A question for the devs, tdragger pc12c et.al.Couldn't you maybe use a similar idea to FSHS and VoxATC for the ATC system? ie Text-to-speech, with MS' skill in areas like that thrown behind this we could have accents easily, it would implement in later versions more easily without hiring many people to do voices, and on top of that we could have as Vox does an auto-q telling us what to say into the microphone. We'd have the best of both worlds and a more realistic offline experiance. Also if it couldn't be done with accents initially it would be easy for users to buy and add more voices later on.

TTS? You mean have ATC use text to speech when giving you instructions and stuff? (As opposed to speech recognition)From what little experience I've had with it (via SAPI4 and Macs a long while ago) the voices really aren't that good. And getting a computer to say a word as we hear it can take some major tweaking do to our somewhat inconsistant rules of pronunciation. :)"Let me help you out. You're cleared to taxi any way you can to any runway you see."

ok so the system isnt changing...no accents, etc...however, I would like to know if there will be more than 5 or 6 voices?? Even if the accents are all the same, it would be nice to hear 15 or so different voices.

There are ten voices in my FS2004 - did you use a compact install to save space?Not trying to be a smart as but have you ever read the MS article on how the voices and voice pack are created?http://www.microsoft.com/games/flightsimul...mbledvoices.aspInteresting and a bit scary.You can compare the excellent work done by the Radar Contact team, which still has probably thousands of airport, airline and model names to create to match what's available in the standard FS with EditVoicePack.One other thing - we've seen several posts and "reviews" that there will be some accent voices in FSX.

No accents according to the blog link posted above.....

I read the blog...I wasnt interested in accents...I would have liked to see more voices instead of the small amount included last time. Like maybe 15 or ideally 20+ voices. Like I said...I could care less about accents...its just funny to hear the pilot and the controller as the same person sometimes!

Conspiracy theories be damned... what makes it hard to take other than face value is that we aren't privy to what you guys have had in the sim and have taken out. Who's to say that a newer ATC system wasn't implemented, but didn't work out with the set of testers you had at the time?

Interesting discussion...Without going too deep into it, I would like to add my vote in favour of the single player ATC system and further improvement of it.The most important reasons:* I often do not have much time to fly around. Joining an online session would not make much sense. Artificial ATC does help out a tremendous bit here. And you can pause that stuff any time...* Being non-professional in the aviation business, my skills and my knowledge of real-world-procedures are limited.I've enjoyed it many times that with my limited skills I can still do an ATC approach. If I had to join an online session everytime I would like to have ATC, I surely would mess it up completely...With my small skills I'd rather remain in my little box, not doing any harm to other people than those sitting in AI aircraft and towers ;)Thanks for listeningAlex

>Interesting discussion...>>Without going too deep into it, I would like to add my vote in>favour of the single player ATC system and further improvement>of it.>>The most important reasons:>>* I often do not have much time to fly around. Joining an>online session would not make much sense. Artificial ATC does>help out a tremendous bit here. And you can pause that stuff>any time...>>* Being non-professional in the aviation business, my skills>and my knowledge of real-world-procedures are limited.>I've enjoyed it many times that with my limited skills I can>still do an ATC approach. If I had to join an online session>everytime I would like to have ATC, I surely would mess it up>completely...>With my small skills I'd rather remain in my little box, not>doing any harm to other people than those sitting in AI>aircraft and towers ;)>>Thanks for listening>Alex>That is, of course, assuming that the controller on the session you are connected to cares about real-world procedures or whether you mess up or not.Whenever I host a server, you can be sure that it will clearly say in the description that my airspace is a relaxed one. I will try to word it as to place a reasonable expectation on the pilots who join...I'm not going to demand precision and perfection in procedure and flying, and it shouldn't be expected from me either. Sure, I'll be able to space the planes out and vector you into landing, but I know for a fact that my "lingo" won't be accurate or up to par with real ATC. If you just want to fly around and have some fun without crashing into other planes, then you'll look for my server.With the proliferation of the game, and the excitement over the online modes, I don't expect that it will take too long before we see a good range of servers up with a variety of conditions. If it's anything like other games using a Gamespy or like interface, you'll see a server list that looks something like this:SERVER NAME:KSFO - EXPERIENCED PILOTS ONLYWASHINGTON ARTCC - Contact Ground on sign-inAlaska Bush League ServerBrian's Flying - WOOOOOOFLIGHT LESSONS - NEW PILOTS JOIN HEREOshkosh Virtual AirShow - Fly or Just Watch!Virtual Pan Am Locked Server - Members onlyKDCA Tower controlled...first time as ATCetc etcOnce things get rolling, you should be able to find a good range of complexity to fly on. Not everything will be to VATSIM standards, which is something I am greatful for, and it also means that you will have a choice. There's not a whole lot of options for us flying online right now, something that is incredibly different from other games I play. So I really view this as a great change. Of course, I was happy with the offline ATC as well, so the fact that it hasn't changed is a blessing to me too.Well, I've done it again, and gone and rambled.

I implore you to reconsider this decision.>Please don

>One other thing - we've seen several posts and "reviews" that>there will be some accent voices in FSX.The accents you hear (or will hear) in FSX are in the missions. They sound great, but they don't use the ATC system.

Truth in advertising :(Just an excellent use of hype to have 'regionalization' or 'globalization' with accents. Too bad there was just one guy programming the ATC this time :(

>Truth in advertising :(>>Just an excellent use of hype to have 'regionalization' or>'globalization' with accents. Too bad there was just one guy>programming the ATC this time :(Well, at least next time they will know to hire you to fix all of their problems.

>Carefully reading my blog post and/or the subsequent comments>on my blog or on this forum thread, you will see we haven't>"decided" to remove ATC. I only questioned it's future. There>is a world of difference between the two. Since my post, there>has been a passionate response from all of you, and we are>listening. But don't jump to conclusions.I'm a "single player" user and always will be; the on-line aspect of flying personally does not appeal to me for a variety of reasons. My hope is that single player ATC will always be a part of FS, and I like it the way it is. My only "expectation" is that with each new version known bugs are fixed and perhaps a few improvements are added to the code to enhance the ATC experience a little bit.If we were conducting a poll on what the FS team might do with ATC in future versions, my vote would be to retain the current system at a minimum, and it's OK with me if that's all it ever will be out of the box. Users who want more can always purchase add-ons to enhance ATC if they want a more complex system.Please keep the information and news coming guys (ACES team); I'm really enjoying the "new" way of doing things by MS.Thanks,

"I frankly am sort of a loner in my flight sim hobby and don't fly online. I love the AI traffic it's one of the things that makes it realistc. So you have to give it up just to talk to a human and land at an empty airport. Also, having to depend on other people just to fly? Are there people tending ATC at 3 o'clock in the morning in the US? I'd rather stick to artificial intelligence atc which is open and available 24 hours a day when I wan't to fly."This says it all for me... I'm highly disturbed ATC wasn't expanded upon in this version. This along with performance concerns and no sign of Vista is the very reason I'm holding onto FS2k4 a little bit longer. Without a real update to ATC among other underlying features, I don't see a need to rush out and buy FSX right away.