In alot of threads on Avsim, people say they would like to see virtual passengers in flight sim. Thats fine, but how do you think it could be done and would it be difficult?It seems like the hardest part would be boarding and leaving the planes. If the door locations are known, jetways could be programmed to automatically move into place and passengers could walk in. But what about airports without jetways and also smaller planes. The passengers would have to walk up stairs/climb in etc. More difficult.Walkways and the seat positions could be defined inside the cabin. That would allow them to get to their seat (in a similar way that ai planes get to their gate). What about the passengers. Do you create them separately and put them into groups (children, adults, football teams) with their own voice recordings (greetings, chit chat, screams), and let the user select the number of passengers from each group?I'd be interested to see if FS10 includes passengers and how it works.John.

I doubt that passengers would be a feature that we'll see in the near future. After all, we're flying the plane and are not flight attendants. However it would be a nice extra.On my priority list would be an improved dynamic scenery. Just imagine calling a fuel or catering truck and then later see him circling around the plane and refueling. What about pushback trucks? Or functional jetways on all major airports. Or a functioning ground crew (if only audio). Or improved AI traffic. Or realistic damage models. Or a top-notch flight planner. Or a major overhaul of the MS ATC. The list is endless. LOL ;-)

I'd love the idea of virtual passengers and virtual cargo. There's a program coming up concerning the latter but I mean cargo which you can see being placed into your plane by forklifts, etc. And passengers moving through the jetways and sitting in their seats - sim passengers as it were.

I hope the next version does include realistic human beings. Without them flight simulators strike me as being a little sterile. Realistic human animation probably isn't possible in FS2004. I believe animation is limited to moving and rotating objects. Object deformation, which is required for realistic human animation, isn't possible in FS2004. Amazingly realistic human beings appear in many games these days, examples being Far Cry and Call of Duty. The games also include impressive human AI capabilities. In Far Cry, when the soldiers aren't fighting they'll stand around, scratching themselves, leaning down and adjusting their shoelaces, having a cigarette or talking to the other soldiers. They'll even go fishing if things are really slow. In these games the AI is mostly dedicated to shooting things, but it could so easily be adapted to more peaceful activities such as passengers boarding and taking their seats, engineers working on the planes and the crew working in the cockpit. The technology is there. It's just possible it'll appear in FS10 - I hope so! Best regards, Chris

Rendered pax is nice, but doesn't make a quality change in your simming habits.How about trying to take care of your pax and planes a and company reputation and manage your career? Check out what www.fspassengers.com offers!http://www.fspassengers.com/images/banner/sig/sdc0.jpg

I for one do not see the need for a virtual cabin. Only my opinion. Some like it and some don't. If I have the option I always turn of the virtual cabin and just leave the 2D and virtual cockpit on. I like concentrating on flying the plane. Besides the virtual cabin taking away from frame rates, virtual passengers would kill my computer. What if there were virtual passengers, and what if they talked back to you? I am sorry, I get enough nagging in my real life. I would rather just fly and not hear about how bad my landing was....:DKevin