• Hifi Sim Xpax Fs9 Fsx Sp1 2017

XPax, a new multimedia passenger simulation add-on from HiFi, has been officially released! This add-on is compatible with both FSX AND FS9! A full multi-media passengers experience is provided, with included audio and video content (4 unique voices with over 12 total sets). New content sets can be recorded or imported with a few clicks.

Mar 17, 2010. Introducing a different kind of add-on from HiFi that works with both FSX and FS9! With XPax, the experience of carrying passengers in an airline environment is brought to you in an entertaining and realistic way. Passengers and their individual statistics including health and approval rating are constantly.

Passengers are fully simulated from boarding to deplaning, with all various phases of flight properly tracked and monitored. Passengers can be viewed in real time via the manifest or top-down seating diagram screen! 3 detailed cabins are provided as well as a universal 'Other' custom cabin diagram that can be configured for any load.

Performance is scored by individual passenger approval and health amounts which will change based on the smoothness of the flight. Abrupt control movements, unsafe flying, hard landings, and many more other tracked events will cause approval reduction, and in extreme cases will cause health reduction. Flight logs are fully exportable for use with VA operations.

Real-time dynamic control of FS aircraft payload, automatic jetway and doors control, a report screen, documentation, top-notch customer support and much more are all included.

This is the first in a series of low-cost dual-sim-compatible 'pocket add-ons' from HiFi that aim to provide entertaining enhancements to the simulation experience with exceptional value. XPax is available now for immediate download for only $26.99.

The (undiscovered) Virtual Passenger’s World

XPax is a new product from the guys at HiFi Sim (the same company that changed the FS World with their ActiveSky product) and is the first one of a series of low-cost dual-sim compatible “pocket add-ons” (something like a Lite series) that basically aims to provide a multimedia passenger experience.

A couple of questions may come to mind, Passengers? Like Virtual Passengers? Do I really need that? Well first of all yes, you may have the latest add-on of your favorite airliner, the latest sound set, and the latest textures but you’re missing the passengers, I’ll tell you something right now: The only difference between you and a cargo pilot, is that you are not doing red-eye flights from Frankfurt to El Cairo twice a week.

Hifi Sim Xpax Fs9 Fsx Sp1 2017

Virtual Passengers are probably one of the biggest victims in the history of FS add-ons. Before the release of XPax, there was only one ( 1 ) virtual passenger add on (FSPassengers, we'll talk about it later). So this take us to the next question “Are they necessary?“ Well sure they are, I mean starting FS, parking your 747 at the gate, pushing back and taxiing all done in less than 10 minutes? It's simply unrealistic. And in every single add-on that was ever created for our beloved hobby (Freeware, Payware or the so-called Donationware) there is always the pursuit of realism. We are always trying to achieve the dream that Microsoft embodied in their slogan “ As Real As It Gets “.

Sure you can be parked at the gate for a couple of minutes in order to “simulate” the boarding of passengers. You can even get your sister talking on the microphone in order to simulate a Flight Attendant. But in a community where nearly every single aviation related item, there’s a list of 10 add-ons, it just doesn't seem fair that the passengers are missing.

So apart from the good things and the bad things XPax may have, I believe what is important here is the fact that someone (Like Daniel Polli did with FSPassengers) is trying to fill those gaps we have to deal with on every single flight we make.

XPax

What exactly does XPax do?

• Provides a multimedia passenger carriage experience
• It lets you control (manually or automatically) the connection of Jetways (if you have a scenery add on that lets you do that) as well as doors.
• It provides Real-time monitoring of passengers health and approval rating
• Provides a scoring and ranking system based on the flights performance
• Provides a set of 12 audio recordings (containing female and male voices in various accents)
• Provides a report about your flight
• Provides a real time dynamic aircraft weight control based on the passenger load.

After starting the program, which runs in a different window than FS, you’ll notice that the program is divided into different pages and each one lets you control a different aspect. The Main page gives you statistics about your past flights (Passengers Delivered, Passengers Injured, Passenger Satisfaction Index, and you current Ranking Points). It also shows information about the status onboard: Number of passengers per cabin, Total passengers, Crew Members, total number of souls aboard, cabin status and the approval rating.

On the main page there are also a couple of buttons (called Manual Controls): Connect to FS (usually XPax will automatically connect to FS), Start Boarding, Deplane and Play announcement. Announcements are played automatically after the “Start Boarding” sequence starts. You’ll see that apart from the ambience sounds XPax comes with, a “Passenger Point of View Mini camera“ is played at the bottom left of the program (These videos can be turned off from the options page)

The Manifest page lets you decide how many passengers are you going to take and it gives you a manifest with their names, as well as Health and Approval Status, Seat and also tell you whether they are onboard or not.

The Seating Diagram page shows one of the most interesting aspects of XPax. It will introduce you to a diagram of your airplane (the seating configuration can be configured via the options page), showing you where your virtual passengers are seated, represented with green dots. Clicking on top of the green dots will bring up the information of that passenger (Name, health and approval rating)

On the Report page, you’ll find real time information about your current flight, as well as an explanation about the causes of changes to the approval and health status of your passengers.

The Aircraft page will show you a complete list of all the aircraft you have installed in your FS directory, letting you select the one you are currently using in order to provide a more accurate seating diagram.

Via the options page, you will have the chance to configure the audio sets (voices of the Captain and FA’s) you want to hear during your flight. A good thing about XPax is that it will give you the possibility of actually creating new voices (tell your sister you are still going to need her again) or if you don't feel like listening to your recorded voice over and over again, you can click on the Randomize Button. This feature is really nice, since listening to the same voices after a couple of flights could be quite annoying.

The Good, The Bad and The Great

XPax is a pretty good add on. It gives you the chance of populating those empty seats on your virtual flights. It has a beautiful interface full of colors, provides a seating map (which is customizable), adds different sound sets and has the ability to create new ones. But it pays the price of being a pioneer.

Because even though the program looks really good, the fact that it works in a different window is quite annoying. Also, the approval rating of your flights seems to go lower and lower without any apparent reason. While the program lets you choose an airplane configuration in order to use it with GA aircraft, it doesn't seem to notice that it applies reduction points just because you exceeded the Maximum Bank Angle, for example.

The great thing about XPax is that it gives us another option when it comes to Virtual Passengers. Like any other add-on, it has pro’s and con’s. There are still some outstanding issues the guys at HiFi are working hard to solve.

While I was working on this review, an update was released fixing issues that costumers found after it was released (and it was released just a couple of months ago) and also adding new features. Here's the link to the update log.

XPax still has some room for improvement, but this doesn't prevent the newest add-on from HiFi Simulations from becoming a great choice for those costumers willing to add crying babies and snoring passengers to their virtual seats.