Flight Simulator Closure and PMDG Future

[Guest mrmister001]

HelloAs you may know, Flight Simulator is a dead project, and Microsoft won't continue its development anymore.Clearly, we won't have flight simulator anymore.With the future, Flight Simulator X will be older, and older, and older... and won't have new upgrades with improvements in performance and graphics.The only available flight simulator comparable to flight simulator is X-Plane.My question is: will PMDG develop products for X-Plane? becasue some day people will begin to uninstall flight simulator and that day don't know what could happen to all the developers (I'm not saying only Precission Manual, also I mean to many others).Will you provide fantastic products for X-Plane?Thanks

[vonmar 122]

Hello,Welcome to the PMDG forum.Please see this post: http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=245586And then sign your post with your real first and last name.

[por930 51]

HelloAs you may know, Flight Simulator is a dead project, and Microsoft won't continue its development anymore.Clearly, we won't have flight simulator anymore.With the future, Flight Simulator X will be older, and older, and older... and won't have new upgrades with improvements in performance and graphics.The only available flight simulator comparable to flight simulator is X-Plane.My question is: will PMDG develop products for X-Plane? becasue some day people will begin to uninstall flight simulator and that day don't know what could happen to all the developers (I'm not saying only Precission Manual, also I mean to many others).Will you provide fantastic products for X-Plane?Thanks

mrmister001, While I agree FSX or even FS9 are getting a tad old now. But, the code still works very well, and is really quite good. Sure it could be better, but FSX or FS9 enables us to get into the air (and down again most times) with some fantastic aircraft, e.g., the PMDG 747x in my case, This aircraft, which is so real, still gets my heart racing on some approaches. But with better OS, CPU and graphics card development and several third party providers, including Pete Dowson's FSUIPC all nibbling away at the code making some fantastic improvements. You only have to see how many computers still have their MSFS setting sliders wound down, just waiting until technology catches up to enable all the whistles and bells and third party add-ons to function in harmony with frame rates of 50+. Sure, it was sad the team stopped, but what a program we got left with. I have been there since the start in November 1982 with Bruce Artwick's flight simulator on my genuine IBM-XT. Many of us have invested considerable sums of money and hours with FS9 and/or FSX, and the problem with swapping platforms is compatibility for our aircraft and numerous add-ons. While it would be great for the X-Plane guys to have PMDG modify one or more of their product to fly in X-Plane, it would distract them from their core business of providing us FS9 and FSX guys with new dream machines, or mods to our existing aircraft. Anyway, I don't see flight sim guys removing the MS product off their machine any time in the near future until such times as we can't get any more out of the existing software and/or a new platform appears that is fully compatible with FS9 and FSX aircraft.And yes, here we are not shy about using our real names in this forum.Geoff Bryce

[VIPERGTSR01 22]

I am pretty certain MS will be back with a new flight sim in the future and it wont be decades away. It is a great selling PC franchise for MS and there still is a good market for it, if they stay out of the business for too long their shoes will be completely filled by others.Our hobby wont dissapear and I am sure PMDG will adapt to where ever the FS market moves (assuming it stays profitable).

[Guest mrmister001]

Hello thereI never sign with my real name in forums, I think many people don't do that, so for me it's normal.My name is: Javier Garc

[vonmar 122]

Hello JAVIER,Maybe there will be some more Flight Sim .... in the future days.I came across this information.Some of the ACES Studio team have formed their own company - Cascade Game Foundry.Go here: http://www.cascadegamefoundry.com/press-releases/Go here and pan down the page to read up: forum.vectorsflightcommunity.comAs a Guest, you have limited access to discussions, polls and many other features. By joining this free community, you can post topics, reply to topics, message other users privately (PM), vote on polls, upload content, enter our competitions and much more...Registration is simple, fast and freeHave a good day,Edit:I spent a lot of time on the Atari with subLogic .... great days back then!

[vonmar 122]

Javier,I thought you might be interested.Have a good read on their forum.

[michal 44]

after Microsoft decided to kick our asses without any explanation and without any decent press release after one year.

Javier, grow up please. Nobody kicked your &@($*, in business world things happen, priorities change. Cessna dropped their Columbia aircraft, other aircraft makers delayed their new aircraft, modified their business plans, no doubt many clients are disappointed. It happens all the time in every sphere of life. If you are so upset start your own company and bring us a new flight simulator. Also, nobody knows what will happen in 5 -10 years, even X-Plane may not be around. Is your life so peaceful and free of problems that the only thing you worry about is what flight simulator will be around in 10 years??

[Guest UlfB]

SORRY FOR THE CAPITAL LETTERS BUT THAT IS THE MOST AMAZING NEWS YOU COULD TELL METHANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS TO THAT PEOPLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I GO THERE IMMEDIATELY.

Aerosoft investigates the possibility of develop a new flight simulator, Aerosoft Flight Simulator 2012. More info here: http://www.forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?showforum=278The press release from Cascade Game Foundry is very, very vague.

[masaki 8]

Javier, grow up please. Nobody kicked your &@($*, in business world things happen, priorities change. Cessna dropped their Columbia aircraft, other aircraft makers delayed their new aircraft, modified their business plans, no doubt many clients are disappointed. It happens all the time in every sphere of life. If you are so upset start your own company and bring us a new flight simulator. Also, nobody knows what will happen in 5 -10 years, even X-Plane may not be around. Is your life so peaceful and free of problems that the only thing you worry about is what flight simulator will be around in 10 years??

Javier's question and concern is a valid one. I'm sure he is not the only one asking himself/herself this question. Of course we all have a life, but we're not talking about that on a flight simulation forum, right?Stefan

[por930 51]

Hi Javier,To clear some thing up. You said, "Also shocked me a bit the post of Geoff Bryce... as far as I understood, you where with the Bruce Artwick Organization? wow, not all the days you talk with people like this! but I don't understand why you were there, if you were an employee of Microsoft? or of PMDG? "......... LOL..... I meant to mean, I have used flight sim software since the first version was released by Bruce Artwick. I have never met or worked with the guy. I am a computer programmer and I can assure you, writing good code at the level PMDG do, takes a team of dedicated people, with awesome knowledge of graphics, their subject aircraft, how to interface with MSFS and a group of beta testers. To create such detailed aircraft as PMDG do, would take some years, even borowing knowledge gained from the 737 and 747. Maybe the members of the ACES Studio team who formed their own company - Cascade Game Foundry, may take up the flight sim challege again or I am sure some enterprising person will again fit into the slot, as there is money to be made. You never know, maybe the X-Plane guys might broaden their horizons and make MSFS aircraft fully compatible.Geoff Bryce

[Guest mrmister001]

Stefan, thank you. Yes, many people think that Microsoft should be more polite with the consumers and also I find very unconsiderate to the developers stopping the project (Flight Simulator) without any clear explanation after 1 year.Geoff, thanks. I understand you perfectly and you said something that is the key factor COMPATIBILITY. I think people of X-Plane should make an utility to use the FS scenery, aircrafts and add ons fully compatible with their system.And regarding the people of Cascade... well... it's not clear they will do again a flight simulator. In the website they are interested to do simulators, but they don't specify. I think that... what this people have in mind is making a global environment ---> world ---> in which you apply physics laws ---> reality. So, if you let's say, create a given environment (Europe for instance) and that is recreating that environment in detail: terrain, lakes, trees, roads, buildings, etc. and now... you move thru that environment (using a boat, using a plane, using a bike...) what this people are thinking is (I think) creating the environment and applying physics laws to move you thru that environment (using a plane or whatever). So practically one simulator, allows the possibility of other simulators. If you add to the equation the online services, then is when you have the things assured for success. However, we will have to wait until we see something clear from these guys.Javier

[des182001 1]

That would be sweet. I look forward to when I can drive a 67 VW Beetle up to the airplane and then pogo stick up the air stairs to start my preflight. :(

[FleaJump 7]

Stefan, thank you. Yes, many people think that Microsoft should be more polite with the consumers and also I find very unconsiderate to the developers stopping the project (Flight Simulator) without any clear explanation after 1 year........ the key factor COMPATIBILITY. I think people of X-Plane should make an utility to use the FS scenery, aircrafts and add ons fully compatible with their system.Javier

Wow, if a utility did hit the market that would make possible the import of MSFS addon scenery into X Plane, there would ensue a mad sampede of buyers, even before PMDG or Level D could come up with X-Plane compatible versions. Flight sim enthusiast professional pilots in several online forums seem unanimous in their opinion that the flight dynamics of X Plane closer approximate real-life aircraft behavior than do those of MSFS, with frequent mention made of X Plane's formula-derived flight modelling approach being a more precise analog of aerodynamics than the "lookup table" programming approach used by MSFS. With that in mind, being able to import MSFS eye-candy into X Plane would be icing on the cake for X-Plane buyers, whose numbers would baloon overnight, without a doubt.Regards Tony Selario

[kiwikat 506]

The only available flight simulator comparable to flight simulator is X-Plane.My question is: will PMDG develop products for X-Plane? becasue some day people will begin to uninstall flight simulator and that day don't know what could happen to all the developers (I'm not saying only Precission Manual, also I mean to many others).Will you provide fantastic products for X-Plane?

In the developer world, X-Plane isn't anywhere near comparable to MSFS.FS9 users are complaining that PMDG may or may not be making the NG 2.0 for their sim due to sales reasons. How do you think a simulator that looks like FS2002 would produce enough sales to even come close to competing with a FS9 release, let alone a FSX one?It will take a lot more than X-Plane to get me to "uninstall flight simulator".