FS2004 - FS2006.

[eno]

I know you are expecting some sort of revalation about FS2006 ...... sorry to fool you all.

Today I went to the International Flightsim Covention in Blackpool UK. It was a great day. 50+ stands of flightsim related hardware and software and seminars on flightsim related topics.
The most interesting being from the Head of the FS development team from Shockwave.
It proved to be a fascinating insight into the development of the sim we all know and love. I will now no longer moan about the anomolies, glitches and downright barmyness of FS. I now know why they are there and why they can't be avoided. The seminar proved to be a very honest apraisal of why FS2004 is as it is.

Consider this, 60+ datasets for everything in FS, all these are in their own right terabites in size. These have to be analysed, extrapolated, sorted, compressed, ripped apart and eventually made into the product we buy. Therefore glitches creep in.

Three aeronautical engineers try to fly for real the aircraft .... if not they fly  the industry simulators or speak to, in the case of classic aircraft, people that have flown them.
The data for terrain is taken from as many sources as possible ... the glitches occour when data that is supposed to be exactly the same isn't. Even two sets of data from the same source doesn't always match.

When you consider that fantastically huge amounts of data for terrain... objects... ai... and anything else other than the aircraft and help center  have to be compressed onto just 2 of the CDs that ship with FS2004. You'll understand that's why FS2004 out of the box is as it is.

The team from shockwave actively encourage 3rd party designers and developers to improve the product. M$ ship the product that will give as real an experience to as many people as possible.

I'm not trying to be a sales person for Microsoft I just appreciated the honesty of the guys from the team.

As for FS10 .......... keep checking the M$ site ... all that they would give away is that its beyond the planning stage.  As for it being an improvement over FS9 ...that's as much up to you as it is to the team ........ Send every error report, they are checked ... email the team if you have problems, you probably won't get a reply but the messages are read (6 members of the team are responsible for reading over 5000 mails a week).

The main point.....  Don't moan and complain about what is a fantastic product ... Actively get involved and send those reports etc ... the team appreciate the feedback. On the next version you may even get the lecture that we got today included on the CD then you will have the insite that  I have had today.

cheers
eno

[The Ruptured Duck]

Grrrr.

Who knew that plotting the whole planet would be so hard?

[Katahu314]

I admit it, I use to whine about it.

But now, I'm a changed man and I see a bright future for FS [regardless of all the work that needs to be done for the FS team].

[ozzy72]

I still moan about the poor work done for the non-US world!!!
But I'm doing my bit

[ashaman]

About FS9 I use to complain mainly about the "poor" (for lack of a polite other way to call it) default ATC and the non-existent management of failures to the plane's systems (what there is is not worthy of note) and the possible interactions between the two.

Now I wonder what my complains have to do with the difficulty of graphically rendering the whole world.

Errors in this last (seen the sheer enormity of it) are understandable. Are they as well in the point I'm rising?

[SaVas]

Considering I have spent more time in FS9 than any other computer program be it games etc, I personally think FS9 even out of the box, is absolutely wonderful.

One of the best things about it, is FS9 is like a working recipe. You can make a great "meal" as it is, however when you add a global community of chefs (freeware and payware designers) you can take that meal and make it a 5 course delight.

While there are some issues people have, or things they would like to see, myself included, I will not complain at all about FS9 and think that MS and the FS9 developers have made something that is about as perfect as I could hope for, and the various developers that enhance it make it one of a kind.

I have to admit though before FS9 I was mainly into the combat sims thinking "Why would I want FS9. All I can do is fly around" but I took the plunge a couple of years ago and my immersion level is like nothing else I have "played" on the computer.

[Mehdi]

More chefs don't necassarily make a better soup...

[Souichiro]

I agree with Savas!

Fs as it comes standard is quite good! Rapid developments since then greatly improved it which is fun to see..

I joined these forums since last January and since then..

Fs skyworld
New water
New sun
SRTM Mesh
and various other improvements!!

All of these freeware! Once again...No need for fs10 here! Still improving on the current one!

[eno]

If some of the slides shown in the FS lecture are, as some of us suspected, of FS10 then the out of the box improvements will be spectacular. When asked if they were shots from FS10 we were told no "These were the results of enhancing the code in FS9." was more or less the quote and we could see this because of the terrain textures. However a guy taking photos was asked to delete the two pics he had taken of these slides.

[JBaymore]

When asked if they were shots from FS10 we were told no "These were the results of enhancing the code in FS9." was more or less the quote and we could see this because of the terrain textures.

Sounds like "corporately politically correct speak" for "working on the next version of the sim" to me  ;).

They probably were NOT final code images.... but likely somewhere in the process of getting there.

Who knows.... I can wait.  Like many others I am still "perfecting" FS2004...and wikll be for some time.  Not rush to fs10 and yet ANOTHER brand new computer for me.

best,

..................john

[eno]

They admitted that the next version is in the pipeline ......  but are not going to announce untill it's almost completely ready. The word from the chief of the team is that it's gone quiet on the forums because they are beyond the design stage and now working on the raw data.
They also have guys registered on most of the larger site forums   checking out what peeps want from the next product. So make it known.

[JBaymore]

eno,

By "...the next product...." I assume you mean Flight Sim 2008?

best,

......................john

[eno]

eno,

By "...the next product...." I assume you mean Flight Sim 2008?

best,

......................john

Who knows.......... ??

[Souichiro]

Just a little idea..

Wouldn't it be nice if MS would recruit some nice freeware designers like Team KBT or something like that who can make really excellent planes to start with?

Just an idea..

[cobzz]

are all the flightsim games the same engine?
they seem like it