Classic British Flight Sim

Dear Flight Simulator:
Hi. How are you? I'm fine. Sorry about the whole hanging up on you thing. I know, I know, you were expecting me to wait three days, and then call and whisper sweet nothings in your ear, but here's the thing. I'm just not that into you. Now, at some point I was. You were the one for me. Really. But things change, people change, and I've changed. I'm sorry. No, it's okay to cry, I won't judge you. You are, after all, rather emotionally unstable!

I know, we've known each other for years. I remember you back when textures ended in a .xAF extension. Has it really bee that long? Now, look at you. You've got environment mapping, bump mapping, and legions of fans who argue endlessly about petty things like which version of you they like more. We've got people who think more of themselves because they liked the last version of you, people who think more of themselves because they like the current version of you, and people who still think you were at your best nine years ago.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, there's plenty of other fish in the sea. Don't be upset over me. you'll get over it.

Now, for the rest of you.

Lately I've been getting bugged a lot. Let me make one thing clear:

I do not make airplanes. I make diesel locomotives. You can download a sampling of my work at train-sim.com.

I realize some people don't read readmes, and some of mine have contained conflicting information in the past as I made content with people who didn't like my basic terms, and so let me clarify a few things.

If you're not charging money, you have nothing to fear insofar as hosting any of my models or painting any of my models goes.

You can upload repaints of my models wherever you want. You can upload my models wherever you want. Just respect other people's artwork on them, and you're gold. I don't care.

Some projects were never finished. Some of them I'll keep for myself for the day when I may complete them (but don't hold your breath). Some might become scenery objects for other sims. Some have gone to other people for the purposes of finish work. For the things that won't see the light of day - don't lose sleep over it. It's just a game. There are lots of other options. I'm not the best, I think I had my niche, I did some things in ways some people liked, and others in ways some didn't like. Some models even had source files uploaded. I may still upload source files at random. I do weird and random things sometimes. I left a waitress a 100% tip the other day, because the bill wasn't very high, it was late at night, and every miserable lifeless loser in town decided to descend on her little Perkins, where she was the only waitress on duty, and obviously very flustered. The other week, I took a banjo to a small town 30 miles from home and sat around watching trains go by. So look around. You might see something interesting end up in the library. You might not. The DC-9s already made it there. I hope someone made something decent out of them.

If you ever have any issues with XML parts, as far as I know, all of the code is available at freeflight. All of the code on my models came from Fraser Turner, perhaps the most unsung hero of the FS world, since everyone and their female grandparents are basically ripping off his XML work now. What is the norm now was revolutionary back in the early days of FS2004, when we had to use the FS2002 MakeMDL and hard-code animations in with a hex editor. But, being a generous man, he posted all of his code at freeflight's forums as it materialized.

I'd say to thank him for it, if only anyone knew where he was.

So, before I go, I'd like to share some truths I've learned over the years with you.

-Close mic'd drums sound stupid. Always use at least one room mic, or you'll be stuck in the 80s forever

-The Gibson 490T/R is the best pickup in the planet

-If anyone tells you that you cannot give away or sell a piece of software that you have uninstalled and won't use again, tell them to stuff it. There is now legal precedent for the case (in the US). Autodesk fought it tooth and nail and lost. If Autodesk lost the case, Joe the FS developer hasn't got any better chance. See: First Sale Doctrine

-Always check basic proportional accuracy constantly by verifying with multiples of photographs and blueprints of known accuracy. Know that manufacturer's blueprints often differ from the final product. Work in a factory where they make anything, including transit vehicles. You will see I'm not kidding. Never rely on any one source. For overall proportions, look for photographs take at high distance and zoom. These will offer a near-orthogonal projection and will be every useful. Perspective distortion can be taken into account when viewing other photographs provided you are aware of the basic principles of perspective distortion, lens distortion, how the human eye works, and where the vanishing point is. Photographs such as these are often useful for parts that are small enough to not be greatly affected by perspective distortion, and for verifying distances between parts on smaller scales. Always check proportions of one part versus the parts around it, from subassembly to the entire picture. These are guidelines for good modelling all around, be it a jet, a locomotive, a human, or a nail. At the time I finally had enough, too many people had thrown these basic principles out the window

-People don't want an accurate simulation. They want something that reflects what a passenger sees, or what the movies say is 'realistic.' Jet airliners are more nimble than you think they are. 737 pilots were cautioned to handle the controls as if they were miking a mouse. Those gigantic control surfaces have a lot of effect when they're not deflected fractions of a degree. On a normal revenue flight, except at extremely low speeds, fractions of a degree is all the deflection you will ever see. The term 'big Cessna' is often thrown around by pilots. It's true. Joe the FS developer may have flown a level-D simulator once, but most pilots understand that simulators aren't always accurate. They're not there to push the envelope, they're there to teach you procedures. I have a nagging suspicion that it has something to do with why time in the real thing is required...

-Rendering and NURBS aside, 3DS isn't all that much more powerful than GMax, just more flexible in terms of what formats you can export to (and not by much)

-Bump mapping is cool

-3D sound is cool, and made the transition to FSX worth it, and would have been worth it if nothing else changed, it's just that too many people overdo what should be a subtle effect, like it is on a real airplane

-Most FS sound developers have no idea what they're doing when it comes to mixing, volume levels, and compression and need to read up on a person named Steven Frank Albini. Apply his principles. What works for recorded music works for FS, too, especially when you now have to take into account the volume level of AI airplanes. Your Cessna shouldn't be as loud as Concorde, and you shouldn't need to use compression to make Concorde louder.

-Stop arguing over Airbus and Boeing. The better of the two is still McDonnell Douglas.

-Except when it comes to the DC-9 versus the 737, where the 737 wins by a hair for its ability to get off the ground in around 1% of the time and distance

-You shouldn't have to memorize 1,000 rules and regulations just to post screen shots of a 2D projection of 3D space in a commercially available flight simulator (and the shots need to be of a certain size, number, and not be connected to another post of yours with the same subject, and should have a colour depth of a certain range). The notion that an internet forum could or should have roughly the same number of rules and regulations as the government of a moderately sized country was ludicrous in 1995, and it's just as ludicrous now.

-Nels Anderson is the king of the FS world. Always has been. Always will be. Thanks for everything, Nels!

-Buy Indie Records.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.