Upcoming iOS update

    Dear Aerofly,

    I have been watching the recent Facebook posts with interests and I am certainly looking forward to the upcoming major update. So far the posts have hinted at new features such as a global map, replay and night flying including lit cockpits. I am also assuming that there will a handful of new aircraft as well.

    Over the past nine months you have hinted at further features such as more functionality and ILS and VOR Nav but I have not seen these mentioned in your recent posts.

    Are you in a position to give a summary of the new features and major changes that can be expected in the new iOS version and what will delayed until a subsequent update?

    I have been watching the progress of Aerofly and Infinite Flight with interest and I have to say that for me, Aerofly is the winner. I am after a more adult sim where functionality and realism is favoured over aircraft types and multiplayer. I hope that one day the iOS version of Aerofly will allow us more control of the aircraft including prop and mixture controls, modelled carb heat, switchable lights, engine on and off and mags and a usable radio and transponder.

    Another question I have is whether you will be selling any addon scenery with a higher level of detail that can be used outside of Switzaland such as Heathrow. I personally would be happy to pay for extra orbx style scenery packs to add to the lower detail global scenery and I am sure that it would be a god source of revenue for ipacs.

    Keep up the good work.

    Gary

    Gary,

    we know, many people would like to know when the next version will be available and what features we will offer. We are in a position to publish a little bit:

    As we mentioned on Facebook, our plan is to release a new version of aerofly for iOS at the end of this year. Its looking good, but our plan is tight so there might be slight chances we have to delay it until january 2015.

    As far as new features concerns: We want to add Night/Day, navigation features like VOR and ILS and also a replay feature. All aircraft has been redesigned so it will look good at night. Our engine is now also global, so in theory you can fly around the whole earth without any interruption!

    The new version will take place in a new area, the Facebook screenshot will give you a rough idea. This version will initially include only a small area, to keep the base version small. In an upcoming update for 2015, we plan to add a scenery manager, so people with more capacity may download new areas.

    We hope this does give you a rough idea what you can expect.

    The new screenshots look great and it is great to see the localiser and glideslope indicators working on the MFDs. One thing in particular that I am keen to see updated is a way of using the autopilot whilst having the info bar disabled. I know you guys have put a lot of time and effort into working instruments and so I like to use them as much as possible!

    Out of interest, what sort of system have you used to control which ILS, DNB and VOR freqs are selected? Does the programme automatically select the nearest freq like on infinite flight or can the user choose them from a list or by entering the relevant freq manually?

    Please ignore the comments about the cost of the update and the requests for free aircraft. Those of us that are true fans are appreciative of all the hard work that goes into the sim and it's updates. We are more than happy to pay knowing that we are effectively investing in the future of sim and that our money will enable further features and aircraft to be added further down the line.

    Thanks again for all your hardwork.

    Gary

    Gary,

    we will probably support two modes regarding navigation: One is an automatic mode, when you just fly around we do set a destination ILS automatically. This should suit most users.
    However, we also add a new dialog where you can explicitly select your desired ILS frequency. The flight info bar will then display the relevant information and also helps in finding the airport and preparing for the final approach. This system will not be perfect in the first release, but we will improve this with upcoming updates. Our goal here is to give experienced users ILS the way they expect it and offer an easy to use system for beginners using the flight info bar.

    The new version also does not allow the auto pilot to be used without the info bar, we will address this in an upcoming update.

    Our main goal is to come out with the new version this year, so we will delay some features until 2015.

    And yes, we will publish a new version that you have to pay for. This does have two reasons:
    1) We will offer a new area and including Switzerland by default with it would really have been too big of a package to distribute. The new version will also be smaller to better suit users with less free space. In an upcoming update we will offer a scenery manager, so users with more space can add more sceneries.
    2) Another reason is of course the the development cost. All aircraft has been completely redesigned to look better and to also work at night, this has been a tremendous amount of work. So we do need some form of income to keep improving our simulator :)

    Perfect! The automatic choice of ILS frequencies is fine in most cases, but approaches on parallel runways (like KSFO) are sometimes a hassle when the game chooses the localiser you intercepted first. Making both possible is awesome. :)

    Quote from IPACS Support

    And yes, we will publish a new version that you have to pay for. This does have two reasons:
    1) We will offer a new area and including Switzerland by default with it would really have been too big of a package to distribute. The new version will also be smaller to better suit users with less free space. In an upcoming update we will offer a scenery manager, so users with more space can add more sceneries.
    2) Another reason is of course the the development cost. All aircraft has been completely redesigned to look better and to also work at night, this has been a tremendous amount of work. So we do need some form of income to keep improving our simulator :)

    With all these news functions, manage you to preserve a good framerate on iPhone 5s as the current version ?

    Edited 2 times, last by solon (November 19, 2014 at 10:01 AM).

    This is a saying that i find is quite popular when expressing ones very much interest

    SHUT UP N TAKE MY MONEY

    Lol i hope thats not offensive i dont mean it to me but i agree completley paying for the features is only fair and exactly right all the hard work they do is completley deserving of funding seriously been looking forward to this for year now and were almost there in the meantime ive been also perfecting my fs2004 ill never update to fsx but thats obky before aerofly comes out with there then i will be fully imersed in there flightsim keep up the great work guys proud to be considered a fan oh and i bough the 64 gig ipad bring it on:D

    Does that mean that the new feature like night and ILS will only be available in California and not Switzerland or will both regions be available on the new version?

    Infinite Flight have just realised a 747 and it will be interesting to see how it compares to aeroflys. Without working instruments I know who will get my vote!

    I do like animated instruments in Aerofly but my preference is still to fly with purely a HUD on screen letting you see more of what is out there and making the important readings easy to read. Working instruments, while nice and I'm sure a must for the real plane aficionados amongst us, are not always the most practical to use on a small screen while. Please keep an uncluttered view with HUD only.

    I do not like too much infinity, because exactly no building, not animated instruments. I like flying in a virtual cockpit and I find the bigger realism in Aerofly FS.

    But I have a doubt after my previous message without answer. The new application will not be compatible iPhone, only iPad... (?) At present I use Aerofly on an iPhone 5s and the result is very good. I have write an little review On an french associative site (http://www.latitude31.fr/articles/?url=…ur-iphone-ipad/)

    Quote from solon

    I do not like too much infinity, because exactly no building, not animated instruments. I like flying in a virtual cockpit and I find the bigger realism in Aerofly FS.

    But I have a doubt after my previous message without answer. The new application will not be compatible iPhone, only iPad... (?) At present I use Aerofly on an iPhone 5s and the result is very good. I have write an little review On an french associative site (http://www.latitude31.fr/articles/?url=…ur-iphone-ipad/)

    On the Facebook page they posted a couple of pictures of the upcoming release and said it was from the iPhone version so the iPhone will be supported.

    As it looks now, Aerofly 2 will run on iPhone as well as iPad. We do require iOS 7.1 or newer. We will publish final requirements once we have sent our version to Apple for review.

    However an iPhone 4S isn't really recommended as is an iPad 2 or iPad Mini (non Retina). Aerofly 2 will run on those devices but its not as smooth as we wanted it to be. Aerofly 2 will run with reduce graphics quality on those devices.

    As we mentioned before, the new version features quite a few more details like runway lights, different time of day, more cockpit functionality and slightly higher graphics quality. All this sums up and is pushing the slower iOS devices to the limit. Also keep in mind that Aerofly 2 is an whole earth engine, so in theory you could fly around the whole earth, however in the first version we only supply image and elevation data for a small area to keep the App small enough. In an upcoming update we would like to offer additional sceneries for download.

    As it looks now, Aerofly 2 will run best on iPhone 5S, 6 or 6 Plus and iPad 4, Air or Air 2. On iPhone 6 Plus and iPad Air 2 we still have room for more stuff to render, we will address this also in an upcoming update. We could use it to render clouds, trees or more buildings. But we will decide on this once we have published the initial release.

    Unfortunately I am running an ipad3 with retina display and a new mini again with retina display. I prefer to use the larger ipad as the instruments are easier to read and it is more immersive but may have to switch to my mini for the better performance :(. I assume that we will keep aerofly one as it is now.

    Thank you IPACS for this precision. It is sometimes difficult to use simulators on computer (low framerate etc.), then to transpose all these options on iPad / iPhone it is a big work.

    I look forward to testing this new version

    Edited once, last by solon (November 28, 2014 at 9:30 AM).

    I must say just in time for the holidays a wonderful update announcement thank you iPacs so very much for your hardwork and dedication I can already see it on my new air 2 I must say this is my first ever forum I've ever stood with so much friendly flyers here and great support I fly my Airbus all over Switzerland and just love the view when I saw the iPad screenshot on Facebook I just jumped really excited fin sly someone gets it on iPad thanks for never quitting on us:) loyal and proud supporter

    C05MIC