So...I quit simming

[simmerhead 885]

Feel how you feel Gregg. Nothing wrong with stepping away from the PC once in a while - we all should do it more often.

 

Personally I had a long break from simming after FSX was cancelled. It had been a great journey going from FS2000, via FS2002 and the fabulous FS2004 (although it was very demanding on hardware when it was first released). FSX looked great, but I never got the hardware to run it like it should so I mostly used it for shot flights, missions, and tweaking. When Microsoft announced Flight I was bitten by the bug again, but we all know what a disaster it turned out to be. Shame on Microsoft. 

 

But then there was Lockheed Martin. What a company, and what a development team. Now with HDR lighting, volumetric fog and a plausible ocean, I've fallen in love with the virtual world all over again. No more tweaks, 20 page setup guides etc. I just load up the sim and fly. And having learned from past frustrations I keep it simple. I use only ORBX scenery - They don't mess up my installation, add bloatware or make changes to my sim files. I use a very small selection of aircraft and fly one aircraft until can master it, and keep to 100% P3D compatible versions. I fly only above the best scenery and visit realistic airports. I don't chase what isn't there. And I've learned over the years to shy away from certain developers that make pretty things, but rarely work as advertised and sees very few updates and fixes. 

 

Whatever you do Gregg, keep on keeping on. Nice to hear that you hang around here even if you're not in the VC presently. 

[Sponge 74]

I feel it..

 

I simmed a lot a couple of years ago..

Then came the wife and kid.. And all of a sudden i barely looked at the pc.
I saw it standing there.. wiping away a tear once in a while. But it never said a thing.
I just wanted to spend qualitytime with my family more than getting frustrated.
I barely fly these days, maybe a quick 1.5 hour Dash 8 flight.
Other than that i couldn't be bothered

[Anxu00 176]

I keep it simple. I use only ORBX scenery

Not all of ORBX are trouble free.  I am not sure which one you use, but in my case, some cause stutter, which is what I hate the most.  Unfortunately, there is no try before you buy with ORBX.

 

To Gregg,

 

I am very close to do what you did a month ago until I forked out (yet again) money for a P3Dv3 license.  This time, it seems that I had my money's worth.  The verdict is still out on this version, but at least the performance is decent on my modest hardware.  I bought the license mainly because of the ORBX stuffs I bought that I was not able to enjoy smooth flying with them.  I had two choices: get rid of ORBX forever or add more money with the hope that I can finally use what I spent hundred of dollar for.  I went for the illogical choice currently of adding more money, and although the FPS is high, the sudden drop of FPS, which cause stutter with ORBX is still there for me.  Therefore, I may just cut my lost at the end and get rid of ORBX.  The sim will load faster, and I will spend more time flying rather than swearing at the lousy performance.  To me ORBX stuffs are really nice, but people should know that unless you really have a beefy hardware, don't bother with them.  Flight simming is expensive, but less expensive than real flying as a private pilot with plane, so we spent money to get the virtual world to look as real as it gets.  So far that investment was a waste for me, because although the environment looks good, approaching an airport to land with 14-15 Frame and the stutters just kill it for me.  I also threw money away on plane models as well, some are too complex and time consuming, some are just ridiculous (Carenado anyone?), so again, I am mad at myself for spending money without the expected return.

 

It's a depressive cycle: the more you spent the madder you become, that and the CTD and OOM, which just ruin the precious free time you just carved out for yourself.  My friend who has the RV-7 told me to get out and fly for real, but I can't afford it, so I am stuck.

 

Anyway, believe it or not, I am reinstalling the Mustang on FSXSE with just the basics, no ORBX, just UTX and GEX (which I paid good money for and can't use in P3D), if that combo finally give me my fix, I swear I will apply the same treatment to P3D and kick my ORBX stuffs good bye forever.  Or may be I just throw everything out, get on a bike and get out of the house  :wink: One thing for sure, my FS budget this year is 0, I am done throwing good money after bad.

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

 

 

In conclusion, for me, the combination of reinstalls, P3D not meeting my own "reasonable" expectations, and potential costs have made simming not FUN anymore.

 

I get that.  I don't really mind the installs that much but you're always wondering what's going to go wrong and if it's going to be too much.  You're often reinstalling because something has gone wrong that you can't get control of and hoping to avoid it. 

 

 

 

For me, I decided to limit my flying to the 2 aircraft I enjoy the most flying the region I love the most.

 

Wise.  I can't be a good pilot in more than 2 or 3.  I don't learn enough about the airplane and feel like I'm just farting around...acting like a good pilot.  For me, one of them is the Citation Mustang which means no P3D...until that replacement comes.  If one does come, I'll likely not be able to resist.  In terms of a second, I really don't have one, sad to say, which is why I probably have so many blasted airplanes.  I like most of them but none of them really inspire me and I'm always looking for one.  I keep watching Milviz and A2A for something...especially A2A. 

 

 

 

A2A's Comanche, Realair's Turbine Duke, the Majestic Q400 and PMDG's 777-200.

 

That's a great set of airplanes.  I don't have the Comanche or the 777 but I have the others and they're nice.

 

 

 

I sadly spend most of my time testing, answering questions, and providing my experience ... and definitely not enough time just flying. My regular routine of coding, hiking, racing, real world flying (yes it's taking me forever to get hours in) ... sadly not much time to actually just fly a virtual route and/or really discover the ins/outs of a virtual aircraft.

 

Hiking, racing and real world flying?  What's that?  LOL.  Seriously thinking of going hiking this summer and, like I mentioned on up, might find someone to take me up in a complex.  It's been a lot of years and maybe I'll get inspired by that.  I, too, write software for a living and getting some time away from computers may be part of this. 

 

 

 

Finally - on my latest install, I'm trying to keep the add-ons to an effective minimum. FTX Global and Vector, but no regions. Zinnertek airport textures but no add-on airports. REX textures and ASN. Just a few aircraft - mostly complex simulations of simple airplanes like the A2A GAs and warbirds - authentic and requiring discipline, but designed for single-pilot operation and easy to get off the ground in a hurry.

 

I do get inspired by FTX airports.  Sometimes just flying around one in PNW and seeing the sights is all I needed.

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

 

 

I use only ORBX scenery - They don't mess up my installation, add bloatware or make changes to my sim files. I use a very small selection of aircraft and fly one aircraft until can master it, and keep to 100% P3D compatible versions. I fly only above the best scenery and visit realistic airports. I don't chase what isn't there. And I've learned over the years to shy away from certain developers that make pretty things, but rarely work as advertised and sees very few updates and fixes.

 

Rarely work as advertised...yeah, I can say Carenado (I have so many in my hangar it's embarrassing.)  I have *tried* to get inspired by them.  I don't know why I've ever expected anything more than one from another.  They're the hot blonde with an empty head.

 

 

 

I just wanted to spend qualitytime with my family more than getting frustrated.

 

That's a big part of it for me.  The cost of time away from my family.  Life is happening!

[JonRD463 146]

I've quit simming, too. Actually, I quit some time ago. Recently, I reinstalled my copy of X-Plane 10 because I *thought* I'd gotten sparked to sim fly after taking a real world flight. This was usually the case in the past-- I'd get a little bored of it, but all it took was going up for real to get me back into the virtual cockpit.

 

But now? I don't know. I'm not so sure it's simming that has changed, or if it's me. I've had a version of MSFS since 4.0, and then in the last few years, switched over to X-Plane. I can recall days where I'd be completely happy to do long haul flights, or island hop around the Caribbean. I was even a member of the Tradewind Carribean Airlines VA. I think my love for it peaked at FS98, and then slowly started to wane.

 

In that time, Flightsim in general became more commercialized. Freeware was giving way to more payware. Not that there was anything morally wrong with that. Certainly, as the simming platforms got more complex, so too did the addons have to increase in their complexity to meet the desires of an increasingly demanding userbase. Quality, features, and fidelity took time-- time that many freeware authors didn't have without compensation, and thus the cottage industry of addon creation blossomed. Some freeware authors stuck to their guns, though, and some really amazing freeware would appear here and there.

 

Through all this, I noticed a fractionation in the flight sim community as a whole. The major online presences coalesced into the Flightsim.com, Simflight, and Avsim camps. Rivalries began to be established. Even some of the freeware producers became competitive ventures, and I saw a lot of needless hostility start to creep up. Slowly but surely, I saw a community that was strong in the early days of the web-- and even prior, on BBS systems that were linked with newsgroups (And of course, anyone here remember Compuserve?)-- begin to crack and divide.

 

I began to disengage from interacting much with the community myself, but I still enjoyed the hobby such that it was. In the meantime, my life was happening and more and more I got pulled away from it. My switch to X-Plane after years and years of the Microsoft platform was a shot in the arm, but only so. The divisiveness I'd perceived in the community of MS-based simmers was magnified when it came to the senseless arguments of whose sim was better. I blame pop culture in general for that. Everyone is "Team this" or "Team that" with no room for being just plain "Team Simming".

 

As time wore on, I not only had time for simming, I had no time for what I was increasingly seeing as senseless BS. Sadly, my recent foray back into it has been cut short. It's just not fun any more. I've moved on, I suppose.

[Wobbie 938]

All this Orbyx, FTX, etc. talk is enough to put anyone off simming. JonRD463 has nailed it, as has Rob, with the philosophy of sim flight.

As I said before, too much BS. Simming CAN be fun.

[Gregg_Seipp 568]

 

 

All this Orbyx, FTX, etc. talk is enough to put anyone off simming. JonRD463 has nailed it, as has Rob, with the philosophy of sim flight.

As I said before, too much BS. Simming CAN be fun.

 

Here's what I've found about myself and opinions:  I need to leave them alone.  The Citation Mustang does not inspire a lot of people but it inspires me.  I did some screenshots of me flying a new repaint and I think it won an award for the least looked at.  Doesn't matter.  If someone hates FTX and I love it then that's going to have to be okay for both them and me.  Two hours into a three hour flight, I want to look down and see what I want to see.

[Holdit 551]

Here's what I've found about myself and opinions:  I need to leave them alone.  The Citation Mustang does not inspire a lot of people but it inspires me.  I did some screenshots of me flying a new repaint and I think it won an award for the least looked at.  Doesn't matter.  If someone hates FTX and I love it then that's going to have to be okay for both them and me.  Two hours into a three hour flight, I want to look down and see what I want to see.

 

Bravo, Sir!  The best aircraft, scenery, weather engine, ATC solution, sim platform, traffic package is, whichever you enjoy the most. Seemples!

 

[tttocs 301]

 

 

Here's what I've found about myself and opinions: I need to leave them alone. The Citation Mustang does not inspire a lot of people but it inspires me. I did some screenshots of me flying a new repaint and I think it won an award for the least looked at. Doesn't matter. If someone hates FTX and I love it then that's going to have to be okay for both them and me. Two hours into a three hour flight, I want to look down and see what I want to see.

 

Well said, Gregg.  It's important to remember that we all sim for different reasons.  To me, good scenery is critical, particularly for accurate VFR flying, so I've always prioritized that highly.  Others feel differently and that's perfectly fine with me.  A good experience is all about finding the best balance, but 'best" is going to be different for each of us.

 

Looking at all the comments here, I realize how fortunate I've been with my configuration and its long term stability.  I HATE tweaking and constantly fiddling with my system.  If I'd had to do that, I wouldn't have simmed as long as I have.  In fact, one of the impediments to me restarting is simply that I know I now have "maintenance" to do before I resume and every time I think about doing a flight I remember that I'm probably a day's fiddling away from actually flying.  And so... I go do something else.

 

But it's still time and priorities that intrude the most.  In the winter months, work is at its peak for me and spare time is precious.  In the summer, by design, work demands drop off a bit, but I'm an outdoor person and in the last few years have re-prioritized so that I can do a better job of "getting out there" in those precious summer months.  It's really not that I've lost interest in simming, but rather that other passions have re-asserted themselves.

 

In many ways I agree with Rob - there's a good argument to be made that there's never been a better time to be a simmer, despite some of our (generally legitimate) complaints.  But life moves on and priorities often change.

 

Scott

[Christopher Low 5,353]

 

 I also threw money away on plane models as well, some are too complex and time consuming, some are just ridiculous (Carenado anyone?), so again, I am mad at myself for spending money without the expected return.

 

We have all done that, Vu! I dread to think of the amount of money that I have thrown down the drain on flightsim addons over the years

[Anxu00 176]

 

 

As I said before, too much BS. Simming CAN be fun

Yes by returning to basics for me with the planes that I know well.  After all landing at a nice airport scenery is only going to be good if you don't land at 10 FPS or worst OOM or CTD.  Mathijs Kok at Aerosoft said "of all the people who have FSX installed or (pick your sim) only a small fraction buys add-ons, and only a few more buy expensive add-ons".  We (and I count myself in) add-ons buyer addicts are a minority.  Most use the sims for professional practice, only people like us use it for "entertainment".  

[Patco Lch 1,465]

Self examination shows me it's a little more then just fun. At 63 that kid is still in me  that sat in an airliner decades ago thinking those guys up front have got to be gods to make this thing fly. Or seeing them walk through the terminal, shoulders square, dripping self confidence, with a couple of cute stews walking behind, smiling. I thought that has to be the height of human existence. I guess that kid will always be some where inside the old mans head, and maybe that's what I.m seeking in simming. So, I guess as long as I can, I'll continue wasting time and money. Honestly, it makes me happy, having fun or not.  Love these philosophical threads!   

[Arthur42417 193]

i also quit but might come back after IXEG is released for XP10.  2 many other amazing sims and games to play.....THE WITCHER 3  

 

https://youtu.be/rbNIYBZBVSY

[Guest]

 

 

The cost of time away from my family.  Life is happening!

 

They can co-exist ... and I agree, it's all about Balance ... in so many ways above and beyond and inclusive to flight simming.  

 

Just yesterday a key spec changed in the product I'm coding ... it caused some major changes to how I work a core segment of code (call it an engine if you like) with huge implications and needing considerable testing/QA ... I was somewhat annoyed the spec change came this late in the cycle, so what did I do ... went for a hike and took in a sunset ... aaaah, problem solved.

 

Can you see the message ... cockpit is still there when you return.

 

 

Cheers, Rob.