Revisiting FSW...

[jcomm 5,888]

Inspired by a thread I was following here at the FSW Avsim forums, I decided to try FSW again.

It had been a long while since my last experiments with FSW, and they were positive, but by that time no missions apart from the intial default ones were available.

The Alaska free pack I tried made me soon realize I should try the "Epic Approaches Mission Pack" payware missions, and I ended up buying also the two other DLCs, Piper Arrow III and the Big Bear City airport.

I confess I didn't even had the chance to try the TrueSky stuff - which looks very nice, and plausible, and makes me really look forward into the weather engine DTG is working on.

Not a long time at the desk flying FSW - I actually started again from step 0, going along the LAPL training lessons, but I couldn't resist picking the Alaska mission and I played it for a good while - WOW! My good old MS FLIGHT spirit is back !!!

FSW is not MS FLIGHT, and in some way, I am glad it isn't, because the way DTG is dealing with it's business regarding FSW welcomes 3pds and has been proiding users with a good deal of updates and added features, but one thing I really miss in other sims, excluding Condorsoaring where I generally replicate RL flights I did, or plan to do, and IL2 or DCS where there is always some task to run, even if one simply enters an MP server and goes direct into dogfight / flying circus, was the structured mission concept. 

Creating missions like the one that is now offered for free, or the payware Epic Approaches is certainly a very rewarding task for those who want to do it, but above all can, if well designed, bring an excellent environment for playing this flight simulator without having to just pick an aircraft and fly a circuit or a flightplan, eventually connecting to an online V-ATC service ( something I seldom did in my simmer life... ).

It was really rewarding, and, I am glad I gave FSW this new try - for me it is already my early Christmas Gift, and one I am sure is going to give me some good and even didactic hours at the desk :-)

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Posting before he changes his mind........ Hey Jose!!   

[jcomm 5,888]

27 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

Posting before he changes his mind........ Hey Jose!!   

Yep!  An old technique, to cement my complex simming-assigned neural network ... :-)

I'm always trying to find perfection, but it's a limit - Bummer !

Of course not saying I find FSW perfect, but I do find it more fun to play than any other civil flight sim ( Condorsoaring excluded, but that is used more as a tool ... ) presently available.

And yes, I could have missions running on other MSFS-derived platforms, but not as easy to go as in FSW, and those sims don't have TrueSky and cost a lot more to bring to the level of scenery ( complexity / quality / updated airfield and navaid data ) than FSW...

 

[ca_metal 2,015]

I'm really looking forward for the cereer mode Stephen talked a while back. I really like free flight mode, but sometimes I just want some objective and those missions (and in the future the "jobs" on the career mode) are great to fill that need. 

Like you I enjoyed a lot the released missions, I have both DLCs. 

[Boomer 1,619]

Shrug...well its on sale at Steam so maybe I will pick it up and try it out, against my better judgement mind you...

[tonywob 4,768]

16 minutes ago, Boomer said:

Shrug...well its on sale at Steam so maybe I will pick it up and try it out, against my better judgement mid you...

There are no heavies in this sim, just a warning

[barrel_owl 304]

Getting the notification: "jcomm posted one hour ago". 
I always come too late. Meanwhile there must have been at least three of four uninstall processes on his machine. 

[jcomm 5,888]

21 minutes ago, Boomer said:

Shrug...well its on sale at Steam so maybe I will pick it up and try it out, against my better judgement mid you...

Do that - it's innexpensive.

I actually bought all DLCs less the Camera one.

Hope you enjoy the Missions. TrueSky is also very nice, and the upcoming weather engine will probably turn things even better...

Slowly, but steadily, FSW DTG's Team are walking in the good direction.

@barrel_owl: 

[flyforever 267]

I remember when I was taking flying lessons in my  little cessna 150. I was told by my instructor that airline pilots got annoyed by our presence around the patterns. So I asked him why and  how they became pilots. He said: "Son, once they make it to the biggies, they quickly forget what got them there".

[torium 207]

58 minutes ago, tonywob said:

There are no heavies in this sim, just a warning

So far .......! 

rsrandazzo (PMDG), quote: "We are very excited to see Dovetail's work beginning to bear fruit and we look forward to learning more.
At PMDG our money is firmly on Dovetail Games for the simming side and Prepar3D for the enterprise side of our business."

[jcomm 5,888]

And there's mention of intentions to port the FSLabs A320 into FSW too !

[pracines 823]

If missions are the reason for any change of opinion of FSW, there are a lot of missions available in FSX-SE along with a ton more realistic features.  

MS Flight is still free and still available: 

True sky does change things up a bit, but true sky does not play well with FSW currently - (go in the clouds and the ground turns gray- very ugly). Plus its the same old themed sky over and over....ugh.

If its the sale/price reduction justification, there is no need to be hasty, DTG will have more (even deeper) discounts often - they always do. 

[jcomm 5,888]

17 minutes ago, pracines said:

If missions are the reason for any change of opinion of FSW, there are a lot of missions available in FSX-SE along with a ton more realistic features.  

MS Flight is still free and still available: 

True sky does change things up a bit, but true sky does not play well with FSW currently - (go in the clouds and the ground turns gray- very ugly). Plus its the same old themed sky over and over....ugh.

If its the sale/price reduction justification, there is no need to be hasty, DTG will have more (even deeper) discounts often - they always do. 

For the many years I played MSFS, I never really enjoyed it's missions, excluding when I spent some time creating my own ones with the BAO Aircraft & Adventure Factory, by the times of FS4... But I confess I never invested on 3pd products for that either, so.... maybe there were  some great chances I never took ( ? )...

Then, I think that you're leaving out some interesting additional features like, being 64 bit ( now apparently a pre-requisite... ), have a World database update, that for instance allows small airfields I operate into and from IRL even here in Portugal being included in the default scenery, navaid updates at least around Europe, and the overall scenery that is for sure better than the default in FSX ...

TrueSky wis WIP, so I give them the benefit of doubt, and so far and since it's initial release, I can see that FSW progressed rather fast, compared to what I can remember from FSX ( less the contribution of 3pds ) and MS FLIGHT. And yes, I am well aware of what has been made available for MS FLIGHT.

Just for the above, I think FSW is a very good investment, and worth supporting, no ?

[Boomer 1,619]

I will purchase it and if I don't like it I will blame all of you. .. lol

[jcomm 5,888]

36 minutes ago, Boomer said:

I will purchase it and if I don't like it I will blame all of you. .. lol

If you feel you've been tricked after trying it, the best I can do is offering you a glass of good Portuguese wine or beer, or a glider flight, if you ever decide to pay us a visit...

Madona is enjoying it around here !

BTW: Even LPMN, the small airfield I mostly operate from IRL, is included in FSW :-)