My questions is this:

With so many brilliant scenery designers, aircraft modellers, and computer fs nerds out there; how come nobody has created a new flight simulator like fsx? Pardon my igorance, but why would a company like Orbx make awesome scenery for fsx, and not be focusing their energy on making New Flight Sim awesomeness 2015 or something of their own ....think $$$$$$?

 

Is it hard to build something like flight simulator x? I guess that's a rhetorical quesion...interface design, art design, marketing, scenery design and programming, simulation physics, aircraft modelling, access to huge photo-based resources like satellite imagery, and an army of creatives trepsing around the world taking tens of thousands of reference photographs and video, 80 underpaid recent computer design grads on 50 computers doing blend masking of shorelines.... yadayadayada I guess you needed Microsoft and Aces for something that big. Or no?

 

Everyone cries for a new base fs engine, but is anyone building one? It seems that there is ample talent out there to do it...what's missing?

 

Hell, I'd pay to start up a company to get something like that going! I think there would be huge bucks to be made from it...and a continuation of the hobby.

 

I don't know. Motts Clamato Caesar is doing the typing tonight ; )

One simple thing is missing and it's huge: $$$$$$$ and lots of it.

x-plane is out there if cool roads and night lighting is your thing. FSX will be around for a long time.

Yep, Swofford's right. Takes allot of money to create a game/flight simulator!

 

For a Flight Simulator at that size it could cost between 100,000---1,000,000 etc...

Might seem like unrealistic figures for software but thats how it is!

 

Regards, Ciaran.

$1,000,000.00 of what?...man-hours, computers, office space rental, publishing, advertising...... I guess hey? I guess it would take someone like us, but who has millions doing nothing and a passion for the hobby to make it happen. : (

I must say though, I'm pretty happy with the fsx setup I have. I tell ya, all the orbx NA sceneries and all their little airports, combined with this great little Calgary addon (my home town)....and an upcoming cyyc airport for Cal from SimAddons; with REX and tweaks and ENB, geeze, sometimes I'm floored by how real and photographic it all seems. I'm happy with fsx for conceivable years (I HAVE TO BE considering the shameful thousands I've spent on this little hobby over the years!) I was there on my Apple 2E in the 80's trying to figure out what all those green lines were! lol

It's been done.

 

http://www.flightgear.org/

 

If you want to contribute, feel free.

 

Hook

The last company trying their own approach was Aerosoft. While I don't know for sure what happened to the project, once being called '2012', my guess is that it's very much stopped.

 

But I agree on the X-Plane statements. Those folks have a decent sim engine and don't reject working on the internals, as the latest beta update shows. They are in need of more third parties to join the club.

 

Another sim engine and system? Why? It doesn't get better by design, just because you start new. I agree on the FSX/P3D ways being stuck. We are enjoying what we have, but the 32bit limits alone form a big hurdle on anything looking better or going deeper.

 

I really appreciate the efforts companies put into the old system. But, when combining some of the latest and greatest titles and forming dense scenery plus decent airliners, FSX just blows off steam. And quits.

 

By the way, there are some good other sims available. Even if they only feature a limited scenery or focus on a few aspects of flying. That AeroflyFS or the free sim Larry mentions already offer at least a starting point in my eyes.

It seems like about once a month someone suggests this. I read a post in one of the responses that the big names got together and estimated the cost of such an undertaking. If you aren't used to development costs, it'll shock you silly.

 

$1 million is just a drop in the bucket.

 

Hook

My thought is that with X-Plane, FSX Acceleration and P3D all out there.... The biggest improvement has been and can be hardware... I could not enjoy, fly or even get excited about FSX until I had a new PC built... and now... :Peace: I am quite pleased

 

OH YEAH.... All of the eye candy works... The FPS's are awesome...

 

Thus, I am very happy with what we have right now... So I would only ask our current developers to keep developing.. for all platforms and let the hardware dictate where we go from here...

 

My thoughts and opinion only... I await the flaming most patiently...

 

Jeff

It seems like about once a month someone suggests this. I read a post in one of the responses that the big names got together and estimated the cost of such an undertaking. If you aren't used to development costs, it'll shock you silly.

 

$1 million is just a drop in the bucket.

 

Hook

 

It always gave me a slight headache thinking about it. Aerosoft claimed they could do it alone, but that's a heck of a big risk, and this is a super-duper finicky crowd, not at all afraid to demand the entire universe for a bargain price.

 

It's not shocking the project seems to be in stasis. The next option might have been a collaborative effort of some sort amongst the "big players" but who would be in charge? Who's desires would be primary and who's secondary? How would profits be shared?

 

And there is still no guarantee of success, since its a certainty that before the paint was even dry, somebody would be hollering that its not really a sim until the toilet flush sounds in the planes restrooms were accurate.

 

The third option, and probably most realistic might be for Microsoft to step back in (probably just to test the water at first) but the community excoriated that idea almost before the wheels hit the Tarmac, and considering that, anyone considering entering the fray has to feel doubly more hesitant.

 

Frankly, I can barely imagine anybody at any profit based company being silly enough to seriously approach their boss with a proposal. (for a civilian simulator)

 

Is this market large enough for anyone who actually has the resources to take the risk?

We all play the powerball with the stipulation all winnings go to a new flightsim and a 50 percent fee for this fantastic idea to me.

I think PMDG will team up with ORBX and Active sky to make a new sim.

I think PMDG will team up with ORBX and Active sky to make a new sim.

:Praying: :Praying: :Praying:

Recently, there was news that "crowd funding" for a new space based simulation actually reached $6.2m.

 

'Star Citizen' Smashes Previous Video Game Crowd-Funding Records Raising $6.2 Million

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/11/19/star-citizen-smashes-previous-video-game-crowd-funding-records-raising-6-2-million/

 

Had the ex-ACES folks banded together to create an exciting presentation for a new flight simulation program to seek crowd funding, just imagine what might have been the result...

Recently, there was news that "crowd funding" for a new space based simulation actually reached $6.2m.

 

'Star Citizen' Smashes Previous Video Game Crowd-Funding Records Raising $6.2 Million

 

http://www.forbes.co...ng-6-2-million/

 

Had the ex-ACES folks banded together to create an exciting presentation for a new flight simulation program to seek crowd funding, just imagine what might have been the result...

 

A valid point.

 

But I think it was also very much a different time, then.

 

The people funding Star citizen are from a very broad base of consumers essentially looking for the ultimate space shooter; essentially a war game, and those always sell, even in the aviation market.

 

The current narrow, systems-oriented civilian flight market would likely be driving for a sort of PMDG-SIM with state of the art visuals. Which frankly would probably excite only the most committed simulation aviation devotees. While I would be happy to be proven wrong, I suspect that even crowd-sourcing would not generate the necessary funds.

 

And didn't some ex-Aces people actually band together for a while before dropping completely from sight?