You've probably noticed in a lot of those shots how the A/C is not in the centre of the screen. It looks like a major rewrite of the way the camera behaves in spot view.I must say it's about time. I wasn't too happy with spot view in FS9. I thought the camera was too static. I thought that it should behave as if it were mounted on another A/C shooting air to air. It would then be subject to its own turbulent air and move independently of the A/C it was shooting.Maybe this will be the case in FSX.Also what's with the camera angle in those shots of the Extra. It looks like it's no longer fixed on the horizon. I hope it won't be too hard to control. The Extra is already a handful in spot view.Mike.

I'm sorry this is very insensitive language.Ken is it possible to have this topic withdrawn?Mike.

Mike,I know my responding to your initial post doesn't make the topic go away any more quickly (as requested in your second message), but I'd like to at least bring up one possible way the shots could show the aircraft somewhere other than in the center of the picture. The shots may be cropped. I'm not saying they are, by any means, but perhaps they were cropped from a higher resolution screenshot in order to highlight some of the environment while still including the aircraft .This is entirely speculation on my part, however, as FSX may well implement some version of what you're describing.Kevin

Mike,I didn't see anything wrong with your post. It's OK to wish for improvements in the sim. From what I can see, it looks like a new "tag-a-long" view may be in the offering which may be a camera that can be moved, panned, etc and tied to the aircraft's motion. This would be a very exciting feature--imagine all those beautiful Mike Stone aircraft without wing views, and a new ability to position a "passenger" viewpoint anywhere you wish along the 3-d model.-John

The images weren't cropped. (Unless Jason contradicts me, in which case they were. )

>The images weren't cropped. (Unless Jason contradicts me, in>which case they were. )As my Grandpa used to say, "Well, slap me nekkid 'n hide my clothes!" Highmike, you may be on to something here...Thanks for the clarification, Mr. Gilbert. :-)Kevin

I would personally LOVE to see some sort of element added to FS where you're not just a "camera" but a person ala in an FPS game, free to move about the world with those sort of "mouselook" controls and the WSAD keys. Imagine being able to open the door in the VC, climb out in a realistic motion and then walk into the FBO after a flight - that would add a TON to the environment I think. Take a look at Battlefield 2 for the general idea of what I'm thinking - you can do this with the planes, helicopters, tanks, trucks etc. I could even imagine Internet enabled screens inside the FBO where you could say file a VATSIM flight plan, switch aircraft and then turn around to see it sitting there outside, order fuel for your plane etc... tons of posibliites.

>The images weren't cropped. (Unless Jason contradicts me, in>which case they were. )There were a few cropped shots-- mostly 'cause of build issues. For the most part (maybe 95% of the shots) no cropping.Cheers,J

Good points. Up to now the player's "character" has been the aircraft. Actually creating a human entity, as you point out, opens up a bunch of possibilities. Of course it also opens up a lot of challenges that have been at the heart of many, many discussions--both formal and informal. As I mentioned in another post, if you have *specific* ideas about what you expect to be able to do with a a first-person entity make sure to email them to [email protected].

Thanks for the vote of confidence guys.In reference to my original post let me say that I believe my criticism of FS9 was a little unfair. We can't expect to have every intricate detail modelled in any version of FS because gradual and incremental progression is inherently the nature of software development. I doubt that FSX will get much closer to the ultimate goal of flight simulation but I do believe that the endeavour is very worth while.I thought that my original post sounded ungrateful. I'm not really.Mike.

I couldn't agree more. Active Camera lets you walk around your aircraft - I certainly hope FSX takes this a lot further. I think there is a definite possibility of this. I would also like to see the world filled with realistic AI people. If not in FSX, then maybe in the next version.... Best regards, Chris

I thought about the fact of being able to walk around and having a FBO building at most fields that once inside you could interact with items that were short cuts to things like weather, time, season, realism etc. For example if you move your cursor to the clock on the wall and click it brings up the time/season window where you can change it.Or the T.V. showing the weather channel brings up the weather window prompt.A safe on the ground allows to save the flight.Etc EtcThings like that. Got the idea from how you load up things in the mafia game. But since it has little to do with actually flying it makes sense that it really doesnt need to be in the sim ever.One thing that would be nice about that is that the user would be able to enjoy door on the a/c opening and tie down features more. To get out of the a/c or back in you would need the door open. Push the door open button once and you open the door another time and you switch views to a person veiw on the outside. A third time puts you back in the plane and a forth time closes the door.