Fubar512

Dragon's Lair was a hoot, and a later, a bust. It did incredibly well for all of about six months, and then fall flat on it's face. I recall modding the cabinet from 50 cents per play, down to 25, as interest in it waned. There was a third laser disc game from that era, the title of which I cannot recall. It was basically a B-52 in an overhead view, superimposed over a photo-realistic terrain that included harbors, cities, missile bases, etc. It wasn't very popular, so we did not buy it...but I do recall spending the better part of an afternoon playing with it in the distributor's show room

How primitive! Meanwhile, my brothers and I were making money distributing this game "Cobra Command", just over a year later (in 1984). Of course, the cabinet that contained this game weighed almost 300 lbs, and the whole mess cost over $4000, in 1984 dollars. To put that figure in context, back then one could buy an entry-level Toyota (a Starlet) for not much more! The "graphics" were read off a laser disc, and were therefore not rendered. If I recall correctly, it took us over a year to break even on the purchase, as we split the proceeds 50-50 with the owners of the locations that we had the games at. By the time I left my regular job, and started doing this full time in 1989, the two Cobra Command cabinets that we still had were basically trashed, and worthless.

I recall a charter skipper in the Florida Keys who refused to run at much more than an idle after dark, due to physical encounters with airborne houndfish, balao, and other half-beaks. While not capable of "flight" in the manner of a flyingfish, they have a habit of being attracted to lights, and have often lept aboard boats. Because of their beaks, this behavior makes them a hazard, and more than a few people have been impaled by them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_processing_unit#1980s 1990s[edit] Tseng Labs ET4000/W32p S3 Graphics ViRGE Voodoo3 2000 AGP card In 1991, S3 Graphics introduced the S3 86C911, which its designers named after the Porsche 911 as an implication of the performance increase it promised.[24] The 86C911 spawned a host of imitators: by 1995, all major PC graphics chip makers had added 2D acceleration support to their chips.[25][26] By this time, fixed-function Windows accelerators had surpassed expensive general-purpose graphics coprocessors in Windows performance, and these coprocessors faded away from the PC market. Throughout the 1990s, 2D GUI acceleration continued to evolve. As manufacturing capabilities improved, so did the level of integration of graphics chips. Additional application programming interfaces (APIs) arrived for a variety of tasks, such as Microsoft's WinG graphics library for Windows 3.x, and their later DirectDraw interface for hardware acceleration of 2D games within Windows 95 and later. In the early- and mid-1990s, real-time 3D graphics were becoming increasingly common in arcade, computer and console games, which led to an increasing public demand for hardware-accelerated 3D graphics. Early examples of mass-market 3D graphics hardware can be found in arcade system boards such as the Sega Model 1, Namco System 22, and Sega Model 2, and the fifth-generation video game consoles such as the Saturn, PlayStation and Nintendo 64. Arcade systems such as the Sega Model 2 and Namco Magic Edge Hornet Simulator in 1993 were capable of hardware T&L (transform, clipping, and lighting) years before appearing in consumer graphics cards.[27][28] Some systems used DSPs to accelerate transformations. Fujitsu, which worked on the Sega Model 2 arcade system,[29] began working on integrating T&L into a single LSI solution for use in home computers in 1995;[30][31] the Fujitsu Pinolite, the first 3D geometry processor for personal computers, released in 1997.[32] The first hardware T&L GPU on home video game consoles was the Nintendo 64's Reality Coprocessor, released in 1996.[33] In 1997, Mitsubishi released the 3Dpro/2MP, a fully featured GPU capable of transformation and lighting, forworkstations and Windows NT desktops;[34] ATi utilized it for their FireGL 4000 graphics card, released in 1997.[35] In the PC world, notable failed first tries for low-cost 3D graphics chips were the S3 ViRGE, ATI Rage, and Matrox Mystique. These chips were essentially previous-generation 2D accelerators with 3D features bolted on. Many were even pin-compatiblewith the earlier-generation chips for ease of implementation and minimal cost. Initially, performance 3D graphics were possible only with discrete boards dedicated to accelerating 3D functions (and lacking 2D GUI acceleration entirely) such as thePowerVR and the 3dfx Voodoo. However, as manufacturing technology continued to progress, video, 2D GUI acceleration and 3D functionality were all integrated into one chip. Rendition's Verite chipsets were among the first to do this well enough to be worthy of note. In 1997, Rendition went a step further by collaborating with Hercules and Fujitsu on a "Thriller Conspiracy" project which combined a Fujitsu FXG-1 Pinolite geometry processor with a Vérité V2200 core to create a graphics card with a full T&L engine years before Nvidia's GeForce 256. This card, designed to reduce the load placed upon the system's CPU, never made it to market. OpenGL appeared in the early '90s as a professional graphics API, but originally suffered from performance issues which allowed the Glide API to step in and become a dominant force on the PC in the late '90s.[36] However, these issues were quickly overcome and the Glide API fell by the wayside. Software implementations of OpenGL were common during this time, although the influence of OpenGL eventually led to widespread hardware support. Over time, a parity emerged between features offered in hardware and those offered in OpenGL. DirectX became popular among Windows game developers during the late 90s. Unlike OpenGL, Microsoft insisted on providing strict one-to-one support of hardware. The approach made DirectX less popular as a standalone graphics API initially, since many GPUs provided their own specific features, which existing OpenGL applications were already able to benefit from, leaving DirectX often one generation behind. (See: Comparison of OpenGL and Direct3D.) Over time, Microsoft began to work more closely with hardware developers, and started to target the releases of DirectX to coincide with those of the supporting graphics hardware. Direct3D 5.0 was the first version of the burgeoning API to gain widespread adoption in the gaming market, and it competed directly with many more-hardware-specific, often proprietary graphics libraries, while OpenGL maintained a strong following. Direct3D 7.0 introduced support for hardware-acceleratedtransform and lighting (T&L) for Direct3D, while OpenGL had this capability already exposed from its inception. 3D accelerator cards moved beyond being just simplerasterizers to add another significant hardware stage to the 3D rendering pipeline. The Nvidia GeForce 256 (also known as NV10) was the first consumer-level card released on the market with hardware-accelerated T&L, while professional 3D cards already had this capability. Hardware transform and lighting, both already existing features of OpenGL, came to consumer-level hardware in the '90s and set the precedent for later pixel shader and vertex shader units which were far more flexible and programmable.

Say so, and I can make you disappear forever, and no one would be the wiser

Sorry to disagree, but those are all 2D titles, as they were software-rendered. True 3D -gaming did not exist until hardware accelerators came along, starting with the voodoo 1 in '96. I've been messing with PCs since I built my first system in 1985, and even had a few of those titles. They were all 2D. For example, Falcon 3.0 is 2D, as is the later Hornet 3.0, which came out in 1997. However, Falcon 4.0 is true 3D, as is Hornet Korea.

Well, keep in mind that for the most part, 3D graphics really did not exist on PCs until 1996, with the advent of the Voodoo 1. That opened the flood gates, and within a year's time, we had Jane's F-15, Red Baron 3D, etc.

I finally made it to your neck o' the woods, from Las Vegas. Getting bounced around in a 172 on AP for three stinkin' hours.... Does Clark Kent still work here? I thought that they tore this puppy down? Wishful thinking, weather-wise, at KSMO (I know, I know, I'm gonna burn in hell) Look! An industrial complex!

The ferris wheel is under the Cessna's RH horizontal stab. In fact, if you look closely, you can see a part of it.

Just in case any of you were wondering about ThirdWire and TK, here's a nice, informative article about the man who is the driving force behind SF, WoV, WoE, and FE: Flying under the radar In a crowded gaming market, tiny Austin company makes its mark with niche flight simulator games. By Lilly Rockwell AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Monday, December 25, 2006 Tsuyoshi Kawahito's bookshelf in his small West Lake Hills office tells his story. Books on game design and computer programming sit next to books on aviation history. Military strategy books rest near white binders filled with pilot manuals. And near the bottom sits the telltale yellow of "Small Business for Dummies." Kawahito, 38, runs Third Wire Productions, a one-man game development studio in Austin that makes flight simulator combat games. His latest game, released this month and available online, is called "First Eagles: The Great Air War 1918." Tsuyoshi Kawahito spends months at libraries, in museums and on the Internet researching the planes he uses in his flight simulator games, such as these from his newest creation, 'First Eagles: The Great Air War 1918,' a World War I game. "That is a niche market within a niche market," said Chris Sherman, who used to run the annual Austin Game Conference. "It's very tough." Third Wire typifies the under-the-radar game development businesses that flourish in gaming cities. Kawahito is unusual for surviving this long on his own in an industry that is tough for newcomes to crack. In Austin, there are about 50 computer and video game development companies. It is a shaky industry; game studios frequently shut down because of lack of funding. Given the odds, Third Wire stands out for being able to establish a solid revenue stream. Kawahito's games may sound obscure, but they have a devoted audience. Played by aviation enthusiasts and history buffs, his main clients are 25- to 40-year-old males, older than most computer gamers. He once got an e-mail from a 62-year-old asking to be a beta tester for his game. But he has never had a true hit. His most popular games sold about 100,000 copies worldwide. He's a gamer more than a businessman, and he is shy about promoting himself. He doesn't disclose revenue, but his games sell for about $30. Flight simulation games bring in about $22.3 million each year, according to consumer market researcher NPD Group. Microsoft Corp.'s "Flight Simulator" is by far the most popular, consistently ranking in the top 20 of best-selling computer games. The overall PC games market is a $1 billion market. About $11 billion are spent each year on video and portable games. A following of flight fanatics Kawahito's games are available through online stores and retail outlets such as Gamestop and Best Buy. His latest game is using a new online distribution model, which allows Kawahito to tap into a much larger worldwide market. He is more concerned about making fun games than ones that make him a lot of money. The company recently became profitable after years of being in the red. "If I make a game that is fun to play, then I am happy," Kawahito said. Called TK by his friends, Kawahito has a cadre of devoted fans, including one influential computer gaming guru: Alex Aguila. Aguila is one of the founders of Miami-based Alienware Corp., which manufacturers high-end gaming computers that cost $800 to $6,000. Alienware was recently bought by Round Rock-based Dell Inc. for an undisclosed sum. Aguila helped fund "First Eagles" because he wanted to play a flight simulation game based on World War I. It is designed to emulate the air battles over France. He gushes about Kawahito, saying he has revolutionized the flight simulation market. He said Kawahito builds games that allow players to add on to them. Players can create their own planes, maps and missions. "TK is a genius," Aguila said. "He is one of the most important developers in flight sim history." Other gamers say they appreciate the simplicity of Kawahito's games. "There aren't many bells and whistles and everything," said 47-year-old Rusty Casteele, a truck driver from Virginia, "just really good graphics that cater to the Average Joe." Casteele is a huge fan of Kawahito's games. For years he has tracked every game Kawahito has made, buying each one. "I loved 'Wings Over Vietnam.' I grew up in that era," Casteele said. "So when I put in that game, I can fly the F-4 Phantom that I watched on TV growing up. I can fly the F-15 Eagle that I watched on the news shows when Desert Storm was going on. I can fly those missions you saw on TV or heard about." Interests to industry guru Kawahito was born in Japan and moved to Los Angeles when he was 12. For a long time, he wanted to become a pilot, but his bad vision got in the way of that. "I knew I liked things that moved," Kawahito said. "Trains, cars, spaceships." In college, he planned on being an aircraft designer, so he majored in aerospace engineering and got his master's degree in the same subject from the University of Texas in 1996. Like many college students, he wanted to stay in Austin. His first job out of college was at Origin Systems, a groundbreaking Austin gaming company. "I sent them my résumé and told them I thought I would be good at this," Kawahito said. "I know games; I played them all throughout college. And I know aircraft." At the time, Austin-based Origin was working on several different flight simulator games. After working there a year, he moved to another studio in Baltimore to work on a different flight simulation game. That was when the genre started losing its popularity and many game publishers pulled their projects. "Everyone was getting out of the business, but I saw an opportunity," Kawahito said. "It was a niche market I thought I could capture and cater to." He moved back to Austin and started his own business in 1999. High productivity, low budget It wasn't easy at first. He dug into his savings to start Third Wire, funding his own game, "Strike Fighters," which took him three years to release. After two years, Kawahito's savings dwindled, and he subsisted on ramen noodles and McDonald's 99-cent hamburgers and by skipping oil changes for his 1998 Toyota Celica. "I think that is why my car broke down," Kawahito said. "I didn't have enough money for an oil change, and then it stopped working. I started riding the bus." But that phase didn't last long after his first games found a following. Publishers started funding his next projects, and Kawahito got a cut of the sales of each game. He's not rolling in dough, however. He rents an apartment in town. He replaced his Toyota Celica with a Toyota 4Runner. His office is bare-bones, with three small rooms and a reception area with no receptionist, only a twinkling Christmas tree to greet visitors. This month, his office is empty as he plans his next project. He let all of his temporary workers go because he didn't need them anymore. Kawahito is able to survive by churning out games faster than most developers do. He puts out a new game about every six months. "What he was able to do with such little funding is unbelievable," Aguila said. "Most developers would charge millions of dollars. He did it on a very small budget." Kawahito said his secret is creating a main engine that he uses to program his games. That way, he doesn't have to re-create an engine every time. He does months of research in libraries, museums and online, digging for history books and photos of old aircraft, and tries to re-create them as accurately as possible. Thanks to his degrees in aerospace engineering, he understands how to build an aircraft. He occasionally asks for outside help from pilots but gets most of his data for his games from his research. When he's ready to start creating a game, Kawahito hires a temporary team of three game developers. Six months later, they have a game. He doesn't think much about his business beyond his next project. But he has dreams of expanding beyond flight simulation games, maybe developing a war strategy game. Or perhaps even space combat. "Or if I continue to just do this, that would be great," he said. Source: http://www.statesman.com/business/content/...5thirdwire.html

Your video is not viewable from this end. It's hard to say for sure, but it sounds as if you're experiencing "texture popping", which is a sign that your video hardware is not up to the task. Is your 9800 GT a 512, or a 1024 MB frame buffer card? If it's a 512 MB, then you're short on memory for anything other than titles or DLCs released prior to mid/late 2009. If you're running a full install at the 2012 level, you'll need at least 2048 MB (2 GB) of VRAM to handle most of the scenarios. With a bunch of third party add-ons, and you'd be much better off with 4 GB. I had a GTS 250, which was essentially a 1024 MB GTX 9800 recycled into the "200" series. When I upgraded to a GTX 750ti with 2048 MB, my lowest frame rates more than doubled, even with all the eye candy turned on. I recently upgraded to a GTX 1070 (8 GB), and the lowest frame rates doubled, yet again. Try lowering your horizon distance to "normal", and see what happens.

I've had it up to here with this damned LA Traffic!

This guy is a former Microsoft developer. If you are a Windows 10 user, you should watch this.

Streak, you guys stay safe. Having gone through Sandy and its aftermath, I was lucky in that the biggest issue that I faced was loss of power and heating for most of the week. I had to stay at my place of employment for three days and nights. It took my state's DOT at least 6 days before traffic signals were put back in operation. Some, like my friend Doc, were not so lucky. His home was destroyed (flood waters peaked at his first floor ceiling), and it took almost two and half years of fighting with insurance companies before it was rebuilt.

First off, there's a couple of misconceptions here. The series is CPU-bound if one sets the horizon draw distance too far. Pull that back to "normal" and check again. Also, being a 32-bit game, SF2 is limited to a 4 GB block of memory. To be truthful, I have never seen it exceed 2.5 GB. Also, you will not see any gain in FPS with more than 8 GB of system RAM, even under Windows 10. Search on Youtube, and you'll find videos that will bear this out. I run 16 GB in my system because I encode video and audio, and the apps that I use for both are 64-bit, so they are not subject to the 32-bit, 4 GB memory space limitation. In performing experiments with various overclocks (CPU speeds), I've come to the conclusion, that to avoid massive slowdowns in frame rate, one needs in the neighborhood of 4 gHz of processor speed when running the more intensive scenarios (heavy SAM & triple AAA activity over Hanoi, etc), and a bare minimum of 1 GB of dedicated video RAM on either an Nvidia or AMD graphics card. 2 GB is better, and 4 GB of VRAM is probably the maximum that the game will utilize in its current state of development. Another issue, that was brought up, was Anti-aliasing, Anisotropic filtering, and other settings. I can get away with maxing all these out on a GTX 1070, and I suspect that those with (6 GB) GTX 1060s will be able to this, as well. However, there are settings in the Nvidia control panel that will adversely effect your framerates, without providing any real benefits, or worse yet, no benefits at all. We should perform a test on all these, and then compare results. As Gunrunner mentioned, we're also looking at code that was already old several years old when the series was released in 2003, and upgraded in 2008 to use DX10 (SF2).

For an overdue upgrade!

Just look at what 970s are still selling for. I am sure that you recall them being about $325-$360 two years ago. Back in the day, I picked up a GeForce 3 for about half its original selling price, only 10-12 months after that series was released. Out of curiosity, what sort of lifespan are you getting out of UPS batteries?

FSXWX is a great freeware weather engine. It's far more capable and accurate than the default WX engine in SFX. On the tarmac at KBLM (Monmouth Executive airport). Picked a helluva day to go aviating... Heading NE, somewhere over NWS Colts Neck.

GTX 1070 here, no issues in SF2 using the latest drivers.

Hmmmmm.....how about the Kresta II, the container ships, the tanker......

At least three of them have been in the downloads section for several years, now.

In my experience, both in the office and as a freelance tech-support specialist, I find Microsoft Security Essentials to be as useful as a coat rack in a nudist colony. I would rather see you go with an AV suite along the lines of ESET NOD32, whose effectiveness I can personally vouch for (just ask Kevin, AKA Wrench).

The view is centered on the zero-point of the flight model. I recall Armour Dave's Su-17 suffering from a similar issue, until the flight model was revised.

HDDs have become so inexpensive, that PC enthusiasts don't really care about large game installs anymore. I mean, one can purchase a decent 1 TB HDD for under $70 US, and 2 TB drives for not much more than that. Many are moving to (or, are planning to move to) SSDs as their dedicated OS drives, and relocating all of their apps to larger 1 - 4 TB HDDs. Even some gaming notebooks have been going this route for the last couple of years.