199 replies to this topic

[Mathijs Kok]

Let's combine any discussion on MS Flight in this topic. We will have a more official comment on FLIGHT later today.

[Clem Wu]

I think its quite brilliant as a game Nice frames too. But not a flight simulator for sure.

[Aidan Sandri]

Lol. Thats all I have to say.

[tempelhof]

I played it for an hour yesterday night. I like some features, e.g. how it grades my landings. It's nice to have on the side, but it won't replace FSX for me.

Still I think this is the sim I would recommend to someone who wants to try a flight simulator for the first time ever.

[Francois Dumas]

Yes Mathijs, I want to read all about your newly acquired Coconut Bra !!

[Mathijs Kok]

Still I think this is the sim I would recommend to someone who wants to try a flight simulator for the first time ever.

You know, I think that's the best comment I have heard so far about FLIGHT.

[Mathijs Kok]

BTW, think it is a good idea if we all show our MS FLIGHT avatar here so we recognize each other in game.
This is me, think it is a resounding resemblance!


I almost peed my pants thinking about all the hard core flightsimmers who now have to make decisions on how to style their avatar.

[Shaun Fletcher]

Hello Mathijs,

You sure Emma hasn't been playing with your avatar

[Francois Dumas]

My avatar got banned.......

[Mathijs Kok]

My avatar got banned.......

Too realistic?

Btw I just found out all sound in FLIGHT is sub Fs2004. No soundcones, no nothing. Hardly stereo even.

[738]

I think they should rename it to Microsoft s**te

[Francois Dumas]

I think they should rename it to Microsoft s**te

No, it really is FSX Lite

[tempelhof]

You know, I think that's the best comment I have heard so far about FLIGHT.

Thanks for the kind words.

I personally have mixed feelings about the effects of Flight on the flightsim community:

Scenario A
---------------
Flight will overall get MORE people interested in this hobby and MORE people will switch after Flight to one of the more serious sims, thus strengthening the addon market there (which in turn means more quality addons for us).

Scenario B
--------------
Flight will attract almost all of the new users, but many of them choose not to move on to another sim, hence less revenue for Aerosoft & Co. and less addons for all of us.

Scenario C
--------------
Flight will be a complete failure and MS cancels its development and/or takes it off the market. Then we're back to square one.


At this moment, I really don't know which of these scenarios will happen. But MS usually doesn't take bad selling products off the market...


PS: Will post my avatar later once I got some work on it done.

[Mathijs Kok]

For now my biggest gripe is the lack of AI Traffic, lack of ATC and lack of real time weather.

The fact it is now only one (two) aircraft and one island does not mean a lot. That can all be enhanced. But these are such basic functions and such BIG functions it seems hard to see them added with updates.

[738]

I agree Mathijs

I have been tempted to d/l it but i just dont see the point at this stage.
Maybe they should have concentrated on SP3 for FSX, for the SIMULATOR enthusiast's.

[Mathijs Kok]

At this moment, I really don't know which of these scenarios will happen. But MS usually doesn't take bad selling products off the market...

Think it will end up being a mix between a and b. But that's still positive for us. It is just so damned hard to understand what MS was thinking. It makes so little sense, it is so unfocussed.

[Francois Dumas]

Square One is by far the best place to wind up at the moment..... ;-)

[Mathijs Kok]

I agree Mathijs

I have been tempted to d/l it but i just dont see the point at this stage.
Maybe they should have concentrated on SP3 for FSX, for the SIMULATOR enthusiast's.

Yeah but they were not even willing to solve the biggest bugs. Lockheed Martin is now doing that.
So strange as it would have been a small investment for them.

[guenseli]

I think Flight! isn't as bad as I feared, and it is a demo a could be enhanced with all stuff I (we) miss currently.


BUT: if there would be enhancements, like the complete world, further planes, bigger planes, Traffic etc, MS would have announced this the last weeks as they simply like it to show off. So, I think there wouldn't change much to what we see currently.

[Francois Dumas]

Seems like Lockheed still is our best bet...... but they have the license problem :-(

[Hiflyer]

For now my biggest gripe is the lack of AI Traffic, lack of ATC and lack of real time weather.

The fact it is now only one (two) aircraft and one island does not mean a lot. That can all be enhanced. But these are such basic functions and such BIG functions it seems hard to see them added with updates.

As I have hinted to others when I was muffled by the beta testing, and which I will openly point out now, a quick look at the Cfg file shows that all the old options are still in there, disabled and just waiting for loves first kiss.

Beyond that, the PAK files (easily opened with 7-zip) may show a........... familiar file structure.........

Beyond even that, I suspect that if things work out, the social aspect and lack of Ai may cancel each other out. In other words, imagine a sky full of other fliers, rather than AI.

There are some hints..........

[738]

Yeah but they were not even willing to solve the biggest bugs. Lockheed Martin is now doing that.
So strange as it would have been a small investment for them.

Exactly.....A small investment for them, a massive difference to us.

[Emi]

As I have hinted to others when I was muffled by the beta testing, and which I will openly point out now, a quick look at the Cfg file shows that all the old options are still in there, disabled and just waiting for loves first kiss.

Beyond that, the PAK files (easily opened with 7-zip) may show a........... familiar file structure.........

Beyond even that, I suspect that if things work out, the social aspect and lack of Ai may cancel each other out. In other words, imagine a sky full of other fliers, rather than AI.

There are some hints..........

That's almost what I expected...

Think I'll stay with FSX and design my avatar with Gmax and insert it in my FSX then

[ChrisB]

Well... these "avatars" are really the XBox live ones - wht is interesting in Flight is that you can change your pilot and choose between 3 chaps and a chapess. That's something for the plane devs to come up with - and yes, I know Aerosoft give us a dozen different choices of Beaver Pilot.

"Dingggg!" Hey Mathijs - did you not © that idea?

Here's my own eggs box character:



Yes - a bit plain and not at all extrovert, like Mathijs' Ah well - haven't had time to practice.

[alehead]

All the prophecies around Flight (I like that FSX Lite variant on the name) are appearing to be true. The simulator has been dumbed down to a game, the initial free package appears more a demo than anything else and content requires a Live ID. Ok, you might say that is little different from having an account at Aerosoft. I see different.

All that aside, without real weather capabilities and the ability to allow software like IVAP and so on to interface, I see no future for Flight in the eyes of anyone even vaguely interested in commercial flight. And if I have to purchase each and every country it region separately, even in a base package form, who knows what it will cost me to fly from say Hamburg to Munich in a high end B737. It wasn't cheap in FSX to get to this point.

I see the lack of interface for 3rd parties as being the biggest let down. That throws so much talent and variety down the drain. Not only payware but all that freeware talent.
There is still a lot going for FSX, and will be no doubt for some time unless Microsoft changes its policy on the Marketplace.

I will no doubt look at Flight, but I do not see myself spending too mich time wanting to chase around after golden coins and whatnot. I am not a fan of the mission stuff in FSX even. I know why I want to spend time on a simulator.

Andrew

[Emi]

Weiß jemand wieso Flight nur auf meinem Sekundärmonitor startet? Ich kann es einfach nicht auf meinem Hauptbildschirm zum laufen bekommen...

[Mathijs Kok]

Weiß jemand wieso Flight nur auf meinem Sekundärmonitor startet? Ich kann es einfach nicht auf meinem Hauptbildschirm zum laufen bekommen...

I seen that myself. Had to run it in a maximized window instead of fullscreen to solve it. Not too bad as it runs better in a windows (just as FSX btw).

[Emi]

I seen that myself. Had to run it in a maximized window instead of fullscreen to solve it. Not too bad as it runs better in a windows (just as FSX btw).

How do I get it in a windowed mode? Alt+Enter (as in FSX) doesn't work...

Anyway I have to say that the flightdynamics are really bad, just like the damagemodel, or however they call it...

[Mathijs Kok]

I am surprised so many people call FLIGHT a free demo. That is not at all as I understand it. And I certainly did not get that impression from the discussions with Microsoft we had over the last month. What you see is what you get. There will not be a 'bigger' version, there will only be DLC that expands the game. Some of the DLC might have new options but adding stuff like AI traffic or real time weather is very hard to add later on without serious rewriting.

And even DLC is not as straight forward as it seems. If you want to cover even a small country the way Hawaii is done we are talking about many of gigabytes. X_plane 10 covers the whole world 'on the fly' created content. And that is 90 Gb of compressed data.

[Mathijs Kok]

How do I get it in a windowed mode? Alt+Enter (as in FSX) doesn't work...

Anyway I have to say that the flightdynamics are really bad, just like the damagemodel, or however they call it...

It's a menu option.

[ChrisB]

@Emi:

In the opening "Options" screen - select a screen resolution smaller than your monitor and only then uncheck the fullscreen box. If you leave it the same size as your main screen, you will have problems trying to resize smaller.

[Mathijs Kok]

IIf you want a more expanded read on how I, personally, see FLIGHT, read what has just been posted on ASN: http://asn.aerosoft.com/?p=3609. Below I posted the start of the column. Please keep in mind this is my opinion and not directly the opinion of Aerosoft.


The short version

I got no idea why so many people are up in arms about a game that has one aircraft, one island, no weather, no AI traffic, no ATC and graphics that are moderate at best, sound that is even worse than FS2004 (bye bye sound cones), it forces me to create an XBOX account with an avatar (all look like teenagers on crack). And finally, it forces me to be online for many things and just handed me a Coconut Bra. I mean, it is a fine free game and the best free simulator I have ever seen, but it has very little to do with what we call our hobby.
Why do we care?
The long version

MS FLIGHT is by far the most controversial release of the long-standing line of Flight Simulators from Microsoft. After more than 20 years they change the whole idea and ‘abandon’ the many loyal MS Flight Simulation fans. I don’t like it, but I understand it. The ever increase in realism made the target group smaller and smaller and PC games are just not doing very well. Microsoft likes young people to buy games and old folks to buy Office. To get out of this hopeless corner, they reinvented Flight Simulator and squarely aim at a new group of customers. Simpler, faster, gamer look alike and above all, modern. I predicted this when they announced FSX and I was just one version of. ......... http://asn.aerosoft.com/?p=3609

[alehead]

I am surprised so many people call FLIGHT a free demo. That is not at all as I understand it. And I certainly did not get that impression from the discussions with Microsoft we had over the last month. What you see is what you get. There will not be a 'bigger' version, there will only be DLC that expands the game. Some of the DLC might have new options but adding stuff like AI traffic or real time weather is very hard to add later on without serious rewriting.

And even DLC is not as straight forward as it seems. If you want to cover even a small country the way Hawaii is done we are talking about many of gigabytes. X_plane 10 covers the whole world 'on the fly' created content. And that is 90 Gb of compressed data.

It is for all intents and purposes a demo, and a time unlimited one at that. You get a small area and not in full detail either, one aircraft with the option of a second for "free" if you are willing to give Microsoft your personal data, which of course gives you the additional stress (in my eyes as an IT systems and security man) of the hotmail account, and that is it. All additional content will be premium. Let someone tell me what the previews are, please. I get the impression that they are non-functioning, though I may be wrong.
I don't like the payment model of in-app purchases, and I am wary as to the possible security issues. If the interface is in any way compromised, how quickly could my payment card data be compromised? I see nothing of the encryption technology employed. My not liking this model has kept me away from RoF too.

It is nice to see that one can write critically about Flight without being warned, banned or whatever. Such words as my post here at another big flight simulation forum would have most likely led to my post bring removed or me being warned, if not banned. That is a worrying aspect.

[cosnowboarder_777]

I think its funny that they got so many bad comments on there facebook page that they had to close their wall.

[738]

I got no idea why so many people are up in arms about a game that has one aircraft, one island, no weather, no AI traffic, no ATC and graphics that are moderate at best, sound that is even worse than FS2004 (bye bye sound cones), it forces me to create an XBOX account with an avatar (all look like teenagers on crack). And finally, it forces me to be online for many things and just handed me a Coconut Bra.
Haha!!
You are funny Mathijs

I mean, it is a fine free game and the best free simulator I have ever seen, but it has very little to do with what we call our hobby.

So true.

[Boerries]

That´s me, looks a bit like Robert " I like the smell of fuel in the morning" Duvall in Apocalyse Now.

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[alehead]

Mathijs, you hit my feelings well and truly on the nail. I am disappointed with this non-event. It is evident why Microsoft dropped Simulator from the title. A simulator it is not. And a game it will forever remain without a major overhaul of elements.

Andrew

[Hiflyer]

Wow...........

I guess I and my "crackhead" avatar friends will wander off to spread our credit card info to the world through Microsoft's compromised credit card system. That done, we will fly over huge crowds of "abandoned" and hard core simmers in our "dumbed-down" missile-armed stearmans to drop our cargo of deadly coconut bras and.......

Am I summing up the vibe correctly, so far?

Alrighty then.........

[Mathijs Kok]

It is nice to see that one can write critically about Flight without being warned, banned or whatever. Such words as my post here at another big flight simulation forum would have most likely led to my post bring removed or me being warned, if not banned. That is a worrying aspect.

Indeed indeed.

[Mathijs Kok]

Want hear something great about FLIGHT? I just heard from two nephews (13 and 15) they downloaded it and they loved it. I showed them FSX a few times and they never got it.

And boy, do we need fresh blood in this hobby. Most our customers are as old as I am, 26²