This week we’ve seen an increase in questions from new users, potential customers (both in the consumer and professional spaces) and third party developers.  So before I start blogging about the guts of 930 and all of the new features and changes, here is some background.

I am the lead scenery developer for X-Plane; my main work area is the default scenery, the scenery tools and file formats, and the rendering engine.  I also work on modeling issues because the same rendering code draws airplane models and scenery models.  I don’t work on the flight model or physics – that and about a billion other things are all Austin – heck, I don’t even know what makes an airplane fly.*
My professional background is programming; I came very close to becoming an Air Traffic Controller – I went through a CTI program in California, but by the time the FAA called me for the next step of the process, over a year had gone by; I was deep in X-Plane already and the FAA was experiencing personnel turbulence.  I think I really would have really enjoyed being an ATC, but my personality is definitely better suited for a small company like Laminar Research than for a big government agency.
This blog is primarily targeted at authors who create scenery and airplanes for X-Plane, and also for users who want to know more about the “guts” of the sim.  It is not tech support; I will not answer tech support questions posted in the comments sectio — sorry.  Please contact X-Plane tech support – they are there to help!
There are a few website resources for third parties that provide reference:
  • The X-Plane scenery website – contains all the file format specs and LR’s tools and code.
  • The X-Plane Wiki – contains information on authoring planes, scenery and modeling.
  • The X-Plane Plugin System has its own wiki.
  • Robin manages our airport data – see his web page for downloads and file format specs.
  • The X-Plane user’s manual is available on the contact page, just in case the version you have from your DVDs is not as recent, or you are trying to use Plane-Maker in the demo.
There are also a number of mailing lists – the scenery and plugin pages list the appropriate mailing lists for those audiences.  I definitely recommend the mailing lists for developers and authors – traffic isn’t too bad and there are a lot of knowledgeable users!
I can be reached by email via bsupnik at xsquawkbox dot net, but I must warn you: my in-box is on the verge of complete structural failure!  I try to answer everybody, but if your message gets lost, you may need to try again.
* This is actually not true – when I was in ground school, our instructor told us the real force that keeps an airplane in the air: money!

About Ben Supnik

Ben is a software engineer who works on X-Plane; he spends most of his days drinking coffee and swearing at the computer -- sometimes at the same time.

7 comments on “Who Am I?”

  1. > my in-box is on the verge
    > of complete structural failure!
    > I try to answer everybody, but
    > if your message gets lost, you
    > may need to try again.

    that's actually a bad excuse 😛 maybe all the try-agains are the reason for your messed inbox 🙂

  2. So how long should I wait before trying again Ben? I have a couple messages I posted to the scenery forum earlier this week and I haven’t heard a response yet. Maybe I should resend them? 😉

    Seriously though, good luck with keeping up with the influx of questions, and while I’d like a reply sooner than later, you work your ass off trying to keep-up and I appreciate that, so I’ll try to be patient. 🙂

  4. Benjamin,

    I would be great if X-Plane would generate some kind of default scenery for airports. Even just a tower would be great. It gets boring landing at airports with nothing but a runway.

    I know I can find buildings for some airports that users have made, but these are sparse, and a hassle. I would love to see a company offer a comprehensive package of buildings laid out for airports.

    It would even be great if Laminar Research offered this as a separate purchase! I would buy it for sure, and I think others would as well.

    Another option would be to cooperate with x-plane.org on a standard way of storing and retrieving airport scenery from their site, then provide an in-simulator method of downloading them directly. Like airports from your flight plan, or any arbitrary airport for that matter.

    While the first option is preferable, I think option 2 would be good also.

    Any ideas or plans along these lines? Airport buildings are something definitely lacking in X-Plane.

    RD

  5. I second RD. Since (I think) every airport in X-Plane already has a “tower view” location, I think placing a standard control tower should not be too much difficult.

    Similarly, there are other things “easy” (maybe?) to add but capable of improving a lot airport look and immersion, e.g. adding fences at airport boundaries, or using very hi-res textures for the airport grass: the area would be very limited (hence no big performance hit) but that is where one spends most time closest to the ground.

  6. Man, with a headline like that, you had me worried. The last thing anyone needs now is for 33% of Laminar's full-time time to lose the plot. :>

    Looking forward to the jaw-dropping 9.30…as promised by Austin…

  7. ‘Who Am I’ should be pinned somewhere on your blog. I mean, of course, who are ‘you,’ not me.

    Glad you didn’t take the controller job. Doesn’t this give you more freedom and less stress? (Rhetorical question.)

    vonhinx

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