AeroflyFS2 could have been THE flight simulator. I own it myself, including nearly all addons released by 3rd parties, and the base engine is plainly excellent. No simulator under the sun is able to compete with it under VR (Reverb 1 here). Performance is above all other sims by a wide margin and the display engine is on a par with MSFS. Even a number of limited-region addons sporting living-world features don't show any performance loss.

So why are there 16 (sixteen) concurrent players on Steam at this moment. What went wrong?

- Basic features of the core sim, which had been promised in the beginning, like moving car traffic, moving air traffic, ATC, real clouds, animated water, or seasons neither were realized nor are they in sight. I understand, a 2+4 developer team is unable to do all this themselves. So, they only have two ways: Either to cooperate or to starve. Obviously, they opted for the latter.  

- IPACS's marketing is lousy to nil. Neither did they understand to co-operate with addon makers nor are they able to organize a constructive dialog with their users.  There are not even any announcements on future plans anymore. Plus, they seem to largely overestimate their market position. It's just blue-eyed to state other sims like MSFS are no competition for them. 

- As a result, interest in AeroflyFS2 faded out over the years, reflecting in the mentioned user numbers. There have been a number of recognized addon makers like ORBX, Aerosoft, Taburet, France VFR who tried to sell for the platform. They all made a couple of products, noticed they just didn't sell and left the place. A few independent developers who I happen to know approached IPACS for certain interfaces and SDK features but fell on deaf ears.

- Even IPACS themselves seems to have lost trust in their product now. It you watch their forum, you will detect discussion shifting more an more to the Mobile platform. I guess they will repeat what seems to have worked after a similar disaster with AeroflyFS1: They will shift focus to the Mobile version for 3 years and return with a brand new AeroflyFS3 in 2024. But then it may be really game over.

I say all this with a honest and great regret, as I loved (and invested in) the platform which once had a chance to become the Next Gen Simulator.

Kind regards, Michael

One niche it might hold is someone who isn't going to buy an upscale (expensive) computer system but wants to run VR. That Quest2 is only $300 I think. If MSFS is a VR slideshow for that guy, then he might invest in FS2. I'm waiting for a sale (probably around just before the 4th of July if it goes as yesteryear).

Edited April 28, 20215 yr by Fielder

Who's talking about Aerofly FS2 for PC anymore?.

9 hours ago, edpatino said:

Who's talking about Aerofly FS2 for PC anymore?.

Not every flight simmer has a 3000$ (as valued by current part prices) PC. In that case AeroflyFS2 in VR looks and runs much better than MFS.

Edited April 29, 20215 yr by Murmur

2 hours ago, Murmur said:

Not every flight simmer has a 3000$ (as valued by current part prices) PC. In that case AeroflyFS2 in VR looks and runs much better than MFS.

I haven't tried VR yet in MSFS. To be honest, to me it's not my cup of coffee, I mean VR.

On 4/28/2021 at 7:11 PM, Fielder said:

One niche it might hold is someone who isn't going to buy an upscale (expensive) computer system but wants to run VR. That Quest2 is only $300 I think. If MSFS is a VR slideshow for that guy, then he might invest in FS2. I'm waiting for a sale (probably around just before the 4th of July if it goes as yesteryear).

I just got my Quest 2 yesterday, and have been pretty surprised at how much better it is in almost every way than my no-longer-to-be-touched Rift 2

Higher resolution, smoother framerates, better colors, playing MSFS wirelessly while seated downstairs in my living room....

I even went outside to see how far I could wander away from the house and still play.

And yes, I tried Aerofly, which remains flawlessly smooth, even at the maximum settings the sim and the headset will allow, giving me the sharpest cockpit visuals I have ever seen in VR. 

Of note to me, a fairly new tubeliner flyer for the last few months, is the fact that the Aerofly A320 has nearly as much system depth as the Flybywire A320, with less inop buttons, more complete system messages, working Lnav/Vnav, and with none of the near-crushing FPS overhead.

And this from an effort by essentially two guys, as opposed to the massive amount of people working on MSFS...

One wonders what the sim could have become with a proper sized team and appropriate resources. 🤷‍♂️

Its unlikely we will ever know, and that's a shame.

3 hours ago, HiFlyer said:

I just got my Quest 2 yesterday, and have been pretty surprised at how much better it is in almost every way than my no-longer-to-be-touched Rift 2

Higher resolution, smoother framerates, better colors, playing MSFS wirelessly while seated downstairs in my living room....

I even went outside to see how far I could wander away from the house and still play.

And yes, I tried Aerofly, which remains flawlessly smooth, even at the maximum settings the sim and the headset will allow, giving me the sharpest cockpit visuals I have ever seen in VR. 

Of note to me, a fairly new tubeliner flyer for the last few months, is the fact that the Aerofly A320 has nearly as much system depth as the Flybywire A320, with less inop buttons, more complete system messages, working Lnav/Vnav, and with none of the near-crushing FPS overhead.

And this from an effort by essentially two guys, as opposed to the massive amount of people working on MSFS...

One wonders what the sim could have become with a proper sized team and appropriate resources. 🤷‍♂️

Its unlikely we will ever know, and that's a shame.

Concerning the A320, I had noted that, it was a very good surprise. That and the helicopters made me re-launch AFs2 from time to time between 2 sessions of P3Dv5.

If I add the integration of RC4 + some free scenes made by talented amateurs, I rediscover AFs2 in a new light!

As for MSFS, I don't have it for the moment and I'm doing very well 😎so...

Richard.

It’s a pity. Really a pity. Aerofly should join Microsoft.