RoboRay

Originally, they were gone for good. Then MS started repeating them when they ran out of new Daily ACs. Then they all appeared in-game at once one weekend, though with no tips info for them all. I don't know if they are all still active, though. They may have fixed that.

Yeah, we're on exactly the same page. I'm just going to look at it as an alternative in case MS pulls the seemingly little support they give Flight now. It's effectively FSX under the hood, but at least it's getting updates. I currently fall within the criteria of the $50 Academic license. :p0304: I do need a good bit of refresher training, as I'm thinking seriously about getting back into flying.

Oh, I'm not likely going anywhere. I do intend to give Prepar3D a good hard look now that I know how to patch a DLL to trick TrackIR into working natively with it (without paying for any additional third-party software to hack support together), but I honestly don't expect anything significantly different from FSX in the "sensation of flight" category, as ESP-based code is ESP-based code.

Indeed!

Watch out for the three giant spruces at the south end of the Lawing runway! I barely slipped between them last night landing. :o

Yes, and if you do find a driver version that works great for you, save a copy of the installer somewhere with your backup files, just in case you have trouble finding it online again.

I don't have a problem with the initial lack of an SDK, so long as there is one planned down the road. You can't put together an SDK for an unfinished product. Even though it's being sold, it's remarkably stable, and is relatively bug-free (gaping holes in Alaska DLC notwithstanding), the actual state of Flight's development is more akin to an advanced Alpha than even a Beta. There is still an awful lot of core functionality that needs to be added to Flight, and you can't produce an SDK until that is finished, or the next version of the core product may invalidate parts of the SDK as new features are added. They said we might see an SDK in two years. If Flight's ongoing development returns to what we got at launch... Solid scenery, enjoyable content, good airplanes... I'll wait two years for an SDK because MS is on the right track. The previous Title Update adding TrackIR and Toe Brakes shows that they are listening to us and will incorporate things we say we want, even after they insisted their target audience doesn't want those things. If we get another steady stream of useless remote-control toy planes and more half-baked scenery expansions, there may not be many people still wanting a Flight SDK in two years.

Beta releases are not "by definition more buggy and less stable." They simply are more likely to be buggy and less stable due to incomplete testing. If they were known to be buggy and less stable, they wouldn't have been released. The known bugs and stability problems get fixed. It's the unknown ones, that may or may not show up when you are using it, that are a concern. Simply because it needs more testing doesn't mean it's broken. But they should be avoided if stability is your primary concern, due to those unknown factors.

As much as I'm enjoying what we did get with Alaska, it's obviously unfinished. The Missions are missing. The Aerocaches are missing. The Seaplane Bases are missing (ok, they technically exist, but good luck finding one without any visible structures or markings, and they don't have any Jobs). Little to no QA was done on the small airports (yes, there are hundreds of them, but somebody should have been tasked with taking five minutes to look at each one for obvious defects like 100' spruces 5' off the end of the runway). Some airports and towns are reported to be completely missing. Some airports are in the wrong location, apparently placed where Bing/Google Maps POI flags say they are instead of where actual aeronautical charts correctly say where they are, several miles away from the in-game location. Obvious terrain mesh/texturing defects exist (although I haven't encountered any myself, I have seen lots of pictures), but that is somewhat understandable due to the sheer size of the area covered. There was no update to the weather engine to reflect temperature, pressure and humidity effects... I could keep going, but that's enough. It's clear Microsoft is simply not allocating the resources a product like this needs. If the plan is for Flight to bootstrap itself, funding it's own development through DLC sales rather than Microsoft investing in the program, my doubts about it's future grow. I think even "three scenery releases a year" may be a bit of a stretch for the Team's available resources. Alaska can be finished, but it's going to require a concerted effort. On the other hand, if they do consider Alaska finished and are just moving on to the next scenery, then Flight is finished. And that would be a shame. Because with all that Flight fails to attempt, what it does do it does better than anything else.

MS isn't bound by bandwidth consumption, but the players hosting it may be. MS puts a limit on the number of players because you never know if somebody is trying to host on a 768kbps DSL line. All data from every player seems to pass through the host for distribution to the other players. I wish they would release an actual dedicated server for Flight so we can set our own reasonable limits based on available bandwidth and processing capabilities.

You can only sell the same useless toy in so many different colors before people decide they really aren't that fun after all and certainly don't need another one. Sad, as the F4U is by far my favorite WWII aircraft. I'd love to have one, even without Missions and Jobs, if only they would finish it.

The Z and C keys are for the left and right brakes but, like the X key for both brakes, they are "all or nothing." Hitting the keyboard key will fully apply that brake, which is not what you're looking for. You need to assign the left and right brakes to an axis device (pedals, levers, joystick analog hat, rotary wheel or something similar) so that you can apply just a little brake. But this really shouldn't be necessary on a regular basis. Proper rudder and aileron deflection should be sufficient for normal crosswind take-offs. The brakes can be a useful thing to keep you on the runway if something unexpected occurs, but if you find yourself using them a lot on takeoffs you should reexamine your control technique and runway selections.

80P

Well, apparently, joystick hats and a mouse are the wave of the future.

If you have axis brakes, which lets you apply partial brakes, you can use them to augment the rudder and aileron action if they are not enough to hold you straight. Slight brake pressure on the wheel that is on the same side as you are trying to turn toward with the rudder will slow that wheel down a little and help keep you tracking straight down the runway.

Hook has been awarded the "Greater than Expected Patience Achievement."

I tried the home-grown stuff, and they do not work as well as TrackIR. TrackIR doesn't use IR because it's "old fashioned"... . IR is just another form of light, and one that it can use without impacting your own vision. Defining specific tracking-points, whether through light sources, reflectors, or simple colored markers is done in professional motion-capture due to the much greater precision it offers. I can't recall the special effects departments of any Hollywood blockbusters using webcam face recognition or Kinect-style motion capture... for good reason.

Turn off that Destination Marker, Luis! You've got charts now! :LMAO:

This site? http://msflights.net/

I would give a lot for some huli huli chicken. The worst part of leaving Hawaii isn't losing the weather, it's losing the food.

I prefer to pick my general weather theme, season and time, but the themes need to be variable. It's silly to choose a stormy theme and know the thunderstorms and heavy rain will be in the exact same spots they were the last dozen times you picked that theme.

No problems with the Maule for me, other than prop effects being actually noticeable now, and a heavy load seeming to affect the climb performance where it previously did not. It needs finer trim controls, but otherwise does about what I would expect. My main disappointment with Alaska is the lack of off-airport Jobs or Missions. You can't do real bush flying without going into the bush. Real weather modelling with temp and pressure variations sure would be nice, though.

You can, and should, back up your stats. I don't have the exact link handy (bouncing down the highway - NOT driving - surfing on my phone), but if you search this forum for "Career folder" you should find it.

Switch to one magneto to pretend you picked up some ice.

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