YS Flight Simulation System 2000

YS Flight is a freeware flight simulation programmed by Soji Yamakawa (who is a staff member of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University). The simulation is popularly referred to as YS, and was originally called YS Flight Simulation System 2000, until a name change by the author in 2008 to simply YS Flight Simulator. It is compatible with Linux, Mac, and Windows. In 2001, it won a Japanese software award.

The simulation includes a broad selection of types of aircraft, which is greatly expanded by unofficial vehicle add-ons. Planes range from historic models, through to small, modern fighter jets and full size passenger jets. The quantity and quality of available aircraft and sceneries is greatly expanded by user-created free modifications, which are relatively easy to produce since the program was also designed "for... 3D graphics programmers".

As of version 20090601 (released on 3 July 2009), the main package of YS Flight includes 3 different versions, each utilizing a different graphics API for rendering the 3D graphics: non-OpenGL, OpenGL, and DirectX.

Game play
YS Flight can be played as either solo play on a single computer, or as online play connecting to a server (a computer running YS Flight in server mode) either through a LAN or the Internet.

There are various different game modes, either based on standard flight simulation, or involving combat. The non-combat sections of the game involve open ended play with no fixed objective. The user may also to choose to fly accompanied by computer controlled wingmen or other players via a network. In this mode, players can mimic aerobatic teams by flying in advanced formations. It is possible to fly an aerobatic routine, save this flight, and then choose a different plane and fly in formation with your (earlier recorded) aircraft. Another mode requires the player to successfully perform a landing in variable weather conditions.

Combat in the game is usually based around more specific objectives. These include defending airbases and surviving waves of enemy aircraft. Less structured combat modes involve one-on-one dogfights, and fights between several combatants. These modes can also be played with human opponents and allies via a network.

Before each flight the user has the option to change the weapons load of the aircraft. Unlike more realistic combat flight simulators (such as Falcon 4.0 or Lock On: Modern Air Combat), YS Flight uses generic weapon types (e.g. air to air missiles, iron bombs) and does not differentiate between different models of the same type of weapons, both from a visual and performance perspective.

Certain aircraft also feature gun turrets that are either controlled by the user, or controlled by the computer.

The scenery which the user flies in may also include SAM sites or anti-aircraft guns that attack the user's aircraft. These anti-aircraft artillery can also be deactivated by the user and shoot these ground units at the player's will without being hit.

The program can also be used in a network environment, whereas one user can set up the program to run as a server while other users of the program can then connect to it as a client via a LAN connection or through the Internet. This way a user can fly in the presence of other human users instead of AI-controlled aircraft.

Airplanes
There are 80+ airplanes in the 20090601 version of YS Flight including Concorde, Boeing 747, F-18C Blue Angels and more types of airplanes like Utility, Aerobatic, Fighters, Attackers, Trainers and World War Two Fighters and Attackers. Addons are available to YS Flight including over 3000+ Airplanes, new maps(Hong Kong, Chicago), YS Cars(A pack that includes Normal Cars, Police cars, Boats, Maps), and more.

Airplane Creation
It is not immediately obvious how new aircraft can be added to YS Flight 2000. There are graphics tools developed by the author and hosted on his website, these may seem complicated to use for some.

There is a much easier way to create aircraft for YS Flight 2000, and can be summarized in four steps

1.Create any 3D model in a 3D modelling software such as Wings 3D, Blender, or any other package. Save in VRML format.

2.Convert the parts of the model to .srf format using YSVRML2.0 ( a tool provided by the author on his website)

3.Copy the and paste the resultant .srf files to a text file and save the file with a .dnm extension or use Makednm in Suzy's tools (see below)

4.Create the DAT file for the model (flight model file)

Actual details can be found by inspecting the files of an working model within YS 2000 or from the tutorial under 'external links'

Reception
Some reviews have criticized YS Flight for the low quality of the stock aircraft and limited realism, particularly the way the game simulates physics and flight dynamics, noting that ground effect, rudder control, and stalls are not realistic. Other game reviewers, such as David Jordan, have also applauded these characteristics because of YS Flight's simplicity and efficiency on low-end computers. In 2009, YS Flight received the Editors' Choice Award from PCFreunde.de, a German-language software website where YS Flight has an 81% rating from users and 90% from the editors.