I was never a fan of the ill-fated Nexgen FlightSim project from a few years back, that many of you will no doubt remember. in fact like many on this forum and others, I was quite critical of Nexgen's approach to creating a sim worthy of the name. In particular I felt that the project seemed to create trouble and disagreement on nearly every forum it appeared on rather than producde anything tangible, except an iffy video demo of questionale origin.. 

But one question has been bugging me recently. Could the Nexgen project have actually inspired Microsoft to create MSFS?  I mean, it seems a coincidence that from 2015 to 2017 Nexgen was actively bouncing ideas around the flight sim community forums on novel ways for a new flight sim to access ready made global data to produce ultra realistic scenery, and hey presto, Microsft launches MSFS barely 3 years later.

Is it possible, or likley that Microsoft or Asobo scouts picked up on the buzz _and the arguments_ from the flight forums during those years, and realised, hey, we do have global data that we could pipe into a new sim?

Again I'm no cheerleader for Nexgen, just the opposite.  Here's one of the old threads on the subject though, for those who may not have had the privelage of joining in the fun at the time.  BTW. Special thanks to the late and great Jim Young for posting a link to the original deabte on this issue.
His post is near the bottom of the following page_   

Edit:

Oops. I hit the enter key I posted before I was ready, and I still don't have access to edit my posts. But here's the Avsim forum post I was referring to  from my post above  

No, i don't think something as vaporware as Nexgen could have any effect on Microsoft plans to develop MSFS. We know more or less when development started, but who knows for how long those ideas have been roaming around Microsoft? No one can answer that.

Go look in the TileProxy forum here and I think you'll see the same potential inspiration for MSFS2020.  And it wasn't vaporware.

Unfortunately without the official support from any of the big map companies it had to go from one workaround to another until all the doors to the available API's were closed.  But using it for the time it was able to work, had sold me on the idea of streaming satellite  imagery which is why I immediately bought MSFS2020 the day it came out. 

 

Edited October 3, 20214 yr by Stoopy

42 minutes ago, Stoopy said:

Go look in the TileProxy forum here and I think you'll see the same potential inspiration for MSFS2020.  And it wasn't vaporware.

Unfortunately without the official support from any of the big map companies it had to go from one workaround to another until all the doors to the available API's were closed.  But using it for the time it was able to work, had sold me on the idea of streaming satellite  imagery which is why I immediately bought MSFS2020 the day it came out. 

 

I was really into Tileproxy at the time and had a number of discussions with Christian Buchner and Ed Truthan about it.  It was a great idea but was really the infancy of streaming the sat info into FSX.  It had its faults, but was amazing in some areas.  From this, I learned about FSEarthtiles and started to create my own photoscenery.

I think this may have been the inspiration personally.

36 minutes ago, cianpars said:

I was really into Tileproxy at the time and had a number of discussions with Christian Buchner and Ed Truthan about it.  It was a great idea but was really the infancy of streaming the sat info into FSX.  It had its faults, but was amazing in some areas.  From this, I learned about FSEarthtiles and started to create my own photoscenery.

I think this may have been the inspiration personally.

Yep me too!  Being able to show the wife we could "fly" around our home town in So Cal after moving out of state, and pick out the landmarks and buildings we knew (and missed) was an amazing thing to do at the time, even if all the buildings were flat as pancakes.

Edited October 3, 20214 yr by Stoopy

3 hours ago, FlightSpinner said:

But one question has been bugging me recently. Could the Nexgen project have actually inspired Microsoft to create MSFS?  I mean, it seems a coincidence that from 2015 to 2017 Nexgen was actively bouncing ideas around the flight sim community forums 

Since MS have said they had already started MSFS development in 2015, I'd say it's a coincidence.

But it's a natural marriage in a way, combining sat data with a sim, so I'm sure Nexgen and Microsoft weren't the only ones thinking about the possibilities.  I do think if anything things like TileProxy showed what could be done.

46 minutes ago, Mace said:

Since MS have said they had already started MSFS development in 2015, I'd say it's a coincidence.

Thanks. I hadn't realised MS had started that far back.  It's just as well Nexgen sim didn't make it to final production around 2020. Perfect timing to be blown out the water by MSFS.

But it's a natural marriage in a way, combining sat data with a sim, so I'm sure Nexgen and Microsoft weren't the only ones thinking about the possibilities. .

I'm not sure Nexgen even aimed for the sat data route. I think they just fished around for any sort of tools and quick fix solutions that would save them production time, hence the attempt to hook up with companies such as Diamond Visionics, with those cheesy 1990s style graphics. 

I do think if anything things like TileProxy showed what could be done.

I'd never heard of TileProxy until you and previous posters here mentioned it.  So thanks for clearing up my doubts as to the origin of MSFS.  Can't say I ever wanted Nexgen to take the credit for such a great sim anyway ;--)