/epic fail

I dont think a video games success or failure would qualify as an epic fail. I'm so sick of that term!

Nobody is stating that all present-day FSX scenery files will fully mesh with the new FLIGHT and run at optimum. If so, please point me out to any official 3rd party website or blog forum whereby the developers state this..and not a user/forum member.

I know you have been around long enough to understand that if anyone had that information right now, that they would not be in a position to share that information.I don't have any information, so I can just speculate. A good amount of FSX scenery is still made using procedures from FS2004 and FS2002. I believe none of that's going to fly in Flight. If the scenery is made 100% compliant with the FSX SDKs, I believe it will port over, in some manner. One of the biggest unknowns for Flight is what will be the modeling tool/format of choice? Much speculation is that Gmax is dead in the water and who amongst the developers can spring for 3dsMax and it's $3500USD+- price tag? Terrain based products "should" carryover from the FSX format, IMO.Fun to speculate, but we'll find out for sure, sooner or later. Until then I'll look forward to working in the FSX SDKs and hope all the time and effort isn't flushed down the drain when Flight is released. I don't believe it will be.Note I don't address planes? They're just a means of getting from point A to point B, while I admire what's underneath me.

Well, on my part, yes...the announcement of FLIGHT has affected my opening of the wallet any further for FSX. After all the tweaking, after all the searching (as everybody else has done, and DOES.....) you still get CTD's, you still get freezes if you open too many 2D windows, etc (at least with W7) and I do not find FSX a stable-at-this-time flight simulation platform. I am also noting more and more that there are wide-cover sales of 33 to 60 % percent off on present high-end 3rd party scenery, which makes me wonder if FLIGHT will be 100 percent compatible with FSX specific scenery. This does make me wonder. I'm starting to feel that perhaps FLIGHT will be different enough within its drive engine, that present FTX software for instance will not run, or run in a deteriorated state, if at all.

Wow Mitch, after all those posts you've made in the past about how great your sim experiences were/are, I had no idea your having problems. It's a funny thing with these computers and FSX how some of us have been on the same install for years, run lots of addons, have older rigs, and have no issues at all. Hopefully you'll get your problems nipped at some point.

I know you have been around long enough to understand that if anyone had that information right now, that they would not be in a position to share that information.I don't have any information, so I can just speculate. A good amount of FSX scenery is still made using procedures from FS2004 and FS2002. I believe none of that's going to fly in Flight. If the scenery is made 100% compliant with the FSX SDKs, I believe it will port over, in some manner. One of the biggest unknowns for Flight is what will be the modeling tool/format of choice? Much speculation is that Gmax is dead in the water and who amongst the developers can spring for 3dsMax and it's $3500USD+- price tag? Terrain based products "should" carryover from the FSX format, IMO.Fun to speculate, but we'll find out for sure, sooner or later. Until then I'll look forward to working in the FSX SDKs and hope all the time and effort isn't flushed down the drain when Flight is released. I don't believe it will be.Note I don't address planes? They're just a means of getting from point A to point B, while I admire what's underneath me.

-----------------------------------------------------Right you are...I have been around long enough...and because of that fact...I really do feel that these massive sales are less to do with trying to recoup or entice from a lost sale pirate-download, but that the present FSX scenery will not 'fly'. I understand about N.D.A's, but how in the world would M.S. be compromised if they allowed present high-end 3rd party SCENERY developers to state and officially reassure (if this is even the case in fact) FSX users that they can still buy whatever they want for FSX..and it will port over 100 percent? The fact that they don't...is closing my wallet for now...and I will like the rest, just have to see for myself what FLIGHT is, will do, and to what advancement over FSX it offers in simulation play and running stability. :)

Wow Mitch, after all those posts you've made in the past about how great your sim experiences were/are, I had no idea your having problems. It's a funny thing with these computers and FSX how some of us have been on the same install for years, run lots of addons, have older rigs, and have no issues at all. Hopefully you'll get your problems nipped at some point.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oh , those posts stand, but like the rest, I still run into CTD's when a new driver is tried, or I up the ante on 3rd party scenery and the proper layering of it. For instance, just recently I have been plagued by g3d.dll CTD's when flying around either Portland or Seattle no matter what altitude. So, the story is...if you keep changing the 'ingredients'...you're bound to have a burp or three. There are 'old simulating souls' that are reporting the pains that I am at present as I type. I still get the dreaded FSX FREEZE into about an hour of flight....I never (even when I thought by usage I had...) ever truly ended this scourge. I do feel though that FSX is not as robust and stable as it should be. Do you get a great flying experience when it is running? You bet, and I love every minute right up to a CTD or an animation freeze-up..... but I would buy FLIGHT in a heartbeat if it had the same stability in hours of flight from lift-off to touchdown that FS9 gives you. If FLIGHT gives me that....then I'd drop FSX like a hot-potato and port over in a flash. You can see by the teasers that FLIGHT will give you just as good or better 3rd party rendering as soon as they are created. That is the part of the FSX-for-now, wallet closing up and snapping shut, LOL! I do NOT want to put more money into a sim that will drop off the map like FS 2002 did, when there becomes a more advanced and STABLE alternative. Is FSX with FTX great? You betcha! But...I want MORE. I want FSX (PLUS) ...meaning, I end the flight session, and not a code-platform that is dying under the custom load of the 3rd party advancements and scenery/airframe technologies and discoveries. If I get FLIGHT with better or as good as FTX scenery in FSX....bye, FSX! Hello FLIGHT!Mitch

At first read, I thought the obvious caution embedded in the title question was meant to entertain-alarm (what headlines news and reality shows do these days), but then I noticed what could be a sudden stop in a couple of hot, to-be-released titles. For example, the photos and talk about PMDG's NGX, and Digital Aviation/Aerosoft's CRJ stopped. It's almost like only those projects that were past a specific production point are moving ahead. It makes one wonder if MS has announced to its inner circle that "Flight" is going to be that different from FSX, and that close to release. As it has been pointed out, other developers offered discounts in very popular products. What developer wouldn't want to sell their MS Flight-compatible add-ons at the same time MS Flight comes out and take advantage of the buying wave? My plans are to remain cautiously optimistic. I still use FS9 and FSX and, just last week, purchased add-ons for FSX. Hmmm. Dave Vega

At this moment in time I am more concerned with Horizon Simulations getting their act together, and actually releasing the final three volumes of VFR Scotland before the Sun runs out of hydrogen fuel.

Just hope they don't plan to follow the UK with the US as it will take a phenomenal amount of time based on their current output.

At first read, I thought the obvious caution embedded in the title question was meant to entertain-alarm (what headlines news and reality shows do these days), but then I noticed what could be a sudden stop in a couple of hot, to-be-released titles. For example, the photos and talk about PMDG's NGX, and Digital Aviation/Aerosoft's CRJ stopped. It's almost like only those projects that were past a specific production point are moving ahead. It makes one wonder if MS has announced to its inner circle that "Flight" is going to be that different from FSX, and that close to release. As it has been pointed out, other developers offered discounts in very popular products. What developer wouldn't want to sell their MS Flight-compatible add-ons at the same time MS Flight comes out and take advantage of the buying wave? My plans are to remain cautiously optimistic. I still use FS9 and FSX and, just last week, purchased add-ons for FSX. Hmmm. Dave Vega

I wouldn't worry about the NGX being dropped from development for FSX, they appear to be on the verge of announcing beta testing, and they sure have invested too much time and money in getting to this stage for them to throw it all away based on a new sim that hasn't seen the light of day yet. Even when Flight is released, even if it is everything FSX should have been and then some, if it's not backwards compatible there is little chance current FSX/FS9 users (who have themselves invested plenty of time and money as well) will jump ship right away. It could be 6 months or more before addons are sold for MS Flight, and since affordable hardware is now available to run FSX in it's full glory there is plenty of time for current projects to be completed and for the developers to realize a profit from those efforts. My take on the silence from PMDG is that they are doing what they should be doing, putting the finishing touches on their highly anticipated project. In just the past few hours, it appears an NGX beta tester has been granted permission to answer user questions, a sure sign that the NGX project is not dead!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oh , those posts stand, but like the rest, I still run into CTD's when a new driver is tried, or I up the ante on 3rd party scenery and the proper layering of it. For instance, just recently I have been plagued by g3d.dll CTD's when flying around either Portland or Seattle no matter what altitude. So, the story is...if you keep changing the 'ingredients'...you're bound to have a burp or three. There are 'old simulating souls' that are reporting the pains that I am at present as I type. I still get the dreaded FSX FREEZE into about an hour of flight....I never (even when I thought by usage I had...) ever truly ended this scourge. I do feel though that FSX is not as robust and stable as it should be. Do you get a great flying experience when it is running? You bet, and I love every minute right up to a CTD or an animation freeze-up..... but I would buy FLIGHT in a heartbeat if it had the same stability in hours of flight from lift-off to touchdown that FS9 gives you. If FLIGHT gives me that....then I'd drop FSX like a hot-potato and port over in a flash. You can see by the teasers that FLIGHT will give you just as good or better 3rd party rendering as soon as they are created. That is the part of the FSX-for-now, wallet closing up and snapping shut, LOL! I do NOT want to put more money into a sim that will drop off the map like FS 2002 did, when there becomes a more advanced and STABLE alternative. Is FSX with FTX great? You betcha! But...I want MORE. I want FSX (PLUS) ...meaning, I end the flight session, and not a code-platform that is dying under the custom load of the 3rd party advancements and scenery/airframe technologies and discoveries. If I get FLIGHT with better or as good as FTX scenery in FSX....bye, FSX! Hello FLIGHT!Mitch

Agreed, agreed, agreed. This is exactly my hope for Flight. I don't need better graphics or whatever, I want FSX with the stability of FS9. If they can give me that, I have no problem making a decision on whether to buy Flight or not. That said, I keep buying FSX addons. Without an idea of when Flight gets released, I'm not willing to wait in vain.

There are several points that deserve contemplation:1. There is still a market for FS9 products, despite FSX having been released and patched twice. Admittedly, the market is shrinking steadily, but will likely remain marginably viable for another few years.2. There is still a market for FSX/FSXA products. In many respects though it's a tougher, more demanding market, which has resulted in much longer development cycles.3. There will still be a market for FSX/FSXA years after the release of "MS Flight." Whether there are any developers still in business whenever "MS Flight" is released however is another question entirely. If too many folks "close their wallets" to continued FSX/FSXA releases, then it is quite likely the net result will be fewer development houses remaining in business.4. Although it is not likely that products developed for FSX/FSXA will be directly portable to "MS Flight," if the same development pathway that was being planned for FSvNext by ACES is followed, there will be tools that will help in the conversion/upgrade process.It is my hope that the ancient C based gauge system, as well as the clunky XML scripted system will be replaced by something like Lua, which could much more easily handle a new panel/gauge system's requirements.

There are several points that deserve contemplation:1. There is still a market for FS9 products, despite FSX having been released and patched twice. Admittedly, the market is shrinking steadily, but will likely remain marginably viable for another few years.2. There is still a market for FSX/FSXA products. In many respects though it's a tougher, more demanding market, which has resulted in much longer development cycles.3. There will still be a market for FSX/FSXA years after the release of "MS Flight." Whether there are any developers still in business whenever "MS Flight" is released however is another question entirely. If too many folks "close their wallets" to continued FSX/FSXA releases, then it is quite likely the net result will be fewer development houses remaining in business.4. Although it is not likely that products developed for FSX/FSXA will be directly portable to "MS Flight," if the same development pathway that was being planned for FSvNext by ACES is followed, there will be tools that will help in the conversion/upgrade process.It is my hope that the ancient C based gauge system, as well as the clunky XML scripted system will be replaced by something like Lua, which could much more easily handle a new panel/gauge system's requirements.

Well Bill I hope they ditch the current bitmap implementation and will support full color bitmaps and more transparency colors for example :-)

Although it is nice to build up one particular version of a sandbox-type sim such as FS with lots of add-ons, I'll happily fly any sim if it gives me something another one cannot, and that includes non MS sims too, such as Condor and Silent Wings.It's true that I don't tend to buy many FS9 add-ons these days, but that's not really because I've 'moved on', more a case of there tending to be mostly better stuff for FSX than FS9 on the whole, nevertheless, if something comes along that is a 'must have' for FS9, I will still hand over the cash (the iFly NG for example). I suspect the same will be true when MS Flight comes out, i.e. it will be the additional bonus of another flight sim to play around with and if something cool comes out for that, or FSX, or FS9 for that matter, then I'll be a customer. so in short, it hasn't affected my plans at all, nor will it when it comes out,it will instead just be another toy to play with, and I'll be happy to check it out.Al

Hasn't changed anything for me as even when it is released, it will be at least a year or so before any decent addons (freeware or payware) become available as it has been with every other release of FS.In the meantime, FSX is servng me well with great scenery and aircraft.

Does anyone know if FSUIPC or simmconnect will be used for Flight? Or will an entirely different program likely be made? Too early to know?

I have no immediate plans to move from FSX when Flight is released. I have to much invested in FSX to just drop it (blimey I sound like some of them FS9 guys now) In addition FSX with FTX and some really great payware addons will far exceed the capabilities of Flight when it is first released especially given the future hardware on the horizon.To be honest I don't trust Microsoft one bit after they left us with a product that is not all that is should be. They dropped FSX like a hot potato whilst knowing full well there were still outstanding bugs in the sim. I don't buy this 'MS is our shining knight in armour' attitude and I for one am not so forgiving of poor customer service like that and they will have to work hard to regain my custom.It's a shame really just how forgiving the sim community are because they just could be setting themselves up for another disappointment now that MS know that they can get away with such behaviour.Well lets hope Flight does deliver what we all hope for, namely using our hardware to it's full potential but given Microsoft's previous unwillingness to make a clean break from the past I somehow doubt it.Bryan.