This is what our flight sims could look like

[Rocky_53]

edit

[HiFlyer]

And don't forget the Wings of Prey engine. Its DirectX 9c, but still pretty, even after 3 years. Might be available, now.........

 

I doubt its world is a globe, but we have kind of already established that full earth coverage was unlikely, anyway.......

 

[Guest John_Cillis]

And don't forget the Wings of Prey engine. Its DirectX 9c, but still pretty, even after 3 years. Might be available, now.........

 

I doubt its world is a globe, but we have kind of already established that full earth coverage was unlikely, anyway.......

 

 

Wow--some of the best cloud effects I've seen! Too bad the sim is out of print and/or can't be downloaded (as far as I can tell). That video gives a great sense of flight, even if I am not into war sims.

 

John

[HiFlyer]

Wow--some of the best cloud effects I've seen! Too bad the sim is out of print and/or can't be downloaded (as far as I can tell). That video gives a great sense of flight, even if I am not into war sims.

 

John

 

 

Its on Steam for $19.99 Demo can be had as well to the middle right of the screen.

 

I have always loved just soaring along in Wings of Prey. I suspect if even this 3 year old level of graphics was available in our current sims (you know which ones I mean) we would probably be ecstatic.

 

[Guest John_Cillis]

Its on Steam for $19.99 Demo can be had as well to the middle right of the screen.

 

I have always loved just soaring along in Wings of Prey. I suspect if even this 3 year old level of graphics was available in our current sims (you know which ones I mean) we would probably be ecstatic.

 

 

Still can't decide whether to buy this sim. The Steam price cannot be beat, and I have Steam installed for the Train Simulator. But as a 50 something "Peacenik" shoot 'em up games aren't really my niche. If the sim has a good free flight mode, where I can just fly around and enjoy the graphics, then I'd buy it. The cloud rendering is the best I've seen in any sim. It looks exactly like clouds look as you enter them in real life. The VC's are also excellent, and the aircraft shadowing is great.

 

I wonder if this is a sim that fully utilizes graphics cards, or is cpu dependent. My cpu is quad core, good for its day, but still slow compared to today's cpus.

 

John

[HiFlyer]

Still can't decide whether to buy this sim. The Steam price cannot be beat, and I have Steam installed for the Train Simulator. But as a 50 something "Peacenik" shoot 'em up games aren't really my niche. If the sim has a good free flight mode, where I can just fly around and enjoy the graphics, then I'd buy it. The cloud rendering is the best I've seen in any sim. It looks exactly like clouds look as you enter them in real life. The VC's are also excellent, and the aircraft shadowing is great.

 

I wonder if this is a sim that fully utilizes graphics cards, or is cpu dependent. My cpu is quad core, good for its day, but still slow compared to today's cpus.

 

John

 

Lets put it this way: Graphics cards that can barely push FSX minimum graphics do well here on full, and those full graphics exceed FSX on max. I spent yesterday jumping in and out of several flight sims on my machine, and even as good as Orbx scenery can be, their hands are tied by the limitations of FSX. This games default matches or more usually exceeds that in pretty much all but night lighting and Orbx's latest moving trees, animals etc.

 

Plus the clouds and atmospherics are pretty much untouchable overall, though add-on packages for fsx (which, I might point out exceed the entire cost of this game and all its planes) have much more detailed settings.

 

You can fly unmolested anywhere you want in training mode. ^_^

 

Its not perfect by any means but its a explanation of my frustration with the general lack of true progress in simulation graphics when things like this, not even using Dx10 or 11 were available years ago. Its hard not to drool imagining FSX playing and looking like this. (though more modern day of course)

 

If you like clouds, also take a look at the video below. I will link the demo so those interested can play around with it and imagine it in Xplane!! For 2013 they have just added God-Rays and some other effects. http://cdn.sundog-so...lining-demo.exe

 

The Sundog website

 

Other Demos

 

We have a lot of catching up to do!

 

SilverLining Triton

[HansRoaming]

Looks like all the ingredients are about, just needs someone to combine them into a suitable recipe!

[Guest John_Cillis]

Well, I'm in a world of hurt now. Friggin' Steam. I tried to purchase Wings of Prey, and first issue I had was logging into my account. So I decided to run Steam from my desktop. It installed an "update" and Bingo--it crashes now with a DEP error. I cannot even run Train Simulator any longer.

 

I tried to send a support email using the email address I used when I enrolled in Steam and I'm told I don't exist, so I can't even email their friggin' support. That's what I hate about layers of security like this. If they crash, you lose access to your installed applications. Now I'm dead in the water, so to speak.

 

John

[HiFlyer]

Well, I'm in a world of hurt now. Friggin' Steam. I tried to purchase Wings of Prey, and first issue I had was logging into my account. So I decided to run Steam from my desktop. It installed an "update" and Bingo--it crashes now with a DEP error. I cannot even run Train Simulator any longer.

 

I tried to send a support email using the email address I used when I enrolled in Steam and I'm told I don't exist, so I can't even email their friggin' support. That's what I hate about layers of security like this. If they crash, you lose access to your installed applications. Now I'm dead in the water, so to speak.

 

John

 

Never had anything like that happen to that extent, but then all my passwords and etc are written down and I also use Roboform to remember them....... :unsure:

 

​Try re-installing the Steam client? http://store.steampowered.com/about/

[Guest John_Cillis]

Never had anything like that happen to that extent, but then all my passwords and etc are written down and I also use Roboform to remember them....... :unsure:

 

​Try re-installing the Steam client? http://store.steampowered.com/about/

 

Just tried that. Fixed the DEP issue but in the process of reinstalling the client, it removed Train Simulator entirely from my hard drive! I was never prompted for this produc's removal. I was also forced to create a new account. I have an email into Steam Support and fortunately I have my original Train Simulator emails. Hopefully though I will sort this out on my own. I keep hearing in my thoughts "Patience Grasshopper" All this because I tried to download a new game--I think a divine power is trying to send me a message here. But I won't give up yet!

 

P.S. The DEP issue made me suspect a virus, but I just did a scan and no probs there. It's just possible my web died for a moment during the update and corrupted my Steam files. I had to go through a fifteen minute process to reestablish my Steam account with my old user name and password. But that seemed to work and now I log in successfully when the Steam client launches.

 

 

John

[HiFlyer]

Just tried that. In the process of reinstalling the client, it removed Train Simulator entirely from my hard drive! I was also forced to create a new account. I've decided I'm not going to pay for Train Simulator again if I am prompted. I have an email into Steam Support and fortunately I have my original Train Simulator emails. All this because I tried to download a new game--I think a divine power is trying to send me a message here. At least I still have MSFS to enjoy.

 

John

 

Hmmmmmmm..... I cant even imagine the stream of circumstances leading up to that........ Sorry to hear it!

 

I have found intermittent reports of DEP interfering with some programs, including Steam, but not if the programs are run as Administrator......

[Guest John_Cillis]

Hmmmmmmm..... I cant even imagine the stream of circumstances leading up to that........ Sorry to hear it!

 

I have found intermittent reports of DEP interfering with some programs, including Steam, but not if the programs are run as Administrator......

 

I run everything as Admin--I have UAC turned off since I am the only one with access to my system. Since the reinstall installed the latest Steam update successfully, something had to be corrupt. Train sim is still trying to install. I will let you know what happens. When I tried to go to Steam to purchase Wings of Prey, I found the site incredibly slow--almost like it was under a DOS attack.

 

John

 

Edit: After about 45 minutes, Train Simulator installed and restarted successfully. As usual, after it updated it looked even better than before. With my new graphics card the sim is incredibly smooth. Sorry to hijack the thread--not sure if I will purchase Wings of Prey given all I had to go through to get Train Sim and Steam working again.

 

Final Edit: I went ahead and puchased Wings of Prey, this time while logged in to the Steam app directly vs. through their website. The purchase went smoothly and the download is in progress. I'll let you know how things go, which should bring this thread back on topic. Sorry to vent about Steam. Hopefully whatever the issue was won't happen again.

[Guest John_Cillis]

Never had anything like that happen to that extent, but then all my passwords and etc are written down and I also use Roboform to remember them....... :unsure:

 

​Try re-installing the Steam client? http://store.steampowered.com/about/

 

Ok, Wings of Prey is installed and running. Funny, Steam told me it would ask for a product key but so far it hasn't.

 

My performance with this product even exceeds the videos in terms of smoothness. At max settings my fps is beyond 30. Don't know the precise number since I don't know if the game includes a fps counter. Graphics are beyond any Flight Sim I've ever installed. Entering and exiting clouds looks like real life. Aircraft fly very well so far--granted I've only been running the game about fifteen minutes.

 

For anyone who wants an inexpensive Flight Sim that exceeds MSFS or Xplane in detail, that fully utilizes a reasonable graphics card, this is it. As I said, I don't care for shoot 'em up games but this game lets one fly in a free flight mode. It really gives the sensation of flight.

 

John

[HiFlyer]

Now watch some replays of your flights or try some heavy weather............... ^_^

 

There are also some extra decals available and one DLC pack.

 

And some skinning tools to paint your own planes, and several templates.

[Guest John_Cillis]

Now watch some replays of your flights or try some heavy weather............... ^_^

 

There are also some extra decals available and one DLC pack.

 

And some skinning tools to paint your own planes, and several templates.

 

It's amazing I never stumbled on this title before. However I did not have a video card capable of giving the program a go until recently. I'm mesmerized by the graphics and am amazed that I can fly with skies full of aircraft (I tried out one of the combat scenarios) with such smoothness. GPU's have certainly come a long way in what they can do. Going back to the theme of this thread, I think a new civilian sim can be made that far surpasses what FSX and X-Plane offers, given the current crop of video cards available today. In fairness to X-Plane, I haven't tried V10 yet. So I haven't seen what it offers and haven't seen how it would perform with my graphics card. I may give it a go if I can find it for sale in a retail store.

 

This has been a great thread. One of my favorites since visiting Avsim. I've been exposed to new (and not so new) technology that my current system can enjoy. Right now, I have a free flight going in Wings of Prey over the British countryside. Back to the enjoyment of flight!

 

John