OMG! It's hard to listen to this as you watch the scenery

[OldAirmail]

The Dovetail Games "Flight School" was been briefly commented on and then we pretty much dropped it because we simply had no real knowledge about it.

The comment was made that "Flight School" would be something for those interested in an introduction to flight sims in general, but not really for the rest of us.

I'm sure many of us had reoccurring nightmares of "Microsoft Flight" when we thought about "Flight School".



Well, I think that it's about time to plan a Dovetail Games "Flight" section here on Simviation.

I just ran across this video. Turn down the lights because most of it starts as a pre dawn flight.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ztpn1Adi_Y[/youtube]


I was so festinated with the scenery that I had to go back several times to listen to the speaker.

Remember three things as you watch that video -
1) This is "Flight School", we can assume that the real flight simulator will be at least as good if not better.
2) The scenery in the demo is a 64 bit version of Orbx Global Base. This IS NOT a special region!!!
3) ***This video is ONLY a demo from Feb 11, 2016.*** It's not the final product.

The guy keeps going on that this is the first real 64bit flight sim, but of course X-Plane was the first one. But as best as I can remember X-Plane 10 NEVER looked so good.

I predict that quite a few will be buying "Flight School" just to see how well it works on their system.

And for what it's worth, these are stock aircraft, not A2A or other high end aircraft.


If you want more, here's a longer one from Mar 18, 2016.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN_W_48hHMs[/youtube]


End notes
In one of the videos/reviews it talked about multi-monitor support. Even Prepar3d doesn't have that built in yet.

Yes, you can, and I do, use multiple monitors. But there is an inherent distortion at the ends.


There was talk, by Dovetail, of the possibility of converting some of your aircraft to work with the 64 bit simulator. Only time will tell if they can pull that off.

Frankly, the quality of the aircraft & scenery shown in the video of "Flight School" is so good that I'd be willing to ditch what I have now.

Well, maybe not get rid of it totally. It's still very good. But as more and more stuff came out, I'd use Prepar3d/FSX far less.

[OldAirmail]

And for what it's worth, these are stock aircraft, not A2A or other high end aircraft.

Correction, that IS an A2A Cessna, and the airport is Orbx L70 Agua Dulce ( I just bought it )

[pete]

If it's not open source Simviation will have no interest in it.
There are many flight simulators now available for Android, for example but THEY have complete control over what you can add on .... Simviation is a site created for and based on primarily freeware addons for 'Computer Flight simulators' and it this time Microsoft flight simulators still have a long way to go but more - Prepar3D
Xplane could be good but that whole world seems to be over-ridden by small minded idiots who take themselves too seriously - so forget them as a group.

P3D - that's the way to go at this time for Simviation.

[zswobbie1]

Pete says... "If it's not open source Simviation will have no interest in it.
There are many flight simulators now available for Android, for example but THEY have complete control over what you can add on .... Simviation is a site created for and based on primarily freeware addons for 'Computer Flight simulators' and it this time Microsoft flight simulators still have a long way to go but more - Prepar3D
Xplane could be good but that whole world seems to be over-ridden by small minded idiots who take themselves too seriously - so forget them as a group.

P3D - that's the way to go at this time for Simviation."

I'm a bit concerned at the arrogance of an administrator here on Simviation.
Simviation will have no interest in a non-open source simulator?
So, DTG's Flightschool will be totally ignored? & if us Simviation members are interested? as are the many newbies & users as well?
Talk of Android sims? Maybe we should have a forum here for them?

I'm trying to work out this sentence...
Simviation is a site created for and based on primarily freeware addons for 'Computer Flight simulators' and it this time Microsoft flight simulators still have a long way to go but more - Prepar3D???

We all know that Microsoft stoped their flight simulators about 10 years ago, & Prepar3d is a Lockheed Martin product. (yes, the core is ESP, but it is now but a shadow of the original ESP) & is NOT a hobbyist's product.

Also, you say Simviation is a site created for and based on primarily freeware addons .. There are Payware sections in the download section!!!

Maybe it IS time for a change & have Simviation cater for everything Flight (& Space) simulation? Remember that the future players of DTG's Flightschool are our future developers???
Please do not exclude them, but welcome each and every simmer, be it an old time, an expert, an oracle & especially a newie!!

How abot a poll to see if a DTG forum should be added??

[pegger]

How abot a poll to see if a DTG forum should be added??

Always find it cute when people start thinking a privately owned (and free to use if you follow the rules) entity is some sort of democracy...

[zswobbie1]

How abot a poll to see if a DTG forum should be added??

Always find it cute when people start thinking a privately owned (and free to use if you follow the rules) entity is some sort of democracy...

Ooops, I forgot about that! What was I thinking!! I'll just go with the flow then..

[pegger]

That's the spirit!!

[OldAirmail]

There's nothing to worry about.

The full flight sim version will cover the entire world and add-ons will be welcomed.

I think that it was in that long video that there was talk about how MS Flight had screwed it up by locking out outside developers.


As I said, there was even talk of the possibility to reuse some FSX aircraft. I suspect that'll work out as well as using FS9 aircraft/scenery did with FSX.

But they made it sound somewhat hopeful, rather than absolutely, positively, gonna happen - so cross your fingers.


I also don't think that people will be dropping FSX/P3d as soon as it comes out. I think that we can expect a lengthy wait as freeware developers decide if they want to even learn new technics for 64 bit aircraft/scenery.

When I bought X-Plane 10 it had been out for just over a year. I stopped using it because there was so much more freeware, and payware, for FSX.

We'll just have to see what happens, but the small glimpse that DTG Flight School looks good.


Also, remember this - the more excitement in sim aviation, the better. Better for us, the developers, and the flight sim peripheral makers.

New flight sim excitement is good for us all.

[OldAirmail]

By now, anyone that's interested knows that Flight School will be out May 24th.

I sill haven't decided if I'd buy Flight School. It is tempting though.


A Side note - A friend from work came over and tried my flight sim setup. He became a little frustrated when he tried to tilt the yoke up and down to make the aircraft go up/down.

Moral of the story - There is definitely a need for a beginners flight sim.


Anyway, here's another video. I didn't watch it all the way through, but it looks to be a good lesson for people interested in a flight sim but knows absolutely nothing about aircraft & flying.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbWhneKEF6U[/youtube]


NOTE - from their website - Free Flight mode, so you can try out your newfound skills anywhere in the world.

[striker]

Prepar3d is a Lockheed Martin product. (yes, the core is ESP, but it is now but a shadow of the original ESP) & is NOT a hobbyist's product.

It's FSX evolved and evolving. Can be bought by anyone and must be the best computer flight simulator by far. Certainly where I'm going unless I see better.

The full flight sim version will cover the entire world and add-ons will be welcomed.

I think that it was in that long video that there was talk about how MS Flight had screwed it up by locking out outside developers.

As long as THEY don't have control of what addons are available and it's not all payware that's good news! If they do I'll be sticking with P3D/FSX.

[Flacke]

Jeepers that is beautiful with the included ORBX scenery.
That Dovetail is offering a flight training video is good news for all of us who love flight-simming.
They are showing a long-term commitment to flight- sim products. We need that.

Dovetail knows that if a potential enthusiast tries a flight-sim and finds it impossible or nearly so to operate he will most likely quit before he is truly hooked.........like us.
That hurts the flight-sim market and makes it more difficult for the industry to provide new and improved products for us. We need as many active Pilots [customers] as possible.

So, I applaud their efforts and I hope they keep adding flight-sim enthusiasts to our fold. We are all better off for it.
I can just imagine how wonderful the flight-sims and aircraft will become in the next five years with all of this development going on.

[pete]

Let's wait 'n see. If it DOES allow freeware, open source development then certainly we will have a section for it here and fully support it in the main site - it will be a great thing.

Otherwise we will probably open a section for 'Other flight simulators' - as there are so many of them available.

[OldAirmail]

Flacke, you're 100% right.

When I first bought FSX I tried to land a Cessna 172 on the 10,500 foot (3,198 meter) Philadelphia runway.

Couldn't do it. I either crashed or ran out of runway.

After two days I was ready to toss it in the trash. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that a lot of people actually liked it.



UPDATE - I bought the Agua Dulce airport scenery (I already had the required southern California scenery).

Yes, it is good, BUT it doesn't look quite as good as in the video. Very close though. At the moment it's still on sale for $15.82 US, GBP£10.97.

The scenery is "nice", but not a "must have".

Essentially, I paid $16 to be able to make a comparison between FSX/P3d and their new 64 bit software.



Frankly, I'd suggest holding off on scenery until we see if the 64 bit Flight School works well on average computers, and we learn more about the full 64 bit flight simulator to come.

When Prepar3d V3 came out, Orbx had to rewrite all of their installers.

That must have cost them a pretty penny as they gave the upgrade away to the people who had bought into the Orbx system.

But this Dovetail Games Flight will be a totally new simulator. Will they give me free upgrades for the FSX/P3d software that I've bought?

I think that if they want to stay in business, they'll have to charge an upgrade fee at the least. And that could be a killer for many people.

Only time will tell.

[OldAirmail]

Let's wait 'n see. If it DOES allow freeware, open source development then certainly we will have a section for it here and fully support it in the main site - it will be a great thing.

Otherwise we will probably open a section for 'Other flight simulators' - as there are so many of them available.

From what I've read and heard, Flight School will give you limited aircraft and "free", world wide flights, all with the Orbx base scenery.

As it'll be a lower cost product, that sounds fine to me.


The full fledged DTG Flight, as of the news right now, will be open to all kinds of add-ons. DTG Flight, of course, will cost much more.

If it's any good there'll be a lot of winners for all flight sims.

But as you say, IF it's open to freeware & payware developers alike.

In that case, Simviation will need to open a DTG Flight section simply to stay current. If not, then our site will become less relevant to flight simulators around the world.


And if you need to clear away some old, useless, junk, why not remove all that old FD2004/FS9 stuff. Ain't nobody using that stuff anymore, right?

[pete]

In that case, Simviation will need to open a DTG Flight section simply to stay current. If not, then our site will become less relevant to flight simulators around the world.

Numbers, numbers, numbers -- depends where the numbers are. Remember MSFS was big time mainstream - in fact used to be the best selling PC 'game' in the world for quite some time - but that was in the days when choice was limited. Still - the world of aviation is still massive and the following for simulated aviation is still pretty big ----

We also are in the situation where most young people rarely use PC's for entertainment ....

It's a changing world -- let's see what happens. For now -- & I know the behind the scenes stuff as well as anyone as simviation has been a major FS site for nearly 20 years -- things are pretty steady and constant in FSX and P3D. FS2004 is slowly drifting behind .... (of course there will always be people who use and love their older sims but not enough to maintain a site like this)