FSX Planner released

ZBlueSoftware has released FSX Planner, a free application that “is a full featured CAD tool, for all experience levels, for creating and editing airports for Microsoft’s Flight Simulator X“.

I’ve take a very brief look at it and, to be honest, with the amount of work that has clearly gone into this, I can’t believe they’re giving it away. If you have the slightest interest in designing or modifying airports in Flight Simulator X, go get this now before they decide to charge for it!

You need the Software Development Kit installed from the Deluxe version of Flight Simulator X and you’ll also need Java installed.

Here’s a list of features:

MAIN DESIGN DISPLAY
The main display of FSX Planner shows a top down view of the airport. You can work on multiple airports simultaneously, each one having its own window. The display shows all aspects of the airport and is completely customizable. This allows you to display and focus on only those parts of the airport that are of current interest.

TOOLBARS:
All of FSX Planner’s editing features are intended to be accessible via a toolbar containing the various tools needed to construct or edit the airport. These range from selection tools, to specific runway or apron or taxiway tools.

OBJECTS PROPERTIES:
The screen is designed to be used as efficiently as possible while showing as much information as possible. This is done through the use of object property displays which are always available. Changes made to an object via one of these displays will instantly be reflected in the main display of the airport, removing the need to constantly open and close displays or click OK or Apply buttons.

ERROR CHECKING:
FSX Planner includes various unique error checking tools. These are intended to help you find potential problems with the airport, such as jetways that do not have associated gates, or taxiways that are associated with non-existant runways.

WIZARDS:
There are several wizards included with FSX Planner to help you through the creation process of some of the more difficult aspects of airport design, such as Taxiway Signs. These wizards provide a unique approach to simplify the creation or modification of an airport.

COMPILING YOUR NEW AIRPORT
FSX Planner makes it easy to compile your new airport into the BGL file format used by Flight Simulator. The compile feature allows you to specify where the newly created BGL file should be placed, as well as what parts of the airport should be included within the file. This allows you to create BGL files for the entire airport, or for specific parts, such as runways and taxiways, or aprons, or fences, or whatever it is that you need.

CONSTANT DEVELOPMENT AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT
FSX Planner is being developed and supported by zBlueSoftware. The enjoyment of flying and of Flight Simulator is what drives this project. We hope that FSX Planner becomes an extremely useful and widely used tool within the flight simulator community.

• It’s official!
• Flight Simulator X delayed?
• First FSX add-on?
• Wilco 777 for FSX
• FSX Christmas release?