Whatever happened to CONSTRUCTIVE criticism?

[Mike T 208]

Nick:Abolutely no offense taken in a single word of your intelligent and thoughtful post. When I speak of the uproar that sent Aces back to the design table, I only refer to posts that intelligently refute the status quo of poor performance in MSFS titles. The other zealots with the "venoumous negativity", as you say, and the personal attacks against Microsoft, Aces et al are non sequitor and useless in the grand scheme of things. "M$ Sucks" serves no purpose but to inflame rather than instruct.I have been an outspoken opponent of what was delivered in FSX, as is, but in the same token I will be the most outspoken proponent of FSX if SP1 and / or the DX10 patches materialize into true fixes for the current FSX woes.I fully understand the business drivers behind the lions and tigers and bears (oh my) in FSX, where surely it appeals to a wide audience whereas a realistic ATC module would not. But that presents an interesting juxtaposition where Aces interacts with Avsim and Flightsim forums where the FS hardcore zealots make their homes. There is no doubt that FSX has addressed the interest of a broader market with activities and interactive action adventures to discover. However, I would ask what the interaction with the users on the boards brought to the table. Surely very little of what "we" would have liked to see is included in FSX. Add the poor performance and that makes for a volitile release for many of us.At the end of the day, yes, I would hope that a calm head will prevail and that we all go into the SP1 and DX10 phases with an open mind. But even with all the calm and level-headed suggestions that were made pre and post FSX, many are ambivolent about that being a real factor in any of their decisions, therefore the interaction with Aces then becomes hobbled in premise. What you end up with is a feeling of not being heard while whispering. A feeling of not being heard in a calm clear voice. A feeling that yelling at the top of ones lungs is worth a try since the other two methods failed to work. Yes, yelling rarely gets anywhere in actuality, in a situation where one is passionate about our hobby as we all are, the mode of communication can sometimes reflect that passion in a negative light...even though that was not the intent.Look, had we had viable alternatives to the MSFS franchise, we could all move on to greener pastures if we so desired. However, MSFS is it, there are no alternatives. In other genres if you don't like the game, go get a different one. Like it or lump it, FSX is what we have for the next 3-4 years.From a business standpoint, Aces should take the deep passion as a success of the franchise. If there were silence after the release of FSX it would have indicated that their market was now indifferent to the project and THAT is far, far worse.

[fbass 1]

As Jan says - there is no specific answer to the question "fundies."I'll tell you what my system comprises and what I see on the screen. This might or might not help. Note: I built my system from components.Intel 955 Extreme motherboardIntel 3.8GHz CPUNVidia 7800GTX graphics card4Gb Corsair matched memory sticks(2) 250Gb HDDs - RAID 1 configThermaltake case w/6 fansThermaltake liquid (not water) CPU cooling system4 19" Samsung flat panel monitorsMatrox TripleHead2Go screen extenderLogitech 5.1 sound systemComplete GoFlight center airline pilot consoleVMax Flight Systems yokeGoFlight pedalsXP ProFSGenesis US LandclassFSGenesis World terrain meshFSCommander (flight planning)Payware aircraft (thus far) - PMDG Express B1900; F1 Archer; Captain Sim B757; Eaglesoft Citation X; F1 DC-9; Feelthere PIC ERJ-145; OK, that's all the hardware and some software goodiesHere's what I get out of FSX. Micro-stutters - yes; fantastic graphics - yes; airports where I can't land - none; CTD - none; problems with installation - none; performance - needs improvement.General FSX settings - Autogen - normal; AI - 100% (7,000 aircraft + 2000 airline *.bgl files); anti-aliasing in FSX settings - no; tweaks from various forum postings - yes; general FSX settings are normal with some sliders far right; graphics resolution - 3840 x 1024 (TripleHead2Go max setting); cloud settings - I think around 80mi.Bottom line - you need more hardware capabilities; do you need this much - who knows; am I totally satisfied - no; do I work with it and fly routinely - yes; do I complain - absolutely not.User satisfaction - totally subjective.Cost to build system - somewhere between $1,000 and $3,000 (does not include GoFlight hardware). :-) Note: "Ya gets what ya paid for."Frank

[fbass 1]

Alex,See my second post above concerning my system. I think you would agree that it is in the neighborhood of a "monster" system. I fly daily and I am not contemplating either unstalling the software or suicide. :-)Frank

[Guest BlueRidgeDx]

>If you would be so kind to point me to one of the>"tell_fs" sites I truely am in need as all the attempts to>contact MICROSOFT in any way has failed and I am in real need>of HELP.>>Thanks>>TONYTony, Try: http://fsinsider.com/Feedback/Nick

[Guest X15]

Spot on Nick.What cracks me up is that most of the complaints about FSX come from long-term FS9 users. Yet they state that they have this and that add-on for FS9 that won't run in FSX or FSX is too CPU hungry whilst FS9 runs well. So what is the beef, stay with FS9.Seems though they have a great desire to upgrade to FSX but can't, that leaves them moaning about it's 'short comings'I first experienced FSX on a medium range computer. Liked it so upgraded. Now it rocks.Come the SP1 it should be even better. So no complaints, but I fall into the category of someone who comes here for advice and yet always has to wade through the FSX is rubbish posts.If it is that rubbish to these people, they are not the ones playing it, not the ones tweaking it and not the ones supporting the product.All power to ACES and Phil. At least he has the guts to come on here and keep us all updated.Can't we just have an FSX haters forum, preferably one that is binned twice a day, so the rest of us can post on the MS FSX Forum about tweaks, issues and the good stuff that FSX is all about.

[N562Z 4]

LOL....ah, Ian, god bless-ya, I appreciate your positive post, I really do, and I want to get FSX to work, really. But every acollade, most every screenshot in the flightsim mags, most every review of FSX, shows a Cessna, a chopper, a Siai Marchetti, or some other general aviation plane tooling around Alaska, an oil rig, or over a boat where you can count the rivets in the metal hull. But where are the airliners so many of us prefer to fly? I rarely see them in the literature, in the reviews, or hear about them in these posts. And I don't mean Level-D or PMDG. Show me a default 737 or an Airbus landing or taking off at KBWI or RJOO or PHNL, and tell me how enjoyable it is. This sim has for the time-being, excluded a great many simmers who look up over their homes everyday at that airliner on approach to wherever and wish they could be that pilot. Well, flightsimulator to the rescue, and what an amazingly wonderful thing it has been for the past 20 years. But now some of us cannot do what we love to do in this hobby, not even with the default planes. Imagine the discontent......I hunger for a fix, and have never ever desired a confrontation. Let's work it out.Peace,http://www.my-buddy-icon.com/Icons/objects/red_3d_plane.gifAlex ChristoffN562ZBaltimore, MD

[Guest Hocking]

Admin's Note: Suggesting that ACES has been "suckered" into things, or speaking for "most people" with nothing to back up your claims is not conducive to mature discussion.Post removed for violating the Terms of Use.

[DadJokeCinema 145]

>LOL....ah, Ian, god bless-ya, I appreciate your positive>post, I really do, and I want to get FSX to work, really. But>every acollade, most every screenshot in the flightsim mags,>most every review of FSX, shows a Cessna, a chopper, a Siai>Marchetti, or some other general aviation plane tooling around>Alaska, an oil rig, or over a boat where you can count the>rivets in the metal hull. But where are the airliners so many>of us prefer to fly? I rarely see them in the literature, in>the reviews, or hear about them in these posts. And I don't>mean Level-D or PMDG. Show me a default 737 or an Airbus>landing or taking off at KBWI or RJOO or PHNL, and tell me how>enjoyable it is. >>This sim has for the time-being, excluded a great many simmers>who look up over their homes everyday at that airliner on>approach to wherever and wish they could be that pilot. Well,>flightsimulator to the rescue, and what an amazingly wonderful>thing it has been for the past 20 years. But now some of us>cannot do what we love to do in this hobby, not even with the>default planes. Imagine the discontent......I hunger for a>fix, and have never ever desired a confrontation. Let's work>it out.>>Peace,>http://www.my-buddy-icon.com/Icons/objects/red_3d_plane.gif>My friend Bill and I went on a two man attack on Cuba in a pair of floatplanes. Can't say it was the greatest amphibious operation ever, but it was certainly fun. Next time we want to co-pilot one of the heavies. I'll let you know how it goes.>Alex Christoff>N562Z>Baltimore, MD

[Mace 1,902]

Nick,Have I gone back to November?While I agree in many respects with your original post, I think it is a little late. In my opin, things have gotten more civil here in the last two months. Perhaps you saw a post here in the last few days that was not, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back?I think your post, while well-said, tends to re-open old wounds, and put salt on them. RhettAMD 3700+ (@2310 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2 GB Corsair XMS 2.5-3-3-8 (1T), WD 250 gig 7200 rpm SATA2, CoolerMaster Praetorian case

[Guest fundies]

>Spot on Nick.>>What cracks me up is that most of the complaints about FSX>come from long-term FS9 users. Yet they state that they have>this and that add-on for FS9 that won't run in FSX or FSX is>too CPU hungry whilst FS9 runs well. So what is the beef, stay>with FS9.>>Seems though they have a great desire to upgrade to FSX but>can't, that leaves them moaning about it's 'short comings'>>I first experienced FSX on a medium range computer. Liked it>so upgraded. Now it rocks.>>Come the SP1 it should be even better. So no complaints, but I>fall into the category of someone who comes here for advice>and yet always has to wade through the FSX is rubbish posts.>>If it is that rubbish to these people, they are not the ones>playing it, not the ones tweaking it and not the ones>supporting the product.>>All power to ACES and Phil. At least he has the guts to come>on here and keep us all updated.> >Can't we just have an FSX haters forum, preferably one that is>binned twice a day, so the rest of us can post on the MS FSX>Forum about tweaks, issues and the good stuff that FSX is all>about.Out of curiosity, would like to know your computer specs seeing that its "rocking"

[Geofa 108]

I've been doing some "instructing" with a friend of mine working on his ppl. After flying a few approaches-I jumped out of the shared cockpit and entered the tower. From there I worked him over on some ils approaches culminating with a runway change right when he broke out. He was virtually sweating-but I think experiences like this will speed up his real world endeavors.http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/rxp-pilot.jpg

[Guest X15]

Core 2 Duo 6600 @ 2.4 GHz ASUS P5N32-E SLI 680i Sapphire Radeon X 1950XTX GPU 1xWD Caviar SE16 320GB S300 (OS) 2xWD Caviar SE16 320GB S300 RAID 0 (FSX + Page primary) 1xWD Caviar SE16 320GB S300(VFR Real Scenery) Windows XP Pro + all updates

[DadJokeCinema 145]

>Core 2 Duo 6600 @ 2.4 GHz >ASUS P5N32-E SLI 680i >Sapphire Radeon X 1950XTX GPU >1xWD Caviar SE16 320GB S300 (OS) >2xWD Caviar SE16 320GB S300 RAID 0 (FSX + Page primary) >1xWD Caviar SE16 320GB S300(VFR Real Scenery) >Windows XP Pro + all updates >>I absolutely believe that you are rocking FSX. I have a C2D E6600 overclocked to 3.0GHz on the P5B vanilla with 2GB DDR2 800, and a weakling X800GTO on Vista Home Premium, and I stay locked at 20FPS most of the time.I'd like to be able to crank autogen up some or get that water detail up some, but I'm definitely getting acceptable performance.

[Guest fundies]

>Core 2 Duo 6600 @ 2.4 GHz >ASUS P5N32-E SLI 680i >Sapphire Radeon X 1950XTX GPU >1xWD Caviar SE16 320GB S300 (OS) >2xWD Caviar SE16 320GB S300 RAID 0 (FSX + Page primary) >1xWD Caviar SE16 320GB S300(VFR Real Scenery) >Windows XP Pro + all updates >>Good to see. Im going to build a c2d machine soon,8800gtx etc so hopefully Ill be "rocking" as well.

[N562Z 4]

Frank:What do you fly daily, in FSX? Which aircraft? And from where to where? Any clouds? If I see another picture of a Cessna or a chopper lumbering above the scenery in fair weather at 80 KIAS, I may scream out loud! :)http://www.my-buddy-icon.com/Icons/objects/red_3d_plane.gifAlex ChristoffN562ZBaltimore, MD