The advantages of supporting a "dead" sim

[Hans_Petter 1]

I haven't posted a lot lately, mostly because I've been busy. Here's a few thoughts. FU III may be a bit long in the tooth by now, especially when judged by modern video card capabilities and features. We don't have glare and reflections. In technical terms we don't have DTX bitmaps with layers and channels to modify a texture (eg water) during different times of the day and various weather conditions. Further, we've got polygon limits that are not needed on today's state-of-the-art computers. What we have is photo-realistic terrain and a pretty sound flight model. Then we've got a group of enthusiasts and developers and we've got addons that are still as valid today as they were a couple of years ago. The knowledge base is being expanded all the time. Developing for supported sims may be more gratifying in some respects. Yet, one is always chasing the rainbow and will have to accept that everything may be obsolete in a year or two. Then, it doesn't exactly help that the market leader is more secretive than Looking Glass ever was. MS divulges a few facts and developers discover a few more. Then they make stunning addons that will last until the next version of the sim hits the shelves. Whatever Gideon, Agtim, Ansgar, Jokke, Bogdan, Low, Lindstr

[Christopher Low 5,331]

Yes, that's very true. If Looking Glass Studios had developed Flight Unlimited 4, then all of these "greats" may never have become famous in the flight sim community :-lolChris Low.

[Guest R_Driscoll]

Yeehhhaaaaa - I'm a big tadpole in a small waterdrop ... yeeehaaaaa!I agree - I have really enjoyed the whole experience of learning to do things in FU3, and the trip has been well worth it. I see some people buying a program, running it for 40 hours, beating the game, throwing it out, purchasing the next etc. But I think I got my money's worth out of FU3.RobD.

[Guest effyouthree]

I think FU3 represents what I'd call 'true value'in a software package - but for all the wrong reasons!It represents good value because:* It is just as usable all these years later.* It included basically everything a user would need to modify the basic program to suit themselves.* It did not (and still does not) require the user to pay for full functionality, upgrades or support.* No unkeepable promises were made by LGS. They didn't promise upward compatibility, although they DID allude to new scenery areas. Of course, many of these things are the domain of obsolete software and we must thank EA for having no foresight at all and leaving us to tinker :-rollI remember when I first noticed LGS'site down, then all the disappointing news etc. At first, I felt ripped-off (although I never bought it because I thought I'd have 24 hour online support...) but now, after so many thousands of hours' further development, I can't see where my head was then. It's a wee ripper :-waveRegards,**************Jonathan Point**************"I'd rather be down here wishing I was up there than up there wishing I was down here"