tn_prvteye

Your idea that if we don't buy, they'll make better ones doesn't work. Flight sims aren't cars or durable goods. Do you think that if MS Flight sim suddenly didn't sell that well that Microsoft would make it better? No, they'd just stop making it. We don't buy any more sims, people will just stop making sims. You seem to think that SF and Il-2 are huge business powerhouses. They're not. THERE IS NO MONEY IN MAKING FLIGHT SIMS!!!! Especially hard-core sims. It's a fact of life, not some economic theory. Do you think TK is sitting around thinking "You know those dumb-asses will buy anything, lets put out a sim with crappy FMs!!" No he's probably thinking: "Damn, I wish I had the manpower, time, and money to make the most realisitic sim ever"

Well, I don't consider I'm "settling" for anything when I play the SF series. I have a great time flying them. And I fly for real, so you'd think that I'd be the hardest customer base to impress. If you really want hard-core FM, then go fly for real. I'm serious. After you've done the real thing for awhile, you realize that "Full-Real" Flight models are really a joke. There's absolutely nothing that a home PC can do to fully replicate flight. I don't care how much money you throw into a project or how talented the developers are. Can these sims be fun and entertaining? Sure. Do I prefer these FMs to as "realistic" as possible given the restraints? You bet. But I don't just sit on the sidelines and whine about every new sim that doesn't meet my expectations. With the SF series, it's so easy to mod, that even I have done FM mods for stock planes. Nothing big...just some tweaking to improve somethings I didn't like. The capability is there with TK's sims to make it as complex as you wish...it will just take some time and effort on your part to do it. And I also hate the fact that you can't walk into your local EB Games and have a plethora of sims to chose from. But I live with it and adapt. Could be worse, that's for sure.

Well, if you're waiting for an ultra-realistic and hyper-accurate WWI sim, you're going to be disappointed in life. It will never happen. EVER. But with the SF series, we've been given the tools to make it as close as we can given enough effort. You want that hyper-real sim? Make it yourself. And that's what the OFF team is doing...and I applaud then for it. But the SF engine is MUCH easier to work with than CFS3. I'm still gonna d/l Phase 2, and if I like it, I'll donate. I've played Phase 1 and liked it, but still thought it was missing "something". So I don't play it anymore. Like I've said before...room for both FE and OFF. But you will never get ultimate realism anywhere...unless save up some money (around 20K), and buy a full scale replica of a Nieuport 11 and get your PPL. And I hate to tell you this, but unless you're flying a full-scale motion simulator in the military, or an instrument simulator designed for instrument pilots...all flight-sims are GAMES. No one is really a WWI ace, we can't go back in time to 1917, and if you DID suddenly find yourself flying at 10K feet in an Albatross, you'd be dead in 60 seconds. They are games designed for entertainment. OK, rant off...damn too much booze tonight.

It just seems like sometimes, they WANT to find things wrong with a sim. I swear you could strap them in a real Sopwith Camel and they'd complain that the instrument panel is the wrong color. I really hope cooler heads prevail, and the excellent WWI modders (of which there are many) can work to make this the most expansive SF based sim yet. One of my first posts about FE was optimistic, but after a week of demands and complaints, I'm starting to lose the faith. And yes, it's a bit cowardly to rant on this forum. But I didn't want to make things worse at SimHQ, and I know the SF regulars here could relate. Again, I just needed to rant to some folks who I knew would understand. Whew...gotta take a nap...too much beer and turkey...