Last time I checked, PMDG was not the only Payware dev available to us :rolleyes:   Many more talented people out there, and many more sims to enjoy.

Of course there are, however, the 777 and 737 are my favorite aircraft IRL, so I find it difficult not to use PMDG's addons  :lol: . 

My next sim will be Aerowinx Precision Simulator 10 (PSX) due out soon: http://www.simflight.com/2013/11/08/psx-aerowinx-747-400-final-works/

 

Alex

I will just add P3D2 to my collection, and continue to use FS2004, FSX and P3D1.4 as before.

 

I'm not a "switcher". I like the flexibility of having several sims. That way I can tailor them to certain addons (scenery and aircraft). Aa we all know, the more addons you install into a single sim, the more likely you are to create conflicts and provoke a crash!

+1

 

I still run FS2002 occasionally as it had the most flexible AI engine of all flight sims so far. 

 

Unlike FS9 and FSX it is possible in FS2002 to assign AI traffic to different ends of the same runway for landing and takeoff. So at Kodiak (PADQ), where there's a 3000 ft mountain at the end of Rwy 25, you can assign AI traffic to land on Rwy 25 and take off on Rwy 7 as happens in the real world. You can't do that in FS2004 or FSX. 

Arent 95% of users on here strictly entertainment users? I'm not understanding the difference. I am  real world pilot with private pilot license for single engine aircraft and helicopters. Does that mean I am using fsx for training purposes or simply entertainment?

Arent 95% of users on here strictly entertainment users? I'm not understanding the difference. I am  real world pilot with private pilot license for single engine aircraft and helicopters. Does that mean I am using fsx for training purposes or simply entertainment?

It may surprise you that's exactly what many use FS9/FSX for. It's Microsoft who classified Flight Simulator as entertainment software. Everyone from the developers (Aces, MS's in house development team for FS) to the end user advanced Flight Simulator as much as humanly possible to mimic the real world and be a serious simulator. If that wasn't the case we wouldn't have seen an ATC engine built into the default platform with ability to add real world airline AI traffic around the world, real world global scenery coverage, and advancements in FS's weather engine over the years. On top of that we were given the ability to advance it further creating the likes of PMDG and Aerosoft to name a few. LM has finally taken the code and put some seriousness behind it. It was shameful X-Plane over the years was billed as a serious simulator over FS when FS has always been the more serious and refined of the two. The community has added so many options for one wanting to learn about flight. In one sim you can be a bush pilot in Alaska, an Airline Pilot, a Private Pilot, a historical pilot etc... We've debated here for years about the validity of the platform. When I used to go into the Level-D simulators North West Airlines had in my area (before Delta took everything away) I was amazed I could go into a 744 simulator thanks to PMDG and find myself familiar with the cockpit layout, FMC programming, and autopilot to name but a few things. I was also amazed at how sub par the graphics were compared to FS2k2 let alone FSX. I imagined how much more convincing all these training simulators would be if one could put a refined FSX like engine in them. Looks like LM had the same idea and they alone or Boeing are really the only two who could really pull it off considering the funding and support needed. That in my book is far more serious than a game title. Yes flying brings enjoyment but aviation heads have that bug from birth so anything aviation we'll find enjoyable. So 'Entertainment' should have never been classified for FS in the context of the term as it's used in marketing 'titles'. Maybe Microsoft has always been gun shy of proclaiming what they had on their hands or maybe they just didn't know how to market it as it was so different that their other software. Plus every title has to make them as much money as possible and saying it was a true serious sim might have turned some potential profit away.

 

Bottom line is LM is legitimizing a platform that should have been legitimized along time ago. They are making the sim a sim in the direction we always asked for. Their market is the aviation community not gamers so we all should be glade about that. No longer is the platform beholden to the same shelf as Halo. So in essence it's never been a game and this community has never used it as such. Looks like the Aces team have moved over to LM and can now freely develop the sim in the direction it's been going for the last 20 years.

It may surprise you that's exactly what many use FS9/FSX for. It's Microsoft who classified Flight Simulator as entertainment software. Everyone from the developers (Aces, MS's in house development team for FS) to the end user advanced Flight Simulator as much as humanly possible to mimic the real world and be a serious simulator. If that wasn't the case we wouldn't have seen an ATC engine built into the default platform with ability to add real world airline AI traffic around the world, real world global scenery coverage, and advancements in FS's weather engine over the years. On top of that we were given the ability to advance it further creating the likes of PMDG and Aerosoft to name a few. LM has finally taken the code and put some seriousness behind it. It was shameful X-Plane over the years was billed as a serious simulator over FS when FS has always been the more serious and refined of the two. The community has added so many options for one wanting to learn about flight. In one sim you can be a bush pilot in Alaska, an Airline Pilot, a Private Pilot, a historical pilot etc... We've debated here for years about the validity of the platform. When I used to go into the Level-D simulators North West Airlines had in my area (before Delta took everything away) I was amazed I could go into a 744 simulator thanks to PMDG and find myself familiar with the cockpit layout, FMC programming, and autopilot to name but a few things. I was also amazed at how sub par the graphics were compared to FS2k2 let alone FSX. I imagined how much more convincing all these training simulators would be if one could put a refined FSX like engine in them. Looks like LM had the same idea and they alone or Boeing are really the only two who could really pull it off considering the funding and support needed. That in my book is far more serious than a game title. Yes flying brings enjoyment but aviation heads have that bug from birth so anything aviation we'll find enjoyable. So 'Entertainment' should have never been classified for FS in the context of the term as it's used in marketing 'titles'. Maybe Microsoft has always been gun shy of proclaiming what they had on their hands or maybe they just didn't know how to market it as it was so different that their other software. Plus every title has to make them as much money as possible and saying it was a true serious sim might have turned some potential profit away.

 

Bottom line is LM is legitimizing a platform that should have been legitimized along time ago. They are making the sim a sim in the direction we always asked for. Their market is the aviation community not gamers so we all should be glade about that. No longer is the platform beholden to the same shelf as Halo. So in essence it's never been a game and this community has never used it as such. Looks like the Aces team have moved over to LM and can now freely develop the sim in the direction it's been going for the last 20 years.

 

Well said +10

a bunch snipped....

It was shameful X-Plane over the years was billed as a serious simulator over FS when FS has always been the more serious and refined of the two.

Very good Dillon. I agree with this assessment. X-Plane has it's place, but it's always been a marketing scheme to label FSX as the game, while X-Plane is a true simulator. I've been a pilot, an aircraft builder/owner and beta tester for three versions of MSFS, as well as a tester for various 3rd party addons. I'm very aware that people within Microsoft, as well as so many 3rd party developers put their heart into the product to make it as realistic as possible.Over these many years, I'm just not pro X-plane, simply because of all the bull, that's been presented on various forums over the years, when it comes to explaining flight dynamics. I do want an upgraded computer system. I plan on using several sims, including X-Plane. I just doubt I'll ever be one who favors X-Plane over the others.

It's threads like this that, I cannot help but recall, the Apple spamboys vs Android early adopters.And the debate continues to this day .... everybody trying to justify their investment.

 

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

 

 

FSX and FS9 will still be my main simulators.  I'm waiting for more feedback on P3D V2 after release to see if it's for me.  Right now, I really don't have a reason to get P3D.  My FSX runs just fine.  No OOM or CTD.

I fly airliners 99.9% of the time and it seems like FSX is still the better sim for that at the moment.

I would only point out that FSX And Microsofts entertainment focus helped it become the most successful and enduring sim of all time.

 

"Pure" simulation gets you X-plane. A broad tent gets you FSX, and military and government dollars lets us maybe ride on the coat tails of P3D.

 

I'm going to keep all options open.

I would only point out that FSX And Microsofts entertainment focus helped it become the most successful and enduring sim of all time.

 

"Pure" simulation gets you X-plane. A broad tent gets you FSX, and military and government dollars lets us maybe ride on the coat tails of P3D.

 

I'm going to keep all options open.

Without going back and looking up exact dates..........it was Microsoft and their $$$, that brought us real Jeppeson aviation charts, along with a much larger (real life) airport and terrain data base......than any competing "sim", back in the days of 2000 & 2002.

Without going back and looking up exact dates..........it was Microsoft and their $$$, that brought us real Jeppeson aviation charts, along with a much larger (real life) airport and terrain data base......than any competing "sim", back in the days of 2000 & 2002.

I stand corrected. :smile:

 

I just always hear alarm bells at any whisper of us and them talk. I've always believed that stratification and the resultant departure of "regular" folks led to the de-funding and ultimate demise of the first golden age of flight simming.

I posit that the major reason for Microsoft's insistence on calling the entire FS series as an "entertainment" package was more for liability protection reasons rather than marketing reasons...

 

For many years NAS Kingsville used FS in their ab-initio pilot training program. I was involved with helping set this program up. This program was later expanded to encompass training at Pensacola NAS, as well as Naval Reserve Officer Training Courses at 69 colleges.*

 

Later on, the Navy switched to ESP (since it was marketed as a simulator), and now use Prepar3D for the same reason.

 

* See: http://www.baseops.net/flightsimulators/

I'll wait for a year or so and be happy with FSX.

 

X-plane isn't there yet.

 

P3D looks promising but it's still FSX and all this P3D 2.0 talk makes me think of the Emperor modelling his new "outfit".

I posit that the major reason for Microsoft's insistence on calling the entire FS series as an "entertainment" package was more for liability protection reasons rather than marketing reasons...

 

For many years NAS Kingsville used FS in their ab-initio pilot training program. I was involved with helping set this program up. This program was later expanded to encompass training at Pensacola NAS, as well as Naval Reserve Officer Training Courses at 69 colleges.*

 

Later on, the Navy switched to ESP (since it was marketed as a simulator), and now use Prepar3D for the same reason.

 

* See: http://www.baseops.net/flightsimulators/

Certainly seems possible, but I would also point out that there was a strong consumer focus and a very broad tent was maintained throughout the series. It sometimes almost seems like the collective community memory is intent on erasing the existence of flying through squares and flour bombs! :lol:

 

A time when even children were welcome. I wonder how many cows would be birthed if something like this showed up in X-plane!!!

 

So: I will probably end up playing with 3PD but I keep firmly in mind that it only exists through the promise of Government money. And is aimed at a near mirror opposite of the original FSX target audience.