Download FlightGear for Mac - Open source flight simulator. MacUpdate Mac Simulation Software Downloads

FlightGear is an open-source, cross-platform, flight simulator. The goal of the FlightGear project is to create a sophisticated flight simulator framework for use in research or academic environments, for the development and pursuit of other interesting flight simulation ideas, and as an end-user application.

Version 1.9.1r232:

This release contains some bug-fixes and updates on GUI Launcher and add-ons. No change was made on FlightGear simulator main program

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SMASHERPDX I have an iMac G5 with OS 10.4. When I started to play this game, I noticed that it takes a while to load, and the response time is high. It also froze and program completely shut down right in the middle of it. I'm not a stupid guy either, but I can't even get my plane off the ground!
(Version 0.9.9)

Replies:

Dec 17 2006

NON_PC I could,t get the plane to move either. On a MacBook Pro 2.16 Ghz
(Version 0.9.10)

ANONYMOUS I'm not sure this should even be a beta release yet.

First the good news. Graphics: OK; close to MSFS (pretty good for freeware, in other words). Sound: Good, but then flight sims aren't the most complex soundtracks on the planet. Stability: takes a long time to load (about 2 minutes) and appears to be the pizza of death, but after the screen changes resolution and aspect ratio a few times it seems to work reasonably well (is the splash screen supposed to tear up like that?).

User interface: horrid. Not just the "ported-from-UNIX-ugly-but-works" style, I mean pull-down menus that don't do anything except tell you to use an XML editor to edit the preference files (hacking is fun, but shouldn't be mandatory). Major settings like screen resolution and controller options seem to be inaccessable from inside the game.

Physics: I managed to roll through the terminal building on a take-off run, did an inverted loop (in a 707!) and flew straight through the ground, which then disappeared leaving only a black dot. For me, detecting collisions with ground objects is a major part of the "simulation" aspect of any flight sim. Its harder to make a comment on the flight models, since my machine (eMac 700MHz, 32MB nVidia, fine according to the limited system specs on the HTML manual pages) couldn't manage more than about 8 fps (guessing, the fps display didn't seem to work), and the poor UI design meant that changing the settings was too much of a chore*.

Installation: "Drag the FlightGear folder to Applications" say the (rather meagre) installation notes: this I tried, and got a permissions error. Fixed with "Get Info". The other problems I can forgive as development issues, but this is just plain carelessness. Found no other relevant documentation on the DMG, just some bible quotes, which were absolutely no use under the circumstances (praying DIDN'T help...).

Frankly, if this software is actually used by anyone in the groves of academe doing serious research, I'm never flying again! For now, I'd suggest sticking with Warbirds or X-Plane; they may not be open source, but they work...

*I'm one of those old-fasioned people who believe that computers are supposed to make life less complex and more enjoyable, not the other way around.
(Version 0.9.8)

Replies:

Jan 20 2005

ANONYMOUS Addenum to previous review:

FPS counter does work, but is unlabelled and hard to find. Perhaps it shouldn't be on the instrument panel...

Necessary to exit game to change plane.

Mysterious crash (program, not the plane) after changing planes (opening dialog box, splash screen, sound, then nothing).

Does detect ground collisions, but only with landing gear down. Plane can get stuck at odd angles, only option is to reset the simulator.

Some menus do work, but many settings don't appear to do anything. Settings aren't retained (surely there has to be some GPL source code for XML editing out there...).

Default controller setting maps the throttle to the joystick "Z-axis". Impossible to change, because it STILL won't copy to my hard drive (argh!).

Still runs like a cow (and I don't mean with bells on).

And it was a 737, not a 707. It still flies underground, though, and it feels way too responsive (more like a Lear Jet).
(Version 0.9.8)

Mar 18 2005

ANONYMOUS I've played this on FreeBSD on both a thinkpad

and a desktop machine. The last stable

version (from my experience) was 0.9.3.

After that, it has been very unstable

(memory leaks) and crashes regularly.

So it doesn't surprise me that the OS X

port gives people a bad taste in their

mouth. On a reasonably fast machine

(in PC terms, >2GHz) with a video card

that does direct-rendering, and back when

it worked well, it was one of the most

realistic flight simulators around. The

keyboard interface is hard to get used to

but it did work (at one point). Serious

flyers used a joystick. Hopefully, they'll

get the bugs worked out...soon.

Perhaps we can convince the Fink project

folks to try another port of this (although

I can't blame the person who ported it,

I think it's been unstable since 0.9.6).

--sam
(Version 0.9.8)

ANONYMOUS Downloaded it and the darn thing wouldn't open.

My computer meets the requirements.

It now rests in the trash. Sad really because it looked like it would be a ton of fun.
(Version 0.9.8)

Replies:

Dec 5 2008

ETARTAKOFF I too am unable to use this app while loading it quits
(Version 1.9pre1)