Sterling Service Released on SM 3/22

[J.Case]

Virtavia is alive and kickin:

https://msfsaddons.com/2023/03/17/th...-now-for-msfs/


SimMarket purchase page:
https://secure.simmarket.com/virtavi...ing-msfs.phtml

[keithb77]

Beat me to it!
https://secure.simmarket.com/virtavia-short-stirling-msfs.phtml

I have their Hampden for XPlane, it's OK ... don't know about this one, always the ugly goose to the Lancaster - but when will AH release it?

[Priller]

Oh WOW!!

Good news on both accounts (Virtavia being alive and the release of the Stirling)

Priller

[IanHenry]

A Stirling, now that's interesting, always neglected way more attention paid to the Lancaster and Halifax. A Wellington would be nice as well.

[K5083]

Nice to see Virtavia back. Wouldn't have thought that a Stirling would be the first WWII heavy released for MSFS. Even though it would be my 3rd choice out of 3 Brit heavies, I'm tempted to try it out.

I see on flightsim.com that Virtavia has also released their P3D Warning Star (Constellation) and FSX Sea Knight for $0.00, a nice gesture as they return to the scene. Pretty good pricing on some of their other legacy stuff, too.

August

[DennyA]

Oh, wow, I am so grabbing this later today. I was really, really hoping they were going to support MSFS.

Obviously I'd love as much fidelity as they can pull off, but if I can get planes like the F4D Skyray, F11F Tiger, A-3 Skywarrior, Vigilante, B-36, and other Virtavia favorites, I'd be fine with just native rebuilds and MSFS-level flight modeling.

I'd rather have mid-level recreations of these fantastic pieces of military history than not have them at all. I'm sure the MSFS forum texture mafia will disagree.

That said, the spec sheet sounds great -- PBR, WWise, VR-tested... I'm excited.

[YoYo]

It's kind of funny because I was thinking about them two days ago. What they do and why they are not on the MSFS market. I even checked their website and saw that they still work and released an interesting model - Tigershark for XP12 (pity not for MSFS, I really like this plane).

http://www.virtavia.com/ Viravia is definitely not a study level developer , but they had very interesting choices.

[StormILM]

I bought the model but oddly it doesn't show up in the sim. I know I have the folder in the community folder and everything looks normal but something is amiss. Oh well, hopefully will get it sorted soon.

[DennyA]

Here's the initial impressions I posted over on the official forums:

Honestly, I probably know less about the Stirling than any other British heavy bomber, but once I saw Virtavia was releasing on MSFS finally, I bought this with only a cursory look at the description. I know their products well enough from previous platforms to know the plane would be worth the reasonable 25 Euro price from Simmarket. And it’s just what I expected!

I’ve only flown for a few to get a general feel and grab some screenshots to share, but overall I’m really pleased. If you think textures and polygon counts are what makes for a great flight sim experience, please save yourself the money and save us the complaints. If, on the other hand, you find the chance to get some sense of what it was like to fly interesting historic aircraft, with realistic flight models, can compensate for the terrible realization that you’re in a simulation, keep reading!

Shots below, but some quick impressions:

• Visuals are mid-range quality, but a definite notch up from Virtavia’s P3D work. Full PBR, nice details, instruments look good.
• Sound is awesome. Full WWise, deep radial rumble that feels in line with what I heard on my B-17 flight many years ago, and yes, audio changes when you open windows.
• Most important to me: Flight modeling and handling feels good. The plane feels heavy, and I’ve only done short, low flights so far, but initial impressions are that the performance and handling are in-line with what I’d expect from an early WW2 heavy bomber.
• VR support is good. Scale feels right, everything is reachable, all instruments are fully 3. Feels really convincing as you look at the ground approaching through the foot-level window on the right side of the cockpit.
• Modern radios are available in a pop-up
• 3 models included, including a late-war model used to launch gliders; that one has a glider release in the cockpit. Maybe someday MSFS will get to the point where one of us could fly this and someone else could fly a Horsa being launched behind it.

Only negatives I’ve noticed so far:

• Flap indicator doesn’t seem to work (but I haven’t even cracked the manual yet, so something might be set wrong on a runway start)
• There’s one horrific texture at the back of the cockpit that’s going to trigger folks who are visuals-focused.
• The exhaust stacks could be more convincing with better paintwork, as could the exhaust streaks on the camo. Hopefully the repaint folks will enhance those.

Some shots, more over on the official forum because it's 1000% easier to attach screens there:







Virtavia's info page: http://www.virtavia.com/gallery_Stirling_MSFS.html

[keithb77]

Thannks for review - with those top two shots it's never gonna be on the marketplace
Good to hear its good in VR - I have the Xplane Hampden which is likewise OK, except for the propeller stubs which are strangely solid and look weird,
hopefully they haven't done this again?

Only thing know about the Stirling is the Air Ministry mandated short wings so it would fit in existing hangers and which subsequently hampered range and ceiling

On the B list for me - buy when Just Flight sell it, or it gets cheaper or I run out of other projects,

[Spook48]

Just the fact that Virtavia is back in business is awesome news to me .

[Daveroo]

i hope they bring that F7F over, dont remember the guys name right now,but there was a guy who was building really nice F7Fs for one of the other sims.. P3D i think. he was from the mono lake area i believe .

[SpaceHippy1975]

I bought the model but oddly it doesn't show up in the sim. I know I have the folder in the community folder and everything looks normal but something is amiss. Oh well, hopefully will get it sorted soon.

I had the same issue, turned out mine was installed just outside of the Packages folder. Moved it into the Packages folder, then restarted the sim & found it in my hanger!

Might be the same for you?!

Keith.

[Priller]

i hope they bring that F7F over, dont remember the guys name right now,but there was a guy who was building really nice F7Fs for one of the other sims.. P3D i think. he was from the mono lake area i believe .

That would be Gordon Madison. He's disappeared as far as I know.

Priller

[jankees]

It's quite a large aircraft...

jroger (0010) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

jroger (0009) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

jroger (0003) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

jroger (0004) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

[DennyA]

Oh, of all the planes I was crossing my fingers for Jankees repaints of! YAY! :-)

[Snurdley]

The Virtavia price point always seemed about right when they went one sale, so I think I'll wait.

[StormILM]

I re-downloaded the model and this time I noticed the folder name was different. It's now working fine. I really like it, it flies like a heavy aircraft and the VC visuals are very good. I get what some say that the textures and a bit of the modeling could be improved to give better/aged visuals but still, it is a nice model and for me worth the investment. The systems depth they put in may not be study level but looking over the manual, it's actually pretty good for what you get. It's a keeper and I will enjoy flying her for quite some time. I hope to see Virtavia & crew do some more projects like this that many devs have long ignored.

[Paul K]

Welcome back Virtavia. A rework of the Avro Lincoln next, please - and sort out the low poly H2S radome. ;-)

[jankees]

MG-K (0003) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

MG-K (0004) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

MG-K (0006) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

MG-K (0010) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

MG-K (0012) by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

[jankees]

AA-W 08 by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

AA-W 07 by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

AA-W 05 by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

AA-W 03 by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

[Paul K]

Absolutely beautiful!

[Sundog]

I've been following their website and seeing all of the planes they were still making for P3D and XP. When I saw the Stirling, I was thinking how nice it would be to be able to have it in MSFS. So this is great news. Virtavia was always about doing a lot of the not super popular planes, so they wouldn't be study level, but you weren't going to get them at this level anywhere else. I always kind of liked that about them. Anyway, I can't wait to fly this, this is great news!

[DennyA]

Awesome, Jan Kees! Thanks for the paints!

Wonder why this isn't a sticky yet? Maybe the title didn't grab a mod's attention that it was a release because of the clever play on words? Hard to think of a recent release that's more appealing to the core S-O crowd.

[Wing_Z]

Great shots, JanKees, and epic repainting!