How many is still using FS2004, and why?

[ShortFinal 41]

yeah in answer to the question, I own FSX and X-Plane 11, but I always go back to FS9. I had FSX but uninstalled it, I have X-Plane but hate the sky environment and don't fly it. I have been able to do a ton of stuff with FS9 and fly aircraft that you can't fly in the other sims. the PMDG MD-11 for example, sure you can fly it in FSX but other than that we are the only ones able to learn the MD11. I've been able to change and retexture a lot of the simulator and bring it up to date to the point that I dont need to upgrade. I am a Private Pilot in college going for my Commercial, so I dont have enough time to make it worth the switch. I see no point in upgrading when I can still be blown away by a 17 year old sim.

[bobbyjack 61]

And consider this. I just got a Surface Go. Defiantly a light weight computer. 10 inch screen. I have been able to get fs9 to work on it at about 20 fps. Does it run and look as good as my desktop? No. But it runs. And I have FS on a system that I can take anywhere. Outdated? Not as good as the newest sim? The endless quest for bigger and better, and more powerful machines? I've never been able to afford the best. I do have a system the runs default FSX well. I find it interesting that the Go works. It has taken some finagling. And I may not be done. The Go was never intended to run this game.

[starfan69 0]

i am with bobbyjack i love fs9 and will never give it up. i am new to the HOTAS and am leaning on getting the new honeycomb yoke and throttle quadrant. I tired FSX and will prolly try fs 2020 but i always seem to come back to FS9. i had a guy 10 years ago repaint a tone of airplanes for that i can not take anywhere else and i fine add-ons like aitm2 and ade, ect.  work better on FS9. while the graphics may be better on the new sims fs9 graphics are not so bad i need to upgrade.

[Dedl 34]

Hi Starfan

it would be great, if you could set some punctuation marks and write some whole sentences, so that even non native english speakers could be able to understand, what you are trying to tell the world.

If I got you right, you like cooking...

Dedl

[lastivka 5]

In line with many other comments, I like FS9 because — it just works "out of the box"! Although I also have FSX, I've spent too much time trying to tweak it to work properly. I believe that FSX was a project that was released before it was completely finished. Having many issues (eg. DX10 half-working), it requires 3rd party addons to make it work well. It was effectively abandoned by MS, no major fixes or improvements were added in the many years since its release. Yes, the Steam Edition by others gave it a new lease of life, but the essential problems of performance remain, and being tied to online "Steam" really irks me.

Additionally, what make FS9 unique, is that I can use it together with Golden Wings and Silver Wings, with multiple installations recreating different vintages: eg.WWI, inter-war pioneering age, WWII, etc. Although more modern simulators, like MS 2020 purport to offer you "as real as it gets", for me, I want to escape from "reality" and immerse myself in a bygone age.

[Liet 5]

Hardware is the main reason for me.

[darrenvox 135]

its so amazing!! even 20 years onward

[betelgeuse 41]

I feel sorry for younger folks who never got the chance to fly FS2004. It was, and is, the smoothest and most realistic sim I have flown in 35 years of flight simulation.

I've a high end rig and have tried FSX, P3D in various versions up to 4.5, and X-plane 11.5.  None of them are as stable and immersive as FS2004. (It is not immersive to wrestle with bugs, or GNS/GTN/GPS addons whose nav frequencies might and might not, match those in the particular sim I am flying, etc).

Despite what some folks might think, there was a lot of drop-dead gorgeous freeware (and payware) scenery in FS2004, especially the smaller GA airfields. Not to mention the freeware aircraft produced by the likes of Milton Shupe which, in my experience, have never been bettered. A lot of that is now nla, or will not run in W10, never mind W11.

That is why I feel sorry for younger folks - you'll never know what you missed! 

[ViperPilot 81]

It was always about the Hardware for me. Not having the funds to afford a supercomputer capable of running FSX, I started out on FS8, then moved to FS9 mainly using Desktops with mid speed Pentium chips and 4G of RAM, with a stand alone Graphics Card. My last rig was a Dell laptop with an i5 2.5G, 4G RAM, a 500Gb HD, and a AMD 2gb Graphics Card. That rig went south in Winter 2015.

Fast forward to 2021; found an HP laptop on Craigslist with an AMD 1.9 chip and stand alone 1gb Graphics Card, 500Gb HD & 8 gigs of RAM, really cheap. W7 Pro 64 bit. FS9 is all that resides on this Laptop, and it runs better than ever. Locked @ 65 fps, no stutters. 

FS9 is more than enough to keep my FS appetite satiated, along with a hangar filled with Carenado singles and TDS tubeliners. Did I mention the IRIS Classic fighters? 😋 

Alan 😷

[Tubkal 3]

FS2004 made me a professional pilot today. Back on my teenage days, my family computer struggled with FSX and FS9 was the only way out... and boy, I'm so glad of the hours I logged on FS9 from mastering landings with Rod Machado to performing ultra-realistic commercial flights using add-ons such us the all-mighty Level D 767 (still missed to this day), the Ifly 737 NG, FS2Crew... 

FS2004 reassured me that my career inclination was professional flying. When I signed up for flight training, I couldn't thank flight simulation and the community enough to help me find my passion. A passion that I wouldn't have found where I lived, where aviation is scarce and limited to the rich. 

I'm still a simmer and tried all mainstream flight simulator. I settled with P3D v4 for now, where I fly airplanes I hope to fly one day and practice drills on airplanes I had the honour to fly, but FS2004 has always a big corner in my heart. I'm glad to see that FS2004 has impacted so many people's lives, and that it still going strong. 

FS2004, thank you

 

[PebbleBeach 120]

YES FOR THIS REASON

[trioer 10]

On 12/6/2021 at 12:26 AM, PebbleBeach said:

YES FOR THIS REASON

Hey Mitch!

Good reason! Haven't seen you as active on the forums lately, though I have been slacking myself. Hope you are doing well! What, if anything are you working on these days? Think i remember an old post for KABQ, but I can't remember.

[PebbleBeach 120]

On December 8, 2021 at 1:24 PM, trioer said:

Hey Mitch!

Good reason! Haven't seen you as active on the forums lately, though I have been slacking myself. Hope you are doing well! What, if anything are you working on these days? Think i remember an old post for KABQ, but I can't remember.

Trioer, hello. Good to hear from you. Yes we were more than halfway through with ABQ. Unfortunately the gentlemen I was working with, who is much more talented than I, became slammed at work as well as all the fallout we dealt with C19.

I hope to solicit someone with modeling skills to see this project through. I personally want this done as I love to fly there.

Thank you for reaching out. Keep your fingers crossed. I haven't thrown in the towel yet by a long shot.

M

[SimPilot1998 9]

I always loved airplanes, airplane movies, airplane documentaries, and I was even intrigued by plane accidents and how they came about. As a kid, I was really interested in how 9/11 happened. How is it possible to hijack an airplane and redirect it where you want? To be honest, with such curiosity I looked for a decent flight simulator to see if it’s really that easy to take a plane and fly it where you want and do what you want. But I was wrong there, because being a pilot is something really difficult and precise. So, here we are 6 years later I’m still learning and I have a bunch of more to learn. But one thing is for sure, as long as there is a computer and aviation I will always use FS2004. Until, I manage to get into the real actual cockpit hopefully. 👨‍✈️

 

[GCarty 1]

I've stuck with FS2004 as I've developed instrument panels for the Historic Jetliners Group: while I have FSX too and try to make my addons compatible with both sims, this hasn't always been possible, especially when I've been modifying other people's work for which the source code is unavailable.

Because I try to simulate aircraft systems accurately (check out my DC-10 panel series for the culmination of this) it takes me long enough just to develop 2D instrument panels: I certainly wouldn't have time to develop 3D virtual cockpits as well, even though users of newer sims like P3D or MSFS 2020 would no doubt expect these. I expect for this reason that users of these newer sims would thus be far more reliant on commercial add-ons, as the man-hours required would be beyond what freeware developers were willing to give!