Frame Rates - An Historical Point in Time

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

I can't help but bring to everyone's attention a Forward written by Bruce Artwick to "Runway USA"; A pilot's guide to destination cities in Flight Simulator by Charles Gulick in 1987.Note Bruce's mention of frame rates:http://www.flightsimbooks.com/runwayusa/foreword.phpEnjoy! :)

[Guest JIMJAM]

I had a Tandy computer running at a blazing 20 mhz.It would barely run Microprose F-19 stealth Fighter. In order to run the graphics details at "high" I bought the new cutting edge Tandy running at 25 mhz for $3000.I remember the computer salesmen asking me why I needed all that power.

[Daveo 36]

HeeHee,Yea I remember those days using a B&W 12 inch tv for a monitor.Click...Click..Click...Click and that non-forgetable sound of flying a lawnmower. :(

[boshar 6]

So:"in 1987 with the Atari 520 ST Flight Simulator II rolls down the runway at 15 frames per second compared to the original 2 frames per second of IBM version 1.00 and , and this is just the beginning. New computer graphics software techniques and high performance hardware make this possible. High speed 68000, 80386, and 68020 microprocessors will make future versions even faster."20 years into the future and I still have to struggle to get a contstant 15 FPS in the busy areas :(

[Howiefly13 30]

Tom,I just got off the phone with Charlie. He is a wonderful friend and I have everyone of the books he wrote relating to flight simulator. I actually remember, at the very first flight simulator "convention" at Cornell University, Charlie and Bruce Artwick were there and it was really an exciting time. It was the first time we experienced real sound with FS and Steve Halpern was so excited because Bruce Artwick was flying FS with Steve's first version of "FS Clouds". Remember the square white blocks in the sky!It really is amazing when you think how immersive the experience was then, with so little graphics and airplanes. But, we all loved it and couldn't wait for "more". Oh, and Compuserve, bulletin boards and dial in modems were the only way to communicate.And yes, I am still flirting with 15 fps and I still love it and am alwways still looking for "more"!Howard

[yellowjack 28]

>20 years into the future and I still have to struggle to get a>contstant 15 FPS in the busy areas :(Yes,that's true but a busy area then and now are sort of different.;-)

[boshar 6]

>Yes,that's true but a busy area then and now are sort of>different.;-)You mean all those modern filled vector graphics? Thats only a fad. Reall men fly using only wireframe 3d :)

[virtualstuff 757]

>>Yes,that's true but a busy area then and now are sort of>>different.;-)>>You mean all those modern filled vector graphics? Thats only a>fad. Reall men fly using only wireframe 3d :)Lol those where days first experience for me 1989 / 1990 :-)... http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/awf1/sign.jpg

[n4gix 4,947]

It's serendipitous that you happened to post this today, as I just reinstalled FS2002 on my latest FS machine to shoot some reference screenies for an old freeware FS2k2 aircraft that I'm planning to recreate for FSX...I was totally amazed that although the frame rates were wholly acceptable (~50), I actually got less performance with this "virgin FS2k2" than I do with my "fully-loaded FS9" (~90)...It is an altogether smooth performer, but there sure isn't much to see! :)

[Howiefly13 30]

Bill,I would install FSII, but I don't have a 5 1/4" floppy drive ;-)

[Guest UlfB]

Oh,My first computer was a Sinclair ZX81 (Zilog Z80 cpu). Default with 4KB RAM, but you could add 16KB RAM. And then there was the Sinclair Spectrum, the VIC 64, The Atari and finally the PC. I remember my first PC AT with a 20MB winchester (hard disk). It's been a many, many years with FS. And with every new version of FS, I get problems with old hardware. Edited: :-) Ulf BCore2Duo X6800 3.3GHz4GB RAM Corsair XMS2-8500C5BFG 8800GTX, Creative SB X-FiFSX Acc/SP2, Vista 32

[Geofa 108]

I started with the vic-20-then the commodore 64. I had to of course upgrade to the amiga for fs2 (or was it fs3?). It actually had runway threshhold lines-a new turn on for sims at the time-and only the amiga had this! (A computer way ahead of its time....)http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/1b5baf...b9f427f694g.jpgMy blog:http://geofageofa.spaces.live.com/

[Palebushman 0]

That's amazing Bill!I keep my old FS2002 on this latest machine of mine too, with onlyone scenery add-on from 'Just Flight' to make the Sim a little more interesting when showing it to friends that call in.The other reason I keep FS2002 on-board, is to run it, and then really appreciate all the fantastic 'goodies' that is now in my FSX.I must have been very lucky indeed when I chose the new components to re-build this current machine of mine. The marriage between all of them are amazingly matched. I don't seem to have been affected by the unfortunate problems, that fellow simmers here at AVSIM, have been subjected to with their FSX's.

[Guest JIMJAM]

The first game to really WOW me was Wing Commander. Remember that series with Mark Hamill. Big Budget and if you took hits, the wind sheild would crack,wires would dangle and the game had cut scenes.I can also remember right befire combat, the game would pause and you had to change out the disc. I always had them at hand and had Ninja like speed.Another good sim was a-10 tank buster.There is still a following for Red Baron and can found free with upgrades.Kinda sad considering flight sims were at one time a developers flagship product.Before long PC games will be kept in a card board box in the back room next to the cleaning supplies. We take what we can get and make it work.It takes years but eventually you can get some use out of them.Look at Falcon and Lock On. Still kept alive by dedicated simmers.

[turner112 52]

Amazing - I was just thinking about this last night:Way back then (Flight Simulator on Apple ][ for me) - think how AMAZING our imaginations must have been...Moving forward, as relatively sparse as the scenery was, that feeling of rising into the air and recognizing what minimal landmarks existed... and still really FEELING you were up there, flying, knowing where you were...I guess our imaginations no longer get the workout they should ;)Andrew