Ilan's Hang Glider Simulator Demo
by Dan Hopgood (24 July 1998)
f
you're a FlightSim.Com regular, you're no doubt thinking "This
program's already been
reviewed, why do it again?" Well, the answer is that Ilan
Papini the developer has been busy improving the program, and has
released a revised demonstration version, described here.Hang gliding is different. You lie flat, you see everything that's around you; it's the nearest thing to flying like a bird. You relax and feel free. This shareware program tries to capture a little of those feelings.
Major improvements from the previous demo:
1. A "wrapper" program has been added, giving a more professional look and allowing users to customize various options to their taste. The wind direction and speed, properties of clouds, thermals, screen resolution, dynamic scenery and visibility can all be altered using slider bars.
2. The pilot is now fully animated. He runs, goes between the prone
and upright positions on take-off and landing, and even tucks his
legs in when flying fast, to get the center of gravity further
forward. - and all in bare feet!
3. Dynamic scenery in the form of other gliders has been added, together with thermals. There is a choice of three gliders, each having different flying characteristics.
4. There are a series of lessons taking you from a basic top to bottom flight to thermalling, with simple text instructions and a sketch for each lesson.
5. There is now a joystick option.
Hardware requirements are a minimum of Pentium 133 with a 4Mb 3D
accelerator card. With a P200, 32Mb ram and Voodoo2 card, the
graphics always remained fast and smooth, so I'd say this
recommendation is accurate. I had no problems either installing or
running the program, and I was pleased to see that no files were
installed to any of those "difficult to clean" places like the
Windows/System directory, making maintenance or uninstallation a
breeze. The controls are all logical and can be learned very quickly
For example, panning the views with the mouse I found very easy
compared with using keys in other programs.
The scenery in this demo is limited to an area called "beach", which,
amazingly enough is a hill running parallel to a beach! This is good,
but a much smaller area than the previous demo, so you don't see
quite how good the scenery really is - which is similar in appearance
to Flight Unlimited II. The scenery area demo time is limited to
around five minutes flying time, but all the features work. There
have been all sorts of tweaks including texture improvements,
lighting effects on the glider and a better flight model, allowing
wing-overs and tip-stalling.I greatly appreciated the addition of thermals, which, when given the large scenery area of the registered version allows the opportunity to try cross-country soaring - something that almost no other sim can do.
There are all sorts of flight simulations available, and many try to
find their own niche in the market. This one is certainly different,
and from a personal viewpoint I like the way the simplicity and
"pure" flying experience that is unique to hang gliding has been
captured. After a stressful day, what better way to wind down than
with a relaxing soaring flight, with just the sound of the breeze in
your ears? Certainly makes a change from trying to wipe out half the
former Soviet Union's air power on your own!Ilan Papini has developed this program single-handed in his spare time, and if you've seen the length of the credit list of the latest sims in the shops, you have to be impressed at the result. No, it's not yet a fully developed program, but that's the whole point - the "open" nature of the software makes for easy upgrades and alterations, and it is through enthusiasm and effort from users that the program will hopefully develop. This is flight sim in the raw, and I for one wish the developer well in getting third party help to carry on the good work he has started.
Try it, you might like it!
Ilan now has a web site set up at http://www.alberts.com/authorpages/00013308/HangSim.htm where you can download the program, register and get news of improvements. The demo is also available here at FlightSim.Com.
Dan Hopgood
Download
the trial version.
dan.hopgood@virgin.net