PD3/ Flight/game controllers

[Mr.midnight 4]

Hello good folks out there, im wanting to get caught up on PD3 and Flight.First what exactly is PD3 and how does it benefit simmers.Also I have read just about every thread out on Flight and what to expect. I saw and read that the new sim will also can be played on an xbox, and I saw one of those game hand controllers you use on first person shooter games doom etc.I told my wife about that and she said right away is Microsoft turning it into a game. I almost got insulted by that remark, but I had to think about what she said, if you can fly a 747 with just a game controller, then im wondering where Flight is really taking us.Im also wondering will we have to throw out all of our software like level-d, Radar contact etc. Will the weather programs work anymore?Will we be able to play on several monitors, and enjoy realism?Im all for great graphics and smoothness but at what cost.Most folks in here are serious simmers as serious as real pilots are with there planes.I see where flight is offering the best for all types of folks, from the age of diapers to almost100 (just a joke) but they are saying it’s for everyone.My grandson wants to play on my sim all the time, and I let him until he gets bored on all the procedures you have to go thru just to get the plane off the ground.I know I may take this hobby a little serious but I cannot really go and jump in a 767 and fly it, I chose a different career, and health issues.Im also wondering why they dropped simulator from the title to just flight, oh well just my thoughts.From what I can tell so far, from what I see is that flight is more gamenistic than a simulator.I can be wrong of course I have to wait and see.But im also wondering why the secrecy, why not tell us what to expect so we can prepare and get excited.Instead they choose not to tell us and keep us guessing.I remember when FSX was out or just about to be release , and I went to a conference in Washington DC , where I met all the great software giants , I met the JD (Radar contact ) the maker of FSBUILD, even the maker of PDMG I also met some of the ace team for Microsoft.And I remember them saying then that you would need a fast computer to run FSX.In fact I met the AVSIM CEO, and many others, and you know what it was mostly older guys 30+ not all but mostly. These guys were serious simmers and real pilots.I guess what im saying is I really hope that FLIGHT is and upgrade to FSX , and not dumbed down in certain areas and upgraded in others.Some of you simmers have computers that are so powerful that you can power a city.And for the last 5 or 6 years all I have heard and read how to get FSX running smoothly.You folks no what I mean tweak , tweak , and tweak, even folks like NickN’s and Byjote and others have spent hard hours into getting FSX just right for us to run in.Im really excited waiting on FLIGHT just as I was excited about Fsx, I just did not think it would take this much work to use it.I have grown to love FSX and all its headaches, and I hope Microsoft will do FSX justice by building upon it with FLIGHT.I believe that no company can be the best at everything, so third party Folks like PMDG and Level d are needed.Microsoft may be good at producing Default airplanes and such, but we need third party developers to produce great add ons.No way can Microsoft create the best of everything in one software package.So im going to dumb down my excitement for Flight for now and hope that they will allow me to transfer over to Flight from FSX with as little pain as possible, and that I will be able to use all my hard earned equipment and enjoy flying.Just a simmers thoughts……….Robert

Edited January 13, 2012 by Mr.midnight

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

I think you need to read some posts in this forum to reset your expectations...There is also a P3D forum with lots of information.

[Guest jahman]

Sounds exactly like Flight would be perfect for you and your expectations is one of the situations it was meant for.

No, because:

I guess what im saying is I really hope that FLIGHT is and upgrade to FSX , and not dumbed down in certain areas and upgraded in others.

And:

My grandson wants to play on my sim all the time, and I let him until he gets bored on all the procedures you have to go thru just to get the plane off the ground.

Means FSX is for him while Flight is for his grandson.Cheers,- jahman.

[simmerhead 885]

You can use a gampad or xbox controller in FSX as well...

[Guest]

PD3: I think you mean P3D? That's short for Prepar3D. Lockheed Martin has been given permission to work further on FSX, to fix things and add things. However, their goal is the commercial simulation market and not us simmers. However, as it is now a simmer can get a so called developers subscription for a monthly fee of $ 9,95 and benefit from the improvements LM has implemented. The current version really is FSX with some fixes and not something very special. The upcoming version 2.0 might be more interesting, but we don't know when that one will be released. Could as well be 2013 before it's available. In the meantime it's pretty unsure if simmers like us will be able to use P3D in the future because 1. LM is adding things to P3D for the commercial market and if those things break things for simmers, then the simmer is out of luck, and 2. it's still a bit unsure how it all will go in the future concerning licenses and subscriptions. But PLEASE do not talk about that on this forum because the moderators made clear that's not allowed right now. See here: http://forum.avsim.net/topic/359308-important-please-read-important/About MS Flight... No one really (or at least officially) knows if it will be something for the simmer or for the gamer... Do NOT expect your current FSX addons to work in MS Flight. That will probably never happen. As simmerhead said: the fact that you can use a Xbox controller is nothing new: when FSX was introduced they also showed it with an Xbox controller, so that means nothing. And btw it will NOT be available on the Xbox itself, at least not that anyone knows yet. The free version of MS Flight will be something like the FSX demo, but this time there won't be a box with a full version of MS Flight, but instead the free version is the base and on that you can build with downloadable content from the included Windows for Games Live store: there will be new planes, regions, possibilities, etc., all payware, and those will be added to the game over time.

[pstrub 998]

or you have misread the short-cut "3PD", which means 3rd Party Developers ;)

[Guest]

or you have misread the short-cut "3PD", which means 3rd Party Developers ;)

It did cross my mind that he might meant that, but I do think he meant P3D. If not... well, maybe someone else will benefit from my information. :(