get to know them). Have a little dogfight, the cat's have awesome ships (absolutely). Now they don't just look frightening sweet – unfortunately they are your target's (oh behave, cute cat's) . You will experience stunning briefing sequences, great music, voice-speech and radio-comms. the AI's will become your friends. Even the graphics are not state of the art the visuals have been all over raised to the maximum possible that the FS2 engine can master! If you haven't played it yet, trust me, everybody is saying this is trully thrilling and totally entertaining.

One or two pictures:

Download it here for free – have some fun:
http://wcsaga.com

Notes:
– Play it or never even think of calling it wack (it's Open Source, it was meant for something)
– This ain't a Multiplayer but they're working on such a thing at the moment
– I can't wait till we can pilot the cat's ships ourselves. They're on it, too!


This entry has been written by Simulator Miaow, meet her, she is here on this blog (on the right side), she wants to play a bit and she is a cute non-monster cat.