Just an Observation

[BillW 210]

With the coming of FSX, I see some of the same developers having to come up with program enhancing software. Ultimate Terrain, FSGenesis, Ground Environment, all the airplane developers, you name it. So the question is : What has Microsoft done to truly improve Flight Simulator? A new scenery engine? Obviously not one that's good enough to satisfy their customers. Do they just not care what people want? Obviously we'll pay for add-ons. Why don't they include them? This is why I'm sticking with FS9. I just don't see any reason to start the whole process over again.

[LAdamson 240]

As to the content of your post, it's like asking thousands of people if they all like and prefer the same thing. Of course they won't. Would you mind paying MS for all the content that you're not particually interested in?L.Adamson -- FS9,FSX, X-Plane

[Guest H_Kev55]

MS doesn't have to add much b/c they know the add-on developers will do all that work for them.Plus the MSFS team doesn't have a lot of time to produce the sim so they take what ever shortcuts they need to take and then get the beta teams to suggest the rest. It's like any other computer program out today. They release a product thats just good enough to sell, then they start cranking out a sevice pack or 2 to keep you going.But then again. MSFS really doesn't have a true competitor, so why not do a better job??Problem is, any kind of sim will not be enough to satisfy all users.KJ

[Guest JTEK99]

>With the coming of FSX, ... Quick correction here. FSX isn't "coming". It's here. And it's been here for over a year. You really need to check the AVSIM front page more often. :(

[BillW 210]

Read the sentence. I acknowledge the "coming" of FSX. I just wanted some thoughts on going through the process of having to come up with the same old add ons. I would have thought that Microsoft would incorporate some of these and pay the authors. Apparently not. No competition is a bad thing for development.

[LAdamson 240]

>MS doesn't have to add much b/c they know the add-on>developers will do all that work for them.>>Plus the MSFS team doesn't have a lot of time to produce the>sim so they take what ever shortcuts they need to take and>then get the beta teams to suggest the rest. It's like any>other computer program out today. They release a product thats>just good enough to sell, then they start cranking out a>sevice pack or 2 to keep you going.>But then again. MSFS really doesn't have a true competitor, so>why not do a better job??>>Problem is, any kind of sim will not be enough to satisfy all>users.>You've totally over simplified the problem. MS has to try to recreate the entire world. Then everyone expects perfect flight dynamics, full functioning Garmin glass panels, and even grass as well as wheat blades that flow precisely with the wind, while the sun and shadows set at the exact time...Nevermind the aircraft, the buildings, the land mass, the topography, the, the, the........L.Adamson

[Guest Nealoc187]

I'm sure you realize how much time and effort goes in to every one of those add-ons, right? With that in mind, think what would happen if one company were to do all of that development it'd cost probably $500, it'd take like 8 years to develop each iteration, and then they'd sell virtually none because 99.999999% of consumers are not going to pay $500 for a video game...Microsoft Flight Sim doesn't exist to cater to the micro-minority of dedicated simmers who modify it - it exists to make money and to be sold in as high a volume as possible at as high a profit margin as possible. We're lucky they've made the game so easily modifiable that we can add whatever add-ons we see fit.Your question is akin to asking why car manufacturers don't make all their cars with every option available... because many people don't want, don't need, and aren't willing to pay for all the bells and whistles. Especially when those bells and whistles increase the cost 10x and triple or quadruple the development interval.

[Mike T 208]

FSX is just like any othe version of MSFS, a base and mostly generic world. MSFS has NEVER come with a massively customized environment, aircraft or weather. Granted Aces attempted to inject new more accurate landclass, roads and updated textures but the jury is still out on that one since products like Genesis, FEX, GEX and ASX (if I see one more product with a derivitive "X" in its name I'm going to SCREAM!!!!) vastly improve the default "enhancements". Not to mention that the roads, landclass, mesh et al in the default FSX are STILL totally inaccurate. And that's okay! The ACES team can't and should not be asked to provide neighborhood level detail for the entire world. It is simply cost and time prohibitive.With that said, my biggest problem with FSX is that the generic base canvas runs totally unacceptably. If I can only run the generic FSX at half sliders full at 20 FPS then what's going to happen when I fill it up full of stuff? The good news here is that ASX, FEX and GEX textures replace the default and offer the opportunity for the end user to utilize lower resolution textures that will offer more performance.At the end of the day, you cannot ever expect any release of FS to include all of the addons you have already.Regards,Mike T.

[BillW 210]

I totally agree. I had hoped to see some major improvements, but I guess we're stuck on the carousel.

[Guest Mike_Luchia]

I wonder about this as a suggestion for Microsoft to try. Instead of the entire Flight Sim team work on the entire world, Split the team up. Have one group build the base pack of aircraft then other teams build more detailed portions of each section of the world. You would then buy the base pack, and whatever sections of the world you would like. I would hope that this would allow you to have a much more detailed world while keeping the price down?Mike

[Mike T 208]

Well, I've stepped off the carosel this time and methinks that so has half (or more) of the community. I mean, let's be real here with indisputable FACTS: - FSX DX10: A total and unadulterated faceplant into the mud of gaming history - FSX Shared cockpit: Never materialized in any of the panel and aircraft releases I can think of. - FSX 3D Cockpit navigation: ActiveCamera does a MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better job of doing it in FS9. - FSX real weather: Status quo, now buy ASX if you want real weather - FSX roads: How come Flight1 can get this right but Microsoft gets inaccurate information and is missing most roads still? - FSX Landclass: Again, does MS not have the resources to get accurate data but FSGENESIS has no problems here? - FSX Generic Textures: Representative of a future globally warmed planned where plantlife has largely died and a post apocalyptic global desert has taken its place - FSX Higher Resolution: Arguably the best enhancement in FSX is its 1m scenery...unfortunately if you choose this option, other options must be reduced. - FSX Water: Much better than FS9, but again, either you have spectacular water or other options, you can't have both. - FSX Bloom: Very photogenic, but totally unrealistic unless you generally go through life with dirty glasses or 3 year old contact lenses. - FSX Adventures: Very entertaining and a great diversion, but does not appeal to a wide audience. Still, flour bombing lemmings in southern Timbucktu gets old real quick. - FSX animals: So, somewhere someone thought that there is no reason to place moving humans on the ramps of airports but having pods of whales off of the coast of Antartica would enhance the flight experience. Undoubtedly this may be one reason that there are job openings at ACES.- FSX ATC: Can you say FS9 ATC?- FSX AI Traffic: Sounds much better than FS9 traffic so at least you can hear them as they smash into your 747 as you approach KSEA at 2 FPS. -FSX Performance: Will be excellent once CRAY releases their consumer version or their server clusters.Yes, I am being tounge-in-cheek here because FSX is what FSX is, but as I sit here waiting for FS11, I can only gawk at what a missed opportunity FSX is. FS9 will continue its popularity and its addons will command a market price until the specifics of FS11 are released and the firt beta testers have commented on it. Ah yes, old rehashed news to be sure, nothing new here at all. But 1 1/2 years after initial release FSX has reached maturity and is out in the world on its own with no further support by MS. EDIT: Interestingly that reminds me of a mother who recently forgot to pick her 2 year old kid up from day care and happly went on to her second job...apparently she assumed that the 2 year old would take care of herself (or simply call a taxi?). Unfortuantely the mom forgot to take into account that the 2 year old needs support for quite some time longer. The moral of the story? Sometimes you can lead a horse to water but sometimes he doesn't like beer so you have to give him soda.Regards,Mike T.

[LAdamson 240]

> The good>news here is that ASX, FEX and GEX textures replace the>default and offer the opportunity for the end user to utilize>lower resolution textures that will offer more performance.>So, with lower resolution textures; we'll basically be back to FS9... :-eek L.Adamson

[scott967 62]

There are many improvements in FSX, and the generic aspects of the world are quite a bit better than the past, with the same examples of more detailed aircraft and scenery which can be used as ideas for doing addons. I suspect making a list, though, wouldn't make any difference to OP though.scott s..

[Mike T 208]

Absolutely not sir! FS9 is totally incapable of simulating the yearly migration of the Himalayan Long Haired Yak...you must upgrade to FSX for that type of realism! :-lolBest regards,Mike T.EDIT: Where is Ferd Berful when you need him??? :-xxrotflmao

[Guest H_Kev55]

>You've totally over simplified the problem. MS has to try to>recreate the entire world. Then everyone expects perfect>flight dynamics, full functioning Garmin glass panels, and>even grass as well as wheat blades that flow precisely with>the wind, while the sun and shadows set at the exact time...>>Nevermind the aircraft, the buildings, the land mass, the>topography, the, the, the........>>L.Adamson>I tried to explain simply what I've seen. Sure, they try to make the entire world, and I'm grateful for that , but they can't do it. That's where the add-on guys come in. I don't think I would be the only person to say that I've never expected things to be perfect. I think that most people simply have there expectations set too high when it comes to this sim.KJ