03.12.09 - XPU v1.37

Minor maintenance release, improved CPU usage and download speed, especially on Windows machines.

03.11.22 - New Dedicated Server Online!, AptNav200312, 7.30-FINAL-B

We are excited to announce we have a new dedicated server online that should increase download speed, give us a lot more disk space space, and make it much easier for us to keep our filesets up to date.

This new server should help us make your XPlaneUpdate experience even better than it already is!

Look for additional packages (aircraft, scenery, etc.) and possibly support for additional x-system releases (like 721, etc.).

X-System 7.30-FINAL+AptNav200312 includes the latest airport/navaid data from Robin Peel. Use Latest FINAL... to get it!

For those who like to live on the bleeding edge, and since there's no "official" beta at the moment, we have updated our beta fileset to what we are calling 7.30-FINAL-B+AptNav200312.

This is not an official release, but includes preliminary support for large scenery packages such as XPlane:NewYork, which has not worked with X-Plane since 7.00-FINAL. Make sure you use our suggestions here and Use Latest BETA... to get it.

03.11.12 - X-System 7.30-FINAL+AptNav200311 Available

Don't forget to Use Latest FINAL... to get it with XPU, and depending on what your last version was, it may be as small as 6MB of new files!

See http://www.x-plane.com/ for Austin's release notes (refresh, scroll down)

03.11.10 - X-System 7.30-BETA-9+AptNav200311 Available, Beta Questions, X-System News

We have had a number of people asking why XPU betas are behind Austin's betas.

Please see here for our policy decision regarding this from September. We decided then to provide access to these non-public Betas via XPU once/week minimum. Our last update was 03.11.05, so this Beta9 release is our XPU beta release for this week.

To reiterate, these are non-public BETAs, Austin has released 7 betas in the last 5 days, and by the time we can make them available via XPU, Austin has already released a new version, which may fix problems and/or add bugs / features.

Beta software is not meant for the general public - it is pre-release software with bugs/problems for advanced users to test and provide feedback to Austin.

The other item we've had a few people ask about is what exactly is in the latest version.

Please see this new article, join the news group, and see Austin's posts and pages regarding this.

We are providing a time-saving and hassle-free way to update your X-System to the latest version(s) - Austin is responsible for what goes into these releases, so you really need to stay current with his notes regarding this.

03.11.05 - X-System 7.30-BETA-1+AptNav200311 Available

This is a non-public beta release, and includes new versions (7.30 Beta-1) of X-Plane and Plane-Maker as well as a few supporting files (it is based on the 721 fileset). We have run X-Plane on Windows, but not on the Mac.

Unless you absolutely need these, we do not recommend updating to this version.

This will be our last beta update for the next week.

Important Note: XPU will remove your old 721 versions of these applications, so if you do choose to update to this version, be sure you:

1. Rename your main X-System folder to X-System 7 Finals
   
   
2. Run XPU, select this folder as the source, choose Use Latest FINAL..., and let XPU run to completion
   
   
3. Duplicate your X-System 7 Finals folder to X-System 7 Betas
   
   
4. Run XPU, select this folder as the source, choose Use Latest BETA..., and let XPU run to completion
   
   
5. You might find XPU has removed the old 721 applications. To fix this, simple choose Clear File Cache..., and run XPU again - it should get, download, and install just the 721 applications

03.11.04 - X-System 7.21-FINAL+AptNav200311 Available

This release includes Robin Peel's 200311 airport/navaid database, and is accessible via the Use Latest Final... menu

03.11.03 - X-System 7.21-FINAL available

Keeping up with Austin's almost daily "final" releases has been a challenge, but we're trying.

We also feel Austin is being very impatient with this many releases, know he is adding new features while fixing bugs/problems, and is not really letting these releases settle before coming out with new publicly available ones.

Update to 7.21 at your own risk - we don't think this will be the totally bug-free version Austin (and we) want either.

Available to subscribers via Use Latest BETA...

From Austin on the news list:

OK here is the current X-PLANE STATE OF THE UNION:

As you already know from several posts and several major releases over the last few weeks, almost all my effort is going into being sure that we have a totally bug-free version right now, and I think 7.21 is it.I want this since this seems to be what most people want (general sentiment at X-Plane.org groups) and only if we have a solid version in place can I take a month or so to get the really ground-breaking stuff done (without any little bug-fixes demanding immediate fixes).

I think we are there with 7.21, though in a few days I think we'll know for sure once everybody has had a chance to try it.

A few small notes:

One person has sort of complained a little about the large number of updates that have come out recently.. saying that he is spending too much time downloading. I AGREE WITH THIS COMPLAINT... IT HAS NOT BEEN MY PLAN TO COME OUT WITH SO MANY UPDATES, BUT I AM =>INSISTING<= ON A BUG-FREE VERSION, AND EVERY TIME I DO A RELEASE SOME OTHER LITTLE ISSUE HAS CROPPED UP, SO A NEW RELEASE IS REQUIRED. BOTTOM LINE: I AM ONLY TRYING TO GET A TOTALLY ROCK-SOLID VERSION, AND I THINK 7.21 IS IT (though I though that about 7.15, 7.16, and 7.20 as well, but there was only really one report on 7.20 and that was the inop NAVAIDS on Windows, and that is addressed for 7.21, so I THINK 7.21 is a bug-free reference for us. Do NOT bother to email me complaining about not all joysticks working in Panther.. this is NOT a bug in X-Plane... this is some sort of bug in Panther.. Apple's own josytick-tester that they ship to developers fails to see stick movement exactly the same way X-Plane does, so this is an issue Apple has to work on, and I am working with them in that respect right now. This will have to be addressed in a Panther, not X-Plane update though, it appears as things stand now)

03.11.02 - X-System 7.20-FINAL available

This is the exact same version as 7.20-RC1 as Austin never actually released 7.20 as a beta/release candidate, but we wanted to give it a few days before calling it FINAL.

Be sure to choose Use Latest FINAL... to get it (should be just one file if you're at 7.20-RC1)

03.10.31 - XPU 1.33 Available

This is a minor maintenance release that fixes the problem with XPU not being able to unmount the mac_files disk image when running under Panther 10.3.

For new users, you will get this version of XPU the next time you run the application via it's Live Update feature.

We still do not recommend upgrading to Panther yet as Apple has not yet come out with an official solution to the java problem.

Important Note for Windows Users

We recently received a high-end Windows XP machine (2.4GHz Pentium 4), and noticed that with the default settings, XPU uses up most of your CPU.

We're not sure why, but a simple way to fix this is to go to the Set CPU Usage... menu and enter in something like 80, 75, 50, etc. This will decrease CPU usage and increase download speed.

03.10.29 - X-Plane 720-RC1 Available

Austin's been a little impatient with his releases lately. Apparently 716-FINAL had some bugs/problems, so he has released 720.

It's now the only download from X-Plane.com, and we are calling it 720-RC1 as we are not so sure about it being the "final quality" release he (and we) would like.

It is only available to subscribers and you must choose "Use Latest BETA..." from the XPU menu to get it.

This will be our last update for the next week, regardless of what Austin puts out.

We apologize to all subscribers/users for any inconvenience.

03.10.28 - X-Plane 716-FINAL Available via XPU!

Wow that was fast :-) Austin felt, and we agree that 716 is the absolute best release of X-Plane v7 to date, so we highly recommend it!

Don't forget to choose "Use Latest FINAL..." from the XPU menu to get it!

Posted at 11am EST from Austin:

ok 716 final is here

a few minor changes from rc-1, so do the download if you like to get the prop governor and turboprop idles speeds just right, or are on a mac and want those NAVAIDs (the compiler on the Mac has a bug that kept the NAVAIDS fro working with certain settings, fixed now)

this version is planned to go to CD for duplication, so i am only doing full downloads here to get a full test.

waiting for apple to resolves the ch-products panther issue.. though some people are alreaady reporting that their ch products stuff is now working with panther.. odd!

well, have at it! 716 is almost nothing but bug-fixes and refinements to give a bug-free "base" version of x-plane for everyone to be happy with.. enjoy!

austin

03.10.27 - X-Plane 716-RC1 Availabe via XPU!

Less than a few hours after Austin posted 716-RC1, it is now available via XPlaneUpdate.

Note that this is a BETA/RELEASE CANDIDATE, so you must choose the "Use Latest BETA..." from the XPU menu to get it (subscribers only)!

We are very impressed with it ... Austin finally removed the default startup weather of a Winter/Hurricane at night and set the time to dusk. The clouds are beautiful, as is the setting sun!

Note that if you want to see the new default weather, you'll need to delete your X-Plane preferences before running the new version.

I did not have to change the default rendering / weather options at all on my 800 mhz g4 ti/powerbook with 512MB ram, 32MB video ram, running OS X 10.2.8 and was seeing 17-30+ frames/sec.

Going from 7.15-FINAL to 7.16-RC1 is about 17MB using XPU, vs. 150MB from x-plane.com:

Your X-System is now at [7.16-RC1+EarthMarsAptNav200310] !!...

Session Information:...
Total Download Time: 0 minutes, 20 seconds!...
Total KBytes Downloaded: 17299...
Average Download Speed: 864.9 KB/sec...

Note this speed is not what you'll get (this is while testing on our LAN), tho we are working on some techniques to speed up XPU even more using multiple servers.

Make sure you follow our FAQ and duplicate your X-System 7 Finals folder to X-System 7 Betas and use that folder just in case you have problems with this version.

03.10.26 - X-Plane v716, XPU & Panther

Austin just announced the availability of v716 for Windows, but as of this writing the Mac version is not yet available due to some joystick issues with Panther.

Due to the way our XPU servers work, we can't upload just this new windows version without the corresponding Mac applications/files. We apologize for the inconvenience.

If this takes more than a day or two, we may upload the 716 fileset without the mac files, but if we do and you are a mac user, do NOT upgrade to 716 via XPU.

We just installed Panther 7B85, which as far as we know, is the same as the 10.3 final release.

Findings so far with a clean install of Panther to a new volume/drive, not an upgrade of an existing Jaguar system:

1. XPU works just fine as far as downloading and installing files
   
   
2. It does not properly unmount the "mac_files" volume - we will look into this. In the mean time, just drag the "mac_files" volume to the trash to eject it when XPU is finished
   
   
3. We have not yet had time to verify joysticks - we did notice the "OS-X Joystick.bundle" file lost it's icon, not sure if this is a problem yet or not.

We never recommend overwriting (upgrading) any Operating System (like from Jaguar to Panther) without adequate backups and testing of the new version:

http://jqkserv.net/xplanehelp/viewarticle.jsp?kbid=10086

03.10.19 - Airport Database problem resolved

We've updated all of our servers (both beta and final) with the new, fixed apt.dat file we mentioned below - to make sure you get it:

1. Be sure you're not ignoring X-System/Resources/Earth nav data/apt.dat
   
   
2. Choose Clear File Cache from the XPlaneUpdate menu
   
   
3. Hit Start and you should get the updated file...

03.10.18 - Possible Problem with the latest Airport Database

This just in from Robin Peel, master of the x-system airport databases:

As you may know, X-Plane supports an unlimited number of airports, but only
200 in any 2x3 degree lat/lon 'region'. For unknown reasons, this limit was
not enforced when I generated the data files for DAFIF cycle 2003.10 for
X-Plane 7.15 ... causing funky behaviour in congested areas. I have
regenerated the file and it has been re-uploaded to
www.x-plane.org/users/robinp.

Apologies,

- Robin

**********
Robin Peel

What this means to XPU users

Do NOT download/install this file unless you are already running X-System 7.15-FINAL!

Our current BETA and FINAL filesets include Robin's 2003.10 files before he fixed this problem and we were not aware of it (nor was he).

You may or may not have a problem (we have not experienced it), but if you do have a problem, here's what to do until we can get our servers updated:

1. Download 031018_apt.dat.zip from us (you only need this one file):
   
   http://jqkserv.net/downloads/031018_apt.dat.zip (2.9MB)
   
   
2. Unzip the file, which will give you a file named apt.dat
   
   
3. Locate your [X-System/Resources/Earth nav data] folder, and replace the apt.dat file that is there with the one you just unzipped

If you run XPlaneUpdate after you have done this, it will of course want to download/install the "old" file.

You can use the new Confirm Files To Get feature to tell XPU to not download/install this file.

You could also use the new Ignore List feature to tell XPU to ignore this file, but don't forget to remove it from your ignore list later!

We will post another announcement here as soon as our servers have all been updated.

We also apologize for the inconvenience!

Dave :-)

03.10.16 - 7.15-FINAL+EarthMarsAptNav200310 available via XPU

7.15-FINAL+EarthMarsAptNav200310 is the same as 7.15-RC3 (it was made 7.15-FINAL), but we have added Robin Peel's latest Airport/Nav data for earth and mars.

This is currently only available for subscribers via the Use Latest BETA menu.

We will migrate some of our FINAL servers over to this fileset in preparation for the next beta release (7.16 mini update has been announced, but not yet available...)

Some people have noted some problems with 7.15, so you may want to make a copy of your 7.10-FINAL installation (e.g. copy your X-System 7 Finals folder to X-System 7.10 final) as we are not sure how long it will continue to be available via XPU.

03.10.15 - X-System 7.15-RC3 available via XPU

X-System 7.15-RC3 is now available via XPU, in about 4 hours after Austin posted the announcement!

If you want to try this version, make SURE you duplicate your "main" X-System folder, name it "X-System 7 Betas", and use XPU to update THAT folder!

This version DOES work on our Win98SE system. It DOES work on our g4/800/512/32mb vram tibook.

This is a NON-PUBLIC beta but may soon be public and become 7.15-FINAL.

Per our policy regarding non-public betas, we only guarantee providing these betas via XPU once per week minimum.

03.10.12 - XPU v1.30, Synchronize Aircraft Feature, 7.15 Beta6 available via XPU

This new feature allows you to synchronize your aircraft folder with our server (official) version. Please see our new Synchronize Aircraft page for details.

X-System 7.15-BETA6 is now available via XPU.

If you with to try this version, make SURE you duplicate your "main" X-System folder, name it "X-System 7 Betas", and use XPU to update THAT folder!

This version does NOT work on our Win98SE system, whereas 7.15-BETA3 did. It DOES work on our g4/800/512/32mb vram tibook.

This is a NON-PUBLIC beta, but since it's been a while since we updated our XPU filesets due to Austin being away, we thought you would like to know about it.

Per our policy regarding non-public betas, we only guarantee providing these via XPU once per week minimum.

03.10.08 - Site update, XPU has a new icon!

We weren't really happy with our icon, and since we were doing a lot of site changes recently, we decided to do an icon makeover as well!

We actually like it better than the old one, as you can see the beautiful X-Plane startup screen much clearer, and our new 3D arrows are a definite improvement too!

It will take us a while to update the other media files to the new icon, so bear with us and don't get confused. Same great software with a new look!

03.10.06 - XPU v1.26, new Ignore List Feature!

This very powerful mechanism allows you to add files/folders to the Ignore List, and XPU will ignore these items when comparing to your system.

Like the Confirm/Display/Edit Files feature, be very, very careful here as you can easily end up with an incomplete x-system. If, for example, you choose "/Resources", as in the screenshot below, XPU will ignore ALL files and folders starting with "/Resources" ... See the remove warning below

This new list is saved by XPU, and replaces the prior menu items for ignoring just certain folders. You now have complete control of what XPU gets/looks at, and downloads...

This operates just like the confirm list below, but you can choose Add Item... which will bring up a file/folder selection dialog so you can add any file or folder from within your current x-system folder.

03.10.05 - XPU v1.25, new Confirm/Display/Edit Files To Get Feature

As promised, we've just added a new feature to XPU, accessible from the XPU menu, and useful for advanced/dialup users (and kind of neat to view, just be very careful about what you remove!):

Confirm/Display/Edit Files To get before Download/Installation

If you check this menu item, you have complete control of exactly which files XPU will download/install, but be sure to read the warning below!

This allows advanced users who might change some of their X-System files and not want XPU to overwrite them to tweak their XPU usage.

If you enable this feature, after comparing to your system and before download/installing any files, you will see something like this:

This dialog allows you to remove 1 or more files that XPU has determined are new / different.

There are 3 buttons, which we'll discuss here:

1. Restore List allows you to restore the list to it's initial state if you have removed 1 or more items. This is essentially an "undo" function.
   
   
2. Remove Selected allows you to remove 1 or more of the selected items as shown above. This removes them from the list of files that XPU will download/install.
   
   You can select 1 or more items with your mouse/keyboard:
   
   Single click - select 1
   
   Command (OS X), Control (Win) click - add/remove from the selection
   
   Click one, then Shift click another - select all items between the first item selected and the last item selected (inclusive)
   
   
3. Done - when you are finished editing or just reviewing the list, make sure you press the done button

WARNING!:

If you are not very careful when removing items, you most likely will end up with an X-System installation that does not run, crashes, etc.

If this happens, choose Clear File Cache from the XPU menu, and run XPU again, letting it get all the files that it knows are needed.

Now that we have a nice list mechanism, we will soon be adding support for an Ignore List rather than the checkbox menu items we currently have. This will allow you to add files/folders to this ignore list.

03.09.28 - XPU v1.24, Move complete!

Maintenance release to fix several problems relating to subscriptions.

Our move went very smoothly and we were only offline for about 2 hours, less than expected!

03.09.26 - XPlaneUpdate moves to a new Data Center!

03.09.26 - XPU 1.23

New Features:

• While checking files, the file number (e.g. 1 of 1400, etc.) is now displayed
• While downloading files, the file number (e.g. 1 of 10, etc.) is now displayed
• Made the main window a little bigger horizontally so this new information fits better

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed a bug where auto-install, install without confirmation were not working. We never use this feature ourselves, and unless you are sure of what you are doing, we don't recommend using the feature, but it's there for advanced users / convenience.

03.09.25 - XPlaneUpdate 1.22, BitTorrent

XPU 1.22 has a minor bug fix regarding the displayed KBs during downloads.

We recently received a support request regarding XPU and BitTorrent:

>Comments=Have recently subscribed to XPlaneUpdate. Now I'm seeing a
>reference Bit Torrent on the X-Plane update page as the tool to use
>for getting the mini-updates. Is XPlaneUpdate support going to be
>discontinued in favor of Bit Torrent? Hope not.
>
>Thanks,
>JW


JW:

Don't worry, we operate XPlaneUpdate, not Laminar/Austin.

Austin is experimenting with BitTorrent to help with the download
problems (mini at the moment for non-public betas only I believe).

The BitTorrent solution still requires manual installation of (or
replacement of) many files and downloading the "entire" 140+MB
x-system if that's what austin releases.

We have no intention of dropping XPlaneUpdate as it is still a much
better and easier solution for x-users, and it will continue to get
even better.

03.09.24 - XPlaneUpdate 1.21

Minor maintenance release:

• While downloading individual files, the KBytes downloaded so far for the current file is now displayed. This helps to show activity when downloading the larger files like mac_files.dmg, etc., etc. Note that the download rate is still only updated after each file has successfully been downloaded.

3.09.24 - Important Announcement Regarding Betas / Release Candidates

03.09.20

Here we are again playing catchup with the news!

XPlaneUpdate is up to version 1.11 (automatic download/install, so don't worry about it!), X-Plane version 7.10 has gone final, and we're very excited about our new partnership with x-plane.org.

If you have an X-Plane related website with a reasonable amount of traffic, please contact us about our new affiliate program.

03.09.08 - v1.06, 7.10-RC1, more

Sorry we haven't had time to keep this page up to date .... most of the news is on the home page.

New features in v1.06 of XPlaneUpdate, which you'll get automatically when you first run it:

1. Current X-System Folder displayed
2. Current X-System in that folder displayed
3. Current X-System on our servers displayed
4. More confirmation dialogs to make sure you are doing the right thing to the right folder!
5. New Current download rate, and session summary that shows total KBytes downloaded and actual download time ... NOTE: that this time is actual time spent downloading, and does not include time spent comparing to your system ....

03.08.25 - v1.03, risk-free 99 cent trial, more

Version 1.03, which is our first Live Update release (it will be downloaded automatically when you run XPlaneUpdate) has a new ecommerce engine that allows us to offer you the service for a full month for just 99 cents!

If at anytime you're unhappy, just cancel your subscription! We feel that once you give it a try and see how easy it makes keeping 2 separate copies of your X-System 7 up-to-date (one BETA, one FINAL), you'll wonder how you ever lived without it - I know I feel that way and I wrote it!

03.08.24 - new installing page, custom scenery issue with 7.10beta1

7.10beta1 apparently has some problems with custom scenery (X-Plane may not start, etc.).

I have experienced this myself and one other user reported it, which is another great reason to keep 2 separate installations of your X-System - one BETA, one FINAL!

To solve the problem if you are running the BETA, simply make sure you do not have any of your own (or downloaded) custom scenery in your custom scenery folder (the KSBD Example is OK, however)...

03.08.22

XPU now includes the latest Airport/Nav databases from Robin Peel as well as X-Sky 7.0.

Look for more features to come!

03.08.20 - new TroubleShooting and FAQ pages, more

We are in the process of updating our server versions to include the latest airport/nav data, so XPlaneUpdate (XPU) will keep this important data up to date as well.

Other new features are in the works!

03.08.15 - Version 1.02 now available!

After several weeks of additional development, XPlaneUpdate can now, as it should, update itself!

This will happen automatically anytime you launch it, and allows us to continue to add refinements to the system without you ever having to manually download/install it again (in theory!)!

It also now has full support for both the latest FINAL release as well as the latest BETA (or Release Candidate) release (currently 7.00FINAL, 7.10BETA1).

Lots of new features, including fully automatic installation of the special Macintosh X-System files that required manually unstuffing/moving.

New, simpler documentation, and keep your eyes open for some additional features to help keep your entire X-System and X-Plane Up-to-Date!

03.08.01 - documentation available, downloads offline

We've just put together some very detailed documentation for those who need it.

Downloads are temporarily offline while we are continuing development of the next release.

03.07.28 - version 0.72

Version 0.72 for windows now includes the java run-time (JRE) and a real Windows application, so you no longer need to download/install java yourself!

03.07.25 - version 0.72 available!

Some minor improvements and enhancements... Also, for a limited time, you can use XPlaneUpdate for free. Please contact me with any feedback!

03.07.22 - New Site, version 0.71 available!

After many months of work, testing, and debugging, we are excited to have our new website online, and to be able to offer this fantastic new service to X-Plane enthusiasts throughout the world.

I have personally been an X-Plane "fan" (and developer) for about 9 months now, and I feel XPlaneUpdate will solve the single biggest frustration for X-Plane users - download problems!

The low price of $9.95/year will allow us to add servers, systems, and bandwidth necessary to provide this service reliably, and with hi quality.

David Spotts, Author and Software Architect