Pielstick wrote:I Also note that DX11 has now been announced and MS have made big claims about exciting new features and revolutionary graphics capabilities.
Deja vu, anyone?
I really hope they aren't going to make the same mistakes all over again!
I think there is a real gap in the market opening up for X-plane. X-plane achieves great graphics and performance without DX. As stated above, it lacks eye candy, but the engine behind it is solid. It'll only take a fraction of the FS hobbyists to jump ship and suddenly X-plane could blossom. I get the feeling from other forums that this is already starting to happen. I have the latest X-plane on my PC and would seriously contemplate developing freeware for it.
All we need is a freeware Classic British aircraft for X-plane and it could be the spark that ignites the fire!! Perhaps this forum is the perfect place to start...
"Discuss".....! ;-)
Formerly "Airtrooper"
i9-10900KF, 64Gb RAM,
RTX 3090, HP Reverb G2, Win10 Pro 64-bit
Saitek Combat Rudder Pedals, Saitek X52 Pro
I've noticed a similar thing on other forums - more and more people giving X-Plane a try and the reason stated more often than not is disillusionment with FSX. I picked up X-Plane 9 in the Navy Exchange in Bahrain this May for half the price it is in the UK. It's a great programme and has real potential, but there are some areas it still lags behind FS, most notably (for me at least) ATC and AI traffic. If X-Plane began to get the same kind of attention from 3rd party developers that MSFS gets then we will have a very nice simulator indeed.
I also wonder where Fly would be now if Richard Harvey hadn't passed away. I remember how advanced the aircraft were in that sim, at the time they blew MSFS out of the water. I also remember the amazing Terrascene programme developed for it too. It was the Fly series where Rob Young and PMDG cut their teeth before they moved to MSFS when Fly (and it's lead programmer) died a premature death.
The two best tools in any engineer's inventory are brute force and ignorance and he should always live by the engineer's motto "Bodge it and scarper!"
Yup.. the 'Fly' series were everything MSFS was not and in leaps and bounds too. The only thing it lacked (IMHO) was the global coverage offered by MSFS at the time. Should X-Plane turn into something similar.. well..
Yes, that is another good point about AI and ATC in X-plane! I also haven't explored MP in X-plane, but I suspect its not as easy as MSFS?
If I was working for X-plane I would have recognised the growing gap in the market and even though everyone would be knackered having just got v9 to press I'd be motivating my team to get their heads down, gain ground on MSFS and push out their next major version ASAP ahead of MS...
As written above, I also suspect that FS11, FS12 and FS13 (I'm definitely NOT buying that unlucky one!) will be more and more "gamey". This will no doubt disenchant the existing membership here, who have known better FS. Fact is though, there will always be more and more new blood coming along, young and old, who haven't known better FS. I'm sure one day they'll say "Hey, this is good but I want something more like reality" and develop stuff themselves that keeps their version of FS "in check".
Formerly "Airtrooper"
i9-10900KF, 64Gb RAM,
RTX 3090, HP Reverb G2, Win10 Pro 64-bit
Saitek Combat Rudder Pedals, Saitek X52 Pro
tried X plane (along with DM) last year and to be honnest, graphically it was apauling. The User interface is terible, as are the panels, but the flight dynamics are excellent. To be honest, having done a fair bit of reading, I feel the guys who develop it are no more interested in making it a very comercial product than mining for mud. Technically it is excellent, but their superior attitude and "we don't care what you think" leads me to believe its an elite circle of geeks, and people like this I have no time for at all. :-(
I wonder what the chances are of Microsoft finishing completely with Flight Simulation as we know it (computers) and instead concentrate on a completely different system such as a games console, before any-one raises their hands in horror just compare the quality of graphics available from these machines in comparison to the type of affordable graphic cards that are within the reach of our wallets. Lets face it, the cost of these machines can match that of a top graphic card and in some cases.....less!!
I would not be at all surprised that within the next twenty years this will be a feasible option, as for add-on aircraft it could signal the end of free-ware as we know it unless codings are given and a facility such as a card to insert. :-(
As written above, I also suspect that FS11, FS12 and FS13 (I'm definitely NOT buying that unlucky one!)
Don't worry about that..........they will probably name it FS12.5 :roll:
Regards
Nigel.
I used to be an optimist but with age I am now a grumpy old pessimist.
I'd be surprised if Flight Simulator doesn't eventually operate from a gaming console. It makes a lot of sense when you think about...everyone's hardware specs being identical, development for add-on's would be easier to support, etc. I can just see it now...successfully complete all of the Cessna 172 missions to unlock the Lear Jet.
Brian
Last edited by FlyTexas on 13 Aug 2008, 20:07, edited 1 time in total.
Another trend to watch is so called "Cloud computing" - using internet based applications and services, rather than being installed on your machine. Micrsoft and Google, among others, have applications that already use this model. You pay a subscription to use them, or in some cases you pay a metered rate - just like your electricity bill. Hard to say if MS would ever issue a new flight sim using this model. I am not sure it would be such a great idea, but you can bet if MS sees more $$$ by doing it, they will!
Sorry 'bout that. ;-) 
