What about DCS?  I know it's primarily a combat sim at the moment, but there is no reason for that other than a seeming lack of interest.  Admittedly at the moment you'd have exciting 777 flights from Sochi to Batumi but if people like ORBX got on board we'd have a usable sim, 64bit, nice flight model, usable interface no AI problems at all, build in support for mission creation, only ATC is lacking and even that is arguably better than X-Planes..  

Doubt DTG will do much at first and they should appeal to board middle of simmers. Xplane and P3d can take on FMC users and checklist addicts. If too geared toward hardcore it will be dud and too much like flight we all know how that ended up. It's tricky needle to theard.

Doubt DTG will do much at first and they should appeal to board middle of simmers. Xplane and P3d can take on FMC users and checklist addicts. If too geared toward hardcore it will be dud and too much like flight we all know how that ended up. It's tricky needle to theard.

Souped up Flight, with Facebook support, I suspect.

 

Or not. However it turns out though, what's sure is that people will be watching like hawks. If I were a 3rd party, I might be making polite inquiries............

 

Or listening for them.

Why are people still going on about DTG re-releasing Flight? pcgamer or whoever it was that released that retracted it and said that DTG plans on releasing FSX on Steam, and that the flight engine would be used for a NON-FLIGHTSIM project (most likely their fishing simulation they've announced), but that Flight will not be re-released.

Why are people still going on about DTG re-releasing Flight? pcgamer or whoever it was that released that retracted it and said that DTG plans on releasing FSX on Steam, and that the flight engine would be used for a NON-FLIGHTSIM project (most likely their fishing simulation they've announced), but that Flight will not be re-released.

 

Wait, what? Their next project will be using the Flight engine but it won't be a flight simulator?

 

As for their fishing simulator, it's been confirmed that it will use Unreal Engine 4.

 

 

pcgamer or whoever

 

Probably a cleaning person at MS, who heard it in the lunchroom, while taking out the trash, in the rain, last Tuesday, at 10 AM.

Why are people still going on about DTG re-releasing Flight? pcgamer or whoever it was that released that retracted it and said that DTG plans on releasing FSX on Steam, and that the flight engine would be used for a NON-FLIGHTSIM project (most likely their fishing simulation they've announced), but that Flight will not be re-released.

 

I call shenanigans. latest news from DTG shows no such info.

 

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/how-dovetail-games-wants-to-have-400-employees-in-five-years/0135498

Laminar just acts like its in its own universe free from mere market competition, yet its hard to see what such apparent complacency is based upon, as there seems little evidence of some deep pocketed big brother in the wings, hemorrhaging inexhaustible loads of excess development cash to keep afloat a boat that's moving forward so slowly, that unless you keep careful track it seems to be anchored in a bay.

Devon, I suspect that LR and LM are more similar than simply living in (their) own universe...

 

Where do you suppose that LR makes the lion's share of profit; licenses to individual simmers, or commercial licenses to professional installations?

Devon, I suspect that LR and LM are more similar than simply living in (their) own universe...

 

Where do you suppose that LR makes the lion's share of profit; licenses to individual simmers, or commercial licenses to professional installations?

 

For a while there, I thought it was from the tablet versions of X-plane!

What about DCS?  I know it's primarily a combat sim at the moment, but there is no reason for that other than a seeming lack of interest.  Admittedly at the moment you'd have exciting 777 flights from Sochi to Batumi but if people like ORBX got on board we'd have a usable sim, 64bit, nice flight model, usable interface no AI problems at all, build in support for mission creation, only ATC is lacking and even that is arguably better than X-Planes..  

 

DCS is a privately held Russian company, like the similar 777 Studios that makes Rise of Flight and IL-2 Battle of Stalingrad. These Russian developers are largely responsible for the modern revival of realistic combat flight sims.

 

Could either company make a civilian-focused sim? Well, maybe... but these are small companies with a very narrow focus on what they want to do. As a fan of both combat and civilian flight sims, I would rather have both companies doing what they're already doing, and not diluting it with a foray into civilian sims. If they wanted to enter that market, they would already be doing it. As it is, they're the only serious players in that combat market and I think they'll want to stay there.

 

 

Could either company make a civilian-focused sim?

 

I think that you misunderstood my point.  I don't want them to develop a new sim; my point was, why can't we use the existing DCS world for civilian stuff as well?

My money is on LM because they will do things that are for the sake of simulation, not entertainment. Whether they consider something "good enough" is what we won't know until it's done. It's possible they will stabilize FSX and just stop.

 

I do see DTG doing thing for the sake of entertainment, not simulation.

 

LR has the right idea in mind, but they are just slow. Really slow. I remember buying X-Plane in...what was it? ... 2001? (I believe it was called something different then) It should be loads ahead of what it is now.

I think that you misunderstood my point.  I don't want them to develop a new sim; my point was, why can't we use the existing DCS world for civilian stuff as well?

 

I'm not that familiar with DCS World, but I suspect the problem is that it would rely on the user community creating mods for all the AI traffic, airports, navaids, and ATC that civilian pilots expect to see, if the developers aren't interested in providing that content. As we've seen, the existing FSX and X-Plane enthusiast audience is picky about what they'll accept in a "real" simulator.

 

Another sticking point might be that DCS World is a "free to play digital battlefield game" which serves as a platform for payware. Getting high-end civilian payware airliners into that scenario might involve the kind of licensing deals that current add-on developers aren't paying with FSX, P3D or X-Plane.

 

At least the new Nevada scenery is supposed to support a world model, so that would be a starting point. Maybe it will happen, but this is another long-shot "wait and see" like looking for someone to do something with Outerra.

 

 

I'm not that familiar with DCS World, but I suspect the problem is that it would rely on the user community creating mods for all the AI traffic, airports, navaids, and ATC that civilian pilots expect to see, if the developers aren't interested in providing that content. As we've seen, the existing FSX and X-Plane enthusiast audience is picky about what they'll accept in a "real" simulator.

 

All of that applies to X-Plane and did apply to FSX.  We don't have fantastic add ons for FSX like the NGX thanks to Microsoft, it's thanks to PMDG.  ATC is pretty bad in DCS, but still on a par with X-Plane, AI is great, no reason to replace the AI F15's with AI A320's once created and the AI system is light years ahead of X-Plane, still limited to 20 planes i think...or was it one per core?

 

"Picky"..are you joking, for every NGX that is released we see about 50 shovelware Abacus aircraft.  

 

Navaids would probably need adding, oh and as i said, the entire rest of the world, but i don't see a reason this couldn't be done.

 

I'm not in a position to comment regarding the licensing, i can't see it being any different to FSX or P3D, if you develop an aircraft it would need to be licensed; in fact they must already do this for the release aircraft within DCS.

I'm not in a position to comment regarding the licensing, i can't see it being any different to FSX or P3D, if you develop an aircraft it would need to be licensed; in fact they must already do this for the release aircraft within DCS.

 

By "licensing" I was actually referring to possible fee sharing deals for payware add-ons, and I don't know how DCS/Eagle Dynamics would handle that.

 

As far as I know, a company like Carenado doesn't actually pay any portion of their sales to Laminar for their X-Plane payware. Laminar also doesn't sell its own DLC, it just lets third parties do whatever they want, which in turn helps generate sales of the base program. That's where Laminar gets its money, with a new revenue stream every time they do a major version upgrade (as well as the commercial/military sim income, which probably dwarfs what they get from desktop enthusiast sales). 

 

DCS World is a different setup, because the basic "world" is free. Like the MS Flight idea, they get their money selling their own DLC planes that fly in that engine. I don't see what Eagle Dynamics would get out of the deal, if they don't charge a licensing fee for companies like Carenado and PMDG, which is a burden those companies don't have now with FSX and XPX.

 

Just some Blue Sky rambling here, I have no idea what the DCS position is on any of this. Has it ever been brought up in their forums and had an official response?