Well There IS a patch in the works.why do I know that? Because I have seen pictures posted by MS Norway employe at the forum at Flightsim.no. He was showing off new skytextures and clouds that will be included with the patch. Why don't you all go looking for yourself? here's the link: http://www.flightsim.no/forum/showflat.php...rev=#Post222050Jan Roar Rod

Looks alot like FSW's cloudsets but you never know ;)Apparently the guy posting it works for MS Norway and "a friend" sent it to him from the US.Could've saved it for April 1'st though :D.

no friend sendt it to him, it was a collegue, in MS USA.I guess you have to eat your hat when the patch are ready.Jan Roar Rod

Doesn't anyone remember the quote from the interview on FSTV from the fs program manager from Microsoft? He said, plainly, that there would be a patch. He did not say, though, that it wouldn't be called FS2006, but he did say there would be a patch.

>Doesn't anyone remember the quote from the interview on FSTV>from the fs program manager from Microsoft? He said, plainly,>that there would be a patch. He did not say, though, that it>wouldn't be called FS2006, but he did say there would be a>patch.>Isn't he the guy that resigned recently?There will be NO patch - period. DAMHIKT because if I told you I'd have to eliminate you.vgb

That's SIR Billy Boy :). You know he's been made an honorary knight by Queen Elizabeth II.

Game companies do not like to create patches, because patches do not make money. You can rarely sell a patch for a game. However you can sell a new version or an upgrade to a game. It is all a matter of dollars and sents. FS9 and all previous versions have been made so that the purchaser of the game can edit and tweek to their hearts delight. Why make a patch for a game that is going to be morphed anyways by the owner...? The game has a few flaws, but overall I don't think it is pretty darn good. Especially after all the edits I have done, and addons I have installed....Sort of like a car. You can buy the stock car off the show room floor and drive it home. But once you have it in your garage you are going to personalize it by adding rims, spoiler, dice from the rear view mirror, lower or lift, bumber sticker or a fish, etc. etc. etc.

Saw the post--there's nothing in it that would make me trust that the poster was either an MS employee, or that the pics showed anything in a patch... I can't imagine Microsoft using new clouds and skytextures in a patch--that would bloat the download size. And those pics don't look any different than my typical day w/FS2004....Add to that--the dev team for MSFS is based out of the States.... A Microsoft employee in Europe is as likely to be in the know as a store owner saying a patch will be coming.... We went through the same thing w/FS2002--ppl appearing in the forums as either MS employees or "friends" of MS employees saying there'd be a patch. As I said, it's all guesswork and an effort to impress users and shoppers... If a patch comes I imagine there'd be a bunch of ppl saying "I told you so".... But I seriously doubt it for reasons I don't care to go into....

I dunno. Most games get patched, including Microsoft Games. This no patches business is specific to Flight Simulator, probably because they pretty much have a monopoly on civilian flightsims. Just deal with it and disable the parts of FS2004 that cause problems and buy Flight Simulator Patch 2006 when it comes out.BTW, if there actually WILL be a patch for FS2004, noone will have to eat their hat. FS2004 has been out for so long, that releasing a patch now would be quite ridiculous.

>Game companies do not like to create patches, because patches>do not make money.That's not entirely true. A patch is often a cheap way to increase sales when the market becomes saturated. Here's a real world example for you. There are many people who post here at avsim who do not own and will not buy FS2004. They have read all the problems that people have with 2k4 and decided it's not worth the trouble for them to buy it. It's probably safe to assume that 80 to 90 percent of all the people who will every buy 2k4 have already bought it. So sales are probably way down. Microsoft could put tremendous resources into the creation of the next flight sim (and I'm sure they will). But in the mean time, they could put a little bit of effort into fixing the current one. If a patch was released and a lot of people said it fixed the problems they've had, I'd bet that most of those who still have 2k2 would go ahead and upgrade.So there's how MS could make money from a patch.

"So there's how MS could make money from a patch."This is an excellent point, and a point often missed by the self appointed I.T. experts who claim there is no profit realized in a patch. I work on a team that publishes software, and we profit hugely from our patches. But since I am not in the gaming or sim industry, let me relate something else I've mentioned before...Probably hand in hand with my love of flying is a love of coasters I've had since my first ride on Disney's Matterhorn back in the 60's... And happily, there's a simulator to satisfy my coaster habit, since my old spinal unit doesn't handle the coaster G's so well any more. :) It's called "No Limits"...No Limits is an example of a product where the author sees value in patches--he has had several, although the last few were more updates than patches. Would I buy the product again and recommend it to others--no doubt. This is an MSFS forum, and No Limits is getting Word of Mouth because of their style of business. But let me add Flight1, Dreamfleet, Eaglesoft, and FeelThere among others to the list of businesses that are like No Limits...Thing is, the product was pretty good "as is", even in it's initial release. But Ole (the author) cemented his businesses with patches that have made for a fiercly loyal following. Moreover, the magnitude of updates we sheepishly pay for in the MSFS genre Ole has included in his 1.x version of the program. The first incarnation of his product simulated coasters on a flat terrain, with no modelling other than a genric "grass". The product today allows for hills, valleys, lakes with reflective surfaces, etc.... We didn't pay for those upgrades, and they certainly weren't promised to us when the sim was released. Ole's patches will pay for themselves whenever he releases a version 2.0 of his product. His users will flock to it.... In my business, we release patches to stay employed--simple as that. Our team leaders have been approached often by offshore outsourcing teams, offering to code and release product for far less than we pay today. But our owner and CIO are both fiercly loyal to our team because we stay so close to our users. Ours is an internal product, but we compete with everyone else.If we were the only player in town and everyone else was small fry (sound familiar?), we could dictate our level of service and likely our patch schedule, which is planned in the product's cycle, would slow or vanish. And there would certainly be outsiders to say it's a prudent business model, since our product (I think) is great for what it does. But I'm happy to say our owners are more intimate with the customer, and don't plan on going down that path.I am very pleased that thoughts in this thread have stayed civil...although I suspect there's someone here who regrets mention of the name "Shirley".... :)-John

Well, I can confirm 100% that the person posting those pictures is an MS employe. There will be a patch, thats 100% sure. You don't have to beleave me, but I'm to old to waste my time trying to convince you. You will find this out soon, and I will then post a "I told you so" topic in this forum. I KNOW the MS flightsimteam , wich is monitoring this forum, have a big grin on their face reading all those "no, there will never be any patch from MS"-replies in this thread.Jan Roar R

Hi, "Well There IS a patch in the works.""why do I know that? Because I have seen pictures posted by MS Norway employe at the forum at Flightsim.no. He was showing off new skytextures and clouds that will be included with the patch. Why don't you all go looking for yourself? here's the link:"Maybe there will be a patch on the future. They will never tell in public and it is always NDA. There is difference between MS employe and Fs team which is completly differents, you can talk with many MS employe but have nothing to do with Ms Fs team.About these screenshots, (CargoMun) is right, these are my clouds resized and there is nothing new on those pic, nothing improvement. He using also Bill lyons reflection texture.Also you can see the cirrus resized appears less defined on the edge compare the fs2004 default and the smooth edge cumulus from my files. Nothing new either sky or clouds.I recommend you to make a tour in the avsim screenshots forum to see the exact sky color screenshots. I you don`t know, the sky color system change with dates, in fs20004 there is many sky color variation each day are differents from dawn, dusk, day.You must know Ms will not release patch for visual improvement:Straith From Ms:We can issue updates only to address major issues that affect installation and operation of the program. Feature enhancements (e.g., changes to the ATC system, scenery, weather, and aircraft) involve complex, often interdependent code changes that require extensive planning, development, and testing, and they are feasible only during development of a new version. If Ms will release a patch is for the autogen and Seasonal and maybe for the overcast since this was implemented like this and documented in the learning center for FPS issue. The Autogen fps decrease, problems appears not on all fs2004 area, there is area that`s is worst then others with full slider to right.ThanksChris Willis[link:fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenuFsSim.html]Clouds And Addons For MsFs

Bearing in mind just how much product you get for FS2004 and discounting those who complain that the bridge in their little hamlet is not modelled, I am wondering why we need any patch at all for FS2004. My copy works fine straight out of the box and presumably as MS intended it to.David

LOL Jan....I happen to know the MS Dev Team on more intimate terms, having beta tested FS2004. And I suspect from the way you worded your response I have more than a few years on you--you see when you get "too old", you usually get wise enough to learn that saying "I told you so" doesn't score too many points.... Perhaps marriage helps as well, come to think of it :) My wife and I have had an "I told you so" moratorium for years....-John