What now, Microsoft?

[Kattz 132]

I looked through the other forums and couldn't find the right place to put this, so I put it here. Mods, feel free to relocate to somewhere more appropriate if necessary.

 

I pulled up FSBuild and set up a flight plan from KSEA to KSFO this evening, tied REX Essentials to it, computed my loadout with TOPCAT, loaded nDAC 3 for my airport charts, fired up the 737NGX with FS2Crew, loaded my .rte, set up my SID and STAR, and altenate/hold, and off I went.

 

As I reached TOC at FL340 and the sky was setting among the clouds, I thought to myself, "Wow; this is a pretty good product." But without PMDG, or REX, or all of the scenery devs, or addon devs, FSX would just be a 8 year-old platform with crappy graphics and limited AI. If it wasn't for all of the addon studios, FSX would've faded away in my opinion.

 

From what I can see, most of the users are using high-end multi-core systems that would kick serious butt for first-person shooter or RPG sims. And yet, we're using about a third of our total processing power to run our sims.

 

So now what? MS seems to have forgotten about us as a community, and it's a large community that isn't afraid to drop $ on a product and hardware. X-plane? No thanks, have messed around with it on another system and it's not for me.

 

I'd really like to know what's in store in the future for us as far as the next-gen FSX software. Just rambling on... sorry.

 

Kev

[Bert Pieke 3,237]

Sorry to break this to you - but Microsoft is out of the FlightSim business.

 

So, the simple answer is: Look elsewhere...maybe P3D, maybe X-plane, who knows..

 

Just enjoy FSX with all the add-ons - that is what I do B)

[Jacoba 34]

But without PMDG, or REX, or all of the scenery devs, or addon devs, FSX would just be a 8 year-old platform with crappy graphics and limited AI. If it wasn't for all of the addon studios, FSX would've faded away in my opinion.

 

See MS Flight...

[Matthew Kane 984]

Who knows what tomorrow will bring. When I was a kid Atari was the biggest name in video gaming, never thought they would fade away, but they did. Markets change and companies come and go.

[HiFlyer 5,795]

You seem like a technical simmer, but if you are looking for a taste of whats possible with modern systems and graphics in a flight sim (and an example of how far behind civilian sims have fallen in many areas) you could always take a quick look at War Thunder.

 

Free download is here: http://warthunder.com/

 

[ZachLW 36]

You seem like a technical simmer, but if you are looking for a taste of whats possible with modern systems and graphics in a flight sim (and an example of how far behind civilian sims have fallen in many areas) you could always take a quick look at War Thunder.

 

Free download is here: http://warthunder.com/

 

 

Well if we're going to drop links to amazing flight sims, Rise of Flight must be mentioned. Literally my favorite flight sim of all time, and the most cutting edge (ironic given it's time period portrayed).

[OzWhitey 2,026]

Aerofly has shown you can build a decent modern sim graphics engine. Just need to add the open platform model of fsx.

[Matthew Kane 984]

Aerofly has shown you can build a decent modern sim graphics engine. Just need to add the open platform model of fsx.

 

That one looks good.

[FSMP 95]

Simulation, has certainly come a long way in the past 10 year, especially the past 5.

Unfortunately, FSX was still locked into a design that really evolved from the early DOS days.

 

Here is an interesting observation.

 

This Sunday afternoon, I was at a Christmas party. Mixed adults and children.

In one of the rooms, there was an Ice Hockey game on the big screen TV.

 

Fair enough, I personally am not into Ice Hockey, but some at the partygoers obviously were. I was causally aware of the game taking place, actually looked quite exciting at times. It was some time before I noticed two kids, sitting on the sofa, near the TV, with controllers in their hands. AMAZINGLY, it was a COMPUTER GAME !! Only then, with careful examination of what was really happening on the screen, was it clear to be computer graphics.

 

Before you comment -- I was driving, so was NOT drinking !!!

[Matthew Kane 984]

AMAZINGLY, it was a COMPUTER GAME !!

 

Of course it was a computer game, Hockey is on strike. The only live hockey you will see on the big screen will be a video game....LOL :lol:

 

Cheers mate B)

[LawnDartLeo 6]

AMAZINGLY, it was a COMPUTER GAME !! Only then, with careful examination of what was really happening on the screen, was it clear to be computer graphics.

 

My wife has fallen more than once for some sports game on the PS3.... and they are older ones.

[Swofford 155]

Next Flight Sim will be card board boxes, plungers and lawn chairs just like when I was a kid. Imagination the most powerful PC!! Now where's my duct tape...

[HiFlyer 5,795]

Simulation, has certainly come a long way in the past 10 year, especially the past 5.

Unfortunately, FSX was still locked into a design that really evolved from the early DOS days.

 

Here is an interesting observation.

 

This Sunday afternoon, I was at a Christmas party. Mixed adults and children.

In one of the rooms, there was an Ice Hockey game on the big screen TV.

 

Fair enough, I personally am not into Ice Hockey, but some at the partygoers obviously were. I was causally aware of the game taking place, actually looked quite exciting at times. It was some time before I noticed two kids, sitting on the sofa, near the TV, with controllers in their hands. AMAZINGLY, it was a COMPUTER GAME !! Only then, with careful examination of what was really happening on the screen, was it clear to be computer graphics.

 

Before you comment -- I was driving, so was NOT drinking !!!

 

I started a thread on this once in the Microsoft Flight forum, with several examples of how far in-game graphics had come, and a glimpse at some things on the near horizon. The main point was how far this genre was falling behind the times, which is ironic, considering that flightsims were once the technology showcases of the PC world.

[simmerhead 884]

Aerofly FS is taking over. Hold on to your hats laies and gents: http://www.ipacs.de/forum/showthread.php/6110-aerofly-FS-Development-Status

[HiFlyer 5,795]

Aerofly FS is taking over. Hold on to your hats laies and gents: http://www.ipacs.de/forum/showthread.php/6110-aerofly-FS-Development-Status

 

Well, I have wondered when they would finally speak up. Looks nice!

 

Now if we can just keep from our usual habit of demanding a better-than-commercial-level simulator (due by the day after tomorrow) things might get very interesting.

 

(Wonder if that "coordinate change" has anything to do with a round earth?)