FS2004 Multiplayer News!!!

[1mikel151 71]

Correct me if this has already been brought up, but this is news to me and really BIG news to me. I fly for several VAs, and it is not big iron type of stuff, mostly helis and GA. Well as most know the multiplayer aspect in FS2002 is kinda lame as far as props not turning, jerkyness, etc. Well I just found out from FS2004 owners that the new multiplayer capabilities in FS2004 fix these problems. I just watched a video of 2 jetrangers flying around each other and the motion was like the AI, fairly smooth, and the animations on all helis worked!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!I was /am so excited I had to share!The video should be posted soon at Hovercontrol.com and there is a thread that confirms this on their forum.As the quote in someones sig once read, "this hobby just keeps getting better!!!"(now all we need is a really good payware heli!;-) )Regards, Michaelhttp://mysite.verizon.net/res052cd/mybannercva1.jpgCalVirAir International VAwww.calvirair.comCougar Mountain Helicopters & Aviationwww.cgrmtnhelos.com

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Michael....The problems are still there in FS2004, as I found out last week in a session I arranged. Players can still plunge into the runway for no good reason, and aircraft can do what I call the "two step"--you'll see one on final, then all of a sudden, it will be back on downwind. Last, but not least--you will still see players bobbing when they are supposedly at rest. I arranged a FS2004 MP the other night with several of my peers, and that's what we observed. I haven't discussed it to this point, since I don't know where the cause of the issue is. Has the web become just so dang crowded with traffic, firewalls, etc--that multiplayer just can't work with the fidelity of FS98? Or is it hit and miss? Perhaps, the code behind MP is still the same, and therein lies the problem--maybe the code just can't cope with today's web...I don't know. My recent session had four members (including myself). I observed "pristine" MP behaviour in only one player--meaning, the aircraft didn't sink into the runway on final or bob up and down while at rest. I could have shot a video like that which you saw, and convinced everyone that MP was perfect. And that's what was interesting. One observer saw my aircraft bobbing up and down. The other didn't. I saw one player looking smooth as glass--the other, saw him bobbing up and down and doing the two-step.There are some .cfg parameters which can be played with, but I don't know their effect in a MP session. The "two step" is interesting, since it makes me believe FS2004 isn't processing packets in sequence. Perhaps there is a way to resolve those issues, but I don't want anyone to be misled... Expect the FS2004 MP experience to be very similar to FS2002 and FS2000--although a few things seem fixed, like player tracking and following, and the chat window. Until I can arrange a long troubleshooting session, I won't know if the other issues are fixable by playing with the .cfg, or whether MP simply is finished as an effective aspect of MSFS.-John