Degrees of access

[quadraspleen 7]

Now I'm an IT guy, not a coder (too sociable, no beard, and I have a wife :Big Grin: ) so i don't know what i am talking about, but Kevin MV Gibbage does, and I suspect some other lurkers here..Please note, Kevin; that bit about coders is a joke

 

One of the things I like about flying is a sense of purpose. call me picky, but simply sightseeing is not always my cup of tea. Don't get me wrong..I love flying AK as it is so beautiful. I love wilderness, BUT I like to fly for a reason, and get the lovely vistas along the way. Reward-based gaming/flying, let's call it. It's why I play AH

 

So, my point: I, and a few others were really looking forward to some location-specific missions in AK. SAR; relief missions; mining supply etc etc. This is now never going to happen. MS is also not, for the foreseeable future, going to relase the SDK.

 

How easy, and how much access to the SDK would one need to create a mission? I'm guessing full access, but still asking the question..It would be great, for instance, if, as a gesture to the people who paid for FLIGHT and DLC, to allow say a member of the team to accept submissions for new DLC mission content? I dunno..I know FLIGHT is dead, and MS have left the room, but I can't help feeling that, somehow, there is some life left in FLIGHT in an ongoing sense, not just as abandonware...

 

If a limited subset of the SDk was in place, perhaps even an online mission creator? I dunno..Probably loads more work for somebody who doesn't really feel the vibe...

 

cue the "it's never gonna happen" posts

 

Glass half full, me...

[LHookins 3,103]

not a coder (too sociable, no beard, and I have a wife ) ... Kevin; that bit about coders is a joke

 

No it's not. I'm a coder, I know these things. Dilbert-type story: I was once downgraded on a performance review on "getting along with others." Turns out I got along better than they thought I should. One time a guy in another department was fired (he was downloading warez on the company computers) but we didn't know who. I said I'd walk over there and have a look. My boss, who was otherwise very good (president of North Texas Mensa at the time) said that if I knew enough people in the other department that I could figure out who it was, I knew too many people in the other department. Well maybe... but one of those other-department guys, whom I knew fairly well, wanted to get into game art. I later saw his name in the Ultima Online credits. Way to go, Brandon! Sometimes it's not what you know, but who... and it's easier to get something you need from someone who is already a friend.

 

Now, your original question. It looks like there is a grand total of TWO people still on the project. No new work will be done. It's unsure if any fixes can be made. We don't even know if the final plane will be released.

 

If there are new missions to be added, it's up to the hackers and modders to get them in. We already know the encryption can be broken, and now that Flight is basically dead doing so may become more acceptable, although there are no guarantees that it won't totally break something essential. Then someone has to reverse engineer the file format for the missions, and some other work. Is it that useful for a game as limited as Flight? Is it worth the effort? I don't know.

 

For now, jobs give me plenty of reason to fly to a destination. As interesting things are discovered in the game (like the camp site on Mt. McKinley) people will come up with "missions" to fly there. That doesn't need a formal in-game mission process. Not quite what you wanted, but possible today without changes to Flight.

 

Hook

[quadraspleen 7]

Dilbert-type story

Great story too true, as well..and, as you say: sometimes not even who you know; it's how well you know them wish I knew some MSGS people..

 

And thanks for your answer regarding the missions..I agree also that I don't really need a "reason" to fly, and sometimes a hairy approach in great weather is reason enough..I'm just not very good at structuring my flight simming; bit of a butterfly mind..flit from this to that; too much choice, perhaps LOL..

 

Having said that, I didn't really do the whole "aerocache" thing, which is reward-based at its essence I guess..I mean I did all of the official ones that came out..64 or something, but it just irked me a bit..floating things..I prefered the rescue the kayaker stuff..Stuff with interaction, even at the basest level..

 

Anyway..Off to interact with a machine at the most fundamental level; my wife's lawnmower is broken..(she's a landscaper before someone chimes in as to why it's not my lawnmower - too busy flying to mow the lawn )

 

Cheers Hook

 

jake

[LHookins 3,103]

I forgot about aerocaches, but they're a great reason to fly. I guess it depends on how you do them. I don't do a formal hunt, and have the POI marker turned off so I have to see the actual aerocache icon. Only a few times have I had to use a hunt with markers turned on.

 

Here's an example of how I do aerocaches from the previous aerocache of the day.

 

"Hey, I hear there are a couple of cruise ships in the harbor! Wanna go check them out?" "Yeah, but I don't know for sure where the harbor is." "That's ok, we'll find it." I just flew down the river looking for likely places for a harbor and pretty much flew directly to it. Saw some cruise ships, flew toward them, and the aerocache appeared. I buzzed the cruise ships to get the aerocache, then explored around Juneau at an altitude somewhat lower than legal. :) That big church is nicely done, if you haven't seen one of them yet. There... I've given you a reason to fly. :) HInt: it's not close to the big river, so look for somewhere the city extends inland.

 

It must be Very Convenient to have a wife in the landscaping business. :D

 

Hook

[Dillon 2,197]

I believe like always we'll figure out how to tap into Flight and build Alaska up with missions and scenery. This biggest thing is keeping it viable when the servers are shut off at MS. How much will be broken then and what can we still use? Tying a sim to 'Live' like an XBOX title was another terrible idea to say the least. We'll have to figure out a way around that...

[HiFlyer 9,363]

And doing so will probably break a number of laws, be bad for ones cholesterol and probably fattening as well!

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And that's never stopped anyone yet.

[quadraspleen 7]

Tying a sim to 'Live' like an XBOX title was another terrible idea to say the least.

I politely disagree (I would; I work in the IT/internet/cloud business) It's the futire. Get with the program Also, it's a great way to disrtribute and update games..Don't get me started on DRM though

 

I think turn that on its head (glass half full again) and ask why the LIVE API isn't easier to tap into without creating further security issues. Had it been built that way, releasing the SDK might not seem so scary/stupid to MS..I dunno..Anyway, as someone has said, there are already existing models of games on LIVE that have user created (non original dev) content in Rock Band

 

It must be Very Convenient to have a wife in the landscaping business. :D

 

Hook, you have no idea when she's not at work, she's in the "collapse on the sofa and watch crap TV" business, so not only do I not have to waste good flying time playing with mud, I also get to spend most evenings (once the kids are out of the way) to myself! Without getting moaned at! (except the :Nerd: stuff) I am one lucky captain!

 

jake

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

You know, Jake, this is a very interesting issue because missions give the title a purpose, and a structure.

 

It happens that missions are probably one of the most complex features in the game, they are very difficult to conceive, create, and debug.

 

They were introduced in FS X, although there were adventures and flights in previous versions, and you may have noticed how few third-party missions have ever been released. It is because they are very difficult to do and require a lot of resources.

 

I am not sure that third-party sources would ever be able to provide good quality missions because of this, but I do share in your disappointment that we never got any for Alaska.

 

Best regards.

Luis

[quadraspleen 7]

Hi Luis,

 

Indeed. I have had a look at FSXME and it made my head hurt a little. Once I got my head around the structure of a mission; placement of triggers; nodes and props and stuff, not to mention audio and map/waypoint integration it made more sense, but yes, I see your point.

 

And yes, there are very few good FSX missions. However, I don't need lots of audio, or loads of sections, triggers or AI to work with; just a few randomly placed stranded snowmobiles, or a sandbar somewhere to find in the fog and get my feet wet on...take 700 pounds of tinned beaver from A-B or the whining sick people, now that the points no longer mean prizes, seem a little flat..

 

Anyway, who knows what the future may bring...;)

 

 

Sent from the FondleSlab using Tapatalk

[Dillon 2,197]

I politely disagree (I would; I work in the IT/internet/cloud business) It's the futire. Get with the program Also, it's a great way to disrtribute and update games..Don't get me started on DRM though

 

I think turn that on its head (glass half full again) and ask why the LIVE API isn't easier to tap into without creating further security issues. Had it been built that way, releasing the SDK might not seem so scary/stupid to MS..I dunno..Anyway, as someone has said, there are already existing models of games on LIVE that have user created (non original dev) content in Rock Band

 

jake

 

This concept being the future is not totally set in stone, the jury is still out. When you have crap like what MS has pulled we have a potentially broken game should they shut down the servers that house Flight's back end. This is a far worse situation than buying something and have it discontinued yet what you have on disk and installed on your computer is totally unaffected (like FS9 and FSX). I have no problem with using Falcon 4.0, FS9, and/or any other discontinued title today. That's not an option with a game wrapped in Microsoft's super controlled umbrella. No matter how you look at it your playing the game on borrowed time. Something will happen where you'll be unable to use it at some point because big brother controls your access. The most likely scenario is lack of profit equals lack of resources therefore the plug is pulled on wasted electricity. Contracts will be written up that you initially sign that give MS the right to pull the plug whenever they deem necessary with no financial responsibility to refund your purchase (your buying a lease of use versus the full product). This is crap and a death nail in the simulation world where third party developers are wrapping their product around the base platform. The 'Cloud' concept can't work in this community especially dealing with a company like Microsoft... Flight might already have this clause when we initially signed on to use and install the game. I'd rather buy something and have the master disks to use as I please no matter what MS does. FSX and FS9 can be played as long as we choose to and developers can safely develop content for it as it's not going anywhere once we have it installed.

 

This cloud revolution just like outsourcing is not all it's cracked up to be in every scenario. Something's always lost in the translation when getting support from countries with a language barrier. The Cloud is vunerable should a terrorist attack take out one or two of the major ethernet hubs throughout the world. Where are people at with their business and data till things are back up and running. It's bad enough if just the internet went down but having all your infrastructure sitting worlds away in a scenario like this is a disaster compounded. I know the odds of that happening is the same as someone flying a jetliner into one of the World Trade Center Buildings... Don't get me wrong the Cloud is a fine concept depending on how you use it but to say it's the end all solution for all business/gaming needs and we need to get with it is short sighted to say the least especially in a scenario like Flight Simulation. We need full control over our base sim which is one of the major failures of Flight.

[Bobsk8 12,750]

But the cloud is the direction everything is going in. You can't ignore reality.

 

Sent from my SGH-T679 using Tapatalk 2

[Dillon 2,197]

But the cloud is the direction everything is going in. You can't ignore reality.

 

Sent from my SGH-T679 using Tapatalk 2

 

Until people get smart to the idea and compartmentalize it to where it works best...

 

It sure didn't work in our world.

[quadraspleen 7]

Until people get smart to the idea and compartmentalize it to where it works best...

 

Umm..You just described the Internet Concept by DARPA. Resilient, node-based networks. Instant re-routing when nodes fail etc..It's resilience under a terrorist attack would depend on where they struck and how..again..all for another place and time.. I'm not at work now

 

I see where you're coming from, Dillon, and actually, for straight business I'm not a big fan of the cloud. I have some horror stories, but this isn't the place

 

But for gaming, I disagree..I've been using Steam for years..I love it..Valve could go bust tomorrow and all my games would still work..We have no idea what will happen if MS shut down the FLIGHT servers..You can still fly it all offline..all your DLC etc..Anyway, your points are perfectly valid, but as Bob says; it's the way it's all going whether we like it or not...