We know: X-Plane is not the ecosystem for combat and military aircraft that depict weapons being fired is, often, frowned upon.
Still, options are always great to have, and just because they exist, it doesn’t mean you are forced to use them. I am not a fan of virtual weapons operations in X-Plane myself, but I am glad they exist so that others may enjoy it. Even if I don’t.
But I have to admit, being very partial to the Kiowa, I may have tried it once. Or twice. Or a bit more.
It was fun! Nothing I will spend a lot of time doing, really, but it was fun. I will probably spend some time in the Kiowa, flying her around, though.
Which is what I do in DCS anyway.
Anyhoo, enough of talking about what I do or I don’t do, and let’s go back to what it matters.
Ladies and gents, there’s a new version of the freeware OH58D Kiowa for X-Plane. Version 2.0 is out with a lot of great stuff:
- .50 Caliber Machine Gun and 2.75" Rocket System
- Laser range finder integrated to weapons fire control system
- Animations of weapons and weapons effects
- Windscreen crew markings for "snapshot" engagements
- MFD pages for regular engagements using interactive display symbology
- MFD pages for configuration of weapons system
- All panel switches and flight control hat switches to control weapons
- Simulation Manual (50 pages to summarize and illustrate the 700+ pages for the real helo)
- Exhaustive list of commands that can be mapped to joystick buttons and keyboard keys
- Abbreviated Startup Procedures for users preferring to avoid the 700 pages...
- SASL plugin updated to the latest version
- A few improvements to displays and systems
- Minor bug fixes
If you are a fan of the Kiowa (come on, Polychop, do your thing), and you have X-Plane, you will probably want to take a look (or perhaps ANOTHER look) at this version.
Karl, the author of this model has been hard at work and, as you can see from the list above, a lot of hours went into this update. And that manual… Seriously, he spent A LOT of time working on all of this.
Check out the link to download version 2.0 of the OH-58D Kiowa for X-Plane below.
Oh and make sure you DO check out the manual as well. There is some cool and important information there – like a way to get the Kiowa to be a bit tamer in case you need that.
