Losing faith

[Guest]

It is very odd. I can't remember a time where so many civilian flightsims were available. FSX, P3D, Aerofly FS 2, FSW, and FlyInside has announced yet another. It is amazing. But what is even more amazing is that none of those sims offer the 'complete package'. And that I am becoming more and more negative about flightsimming. Flightsimming has been my main 'computer hobby' for quite a few years now but I am losing interest, also because none of the sims offer everything I want in one package. Every sim has its shortcomings. And it seems to take longer and longer before the things I want will get added. If ever. I notice I am flying less often and if I do fly I often quit the sim before I have landed because I get bored. The last few months I have been flying Aerofly FS 2, mainly in VR, and I was thinking about installing either P3D or XP to get some fixes for things I am missing in Aerofly but the idea of having to go through all that again (all those seperate addons, all those updates) makes me sick already. Everything has become so complicated and everything is taking too long. I am losing hope. Feels like I am losing faith. In a time where so much sims are being released. Odd. The more sims there are, the more it becomes obvious what is lacking and that it will take years if not decades before I get what I am hoping for. And I'm not getting any younger.

Anyone else recognizes this? I guess I simply need a break. Or I am just having a very bad monday. 

[Ron Attwood 3,464]

Take a break.

[zmak 331]

+1

[Virtual Flight Realm 29]

Fly for real !

[Silicus 849]

J van E, I hear you!

While the sims in general have moved forward leaps and bounds recently, they all have their major shortcomings and are all 'a work in progress' which seems never complete. 

One spends more time tinkering, downloading, installing, re-installing, hoping, then actually simming. But it is the nature of the hobby, it was always like that and I guess it will be always like that.

In our life time there will be no complete sim. Each developer has different priorities and progress is painfully slow.

I guess it is just the nature of this beast. Far too complex to ever be whole.

Take a break, enjoy the rest of the summer and come back when you feel like it.

Cheers.

[Guest JustanotherPilot]

Fly for a purpose, use Airhauler2 or perhaps fly online. By aspiring to a goal you tend to overlook the shortcomings of the Sim and concentrate on achievement.

[VeryBumpy 272]

I fully understand and feel similarly.

 

I also find it very frustrating that every sim out there has a shortcoming or 6.

 

I feel Xplane11 has the most potential but Laminar Research refuses to invest in more employees to fill in the shortcoming gaps in a reasonable time frame. So it just lingers on perpetually at a half assed featured state.

 

In the mean times, since there is absolutely nothing I can do about it, I try to enjoy what is out there.

[Gregg_Seipp 565]

1 hour ago, J van E said:

all those seperate addons, all those updates) makes me sick already

Yeah, I'm still on P3D 3.4...I always wait until the smoke clears before I update.  Even though having the latest and coolest can be fun, it can also be a real pill.  I usually wait until the first patch until upgrading so I can avoid the mess.  With P3D4, I may wait longer.  In the meantime, I'm flying the Caribbean.  In terms of add-ons, I'm constantly trying to get rid of them (and I've had a lot.)  I, generally, avoid SimConnect add-ons and any add-on that makes my sim CTD gets the boot really, really quick.

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

Hello again Jan.

I hear what you're saying about no one sim offering the complete package, then again we have so many different level of flight simmers with such diverse interests that it's difficult to build a sim that will satisfy everyone.

Over my 30+ years in flight sim, I've never seen anything that comes close to the complexity that I enjoy. I'm not talking about setting up the sim (which has actually become easier and more trouble free than it was a few years ago, at least on the FSX and P3D side of things), I'm talking about the complexity of some of the addons.

More than complexity, flight sim is the most diverse computer based game/hobby I know of, and every time I've felt myself becoming a little board I've been able to open yet another door to another level.  For instance:

1. Move from flying GA to complex airliners, then...

2. Move from flying offline to flying on VATSIM, and then large scale VATSIM events, then...

3. Flying shared cockpit on VATSIM, especially large events, then...

4. Sharing what I've learned by working with others, and using shared cockpit to teach people how to operate airliners and fly on VATSIM. This is likely the most enjoyment I've ever had in flight sim and allowed me to give back to the community that has given so much to me.  Sadly my work with flight sim developers now prevents me from doing much of training, but I miss it - especially taking them up in Shared Cockpit as this is the very best venue from which to train.

It's one thing to enjoy our hobby between ourselves and our computer, but entirely a different experience sharing it with others - and not just shared cockpit.  For instance I'm part of a private group made up of some exceptionally good people, and talking and sharing flight sim with them every couple of days really makes the hobby for me.  Not "talking" in a forum, our communications are all voice or infrequently real time chat.  Being a small private group, we're all very close friends, and that's what really makes things work.

Best wishes to everyone.

[SpiritFlyer 987]

2 hours ago, J van E said:

It is very odd... 

And I'm not getting any younger...

Anyone else recognizes this?

I guess I simply need a break. Or I am just having a very bad monday. 

Hi Jeroen,

Yes sir, a reoccurring theme that strikes me to the floor every so often. It always signals (to me) that I need to divest of myself and turn my eyes on other things and other people for awhile.

After a time of only occasional flights and stifling yawns something always draws me back in and relights the fires. These days I am delighted in all the pretend reality my virtual escape has tricked me into believing.

Yeah, I know, the old excitement/boredom pattern will be overlaid again sooner or later, but for now I have never enjoyed it as much. Perhaps it is early onset dementia instead of P3Dv4 with great addons...

Perhaps not, but one thing for sure, a change is as good as a rest.

Take care old friend.

Kindest regards,

[DeCampos 40]

And I thought I was the only one.

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Time to use that headset to explore some of the other possibilities of VR for a while, in genres that are not only state of the art but well funded.

I would suggest Elite Dangerous for a few weeks until the planes draw you inevitably back. 

[lennie 48]

I hear you. I am ready to either take a break, or quit for good. Upgraded the computer, installed P3Dv4 last week, and nothing works. Sitting here with Saitek panels, and FITs, and nothing works.

I have had it.

 

LG

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Frankly I have used the Flightsim in Google Earth for some flight experiences, just to enjoy flying over the scenery, photoreal scenery.  In FSX the only territory I fly over is photoreal, I have about half of the US covered out to the Great Plains from the West Coast.  I also have part of central Europe covered.  Mainly I sim over California, Nevada and Arizona which are all covered with photoreal scenery in FSX.  I don't sim very often because I have found flights covered on youtube which get me at the controls.  Youtube is opening up aviation if you know how to search there.  There you don't need a sim, you can just enjoy the ride.

John

[Murmur 3,941]

2 hours ago, J van E said:

It is very odd. I can't remember a time where so many civilian flightsims were available. FSX, P3D, Aerofly FS 2, FSW, and FlyInside has announced yet another. It is amazing. But what is even more amazing is that none of those sims offer the 'complete package'. And that I am becoming more and more negative about flightsimming.

I understand your position, but I have a more positive outlook.

It's interesting to note that the fact that every sim has shortcomings, is actually the very reason that there is so much competition right now. If one sim would be better than all the others in every aspect, it would be the monopolist.

That's more or less what happened for more than a decade with the MSFS dominance. It became better than the others in almost all aspects (scenery complexity, weather, traffic, expandability), so that it enjoyed a de-facto monopoly.

The positive aspect is that simmers enjoyed a stable platform, rich of content. The negative aspect is that, due to lack of competition, it remained relatively stagnant, and it did not improve on its shortcomings as much as it probably would have in a more competitive market.

I see the current landscape very interesting.

Right now, FSW seems to be the fastest moving product. IMO, Dovetail is bringing the first real innovations in the MSFS-derived sims in more than a decade. The product is still in its infancy, but you can already see some amazing screenshots. If DTG will keep this momentum for the next year, FSW could really become one of the "staple" sims in the market.

With regard to X-Plane: I can understand that, for the casual observer, it may seem as slow moving as it has ever been. But LR expanded their staff and resources, and the first results were already visible at the launch of X-Plane 11, when comparing it with X-Plane 10. The various improvements planned in the roadmap (VR, performance, various scenery improvements) will progressively unroll in the near future.

Although, I concur that there are many requested features that always seems to be in the backburner (seasons, AI, weather effects). We'll see whether the increasing competition (mainly from FSW, which IMO is the more direct competitor to X-P) will have any effect on Laminar Research.

The product on which I'm most "pessimistic" is indeed AeroflyFS 2. I think there are simply too many features in which it's too behind compared to FSW and X-P. The advantage in FPS and the quick "plug and play" design are great, but they won't give it alone the push needed to conquer a significant part of the market share. Of course, I could be wrong, and maybe IPACS will do a miracle and add most of the required features for it to become a major player.

Note that I'm not saying that Aerofly FS 2 will fail, just that it will remain a niche sim, as for example X-Plane has been for years. Again, maybe IPACS will prove me wrong, it's all conjecture. :-)