I'm done

[Guest bobsk8]

I used to spend hours and hours flying FS9 on my PC prior to retirement, which occurred March 1, 2006. I had Real Weather, all kinds of add-on aircraft, Radar Contact, FSE, you name it , it was on my PC. As much as I enjoyed flying, I realized that I was spending the bulk of my time on the PC looking at a screen. It seemed like there was always something that needed fixing or upgrading. Blurries, slow frame rates in big cities, crashes, upgrades, all these things would seem to pop up from time to time. Then the talk of FSX started and I figured out that my fairly new PC probably wouldn't work and I was going to have to invest another $ 2K for a new one. As I retired , I decided to convert my part time business as a musician to full time. I bought new Keyboards, amps, PC programs for recording, making demos, upgrading web sites etc... At this point I put FS9 away, because I found that I didn't have the time to spend on it anymore. Evemn though I was retired, I had too many other things to do. Every once in awhile I would fire up FS9, and fly it for a few minutes and then I would see a stammer in the frame rate, or something wouldn't work quite right and I would just exit the program . Just yesterday I was reading about FSX on this forum and brought up FS9 again at Misty Fjords with my C182 RG. I took off with an overcast and as I turned downwind at Ketchikan, I got an occasional stutter. I exited the program again. This morning I was reading about people already having blurries and frame rate problems with FSX, and talking about upgrading this and that on their PCs, and none of the add-ons would work anymore etc,.....etc... etc..... I am done with Flight SIM period.. It was fun while it lasted, but the aggravation factor has taken over the enjoyment that I used to get the times that it would run smoothly, and FSX looks like it is going to be more of the same. I just don't have the time or the interest anymore.

[Guest SJDickson]

Okay, thanks for letting us know. Bye.

[Guest panda234]

I'm pretty discouraged too, to the point that I've only fired up FS9 once or twice in the last 4 or 5 months. I'm going to wait and see what FSX has to offer though. I won't buy it, but I'll watch the boards and look at the issues before I make my decision. At this point I'm pretty sure I'm out but I'll wait and see if something changes my mind.

[Guest randalicious1]

I have been a reader of these forums for a while now but have never actually registered. However its after reading posts such as this i feel i must throw my hat into the forum ring.I too was flying this morning and experienced the odd stutter and not so 20/20 vision blurred texture for a few seconds, this also occured while storming a village in Company of Hereos, but instead of just turning the whole thing off in disgust i thought. WOW!! look at this brilliant piece of software, it has given me so much entertainment for the past few years that i cannot thank MS enough for their time and effort developing it. It seems to me too many people are pressing Shift-z and looking at a little RED number on the screen than actually looking around and enjoying what is on their screens (An entire Globe to explore)I say Bring on FSX, and long live FLIGHT SIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[boshar 6]

Reading your story I realised that the realy happy time I had in FS9 was with the basic Eurowings ATR 72-500 flying between 2 German Airports (Nurnberg and Munich) from the German Airports 1 package. I would fly the route in about 1 hour and then go do something else. Since the I bought a ton off other add-ons but it never made the experience any beter. It just made an obsessed FS tweaker out of me.I'm now working toward 2 basic FS9 installs each with a few add-ons to recreate the happy time I once had. And it works. Only a few add-ons and a few perfomance tweaks and then actually use the program to fly! Its radical but acctually FUN to do.I have decided to stay with FS9 and a few add-ons for a long while. I had hoped for FS-X to give me a stable platform that gives a stable, fluid framerate when configured with FS9 like graphics settings (a very realistic expectation in my opinion). Alas it doesn't work that way on my hardware.There is no way I will ever again spend as much time tweaking FS-X settings as I did with FS9. Its to much like working and no fun.Its great that you find so much things to do and to enjoy. Have a happy retirement. Look into these forums every now and then. You never know maybe we will find the holy grail in flightsim FPS performance.

[wmayo44 0]

Absolutely! Long live it all ...The performance frustrations have always been a challenge. I wish it were perfect on all computers, but it IS and amazing piece of programming, and is really meant for high end machines (whether they say it or not).I just put FS9 on my newer Athlon 4600+ duo, and it is now really slick and incredibly smooth. I know I'll be flying it as well for some time to come, with all the add-ons, it's been worth the ride (my Pentium 4 2.4MHz did generally okay with it as well).As I posted elsewhere, the FSX full demo, does really "okay" with the newer computer. It's just a shame that getting the new version means flying isn't just $70, but $770 ... but for decent flight simulation as a concept, I guess it's still reasonable.I hear they are coming out with quad-processor computers soon. They really should've have put out a multi-processor version of FS. Oh well, I guess when 7MHz computers are mainstream, even FSX will be wonderfully smooth and glassy.BOTTOM LINE:I'd rather they put something out a little ahead of the curve with great features that can be turned on, than one that is behind the hardware curve, and is very limited in capability!

[Guest allcott]

Oh well, another simmer bites the dust. But the question is, does anyone care? MS certainly don't, they're about to sell hundreds of thousands of units, millions mebbe, around the Globe. One leaving hardly gives cause for concern, particularly whn they're leaving for ereasons which are their own, not the products, fault. So why would we care? In about two or three weeks, most of us will be ex-FS2004 simmers anyway. Apart from the occasional re-visit perhaps, but then the conversation will turn to all those dissatisfied consumers who have bought at and now can't make it work on a Commodore 64 or wonder why they can't get fine control with a keyboard. Will we even miss whatsisname?From a musical perspective I guess it's like the last verse of `In the Ghetto`"As her young man dies,On a cold and gray chicago mornin,Another little baby child is bornIn the ghetto"Goodbye, and Welcome to the flight sim ghetto.Allcott

[kerosene31 349]

For every moment of frustration, there should be more of those "feel good" times. Just a few of mine from recent memory:-Flying a pattern in the new version of the RealAir SF260 in the smooth VC. I was always a 2d panel fan, but this cranked flightsim up a notch for me-Entering the approach into SFO with the Eaglesoft Citation X. Using the RealityXP avionics with TCAS to get in line with other traffic for approach. -Flying the FSD Navajo 2.0 through mostly cloudy conditions from Palm Beach to Nassau. I finally broke through the clouds, spotted the island, and made a perfect visual approach to the beautiful airport. Honestly, I never got full enjoyment until the last few months after I build my new system (specs in sig). At that point I finally stopped tinkering and started flying. Even still, things are not as smooth as I would like, but things run well enough for me to enjoy. This is one of the main reasons I'm not buying FSX for quite some time. I still haven't maxed out fs9 even on my new system.

[Guest Raptor483]

Reading this original post, I realize that I felt once like he did. I too had other things on my plate that was keeping me from enjoying FS9. I remember when FS9 first came out. I was so excited, but I knew that it would take a while for me to get FS9 where I wanted it to be. I too would start up FS9, play it for a few minutes and experience the micro-stutter. Which to me, the micro-stutter, was a very big issue and made me lose intrest in Flight Simulator all together. It seemed I was playing FS once every couple months and if I played it, it was for about 15 minutes. After several hundred dollars, time tweaking hardware and software, I think that any average Joe can get FS9 to run great.Time is always an issue with the FS community. With 3 kids and a wife, I spend as much time as my schedule allows, playing FS. I just recently got back into FS9 after I ran into great addons like, GE Pro, AS6, UT, and other payware aircraft. Just yesterday, I received my last stick of RAM for a total of 2gigs. I can proudly say that FS9 is running with little or no micro-stutters anymore. I will wait on FSX now that I got FS9 where I want it to be. I hate to hear that you are giving up because you feel that FS9 will never be where you want it to be. If lack of intrest in aviation is why you are giving up, that is one thing. However, if your lack of drive to invest a little more in great hardware or software to get FS9 to look and performe up to par with FSX, then I hope you re-think your decision. I hate to see people give up, when there is so much potential in FS9 that I myself looked over for years.

[Guest camtech]

Im not a computer expert but i do know computers and it seems to me that the Intel boys,the Amd boys , the nvidia boys and the ATI fellas, could care less about us hardcore simmers.because all i see is there benchmark test on first person shooters and such games .you all have seen them you know 175 fps versus 172.6 fps on games that does not really work a system.Now we have to go out and buy super duper triple core systems with all the fixins, with hard drives so big i can move in on.Maxed out Ram and suped up cpu's, you know computers so powerful when you turn them on you can see the lites in your house dim.All so that i can get more frame rates.Bottom line is that we are at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to those wonderful companies i mentioned, i can care less about 3d Benchmarks and all those high numbers the com gets when you test your system.Because as soon as i load up FS9 and all of the fixins, my com boggs down to a wonderful 17 fps, and that is in good weather, and im the only plane within miles.And if im lucky to get to 20 fps im thirty thousand feet in the air.And when i try to land in a busy city and the weather is bad, i get a whopping 10 FPS.But you see folks im a hardcore simmer, and i will wait for FSX and load it and deal with all of the headaches that comes with it.yeah im going to go out and get all of the latest hardware, and software so as soon as i get it home it will be old hardware.Yeah im going to cuss and fuss and get mad and holler and scream when my camera will get better frame rates than my com does.I will continue this Hobby because i love it so much.Just imagine i will go out and buy a five hundred dollars vid card so i can get a better frame rate , just to find out that my cpu is to slow and im talking a 3800+ amd, then i will go out and buy a faster cpu , and mother board , and more Ram , and more whatever it takes to have more frame rate. Just so i can keep it at between 15 to 20 fps.Because you see im a hardcore simmer and i will do whatever it takes to injoy this game.I Love This Sport.................Robert

[Guest Binkles]

I feel saddened when I see another person leaving, but as someone else stated, when one person leaves, two quickly fill their place.Personally I won't have a machine to run FSX, I'm downloading the latest demo to confirm that as I type, but you know, even after 3 years I'm still enjoying it, I've given up tweaking, I run at a lower level, don't try the cutting edge planes etc and I'm happy as.I've rediscovered FSEconomy, and the great crew there, and I'm enjoying the little hot skips and a jump that I get to perform with it.With a child, house, work etc, it's nice to get away for even a little while and dream the dream.Sad to see people go - but still loving the sim.

[Guest Revraz]

It's funny to read how people think they need to spend hundreds of dollars on add ons, and then once theydo they complain about problems and framerates.I have 1 add on, World Airports 2. I fly all Freeware aircraft. I use real world weather in FS. I have great framerates and no problems at all flying. Go back to basics.

[Guest camtech]

HHHHHHHHmmmmmmm i thought what i was doing was basic heh heh heh .....Robert

[Manny 1,293]

BOB,You could invest in a new PC with core 2 Duo and do the following two options.1. Install your FS9+All the addons we have come to like and fly great ...without stutters and what not.2. Also install FSX and turn the sliders to 80% right...and fly the default FSX without stutters. FSX in default is nice for the missions and night flying. Night flying with the moon reflection in the water and bloom light is spectacular. Default FSX would also be good to fly in areas where you do not have addons in FS9.What is not possible now or in the near future (ie. 1 yr into the future ...with the information I have as of now) is that we cannot have FSX with too many addons piled on to it. I am not sure if FSX even with the hot shot machines can take the load of Ultimate Traffic cranked up 80% and add on airports and what not. I could be wrong on what I just said.. cause I have not tried the FSX retail with Ultimate traffic for FSX yet. But thats where I am leaning towards. It's an educated hunch.The ones who are happy with the default FSX would have no problem with running it in todays hotshot machines.. and the ones who are willing to move the sliders to the left/middle would be happy campers even without a hotshot machine. God bless them... I used to be one of THEM once. :)Manny

[ahinterl 1]

I sim since the legendary FS II, I was always impressed by aircraft of all types, and I guess I always will be.FS9 for me brought the heaviest time in flightsimming ever, and before my latest 2 complete system crashes, I spent more time patching, installing, panel designing and tweaking than actually flying. I spent hours on end in front of that 2D screen.After the last complete re-install, I'm now down to a maximum of approximately 2 hours a week that I spend simming, many weeks I don't touch the sim at all. My family is quite happy about this ;-)I've somehow grown up during the time I used FS9 and now kept the number of tweaks and add-ons of all kind to a minimum.Too often I was disappointed about this and that in the past, many products have very annoying little bugs which make my life unnecessarily harder, so I decided to let only the best get onto my hard drive.And the concept works: instead of flipping between plane types and places on the globe, I restricted myself to a handful of the most excellent planes and regions, and I'm now happier than before because this saves me a lot of frustration and time.Simming needs to be fun for me, and the 3rd party products must be mature and usable for me to buy them in the future.FSX has a very long way to go to satisfy my needs: the hardware needed I want to run it isn't available yet, and the add-on producers will in addition need a lot of time before great planes will be released.So, absolutely no time to hurry for me, I'll wait until FSX, the add-ons, the hardware and the knowledge in the forums reached an acceptable level which means fun to me is reached.So long, FS9 for me is here to stay, and I keep on flying that PMDG-747 and -737 and Maddog etc. once in a while.No reason to ever quit this hobby, though I have many others too. Poor guys who do...Andreas