Hi,FScom2004 is out but one thing is pretty weird here...It is a program on wich you actually no longer need to reply to ATC by typing the keys 1, 2, 3, etc from the keyboard but you actually speak (english only) to the ATC via a microphone and of course using MS' Speech Recognition System. I did some surfing on the net and I have found out that this wonderful feature has gone almost undetected by casual and even experienced users of FS2004 and FS2002. The ATC Simulator 2 wich uses this kind of interaction has had great reviews and lots of debating and so on but for a strange reason the opposite happened to FSCOM, on wich the person has to do the talking in a pilot's position and not in a controller's position.It seems that FSCOM hasn't had a big appealing from the FS crowd.There have been only a single review in english by simflight's but it was from the 2002 version and that was that. Even AVSIM and Flightsim have both just announced the 2004 version and not yet giving it a complete review. I did send an email suggesting reviewing and I am awaiting for an answer from both sites. I would like to know from the users who did buy this software how good it is. At the FSCOM's site http://www.fssoftware.de/home.html there is only transcriptions between the ATC and the Pilot-user and no videos nor sound files to check out the Speech recognition feature working. I have tried to contact them but still I have not received an email back. Other thing I am curious is if you will receive it via postal mail or if it is downloadable. Thanks!

Hi,Just to make it short. I bought it, never received the CD, although I've been told that the CD was sent. So, the author finally let me download it. The only shipping option is via postal mail and there is no tracking info.Resuming functional apects: you can use both or key and SR, too many bugs, overpriced, not very professional support, as I myself had to suggest options to solve application problems. Ther are parts which are not finished, poor help file, inconsistencies like selecting runway in advance without taking in account weather, aircraft type and much more.It gives an impression of dealing with an alpha stage product.My opinion, don't waste your money as I did because it needs too many improvements. If you want to use SR, there are better and cheaper options.Hope this helps.P.D. I have already uninstalled it from my sistem.

Gee Gigabyte,Sorry to hear of such poor results and taking the plung. Took a look at the site. That's expensive for such a buggy product. Sounds like a one man operation who hasn't quite got their act together. Then again the thread says they have been around since FS2002.I think there are several of us out there exploring the possibility to "talk" to the ATC rather than use the keyboard. You mentioned there are other methods and cheaper ways to achieve this? What are those? I would like to explore that further.

Hi Pilot,Well, I've followed the same logic as you about them being around from 2002 and thought, even after reading some review of HIS application (to be more precisely), that this could be a good product. But, as there was no demo, I decided to take my chances and left unsatisfied. I could write a very long post about the functionality, but I'd rather not. I send quite a few mails to the author and even offer myself, being a systems developer for almost 20 years now, to help him with bug reports and suggestions, but I ended doing that and not enjoying the flights, so I send my appologizes to the author because I couldn't fight the feeling that I've paid 55 bucks for being sort of beta tester. But, I also express my wishes to him that one day he'll manage to make FSCOM worth the price.Anyway, about speech recognition, I have bought time ago "Game Commander" which is not cheap but worked fine for me. Also I've heard of good experiences with Voice Buddy. I think you should better start a new thread about this matter, so people more involved with SR could offer some guidelines to you.Regards,Gig

You could try Shoot 1.6 which works great plus the price is nice (free). Basically assigns phrases to key commands via MS speech recognition. Very handy. I use it alot to control wingmen/AWACS/ATC/Tankers in Falcon 4.0 and also ATC in FS2004. You can actually make some very complex speech profiles that somewhat mimic atc commands, it's really up to you and your imagination and patience. There are some profiles for MS200X on the main site to get you started. Link is...http://clans.gameclubcentral.com/shoot/Only problems I've had seem to be due to my crappy Mic and the MS speech software.Austin

Hi, sorry for the delay answwering...Cookie problem in this forum.Thanks all for checking on this topic. But as Giga said and I do believe him I see that FSCOM is not yet a break point in SR. I hope that MS will implement that on FS2006 because I believe that the ATC must be at least SR capable to attract much attention for the next version. I did check upon Shoot 1.6 but it is only a command-only software very limited. I did have some configuration like let's say I always fly a N6578. Since the ATC has option 1 2 3 and even 4 if I want option # 2 I'd say bla bla bla November 5 7 8. Option 2 November 7 8 and so on. Each reply with a slight difference in the callsign for having the proper option selected. Any ideas? Just the thought of having FS2004 ATC with SR just like in ATC 2 was very, very good at the time. No more VATSIM??? IVAO?? Who knows what the future holds for us?Pilot_76

I've been using Game Commander since FS2002 and have a button on the joystick assigned (via FSUIPC) as a push to talk which enables the microphone (prevents unwanted noises from a: using processor time and b: your wife walking by the computer and saying engine shutdown at a critical time!). The words: Traffic, Clearance, Ground, Tower, Departure, Center, Approach all are programmed to bring up the ATC dialogue box, then just stating the numbers 1 through 9 just like they are printed on the screen will make that selection. I also have the settings for ATC with the pilot's voice off, no autoprompting so the screen doesn't come up with every AI comment.I experimented with several other combinations of voice commands but found that they didn't work well.First, because you will constantly be interupted by AI traffic, you need to get your command in in as little time as possible. Otherwise you will find yourself continually repeating the same thing over and over till you get the message through without an interuption.Second, the default ATC numbering system does not lend itself well to phrase type voice commands because the locations change depending on what commands are available. Were there a way to change this numbering to a more standard system it might work.I too looked over the FSCom2004 with great excitement but Gigabytes post certainly calmed down any urge to make a $50 experiment. I'll wait for a better review showing that the company has a better hold on making it work and customer service. The lack of many posts for this indicate that only a few users took the risk and it didn't turn out well.Zane