(The small print… I apologise if my words cause any offence to anyone, these are my thoughts and mine alone!)What makes a Hard-core Simmer? Is it being an Oldee? Hey I started back in the 80’s. Is it flying on VATSIM with ATC and with a great Payware jet? I do that too/still. Is it wanting to be a pilot but not being able too for whatever reason? Is it years of struggling with hardware and tweaking FSX to improve the frame rate? Is it buying the latest hardware and finding out that the graphics and frame rate have not improved dramatically? Is it hours spent tweaking the PC? Is it downloading 'stuff' from sites like this and carefully placing everything in the right directory and adding lines to config files? Is it buying 3rd party add on planes and reading through pages of instructions and spending hours learning how to get it off the ground for the first time and getting it fly from point A to point B? (I'm not knocking the latter; I paid good money to do that, and I get lots of fun flying it.) Is it re-loading your PC and FSX with all its add-on’s correctly for the Nth time? I don’t know the answers to the above questions, I do know I’ve tortured myself and spent a fortune for so many years but I’m still here and still doing it and still loving it.If I personally add up the costs of hardware I’ve purchased over the years it amounts to far more than anything I’ve spent on FSX add-ons.If I add up the time spent re-loading and re-tweaking, I’d have probably flown round the virtual world many times. (Mind you I’ve flown round the real one, but that’s another story.)Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed doing all these things in a masochistic way. I also learnt a lot of stuff, such as how much patience I have and how much money I’m prepared to spend. Messing around with computers got me a job messing around with computers so I could be classed as a nerd lol.When I tried Ace Combat on the Xbox I was surprised how good it looked and how well it flew. The scenery goes by realistically without stutters and pauses and in the areas you fly, the scenery is great. Oh how I wished FSX would do, and be like that!Then everything changed... I went into the Flight Beta.I didn’t know what to expect. My first flight lasted about 3min. I huffed and I puffed, and switched the PC off. I went downstairs to the wife, who asked "how was it?" I replied with lots of expletives and went to bed in a bad mood.The next night, I recovered from my trauma and decided to give it another go, I flew round the balloons (which Id actually failed to do the night before, this was partly due to the fact I hadn’t bothered to find out which key worked the throttle or mapped my yoke. Silly me) and things started to improve. I decided that maybe I’d been a little hasty, so I put on my positive head and I haven’t looked back since.The more I flew the more things I discovered and the more things I liked. Blow me down with a feather... I remembered why I’d actually wanted a flight simulator in the first place! (I also had to buckle down and do my beta testers job as best I could.)This simulator flew like nothing I’d ever used before. Flying felt like flying. Landing felt like landing. (I’ve done flying for real so I know.) For the first time the default cockpits and planes looked fantastic. I have downloaded lots and lots of free 'stuff' to try and get a cockpit that looked real. I’ve got Pay-ware and even some of that doesn’t always hit the mark. I'm not knocking the efforts of these devs they got FSX where it is today. I got a lot of enjoyment from all this ‘stuff’ but It is the details in Flight that grabbed me, they jump out at you when you least expect it. The flight model is exceptional; the winds aloft and on the ground have an effect, the cockpits are superb. A hand clap must also go to the sound engineers; they have done a sterling job. In fact, every detail has been thought out and given love and attention. OK I’m sounding like MSG studios have paid me, so let me talk about the negatives. Before I do I should place the negatives in context. Flight is still a baby; it needs DLC like a baby needs milk to grow. Will it cost? Of course it will, but when I think how much I've spent on hardware and what I could spend on adding 'stuff' to Flight then it’s a no brainer as far as I’m concerned. One 3rd party plane cost me far more that the whole of the total current DLC costs for Flight. Are the default clouds as good as the default clouds in FSX. Not all of them. Fog has been done better in Flight and so has the feeling of distance when you’re flying. Ok I’m biased; I even find a positive when I’m trying to be negative. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of room for improvement. Dawn, Day and Dusk have been rendered very well. Some elements of Night still needs some work and I know they are working on it. The whole question of DLC is new and we are not used to it and don’t know what the future holds. No SDK. I know lots of people get so much pleasure from creating stuff. We are in unknown territory so are defensive.Has Flight got all the 'stuff' that I can get for FSX? Erm... no. As I said it’s still a baby.Will it have? That is the question. I believe, yes it will. How and who will ultimately produce it will all come out in the fullness of time. Therefore personally I’m going to enjoy it for what it is. Flight makes me smile every time I use it. And guess what? I got it for nothing, zilch, zero, it was FREE! Mind you I have everything that’s currently available on DLC. Oops :) So I did what you have to do and went out and brought three 24” monitors and am now really flying Flight in Eyefinity. WOW!!!If you’re an ‘Oldee’ and are stuck in your ways, please try and think like a ‘Newbe’ and remember what it was like in the beginning.If you’re new to Flight and flight simulators or are trying it out for the first time. Enjoy but beware... it’s a hobby that has the ability to stay with you... like forever!Finally, to answer my own question, being a hard-core simmer is loving flying in whatever capacity that is!

Great post. I agree :Applause:

+1Have to agree. I have come back to it after two days off and I like what I am seeing/hearing (for now). There IS a hardcore sim under there..you only have to look at the posts by ppl who've got into the pak files to see that there is a load of content in there that we can't get at yet..let's leave the snap judgements as to how c**p it is for a year down the road, and remember that FS took, literally, years to get to where it is now...Don't get me wrong, Flight is NOT FSX, in any way shape or form, and I'm still loading my NGX in all of my Australia FTX payware lovliness for the forseeable future, but I do believe Flight has a fuuture, too....bestjake

DarkstarF16 (How I wish people would at least show their first names!) ,Welcome to AVSIM. I hope you enjoy the community we are building here and will grap a hammer and nails and lend a hand.Kind regards,PS: I edited your post to increase the size of your font. Hope you don't mind.

This simulator flew like nothing I’d ever used before. Flying felt like flying. Landing felt like landing. (I’ve done flying for real so I know.)

I will say, that throughout numerous desktop sims..............such as MSFS, X-Plane, Pro-Pilot, Fly, and a few combat sims; there has been occasions where flying felt like flying, and landings feel like landings. It's landings, that I notice most, in addition to required rudder on takeoffs & climbs. If Flight...........brings virtual reality, and reality closer together, then I'm all for it.edit: It was one evening, when circling over a simulated San Fransisco with Pro-Pilot (back around '97)...........that I had the first inclination of actually flying a real aircraft.It just seemed right, while circling around a point. It was as if I could feel the process. That's when a sim is good enough, to fill in the blanks.

Edited March 5, 201214 yr by LAdamson

I will say, that throughout numerous desktop sims..............such as MSFS, X-Plane, Pro-Pilot, Fly, and a few combat sims; there has been occasions where flying felt like flying, and landings feel like landings. It's landings, that I notice most, in addition to required rudder on takeoffs & climbs. If Flight...........brings virtual reality, and reality closer together, then I'm all for it.edit: It was one evening, when circling over a simulated San Fransisco with Pro-Pilot (back around '97)...........that I had the first inclination of actually flying a real aircraft.It just seemed right, while circling around a point. It was as if I could feel the process. That's when a sim is good enough, to fill in the blanks.

I call it "Holy Cow" moments, and I have had a lot of them over the years, especially in FS9, FSX and now Flight. I have also experienced a bit of fear and shortness of breath too when things got dicey. Flight is good at producing both.Really appreciate your imput here and look forward to reading your comments.Kind regards,

You leave one big thing behind - the SDK;Is the third parties that through sales of addons - in returns offer support to site as indeed avsim.Do you realise that without this crucial give and take - the economy of the simulation community - either games or hard core risk to colapse ??it is not just about - me - me and ME !!How much money you think Ms will put back into the system ??very little - next to - Nish - Nada - NothingI do not want even mention - that as is all will not have a chance to make 1 single addon !Have you already forgot how nice is to share your creation with others ??Have you forgot the very essential of this very site - its file library - where thousands of simmers share their own creations ??Have you forgot how rewarding is to fly your own creations - ?that is what Ms also take it away from all of us - and not just hard core simmers - YOU INCLUDED !! flight lovers.believe me it is not against flight - it is all about what ms has taken away from call it game or simulator - as you like it.

Edited March 5, 201214 yr by arsenal82

You leave one big thing behind - the SDK;Is the third parties that through sales of addons - in returns offer support to site as indeed avsim.Do you realise that without this crucial give and take - the economy of the simulation community - either games or hard core risk to colapse ??it is not just about - me - me and ME !!

Yeah but who said that part of the community will go away, at least anytime soon? I see FSX being used by many, for some time to come - and there still seems to be a lot of 3PD developing for it as well...

DarkstarF16 (How I wish people would at least show their first names!) ,Welcome to AVSIM. I hope you enjoy the community we are building here and will grap a hammer and nails and lend a hand.Kind regards,PS: I edited your post to increase the size of your font. Hope you don't mind.

Dont mind a bit :) thanks and the names...Bri or Brian if I'm shouted at lol (never thought to add my name Oops)

Brian, you've got me thinking of spending money now! Darn you. So, please tell me about the 3 monitors and how to set them up? Oh to heck with the budget, darn wife!Best regards.Luis

Great post! Flight is a little like crack. Your first hit is free. After that, a lot of people are hooked! ITs not for everyone, sure, but its still a lot of fun!!! As for 3 monitors. First, make sure your video card supports it. ATI 5000-7000 series support 3 or more displays. Nvidia only supports 3 displays in SLI MODE!!! And only on the newer 4XX and 5XX cards. You can configure the monitors in any way you like with ATI cards. Some nice setups I have seen is a big honking 30" horizontal, and two 24" vertical on each side. Really helps bring you into the sim, if you have the money.

PS: I edited your post to increase the size of your font. Hope you don't mind.

So did I... :Nerd:

Flight is a little like crack. Your first hit is free. After that, a lot of people are hooked! ITs not for everyone, sure, but its still a lot of fun!!!

You do realize that you just reaffirmed every MS Marketing Dude's forecast, right? I suspect there will now be a number of BD/Marketing types that get their Christmas bonus very early based on that statement!!!

Well thats what a game demo is for. Call it free all you want, but its no more then a demo, like FSX had. "Free game" is just a new spin on a classic marketing ploy.

Brian, you've got me thinking of spending money now! Darn you. So, please tell me about the 3 monitors and how to set them up? Oh to heck with the budget, darn wife!Best regards.Luis

Hi LuisAs mentioned above, you need one of the ATI 5000-7000 series cards and also an Active Display Port to DVI adaptor. This can be purchased easily. The monitor’s (goes without saying.) A wife who understands (also goes without saying.) And, lots of space. You also need to be prepared to do penance for being allowed such luxury’s.Compared to most se-ups its really very easy. It took me longer to unpack and connect everything, and was picking my jaw of the floor and sticking my tongue back in my mouth within minutes.What’s Performance like? Basically its one big screen and although I’ve not analysed it to any degree I cannot tell any difference between three and one monitor. Flight was made for it. FSX also works as you get so much more desktop i.e. 5760 * 1080The trouble with it is that it gives you (depending on how you adjust the zoom) an almost 180 degree view of the world. It’s just like sitting in the cockpit and seeing the view out the window.You don’t need TrackIR as all you have to do is move your head.The other downside of it is that you need to equip your simpit with an air sickness bag haha.Oh, I’ve found one more downside… even the wife had a go (It does wonders for special awareness!) therefore taking up MY sim time. And before I get into any more ‘penance’ she did her first landing last night. I actually cringed when the RV was placed on the runway at over 100Knts and like a brick, but as they say any landing you walk away from etc.(One more downside is a rather light wallet, but us simmers are used to that)Bri