The State of Flight Sims today?

[Growler67]

Hello all,

 

I was just curious to know if some one, or some sim has incorporated the ability to have two sims in one: What I mean by that is, for about ten years or greater I've always wanted to have a choice of ATC or pilot. There are some really nice ATC simulators out there. I have messed around with a few and am not very good but I'm sure there are simmers that love them.

So why not have them in say LOCKON or such. Have them in the tower, eye in the sky, or call the ball on carrier. Not that it would be mandatory but an option for game play. Pilot sim and ATC sim all in one, with an option to have either or both running; Just a thought. Maybe this is already being or been done? In that case, what sim? I realize most developers are more interested in the quick to market dollar and I can see their side of things, but maybe some one in the community could one day mod it?

I also want to say to the community here, Thank you for all your efforts. I really do enjoy these flight sims and because of the interest and work of others, I enjoy them that much more.

 

Thanks Again:

 

ALF

 

 

ALF, Microsofts FlightSim series is interface-able with ATC Simulator. Other than that, I don't know of any.

 

Jane's had a wild ambition some years ago. They intended to Eventually have available "Jane's World War". A place where you and some friends could get together and combine for example, F-15, Longbow and M1 Abrams. The technology wsn't quite there at the time and now Jane's has gone away. The technology is available IMO now, but the coding gurus haven't met the curve. Nor have they even bothered, it seems. I suppose you can't get something like that done, unless there is genuine intrest from the developers side. They are having too many problems with dishing out probematic software that doesn't run right, much less care enough to get it right prior to release, to be that ambitious. I would very much prefer they get their heads out of their fourth point of contact and release good, stable, immersive software. Then do it without infecting your system with a covert form of 'copy protectio' that only benefits them for a short time.

 

It is also my opinion that if resourses were available, they would be in more of a position to dream bigger. The facts are more likely that to get that kind of capital, they have to go to bed with a BIG publisher. After that has been done, they (the developers) are force fed a time table and bent over a barrel to meet that schedule. That lead to the current environment of crappy, unstable, buggy software. But the publishers don't care, they already got your money. You bought into the hype and marketing, and they got your money. You got a not so good product, and little to no product support. After all, they took your money and are now on to their next project.

 

Lotto or Powerball may solve this, but might isn't much to be invested in. We can only hope it gets better, but that remains to be seen.

[Flappy]

Actually quite a bit of work continues on Jane's FA/18, there should be linkage somewhere here in their section...look for Team Super Hornet or more popularly TSH. I f you can lay your hands on both Jane's F-15 and FA/18 you're in luck as far as Carrier Stuff goes.....(IMHO-Meekly!) Otherwise, you can use FS2004 with the ARRCAB proggie that comes with FlightDeck,it has the ability to let you use ANY tricycle mounted (ie. Nosewheel,Maingear) AC.

As to the original question , look to even UBI who are actually promoting Oleg's "DVD"!. OFF for CFS3, continual AC and terrains for F/S or CFS on the Flight Sim sites, let's not forget SFP1 and WoV. 'Taint dead.

Far from it. There is quite a Community out here who spend a good deal on Hardware to run this stuff on, it sorta' drives the industry. Not to mention a few talented individuals who take Very Hard Earned time off from their lives to give us things that didn't come in the box.

Edited March 19, 2006 by Flappy

[Growler67]

The community mods and add-ons are okay to an extent. However if the core program is knackered or requires a CRAY to get the advertised performance, why bother with the community stuff. i'm not down on community offerings, really. I'd just like to buy a product that is solid in performance and such first off. The goodies can come later. F-117 Stealth was a kicka$$ product that had loads of immersion. Sure it wasn't pretty but you could dance all night long and not feel robbed. Can't say that for most of the recent offerings.

[ezlead]

I was a" fast mover" pilot in Vietnam. The "real" experience is hard to come by.

With great sim inventors like TK around doing what they do best ,the Flt Sim will never be dead.

Look what was possible with EAW. Now we have SFP1 and LOMAC,not to mention the other great ones that are out.

As long as PC's get faster,bigger and better. The SIM will get faster,bigger and better.

So, all you "fast mover", rotor, propheads just keep doing what you do best and we will all benefit from the experience.

I started with a 386/40 computer and Pacific Air War. Now look what we have!

Hang In my friends it will only get better!!!!

[zverj]

I've seen a lot of people claim the death of the sim is upon us, that LOMAC will be the last of the great flight sim. I was curious what everyone's thoughts were on the subject.

My own personal feelings is we are just in a lull right now. I don't know how many times I've heard this gloom & doom prediction in all my years in this hobby. It's just the ebb and flow of the publishing game, stuff gets hot, then you don't see it for awhile.

Anyway, what do YOU think?

 

The answer is simple. Learning curve. In Battlefield 2 you just get in and fly. Lomac - way different. I was scared by those controls at start.

 

If somebody made simulator/arcade mix that was easy to learn, it would be a hit. For example you can fly all the planes in "easy" mode, but in "advanced" mode you could have some advantages like long range targetting etc. Also simulator graphics suck. Simulators focuses too much on realism forgetting about fun factor.

[+Fates]

If somebody made simulator/arcade mix that was easy to learn, it would be a hit. For example you can fly all the planes in "easy" mode, but in "advanced" mode you could have some advantages like long range targetting etc. Also simulator graphics suck. Simulators focuses too much on realism forgetting about fun factor.

 

Have you tried WOV? Excellent good light sim, but still lacks a multiplayer edition. YOU can fly the planes in EASY mode....or ADVANCE mode. You need to check out the graphics of LOMAC before saying that Sim graphics suck...your words will fall mute to this crowd.

 

I agree whole heartedly that the FUN factor is missing in todays sims. IL2 has it, and the Janes Series had it.....but they are both MULTIPLAYER games.....with simulation aspects...but not total sims. They are FUN. Janes series had a killboard, a predecessor to todays BF2 Killboards. WOV has a rank and badge system like todays BF2 series. Imagine a game with STATS. A Multiplayer Sim light game based off of WOV or WOE, which anyone can easily learn to fly...eventually be really good at, and the game takes off with over a million copies sold.... I'm still waiting.

[Growler67]

LOMAC is very graphic orientated. Unfortunately it is severely lacking in multiplayer stability and you have to buy an add-on to get the fixes. Microprose's F-117 Stealth was one of the best in immersion. Not very pretty by recent standards, but a great sim. Those were the days.

[Snacky]

This is an old thread, but I thought I would add that with the next gen study sim Fighter Ops comming out next year combat sims might be on the come back. There will never be a market for flight sims in the console market, but as long as there is a PC market and a fan base there are sales to be made if it is done right. Armchair pilots are not stupid and they are not going to spend money on garbage. We want realism and we want features in our flight sims. When developers take shortcuts we see it right away and let them know it. If a sim is done right then people stand behind it to the very end and then some. I am hoping Fighter Ops picks up where the great old Janes flight sims left off, but we will see. So far it looks promising.