Hello everybody,Recently I came across an ATC program called FsComat www.pointsoftware.deAfter having used Proflight 2000 in Fs2000 and Fs2002 I am still looking for an ATC programm with country specific chatter. It seems that this program has that.At Simflight.com there are two short reviews from 2 years ago.Before purchasing it I would like to have some more info from fellow simflyers who know the program or maybe even use the program.All feedback is welcome.Gerard Salden

hey Gerard, I've posted the same question.Search for author: Pilot_76 on the forum and you will come across my post. Lots of answers from a tech guy that said FScom2004 is an alpha stage software and really is better to wait for FS2006.Pilot_76

Have you looked into Editvoicepack by Lars M

Hello guys,Thanks for the responds.I am getting an honest opportunity to try FsCom.Ofcoarse it will not be that enhanced as Radar Contact, but after having read all the info and reviews ( thise where quiet positive btw ) I think it can be compared in a way to Proflight 2000.Last year there was a How to at Flightsim.com from me explaining on how to get Proflight 2000 to work in Fs2002.Lots of people where happy to use it again, if only for all the country specific accents.Many people having Proflight 2000 back than complained of not being able to fly all Sids/stars/Dps.The program had some small upfardes in 2001 and the database editor gave you the opportunity to create all procedures manuelly.almost no one know that.Really Proflight 2000 was/is years ahead.After giving FsCom a good try I will post my experiences here at Avsim.Best regards,Gerard Salden

Gerard, please I'd like to especially hear from you regarding the Speech Recognition engine from FScom2004. Other thing, the guys from FScom told me that you can buy a downloadable version. Thing is that I do not feel very comfortable by actually having my credicard number + the 3 security numbers logged on paypal server...Pilot_76.

Very exciting news Gerard,I look forward to hearing from your experiences with this program. How I would love to take off and be told to fly a particular heading to intercept a given radial of a named navaid or fly to a named intersection. It looks like FSCom will do this but I'm sure you will tell us and report if there are any strange lurking bugs beneath the surface.Best wishes,Zane

Hello guys,Next week I will get the change to take a better look at FsCom.Regarding Proflight , like Fscom the controllers have no particular accents.However the ATC pilots are having them.So an ATC pilot from a Spanish airline will have a Spanish accent.It is very unreal to hear a Spanish pilot talk with a Kansas accent.I will keep you all posted.Gerard

Hi Gerard,I don't want to be a party breaker, but I've also used Proflight in fs2000 and fs2002 and the only thing I can say is that for me this piece of software has many bugs, poor documentation, very bad key handling (i.e. FSCOM loads a module that intercept the keys to see who they are meant for, but for some reason the same module block some key combinations like Alt-Enter. When I told that to the author, he said that he has already received questions about this issue, but can't understand yet why is happening).To me ProFlight is a masterpiece compared with FSCOM 2004. As I said in my earlier post that pilot_76 mentioned, poor functionality, poor documentation, way overpriced for what it delivers. For example you determine the runway and select the SID without taking into account weather parameters; second the ATC - Pilot voices are mostly with european accent and sound strange in a way that sometimes are really very difficult to understand. Not to mention runtime errors in the generated adventures which I had to edit manually in order to make it work.That's my perception of FSCOM after being a user of Radar Contact, ProFlight, FSNav and FSBuild among others.It would be interested to here your opinion. In my case I am still regreting those 55 bucks.Best Wishes,Gig

Hello guys,Like I wrote about FsCom I can only judge afterhaviong it tried. Regarding Proflight;in my opinion there is still interest in such a program.Unfortunately Robert MacKay left the FS scene several years ago, so I am afraid that it won't be updated again. Dave March ( from FDC ) has also been involved in it later.He is the one thatcreated the Database Editor in order to make sids/Stars.Proflight uses APLC as adventure compiler.I am very sure that with not to many source code changes the ABL compiler will handle it too.And it is possible to create extra voice sets with Proflight.As Wideview flyer I am using a server and several clients.I have been thinking abou building an extra client Put Fs2002 on that and use it as the sever when flying.All other outside view pc's could run Fs2004.In that way I still could use Proflight.But then I had to check lots of airports and I could only use addon airports who can run in both Fs2002 abd Fs2004.Ms always replaces scenery every new Fs version.Regards,Gerard

Hello guys,After several days of using FsCom I am coming back to you with my experiences till sofar.The program layout and the way that it has been built ( FsCom 2004 version 1.6 ) is very good looking.As a former Proflight 2000 and default Fs2004 ATC user I can make a real good comparison.First of all : Fs2004 uses the ABL adventures generator instead of APLC like till Fs2002.ABL is a better program generator but also more difficult and therefor making adventures with it is a bit different inside the program.Shortly said :- Very good looking layout- Good Help manuel (seems to be an improved one )- Lots of options : type of aircraft , fuel quantity ( for V1 , VR , V2 ), time , startup position , Sids /Stars etc.You can choose a copilot who sets radio's and or autopilot , who goes through checklists, you can hear cabin personel, the co pilot can even do things like gear up or flaps.It is working with MS Speech recognition and that really needs training. Without it almost half is not understood.If you install it without speech recognition you can add your own voice program and assign FsCom keypresses ( which will be converted to commands ).You can fly sIDs and STAR, add them modifie them as you like.One small isue is that ABL needs to know the SID or STAR you will be flying.Impossible if you use a weather program ( especially online ).I have come up with an easy solution : startup FS, position the aircraft .Then startup your weather program and download the weather for your departure /arrival airport.In the weather info windows you can see the wind directions for both departing and arrival airport.Now you know the wind directions.Startup FsCom and make the adventure.As you know the wind directions you can choose your SID and STAR.Save the adventure .In Fs choose End Flight.Now choose the Flight adventure of FsCom.The weather program can run all the time.For every flight you need to make a new flightplan, as because of the wind, but in reality they do that too.Ofcoarse wind directions can change a bit , but hardly more than 40 degrees within 3 hours.Oh ja, all countries from the world are devided into small peaces.For each peace local ATC chatter has been choosen.You can even add extra ATC chatter, like I did.Summary :very promissing program and I have had an email from Pointsoft that they are working on extra features like : you can choose between a custom adventure time or Fs Time on startup, possibility of to choose other runways , more info on the printed flightplan.As a former Proflght 2000 flyer I think that this program is what I was looking for for more than a year now.I will keep you informed after having done multiple flights.Happy flying,

Gerard:thanks for your feedback on this program; I absolutely loved Proflight 2000, so I was very interested to learn about fscom. However, I still don't understand what it actually does, and what the advantage would be in using it (especially compared to the stock ATC and to Radar Contact).I've read both the English and the German descriptions on pointsoftware's webpage, but I'm not sure I fully understand what the program does:"Der Flugplan wird grafisch und tabellarisch dargestellt. An- und Abflugprozeduren sowie Waypoints lassen sich per Mausklick in den Plan einf

I have the same question. What about the ATC portion of the program?I use Radar Contact, and MS Default ATC and I really want to know why FS COM 2004 is better than either of these?It appears since it generates an ABL file you have to load it on the same machine that is running FS 2004. One question is why compile to an ABL? Why not just drive the ATC via an external application. This ABL approach is kind of outdated, just look at programs like Radar Contact, Active Sky for weather.. They just update / monitor FS 2004 via FSUIPC?What advantage does the ABL give you? Is it more interactive with the FS ATC? How does it interact with the A/I aircraft?Hopefully the FS COM 2004 author will put a sample ABL file so we can get an idea of how it works.I emailed the people at FS COM and asked them if FS COM had been reviewed along with these questions. They said a review with the other main Flight Sim site in the works.So until someone at AVSIM or the other site reviews the product, or more information is provided, more feedback from satisfied users, probably good to hold off for awhile. Especially with the $55 price tag!Barry

Hello guys,Some questions I can answer but after several weeks I will know more.First of all it is different than RC.RC is more enhanced than FsCom, but is has been more enhanced than Proflight 2000 too.The power of this program is that you have a flightplanner and adventure creator in one and that you ahve country and even region dependent ATC chatter ( accents ).The flightplanner lets you choose the aircraft , the airline and the fuel quantity ( for V1 , VR and V2 ).Then you can make your route from A to B; either automatically or manually.In your flightplan you can put a SID and a STAR.You can put in more rthan one SID or STAR ,but then they would be choosen randomely.FsCom has 8 different controllers and they will guide you from startup till taxiing to parking.FsCom does nothing with the AI traffic as it uses real world recorded ATC chatter.That means that AI chatter is off.The chatter is not only country dependent ,but also region dependent.Beside that you can add extra recordings.I have downloaded many on the IN for use with FDC and now with FsCom.FsCom and FDC have lots of the same features :cabin personel, co pilot, checklists , ATC background chatter etc.What makes it so nice is the speeech recognition.And you can choose to see the ATC info on screen too or not even at all.Then you will only hear it.Like Proflight had.ABL is not outdated,it only has its limlits.RC is the most enhanced ATC program.But you need alot of knowledge on ATC flying. What FsCom has are those country and even region dependent accents from the ATC chatter and that's what makes it different.It's like a combination of several RC features and FDC + some extra features.Give me a couple of weeks extra and I will be able to give you more details.

> This ABL approach is kind of outdatedI don't know anything about FSCOM and I'll watch this space, but if ABL were so outdated why would MS use it for it's ineractive lessons? Interestingly the F1 C172 comes with an excellent ABL checkride made by one of the guys who was on the Borland Delphi development team (and who is also a licensed pilot) - very cutting edge IHMO.

Hello everybody,After having tried FsCom now several times I am getting the hang of it.Shortly said : I really like this program !The layout looks real good and there are many many options and features.From startup till shutdown you have controllers and your co pilot.Each level has a new controller and for me , living in the Netherlands, it is nice to hear controllers with European accents instead of American accents.The background chatter is real recorded chatter and depents on the region ( some countries are divided in regions ! ) you are flying above.For me it was like having Proflight back with some extra features.I have sent multiple emails to Pointsoft with questions and they all where answered the same day.They wrote to me that they working on some extra features for the program which will be added very shortly.In my opinion this is way better than default ATC but not that difficult that I have to know all ins and outs of ATC.MS Speech Recognition is very sensitive , so I made my own GameCommander file and that is working fine.Really, the ability to talk to a controller and getting an answer instead of pushing buttons is a world of a difference.I will keep on using it and even think of doing a review about it.Happy flying,