That Personal Touch...

[Guest]

Hi again,In just about every videogame activity I've engaged in over the years there's been some form of personalization. You enter your name, team or whatever, and there you have it, you're ready to rock :-bangI was wondering why developers have not created a utillity for adding personal registrations to their aircraft products so we can enjoy the same fame (or infamy for that matter) in our flight sims ?I recently downloaded both of Bill & Lynn Lyons Golden Classics packages and have really and honestly enjoyed the unique and very original personal registrations and hangars that ship with this great fun product. To see one's name or reg on my purchased aircraft is a real buzz and keeps me coming back for more ! It's highly likely, because of this deeply personal touch, that their fun creations will remain on my system indefinately.I appreciate that from a realistic standpoint the average RW pilot would not be able to afford a personal reg but this ISN'T the RW. Like most I will more than likely never be affluent enough to pay for PPL course, let alone buy an aircraft, so this is where MS' wonderful world comes in :-ufo2 Also, it really irks me that so many developers INSIST on replicating one aircraft, in perhaps thousands, and won't consider making any changes whatsoever because those changes weren't in the original aircraft photographed. Why can't they produce a more generic version, with some scope for change, using the original ship as the model base, and one reflecting the myriad of options available for that aircraft variant ? I DON'T WANT TO FLY AN AIRCRAFT WITH A REG THAT MEANS ZERO TO ME - I WANT TO FLY MINE WITH MY NUMBERS ON IT!! If all the repaints were colour specific only, and didn't have inapropriate and meaningless numbers plastered all over them, I might actually use them myself. I really hate the feeling of having borrowed someone else's aircraft...:-((As a footnote to this I fully appreciate that historical and celebrity aircraft, R4D-6, Spirit Of Louis, Airforce One etc, should remain unmolested.)I dearly hope at some point that the other software houses in our hobby will follow Bill's wonderful example and add more in the way of those very personal and caring touches. After all, it's very difficult to reject something that some talented genius in the field has made specially for you !Feedback welcome. AFOX :-wave

[KevinAu 441]

Hmmm...you can change the registration number to whatever you like on the default aircraft. So it is fairly easy to fly the baron with your own custom registration number instead of N700MS. In real life it is also easy to customize the registration on your own plane, it is no different than getting a customized license plate for your car, just as long as nobody else is using the same registration.As far as the developers go, planes like the Warrior, the Cardianl, the Golden Eagle, etc. are all available to be repainted as you wish. There are dozens and dozens of repaints out there for any of these airplanes in realistic and fictional paintjobs other than what the developers shipped them with. If you don't have the talent yourself to do your own laser pinstripe paintscheme with your own name as the registration, you can probably ask somebody to.

[Guest]

Hi Kevin and thanks for answering,I don't fly default aircraft simply because they're too mass market and in many ways unrealistic. I realised this a long time ago when I repeatedly put the default 747 safely down on the runway without any idea of how to fly it and with all the realism sliders maxed (as if that's realistic!)If it's easy as you say to customize your own reg in real life then why aren't more developers going this way ? I think it's quite simply a missed opportunity. Repaints would be even more appealing if it was only the paintjob, logo, airline etc, you were downloading and you were able to pin your numbers to it as soon as it was on your desktop. Also, the very lame excuse that these 'do-it-yourself' numbers don't look realistic is IMO opinion quite silly. We can give you photo-realistic textures which reflect your environment, advanced ever changing lighting fx but sorry, we can't give your own realistic nameplate... Rubbish.Not everyone has an imaging program, nor for that matter can use one. We have, AI programs, weather programs, navigation programs, scenery programs, hangar management programs, panel design programs, air file editing programs, paint programs, etc, etc, etc - all clever and ingenious utillities. So why not a small utillity for sticking a few letters on the fuselage of your new ship ? I'm sure repaint artisans would be happy to oblige a program like this because for the most part they wouldn't have to reproduce the same work over and over again with reg variations. 'Download my realistic paint job mate, stick your own plate on it and bingo ! You've got your own personalized version of my bloody hard work...'I hope someone follows Bill's lead and helps to close this little gap. His idea is, as usual, revolutionary and extremely caring !AFOX :-wave

[Guest]

Afox,I believe you will find that the better-quality add-on aircraft allow you to set a personalized registration number that shows on the external views. As a for-example, the excellent SF.260 from RealAir Simulations. --BeachComer Stephen "Beach" Comer Real World Pile-it Commercial ASMEL, Instrument Airplane 4500 TT, 2500 BE20 & BE10

[Guest]

Hi mate,I must be missing something... My SF260 doesn't allow me to do this ? We are talking FS2K2, yes ? I can't fault the Marchetti but I admit it would be nice to tag this ship too ? Can YOU change the reg ?AFOX :-hmmm

[Guest]

Hi mate,Quizzed the RealAir team and unfortunately you can't change the SF260's registration by default means. Thought I'd better post this in case it caused any confusion. Thanks for your input anyway !AFOX :-wave

[Guest]

I'm surprised, quite frankly, that few in the community care enough about personilized registrations on their aircraft to make a comment? But then again, we all have our own priorities.One of the major software houses, however, HAS been good enough to respond in another thread, AND in the affirmative. For that I am EXTREMELY GRATEFUL because it has made my little soapbox session really worth while. It just goes to show though that whilst software developers can't possibly be expected to please everyone, some of them DO care enough to listen and, at the very least, submit their own view.AFOX :-beerchug