I don

I have often thought about this.I think FS9 with the 1m textures and bump mapping from FSX would have kept me happy for another 2 years or so......Glenn

>I don

If they cannot sell a full price new version every two or three years - there is no business justification for keeping a development staff and paying them to update / develop.Would you have paid $65 for an FS9.5 update?Personally I would have been happy to pay $100 - but how many people here would expect a free upgrade.Why would I pay double or more for an update? Because I want the developers to work on making the version as perfect as possible - rather than 75% of their effort on thinking up new visual elements for the new version.Microsoft has the capability to make such an update rather than a new version - they have in the past with several products.Most of those products disappeared within a year or two of the 'update'.What sells more copies and pays for developers is "new" versions.Personally I think the 1970 Dodge Dart with the 318, Holley 4bbl and Hurst shifter was the ultimate automobile that I could afford.But I cannot buy one, because everybody wants something NEW.Soon before the end of a product line -the NEW version gets terrible reviews, no support and not great sales.Some of you may be right - FS2004 may well be the LAST version of the MSFS franchise.

I think that with Radar Contact, AS6.5, and GE Pro, we've essentially reached a state of FS9.5The great thing about this hobby is that you can pick and choose which add-ons you want to enhance your flight simming. For example, for me, weather and the ground environment are what are important. Thus, I bought Active Sky and Ground Environment. ATC isn't a big deal for me, perhaps because I deal with it so much in real life, so the default ATC works fine for me, assuming that I'm not doing airliner simming (which I don't do a lot of). I use RC for that. Anyways, I see the chances of Aces coming back and doing an enhancement package for FS9 as nil. Even when FS2000 was released, which saw a lot of the same complaints that FSX is receiving, there was no retroactive FS98 enhancement package.

This utility will make FS9 into FS 9.4 :)http://www.fs-recorder.net/-John

I'm with John, I think we have many fantastic addons that make FS9 FS9.5 and more ... the recorder module is outstanding!...active sky and Walk and Follow both outstanding! .... FSUPIC and Activesky v6 the two most important addons IMHO simply outstanding! Sceneries ...well we all know what is possible in FS9 and it gets better all the time! VC's ..well I'm not crazy about them but look at the new 3D fully functional VC's, ultra smooth XML gauges (better than default FSX)(and then there is RXP) As for the ATC ....I'm still getting people asking me "how does one get transitions?" just shows it has taken ages for people (myself included) to find that ATC (while it could still be better...ok a lot better) is better than we thought.(thanks for enlightening me Reggie!)I don't think my sim is FS9 anymore ...more like FSX.5 :-hah

regardsEdaka Capt. P[/font color]i[/font color]c[/font color]a[/font color]s[/font color]s[/font color]o[/font color]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v640/edetroit100/eddd2.jpgMy FS9 Videos] AMD Athlon 64 3500+, 1024Mb PC3200 DDR, 300Gb HD 256Mb DDR Nvidia 7800 GTX PCI-E, Audigy 2 ZSCH Products Yoke, Pedals and Throttle Quadrant[/font color

Yes, this is just wishful thinking on my part I realize. But I would pay for an update if it ment that I could keep all those other add ons, like 737NG running and get the benifit of an enhanced flight sim base pakage without having to wait two more years for the hardware to catch up.I guess the "update" would not be needed if they just made the next version (FSX)a little more reasonable. I guess I would rather take smaller steps and get more use out of all my software and hardware instead of scrapping it all and starting all over again every two years.It took them them, what, 6 or 7 years to make Vista after XP?

"If they were smarter, Microsoft would have developed a FS9.5 update package to FS9. Perhaps they could have added to FS9 some of the features of FSX without killing our computers?"And, as a business whose sole purpose in life is to make a profit (preferably as large as possible - as this is the desire of all businesses), they would have made money out of this -- how??Get real!Barry

For myself I am constantly and pleasantly surprised by the frequency with which add-ons are discussed, which I knew little about and which turn out to be 'must have' items for FS. So many of them completely change the simming experience, and that is, for me, one of the things that makes this hobby so fascinating. You really can concentrate on the areas you want (such as ATC or aircraft or terrain) and mix and match to your heart's desire.What a hobby!Regards - Jeff

>I'm with John, I think we have many fantastic addons that>make FS9 FS9.5 and more ... the recorder module is>outstanding!...active sky and Walk and Follow both>outstanding! .... FSUPIC and Activesky v6 the two most>important addons IMHO simply outstanding!> Sceneries ...well we all know what is possible in FS9 and it>gets better all the time!> VC's ..well I'm not crazy about them but look at the new 3D>fully functional VC's, ultra smooth XML gauges (better than>default FSX)(and then there is RXP)> As for the ATC ....I'm still getting people asking me "how>does one get transitions?" just shows it has taken ages for>people (myself included) to find that ATC (while it could>still be better...ok a lot better) is better than we>thought.(thanks for enlightening me Reggie!)>>I don't think my sim is FS9 anymore ...more like FSX.5 :-hah>>

>regards>>Ed>>aka Capt. P[/font color][font>color=brown]i[/font color]c[/font>color]a[/font color][font>color=purple]s[/font color]s[/font>color]o[/font color]>>>

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v640/edetroit100/eddd2.jpg>>My FS9>Videos] >>>AMD Athlon 64 3500+, 1024Mb PC3200 DDR, 300Gb HD >256Mb DDR Nvidia 7800 GTX PCI-E, Audigy 2 ZS>CH Products Yoke, Pedals and Throttle Quadrant[/font colorI agree.FSX.5 a dammed fine sim.Andya .5 supporter

>I'm with John, I think we have many fantastic addons that>make FS9 FS9.5 and more ... the recorder module is>outstanding!...active sky and Walk and Follow both>outstanding! .... FSUPIC and Activesky v6 the two most>important addons IMHO simply outstanding!> Sceneries ...well we all know what is possible in FS9 and it>gets better all the time!> VC's ..well I'm not crazy about them but look at the new 3D>fully functional VC's, ultra smooth XML gauges (better than>default FSX)(and then there is RXP)> As for the ATC ....I'm still getting people asking me "how>does one get transitions?" just shows it has taken ages for>people (myself included) to find that ATC (while it could>still be better...ok a lot better) is better than we>thought.(thanks for enlightening me Reggie!)>>I don't think my sim is FS9 anymore ...more like FSX.5 :-hah>>

>regards>>Ed>>aka Capt. P[/font color][font>color=brown]i[/font color]c[/font>color]a[/font color][font>color=purple]s[/font color]s[/font>color]o[/font color]>>>

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v640/edetroit100/eddd2.jpg>>My FS9>Videos] >>>AMD Athlon 64 3500+, 1024Mb PC3200 DDR, 300Gb HD >256Mb DDR Nvidia 7800 GTX PCI-E, Audigy 2 ZS>CH Products Yoke, Pedals and Throttle Quadrant[/font colorI agree.FSX.5 a dammed fine sim.Andya .5 supporter

And Finally gentlemen.I agree.FSX.5 a dammed fine sim.Andya .5 supporterandy

Reggie,You could say that FSX is only an 'update' to FS9 anyway couldn't you?I mean, the 'guts' of the engine hasn't really changed that much right?Glenn

The current FS9 with all the trimmings is more than FSX, as stated above, so why you'd want to go back to an FS9.5 is beyond me... :-hah