I thought with us having just under 2 weeks till 2024 arrives, that I would do a 2020 screenshot/memories recap.  I tried to narrow down some of my favorite memories and captures.  My dear repainter and friend TimHH, suggested I do a three part series haha!  It was a great idea so that's what I've done!

They're kind of in order but not always as I can't remember when certain addons arrived - also the shots are of different resolution because of my older monitor.

Hope you enjoy, and maybe you share some of the same memories!

Oddly enough I chose this Zlin Shock Ultra as my 2020 first flight somewhere near Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA.  I guess I had wanted to look at the photogrammetry (now referred to as TIN)

Early on, I met the gentleman behind EDRM Repaints - and he started painting the heck out of the CJ4 - this was right around the time AAU1 came out (I think? - Where WT added some nice functionality to the CJ4 making it vatsim-capable for RNAV procedures)

This is the McNeilus Steel CJ4 - owned by a local company in Dodge Center, MN

Probably around 2021 is when I started to get heavily into addon aircraft, sceneries, liveries etc...  one of finest General Aviation addons was the Milviz (now Blackbirdsim) C310 - the C310 came out in May of '22

The default King Air 350 was sort of a red headed stepchild lol... with it's "unique" (fake) avionics option... the pseudo Collins Fusion but really a rendition of the G3X (the original ugly one, before WT fixed it with a real G3X).  At any rate, some superb paints were coming out, like this King Ranch version

The Aerosoft CRJ left a bit to be desired hehe.  Still though, my good friend visited my home that night and he was able to start it from cold and dark and get a flight going without any manuals (he used to fly the CRJ200 and 900 professionally)

I was pretty happy about seasons (well Winter lol) in 2020 - here's one of my first purchased addons, the SWS Kodiak.  I think it sold really well for them as it was a unique but sough after aircraft.... especially in the bush environment.

This M-346, from famous dev Dino Cattaneo (IndiaFoxtEcho group), was probably my second military purchase after his MB339 - it was quite good to be honest!

The Flight FX Vision Jet came a bit later, initially with the older G3000 avionics (then upgraded by WT/FXF) to the amazing simulation we have now.  I was excited about this addon because when I worked in Duluth I was able to fly one of the test prototypes

Here's an old mug of mine 

Early on in 2020 a local group of scenery designers created some nice objects for areas around MN - bridges, helipads, some airports, POI's etc like this bridge in Stillwater, MN.  They also made water towers (which is why many appear in my screenshots even today).  I'm flying the classic Just Flight Turbo Arrow

On the subject of the Arrow...  I recall when TDS first started, they were trying to get their GTNxi product into the Virtual Cockpit.  Someone came up with an interesting solution, this was basically drawing html onto the panel...fairly resource hungry hehe.  "Screen Integration"

We now have a host of addons with native TDS GTNxi integrations, such as the freeware JPL C152 that I made an integration for

Another superb addon I bought was the FSW C414.  And this is when I started making paints again.  I had done a few for FSX and P3D.  This was kind of my first and last 2D paint (meaning I did it all in photoshop and without 3D tools like Blender or Substance like I use now)

Some growing pains as you can see LOL

I would ask my painter guys for help sometimes... where the heck were all of these little pieces haha

By the time the Black Square analog gauge aircraft were arriving, like this incredible BE36 bonanza, I started realizing, along with TimHH, that we must use 3D tools to get around the crazy UV maps.  So we started in Blender, but it was clunky, and moved to Adobe Substance Painter later

Tim had really drawn me into 3D painting and we were collaborating often with paints and ideas, such as this N1188N I painted on the underrated Carenado C182RG.  I ended up painting an interior as well.

Like many, I was quite happy when PMDG came out with their NG series of 737's.  I bought the 737-700, first to be released.  I still fly it occasionally, mostly as a BBJ setup.  But here's a nice Delta livery I found early on

The TBM 930, (and TBM 850 from Black Square), are two of my most flown addons (yes I added up flight hours via an exported Excel spreadsheet haha).  I flew this even more frequently once WorkingTitle upgraded the G3000 avionics.  It's a darn good default aircraft!

Along with the AAU G1000 NXi equipped Cirrus SR22.  (This was prior to the new G6 model that we got this year?)  Navigraph and WT worked together to bring us Charts too!

A host of wonderful paints came out and now I could fly them in style (I ended up doing a few later for the G6 model) 

Part 2 to Follow!!

 

Wonderful recap. You've got a very good memory. 🙂 Looking forward the next two parts.

Nice shots of all that aircraft. Reminds me that i've forgotten the msfs C152 which is really great.

Beside this: You have my special permission to use msfs 2020 further when msfs 2024 is out! 🙂

I assume and I hope that it will be possible to install msfs 2024 along with msfs 2020...

I really enjoyed reading your post and seeing all the beautiful pictures. I share most of your memories. It really has been four exciting years for flight simulation enthusiasts. Learning 3D painting with you was certainly one of my highlights of that time 😃

I'm really looking forward to the next two parts of the series.

nice post!

Nice trip down memory lane!

Wonderful set of shots, Ryan! Makes me realise just how good 2024 has got to be to replace 2020 (but even so, I expect it to)

Love them all but that 310 shot! 😁

My goodness.... 🙂.... Who's Who of memories past...glory days of the SIM enthusiasts...in terms of excitement and expectations...now a days we're quite spoiled...🙂...

Yes, most of the names you've dropped and the airplanes you've cited...are now residing on my desktop PC in the basement ...a bit covered by cobwebs...🙂...

Thanks for sharing...!

2020 after 2024 release, THERE'S STILL LIFE IN THE OLD LADY YET!!!😜