jarsky

Wonderful Kavinda, thank you for the visual appetizer. Now bring on the main course! Flights, especially island-hopping in Hawai'i, is set to become more interesting.

Excellent news, thank you for the update Kavinda! Re: MS Flight coming again to the fore: for me, it was a program about Hawai'i which largely prompted me to return to MS Flight; however, the release of DTG: Flight Sim did trigger partially my return to Flight, through nostalgia and at a purely cognitive level by reminding me that there are other simulators out there. I admire MS Flight because it was a fair effort and a simulator with a lot of potential. It was ended quickly, but I admire also that users and previous developers wish to sustain parts of it. For a 4 year-old 32-bit product, it runs surprisingly well and is a reminder (for better or worse) that had it been continued (and/or produced as a 64-bit simulator), then it could have been even better. Usually I fly X-Plane 10 for the realism of long-haul flights and as a study-sim; however, the graphics, weather and flight physics, and nostalgia draw me back to Flight, especially for low-and-slow VFR flights. And what better place than Hawai'i? (Well, perhaps French Polynesia!)

Apologies to double-post; I cannot edit my previous response. So for those of you who are still interested, and still roam the [lonely] skies of Flight, here is a brief continuation of my journey around Hawai'i's 'Big Island'. I departed Upolu and flew along the south-western edge of Kohala. According to Google Maps, there is a 'Costal Grille' right up there in the mountain - seems an unlikely place for a coastal restaurant, no? But hey, what do I know?! I arrived at Waimea about 25 minutes later. I tried this flight previously with 16kt cross-winds and it was bumpy to say the least! Elevation detail and waves really make coastal flights marvelous! Turning to base leg for Waimea, admiring the view. Parked at Waimea; a perfect opportunity to admire the A5's beautiful design (real-world and Flight counterpart). Next I flew westwards to Puu Waa Waa Ranch, nestled at the foot of the Cinder Cone State Park. This next screenshot has an airline-esque perspective. If the A5 had a built-in dashboard cam, then this would surely offer an excellent perspective on things ahead and below. I landed safely at Puu Waa Waa Ranch after an initial go-around; Flight's weather engine really does offer a challenge, with sudden shifts in wind and gusts keeping boredom at bay! Fifty minutes well-spent. Oh and by the way, a recent program on PBS about Hawai'i sparked my renewed interest in Hawai'i (and subsequently Flight).

Thank you HiFlyer, I'm keeping a keen eye on Aerofly 2. Purely from a graphical point of view (I don't own it yet, so I cannot comment on any other aspect really), it looks great! It has most/all of those much-desired GTA5 graphical qualities in a simulator environment, and I really like that on Steam they said that they are "explicitly" welcoming third-party addons. Refreshingly honest, simple and ultimately good for flight simulation.

Indeed. Forget Utterly Butterly (I still can't believe it's not butter); I still can't believe it's 32-bit! (Oh and you might need to adjust your screen settings to see the true colours; I adjust to a preset monitor setting - I don't think you can adjust the gamma in MS Flight.)

So DTG's Flight School prompted me to return to MS Flight once again, as happens from time to time. (Sadly very infrequently, but yesterday's flight gave me renewed enthusiasm for Flight.) This post is purely for nostalgia, reminiscence and ongoing interest/passion for MS Flight; this is not comparative or intended to be incendiary. OK, off-beat opening aside, here's a brief travel diary of my 90 minutes of absolute Flight joy: Initially I loaded Flight with the modified splash screen, complete with the beta music - it sets the scene nicely, so I think it's worth mentioning! First I flew a $100 hamburger run from Waikoloa (I think?) to Waimea, a mere 20nm cross-country flight (more like a hop, skip and a jump really). I did take screenshots; however, the nasty pop-up messages spoiled them, so I've omitted them. Is there a way to remove them? Even with the HUD disabled, they are an irritating reminder that I can skip to waypoint (why?! This is Hawai'i after all!), not to fly too close to the sun or not to do anything silly, haha! I exaggerate. Anyway, so then I flew (free-flying) from Waimea to Upolu, an airport at the north-eastern tip of the Big Island. Weather was set to the beautifully-rendered mixed fair weather addon. Naturally, I did the right thing - I flew not in a dull straight line from point to point, but rather by swooping over, into and out of the Waipio Valley. Pictures can say a thousand words, so I'll leave you with what's left from my ocular orgasm. Questions, comments and postcard requests welcome! (Apologies if they're big; they're only .jpeg images, but people requested high-resolutions in the past.)

Oooh wow...I remember reading about Aerofly (1) back in 2012, but I was occupied sufficiently with MS Flight and X-Plane 10 (in fact, X-Plane 10 was brand new for me at the time as I really wanted just to try it). Perhaps I will just try Aerofly 2. OK, I don't know, but it looks impressive visually. Anyway, I'll keep further thought and discussion of that to another, more relevant topic - but thank you for the heads-up HiFlyer.

Dovetail announces their entry to the world of flight simming - very interesting!

Good point. I wondered if the association with W10 was more to do with positive PR (e.g., the latest - but in my opinion not the greatest - OS); however, your explanation makes sense. I'm glad that my AMD Radeon 380 is DX12-ready! Oh and yes, I think that making it an exclusively 64-bit application makes sense, but at the very least it should be offered in 32- and 64-bit. @ biloo: I understand your concerns, but like you say hopefully you'll be wrong!

For those who are interested: https://twitter.com/dovetailgames/status/688000087499403268?lang=en Hopefully this will build upon MS Flight's strengths and make for an even better simulator. This should be very interesting indeed!

Well it's great news that Dovetail will release their take on flight simulation in 2016. I'm between X-Plane 10 and MS Flight (oh and GTA 5!), so hopefully time won't drag pre-release. A multiplayer flight in Flight would be nice - how practical is that to facilitate? Does multiplayer still work?

5468616E6B20796F7520666F7220796F7572207665727920696E746572657374696E6720666F726D206F6620636F6D6D756E69636174696F6E20746865206C696E6B21 49206C696B6520776861742049207365652E 4920776973682074686572652077617320612077617920746F2061646420737461746963206F626A6563747320746F20616972706F72747320746F6F2E I'm glad I posted my screenshots - thank you for the heads-up guys!

Either way, I eagerly await any future developments for 'Flight'. (Perhaps it it something that you can reveal in a less cryptic way? In semaphore, perhaps?) My spirit's strong but my patience is weak; I've just recently gotten back into it, and I'm cosntantly reminded of what can still be achieved with 'Flight'.

Thanks - I hate any kind of IT problem, especially if I weren't able to re-acquire items I'd already purchased! (I also hate it when people solve problems but don't post their solutions!) Anyway, that's cool - the Toolkit really has come a long way. When you say "busier", I hope you are referring to the greater potential in 'Flight' (e.g., new content).

Thanks guys! I'm hopeful for Flight to expand too, but in the mean time here's my return leg: