From my beloved B747-400X, if I subtract the functions provided by PMDG, the basic FSX aircraft and the functions provided by SimConnect, what functions remain to call FSX?

That's like saying, if I have five apples and I take them all away, what's left.Nothing?

That's like saying, if I have five apples and I take them all away, what's left.Nothing?

My thoughts exactly. What'cha getting at, Richard?!

I am trying to clear in my mind what exactly FSX contains as a core, without the base aircraft models and SimConnect. Perhaps it really is absolutely nothing. But I have a feeling that there is an airplane simulator onto which all the aircraft models are fitted.I have a thought that Cascade Game Foundry might be under contract to Microsoft to bring SimConnect up to date with full DX11 support and the ability to support the existing airplane and train simulators, and perhaps ship, space and submarine simulators as well. If FSX is then 'empty', it would make the move to a new SimConnect rather elegant. Perhaps the successor to FSX (not Flight) could then become an excellent simulator of the universe.Or am I just dreaming?

The core flight dynamics and physics engine you can never get around completely - same goes for the actual piston/jet/turboprop engine modelling. We use a ton of tricks to sort of mold those two things into doing what we want them to. We can certainly affect them but they're always there at the core, that's true. Everything else - the FMC, the autopilot etc, that exists totally it its own space separate from FS. SimConnect gives us core variables out of the sim like altitude, airspeed, etc but what we do with them is entirely our own thing that runs within our own dll and not on anything FSX does by default. We basically make a simulation within the simulation.I'm not sure what you mean by "bring SimConnect up to date with full DX11 support" - SimConnect is just an API (application programming interface) for addons to access those variables in the sim that I mentioned. DX11 support would involve rewriting the graphics renderer code within the sim's engine. Real "support" for that and making the engine modern would take a heck of a lot of work - tons of things would have to be rethought because of how CPU based FSX currently is.

Thanks, Ryan. I cannot expect PMDG to pass any comment on other developers. But I can hardly wait to see what CGF have been up to all this time!

Edited February 23, 201214 yr by mcdonar