Really good freeware stuff?

Hello all.

I am going on a hunt for some really good freeware stuff. Preferably General Aviation aircraft or Large Transport Helicopters. I am also open to 'small' photoreal Airports I am aware of people like Milton Shupe, and I think his work is really great but I want something that is close to payware quality. It also has to be relatively FPS friendly. I know ICARO are pretty good. Does anyone have any add ons worth sharing? Thanks,

Ryan

Not General Aviation aircraft or Large Transport Helicopters but I just found f14bfs9a.zip I find this to be some really amazing free ware. I know I am really stretching it on the topic here, However. This F14 has what they call a super spoiler to help it land on a carrier that does not have functioning arrestor cables. My wish list would have been that the "super spoilers", only worked when the tail hook was down.

The only other item i can mention is the isUH1HHuey.zip which is a helo of course but not a Large Transport Helo. I hope you get many replies, that is all I have today.

I don't know about that F14, I might check it out in the future, but that Huey sounds right up my street! Do you have a link for that Huey? I cant seem to find it anywhere.

Anyone have anything else?

Thanks Goldhawk,

Ryan

Premier Aircraft Design has some nice GA freeware, such as a line of Twin Otters on floats, skis, or wheels.

A very impressive Cessna 150 at http://www.fs-tutorials.com/en/down_plane_C150_01.php (as good as any payware)

I have never really been into PAD that much. There VC's are not up to my annoyingly high standards. These annoyingly high standards are keeping me from settling down on one aircraft.

I have seen this and would really love to download this aircraft but the only problem is...I don't know how! The page does not seem to have a download button for the aircraft. I'm sure there are other aircraft in there I would want to download, as soon as I can find out how to do it. Thanks,

Ryan

About 1/2 way down the page that JGF linked above is a box, says DOWNLOAD FILE HERE,

and inside which is a set of text on a flashing back ground that atm says USER: HSI, PASSWORD: HDG.

Scroll down to that, and click the yellow letters. You will be redirected to the download page. Just put in the username and PW, and awaaaaaay you go!

Bout as obvious as it gets :) You do have to use their username and PW to download. It's a "real human" verification.

Have fun!

Pat☺

I have never really been into PAD that much. There VC's are not up to my annoyingly high standards. These annoyingly high standards are keeping me from settling down on one aircraft.

 

I have seen this and would really love to download this aircraft but the only problem is...I don't know how! The page does not seem to have a download button for the aircraft. I'm sure there are other aircraft in there I would want to download, as soon as I can find out how to do it. Thanks,

Ryan

Scroll down about halfway, and look for the "Download Here" area in YELLOW.

Click on the Link, and voíla!

There are LOTS of Freeware GA aircraft in the File Library, but with your VC requirements, you're gonna have to look at them and see.

In my very humble opinion, the VC quality (or lack of said VC) shouldn't disqualify an airplane for use; what if they fly (and look) great?

I have never really been into PAD that much. There VC's are not up to my annoyingly high standards. These annoyingly high standards are keeping me from settling down on one aircraft.

I find it difficult to see how their VCs can match up to any standard as they really are awful - even if you don't have annoyingly high standards. I am very much into GA aircraft and have only ever found three or four which have met my equally high standards. Maybe we are unique??!!

Dijvid

A very impressive Cessna 150 at http://www.fs-tutorials.com/en/down_plane_C150_01.php (as good as any payware)

Could not agree more - but I do wish that the cockpit didn't vibrate. It gets on my nerves after a short while.

Dijvid

Hello all.

I am also open to 'small' photoreal Airports

Ryan

Well in that case, THE BEST freeware airports I have seen are those done by John Ross, for the North Coast of New South Wales in Australia. I have Ballina, Port Macquarie, Lismore, and Kingaroy; I think that there are more. As he says, these are small airports and he has been able to work with airport management to get fabulous photographic access so his airports are superbly realistic. Far better, I may add, than anything I have ever seen in the USA or Europe. How's that for a controversial statement? If you search for "John Ross" you should get them all. And they are indeed FPS friendly, because although highly detailed, they are very small airports. He also has a great sense of humour - there are a number of totally in-context Easter Eggs in all of his work.

Steve rom Mudgee

https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?searchid=31892598

if you are still looking for the huey, sorry in a hurry now did not read the whole thread.

Hi guys. WOW! Really wasn't expecting this many replies!

(to those who told me about the fs tutorials download page)-the box says that it is a download for repaints. when I click on those it takes me to another page and has another box which lets me download the aircraft. when I click on that,, it takes me back to the original page.

(to shanwick)-Yes,, I think we might be unique. I always seem to pick out the really small things and let them make me dislike the whole aircraft. e.g. I downloaded the hovercontrol Bell 412 recently and saw that not many switches were clickable and were 2d. Then I downloaded the Virtavia Merlin and found that hardly any of the switches were clickable, but I found no fault in VC quality. If it's not one thing,, it's another!

(to old_wombat)-I will definitely check those out. Thanks for that! ;)

(to Goldhawk)-That link takes me to a empty download page. I will have a look myself in a bit. :)

Thanks to all that have posted so far. I hope to get some more ideas soon. Thanks,

Ryan ;)

Hi,

I have been astonished at the quality of some of the freeware that is available. A number of different groups / individuals have produced really excellent stuff including:

Milton Shupe and his colleagues including those at Sim Outhouse - Grumman F7F Tigercat, S2F Tracker, A26, an excellent Dash 7 etc etc.

Tim Piglet Conrad - many excellent models including an AN-32, Douglas A-1 Skyraider

Simshed - a really excellent Nimrod

iFLy - 747-400

Rob Richardson - a great Shackleton, Gannet, Hornet, Venom, Vampire, an Ambassador etc

Dave Garrwood and colleagues at Classic British Flight Sims - many models including a Mosquito, Beaufighter, Hunter and a range of early airliners.

Flying Stations - a great free Wyvern and a really nice low cost payware Hawker Sea Fury

Dave Maltby - an excellent range of early airliners

UKMIL - good transports and great Buccaneer

IRIS - a number of very good older trainer planes such as PC-9, T-6 Texan 2

Dino Cattaneo - wonderful Goshawk, F-14 and F-35 - donationware planes.

JBK - Jens B Kristensen - some excellent transports and airliners.

Mannfred Jahn - a wonderful C-47 with great engine sounds.

I take my hat off to all these people for the really wonderful work they have done and shared with us. They are extremely generous.

If some of these don't meet your standards I would be astonished. They are all really great planes to fly and give a very wide range of different experiences from their different types.

Hope this list helps you and others.

Cheers

silverghost

Hello

This is very good.

Weather it will meet your exacting standards I am not sure,but Mikko Maliniemi's Maule is an old favourite and well worth a look.

Cheers

Socks

...

(to those who told me about the fs tutorials download page)-the box says that it is a download for repaints. when I click on those it takes me to another page and has another box which lets me download the aircraft. when I click on that,, it takes me back to the original page.

...

I had trouble using Firefox, there was no link for download at all. It worked with IE.

...

 

In my very humble opinion, the VC quality (or lack of said VC) shouldn't disqualify an airplane for use; what if they fly (and look) great?

My sentiments exactly. One of my favorite GA aircraft is the old SimTech Staggerwing; originally payware for FS2002, it was released as freeware several years ago. It looks good, is fun to fly, comes with a float version, ...and the VC is decidedly dated. But the only other free Staggerwing I've seen is even older, and doesn't have a VC at all (and the only payware I'm aware of is the Alabeo version for FSX).

But to each is own. I've had payware and freeware aircraft with literally dozens of "clickable" switches ...of which 75% did nothing (except click) because FS9 doesn't model those functions. This is most pronounced in military aircraft, where you will see switches for dispensing chaff, gunsight heaters, arming rockets, etc.

I guess I'm one of those who's definitely in the minority, but personally, I prefer flying from the 2D view instead of the VC!

I have many airplanes that don't have a VC (Mike Stone's, for example), and I find that they fly as well (if not better) than some of the Payware offerings out there.

I guess I'm one of those who's definitely in the minority, but personally, I prefer flying from the 2D view instead of the VC!

 

I have many airplanes that don't have a VC (Mike Stone's, for example), and I find that they fly as well (if not better) than some of the Payware offerings out there.

I used to feel like you when it came to VCs, but since getting a new PC ,after 11 years as an only 2d man, I can now use (as one very good example the posky 777 VC) which is excellent and now with no lag on loading.

In fact I am reluctant to fly ANY of my P777s without the there VC, which is a problem as back installing it on my many 777s is proving difficult due the many variants ,models ,service packs etc.

I still do use the 2d to enter autopilot info and other aircraft commands lights etc etc as I find it easier than VC.

Anyways not wishing to highjack I will shove off from this post.

Cheers Andy

I am fortunate enough to have my own man cave for my FS PC, and so I have a very large monitor in portrait mode, on the wall, where I have my outside forward view. ANd a much closer smaller monitor is landscape mode, where I put up the instrument panel, GPS, etc.

To me this is MUCH more realistic than any single-screen VC coule ever achieve. It also gives better resolution of everything by at LEAST a factor of two over anything a VC could do.

Steve from Mudgee.

Hi guys. Thanks for more of the ideas. ;)

(to silvergh0st)-Wow thanks for that, I don't know where to start!

(to jgf)-But I am one of those who prefers to fly from the VC. Although I do occasionally fly from spot view. I am not saying it should disqualify an aircraft from flight, I am just saying that I prefere my aircraft with all the little bits and bobs with it e.g. Cockpit heater switches (even if they don't do anything). A bit like Carenado's stuff. :)

(to ViperPilot2)-I don't tend to use the 2d cockpit although it is nice to have one.

(to old_wombat)-I would LOVE one of those 'man caves' but I am a bit short on cash and space.

Thanks again to the replies. Will check them out.

Ryan

Alright guys, I just got my Christmas money through and got the Carenado C206 Stationair. And I am not disappointed! Looks like this thread can finally come to an end. Feel free to share more stuff (although I am unlikely to view this thread for a while, but I may check up on it later). Thanks guys for the ideas. Until next time, Cheerio!

Ryan

Oh, I'm not knocking VCs (nor trying to alter anyone's preferences); I enjoy them, but lack of one, or having a very low-res one, isn't a deal breaker for me. For aircraft with no VC I install the old dsd_view_skip gauge, so when cycling through views you don't get that disembodied view flying through the air. (BTW, an excellent aircraft with no VC is Derek Palmer's DH-104 Dove; one of hte best 2D panels I've seen, and there are literally dozens of liveries available.)

But i always use the 2D panel for landing, simply because my forward view is fixed there. In the VC I almost always adjust my viewpoint, and since Micro$oft didn't see fit to give us an easy way of saving that view, hitting the space bar to return to that "straight ahead" view takes you back to the default view instead of your adjusted one; and panning back means the view may be a few degrees off, making landings rather... troublesome.

... got the Carenado C206 Stationair. ...

I thought the discussion was about good freeware.

I thought the discussion was about good freeware.

You've been punked .......