Still happy with FS9 (and all the addons I've purchased for it) here. I also own a copy of FSX, but don't even have it installed. Never even considered MS Flight, once I found out it was a game rather than a serious attempt at a simulation.

 

This is where most simmers are at, and I am now in fs9 comfort zone even though every aspect of it has become static, I do hope it's temporary. I'd say, since PMDG MD 11 came out, everything has been repetitive .Would it be fair to expect more in repetition, there is plenty of space for Airbus, few GA's and loads of remote airports. meanwhile, the upcoming Rome Total War II should fill the gaps :P

 

 

Cheers

When given the choice between the 32-bit and 64-bit version of Windows 7, I automatically chose the 32-bit version, to be able to run all/most of my crates of old, (and some new!) software and hardware, without too many problems.

Much of my software and hardware is designed for 32-bit only!

Most of my favourite programs are now veteran/vintage, and many of them run via 32-bit Emulators....often emulating 16-bit and 8-bits!... B) ...!

 

Paul....FS 2004+FS Navigator..(and FSX on extremely rare occasions).... :Bug: ...!

An interesting dilemma. "I think that there's not a whole lot more to develop in flight simulation."

 

While I can think of a couple of things: ATC, weather, it's very likely that even if someone could miraculously offer an ATC add-on, this crew wouldn't accept it unless it works with FS9. It sounds like unless a new flight simulator is created, or MS sells a new version of MS FS that runs as fast as FS9 on existing PCs and uses all FS9 add-ons, there's no future for flight simulators.

 

I enjoy FS9 and have since day 1. The same for FSX, and for all the other versions going back to the C64 days. Each version challenged the hardware of the day. Each version had improvements over its predecessors.

 

I think what has kept the PC flight simulator progressing is buying and adapting. This doesn't mean that I always had to stop using an older version as soon as a new one came out, but by buying and adapting I believe I am one of the many that has kept the hobby alive. The add-on makers create their stuff to sell. In my opinion, buying and adapting keeps them creating.

 

Respectfully,

It sounds like unless a new flight simulator is created, or MS sells a new version of MS FS that runs as fast as FS9 on existing PCs and uses all FS9 add-ons, there's no future for flight simulators.

 

 

that would be a massive upgrade and I'll be one among the first to buy!!

The future may lie in developing code that runs outside of the flight sim engine. Developers such as A2A are already using it. As A2A have done for aircraft fidelity another developer may do for weather.

I believe that if this can work for FS then it will be a game changer.

Interesting thread. Oculus Rift sounds decidedly cool - a 3d headset for FS2004!! Come on developers get your dev teams out of the pub.

 

A gaming platform is only as good as its community (and this is an excellent and entertaining one for sure), As long as consumers stay interested, the game lives on regardless of the survival of the original producer.

 

FS2004 was a great platform 9 years ago, and today it's even better, because the original platform is buried under layers of subsequent community/commercial products, that 's why it's lasted so long.The mistake MIcrosoft made was to try to control the action rather than continue to support it. Simmers are like musicians (indeed they are often musicians, as in my case), I have used Cubase and other DAWS in the past, now I use Reaper. It cost $60 but I've since spent a lot more on my studio and plug ins. FS2004 cost me £30 in 2005, I daren't mention how much I have spent on case my wife or kids read this.

 

In both cases the platform was a base for development, they did not try to control the community. This is different from say Logic and ProTools or Prepar3d, where the community is a business or commercial one, and customers dictate product direction. If you run a studio then you better use Logic and ProTools whatever your opinion. If you want an accessible platform for training and simulation Prepar3d may be on track to become a standard ( I also work in Aerospace!).

 

Whatever it is, you ignore your user community at your peril, as sadly Microsoft found out recently with Flight.

 

Most of us just aspire to be free souls who simply wish to be taken above the clouds and arrive somewhere else using our own skill, ingenuity and some immensely good immersive simulations and scenery. Whilst software companies cater for people like us, we foolish weak people with credit cards and paypal accounts will carry on spending.

 

Long live our new toys!

 

 

 

Ray

The fact that MS has abandoned fs is irrelevant. The addon developers made fs2004 an exciting and comprehensive sim.

 

SAX702- you are suggesting the lack of good atc and weather engines.

What about Radar Contact or ProFlight Emulator- both excellent programs. And if these aren't good enough, go fly with VATSIM!

Weather? Both REX ans ActiveSky are incredibly faithful to weather simulation. My wife's boss is an ex airline pilot. I nvited him over to look at fs2004. He said that the clouds generated by REXares better than the real thing. He used to fly Airbus. I showed him the Wilco\feelthere Airbus series and he said it's like flying the real thing.

 

Eytan

go fly with VATSIM!

 

I would advice the same. Flying on Vatsim is like starting another advanced ultra-realistic simming passion.

On the other hand it must be said VATSIM itself is not an addon, and the folks above, I guess, meant a decent ATC addon.

 

My wife's boss is an ex airline pilot (...) I showed him the Wilco\feelthere Airbus series and he said it's like flying the real thing

 

Eytan, are you sure he is not an ex... flight attendant (with respect to all FA's)?

The one thing I desperately miss in FS 2004, is the ability to use FS 2004 Default ATC, whilst I am on-line in FS Host Multiplayer, during the day, waiting for other Multiplayers to show up during my flights.

It can be done with FSX...but not with FS 2004....I could never figure out why not!

 

Paul...FS 2004 + FS Navigator... ...!

New and Improved. For me and the way I fly (round engines) I truely wish that Microsoft could have mated either of the flight sims with their own Bing Maps. I'd love to fly low and slow with the detail of Bing. OR Google. Being able to fly around a particular parcel of property and see if from a low angle, to be able to land on a county road and view the surroundings - yep, I'd pay for that. And the pitty is that it's already modeled! My old computer will scroll Bing fast enough to emulate a DC-3 low flight. Since an "Aircraft" is little more than a working cockpit overlaying a digital world it seems to me that it would work. A little more work could bring some of the outrageous real world weather into the bing map. Model a tornado, severe storm with random wind gusts, super cells and varying rain squalls. Tie that to the day's news so we can actually fly over the active part of the massive fires out west - or see the huge water of a flood. The comment was made early in this thread that above 3000 feet up the world is hazy. Yep it is. But there are more than a few of us flying tundra tired Super Cubs and Grumman Gooses (geese?) who don't get much higher than that. And with something to look at, perhaps barnstorming could become a new area of interest. Just dreaming, ya know?

I fly mostly GA and helicopters so I really like nice looking low-level scenery. I'd like some nicer autogen and things like that to enhance low and slow flying.

I fly mostly GA and helicopters so I really like nice looking low-level scenery. I'd like some nicer autogen and things like that to enhance low and slow flying.

 

As another low and slow, GA Pilot, some nicer Autogen would be very nice, as long as its not as Processor/Graphics-intensive as FSX was, to make it unplayable for many (most?) of us.

 

The great beauty of FS 2004 is that it was programmed to be thoroughly enjoyable on most of our lowly Hardware!

 

Paul....FS 2004...FS Nav...Plan-G,... :Bug:...!

Well, maybe some developer could do an autogen addon. It would have to be country or region specific. Right now, it's weird to see wood homes in central Africa!

But then again, flying is the ability to handle a machine in the air under challenging environmental conditions. Sightseeing alone does not make a simulator. Scenery is great in the train sims. Remember guys, we're still flying thousands of feet high. It's hazy out there, thanks to our pollution.

If you want ground detail, go take a walk if it's nice outside.

 

Eytan