Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
JTPO

What does a modern day Flight Sim NEED?

Recommended Posts

Evolution of VR hw (HMD and UI) are essential for FS. 

 

What’s available now is quite amazing but looking forward to new hw with improved performance. 

  • Upvote 1

i9-10900k @ 5.1GHz 32G XMP-3200 | RTX3090 | 3T m.2 | Win11 | vkb-gf ultimate & pedals | virpil cm3 throttle | 55" 4k UHDTV | HP R-G2 VR | DCS

 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post

I've never noticed and the thought has never occurred to me while flying the sim.  But Rob's desire for implementation of humidity brings up this question.  Do any simulators replicate density altitude?  While you can set the temperature in Weather does it affect density altitude?

Noel


The tires are worn.  The shocks are shot.  The steering is wobbly.  But the engine still runs fine.

Share this post


Link to post
Guest
3 hours ago, birdguy said:

Do any simulators replicate density altitude?

Colin (Milviz) is the one that brought this to my attention ... as far as the simulators I've used I don't believe any of them simulate it in turns of how it impacts an aircraft.

Cheers, Rob.

Share this post


Link to post

It all depends on your focus of course...

I believe Murmur and other summed it up very well...

I can't expect a platform to include all of the features by default, but I surely expect it to be open enough to allow for 3pd products to complete the lack of detail regarding ATC, AI, Weather modelling, Flight Operations, and many other features that fit each user group requirements.

X-Plane 11 is IMHO standing as a very interesting platform. It has it's drawbacks and limitations like all platforms do, but it's being developed with the Future in mind and it is attracting a worth of users - you're there already, and I believe you made a good choice.

There's a freeware platform, which can't of course compete with the commercial competitors, but IMO is very much worth the try - Flight Gear, now in version 2018.2.1. Flight Gear is being developed with lot's of interesting features being added and fine tuned. It includes among other two interesting FDMs JSBSim having been mentioned by Murmur above, but also Yasim. The Advanced Weather model includes features which are unique to this sim, and for instance regarding weather for soaring it actually does a much better job than either P3D or XP with their default engines.

 

Edited by jcomm
  • Upvote 1

Main Simulation Rig:

Ryzen 5600x, 32GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti, 1 TB & 500 GB M.2 nvme drives, Win11.

Glider pilot since October 1980...

Avid simmer since 1992...

Share this post


Link to post

I was watching the demo videos from FSExpo for Deadstick simulator. Now that's the sort of sim I want 🙂

Whilst yes, the locations are actually fictional, look at how well everything seems to be simulated, and you can even get out of your aircraft and walk around. The scenery, vegetation etc looks fantastic. Not concentrating on simulating the entire planet and every aircraft under the sun I think is a good start. Concentrate on a smaller part of the whole experience and do it well.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post

“What does a modern day simulator NEED?”

I’ll spin that around and say do we NEED a modern day simulator ?

If a new all encompassing multi use simulator were to be released would I buy it? Certainly I would , do I think we need one? No

We’re extremely lucky at this moment in time  with the platforms available to us and their quality. I think the key to getting the best possible simulator experience is to employ multiple platforms, and making the most of each platform’s specialities and capabilities.

P3d/FSX is without doubt the king when it comes to airliner flying at this moment in time at least. Real world wether integration, systems modelling, and the breadth of aircraft, scenery and airport add ons available means that just about any real world scenario can be recreated.With the addition of Orbx or similar the P3D world is also a cracking VFR platform.

Moving on, X-plane, I’ve always loved this platform for its flight dynamics. This was always well ahead of Microsoft’s offering.Having recently returned to the hobby after a few years away I’m now not feeling much difference. I don’t know if X plane over the years has lost a little fidelity in the flight model or if P3D’s third party add on aircraft have caught up , I suspect it’s the latter.X plane provides a superb platform for IFR flying with its silky smooth instruments and flight dynamics, and of course a magnificent VFR/GA platform. I must admit I don’t fly X plane as much as P3D and it can go weeks unused. But like yesterday when I took the vflyteair twin Comanche out of Orbx Meigs field for a short spin around Chicago I’m left mesmerised and literally sat swearing at my screen at just how astounding it looks and handles. Once the third party development truly ramps up this will be one heck of a platform.Will it ever overtake P3D? Who knows,personally I think the areas where P3D is falling behind slightly at the moment will be addressed in the future.

Of course if you are in the mood for a bit of gliding you can get yourself a glider for P3D or X plane and off you go, ...but you don’t want to do that! What you want to do is , again , specialise.Get yourself a copy of condor soaring simulator 2 and be amazed by is flight and weather physics, realistic whinch and aerotow launches.Putting a glider into a spin and watching it spiral down from an external view in this simulator is truly spellbinding.

Now, after spiralling around the sky all day at 45kts you’re in the mood for some high performance aggression !. Again you could buy a military add on for your favourite civilian platform.But if it’s the realistic feeling of a high performance jet you’re after you simply can’t do any better than get yourself a (free) copy of DCS. I’ve never known flight modelling like this, in all the years I’ve been simming, the realism is just superb. Perhaps a little too realistic  if anything. The first time I tried taking off in the mustang I crashed on takeoff the first 3 attempts.Despite having around 18,000 hours of real world flying experience, I’ve no experience or training in high performance piston tail draggers and so I made exactly the same handling errors I would if I just jumped into a real mustang and tried to take off with no training. The thing bit back ! I’m certainly no pacifist but I’ve not fired a single shot in the ‘ combat  ‘ sim DCS I’m just there for the flight dynamics and system modelling and with the addition of VR and good control hardware it’s the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to real flight on a simulator. And as I’ve said before, I include multimillion dollar level D sims in that statement.

It seems we’ve also  a treat in store for low and slow bush flying when Deadstick is released. Of course we can bush fly in P3D and X plane, but like with condor it won’t compare to a simulator specialising in and optimised for its particular genre.

So, personally no, I’m not longing or looking for a new one size fits all simulator. Running several specialised platforms along side each other is the way to go I feel.

We have such a rich and varied  selection of simulator platforms available to us at the moment, buy them all, if finances permit, and and enjoy and savour the different flavours and styles of each and every one of them.

Cheers 

Jon


787 captain.  

Previously 24 years on 747-400.Technical advisor on PMDG 747 legacy versions QOTS 1 , FS9 and Aerowinx PS1. 

Share this post


Link to post
11 hours ago, birdguy said:

Do any simulators replicate density altitude?

FlightGear is the only civil flight sim that simulates density altitude (depending on temperature).

I don't remember if one or both between DCS and IL2 also model that, @jcomm knows better than me.  🙂 

Edited by Murmur

"The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is hard to verify their authenticity." [Abraham Lincoln]

Share this post


Link to post

Cash. And lots of it 😅


Best regards,

 

Neal McCullough

Share this post


Link to post

Neal, you posted 2 minutes before me... LOL.

A modern day flight sim needs sales!! Look what happened to FSW!


Robin


"Onward & Upward" ...
To the Stars, & Beyond... 

Share this post


Link to post

So what do we think is a good way to secure sales?

New features? Name recognition? Accessibility for new users/non-simmers?

 

Share this post


Link to post

Thanks for all the replies so far by the way guys!

Share this post


Link to post

Yep, density alt, as a function of temperature, is also modelled in DCS and IL.2, but in a scenario-based fashion... FlightGear does it more comprehensively, and also Aerowinx PSX's Global Weather Model takes it into consideration.


Main Simulation Rig:

Ryzen 5600x, 32GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti, 1 TB & 500 GB M.2 nvme drives, Win11.

Glider pilot since October 1980...

Avid simmer since 1992...

Share this post


Link to post

Probably the most modern sim currently available is FlightGear..

Maybe because it's free, it does not have the support of the mainstream sims.

In any case, the question asked has been answered many times in the past... with FSX:SE, FSW, P3D & probably all other sims that have ever been released.

People obviously have different perceptions of what they think other people want, & get disappointed when their search for the holy grail of sims (for them) has not been finalised.  

 


Robin


"Onward & Upward" ...
To the Stars, & Beyond... 

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  
  • Tom Allensworth,
    Founder of AVSIM Online


  • Flight Simulation's Premier Resource!

    AVSIM is a free service to the flight simulation community. AVSIM is staffed completely by volunteers and all funds donated to AVSIM go directly back to supporting the community. Your donation here helps to pay our bandwidth costs, emergency funding, and other general costs that crop up from time to time. Thank you for your support!

    Click here for more information and to see all donations year to date.
×
×
  • Create New...