FS 2004 Impressions

[Guest jjlobo]

I've purchased, installed and start testing FS 2004. My first impressions are:1. Scenery has very real illumination. Very good day light appearance. Much better than Fly! II.2. Scenery has very complex models and is very well populated. Microsoft paid some attention to Brazil and I like it.3. Aircrafts exteriors are stunning.4. Very good sounds around.5. Panels!!!! AS ALWAYS. Throttle quadrant placed in the middle of main panel and windows. The same for Radio, GPS, etc. etc. And you need to use those unrealist buttons to open additional panel views. Not as in Fly! Up, down, left, right and there you are seeing what a pilot shoul see looking around.6. Aircraft side views from inside, when you look right and left, are very poor. 7. Scenery details are not as good as in Fly!. For example, the trees are very poor compared to the Fly! stunning trees.8. External aircraft views are good. However limited to 9 views only. Back, southwest, west, northwest, north, ... and up.9. Maneuvering is not as good as in Fly!. That

[Guest 3dfly]

If you tell about default FS2004 we know it's limited in panels and some sceneries, but like in FLYII, developpers maked a very big work to enhance FS200X, and believe me you can get a lot of fantasic exoperiences using FS2004. I like a lot FLYII, and you can see I continue to work for it, but I know very well FS2002-4 to say it's a very open sim and it lets us free to do very complex works very hard to make in other sim. Of course we wait a FlyIII, and I hope in support of FlyII fans to have a new choice at FS2004 (I believe a little challenge is very good for improving sims :-) ). Dear regardsGiorgio Gnesda

[Guest tonyc]

Giorgio and others,I just read an interesting piece on "Full Canvas Jacket", the Red Baron 3d by Sierra, which has been upgraded by a group of users and is being sold as a totally new flight sim. REad about it on www.plgrafix.com. It's a great example of how a flight sim can continue to live and prosper. tony

[Guest jjlobo]

Thanks Giorgio for your comments. I know FS2004 has big opportunity to grow. ... and I'm probably being too naive judging its opportunities. :+

[Guest jjlobo]

TonyI think this subject has been stressed in this forum, but, if a group of users could upgrade Sierra Red Baron and now have (to sell or not, whatever) an improved sim, I ask, DID WE GAVE UP TOO SOON trying to do the same with Fly!?I'm still reading Fly! III wishes and comments in the forum, but I don't think we have anything concrete. Yesterday, when I've purchased FS2004, there was a Fly! II on the store's shelf. It is still being distributed down here in Brazil. Yes, there should be room for a new Fly version, perhaps commercial.___ JJLobo ___55 11 37268158

[akriesman 0]

I think this subject has been stressed in this forum, but, if a group of users could upgrade Sierra Red Baron and now have (to sell or not, whatever) an improved sim, I ask, DID WE GAVE UP TOO SOON trying to do the same with Fly!?Several of us tried and tried to do something similar for Fly! The problem was that approximately 20% of the Fly! code is shared between several other TRI products. Obviously, TRI did does not want to release this code, when it still has considerable value to TRI.Rich had hoped, that he could someday isolate the shared code from Fly!. The only solution he could come up with, was to try and convert the shared code into a linkable library. Unfortunately, this would have been very time consuming for Rich (who obviously did not have much time).I really think the shared code is the real stumbling block to selling or releasing the Fly! source. For this reason, we will pretty much have to rely on the possiblity that TRI can somehow provide us with a Fly III. But with Rich gone, I sadly have a feeling that the motivation has gone with him :(What we need is a billionaire flight sim fan, who hates Microsoft, and will purchase all of TRI for the sake of competing with them.OK...Rant about to begin...BTW...FS2004 is a fine product. However, Microsoft's developer support is non-existent as usual. In fact, the FS2004 SDK's are 3-4 months late already, with no word about their release. The lack of the SDK has really tied the hands of FS2004 developers regarding many things. The FS2004 developers obviously are very prowd of their product (and rightfully so), but the marketing arm of Microsoft could care less about anyone, other than those that have yet to pick up a copy of FS2004.IMHO, Competition for MSFS must happen for the good of the entire FS community.Rant complete...... :)Nice to see he spririt is alive and well here.Allen Kriesman

[akriesman 0]

"really tied the hands of FS2004 developers regarding many things. The FS2004 developers obviously are very prowd of their product"Should have read "really tied the hands of FS2004 3rd Party developers regarding many things. Microsoft's FS2004 developers obviously are very prowd of their product".

[Guest Eagle]

Good to see you here, Allen, and for your comments. Let us all keep supporting Fly, and who knows, maybe some day a FlyIII.There is still much that can be done with what we have and that has been proven by the many developers. The planes are GREAT and now there is more panel development.

[Guest WilliamD]

There is a new vfr scenery being released for FS2004 for the entire country of Switzerland, that would probably look wonderful in Fly!2 also. From reading the threads about this scenery, the developer created it from an expensive series of photos and new hi-res mesh data that he has purchased and now has to sell the scenery for $150.00 if he hopes to make any profit. I wonder if he would consider making a version for Fly!2.

[LAdamson 240]

>>BTW...FS2004 is a fine product. However, Microsoft's>developer support is non-existent as usual. In fact, the>FS2004 SDK's are 3-4 months late already, with no word about>their release. The lack of the SDK has really tied the hands>of FS2004 developers regarding many things. The FS2004>developers obviously are very prowd of their product (and>rightfully so), but the marketing arm of Microsoft could care>less about anyone, other than those that have yet to pick up a>copy of FS2004.FWIW---- Microsoft actually does get quite a number of 3rd party developers involved during the beta process. But as to their SDK's and shape of the final product, it's anyones guess.P.S--- the orignal post referred to nine views of the aircraft externally. Maybe I didn't understand it correctly, but if I did, the views are unlimited with a hat-switch.L.Adamson