I have to wear shades...to borrow a line from ZZ Top.  FSX is going to be around for a long long time.  When 2020 rolls around, I bet developers will still be releasing addons for FSX.  LOL maybe by then your average mid range computers will actually be able to run FSX with full settings.

 

When Rob hinted at some of their future plans in the Pistion Duke updates thread, it got me thinking....

 

Think of all the developers that you know.  RealAir, A2A, Aerosoft, PMDG, Carenado, Lionheart, Majestic, Sibwings, Classics Hangar, Orbx..etc.  Some of these developers consist of a big team, some only consist of one or two guys.  They have all released a lot of great addons in the past, and no doubt have great addons yet to come.  These guys have years and years worth of addons in the pipeline.

 

So now think of how many major releases they release per year on average...maybe 1-4 or so, depending on complexity, team size and so on..   Then think of how many projects they have in the pipeline that we know about...then all the secret projects we DON'T know about yet.  Calculate that out.  We are talking about many many many more years of FSX as a primary platform for our hobby.

 

For all of FSX's little flaws and annoying bugs, it really is one hell of a program.  Maybe it is just as well Flight fizzled out.  Xplane will always have it's loyal following.  P3D might eventually bridge things together, but for the long forseeable future, FSX is here to stay as a standard for Flight simulation.

 

Cheers

TJ

For all of FSX's little flaws and annoying bugs, it really is one hell of a program

 

You're absolutely RIGHT!

 

I think to myself many times, even being now a great fan of X-Plane 10 and someone who sees in that simulator a bright future as well, that indeed MSFS  ( now also P3D ) are simply the best overall simulation platforms ever developed for the simmers :-)

 

They come with enough features and were designed with enough "wide angle of view" for the future to allow the most talented 3pds to continue giving us good reasons not to stop using them.

 

A well modeled aircraft for FSX / P3D ( and, why not, fs9 too ) is still probably the best there is for that model ( with the exception of military models / fighters, although CFS2 was also a great platform... ).  

 

Although X-Plane's free OSM scenery is indeed GREAT, last night after having installed FTX Global I felt simply amazed at the level of quality and detail ( even being generic textures / autogen ) that that add-on provided.

 

The big difference can still be the investment. In order to have a good looking FSX / P3D with an hangar filled with good aircraft, you'll have to spend a little fortune!...

Couldn't agree more - we have somewhat of an empire with add-ons and our understanding of the complex workings of the sim. It would be almost impossible for most of us to drop everything and move to a new simulator in the foreseeable future. FSX has it's issues, but in time even those will likely get fixed. It's a solid program with great graphics and I don't think we'll be leaving it for a fair time to come.

also got to add on vatsim, for your virtual ATC!

 

 

www.vatsim.net

Well, with the wrong settings in SweetFX, FSX's future is certainly bright !!  :lol:

Must agree: FSX does a very good job when combined with quality addons. Even the 4GB VAS restriction still can take you a looooong way getting a fine experience from this sim.

 

Still I'm a bit ... curious to find out what will happen, after PMDG has started developing for X-Plane ...   :rolleyes:

 

 

after PMDG has started developing for X-Plane ...

 

Easy answer: X-Plane 10 will get even become even better :-)

I am not that sure. How will the users of FSX renew in the long run ?  How will the general users will learn about FSX with no publicity from MS selling FSX.

I am 75 years old. When I die who will take my place as FSX user ?

I agree Flight Simulation is great but it seems such a limited goup of people in the general PC users.

I am very thankful for MSFX. And, especially, for the fact that MS abandoded the project some years ago by shutting down the whole studio that developed the sim. I don't think that we would have that kind of sophisticated flight environment with all the great addons, from planes over scenery to other stuff, such as, elektronic flight bags, if MS would have continued to bring out further versions every 2-3 years. I think FSX with all of its limitations forced the developers to get everything possible out of it, an effort they wouldn't have made if there would be new versions every couple of years.

 

Kind regards,

Markus

I am not that sure. How will the users of FSX renew in the long run ?  How will the general users will learn about FSX with no publicity from MS selling FSX.

I am 75 years old. When I die who will take my place as FSX user ?

I agree Flight Simulation is great but it seems such a limited goup of people in the general PC users.

Prepar3D 2.0 will be the new kid on the block.

 

 

I think FSX with all of its limitations forced the developers to get everything possible out of it, an effort they wouldn't have made if there would be new versions every couple of years.

 

I agree with this statement. Look at how all the major developers (and many of the minor ones) of FS9 quickly jumped to FSX. Today they are still developing and improving addons for FSX. Long live FSX. :lol:

Agree with everything except the ZZ Top part. It's a Timbuk 3 song.

Agree with everything except the ZZ Top part. It's a Timbuk 3 song.

Beat me to it! :-)

It really is amazing what comes out these days with all the limitations and bugs FSX has. If it was that bad, developing would've stopped a long time ago. Just look at this PMDG 777! How they can produce that with FSX being so old and limited is truly a remarkable accomplishment.

 

I vote for PMDG to develop the next simulator platform!

 

In all seriousness though I hope P3D really shines and reinvents FSX. Somehow someway the licensing will work itself out and same with all devs being on board. Somehow. Just hope.

Orbx said it was going to be quite the sim in the future. They must know a whole lot more we don't.

 

Keep on flying!

I think developer such as A2A, VRS, PMDG...etc... have shown us that any limitation in FSX can be worked around with outside programming.  Accusim and Tackpak for instance bring things to FSX that were previously unachievable within the framework of FSX.  Given time I think more of FSX's limitations will be solved with similar work arounds.  

 

Think about this, VRS could have spent their time and resources developing their F/A-18E for something like DCS where it would have been in it's environment.  Instead they chose to spend that time developing this 'Superbug' for FSX.  Now really what are you going to use a sophisticated jet fighter in a civilian flight sim other than for a fast joy riding machine? 

 

With Tackpack you can start to bring 'DCS' to FSX.  Granted now it isn't as complex as the current combat sims, but give it a few years.  Milviz, Razbam, VRS, A2A, CS and other makers of combat aircraft are and will be applying this technology to their combat machines.  FSX now has the potential to be a robust combat arena too.  The point is is that these developers have proven that given time, everything is possible and in FSX.

 

Lol yeah sorry about the mistaken ZZ reference, that's just where I heard the line

 

Cheers

TJ