>How about disclosing something noteworthy from your beta>experience that you couldn't previously, due to being under an>NDA?>>GaryWell I will say that I really, really enjoy the missions. Some are quick simple fun, others are very complex, demanding and challenging. There is something for everyone, even the "hardcore" simmers will quite likely enjoy the higher difficulty level ones (Give Yakatuk a go to see what I mean).

I sure lost the weight being locked up!Jimhttp://www.hifisim.com/Active Sky V6 Development Team Active Sky V6 Proud SupporterHiFi Beta TeamRadar Contact Supporter: http://www.jdtllc.com/AirSource Member: http://www.air-source.us/FSEconomy Member:http://www.fseconomy.com/

*sigh* *:-*Yeah, rushing out to get some fresh air. And I just started to hate shared cockpit - I hate the fact others get power over what parts of our aircraft fail :-hahSeriously though it's one of the greatest new features IMHO.Greets to all my fella testers out there who have been puttin this awesome piece of software thru the wringer for the past couple of months... There is obviously still work to do but I am glad we've gotten thus far. Cheers! :-beerchugEtienne :-wave

>*Breaths a breath of fresh air*>>So... now that we're out... what do we do? lolI don't know about you, but I'm off to the pub for a cold beer! :)(just kidding about the pub though...) :-lol

>How about disclosing something noteworthy from your beta>experience that you couldn't previously, due to being under an>NDA?>>GaryThey did make one major change to the AI system. That is the problem we had in FS2004 where 50 aircraft would spawn at the exact same moment to land at an airport has been fixed. So you don't have that huge line of aircraft trying to land at a major airport 5 minutes after you fire the sim up and there are a lot fewer go arounds. The downside is that in order to accomplish this fix, some flights never arrive at their destination.Matt

<Well, anything of that sort still is under NDA. ;)

Ah, so it is a soft NDA lift. Anything chewy must remain behind closed doors for now. ;)Gary

Well a few observations (there are so many it is hard to know where to start)...I just got back from a week in Jackson Hole, Wy. with a drive down hwy 89 to Salt Lake City-some of the most spectacular scenery in the United States.Fsx is amazing-the sleeping indian mountain in Jackson is there and looks like real life-the Tetons look great, and I just "flew" the whole road trip I just drove on fsx following the route-simply amazing-down to the little air strips I had never heard of along the way and the assortment of pine/aspen trees.The missions are amazing-they range from the most fun I have had on a sim since flight unlimited series-to serious gut wrenching sweat producing emergencies that are faced in real flight, to wonderful tours of amazing areas of the world. It is mind boggling to think where this will be going in the future. Not "gamelike" at all imho but a new dose of reality for the sim...and more fun than I have had in a long time (heaven forbid a sim is fun!).The small lake that I live on that has never appeared in any version of fs-and even with add in water extras for fs9 all I ever got was a crude representation- is now there -and to think this is the level of world wide default detail....the new scenery/water detail-amazing!The aircraft are much more detailed in every respect-gauge movement much more smooth..and yes-I can verify the Baron flies much more real-not to mention the detail in the aircraft model (check the inside of the gear door for instance).Moving cars,airport vehicles, and yes-even animals and smoke-it was amazing to me when flying over a living sim world how suddenly the realism increased-after all when real flying you are not flying over a dead unmoving static world.....So much more-but using the default install settings on both my computers which are moderate systems I get much better performance than fs9 and a lot more of everything and lots of new.Here is a shot of my little lake that hasn't been there in any other version of fs-(and the world with this detail!). As I recover from my trip I'll post more...http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/155298.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/155299.jpg

Whew hey guys glad to be breathing fresh air again :-)Thanks so much to the entire ACES team for lifting the NDA, now we can go evangelise for FSX sales for ya :-)FSX is simply amazing, and I think the best is definitely yet to come, both in the final release and in what FS addon developers devise...Once I complete all the missions I hope to upgrade my Rig and fly around the world with everything maxxed out... Thanks Mike and yeah I'll definitely be using the in sim screen shot tool :-)Only problem I have is the choice of which light sub 5700kg aircraft to fly that can long haul across the Pacific between Islands...Any word on when various companies can start advertising addon products for FSX?

>It's not a radical change from FS9, but it is a very nice step>forward.Are you kidding? Animated wildlife, can go up into space, curved earth, much higher fidelity aircraft, 6000 objects per sq klm, head latency in cockpits, numerous effects, camera objects, too many library objects to count, missions, comprehensive SDK's, multiplayer that is perfect for ab-initio training, simconnect, much improved autogen, ground service vehicles at airports, calling fuel trucks over, having baggage carts come unload the plane, bloom effects, bump mapping (DX10), 5.1 surround sound... AI shipping and whales, moving traffic, numerous varieties of trees....Well maybe not fully radical change, it is still simulating flight but gosh it sure gets my vote as being a radical change... And the best is yet to come through 3rd party enhancements...

That looks good, but that ultra-saturated blue water has to go...;-)

>That looks good, but that ultra-saturated blue water has to>go...;-)Depends on the waterclass, but there is scope for something along the lines of Flight Environment to create all the waterclass type textures...

>I sure lost the weight being locked up!I was more concerned about the fact some of our fellow testers didnt shower as frequently as they could have. That closet was very claustrophobic.

Wow, man it's great to be out, I haven't seen the sun in months. By the way someone left their dirty laundry in the closet back there. Please claim it as soon as possible. There is also still some cold pizza in the fridge too, feel free to grab it on the way out!!Seriously though, this beta experience has been the best experience for me. Working with some very talented and thorough team members was truly exciting. I am really looking forward to the release.I think most will be very happy with what FSX will offer, if Beta 3 is representative of the Gold release. I know I am. Why? Well, FS9 was removed from my machine a few weeks ago, and I don't miss it at all.[hr color=#000000][table border=0" width="98%" id="table1" height="2" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1][td width=500]Jason[br /]General Aviation Fan[br][/b]

FS2004 traffic files work in the demo and the fileplanet beta. However there are obviously some differences in the file format. Traffic Tools cannot read the FSX files.Significantly more sound capabilities - including a soundai folder for AI aircraft usage.There is apparently a change in the way the parking spot size is decided for AI aircraft.Initial tests show multiple parking codes in the aircraft config file work in this version.AI aircraft approaches appear to be higher rather than being assigned IAF altitude up to 50 miles away from the airport. This may also apply to the user aircraft - I don't know yet.Two new phases in the AI flight cycle "preflight support" and "post flight support"EGKK has an issue which does not allow AI aircraft to takeoff on 26R - yes I know it isn't used in the real world - but it's on the charts.I can't tell but it appears there is no hold short node as the aircraft taxi directly up the extended centerline. AI aircraft stackup and run into each other. Never contacting the tower to takeoff.User aircraft is not offered the contact the tower option until they taxi within range of a side entry hold short node.