7 minutes ago, MarcG said:

So why are you here then? (Genuine question)

Because I believe Bruce Artwick is “the biggest name in flight sim history” as he was the first to bring it to the home computer. Others have improved it but the seed had already been planted by Bruce Artwick.

My attention to the title was drawn as part of my mod duties to make sure you lot are behaving yourselves. 😉

1 hour ago, Abriael said:

Microsoft Flight Simulator's contribution to this industry is far from being just "the visuals," nor the visuals are the most relevant part of it. 

What Microsoft Flight Simulator (under Jorg's leadership) did and is still doing is making the flight simulation hobby accessible and attractive to an audience that can feasibly support a healthy industry.

Wth literally every other simulator you buy the sim and you're given the barebone basics. You have some basic-level default aircraft, so-so avionics, lackluster scenery, and few tools. 

If you're not turned off by the rough state of what you're offered, you cannot access higher level simulation unless you start buying other stuff, which automatically turns off 90% of people. "Hey, buy this thing, but can't get beyond the basic level unless you buy this bunch of other things" is not how you push a hobby, and that's why before MSFS this hobby was becoming more and more insular and less and less vital. The lack of new blood was suffocating and literally no one else was doing a single thing about it.

With MSFS, not only novices aren't turned off by technology that is more at home in 2011, but they have a fully usable product that will accompany them from the basics to a fairly high level of simulation. You can go from your first Cessna to a fairly advanced and complex airliner and advanced avionics without spending a dime. All you arguably need is a Navigraph subscription on top of the sim (and this requiorement will likely be gone with 2024, which will offer a fully complete package).

These hundreds of thousands of people who aren't turned off by hitting a wall at which they have to start buying stuff can in turn support an industry that isn't forced to scrape by on the few thousands who fly on other simulators, driving prices up to have some survivable margins, and in turn making the hobby even less accessible and enjoyable for novices.

Absolutely agree with how MSFS has reduced the need for add-ons, and IMO, that is a good thing.  The only add-ons I buy for MSFS are 3rd party planes, and 3rd party airports. I don't really buy other types of add-ons. The one exception is BeyondATC. So if I am not using BeyondATC, at any given time, I am at most using 2 different types of add-ons, the 3rd party plane I am flying, and the 3rd party airport(s) that take off from, or land at.

And for that reason, I am so glad that MSFS has reduced the number of add-ons I need to buy.  There are a few add-ons out there, like GSX, that are very nice, especially with the passengers walking on the jetway, etc.  And then there is AIG and FSLTL.  But in the MSFS 2024 trailer, it appears that MSFS 2024 is getting some liveries for the AI planes, and there are even passengers boarding the airliner via the jetway.  So it seems like MSFS 2024 is even including features that GSX and AIG/FSLTL are known for.

So what Jorg has done, and his vision of a flight simulator, is just amazing. He is making flight simulation so much easier and simpler. That's the way it should be, but it wasn't before MSFS.

Edited June 23, 20241 yr by abrams_tank

I wholeheartedly agree with the OP and everyone who has praised Jörg in this thread.

Of course there's a lot to criticize in particular when it comes to his priorities in development, at least from a "hardcore simmer's" perspective (ATC and weather being the elephants in the room). But that needs to be put in perspective. All that is just complaining about first world problems. How I wished I would have only complained about weather and ATC in those days when using P3D.

Jörg's role in bringing forward flightsimulation out of a niche and convincing the MS leaders to make the Flightsimulator one of the flagships of the company cannot be praised high enough. And his enthusiasm for this project and for keeping it going through years to come is amazing to see. Fantastic times for flightsimulation!

 

Bruce Artwick? Kudos to him for making the first flightsim back in the 1970s. But if he wouldn't have done it, someone else would have done it a few months or years later. It was just the logical thing to do for any aviation and computer enthusiast back in those days of the beginning PC-age. But without Jörg being in the right position at the right time and with the right spirit, flightsimulation would have ended up in a small niche for nerds being happy when they don't have to reload their sim in the middle of the flight due to an OOM-error. 😉

Thanks Jörg and keep on doing what you do!

 

Edited June 23, 20241 yr by RALF9636

11 minutes ago, RALF9636 said:

Jörg's role in bringing forward flightsimulation out of a niche and convincing the MS leaders to make the Flightsimulator one of the flagships of the company cannot be praised high enough.

This!

Bruce Artwick is the biggest name in flight sim history.  I can't believe that needs to be said.

Through the lens of time, perhaps Jörg Neumann will be #2, or possibly even #1.  It's like ranking football/basketball/baseball/hockey players while they're still playing -- you can do it if you wish -- but you can't do it accurately.  Jörg is still playing, his book is not finished yet.

Well the click bait has paid off to pay Jorg deserved respect 🙂

So nice to see that majority recognizes Jorg role and hard work... 

 

Bruce Artwick started me off in flight simming, and Jorg brought me back to it.

I feel the biggest features in MSFS' success is having satellite images streamed along with the Blackshark AI autogen. Without those things, I highly doubt MSFS would be where it is. Those features got everyone flying in the first place.

Deleted

Edited June 23, 20241 yr by Noel

8 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

We all use the simulator of our choice. MSFS is not mine

Yes, you've made that very clear.

I'm not sure how anybody who expresses any interest in flight simulation at all, having seen what we've seen over the past few days, would not want to drop whatever simulator they are using and do everything they can to prepare for MSFS 2024. It's like choosing to stay with driving a horse and cart in 1972. 

3 minutes ago, St Mawgan said:

I'm not sure how anybody who expresses any interest in flight simulation at all, having seen what we've seen over the past few days, would not want to drop whatever simulator they are using and do everything they can to prepare for MSFS 2024. It's like choosing to stay with driving a horse and cart in 1972. 

Proof is in the pudding. I know rotorcraft enthusiasts who don't think too much of MSFS physics. Same with gliders. Same with the ground handling. I guess also those who aren't using Windows PC. Each to their own.

Edited June 24, 20241 yr by s0cks

On 6/22/2024 at 10:48 PM, abrams_tank said:

Imagine a flight simulation world without MSFS?  I can't.  I have said before that after FSX, I was out of flight simulation for about a decade. There was nothing revolutionary in the time I was away from flight simulation.

Arguably, perhaps evolutionary instead of revolutionary, Orbx's True Earth series was a big deal then, literally and figuratively speaking. 

On 6/22/2024 at 5:31 PM, Dankovic said:

Jorg Neumann could just be the biggest name in Flight sim history. 
Incredible what he has done for the industry in just 5 years. 
Just had to share my thought as I watch stream from Vegas. 

Just impersive how he connected all the companies that had grown to hundreds of employes. Gave chance to small single developer companies. Incredible!

Bravo Jorg and thank you!!!!

 

 

Yeah Jorg is a legend, even if I don’t see eye to eye with Asobo. His energy is always welcome. 

1 hour ago, St Mawgan said:

I'm not sure how anybody who expresses any interest in flight simulation at all, having seen what we've seen over the past few days, would not want to drop whatever simulator they are using and do everything they can to prepare for MSFS 2024. It's like choosing to stay with driving a horse and cart in 1972. 

I have GoFlight units and with the aircraft I fly they have been programmed to operate many functions using Pollypot software. To achieve the same in any other sim requires a lot of work to achieve the same end result. I have edited many AFCADs because the supplied ones with 3rd party software have many faults.

I use AIG for Ai and again, lots of work on the BGLs to assign NO PAINTs to other aircraft and to add missing airports to the Ai Companion utility.

I use Radar Contact v4 for ATC.

In short, a lot of work to clean up data for my sim of choice and an ATC program that works very well.

I fly IFR virtually exclusively. At 6 miles up the view of the ground is very hazy. And when flying Concorde at 11 miles up over ocean no sim has an advantage.

Procedural flying is the most important aspect of flying to me. The ground scenery is of secondary importance and what I currently have suits me.

My post is just to explain my reasons for staying with the sim of my choice. I won’t be entering into a debate about pros and cons. That’s been done to death.