I really hate those generic New Years questions, but......... What was in your opinion the most/best/important/progressive achievement in FS add-ons?Ted

>What was in your opinion the most/best/important/progressive > achievement in FS add-ons? Spin & sideslip ------ RealAir Simulations Marchetti SF 260!!!

I have a few:1. The RealAir SF.260 Flight Dynamics without a doubt - unbelievable sensation of actual flight. It behaves exactly as you would expect.2. The FSGenesis USA Landclass project really transforms the way you fly too (at least if you live in the US!) - VFR is really great now! 3. Anticyclone's Active Camera Pro - totally makes the VC a nice place to fly from! Add's the much needed first-person-shooter style mouselook ability to FS.Honorable mentions: The CaptainSim 727 - it's gonna be really great when the bugs are worked out and I actually learn how to operate the thing!The PSS Dash 8 - this is a great plane and it's nice to finally have a high quality short haul commuter!My predictions for the new year (in no particular order)1. A320 PIC's interactive VC and Airbus systems/FBW modeling - same guys who made Active Camera are the developers behind this, and I'm betting it's gonna be really really good... ;)2. Flight 1 Piper Meridian - this is gonna set a new standard for systems realism and gauge quality.3. Whatever (if anything) the original 767PIC team comes up with for their next product.4. The Dreamfleet 727 and Cessna 310 will set new standards as usual I'm sure. The wing view animation Lou posted today is amazing!5. ASRC - the new radar client for the VATSIM network. I've been a beta tester for a few months now, and it's basically a near complete emulation of the real life DSR radar console used in the USA Center radar rooms. It's gonna revolutionize online controling once everyone is up and running with it.

I'm going to have to say, and excuse me if this actually happened in 2001, the years are jumbled for me, lol. But, as I was saying, I'd have to say the increase in AI traffic and what's available. PAI, FSP, and everyone else who created AI traffic. I remember when I first got FS2K2, I grabbed a couple of default repaints from AVSIM, and plugged them in. Then, with some help, was able to create separate aircraft folders, use a batch file that I had to start before each flight to change the 3 aircraft that were to be shown. We've come a long way from that!! The ability to modify the aircraft, airports and flightplans into the traffic.bgl, for me, is the single most important advance in FS2k2.Lobaeux

Hmmm... this is a tough one... but I would have to give it to Lee Swordy. Traffic Tools and his AFCAD Utility have completely revolutionized the sim, IMHO. All for free too.You think folks would have paid for his Traffic Tools and AFCAD Utility? You bet! I've seen folks lay down cash for planes that look like they were made for FS98.Thank you Lee... freeware lives!

I only fly VFR, so improvements on the landscape rank high on my list:1. Ed Truthan's and Gerrish's autogen tree replacements.2. Gerrish's autogen building replacements.3. Autogenius24. Landclass files; I have Burkhard Renk's Europe and FSGenesis's USA 5. FSW FS SkyWorld 2002SE6. Lago's Terra Meshand I haven't even touched on the planes and the airports and the bush hideouts :). The way I have FS2002 Pro set up now, it is almost like another product from the time it was released one year ago!

I would have to say the advancement in Sqawkbox and VATSIM. Online flying has come a long way in the past year, and I look forward to seeing it grow even more in 2003.www.vatsim.netRyan-Flightpro08 :-cool VATSIM Pilot/ControllerZLA ARTCC Senior Controller (C-3)SAN TRACON Lead ASRC (Advanced Simulated Radar Client) Beta Tester-----------------------------My "Home Made" System Specs:Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz ProcessorTurbo Gamer ATX Mid-Tower with 420W Power SupplyEPoX 4G4A Motherboard with Intel 845G ChipsetVisiontek XTASY GeForce4 128MB Ti4600 (Det 41.09 Drivers)512MB PC2100 DDR RAM40GB Matrox 7200RPM Hard DriveWindows XP Home Edition SP1*No CPU or GPU Overclocking*3dMark2001SE Score: 11298-----------------------------Click [link:ftp.avsim.com/library/esearch.php?DLID=&Name=&FileName=&Author=Ryan+Fretwell&CatID=Root]Here to Download my American Eagle POSKY CRJ-200!

Yep and hopefully we'll have Squawk Box 3 and ASRC out in 2003 and online flying will continue to grow.Jason

Naji,You sound like my kind of flyer. Trouble is, your list adds up to a lof of dollars (or equivalent). A few questions: 1. How to install Autogenius2 since the readme is in Italian?; 2. Lago's Terra Mesh: which one(s) do you have?; 3. FS SkyWorld: is this free? I see no mention of purchase. Be my luck that I would spend money to purchase all of your list and then it would be incompatible with FS2004. Dick

Active Camera; this should have been in FlightSim when the VC was introduced. I can't imagine flying without it anymore.

Hi, Dick. In my list only items 4 and 6 are payware; the rest is all good old freeware :).Re Autogenius2, here is the English description and procedure for installation:http://www.aliditalia.com/autogeniusengl.htmlBriefly, when you unzip it to a temp folder, you'll get three directories. All are empty except ScenedbWorldTexture. Back up your existing folder ScenedbWorldTexture before copying the new AGN's files, overwriting the existing ones. That's it. I use it with FS default textures on which I've seen the best results.Re Lago mesh, I have pampered myself with all the mesh around the Alps (I love this area which I have visited in real life no less than five times :)): Lago's East France, North Italy, Switzerland, South Germany and Austria. They seem now to have bundled Europe in one buy; you might want to check that out.FS SkyWorld is freeware and just fantastic with all its clouds.

- Project AI and all the other AI tools, programs and addons

If you mean out of the box fs, it would be the scenery generating engine; the previous version(s) had to load the scenery textures as you where flying over it, resulting in massive stutters. Thinking about it still makes me weep.

The stewardess overhead swtich.During those long haul flights, one flick of the swtich, and fresh coffee is brought up to the flight deck..PS: for this add-on to work properly, you require a "understanding wife/girlfriend".. :-wave ...I'd upload, but the file size is to big.. :D

Your understanding wife/girlfriend is too big? Woo, you better hope she doesnt read the forums!!!;-)Thanks to M$ releasing comprehensive SDK's and a whole lot of hard work & lateral thinking by many talented people, there's been a huge number of startling breakthroughs in the last year. I agree with all of the above, esp activecamera (and I really need one of those "stewardess overhead switches"). I'll add Antti Pankkonens Dauphin to the list. A working autopilot in a stunning freeware helicopter - Wowee!!! Also some of Lago's payware addons, Soundscape & Emma Field. Amazing! Arrcab is another freeware app worthy of kudos, as is Eric Marciano's working radar gauge. Max Roodvelt's "Thermiek" thermal generator for gliding is over a year old now, but still fantastic.just MHOLonelyplanetXO