DTG: The dawn of a new sim (and the death of the old) ?

[MichaelAwkward 6]

Numerous scenery addons for FSX have incompatible textures (particularly at night).

 

The fact that the fixer is often taken off sale doesn't help either.

 

It's not a real solution, but if it works for you and your specific add-ons that's great. It still isn't the same as natively up to date flight simulator.

[Wobbie 938]

Has it? I'm pretty sure it's still a dog... just look at the amount of threads here and videos on youtube about tweaking FSX. The FSX:SE discussions boards on Steam are full of tweaking too. People just want FSX with the performance and stability of FS2004. If DTG can deliver that, I'm sure they'll have a winner.

Yes, still a dog. My apologies, I meant to say that, but posting from a phone can be problematic at times.

[Bobsk8 12,721]

Hi Folks,

 

Wow - it seems DTG commands far far more enthusiasm here - than they do in the Train Sim market that spawned them... They really aren't known for their attention to detail or realistic performance... Maybe this tiger will change its stripes ? What we've seen in the Train Sim community is multiple sims just fragments the support for a product in a limited market and the available talent is divided among the various sims... I'm not sure more is always better... All remains to be seen though...

 

Regards,

Scott

 

 

DTG makes products that they know are about 90% done when released, if that, and what you get is what you keep. Don't think that they will fix the bugs in the product you just purchased, they are busy working on the next product they will offer for sale. 

[Tomaz Drnovsek 440]

If this new sim will look like DTG Flight School than I have no idea why would I switch from P3D in which I invested a lot of money for addons. Seriously if anybody knows any good reason I'll be glad to listen.

[SamYeager 244]

@0Artur0

 

AFAIK neither Dovetail nor anyone else is saying that you should switch to DTG Flight Simulator in the short term. DTG have been pretty clear that most add-ons are unlikely to be available at the launch of DTG Flight Simulator as they will need to be modified/rewritten first. Equally there are various enhancements they wish to make that will not be in place at initial launch.

 

DTG are hoping that people will give their sim a try rather than writing it off immediately, keep an eye on its progress as various enhancements are made and possibly switch/use it more frequently if it meets people's requirements.

[Christopher Low 5,353]

 

If this new sim will look like DTG Flight School than I have no idea why would I switch from P3D in which I invested a lot of money for addons.

 

I assume that the graphics in DTG Flight Simulator will be considerably better than those that I have seen in screenshots of Flight School. As you say, they will have to be to persuade current users of FSX or P3D (who have heavy investments in addons) to make the switch. We will just have to wait and see what they deliver.

[n4gix 4,947]

Guys, it's never going to be a binary choice! I plan to use all sim versions for the foreseeable future.

[Paraffin 2,197]

If this new sim will look like DTG Flight School than I have no idea why would I switch from P3D in which I invested a lot of money for addons. Seriously if anybody knows any good reason I'll be glad to listen.

 

I feel the same way about switching from X-Plane, which I fly instead of P3D because I'm more interested in vintage/bush GA planes and helicopters than airliners. Otherwise I might be a P3D fan. If DTG Flight Sim has graphics that look like Flight School and doesn't move the art of flight sims forward in other ways like weather modeling, then I won't buy it. On the other hand, it's too early to make those judgments. Let's give DTG time to develop the new sim and we'll see how it works. You can stay with P3D and I'll stay with X-Plane while we keep an eye on it.

 

I would dearly love to have a good alternative to X-Plane for various reasons, including lighting a fire under Laminar's butt to push X-Plane development a little harder. Competition is good, alternatives are good. It will be good for add-on companies like Carenado and PMDG if they can soon have a third platform for selling their planes besides FSX/P3D and X-Plane. That benefits the rest of us indirectly by keeping these companies in business, even if we don't switch to the new DTG Flight Sim.

 

So there is no need to even think about switching right now, based on what we're seeing with Flight School. It's not aimed at us anyway. But it's definitely something I'm keeping an eye on, and trying to provide constructive criticism so DTG Flight Sim can be what we'd all like it to be.

[TBurd01 3]

I'm really excited for the full sim. They haven't done much with Flight School, but the full sim seems to have a whole lot more promise. It sounds like they are really trying to develop something which won't need add ons to be good. Orbx made the scenery for Flight School which looks pretty great for default, and I'm excited to see what they can do for the full sim. Same goes for the aircraft in Flight School, pretty sure someone else made them, and the DA42 update is going to be from Alabeo.

 

Hopefully they work with more experienced companies to make things really shine (like REX for environment, Active Sky for weather). I just really hope they bring VR support sooner rather than later, either that or the SDK tools will be available for someone like Fly Inside to make a plugin.

 

Oh yeah, and a new Dodo Sim would be amazing too , or just much better helicopter dynamics across the board. All aircraft for that matter. X Plane and DCS both have amazing flight dynamics, and hopefully 64 bit here will allow for much better simulation of flight. X Plane owns that area for global civilian flight sim, but two major things it doesn't have are Orbx and VR. Get the flight dynamics down and you really win the market. After all, shouldn't that be the #1 priority for a Flight Sim, not how pretty it can look (which, we already know it will look great)?

[Jimm 437]

I find it hard to believe that the flight sim community will ever get a perfect flight simulator for a home computer.  Actually, the only way to have one is to actually fly a real aircraft.  Perfection in itself, is a pipe dream.  We all wish for it but it never comes.  Every flight simulator has it's good and bad points, but so many people want their cake and eat it too and I doubt it'll ever come to be.  As a community, we are all equally divided on what is the "best" simulator, constantly pointing out the good but trying to ignore the bad and vice versa.  We start to doubt whether we made the right choices for what simulator and add-ons to use.  We start to get buyers remorse over purchases we thought or rather, were deceived into thinking was what we wanted.

 

I am divided on my opinion of DTG's new simulators.  A part of me would love to see innovation, advancement and productive results while the other is skeptical that all this will be are cheap parlor tricks.  Right now, it's being marketed as a 64-bit sim, but it's nothing new.  What I have seen of videos and screenshots, barely blow up the skirt.  Yeah, I can be hypercritical, but it's justified and shouldn't be beat down by fans and devout followers of a particular developer.  No one can fault someone for being cautious or skeptical because we knew this day would come.  We clamored for years to have a 64-bit sim, ever since 64-bit computing became more popular.  Honestly, this is a long time coming and again, I welcome it very much, but won't be the first person to buy it.  I'll await the reviews and opinions from the unbiased bunch.

 

DTG claims to have listened to the community and we should allow them the benefit of the doubt.  I will stand on the side of caution and wait a while, a long while before ever considering a change.  For the hard core sim pilots out there who have invested thousands of dollars on simulators and content, it pretty much says that we've been fighting a long battle for perfection.  We buy in to the marketing tactics, believing  the claims, and sometimes someone hits the mark, while others falls short and in the end, we've invested our money in either a gem or a fool's errand.  The upside to it all, is that flight simulation has been a work in progress since the early 80's.  For what we buy in to it, whether it be the core sim or add-ons, is kind of a crowd-funding endeavor to help aid the developers in creating something new, innovative and productive.

 

I see and hear all sides of the hexagon of flight simulation, good and bad.  So far, it's been a very expensive learning experience.  Now we are fast approaching a juncture of whether or not to invest in this new sim.  Only time will tell and if anything good is to be said, it is that we HOPE this will be a game-changer.  We hope it'll usher in a new breed of simulation and above all else, we hope it won't be a waste of time and money.  Take Microsoft FLIGHT for instance.  When it emerged and we saw the screenshots and videos, we got excited.  It seemed to be on track with extending the legacy of FSX and then it went poof.  I personally think Microsoft had a good thing going.  DTG claims they are in it for the long haul, and I'd like to believe that.  I'd also like to believe that Laminar Research and Lockheed Martin are also in it for the long haul as well, but those are business projections.  They are all businesses that have one goal: to stay profitable and if they listen to community and develop what needs to be done, then people will stick with them.  I sometimes think about why the community needs so many simulators.  Wouldn't it be easier just to have one and be done with it?  What an incredible sim it could be if you rolled X-Plane, P3D, FSX and DCS World into one.  You could one minute get in the cockpit of an F-16, performing straffing runs during a battle and then the next minute, climb into the Captain's seat of a Boeing 777 for a long haul flight or even a Cessna for a leisurely tour of some Caribbean island...now THERE'S a dream!

 

I know I'll get bashed for what I said, in fact I expect it.  I just think it's important for a community to hear all sides and all opinions, with no one necessarily being right or wrong but just providing a little food for thought.

[JLSeagull 191]

Excellent! :Applause:

[TBurd01 3]

There have been no screenshots or videos even released for DTG Flight Sim, everything out there is from Flight School. Flight School is basically FSX:SE with Orbx Global, as a game it is only meant to bring in new blood to the genre. Even DTG said on here that they are putting their work into the full sim, not flight school.

[Wobbie 938]

I'm just a bit confused in the word 'invest' as used in this forum.

One would normally 'invest' in property, gold, silver, the stock market, whatever, something tangible that increases (we hope) in value, but to invest $15 in a game from the same guys that give us a train game, amongst others?

Is 'Buy' not the correct word to use?

[Paraffin 2,197]

I'm just a bit confused in the word 'invest' as used in this forum.

One would normally 'invest' in property, gold, silver, the stock market, whatever, something tangible that increases (we hope) in value, but to invest $15 in a game from the same guys that give us a train game, amongst others?

Is 'Buy' not the correct word to use?

 

Dictionary.com:

 

investment

noun

1.the investing of money or capital in order to gain profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value.

 

"Value" is the key word there, and in gaming/simulation terms it means hours of enjoyment. Your investment grows in value as you build an ecosystem of add-ons that make the whole greater than the sum of the parts. That won't apply to Flight School, but it's the way people commonly speak of an investment in something like FSX, P3D or X-Plane.

 

Another angle on it is the personal investment of one's time, in learning all the ins and outs of a given simulation platform. Time is a valuable commodity. DTG won't be hard to learn, but the later DTG FS will no doubt have some differences with FSX that have to be learned and assimilated. 

 

I don't see a problem with using the word. I think we all know that flight sims are a money pit, and we're not going to get any actual money back from it.   :smile:

[Lenny777 299]

As often happens some people will look at this like some kind of all or nothing proposition. I'm presently using and have on my desktop: P3D, X-Plane,DTG Flight School, Aerofly2. Of these I use X-Plane by far the most. It has something to do with the persistent low memory and out of memory errors I get in P3D. And quite frankly I'm tired of it. In fact I now have a moratorium on any further add-on purchases for a lame 32 bit format which has long ago been due for an overhaul. To the extent DTG are making the first move using the FSX format they deserve huge credit and I'll have no hesitation in buying it.