With new releases from Dovetail Games, Lockheed Martin and X-Plane….2017 is shaping up to be a really great year for flight simulation enthusiasts. Arguably, the above mentioned developers ARE the future of flight simulation and no doubt will bring many new participants into this wonderful hobby.
For me, flight simulation was my very first video game passion which started in the early 1980’s. Over the past 35+ years I’ve learned a lot and met many wonderful individuals through the hobby of flight sim. As I anticipate a surge of new interested individuals to this hobby, over the next several weeks I’m going to write (in some cases re-write) a series of blog articles to assist in eliminating the confusion in all things flight simulation.
Just like other forms of simulation based games, flight simulation offers much enjoyment for a wide variety of interests. Do you enjoy flying low and slow and taking in the scenery? How about high and fast while simulating the captain of a modern jet airliner? Or do you fancy becoming a propeller head and learning the art of flying non-fixed wing aircraft? Something for just about all interest levels can be found in the wonderful genre of flight simulation. Join me as I will help you better understand all your options and help you get started in flight simulation.
In addition to seeing more helpful content on my blog, I also plan to begin featuring flight sim related content on my growing GrizzlyBearSims YouTube Channel, and will occasionally stream flight sim related content to both YouTube, Twitch and Smashcast channels in the near future.
If you have been involved in the hobby of flight simulation longer than 5 minutes, you know what a grueling process it can be to get all your payware add-ons downloaded and installed into the sim. Especially in the past 5+ years when Lockheed Martin has released several different versions of their wonderful Prepar3D. With each version (v1, v2, v3 and now v4) required new installers due to minor or even major updates and changes at the sim level.
I own a lot of payware add-ons for my flight sim addiction. Yea….it’s an addiction and I suppose recognizing it as such is half the battle in dealing with it. But I have perhaps several thousand dollars (shhh, don’t tell the wife) invested in payware add-ons which help to scratch this itch I have for all things flight sim. But each time a new version of P3D was released, it takes many, many hours to round up all the updated installers, patches etc. etc. etc. The other dilemma is when a new version of P3D is released, it takes developers some time to work through their suite of add-ons and publish these updates.
Thankfully, much of my flight sim investment portfolio is from Orbx. These are the wonderful and talented developers who have helped to transform old, out-dated (and often inaccurate) ground base textures, land-class textures and some of the most amazing airport sceneries you will ever see. If you are a GA or General Aviation enthusiast (flying low and slow) then you probably already know all about the Orbx magic.
Some months ago, Orbx released an update to their FTX Central application which simplifies the process of obtaining both updates of the products you are licensed to use, as well as simplifies the overall install process of these items. Since FTX Central knows who I am (via secure login), it checks the inventory of items I’m licensed to use along with the inventory of titles already installed and in one central location I can select what needs to be installed and what needs to be updated and the process is both quick and painless. I think we all agree that the less time it takes to tinker with getting software installed, means the more time we have for flying.
The image below shows the Orbx FTX Central application. Within the FTX Global Range of products the items listed have been updated for P3D v4 and ready to be installed.
Installing couldn’t be easier, just click the “Install Product” button and voila…..
I’m really looking forward to experiencing Prepar3D version 4.0 with the Orbx FTX add-ons. We finally have a sim which is capable of running all the wonderful eye-candy from so many wonderful and talented developers. Best of all, from the perspective of Orbx….much of what I own has been purchased many years ago and even though the sim (P3D) has evolved, Orbx has not charged for their updates and this is a truly amazing decision on their part. But of course, Orbx isn’t alone. But this is a topic for another day!
As most should know, Dovetail Games released their “Early Access” version of Flight Sim World (FSW) recently. I wrote about this subject back on 4 May and expressed my hopes, opinions and just general thoughts regarding this new entry. Much of the content I used to form the basis of my opinions came from Dovetail Games Announcement video which you can view from the above mentioned blog post. Outside of that one announcement video I have tried to restrict my viewing of other videos, live streams and blog postings on the subject of DTG’s FSW. It was my desire to remain as neutral as possible so that I could form my own opinions and present them to you here.
Early Access
Before I begin to open up about my opinions regarding DTG’s FSW, allow me to say the following. The Dovetail Games Flight Sim World is an early access product. As with any early access, beta, pre-release, work-in-progress etc. etc. edition of any software, there most likely are bugs, there could be bugs found and more importantly what you see, may not, most likely will not be what will go into the finished product.
Comparisons
I’ve been flying computer based simulation games since the early 1980’s. My love and fascination with aviation started as a young boy and has progressed into adulthood. While I know longer have the desire to “learn to fly” in real life…flight simulation (much like my interests in other simulation based games) is an important element in my life and serves as a much needed stress reliever when of course the applications are working correctly. LOL
Because of my long history with flight simulation based applications, I’m sure you can understand how difficult it is to simply “turn off” my knowledge, experience etc. with other flight sim titles. As a point of reference, the first flight simulator application I used was on the Commodore 64 in the early 1980’s. This was developed by a company called subLOGIC. subLOGIC sold (or was acquired) by Microsoft in the early 80’s to be further developed into the very popular Microsoft Flight Simulator. Here’s a short video (not mine) showing 60 seconds of recorded footage of what Flight Simulator looked like on the C-64.
Anyway, sometime in the very late 80’s or early 1990 timeframe I graduated from the C-64 to the PC and one of the first software packages I purchased was Microsoft Flight Simulator and I’ve owned, used and very much enjoyed every version up to Microsoft FSX. So having said all this, I have tried to look at Dovetail Games Flight Sim World with an open mind, I’ve tried not to compare it to anything in the past, present or possibly future and most importantly, I’ve approached this review fully understanding what “Early Access” means.
Let’s Get Started
My apologies for taking so long to get to this point in the article, but I felt it was important to lay the cards on the table. One more small piece of information I want to make public is I have not been asked, nor have I been paid to write this review. While I received DTG FSW at no cost, this was only because I had purchased the DTG’s Flight School and in doing so, earned me a no-cost version of FSW. Here’s my open and honest review of the “Early Access” version of Dovetail Games Flight Sim World.
Dovetail Games Flight Sim World
Flight Sim World is the new (currently in early access) flight simulator developed by Dovetail Games and sold exclusively through Steam. At the time of this blog article, FSW is available as an Early Access release for $24.99 as of 18 May 2017. If you purchased Dovetail Games Flight School, then you should have access to download/install FSW at no cost.
As part of the base package, FSW includes the entire world and includes several single and twin engine prop aircraft to get you started in your flight adventures. The application is 64 bit which meets with the high demand from these types of application games. If you are unfamiliar with the struggles we’ve had over the past several years with under-performing flight sim applications, then please read this article.
Install and Setup
DTG’s FSW installed just like any other Steam application. I was able to quickly configure my CH Products Flight Yoke and Rudder Pedals, but support for my extensive collection of Go Flight hardware is unfortunately not supported at this time.
Application Performance and Stability
Overall I’ve spent approx. 6-8 hours flying around and the overall performance from FSW has been more or less what I expected it to be. For the most part performance is better than FSX but I don’t believe the application itself is as fully optimized as it should be. But then again, this is early access. To be honest, while I did occasionally view my FPS counter, I don’t use FPS as the end-all-be-all in determining how an application/game is performing. Application lag, stuttering etc. were mostly at a minimum and I think would/will be improved as the game matures further along the early access process. During the entire time I’ve spent with FSW, I didn’t encounter a crash or application failure.
Visuals
As was the case with DTG Flight School, the default visuals are much, much improved from FSX. While it’s not as impressive as FSX or P3D with Orbx Global Scenery, for a default (out of box) product….it’s pretty darn nice.
Flight Dynamics and Realism
This is somewhat difficult for me to judge. First, I’m not a real world pilot and second, I haven’t flown default level aircraft in many, many years. I’m a huge fan of the more complex, study level type aircraft from developers such as PMDG, A2A etc. But FSW does very much remind me of default FSX and I found the aircraft easy to fly.
My overall impression
Again, making every effort to not compare FSW with any other product I will say that for it being an early access product…I was quite pleased overall. However, I feel I must state the following which slightly causes me concern regarding the future of FSW.
Much like we say “behind every great man, there’s an even greater woman”….behind every great simulation game there’s a long list of very successful 3rd party partners which help make the game even better through mods and add-ons, I fear if Dovetail Games doesn’t change their plan on how they may force 3rd party developers to exclusively market via Steam, then FSW may never fully get off the ground. Please read this for background information.
In a nutshell, DTG may require all 3rd party developers to market their add-ons exclusively through Steam. Let’s use PMDG as an example. The almost brand new PDMG 747-400 Queen of the Skies II sells directly from the PMDG website for $134.99. The cost to market something on Steam is somewhere in the neighborhood of 30-40%. So if PMDG truly believes their 747 is worth $134.99 they either will take a 30-40% hit on their profit (not likely) or pass along the costs to us consumers. Therefore, increasing the cost of their 747-400 Queen of the Skies II to a whopping $175. Of course, nothing is official at this time…and Dovetail could re-consider their marketing requirements. Stay tuned…
My Very Bottom Line
I simply can’t deny that in some ways I simply couldn’t prevent myself from making comparisons to FSX, P3D and even X-Plane. I consider myself to be a hard-core simmer with regards to my enjoyment of the flight simulation hobby. I like the eye-candy that some of the 3rd party add-ons provide. I enjoy the more complex aircraft add-ons from the likes of PMDG, A2A, Aerosoft, Carenado etc. I also enjoy using my additional add-on hardware from Go Flight which helps to add to the immersion level. Finally, I do from time to time enjoy experiencing multiplayer action via the VATSIM network and at this particular time…none of these boxes get checked with Dovetail Games Flight Sim World. But of course, I’m reminded of the fact that this is an early access product. Things can and may change….
Should you consider DTG’s Flight Sim World?
It’s difficult for me to recommend an early release product of any kind. After all, it’s your hard earned money and not mine. But if you are new to flight simulation, have a desire to try it out AND have an extra $24.99 in your pocket, then DTG’s FSW might be a good entry point for you. If you don’t like it, or if it doesn’t perform to your expectation you can always request a refund via Steam.
I’m going to continue to keep my eyes and ears open to any news on this subject. I may occasionally test out new enhancements made throughout the early access process, but if you ask me if Flight Sim World will become my “Go-To Flight Sim” the answer is no and I hope to share all the reasons for this along with exactly what my “Go-To Flight Sim” is in a future blog post.
While we’re still a few hours away from the official release of Prepar3D v4 (64 bit), over the past few days I’ve watched a few videos showcasing the new simulator and even some comparing it to P3D v3.4. Not surprisingly, some people are losing their minds and being critical of Lockheed Martin by saying this release should simply be P3D v3.5 or complaining that some of the same issues which have plagued the software since the days of FSX continue to exist.
As the title of this blog post states, Flight Simulator 11 is finally here (or will be in a few hours). What I mean by this is simple. Everything which has been released by either Microsoft (MS Flight), Dovetail Games (FSX Steam Edition) and Lockheed Martin (Prepar3D v1 – v3) may have pretended to be the next evolution of the wonderful Flight Simulator we have known and loved going all the way back to the subLOGIC days. However, everything since the Microsoft original release of FSX has only been has only been pretending to the next iteration of this flagship product.
Yes, Lockheed Martin did do a wonderful job with the later version of Prepar3d v2.x and with v3.x. But what we’ve been needing since shortly after FSX was released way back in 2006 was a 64 bit version to take full advantage of the hardware. Again, everything else has just been marking time until this day.
While I realize X-Plane was the first to introduce a 64 bit flight sim, for some of us who have had a large investment in add-ons for FSX and which have been almost fully compatible through all the versions of P3D AND for the most part will also be made available for P3D v4 (at no extra cost), plus the general working knowledge of the sim is the same all the way back to FSX….well, it’s been a very difficult bridge to cross.
I’ve speculated time and time and time again on where the future of flight simulation is going and who will carry the torch proudly for us. I’ve felt really good about Lockheed Martin since v2.x, but now…..now this is all new territory and the sky is not the limit.
I can’t wait to purchased, download and install Flight Simulator version 11, errrr I mean Prepar3D v.4. We’ve been waiting a long, long time for this day and the day has finally come.
In less than 24 hours, Lockheed Martin will release the highly anticipated and very long overdue 64 bit version of Prepar3D version 4. With this release, will we finally see an end to the out of memory issues we’ve all experienced with FSX and every version of P3D? Have we experienced the last OOM? Can we once and for all stop worrying about how much (or how little) VAS we have? Are those little ding, ding, ding noises just as we are on final approach after an extremely long-haul flight going to be a thing of the past? I darn well hope so….
If you are an FSX or P3D user and don’t know what the acronyms of OOM or VAS stand for, or you haven’t encountered those ding, ding, ding sounds just before you are rudely presented with the error that says “Too Bad, Too Sad…we don’t care that you’ve just spent 12 hours flying and are in the final 5 minutes of flight, but you’ve run out of memory and we’re about to ruin your fun”, then I suggested you read this post.
Taking the Plunge
Sure…I might as well! While I owe a review of Dovetail Games brand new Flight Sim World FSW (and I’ll get that done soon), in a nutshell I don’t believe (at this time) there is any chance I’ll spend a great deal of time in FSW. Reason being is lack of 3rd party aircraft, scenery and such. I don’t see FSUIPC making its way to FSW anytime soon and without that, it really limits just how much fun I can have in the sim. NOTE: I said it will lack how much fun I will have. Your mileage may vary depending on what you want from a flight sim.
But yes…I do plan to purchase P3D v4. But I’m also doing so knowing it will be some time before some of my favorite add-ons will be made available. Some developers will have content ready on day 1, others will have their content after the first few weeks etc. etc. From what I’ve read, much of the add-ons I currently own will not require a repurchase to obtain the P3D version 4 installers. This is great news…but it’s more or less the commitment that many of these developers made when we all began speculating about a 64 bit version.
By the way, I have been flying lately as I’ve been playing around with both FSW and enjoying flights in P3D v3.4. I experienced what will hopefully be one of my last OOM crashes on Sunday when I was flying from KDFW to KMEM. Just within about two minutes after landing (thankfully) the system just said..”Nope…you’re done” it has used up 100% of the available 4 GB of VAS which is the dreadful limitation of 32 bit applications we’ve all been dealing with. It was a great flight other than that.
My Future in Flight Sim
All things being equal, in the past 6 months I’ve been using P3D v3.4, X-Plane 11 and Dovetail Games new Flight Sim World. As I’ve stated many times, I have a large dollar investment in FSX/P3D, so much so that I really can’t afford to seriously look at X-Plane as being a full replacement and still be able to enjoy the hobby in the same fashion. I have many years of experience with the Microsoft Flight Sim family of products and still find the X-Plane way of doing things about as difficult as trying to hammer a nail into the wall using only my forehead.
You can expect to read my first impressions on the 64 bit version of Prepar3D version 4 in the coming days/weeks. I might even record my thoughts and make it available on my YouTube channel. Stay tuned…
Look at the calendar. It’s not April 1st and this is no April Fools Prank. Yes…finally we have the much anticipated news regarding Dovetail Games official entry into flight simulation with Dovetail Games Flight Sim World. I’ve frequently blogged about this very subject for what seems like eternity. From the very early days of learning that Microsoft had authorized Dovetail Games to market and release FSX on Steam, we’ve been hearing about Dovetail’s plan to develop the next generation of flight simulation software. Actually, this is a direct quote from a Dovetail Games press release dated 2014 Dovetail “is currently investigating new concepts in this area and is expecting to bring a release to market in 2015”. OK…so they’ve missed their mark by a few years….but ladies and gentlemen….please sit back, relax (and turn off those darn electronic devices) because things are about to get interesting.
If you are new to my blog site, please take a moment and read an article I wrote back in November 2016 titled “Flight Sim News”. If you are not new to my writings, then you can skip that as you’ve already read it. Yesterday, Dovetail Games announced their new flight simulation platform they have titled “Flight Sim World” (I guess to line up with their new Train Sim World franchise) and I couldn’t be more excited. Now time will tell exactly what all this means, but the one really important element is this will be a 64 bit application. To date, the only 64 bit flight simulation based platform is X-Plane. The old Microsoft FSX (boxed edition), FSX Steam Edition and even all version of Prepar3D is only 32 bit. If you want to learn more about the challenges of trying to run an 32 bit application as complex as Flight Sim built, then read an article I wrote in February 2014 titled “Out of Memory (OOM) Errors”.
Importance of Early Access
Dovetail Games Flight Sim World will be released this month (May) via an early access process. This is also really great news and all the proof is coming direct from Dovetail Games Executive Produce Stephen Hood when he says, “We’re bring Flight Sim World to Early Access, we believe it makes no sense to work in isolation…so we wish to work with the community, engage with them, to shape the future of Flight Sim World over the coming weeks and months”. He further states, “We intend to develop a platform that stands the test of time over the next 5-10 years”.
Under the Hood
With the launch of Dovetail Games Flight Sim World, they have moved away from the old DirectX 9 to DirectX 11 and moved it from a 32 bit to 64 bit platform while also working to rebalance the usage between the CPU and GPU. This is also a very important change as today both FSX and P3D is very CPU dependent and doesn’t take advantage of today’s modern and powerful GPU’s. The hardware technology of today far exceeds what FSX and P3D can do with it. These older applications just don’t touch the full capabilities.
Third Party Opportunities
One of the unknowns from years ago was just how Dovetail Games would work with 3rd party developers. Over time, and as they continued to work with their FSX Steam Edition, we saw evidence that Dovetail Games was serious about working with the various 3rd party developers like PMDG, Orbx etc. Simon Sauntson with Dovetail Games leads up their Third Party division and mentioned Dovetail has actually engaged with many 3rd party developers to develop content which is part of the core application of Flight Sim World.
Simulation, Simulation, Simulation
Stephen Hood, acknowledges the importance of an “As Real As It Gets” experience as he states “As a Pilot you care hugely about the environments around you, it has to be accurately portrayed in Flight Sim World in order for you to fear it”
More Information
Want more information regarding Dovetail Games new Flight Sim World, visit their website, visit the Steam page, visit their Facebook page and watch the video below.
Jerry’s Final Thoughts
Dovetail Games….Just Take My Money and take it now! Honestly, I’ve had my doubts Dovetail could, would create the truly “Next Generation Flight Sim Platform” and not just pickup where Microsoft left off with Microsoft Flight. Which in most everyone’s opinion WAS NOT A FLIGHT SIM PLATFORM, but more of an arcade game. Of course, time will tell and not much else is really known at this time regarding which 3rd party developers are onboard with Flight Sim World. Honestly, I’ve not really done much with X-Plane. Meaning I’ve not spent much money on add-ons and such. I still find that old habits are so hard to break and trying to un-learn the Microsoft way which is still very much engrained in P3D. I’m hopeful that some of the “Microsoft Way” will be a part of Flight Sim World. Of course, not so much of it that it chokes the new application down. But as I have stated many times, some people may not openly embrace Flight Sim World as it will mean (most likely) replacing add-ons which had been previously developed for FSX/P3D (32 bit) with newer 64 bit versions. But this is how we move forward….
I’ll keep you posted on any new news I learn from this.
I want to share with you a solution I found to help with low FPS rates in the X-Plane 11 beta software. First, remember that X-Plane 11 is still very much in beta. It will likely be considered beta for some time. When a software product is considered to be in beta, it means there will be bugs. There will be issues and most importantly…what you see is NOT what the final product will resemble. I’ve spent approx. 2-3 hours in X-Plane 11 beta and initially I was a bit disappointed when I fired up Fraps to check my frame rates or FPS. Now keep in mind that I’ve learned a long time ago that FPS is not the end all, be all. In my P3D setup when flying PMDG 737 NGX my max FPS is about 30 FPS on average. As you can see from my hardware setup, that I have a fairly beefy machine. Well…at least it was considered beefy a few years ago. But as you might can imagine, when I initially launched XP11 and noticed I was getting less than 30 FPS in the default Cessna, I was sort of disappointed. But then I remembered what beta meant and I also remembered my thoughts on FPS.
However, all was not OK. I was experiencing some serious lag when flying around KSEA and in the various preview videos I had watched on YouTube I didn’t see this same behavior and also worth nothing I didn’t hear these YouTubers mention this behavior. So I started to do a little research to see if others had experienced this and what (if anything) they have done to work around it. Again, while X-Plane 11 is very much beta…the stuttering I experienced really was a game changer. I couldn’t play like that. Period!
Thankfully, there is a very active community within the X-Plane world and everyone is very helpful. A quick search and read through gave me something to try, and once I applied this little fix my FPS increased just slightly…but more importantly the stuttering was gone. As I’ve said before, I really don’t care what FPS number is displayed…as long as I have a smooth visual experience….I’m happy.
Here’s the info regarding the fix. From what I can tell this only applies to Nvidia GPU’s. But basically the fix is to turn off “Threaded Optimization” in the Nvidia control panel. When I first launched my Nvidia Control Panel my setting was set to “Auto”. I switched it to “Off” as recommended in this Avsim thread. See image below….
Again, just to reiterate. X-Plane 11 is in beta. There are bugs, there will be many more bugs found and perhaps most important to remember is X-Plane 11 hasn’t been fully optimized. Additionally, this low FPS Fix is not going to give you double your FPS. I was getting (on average) of 25-30 FPS (but with bad stuttering) before I applied the fix and afterwards my FPS has increased to 30-35 FPS with NO STUTTERING! I’m a happy camper.
A few months ago I wrote a blog piece discussing my plan to take a very close look at X-Plane 10. I took that look, didn’t really like what I saw and I promptly requested a full refund via Steam. There are a few reasons why I believe my initial X-Plane (XP) experiment failed. The first, and perhaps foremost reason was my very, very long history with the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise (including Prepar3D). While I certainly understood that these two platforms are as different as daytime versus nighttime, I had hoped things would be a little more intuitive. For example, I spent an extremely long time just setting my my CH Products Yoke and Pedals. While controller setup in FSX/P3D has never been anything to write home about, I found the setup in XP to be even worse. The user interface (UI) in XP10 had the look of something developed way back in the mid 90’s.
Perhaps the real reason my X-Plane experiment failed was because I compared just about everything to my long history with MSFS/P3D. But who can blame me? My history with computer based flight sims goes all the way back to the early/to-mid 1980’s when I played a version of flight simulator on the Commodore 64. My experience with PC based flight sims started in the early 1990’s and I owned and very much enjoyed every version of Microsoft’s Flight Simulator all the way to FSX. I will even admit how disappointed I was (crushed even) when Microsoft went the direction of MS Flight and then eventually killed off the franchise. While Lockheed Martin has carried the torch now for many years, I’ve always had some level of issue with the whole licensing framework. Some seven years into the P3D experience, and they still aren’t licensing for personal (home entertainment) use. Of course, I also understand the reasons.
Back in 2009, Microsoft sold what was their MS ESP platform to Lockheed Martin. ESP was essentially the commercial side of Microsoft’s core flight simulation business. From the early days of the Prepar3d v1.x release including present day, the licensing has never included “personal consumer entertainment”. Of course, we can stretch the heck out of our collective imagination and make the wording they use in the EULA (Training, Instruction, Simulation, Learning) work for our individual situations. As I’ve lamented time and time and time again on this blog site, legally speaking…the majority of P3D users really shouldn’t be using the software.
In 2014, Microsoft granted the rights to Dovetail Games to develop the next flight simulation and per this arrangement also allowed Dovetail to release FSX on Steam. I’ve heard from many individuals that the re-release of FSX on Steam has been met with a positive experience. Perhaps Dovetail better optimized FSX or they are including a little bit of magic pixie dust….whatever the cause, FSX via Steam does perform slightly better than the old boxed version of FSX. This is a good thing. But, I must remind everyone of the following statement Dovetail made back in 2014. This came from a press release around the same time describing FSX Steam edition and outlining the future of flight simulation and reads as follows: Dovetail “is currently investigating new concepts in this area and is expecting to bring a release to market in 2015”.
No, you didn’t miss it. 2015 came and went….and there was no new flight sim from Dovetail released. Of course the target date moved (as these things do), and Dovetail once again was quoted as saying “Dovetail Games Flight Simulator, built on the foundations of Microsoft’s Flight Technology will be released on PC for 2016”. Now we find ourselves two years down the road after the re-release of FSX via Steam and we still don’t have the new and upcoming flight simulator from Dovetail Games. Oh wait….yea….I almost forgot. Yes…Dovetail did release Flight School in May of this year. While I did see some cool things in Flight School, “like sands through the hour glass”, time is quickly slipping by in 2016. But just last week Dovetail did release a press release basically saying there would be no new flight simulator coming in 2016. Please take a few minutes to review that press release….but here’s my cliff notes version.
First, it wasn’t 2016 when they “announced” the development of their new flight simulator. That was actually in 2014.
Second, they state “based on your feedback, we have been focusing on three key areas: visuals, performance and experience”. Sounds to me like any of their structured plans which they may have come up with in 2014 and 2015 were ripped to shreds when they FINALLY decided to listen to the flight sim community. While I’m not a betting man, I would be willing to bet Dovetail’s original plan was to pickup where Microsoft left off with that crappy Microsoft Flight game. Microsoft Flight was an arcade game and not a simulation. Finally, I also wouldn’t be surprised if Dovetail’s partnership with folks like Aerosoft, Orbx and PMDG also didn’t help shift their focus back towards true simulation.
To be honest, I haven’t really spent any significant time with flight sim in many months. Actually, perhaps the last time I did any sim flying was the few hours I spent messing around in Dovetail Flight School. While I do long for getting back into the virtual skies, I’m also sick and tired of being frustrated.
If you look through my blog archives you will notice that in recent months I’ve written more articles regarding simulation game titles such as Euro Truck Simulator 2, American Truck Simulator and Farming Simulator 15 and 17. While these game titles are not perfect, for the most part they are stress free. You install them and you play them and they work. I get a smooth game playing experience from each of them without much need to constantly tweak the game or tweak the system. Of course, I also am perfectly aware of the vast differences between those games and flight simulation. Sadly, perhaps most of my problems with flight simulation has been with the vast amounts of add-ons I use. While most are quick to blame a dodgy mod for causing issues with ATS, ETS2 or FS15/17….it’s really not the same with Flight Sim. Perhaps a very high 90-95% of add-ons for flight sim (P3D) are payware. I’ll admit, with regards to flight sim…I’m addicted to eye candy. I very much want my eyes to see the same thing at KDEN (Denver International) in P3D that I would see if I visited the airport in person. This perhaps is another reason why I wasn’t impressed with X-Plane 10.
The Future of Flight Simulation
I’ve never considered myself a predictor of anything. After all, I’ve been predicting the Dallas Cowboys would win the super bowl for the past 20 years. Shhhhh, I’m not saying another word about that. But I’ve often put my thoughts regarding the future of flight simulation into words here on my blog site. I’ve been blogging about flight simulation here since 2010 and in this span of time I’ve seen a lot, heard a lot and experienced a lot. I’ve said that I felt P3D was not the future, and I’ve said that it was. But even though I really wasn’t impressed with X-Plane 10 (and I’m not sure this fact will ever change), I must admit that I am impressed with that I’ve witnessed with X-Plane 11. Yep, X-Plane 11 beta was released recently and it looks pretty darn good. I was so impressed with a few videos I watched on YouTube that I downloaded the X-Plane 11 trial just to test it out for myself.
Once downloaded/installed, I fired it up and within about 10 minutes I had my CH Products Yoke and Pedals fully configured. The only challenge I found was XP11 also detected my Logitech G27 and Logitech Extreme 3D Pro Joystick. Not a problem, but in order to get my Yoke and Pedals working accurately, I had to go in and clear out the settings XP11 thought my G27 and joystick would perform. Once I did this, then all my CH Products gear worked fine. The overall UI in XP11 is 100% night and day difference between what I witnessed in XP10.
Bottom line is I’m really impressed with what I’m seeing from the guys at X-Plane. I’m so impressed that I plan to purchased X-Plane 11 (even in its beta state) just so I can spend more than the 15 minutes the trial allows flying. Plus I really want to be able to follow the progress of XP11 through its beta stages and I’m fully aware what beta means. But I really believe the guys at Laminar Research have finally moved the chains further than anything I’ve seen to date. But of course, this is just my opinion.
I do plan to provide occasional updates as time allows. I’ve already stumbled onto one little fix which has improved both FPS and visual performance and I’ll share that with you tomorrow.
Not only do I blog to help others, but I also tend to write content for my own benefit so I can find things when I need them. The wonderful folks behind AirDailyX.net started compiling a Prepar3D v3.x Compatibility spreadsheet in Google Docs some time ago. The spreadsheet is still updated as new information is confirmed and made available.
While I’m on the subject of AirDailyX.net. I highly recommend you visit their website, bookmark it and return often. AirDailyX.net was started one month after I started my flight sim blog, Position and Hold. Of course, Position and Hold is just an extension of my flight sim hobby and I write when I can. But AirDailyX.net (as the name implies) has fresh new content each and every day. D’Andre Newman has done an outstanding job with AirDailyX.net and our hobby is stronger for his contributions.
In just a couple of weeks, flight sim enthusiasts from across the country (and perhaps around the world) will gather for the annual FlightSimCon 2016 event held at the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, CT. You may remember I wrote about the panel discussion from the 2015 FlightSimCon here and here. The 2015 event was a huge hit and 2016 promises to be just as spectacular. Unfortunately, my work/life schedule will not allow me to travel to FlightSimCon 2016…but I will await all the wonderful news which I hope will flow out in the days and weeks following the event.
The speakers for the FlightSimCon 2015 event were rather impressive and I very much enjoyed the panel discussion which you can view here. The discussion was moderated by Evan Reiter (from Boston Virtual ATC) and included D’Andre Newman (Owner and Managing Editor, AirDailyX), Winfried Diekmann (CEO, Aerosoft), Robert Randazzo (CEO, PMDG), Pete Wright (Frooglesim) Nels Anderson (Founder, FlightSim.com) and Tom Gilmore (Training Coordinator, US Division, IVAO). I wrote a review of this panel discussion with some of my own opinions regarding both the questions asked and the answers given. I truly hope something similar takes place for this years event.
From the looks of both the list of sponsors and exhibitors, I believe FlightSimCon 2016 will be a huge hit. The list of exhibitors include Orbx, Jetline Systems, A2A Simulations, FSFX Packages, QualityWings, IVAO, VATSIM, HiFi Simulations, GoFlight and JustFlight. The list of sponsor attendees is also rather impressive including Aerosoft, REX Game Studios, Dovetail Games, FlightBeam, FlightSim.com, AirDailyX.net, PC Pilot Magazine and LiveATC.net.
While the list of sponsors and exhibitors is rather impressive, the full schedule of events is what has my attention. On Saturday, Austin Meyer, President of Laminar Research (X-Plane) will present and the panel discussion will focus on the benefits of Flying Online. But Sunday….Sunday is the big day when Stephen Hood, Creative Director of Dovetail Games will discuss “Dovetail Games Flight Simulator – My Vision”. Perhaps we’ll finally know what Dovetail Games plans are with regards to the future of flight simulation beyond FSX.
It’s all unclear what BIG news will come out of FlightSimCon 2016. I’m confident the folks covering it will ask all the right questions and relay those answers to us all. Until then…we just have to wait patiently.
But I’ve often put my thoughts regarding the future of flight simulation into words here on my blog site. I’ve been blogging about flight simulation here since 2010 and in this span of time I’ve seen a lot, heard a lot and experienced a lot. I’ve said that I felt P3D was not the future, and I’ve said that it was. But even though I really wasn’t impressed with X-Plane 10 (and I’m not sure this fact will ever change), I must admit that I am impressed with that I’ve witnessed with X-Plane 11. Yep, X-Plane 11 beta was released recently and it looks pretty darn good. I was so impressed with a few videos I watched on YouTube that I downloaded the X-Plane 11 trial just to test it out for myself.
