Soon the end of the year... thoughts and thank you!

[Bernard Ducret 790]

This morning, I completed a short flight from KFLL to KDCA with the FBW A320 and marveled at a number of improvements this year has seen in MSFS, most of which have been freeware.

Taking off from RWY 10 L, I overflew Fort Lauderdale harbour with its numerous cruise ships and felt... my eyes getting wet... fifty years ago I was officer on a cruise ship rotating out of FLL each winter during six months, obviously many things changed since then, but I could recognise where my ships berthed and the cruise terminal (thanks to MSFS satellite image), and the entrance bordered on the North side by condominiums where residents were waving flags at us when moving in or out... This is when I realised how many cruise ships and cargoes were anchored or moving around, all of them the result of hard-working freeware designers, what would FLL harbor look like without your numerous creations reflecting the real ships! Thank you Global AI Ship Traffic team for making those sea ports so lively for us. 

To say that I liked my flight on the FBW A320 would be an understatement, (and yet I loved the FSL A320 in P3D) this simulation is getting better and better week after week, thanks to a large team of passionate creators, what was a simple "mod" one year ago is now looking at an incoming payware competition with no shame at all, and we might be surprised by what they will offer us in the coming months since they keep adding more unexpected feature. Thank you FBW for the best modern airliner simulation in MSFS as of this day.

Then approaching KDCA, I could enjoy the view of a busy airport with authentic liveries, realistic schedules, apron traffic... there again, we had none of that one month ago! This simulator turned from almost empty aprons with unrealistic liveries to heavily populated tarmacs in one go, hundreds of liveries and airlines, thousands of flights... I could observe a Delta 737 slowly taxiing and stopping at its gate, and the jetway docking, while an American Airlines 737 was taking off with the thunder of its engines on TOGA, what a fabulous work. Super job AlphaIndiaGroup, thank you!

It would be unfair not to mention Working Title for the rendition of their CJ4 and their Garmin avionic packages, Heavy Division for its 787 "mod" and Salty for the 748, but what about the thousands of creators who have been delivering the fruits of their talents to all of us on FlightSim.TO, for free, to share their immense creativity and passion, even designing helicopters in a sim that was not ready for them...

Where would your personal thanks for freeware go to?

We never say Thank You enough. Or so I thought...

Edited December 9, 2021 by Bernard Ducret

[Dominique_K 10,137]

A great post Bernard ! 

This sim gives you extraordinary experiences. I am just off from a flight from Leh in Ladakh to Fukche a strip in the Himalayas for the Indian Air Force. The Fukche valley is grandiose.

I could swear that I have seen Venetian or Genoan merchants finding their way to Cambaluk and, another time, Bodhi Dharma going to preach the Chinese . 

I will never go there. But I was there all the same.

Procedures are nice, but procedures are not a goal in themselves. The goal to fly is to travel and see, feel, learn.

Thanks to Asobo for the ride. 

Edited December 9, 2021 by Dominique_K

[rick celik 1,243]

My thoughts, the sim isn’t perfect yes… but the experience and immersion this sim gives, I can’t see myself going back to any other sim. I’m here just like the rest of us to help make it better. 
 

The FBWa320 / Crj for the short or mid haul flights and then a ton of GA for the nice slow low flights.

We have sea traffic, AIG air traffic and a much improved sim compared to a year ago. All we need now is our Pmdg, FENIX, Leonardo etc etc after that do we really need another sim? In my personal opinion no. I’ve already moved over to MSFS completely. 
 

in conclusion, still room for improvement but with Asobo having no experience in the flight sim space, they have listened and they have done a good job. 
 

My freeware thanks goes to FBW and AIG. 
 

Great work to ASOBO, beta testers and the likes 👍🏼 

Edited December 9, 2021 by Ridvan Celik

[Steve_Ellis 273]

Good topic, I hope many will think and reflect on the last year on the whole to be extremely positive.

I, like many others have been on this rollercoaster of a journey with MSFS and to be fair P3D is no different in this regard apart form less updates.

I am running the public beta at the moment and I have to say from a VR point of view it is a damm sight better than at the start of the year. I have pulled many a grey hair out with some of the changes and implementation of them but I have to say I am happy how MSFS is developing, after all it is the season of goodwill 😁

I look forward to next year and hope my Varjo Aero gets here soon so I can further enjoy the delights of exploring the world in all its glory.

PMDG, AS, ORBX & Just Flight just to name a few have done great work so far with all its limitations, I just think of the possible endless opportunities when the sim opens up more.

The freeware contributions remind me of the FS9 days, awesome stuff

Yes it can seem like a long wait, but it will be worth it in the end.

P.S I might even get XP12 to see what its like, I liked XP11 although a late comer to it.

Edited December 9, 2021 by Steve_Ellis

[Bernard Ducret 790]

12 hours ago, Dominique_K said:

The goal to fly is to travel and see, feel, learn.

Fully agree with you, since I left real cockpits years ago, I never flew GA as much before as with MSFS, it is the most immersive experience one can experience, "as real as it gets" has never been so true. This sim allows me to get back to the numerous places I have flown to, known and loved around the world, but also those I never had a chance to discover. This is an open and permanent geography lesson that only this concept of satellite imagery could permit. Kudos to all those who made it possible, this is a great achievement and a giant step forward for our hobby. 

[gb09f 298]

It's the attitude of Asobo & FBW that impresses me most. 

No drama,  no rambling emails full of excuses. 

Just hard working, proactive and delivery of regular updates. 

Exactly what is needed. 

Edited December 10, 2021 by gb09f

[SuperKaro2014 277]

I really like the spirit of this thread 👍🏻🎄😁

Best freeware on my list:

Little Navmap by Alex Barthel. I know it is not strictly MSFS, but Alex’ work is truly remarkable and such a useful companion. I still can’t believe it’s free, and the guy is so humble and helpful!

The We Like VFR Regional Bundles from PuffinFlight. So much value and coverage when cruising low and slow in the JF Turbo Arrow 3. Eagerly waiting for Region 3 so I can go East.

GAIST by Henrik Nielsen et al. Another ‘whole sim’ enhancement for all the empty oceans. I can’t imagine the amount of time this group has spent on the project, and we can just drop it in the community folder and oceans become alive. No going back.

... but really: A BIG THANKS TO EVERYONE MAKING FREE STUFF FOR MSFS!

 

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by SuperKaro2014

[Dominique_K 10,137]

44 minutes ago, Bernard Ducret said:

This is an open and permanent geography lesson

Indeed both physical and human geography. For the first time, when I fly a sim, I look at how nature sculpted  the relief but also the interaction of this relief and human activities. Doing both, flying as correctly as possible a quality aircraft and watching the detailed landscape  below.

It can be also a history lesson. This is what I meant upthread. We assimilate the Himalayas to a barreer of almost  insurmountable peaks with a couple of quaint airports. When you fly them and the close Central Asia countries in anything else than a modern airliner, you have to fly all the inside routes which were trader and missionary routes for thousands of years. You understand history

And that could be true for many other regions in the world. 

Wikipedia deserves in a way to be labelled a flight simulation addon.

Sightseeing simulator only then ? Not at all, I recently flew from Northern Greece to Albania in a complete icy soup only on instruments. If you except modern jetliners, this sim offers much to enjoy.

To conclude, I also thank all those, payware or freewaré who are building over the foundations laid by Asobo. And it is not easy.

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Dominique_K