This is not an entirely new simulator. Aerofly FS 1 was released almost 6 years ago to the date. There also were some hopes at the time that it could blossom into a major competitor in the limited flightsim market. The lack of progress on FS2 is not surprising given the history.

2 hours ago, jabloomf1230 said:

This is not an entirely new simulator. Aerofly FS 1 was released almost 6 years ago to the date. There also were some hopes at the time that it could blossom into a major competitor in the limited flightsim market. The lack of progress on FS2 is not surprising given the history.

True. However, AFS2 is seriously different from AFS1 so you could almost call it an entirely new sim. AFS2 didn't have a globe and nothing worked in the cockpit. Afaik a lot of AFS2 was build from scratch. AFS1 was more some kind of arcade game while AFS2 has some more sim qualities. But nevertheless, your point stands... There were hopes then and there are hopes now. As I posted before elsewhere I also wonder if IPACS isn't thinking about AFS3 already... I can't imagine them working on ATC alone for years, releasing it for free, and then start working on a weather engine, releasing that for free... It wouldn't surprise me if some of the things we want never will be part of AFS2. (Which btw wouldn't be weird or strange: just look at all the version MS FS had!)

4 hours ago, J van E said:

I am sure the upcoming (?) R22

One of the ugliest helicopters around, of course, to my taste. Even if IPACS releases it this weekend I won't be too interested.

Cheers, Ed

 

52 votes, well, I didn't even know that many AVSIM'ers were interested in AFS2. 😉 One thing is clear by now though: IPACS really needs to add some real simming stuff before people will get (seriously) interested (again). Until then the future looks a bit grim.

I come entirely from a different perspective: I quit flightsimming when my XP box died and I couldn't be fussed shoehorning my beloved FS9.5 into WIN10.

(Yes, FS9.5 doesn't exist but the thing we had built up over the years looked nothing like out of the box!)

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/433016-fs-995-never-looked-so-good/?do=findComment&comment=2913018

SO what options? I detest FSX, P3D and all that word not allowed legacy code.
Don't like the look of XP11, and don't have the time to invest learning it and building it up, either.

This puts me in a special category, but I believe there are quite a few of us: we want a Quick Fly that looks great! Take a nice screenshot, maybe a little movie clip, and out.

And there's no denying there's plenty of great material to work with.

AFS2 does not cater for Hardcore flightsimmers, and never pretended to.
I find it disturbing to read constant negative comment about "No ATC, No This, No That" What, do you think IPACS don't know what's in the sim?

It is disheartening for a dev to hear constant bitching about what's NOT there, and distracts them from producing what Is Going to Be There. I know, because I've done some stuff over the years, and about all you get is some kiddie who has no clue about the skills and time involved, whining about "Why didn't you create a scenery of my house and an aeroplane that has my name on it? And runs on Playstation!"

My momma (OK someone's momma) always said:
"If you can't say something nice, don't say it at all"

If AFS2 doesn't satisfy you, move on, it's that simple.

On 10/23/2018 at 11:33 PM, WingZ said:

If AFS2 doesn't satisfy you, move on, it's that simple.

Agree. AFS2 is for those who like to join in the journey. Not for those who just like the end of the line.

On 10/23/2018 at 5:33 PM, WingZ said:

My momma (OK someone's momma) always said:
"If you can't say something nice, don't say it at all"

If AFS2 doesn't satisfy you, move on, it's that simple.

You need to listen to your mom, you're comments aren't very nice either.

This is an AF2 poll topic with specific options about how satisfied or unsatisfied one is.

It is totally ok to be unsatisfied with AF2 and to comment here about it in a civil, factual, and honest way. 

2 hours ago, torium said:

AFS2 is for those who like to join in the journey.

P3D and XP users are on a journey as well correct? Regular updates, added features, through many years....

On 10/19/2018 at 12:57 PM, J van E said:

I can't imagine them working on ATC alone for years, releasing it for free, and then start working on a weather engine, releasing that for free...

This is the main reason that I totally reject the business model that AF2 is following. 

14 hours ago, torium said:

Agree. AFS2 is for those who like to join in the journey. Not for those who just like the end of the line.

I don't mind a journey but this one is taking a bit too long. Everyone knows IPACS doesn't say much about what they are doing but whenever they do, they often don't deliver. More than a year ago IPACS posted we would get a preview of ATC soon. More than a YEAR later there still hasn't been a preview and all they can say ATC won't be here anytime soon. A lot of simmers are waiting for the ATC while we don't even know what it will bring...! I think that when you get a bit annoyed by having to wait for over a year for just a preview you can't call that impatience or unjustified. 

On 10/23/2018 at 11:33 PM, WingZ said:

If AFS2 doesn't satisfy you, move on, it's that simple.

Problem here is that AFS2 does have parts that satisfy me so I don't really want to move on. I have to add though that some of those parts are getting weaker already... Take the fast loading times of AFS2: when I bought it I could be in a plane in 6 seconds. But recently, with newer scenery (like TE) it's taking a minute or so. Or take performance: the sim still is seriously smooth but the BIG PAUSES you get above TrueEarth or even Florida whenever scenery is being loaded is a serious immersion killer for me. The more I fly in AFS2, the more it annoys me and the less I like what AFS2 shows me. I really don't like flying over TE because of the stutters but I also don't like flying over the mediocre default scenery... so er... yes, well, maybe it IS time to move on LOL But seriously, those pauses aren't nice and I think they will only get worse whenever more options will be added. At this moment in time (but those who know me now that may change within an hour 😎) I wouldn't even reinstall AFS2 if I had to reinstall my PC. 

12 hours ago, pracines said:

It is totally ok to be unsatisfied with AF2 and to comment here about it in a civil, factual, and honest way. 

Agreed. I really don't get it why some people think you should only post positive things about something or else move on. As if you are now allowed to complain. If no one would have complained about things in the past we'd still be living in caves.

Sycophantic positivism is almost as bad as bagging the product no matter what...

What I am promoting is constructive comment. If you don't understand this, let me give you an example: "Hi guys, I notice your xxx aircraft has a droopy aileron. I discovered that adding this line of code fixed it. I think it improves the sim" 
Making a Cold+Dark mod falls exactly into that category!

Bitching about this or that not being there is just... pointless. Was it there when you paid your money? No.
Will it bring it faster if you carry on? No - you've seen how IPACS goes about its business and they will do what interests them. Is that bad? No. They cannot compete with the mainstream sims, and so must do something else, and do it far better than P3D or XP. And they succeed.

No "Serious" simmer is going to use AFS2 only. It is a recreational sim that does what it does, really well. Think of an airline pilot who does stunt flying over the weekend. Get your kicks, and then go back to work in the Real Thing. 

If you can't have a little fun, shut up, move on, and don't spoil it for everyone whose experience is ruined by unconstructive negative chatter.

I have other gripes but this will suffice for now. 🙂

13 hours ago, WingZ said:

"Hi guys, I notice your xxx aircraft has a droopy aileron. I discovered that adding this line of code fixed it. I think it improves the sim"

I get your points 😉 bit the quote above is stretching it a bit too far (if that is how you say it). So we should tell IPACS how to code their sim and if don't have a clue about coding we should shut up and move on? I posted that the sim is getting long pauses when scenery is being loaded, I said so a year ago already, I even suggested they might look into loading scenery in smaller batches or fading it in. And what do I get: even more and severe pauses. I don't know how to code: I can only say what needs improvement imho. I think I am entitled to say things like this even though I don't know how to code a sim. That isn't bitching: that is helping IPACS to get a view on what their customers are thinking and what they want. That will IMPROVE the sim. Saying what's bad about a sim out of love for it and in order to see it being improved is constructive imho. 😉

 

40 minutes ago, J van E said:

I get your points 😉 bit the quote above is stretching it a bit too far (if that is how you say it). So we should tell IPACS how to code their sim and if don't have a clue about coding we should shut up and move on? I posted that the sim is getting long pauses when scenery is being loaded, I said so a year ago already, I even suggested they might look into loading scenery in smaller batches or fading it in. And what do I get: even more and severe pauses.

While you are right, that attitude is not at all restricted to IPACS, unfortunately. There have been reported issues with Prepar3d like wafting hills, autogen loading in patches, age-old navdata/airport layouts etc. for months or even years now, and what we get is Simdirector improvements, corrected trenches around Cyprus, fixed elevation issues in Guam, Voice control and stuff. I don't say these improvements/fixes are not welcome, there just have been a number of issues long overdue to solve.

I am not that intimately familiar with XP development, but LR seems to neglect a series of long-standing user wishes like native seasonal changes, to mention only one, as well.

That reminds me a bit of the guy looking for his key under a lantern, not because he lost it there, but because it's brighter.

Kind regards, Michael

Edited October 27, 20187 yr by pmb

1 hour ago, pmb said:

While you are right, that attitude is not at all restricted to IPACS, unfortunately. There have been reported issues with Prepar3d like wafting hills, autogen loading

Is the attitude of IPACS bad? If you have purchased a product that does not work as advertised - you have reason to complain. But I do not think that applies to Aerofly FS2. 

As WingZ points out, there are positive criticisms and negative criticisms. And then it should be unnecessary to emphasize that negative criticism is not positive.

Therefore IPAC tried to explain the situation from their point, quote: - "Over time users tend to write reviews of their experience but human nature pushes us to sometimes look at the negative in things rather than what is good in a product. [...]. 

It's sometimes difficult for us to stay motivated ... [...]. 

Most individuals don't understand how hard it is to make a quality flight simulator with such a small team, and we do know that Aerofly is still missing a lot of features that everyone (including us) want to see in Aerofly, but to get bashed in reviews for our shortfall without knowing our own story hurts the evolution of our product. [...].

Let me all assure you, we have great plans for the future of Aerofly and you will see more progress this year already. But we know from the past, that we need a very good code base to create a long living product. That’s mainly the reason why it takes longer for certain features to get published than you expect. But publishing stuff to hastily with a bad internal interface is something that will hurt future development in the long term.

And there is another reason that development is maybe different compared to other simulators: We are perfectionists and we love our product and we just can’t publish anything if we think it’s not right. This level of perfectionism is even more important than maximizing our profit."

This is the real life. Accept it - or move on.

Soon we will have a few new flight simulators to play with. Will they be perfect? No.

1 hour ago, J van E said:

I don't know how to code: I can only say what needs improvement imho. I think I am entitled to say things like this even though I don't know how to code a sim. That isn't bitching: that is helping IPACS to get a view on what their customers are thinking and what they want. That will IMPROVE the sim.

Do you really think that if you did not point this out - IPACS would not even know that the load time now is slower? 

I am very grateful to anyone willing to spend time and money on the development of flight simulators. I am by no means convinced that this hobby has a long and bright future. Unfortunately.

Edited October 27, 20187 yr by torium