My take on MS Flight... and the future of simming

[JoeD 0]

Great post Francois.It funny watching some of the FLIGHT cheerleaders disparately clinging to there creditability.See, its about to ship & nothing has changed, they fixed no bugs, they added no new features, they ignored YOU, they arrogantly ignored all of us.No SDK, No ATC, No Jets & no hope. . If I wrote the specs for FLIGHT a few months ago, even the cheerleaders would call it a disastrous ludicrous idea.Yet some still defend them. Supporting them is only going to ensure you get to pay for more ring collecting missions.SAY NO to Microsoft DLC.

Well said!

[RYR738 9]

Unpacked the .pak files so I could parse the folder trees. Visual Studio and debug mode.

OR...............just use WINRAR to go inside and have a peep. No need to unpack anything. ( WinRar lets you look inside any packed file.)Click any file and click VIEW. You wil see some very interesting ascii stuff towards the end of flight.exe..........ATC, AI, Voice recognition, Sids and Stars, Flight plans, etc.Fred. Edited February 14, 2012 by RYR738

[alainneedle1 97]

OR...............just use WINRAR to go inside and have a peep. No need to unpack anything. ( WinRar lets you look inside any packed file.)Click any file and click VIEW. You wil see some very interesting ascii stuff towards the end of flight.exe..........ATC, AI, Voice recognition, Sids and Stars, Flight plans, etc.Fred.

Post # 19http://forum.avsim.n...ht-development/Edit: post # 28 is also interresting.... Edited February 14, 2012 by alainneedle1

[RYR738 9]

Post # 19http://forum.avsim.n...ht-development/

That's one of the reasons I'm so enthusiastic about Flight. I reckon MS has quite a few surprises lined up over the coming weeks.Fred.

[Gundamnitpete 0]

Even if they don't, a 3rd party could get in there and have some fun with mods. God mode ring a bell anyone?Even if flight's a flop, the engine itself is very very nice. Perhaps someone might be able to get their hands on it.

[Guest firehawk44]

Great post Francois! I agree fully. You stated the facts as they happened and as they are with Microsoft. It's still early but I'm hoping MS Flight will eventually open up to addon developers like you.Best regards,Jim

[darem 84]

At the time being, Flight looks like a flight game, and you don't have to be a whiz kid to know that there are better ones than Flight right now. For me as a flight simmer, it's unattractive and I won't spend a dime on it. Will I look at the free download? Yes. Will I keep it on my SSDs? I doubt that.I have been flying XP10 for a month now, and I am not too convinced, either. For me, FSX is still the king on the hill, and I have a feeling that this won't change over the next one or two years (certainly not before XPlane 11).I fully understand Francois' thoughts. For simmers, Flight is going - from a bad start - into the wrong direction. Those who enjoy flying through loops and don't need things like ATC, real weather, a world to explore, jetliners will have fun, I am sure. But Flight just isn't on my mindmap any more. They had my expectations raised for some time with announcing that flight smmers will love and embrace what they will offer them, but they haven't delivered at all. So Flight just turned from "watched" into "not interested in" here...

[trevorbee 0]

I fully understand Francois' thoughts. For simmers, Flight is going - from a bad start - into the wrong direction. Those who enjoy flying through loops and don't need things like ATC, real weather, a world to explore, jetliners will have fun

DaremIt is refreshing to read such an open minded post. Have you thought about staying with whatever sim turns you on?Sorry, to be so sarcastic but it is late in the evening and I have probably spent too much time on this forum. Perhaps your negativity will turn out to be justified.

[flyguy101 0]

1

Edited February 14, 2012 by flyguy101

[darem 84]

DaremIt is refreshing to read such an open minded post. Have you thought about staying with whatever sim turns you on?Sorry, to be so sarcastic but it is late in the evening and I have probably spent too much time on this forum. Perhaps your negativity will turn out to be justified.

No offense taken. And oh, I don't think I am negative. As I wrote: each to his own. It's just that Flght will not be mine :-). And yes, I will stay with the sim I enjoy most. Have hoped Flight could become this sim, but it doesn't look like this at all.

[trevorbee 0]

No offense taken. And oh, I don't think I am negative. As I wrote: each to his own. It's just that Flght will not be mine :-). And yes, I will stay with the sim I enjoy most. Have hoped Flight could become this sim, but it doesn't look like this at all.

Fair enough Darem. No offence meant. And we are all entitled to our own opinions.

[EagleSkinner 36]

You seem to have opened a "Pandora's Box" there, Francois. So much emotion has been released by your OP that I am reminded more of classic literature (Great Expectations, War and Peace, The Importance of being Earnest) than I am of a hobby.Question to all: Have we lost anything?Nope. We still have our favourite game or sim. OK, so the MSFS series has been discontinued (for now?) - well, there is still Avsim for free addons and addins. There will still be FSAddon, Aerosoft, FTX, Orbx et al for commercial addons. These will continue to enrich our enjoyment of PC flying for as long as we care to support these sources, either monetarily or with whatever feeds the third party developer's ego. FSX stands every chance of actually surviving as is for a long time to come. Xplane may one day improve beyond...But when the dust settles, even flight simulation (please note the lower case usage) on a home PC will remain a game. I doubt there are really many commercial users who really use PC flight simulation for more than a procedures trainer or a (minor) training aid. You just cannot beat the real thing or perhaps a full six axis simulator. Yes, it is a very gripping "game" that really attracts a very serious following - me too. I am very serious about my usage - but I still fly under anything I can and in the real world, I'd have probably spent more time in front of 'pilot suitability review boards' than in the cockpit...I have been a beta tester for many flight simulation products over the years and yes, I have made many caustic and abrasive comments about the product I was testing and in the long run I like to think I have contributed too. I can't talk about any current beta tests I may be engaged in - at least not until any NDAs are lifted, but I do know that developers of flight simulation software and games do have an honest desire to attract customers. Oh yes - money is always in the backs of the developers' minds; the bigger organisations do not develop software for charity. Of course, there are the Father Bills and the Justin Times and even the Francois Dumases who have an honest desire to further the hobby despite the low returns. Kudos folks! We, the people, appreciate this too - and even more so the "Piglets" of our hobby world.And yet... sitting at a PC, flying around imaginary airspace remains mostly an entertainment pastime. "Flight!" is merely adding another facet to this hobby. If the spreadsheet kids have done their homework, we will welcome many more PC pilots to our genre and perhaps many of these will eventually desire more - do we want to scare these people away? Surely it will be better to say "Welcome to the fascinating world of PC flying" and when they are ready for a more in depth involvement, then we can be there to show them how. Because when all is said and done, "Flight!" may not keep many newcomers interested long enough, but hopefully it will fire that spark of desire in enough people to make MS think again and develop a new "simulator".My own motivation for this post: I am an avid "flight simmer" and I too, hope for more from "Flight!". But to give you an idea - I also like to play the occasional game. A little game came out last year, it was called Skyrim, anyone hear of it? In the first month I had passed the 200 hour mark and I am still intensely immersed after three months. (I will get over it though, that is for sure) Then there was a recent flight simulation demo that I was invited to partake in. It managed to become boring after about thirty hours, despite some pretty good graphics. Having dragons sneak up on you and crisp you, whilst grinning rather sneakily can be so amazingly immersive, that you just have to go round the next turn in the road to see what is coming next... and there is such a flourishing support from users who are posting videos on youtube showing their talents. Unfortunately, flying through hoops and doing some barnstorming just doesn't challenge a game player enough for any long-term immersion. I don't think that this latest flying game demonstration will ever match that kind of attraction. On the other hand WE all know just how much our "true" flight simulation hobby has kept us engrossed over the years - and not even a "Bethesda" game can provoke more dedication than our devotion to "OUR" simulation....and the beauty of it all:We still have it. No one has taken anything away by putting "Flight!" on the market.

Edited February 14, 2012 by stormpup

[Francois_Dumas 10]

You seem to have opened a "Pandora's Box" there, Francois. So much emotion has been released by your OP that I am reminded more of classic literature (Great Expectations, War and Peace, The Importance of being Earnest) than I am of a hobby.

I guess I haven't lost my writing touch ........ :Love:As for games: good point. I play Assasin's Creed. Not because I have such a murderous mind (although I do not recommend it for people under 40 years of age), but just because the people in it are so lifelike and it has always been my great desire to go back in time and see how the world looked back then.In that sense, AC is an awesome 'simulation' ! Edited February 14, 2012 by Francois_Dumas

[EagleSkinner 36]

Now there's a thought... My new PC will come with a Zotac nVidia 580 graphics card - and that is bundled with Assassin's Creed... am I in any danger of being distracted from more flight time? I did do one round of Skyrim as an assassin, but I rather preferred the role of "Wandering Hero, dragonslayer and all round nice guy" - even if it did mean slaughtering a few "Imperials" alongside all that gutting of dragons to clean up the bones and scales to make super armour...All that is delaying my painting "work" for the flying simulation community - my order book (sic) is full and if I don't get those paints done, I'll miss out on more "Ego-food" despite the injured wrist that has kept me away for the best part of two years...

[Francois_Dumas 10]

Assassin's Creed 'log' is better than that of FSX..... it doesn't disappear at times. So it reminds me of how many months I have already played it !!!! I find it addictive indeed and yes, it DOES take away from FS work sometimes...... OOOOPS !