Falcon 4

Falcon was and still is an amazing sim! Have you tried the BMS mod (http://www.benchmarksims.org/forum/) it has completely modernized Falcon. The DCS A-10 is also amazing... in fact last night I ran a mission that was surreal. It was sunset with a few whispy clouds. I called the JTAC controller and got my coordinates, with my task being to hit an enemy convoy. I used the targeting pod to view the target-- some trucks and soldiers that were posted outside of a small town. For fun factor I went overkill with a GBU-38 bomb. I rolled hot on them at 7000 feet and dropped that sucker. I watched the ensuing explosion and as I flew away could even make out the enemy soldiers taking dirt naps. Not a hard mission at all, but it was fun. Later on I got zapped by AAA fire...

"that was over 10 years ago." " we've come a long way since". wow..Now it's like we've come a light year from those days.Would be fun to see some media do a show like that today. Nowadays it's all just individuals posting their own youtube videos of pmdg737ngx with their favorite grating music in the background.Microsoft should have done it when FSX was around. Raise awareness. Guess since 911 and the patriot act, it was kind of frowned upon to highlight realistic cockpit simulator advances in the media anymore.Nowadays it's just those xbox/ps2 games and trailers shown in movie theaters and bestbuy store display monitors.thanks for the falcon4 tip ; i've got to try that sometime.

Edited January 23, 201214 yr by krylite

Sure is awesome to see that "film" dighost. FS4 was where I started too. And Gilman was my hero and Falcon 4 (and DOOM) was all I ever did for a period of my life.

This puts it all into perspective just how far we have progressed both in hardware as well as software since those days.A lovely lookback and pensive food for thought.

I started with Falcon 3.0 and MSFS 5.1. I spent so much time with Falcon 3.0. I remember it being so realistic looking at the time.I'd tend to think the mid-late 90's were better then the early 90's.The graphical and realism jumps we got in the late 90's Janes titles was just incredible. When 3Dfx came out it was a whole new ballgame of what lighting and graphics could do for immersion.Even today, Janes F15 still doesn't look bad and it's 14 years old.The death of simulation and PC gaming came with the release of next-gen consoles. The entire culture of gaming shifted overnight and I'm not sure it'll ever go back. One year flight sims were huge sellers. The next everyone was closing up shop.

Edited January 24, 201214 yr by bonchie

I remember well, someone got an IBM AT, long ago, and showed me a B29?? simulator. A bit later FS 5.1 and I was very interrested. Played a bit with it, but when FS98 was released, I was bitten by the bug. And once bitten, your infected for the rest of your life.Bought them all, but still using FS9, since that is the best one. Now with good computers, it takes everything I throw at it. FSX is a failure, but maybe on a better PC it will shine..maybe..

FSX is a failure

lol! Good grief. Yeah, so is Coca-Cola.

For the more youthful, take notice that store shelves used to be fully stocked with many simulators once upon a time.

Yes - I miss those days. When high street stores were mostly PC games, and Flight simulation had like a whole section.I was reflecting just yesterday how lucky we have been to belong to a generation that saw the revolution in home computing - a unique period in the history of mankind. I started getting interested in computers in 1982, and had my first in 1984, but it wasn't until Windows 95 came out along with the Pentium MMX and the Voodooo 3D graphics cards that I started taking an intense interest. Ever since then I have built my own computers, and kept abreast with all the new technology and games, building bigger and more powerful computers every two years. What a fun journey that has been! Flight Simulator always used to be the benchmark and performance test for me.Just think, that children today are growing up with this technology and taking it for granted.Pity development stopped with FSX. Technology has finally caught up with it, so I can run it on my system now with decent framerates - but the graphics are looking a little dated now.

Edited February 1, 201214 yr by JasonD210

how lucky we have been to belong to a generation that saw the revolution in home computing

How true! Technology and games were evolving so quickly. My PC just had the internal speaker (horrible), then one day I went to the local software/computer store and they had this new thing called a soundcard. I think it was an Adlib card, and it was expensive but I went ahead and got it. That changed everything!If you ever played the game Wing Commander this sequence was jaw dropping. It might be the first cinematic game sequence ever?? Still gives me chills...

Starts at 1:25

Edited February 1, 201214 yr by dighost

This is how long it's been - and I'll blame it on my short term memory - but what was the "golden age" sim of a Russian aircraft? I keep wanting to say Flanker, but I don't think that was it. Probably around the same time Janes F-15 was out...

"golden age" sim of a Russian aircraft

I think you are right. There was Flanker, SU 25 Sturmovik, the Mig 29 for Falcon 3, Hind (heli sim) and several others.

This is how long it's been - and I'll blame it on my short term memory - but what was the "golden age" sim of a Russian aircraft? I keep wanting to say Flanker, but I don't think that was it. Probably around the same time Janes F-15 was out...

I still have two SSI games, SU 27 Flanker and Flanker 2.0, on my shelves. These were more in depth simulations and less eye candy games centered on Russian aircraft. ~1995-1999.

Il-2 as well, which I still dredge out, although that might be on the back end of the wave.Mike

that was it - Flanker 2.0! still remember the strange sounds it made...somewhere there's a box with all of my old flight sims, gotta dig it out...lots of good memories there.

I coded a flightsim for the Commodore Vic-20 in 1983. Wish I'd kept it - would be funny to look at/fly. And no, it wasn't very good.