FlightGear Flight Simulator
Developers | |
---|---|
FlightGear.org developers & contributors | |
Publishers | |
PUBLISHER | |
Release dates | |
Windows | December 17, 2007 |
macOS (OS X) | December 17, 2007 |
Linux | December 17, 2007 |
Taxonomy | |
Monetization | Freeware |
Modes | Singleplayer, Multiplayer |
Genres | Simulation, Vehicle simulator |
Series | FlightGear Flight Simulator |
FlightGear Flight Simulator | |
---|---|
FlightGear Flight Simulator | 2007 |
Article in-progress, over the next few days. please wait.
The FlightGear Flight Simulator 2020.3 Long Term Stable (shortened to FlightGear 2020.3) is a free, open-source, multi-platform, cooperative flight simulator development project made by FlightGear.org. It also simulates space flight in Earth's orbit.
FlightGear's flight dynamics engine (JSBSim) is used in a 2015 NASA benchmark to judge new simulation code to the standards of the space industry.
FlightGear 2020.3 has over 700 aircraft and spacecraft projects [1] that can be filtered by advancement level in art/FDM/systems in the launcher's browser[2][3]. The rest are available through 3rd party hangars or from development repositories. It's used professionally for research and development, and is available for home desktop or DiY project users.
Note: The project is a bit different from "arcade" commercial flight simulations and flight games. It's more Linux scientific software. Being opensource, the sim has received development form the science and engineering community. Some aspects of the sim presentation, features, and project itself may go against gamey software practices/norms. Examples: to be cont...
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Availability
Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|
Developer website | GPL source code is also available. |
Monetization
Type | Notes |
---|---|
Freeware | yes |
Microtransactions
Type | Notes |
---|---|
No microtransactions | None |
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows |
Save game data location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows |
Save game cloud syncing
- No save game cloud syncing information; you can edit this page to add it.
Video
Graphics feature | State | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
Widescreen resolution | Can specify any resolution. | ||
Multi-monitor | Supports 10+ monitors on 1 PC. One GPU to many monitors/views on same PC. Multiple GPUs to multiple monitors on same PC. Multiple views on multiple monitors across multiple separate PCs or other devices. See configuring view windows and how to activate multi core and multi GPU support. | ||
Ultra-widescreen | |||
4K Ultra HD | |||
Field of view (FOV) | Default keys: x/X to change FoV. You're meant to zoom in/out when clicking on 3d cockpits. | ||
Windowed | |||
Borderless fullscreen windowed | |||
Anisotropic filtering (AF) | |||
Anti-aliasing (AA) | Use launcher. See wiki. Use command-line options to get higher AA: --prop:/sim/rendering/multi-samples=N , valid values for N: 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x. | ||
Vertical sync (Vsync) | To hit vsync limits, unlock FPS throttle from in-sim menu > view > rendering. | ||
60 FPS and 120+ FPS | No upper limits. Unlock FPS throttle from in-sim menu > view > rendering. Can reach 60+ FPS on 4k monitors with high end GPUs. | ||
High dynamic range display (HDR) | |||
Ray tracing (RT) |
Input
Keyboard and mouse | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Remapping | ||
Mouse acceleration | ||
Mouse sensitivity | ||
Mouse input in menus | ||
Mouse Y-axis inversion | ||
Controller | ||
Controller support |
Controller types |
---|
Tracked motion controllers |
---|
Audio
Audio feature | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Separate volume controls | ||
Surround sound | ||
Subtitles | ||
Closed captions | ||
Mute on focus lost |
Localizations
Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
English | ||||
Dutch | ||||
French | Translated manual. | |||
German | Translated manual. | |||
Italian | Translated manual. | |||
Polish | Translated manual. | |||
Russian | ||||
Turkish | ||||
Simplified Chinese | Not sure if simplified or traditional | |||
Slovak | Translated manual. | |||
Spanish | Translated manual. |
Network
Multiplayer types
Type | Native | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
Local play | |||
LAN play | |||
Online play |
Other information
API
Executable | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Windows | |||
macOS (OS X) | |||
Linux |
Middleware
- No middleware information; you can edit this page to add it.
System requirements
System requirements for FlightGear is a complex topic. A large range of hardware is supported than normally expected - as FlightGear is an opensource scientific and engineering software historically from the Linux community, and is run on non-gaming (e.g. weak GPU) hardware in research and education settings. In DiY (home cockpit) or professional simulator settings [4] FlightGear is run in complex configurations, like having multiple instances of FlightGear running limited parts of the sim following a master instance, effectively distributing functionality across multiple embedded processors/systems over LAN or internet [5] - e.g. using an ipad/iphone/android [6] device to display instruments/maps [7], having multiple Raspberry Pis [8] with stripped down builds of FlightGear drive displays/instruments [9], running physics/systems/graphics using separate PCs/devices, driving multiple views on different PCs etc.
FlightGear can scale to a huge range of hardware. FlightGear keeps renderers from older eras, has lots of settings configurability, has multiple weather and physics engines with differing requirements, and is backwards compatible with older versions of aircraft.[10]
For marginal systems it's recommended for people to try running latest FG with lower settings, older renderers like shaderless, older terrain (e.g. WS 1.0), older aircraft, or less complex aircraft, before switching to older FlightGear versions.
At high settings FlightGear 2018 and later can fully use a GTX 1060+ at 1080p (1920 x 1080) resolution.
Your target frame-rates (FPS) should be lower than for reflex based shooter games, as response speeds of aircraft control systems and aircraft turn rates are slower (30-ish FPS for a lot of aircraft and flying activities).
See wiki pages for requirements:
- FlightGear Minimum Startup Profile
- FlightGear Hardware recommendations
- Performance tips for worldwide 3d buildings, roads, cities (2020.3.7 and later)
- Example screenshots of appearance when using equivalent of GTX 1050 Ti or higher at 1080p, at 25+ FPS, with 4 core i5 or equivalent CPU.
- Aircraft from older versions of FlightGear
- The following, taken from the official FlightGear wiki, should be considered a baseline. As stated above, what airplane is being flown, how detailed the underlying simulation, the renderer and detail of rendering, etc. will change these requirements.
Windows | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum[11] | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | ||
Processor (CPU) | Intel Core i5-2500 | Intel Core i5-4xxx series AMD Ryzen series |
System memory (RAM) | 8 GB | 16 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | ||
Video card (GPU) | Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti |
macOS (OS X) | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum[11] | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | ||
Processor (CPU) | Intel Core i5-2500 | Intel Core i5-4xxx series AMD Ryzen series |
System memory (RAM) | 8 GB | 16 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | ||
Video card (GPU) | Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti |
Linux | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum[11] | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | ||
Processor (CPU) | Intel Core i5-2500 | Intel Core i5-4xxx series AMD Ryzen series |
System memory (RAM) | 8 GB | 16 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | ||
Video card (GPU) | Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti |
References
- ↑ Changelog 2020.3 - FlightGear wiki - last accessed on 2022-09-11
- ↑ Installing aircraft in FlightGear - the easy way - Youtube - last accessed on 2022-09-12
- ↑ FlightGear Qt launcher - FlightGear wiki - last accessed on 2022-09-12
- ↑ FlightGear#Applications and usages - Wikipedia - last accessed on 2022-09-12
- ↑ Data_Distribution Services support - last accessed on 2022-09-12
- ↑ List_of_Android apps to use with FlightGear - FlightGear wiki - last accessed on 2022-09-12
- ↑ Phi - FlightGear Wiki - last accessed on 2022-09-12
- ↑ Raspberry OS setup - last accessed on 2022-09-12
- ↑ Radio Panel Airbus. FG Interface Powered - Youtube video - last accessed on 2022-09-12
- ↑ FlightGear Hardware reconmendations - FlightGear wiki - last accessed on 2022-09-12
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 FlightGear Wiki - Hardware build - last accessed on 2022-09-12