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. Launcher > settings > show more > window size > custom size , or through command-line options. | ||
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. Use extreme FoV like binoculars when looking at environment, or from airport tower views. ~0.1 to 120 deg by default. | ||
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
Input is a complex topic. FlightGear allows complete control and interfacing with hardware, for more professional and DiY cockpit/hardware settings.
See Input devices wiki page to start.
For basic home use flight specific hardware like Joysticks (flight sticks), Yokes, and Rudder Pedals are often used. Throttles (throttle quadrants) are less common.
Control axes from input can be used in any way to operate flight control surfaces - see common plane surfaces. This includes 2 axes from a mouse. Note for helicopters: Joysticks have a constant centering force, and don't reflect the way sticks work on helicopters - one solution is to remove springs if possible, another is to use a mouse for stick axes (or dual mouse on Linux) - see Helicopter flying. Buttons/sliders/throttles from joysticks, keypads, or custom devices can also be set up to control different things in different contexts.
FlightGear can recognise input devices with profiles in XML text files. These profiles are just a starting point, and can be customised for the aircraft you fly. See latest Joystick inputs, and other input. See the hardware section on the forum and stickied threads for more profiles - console/gamepad controller profiles are also available.
There is a Joystick menu that gives limited customisability (as aircraft and possible uses for buttons/axes are too diverse). There is a fgjs/jsdemo configuration utility for new/unknown hardware.
Keyboard and mouse | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Remapping | Possible to have complex key remap bindings, combinations, contexts for different keypad hardware or joystick buttons (not just keyboard) and aircraft. Done via editing XML files. See Howto:Reassign_keyboard_bindings. | |
Mouse acceleration | ||
Mouse sensitivity | Done via XML files for different axes in different contexts, completely customisable. Simple sensitivity via menu on post-2020.3 nightlies. Keyboard + mouse control possible, but harder to fly most aircraft without an axis for rudder. Use LMB+mouse movement for rudder, or less preferably use auto-coordination. Can use mouse for stick axes for helicopters if centering force on joystick is uncomfortable. | |
Mouse input in menus | ||
Mouse Y-axis inversion | ||
Controller | ||
Controller support |
Controller types |
---|
Tracked motion controllers |
---|
Additional information | ||
---|---|---|
Haptic feedback | See Force Feedback. |
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