How big (or small) is the flight simming community worldwide?

[FSMP 95]

So P3D = ESP ? I mean, it is a professional platform ... just like ESP was before at Microsoft.

FS was made of ESP.

So somebody can make FS11 starting from P3D if LM accepts ? just like ACES made all Flight simulators starting from Microsoft's ESP ?

 

P3D is what LM have developed, using most of ESP, that they got from Microsoft.

 

ESP was developed from, and in parallel with FSX, ESP being for the Commercial Market.

 

So somebody can make FS11 starting from P3D if LM accepts ?

Big "IF". Can't see that happening for so many reasons.

 

just like ACES made all Flight simulators starting from Microsoft's ESP ?

 

NO, ESP was derived from FSX.

 

---

Remember, when Microsoft closed down Aces, they were primarily working on the next version of Train Simulator, that was going to be released BEFORE FS11.

 

FS11 would have benefited from that Train Simulator development, as well as ESP development. At the time that Aces closed, the primary drive was to get Train Sim out, so FS11 was probably taking a back seat, and was some considerable time from being released.

[simmerhead 885]

 

 

P3D is what LM have developed, using most of ESP, that they got from Microsoft.

 

ESP was developed from, and in parallel with FSX, ESP being for the Commercial Market.

 

 

Big "IF". Can't see that happening for so many reasons.

 

 

 

NO, ESP was derived from FSX.

 

---

Remember, when Microsoft closed down Aces, they were primarily working on the next version of Train Simulator, that was going to be released BEFORE FS11.

 

FS11 would have benefited from that Train Simulator development, as well as ESP development. At the time that Aces closed, the primary drive was to get Train Sim out, so FS11 was probably taking a back seat, and was some considerable time from being released.

 

You are correct. ESP is more a product of FSX than the other way around.

 

ACES were actually developing TS2, FS11 and ESP 2.0 simultaniously. The whole idea being that one common simulation engine could be shared between the three, and possibly other future concepts. One of the major new features of ESP 2.0 was better ground vehicle simulation.

 

The really interesting and missing piece of the pussle is why ACES was shut down and by who. Was it a rational or hot headed business decition?

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

Given this topic, I thought I would do a quick screen capture of our most recent Google Analytics of forum.avsim.net URL and here is what it shows for the last 30 days as of 3:30 p.m. EDT today.

 

 

The important number here is the 369,898 unique visitors. These are based upon unique IP's. So, if you discount this number by even 20% allowing for users coming in from multiple locations (home / work / school), that is still a number well over 290,000 users. That gives you a little more data to factor into determining the size of the global community that is on-line.

[Swofford 155]

Pretty small isn't it? Especially when game companies only count in millions of units sold.

[FSMP 95]

 

ACES were actually developing TS2, FS11 and ESP 2.0 simultaniously. The whole idea being that one common simulation engine could be shared between the three, and possibly other future concepts. One of the major new features of ESP 2.0 was better ground vehicle simulation.

 

 

In Train Sim, keeping the train wheels "on the track" was a primary concern, and was achieved.

The potential "Spin off" would have been that in FS11, aircraft would have made much more accurate contact with the Ground. No more "Flat Tires", or floating above the runway. -- But now, we will never know :(

 

One does not like to bring it up, but one should also factor in the number of FS users worldwide, with a torrent copy of FS. or a copy "from a friend".

 

Pretty small isn't it? Especially when game companies only count in millions of units sold.

 

Over 1/4 Million unique visitors in 30 days strike me was being very impressive.

 

If you consider the most Popular Computer Games, with players in the High Millions, I doubt if many of their Online Forums, have anywhere near as many unique visits / month.

 

Then again, I suspect most with those other Games are too busy PLAYING them, and not needing to spend so much time in Forums, trying to get help to figure out why the Game keeps crashing.

[DarkstarF16 72]

All I know is, that the Mayan calendar ends at some point on the 21st. It means that the man making the calendar either fell asleep, or might even have had a visit from some space alien who travelled forward in time and brought him back a copy of FSX. The Mayan opened the strange box and looked in wonder and amazement at the gleaming silver disk. He placed the disk on his desk and went to make a cup of Mayan tea. Upon his return the last rays of the setting sun caught on the silver disk which startled the Mayan who tripped and CTD'd into his desk. This caused the desk to shudder which spilled all his ink over the last few years of his work. This little silver disk had a lot to answer for because he could only retrieve dates up to the 21st. He picked up the disk and threw it towards the setting sun but a gust of wind caught it and it actually flew back and struck him in the temple! This is why the calendar ends and where the infamous crash to desktop was invented.

 

If this story is more than myth then FSX had a lot to answer for.

 

And the moral of this story is... If you believe any of the figures posted above then aliens may well exist and who can prove that this story is not a myth? That just leaves an unknown quantity, will we all still be flying in the 22nd?

 

Apologies for this drivel but numbers always do this to me!

 

Thank you.

 

[simmerhead 885]

 

Over 1/4 Million unique visitors in 30 days strike me was being very impressive.

 

If you consider the most Popular Computer Games, with players in the High Millions, I doubt if many of their Online Forums, have anywhere near as many unique visits / month.

 

Then again, I suspect most with those other Games are too busy PLAYING them, and not needing to spend so much time in Forums, trying to get help to figure out why the Game keeps crashing.

 

He he. That's one way to look at it.

 

What strikes me is how many lurkers there must be in these forums. Not that many of those 1/4 million chipping in to post here.

[Piggles 17]

Is flying fun? I always thought it was hours of boredom punctuated by moments of shear fear :blink: (I must be doing something wrong :crazy: )

 

You can't beat simming, the real world is full of Notams, rotten weather, rules, regulations, rules and more rules and regulations, hoops to jump and more rules and regulations. Fly a desk, it's better for your sanity. B)

[ViperPilot 81]

Pretty small isn't it? Especially when game companies only count in millions of units sold.

 

'Ya think?

 

You see the correlation... why do others think the FS Community has the same numbers as COD or WoW?

 

Lamenting about ACES, FS11, etc. is water under the bridge. They have moved on to more interesting and profitable projects.

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

There are 263,590.33 flight simmers worldwide.

 

You forgot J van E. :rolleyes:

[JSkorna 137]

No Ron I knocked on his door too!

[HiFlyer 9,343]

He he. That's one way to look at it.

 

What strikes me is how many lurkers there must be in these forums. Not that many of those 1/4 million chipping in to post here.

 

I ran a forum once for a popular mmo. We never had more than maybe 150 members/players overall, but site traffic soon showed thousands and thousands of hits. I could never figure out who the Frack all those other people were supposed to be, and why they would have the remotest interest in our little site.

 

I take all those numbers with a big grain of salt since then.

 

But yes, I lurked this forum for years. I contributed money through Paypal long before I ever dreamed of joining the site, and that was because I was scarfing free stuff at the time.

[gabejo 2]

The numbers of users aren't as important to developers as the bottom line. Sales.

[wims80 121]

The vast majority of those hits are spambots

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

The vast majority of those hits are spambots

 

I can't prove or disprove that, and neither can you. However, the "proof in the pudding" for me is that when you go to the index page of the forums and go all the way to the bottom, you will see a list of registered users on-line during any given 15 minute period. That number is typically 150+ at any given moment, and usually quite a bit more. And, spambots don't spend much time here once they have been rebuffed, which we do quite effectively (there are tools that we employ to keep them at bay)... I prefer to see the positive in those numbers. Your mileage can certainly vary.