I think a new CFS is long overdue & it does make sense to base it on the FSX engine. While there other combat sims on the horizon such as Oleg's Storm of War Battle of Britain, GT's Knights of the Sky and Shockwave's Flying Tigers and others, MS sims win for me with their open architecture policy.CFS3 has been around for a while and still sells well as a mid price sim, as witness all the new members at Sim-Outhouse. Freeware CFS3 add-ons such as OFF and the forthcoming Mediterranean Air War (MAW)have given CFS3 a lease of new life. These two add-ons stand as testimony as to what can be achieved with an open architecture policy. However the CFS3 engine is showing its age and CFS3 has always been limited in comparison to FS9 & FSX as to how much could be modded, e.g. designers can't create new instruments and new animations for CFS3 as they can for FS.Being primarily a warbird & vintage aircraft modeler myself, and enjoying creating for FSX, it would be great to be able to achieve the same in a combat sim.

ahhh, memorieshttp://fshistory.simflight.com/fsvault/index.htmcan't get fs 4.0 to run in Vista 32-bit!!Jeff

>Hi,>>This option/feature has been brought up before and and answer>has been: no, not going to happen, no, from within the FS>line.> >Jim>>http://www.hifisim.com/>Active Sky V6 Development Team >Active Sky V6 Proud Supporter>HiFi Beta Team>Radar Contact Supporter: http://www.jdtllc.com/>AirSource Member: http://www.air-source.us/>FSEconomy Member:http://www.fseconomy.com/There are two specific things in response to that:1 - http://blogs.technet.com/p-12c_pilot/archi.../20/combat.aspx"However, I am very confident that the CFS franchise will come back sometime and many of the "platform building" enhancements we have made and are continuing to make on the FS engine are all steps that will make that possible."2 - SimConnect. I know some of the guys at SimOuthouse have already played around with this, but I'm working on a SimConnect program right now that attaches a "missile" (it's actually the cargo pod from the missions) and a tracking radar for AI inserted planes, so you can lock on and fire the missile at a target. This is just some research I'm doing, but there's no reason why this couldn't be expanded even more.

Absolutely, Geofa....and your opinion is fully respectable. There are some that this kind of thing doesn't flip their switch, which is why I've never thought it should be a "built-in" thing, but certainly offered as an option, add-on or co-product because there are many who do (the percentage of responses here discussing other combat sims bears some partial evidence of that).I can't help thinking that it might even make the skies in the "regular" online flight lobbies even more peaceful - those kids buzzing the tower in Extra 300's and other frustrated fighter pilots have nowhere else to go right now, and chaos ensues to a degree (I was recently helping out some new folks with an online bush flight in the Maule when a kid in an SR-71 took half the flight out on the runway by landing unannounced...folks like that need a home where they can be "educated" properly ;) )And you know what's interesting? Over the years my own group has remained in size of about 20 pilots with an average age of 45 - not kids, but kids at heart I suppose. Every so often when we gain a new member by way of meeting mature and interesting people online, there's always a consistent pattern that slowly emerges when they see what we're about...."What is this FS9 you guys also fly? Helicopters? Bush flying? Instrument approaches? Add-on aircraft and scenery? Tell me more!". Pretty much in every case they all end up flying BOTH the civilian and combat sims, and having an even better time expanding their horizons. That's what really makes it worthwhile for us, seeing those lights go on and introducing them to another, bigger world. But very rarely does anyone transtion over 100% to civil flight simming in FS9/FSX becuase, well, there's that "itch" to scratch, and the comraderie of the group, and all. Anyway I guess it's just my own informal demographic observation.

You're not alone. I often wondered why MS doesn't make a CFS add-on for first FS9 and now FSX. It could be an add-on package sort of like their upcoming Adrenaline package (which doesn't interest me much). With FSX having the ability to have missions, I think that now is as good a time as any for a FSX/CFS port.

'Zactly. Egg-zactly. Which is why I plan on purchasing Adrenaline as soon as it's available. I already participate in online air racing in FS9 via PROPS at WestCoastATC, which is fantastic and more fun than you can normally have with your clothes on, so I don't exactly need that aspect of Adrenaline but am dang sure gonna support the FSX series because I truly believe in the expansion possibilities of this platform and am going to do every bit of my part to show it's worth doing. ;)

:) Too funny! And too true! :)My group occasionally hosts what we call "River Races" in CFS3, which is basically a semi-organized rat race up and down a long particular stretch of winding river around specific landmarks. Since we do this in semi-open rooms so some of the general public can get a taste, we usually have one member acting as kind of a "Race Announcer / CAP flight"....works very well for dealing with the occasional aircraft coming in unnanounced with unknown intentions! The Hispano 20MM or Mk108 30MM ban/discipline method does have a fulfilling measure of merit to it! ;)

You did notice this says CFS, not FS, right?Jimhttp://www.hifisim.com/Active Sky V6 Development Team Active Sky V6 Proud SupporterHiFi Beta TeamRadar Contact Supporter: http://www.jdtllc.com/AirSource Member: http://www.air-source.us/FSEconomy Member:http://www.fseconomy.com/

>I dont think I'd want a combat flight sim that literally took>place in FSX. But i'd want one that made use of its global>scenery so that I could play long range missions or stage>missions anywhere. I've always wanted to try my hand at>something like flying a B-1B from Diego Garcia on a low level>strike at an Iranian nuclear facility or a B-2 hitting North>Korea from Guam, but combat flight sims usually don't give you>the territory to do that sort of thing.There ya go. You got the point straight and perfect! Sure, there is a new-this or coming-that combat flight sim but it's all still restrictive to one area of interest. With such an excellent base engine, why in the world do we want to continue buying someone else's product with closed architecture when we literally have the world at our fingertips and an ongoing aircraft selection. And each new sim represents new key commands to memorize, new flight model quirks to get used to, and wasted HD space on landclass, textures and scenery that are already present.The trick would be to implement it in such a way that it wouldn't cross paths with the civil stuff (in that I mean, restrict online usage as indicated in my first post). No one wants an F-15 blazing through their bush flight with missiles being fired.Possibilities would be endless....SPAD vs. Fokker over France.....Wings Of Power missions, using the camera views to move around to different gunner positions in the B-17 as a flight of multiplayer FW190's threaten.....Pacific missions using the carriers in FSX (woohoo!!!) and go duke it out in Leyte Gulf......and helicopters! Fire up a UH-1 Gunship and an observation helo like Richard Frady's OH-6A Cayuse to make a "pink team" and go on the hunt in the A Shau valley with a friend, just look out for the Mig-17's...call in some F-4's for support if needed....or fire up Kirk Olsonn's F-86 and mix it up with Michel Migaud and Jean Pierre Bourgeois' excellent Mig-15 over Korea.....throw in a B-29 mission for good measure....Someone stop me, I'm going to have an embolism!!!!http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y195/Torq/FS9/Mig-15_07.jpgAnd the heavy-iron non-combat pilots can even deliver supplies in their C-17's or C-47's or whatever they like to support an online campaign-type scenario.....I know I'm dreaming but just think of the possibilities! And what the online community would be like with just a bit more interaction and meaning behind the ongoing flights....a guy can dream can't he? ;)I'm ready to take off at dawn in an SBD Dauntless.....it'll be a tough mission but I'll stay on your wing the whole way and we'll hit 'em hard....are ya with me? :)

Love that site, Jeff! :)Yep and I don't think CFS1 will run in Vista either (maybe it will?). 'Cause, speaking of memories, I dug up this ol' screenie....in CFS1 you could import FS98 aircraft and the sim would assign a default weapon and damage profile to 'em. I know this is silly and represents the lunatic fringe of the idea but hey, if an FS98 Beech Baron can tangle with a CFS1 Spit due to the common flight sim engine shared between FS98 and CFS1, well....imagine what we could do now....http://com-central.net/modules/POTD/pictur...-BeechCraft.jpg(yes I know the above pic is silly but don't think for a minute that was an easy dogfight! Note smoke trailing from the heavily-battered Baron. Oh yeah....a friend with experience in that conflict reminds me that Beech Baron's were used to fly radio intercept missions in Vietnam....qualifying them as a "warbird" of sorts? ;) )

Even if MS didn't want to incorporate a combat element into FS, surely it would be possible to use the FS engines ( flight, weather, scenery) to produce a combat flight sim? Maybe there isn't enough money in such a thing as there is quite a lot of competition in this area.Barry

I personally would love to see the ability to run training combat missions in FSX. It would add immensely to the game. One of the things missing from FSX is the military aspect. I would love to be able to take off from Luke Air Force Base and head out on a bombing run in a F-16 at the bombing range near Yuma. I would still have to watch out for civilian traffic and could interact with Civilian ATC. It would definitely make a great addon!!!!

G'day Baz from one 'vegas dweller to another - I'm at Indooroopilly, you??regards,Jeff

Lack of attention span.Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)N15802 KASH '73 Piper Cherokee Challenger 180

A feature with Adrenalin...? This would double the sales :-wave !