HI Ian,I'm not sure that is true. FSX has already been dropped, P3D can't be riskier than that. And from what I know of it, creating compatiblity between FSX and P3D isn't a huge issue. I'd like to see devs support both for the near future, as this seems the best path forward.XPX looks like the only other option, and I've not been too impressed personally. Maybe that situation will improve also. Anyways, I think LM's target audience for P3D is exactly us. We're far more "aviation simulation/training" than we are "gamers".Regards,G

At the moment, yes. The future trajectory of P3D however is more hopefull than FSX.Computer ecosystems are not static. With each passing revision of operating systems, drivers, hardware, etc, legacy applications become more disconnected from the platform on which they run. P3D is a living codebase, with people actively testing and improving it on new platforms, whereas FSX is a static binary product, and nobody has access to the source code to make key improvements that might be needed to keep it working. To date, the only core improvements to stability have been through hacks like using old OS DLL's and tweaking cfg file entries. This can only get you so far.At some unknown point in the future, FSX will simply stop working on new kit. And you will be forced to keep an old PC with old unsupported and unsecure OS revisions around just to run it. That will also be the point in which we see zero new improvements due to hardware upgrades.This is all coming someday, it is just a question of when.Regards,G

Thnaks, that clears up a lot. :(

Ray, thats as clear as crystal.Your words should be on the homepage of Avsim.

I would caution to not put all your eggs with LM. This is a commercial venture for them and you just do not know if and when they might call it quits. At least with FSX you can lock up your system. Before you do any updates, as some are so worried it might render FSX unusable, I doubt it, but just in case, do a restore point. Simple, easy and affordable.Bob

I very much agree - after all the anger, denial, and frustration that seems to have takenover our hobby, some cooler heads prevail.. Thank you!I've tried P3D, like what they have done thus far, and hope that they will continue toallow the simming enthusiasts (us) to use their code, which is being developed for adifferent marketplace. My chief concern is that a few rowdy fans will create enoughdifficulties for the P3D team that they will give up on "this crowd" in frustration, or be told toby their management.I've also tried XP10 and found it far from "ready for prime time", so that one is a "maybein the future" for me.Remains FSX, which works very well on my optimized hardware and which continues to amaze mewith beautiful new Orbx scenery, great new planes from a variety of vendors, and a neverending world to explore, multi or single player.For the next few years, I think we are all lucky to have what we do have - an ultra realistic flightsimulator which allows us to fly airplanes that we could only have dreamt of, before..And, not to forget Avsim which allows us to share our hobby..Not too shabby.. actually!

Hi,Thanks for all your positive comments.just wanted to deal with the main fears regarding FSX i.e that:a) We may not be able to reactivate FSX in future (M$ effectively switching it off) and -:( FSX may not work on future M$ platformsWrt to point a) - I believe that the FSX EULA (Universal licencing agreement that comes with any legally purchased software), effectively guarantees lifetime user rights. In any cases I have seen in the past (from a procurement perspective at least), the EULA normally guarantees you the lifetime right to get your software reactivated as long as you need to use it under the original terms of the licence. I cannot see M$ reneging on that and getting away with it, even after they have stopped supporting it. (Legacy version support is normally discretionary).Wrt to point :( That may be true on the far distant future who knows? Win 8 will be largely backwardly compatible with 32bit apps, so it is unlikely that FSX will not work on any platforms in the foreseeable future. Backwards application compatibility is part of M$'$ strategy, otherwise they would not sell any new software. You may not know that most large business in the UK still run XP on 1000's of user machines and servers and also still use Office 2003 because it's too expensive to upgrade, especially in this economic climate - and they still have to activate XP on all their new machines.Notwithstanding Prepar3d's cosmetic and operational advantages, you are in a way buying LM's $500 package instead of a $40 version of FSX just to guarantee reactivation and maybe support - which you will probably rarely use anyway? Why would you when you have all of us on Avsim? :-)) Anyway I can't see the point. You are not even likely to use Prepar3d's main functionality which is the ability to build on your own interactive applications on top of it for training purposes etc..Do I rest my case? Be interesting to know if I am wrong, if anyone knows better.RayI meant point b. not a smiley icon - b must be the code for the icon or something on this server

Hi Ray,1. MS has already dropped suppot for FSX. On my Win 7 pc for example, I had to copy in a DLL from Vista to make the UI stable. In addition, the FSUIPC guys fixed another instability problem via some ingenious external hack. If it were not for these two community solutions, I'd be dead in the water (or air, as it were :) ). At some point a show stopper will crop up that can't be worked around in this fashion (i.e . without source code modifications and a rebuild).2. Backwards compatibility from os to os version is a feature of windows, but it is not a manditory thing in any way. It is MS's discretion which apps they test against, and which ones they ignore. A dead end product like FSX will certainly be ignored, as it already has. Even ATI has stated that the graphics engine in FSX is no longer supported by them.I love FSX right now, but its biological clock is ticking loudly ;)Regards,George

Edited January 7, 201214 yr by gmohr

Hi Ray,1. MS has already dropped suppot for FSX. On my Win 7 pc for example, I had to copy in a DLL from Vista to make the UI stable. In addition, the FSUIPC guys fixed another instability problem via some ingenious external hack. If it were not for these two community solutions, I'd be dead in the water (or air, as it were :) ). At some point a show stopper will crop up that can't be worked around in this fashion (i.e . without source code modifications and a rebuild).2. Backwards compatibility from os to os version is a feature of windows, but it is not a manditory thing in any way. It is MS's discretion which apps they test against, and which ones they ignore. A dead end product like FSX will certainly be ignored, as it already has. Even ATI has stated that the graphics engine in FSX is no longer supported by them.I love FSX right now, but its biological clock is ticking loudly ;)Regards,George

I wouldn't panic just yet, there's nothing on the horizon currently, that would make FSX unusable. If past evidence is worth anything, look at Microsoft Train Simulator which is 10 years old now and was a DX7 application. It still going strong and runs fine!!!

Edited January 7, 201214 yr by tf51d

I wouldn't panic just yet, there's nothing on the horizon currently, that would make FSX unusable. If past evidence is worth anything, look at Microsoft Train Simulator which is 10 years old now and was a DX7 application. It still going strong and runs fine!!!

Let's hope!! Definitley no need to panic, but looking to the future is a good thing. Particularly if you are a software developer, as these apps take a long time to create.Regards,George

 

Hi Ray,1. MS has already dropped suppot for FSX. On my Win 7 pc for example, I had to copy in a DLL from Vista to make the UI stable. In addition, the FSUIPC guys fixed another instability problem via some ingenious external hack. If it were not for these two community solutions, I'd be dead in the water (or air, as it were :) ). At some point a show stopper will crop up that can't be worked around in this fashion (i.e . without source code modifications and a rebuild).2. Backwards compatibility from os to os version is a feature of windows, but it is not a manditory thing in any way. It is MS's discretion which apps they test against, and which ones they ignore. A dead end product like FSX will certainly be ignored, as it already has. Even ATI has stated that the graphics engine in FSX is no longer supported by them.I love FSX right now, but its biological clock is ticking loudly ;)Regards,George

Agreed, M$ has dropped support for FSX and over time usability on new hardware platforms will erode, perhaps even before the OS becomes a problem.I'm sure it will be a while before support for 32bit apps is dropped by Microsoft. After FSX SP2, rebuilds and code fixes were out of the question from M$ in any case and we all knew that once Aces closed down. Many bloopers and bugs have anyway since been addressed by the community eg the likes of Ground Environment and others and yet others have remained (eg the early Autumns in FSX!).The biggest problem for simmers in the medium term is probably not so much FSX though, but whether our addons will work under new versions of WIndows. Long before FSX becomes unusable, our cherished addons will begin to flicker out one by one, as many did from FS9 to Win 7. Hence my wish is that we will continue to be supported by our addon suppliers.Now let's go and get flying whilst we still can - wey hey its the weekend! and I'm in PNG..... :-)Ray