I’ve spent a little time recently flying in X-Plane. Now that my journey around the world is complete I’ve decided to spend some time learning start up and shut down checklists to get a real feel for the aircraft. I’m currently playing with the T-6A Texan that the RAF uses as a basic jet trainer. It’s a good little aircraft. Here are some views that I’ve photographed recently:
T-6A Sunrise Looking Lovely
T-6A Early Morning Cruise
RAF Wittering – Through The Ages
I’m really enjoying the whole – potter about a bit – approach to exploring the UK. I’m trying to improve my take-off and landings at the moment, a little crucial you might think, but making them smooth and “butter” is taking some time.
Well, I’ve finally done it. I’ve got all the Trophies in Gran Turismo 7, or any PlayStation game, and I am happy. For the last couple of months I have been either working through challenges, racing online, or grinding to get money. I had three trophies to get when I thought a Platinum was within reach. I had to complete 50 races online, this was easy, just time and frustration at people trying to knock me off the track, but I completed the 50. I had to take 100 pictures using Scapes mode, this was time again especially as I didn’t just want to keep pressing the shutter button – I wanted most of the pictures to be a decent quality. The final trophy was to buy three absolute classic cars.
A Detailed Version Of My Actual Car In a Car Park – Taken within GT7
A Jaguar valued at 20,000,000 credits
A ford valued at around 5,000,000 credits
A Ferrari valued around 9,500,000 credits
These cars appear occasionally in some in-game dealership and so not only did I need the money to get them I also needed to keep checking the dealership to buy the car when they appeared. I think this has taken around a month. I managed to get the Jag and Ford easy enough but have spent the last two weeks waiting for the Ferrari. I also as orking hard to secure the 9,500,000 credits I needed. Part of me considered using actual real cash to buy some in-game credits but they are about GBP15 for 2,000,000 credits and so I asn’t going to spaff GBP60 or so real money on an in-game car. The grinding continued.
Yesterday morning I checked the game store and the Ferrari was in there. However for whatever reason was decided it now cost 20,000,000. I was a little gutted as I had already saved 9,500,000 for the original price. I decided that I could wait and then it struck me. I have loads of cars I don’t care about and so I sold some of the racing cars I own. This I did and very quickly made the required purchase price.
I now own a Platinum trophy in the cybers and I’m very happy. There’s still plenty of the game I have left to complete. I’ve got to get gold in all the new licences, win every standard race and then maybe compete a little online. Oh, there are also the challenges or mission things to do so I have plenty more things to be getting on with.
One of the things I’ve been doing in Minecraft is searching for the End Portal. I don’t have any real ambition to kill the dragon but it is something within the game that can be done and so why not? I started the other day using Eyes Of Ender and throwing them into the sky. I found the stronghold and then got stuck. The entire area I had searched didn’t have the End Portal, none of the corridors went to the special room. I used a few more Eyes Of Ender when I was in the stronghold but I couldn’t find the room.
This led to me looking for another mapping software. I had used Bedrock-viz because it allowed me to make a web searchable page and I could see the map without being on the gaming PC. For some reason though, the recent Minecraft updates have messed this up and bedrock-viz ends after ten seconds and doesn’t produce a new map. I did the googles thing and I found uNmINeD which produces a lovely looking map from the data files.
Minecraft World New Map
I found that the End Portal was hidden just a few blocks of digging through a wall. I had enough Eyes Of Ender or whatever they are called once I found the room so I thought, why not, let’s open the portal. I did and then thought, well I might as well go through and see what it’s like. So, I did that. I was NOT aware that I couldn’t get back without killing the Ender Dragon. This caused a bit of a problem because my load out wasn’t set up to kill the Ender Dragon, it was just my roaming around the countryside loadout.
I DIED.
I lost all my lovely kit as I respawned over 1000 blocks away because, like an idiot, I forgot to set my respawn point when I got to the village with the portal. What an absolute idiot. I had really nice stuff. I’m gutted. I just stared at the screen for a few minutes once it happened. Bollocks.
Nope, this communication isn’t about how I would like the government to make changes to improve peoples’ lives. I almost wish it was but then I don’t think I have the space for all the things I think government should be doing. If you know me then you also know I’m a raging lefty who is all for social progress, self determination and people paying taxes. This communication is about Minecraft and the current project.
Minecraft Mountain Shenanigans Part One
The above picture shows the very first steps of this project. I think you can see a staircase and that’s about it. This was in September and I’ve been messing around since then. Here is what the mountain looks like at the moment:
Minecraft – The Project
A lot of the work that has gone on is actually hidden from view and so I’m hoping I might get a short video together to show the stupid amount of mining I have actually completed. At the top of the picture is a mob-spawner that’s working quite well. Towards the bottom of the picture there is a slice of mountain that I have cut out and I am planning to cut out more slices. I’m not sure what it is going to look like but I’m having fun. I am also thinking of surrounding each slice with some precious blocks to make them stand out.
Yesterday I spent time trying to find an End Portal and although I’ve found a stronghold I haven’t yet managed to locate the portal inside that and I’ve found that quite frustrating. I guess I need to learn about stongholds and their generation. Anyway, the Minecraft world is far nicer that the actual real world, even with mobs that try and kill you.
I was looking through this site to see if there were any current pictures of the Flight Sim setup and I couldn’t find any. So this communication aims to correct for that.
Current Flight Sim Setup
In this picture you can see the PC, desk, three monitors, and the HOTAS bits and pieces. In this flight I had just landed at Stansted in the fog, which was interesting! Maybe I need to get some rudder pedals, but then I also fancy getting the Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS bundle so I’m not sure what to do. I know! I’ll set myself a target of things to learn before I reward myself with these luxury items.
I’m spending time in Minecraft these days because all of the events around the world keep doing their best to remind me what a shit species we are. We have ongoing events in Ukraine, Gaza. Also the Covid inquiry allowing anger to resurface from 2020 as we hear the evidence of just how utterly shit and awful the government were in the early days of covid. Johnson turns out to be an utter prick? Quelle surprise. Minecraft is a happier place and that’s even including the zombies and creepers that try to kill you.
This first video was one that I was aiming for. On the Playstation you can see what trophies you haven’t got and then aim to get them done. I was fed up of jump-running through the Nether to get to my faraway base so I build a railway. Yes, I know a boat would be quicker but the railway I can jump on and then go and get a drink, controller input is not needed.
The next trophy was one that I wasn’t sure how to get. Some you have to work at and some just kinda happen as part of the game play. I had to kill a skeleton from further than 50 metres. Now, I’d like to think that in real life I could do this no problem, I’m pretty good with a L98A2 so I expect I could handle a bow.
My next challenge is to get the Platinum trophy for Gran Turismo. It would be my first platinum and probably the game I am most likely to achieve it. I need to complete 50 online races – seems easy – but I also need to buy three cars that are “legends”. The problem with this is that they are really expensive. I did think I could buy some in-game currency with real money, I’d happily pay up to about £20 for that, but looking at the amount I’d have to spend it is more like £200 and I’d rather grind. So, that’s what I’ll be doing. Grinding on Gran Turismo. I’ve got races to win . . . .
Now that I’m back in the UK after having flown around the world it’s time to start learning how to fly. I’m going to spend time in the T-7 now that it’s X-Plane 12 compatible and start assigning shortcut keys and learning how to navigate. But, because that all seems like a lot of effort here are some pictures of London taken this morning.
Greenwich Peninsular – X-Plane
Westminster – X-Plane
I think I need to assign some new keys to the trim controls along with changing views etc. Let’s see what happens.
After a little more work the mountain is starting to be adjusted. Still not sure how this will end up but I am working on the idea of a floating mountain over my cave. I did think that I might have made a mistake as my cave is around level -50 and that’s an awful lot of stuff to remove. I’ll cope.
I have a nice cave base in Minecraft and I’ve been thinking about doing some landscaping around it. Or more accurately above it. To find the cave I travelled far in the Nether and built a new portal. This took me into a nice cave and I’ve built a little house along with some prettification inside the cave to make it look more homely. The next issue, I think, is sunlight. So I’ve started to remove the mountain from above the cave.
Minecraft – Mountain Shenanigans Before
In the above picture you can see my staircase to the top of the mountain and to the right of that at the base you can see the entrance to my cave. I’ve started small as you can see in the next picture. I think my current plan is to remove a lot of the levels and leave the mountain there but dangling in the sky. I’m not sure, we’ll have to see how it progresses.
Minecraft Mountain Shenanigans Part One
The first part of this had me digging a 2×2 tunnel through the mountain at sea level +1 to see how far I had to go. If you look to the left of my mountain staircase you can just about see the entrance to the small tunnel. I’m hoping this will progress over time to be a complete layer leaving the mountain suspended in the air.
For a long time I’ve had some Apple Airpods. They are first generation Apple things and I got them after some people at work suggested that they are quite good. I’d been in the market for some wireless music ear things for a while and thought these would be good for running and general wearing around the house/work. Until this point I’d always used wired headphones because wires are good – wireless is trouble. I have a pair of wired Bose noise cancelling headphones that I bought in 2013 and I love them. They are excellent quality and the noise cancelling is great. I don’t want to wear them all the time around the house and most definitely not when I’m running.
I got some airpods, which seemed expensive at the time for small tiny things. I think I’d rate the sound as just-about-ok. I preferred the wired sound but in the balance of things these were pretty good and they didn’t isolate me from the world. The areas where I run require a certain amount of situational awareness or you get surprised. While running I did use a plastic strap thing to save losing individual ear things. This was fortunate as on my first run with them one ear-thing got pulled out by a branch and rather than losing it in the grass it stuck out with the plastic attachment with the other ear-thing.
At some point I went back to using wired headphones while running. They just seemed less hassle. They were also a lot cheaper. I’m not sure when, but my airpods started having battery lasting problems. I remember about a year ago one of them dying before the other and listening to a podcast through one ear only. I was out on a walk and didn’t have any way of charging them. Since that time the internal airpod battery has become un-usable. I might get about twenty minutes before there are warning beeps. So I was in the market for different headphones. I knew I didn’t want Apple though.
I found Shokz. I’d seen these at a shop in the Lake District a few years ago and I liked the idea of bone-conduction for the sound. It allows the headphones to be water resistant and also means that ambient noise gets into the ear canal so it can be heard. I looked at it and decided that because I mostly listen to the spoken word the music level of quality could be sacrificed. So, I ordered some Shokz Open Run. These turned out to be excellent for running and very suitable for my situation. They fit nicely and are comfortable. I was slightly worried that I would find the “rear band” irritating but I don’t think I notice it. They are a good buy and I would recommend.
I was still after something for use at work and around the house. Something as convenient as the airpods and in-ear. I deliberated and finally settled on getting Bose in ear headphones. I’ve always been impressed with Bose speakers and I have some as part of my home cinema system. The over ear headset I have which is wired is really good and perfect for flying [and writing reports]. They block out all the background noise and I get a large sense of relief when they are activated. At work I can’t hear the normal hum-drum background noise as I concentrate on a task and so this is great.
The Bose in ear things were amazing out of the box. The sound is incredible and the noise cancelling technology astounded me. I shouldn’t be this impressed but I think that having used Airpods and then Open Ear Bone Conduction things the level of noise and reproduction from the Bose kit was amazing. The noise cancelling is great – I can’t hear my children – and I can use an “aware” mode when I need to but it is slightly odd as the bypass sound is actually outdoor sound microphoned and piped into your ear. It’s a bit like being in a corporate box at White Hart Lane. There’s little sound but if you want it can be played in over the speaker system.
Overall I have been blown away with these little earphone things. They have reminded me of what good sound sounds like. I don’t often have music out loud at home so to have decent quality piped straight into my ears gives me joy.
