A new simulator

[skyking 3]

I am of a different opinion. I hope Aerosoft is doing a serious brainstorming in order to come up with new ideas, and I am pretty confident they will do so.

Reco

My point was that M$ had a great idea but screwed it up because of continually patching it in order to keep it backwards compatible. It is clear that at some point they should have just restarted from the ground up. The general look and feel of the program however, along with the features was more than acceptable to me. The biggest problem was performance and quality.

One thing they could have done is offload a lot of cpu processing to the graphics card. Another would have been to take better advantage of multiple cores. Those two things alone could have made a huge difference in the quality and playability. Add rewritten streamlined code to that and you'd have a remarkable product. If there is a better way of handling the scenery I would be all for it. To me, the graphics are every bit if not more important than some of the other parts of the sim. Flight characteristics are obviously important, but for me MS got that at least to a level that was passable.

Anyhow, I really hope Aerosoft takes this on. They have the opportunity to get this right building it from scratch. Given how far the technology has come since the last effort from MS, they should be able to put something together that will blow our minds.

[etien 16]

Please make the simulator able to load Google sketchup models.

The moddeler is SO MUCH better than Gmax.

The number of free buildings already made is just amazing.

Etienne

[ManuelL 71]

Please make the simulator able to load Google sketchup models.

The moddeler is SO MUCH better than Gmax.

The number of free buildings already made is just amazing.

Etienne

I am not a developer and don't know how this is handled for FSX, but I think it would be nice to have the possibility to covert several common object formats for implementation in the sim. This way freeware addon developers could use free programs like wings3d or blender, while payware developers (or those with a lot of money) could use high end programs like 3dsmax.

[darem 106]

May I drive your attention to this video on youtube?

Must be the most amazing georendering engine made so far. Apart from the looks, the techniques used behind the scenes are outstanding. This is REAL data from google earth, vegitation is computed by a gazillion of factors/data, and they haven't even implemented everything.

Demo should be out this month.

If Aerosoft could buy/license this engine, it would be the killer flightsim :-)

[maxter 4]

Must be the most amazing georendering engine made so far. Apart from the looks, the techniques used behind the scenes are outstanding.

Just watched it, amazing I must say.

Cheers and thanks for posting that link.

[janda 3]

HELLO MATHIJS,

WE ARE HUNGRY FOR ANY NEWS ABOUT THIS PROJECT PROGRESS...???

THIS TOPIC REFERENCE TO NOV/DEC.... IT`S FEBRUARY ALREADY !

Brds

Martin

[Tassie Tiger 4]

ameni wrote:

Rivers will come after we implement processing and indexing of vector data, the same stuff that will be also used for roads.

Clouds - we will probably integrate SimulWeather into the engine.

Is there a ready dataset of rivers and roads in vector format, or are you going to some how generate your own? I remember that FSX had a huge dataset with most of the roads in the world, I dont how they got it in the first place.

SimulWeather has nice looks, and they seem to promise low requirements. I hope you can integrate it with low impact on performance. Now I cant wait to test their demo with my newer PC..

.

angrypig

Yes there is one nice universal dataset and its name is OpenStreetMap. There is a lot of information in there but not everything. Small streams are missing, for example. These we want to generate in the future by analyzing terrain data.

Not bad.

Go to the forum for more info

[Tassie Tiger 4]

.

And a simple MP3 player in with all the Audio stuff

.

[ManuelL 71]

I would like to have a semi-automatic adaption of visuals settings on the fly.

The visual settings menu could look like this:

- A field to set a target framerate

- For different items (autogen density, texture resolution, etc. ) fields to set the priority of the respective item. (it should be possible to give 2 items the same priority)

- In addition for every item a slider where you can set a minimum and a maximum bar for the settings you find acceptable.

While flying, the sim will adapt the graphics settings to maintain the target framerate. The correction will be done based on the item priority and the pre-set sliders.

For example - I am flying from the country side into Seattle. In the settings menu I have given the autogen a higher priority than the ground texture resolution. As the load on the system increases during the flight the sim will automatically reduce the ground texture resolution to maintain the frame rate. This will continue until the setting hits the minimum I have pre-set on the slider. Then the system will reduce the setting with the next higher priority (in this case the autogen), again until the pre-set minimum is reached. Then the setting with the next higher priority will be reduced - and so forth.

This way it could be avoided to have to set-up the graphics options for each flight situation.

[frkaipanika 9]

I would like to see runway markings with tire marks on them, and not white clean never touched marking like in FSX.

[Hiflyer 129]

Not sure if this has been mentioned before (there are a lot of posts!) but it might be desirable for Aerosoft to include as part of the Sim interface a direct connection to the Aerosoft store, or some version of it. It would work something along the lines of the apple music store, where you would be able to purchase new planes or scenery and then have them automatically load themselves into the Sim after purchase.

There could be links to the forum, inviting people to get involved in the Aerosoft community, and updates and bug-fixes to the Sim could be set to be installed automatically or only after customer approval (like windows updates)

The Store could even occasionally put an unobtrusive (with the ability to opt out) notice upon Sim start-up to alert users of sales and new products etc.......

Done correctly, the Aerosoft store could become the place where other designers would prefer to advertise any new options for the sim............

Might be worth a thought.

[Tassie Tiger 4]

Not sure if this has been mentioned before (there are a lot of posts!) but it might be desirable for Aerosoft to include as part of the Sim interface a direct connection to the Aerosoft store, or some version of it. It would work something along the lines of the apple music store, where you would be able to purchase new planes or scenery and then have them automatically load themselves into the Sim after purchase.

Great Idea

And if they could control updates to the product via an unique number built into each sale I am sure more people

would make more software .

I am sure developers would not mind paying a couple of dollars on each sale

The current system with FSX is crazy.

[Tassie Tiger 4]

A787 XWB COCKPIT

The A787 XWB would have the best features of the 787 and A350

and designed to be used from beginners with a WideScreen monitor

up to Sim Pit builders

Some Key Features

Throttles from Airbus or Boeing could be used

Joystick or Yoke

Width must fit into a 12 Foot wide room "Imperial Broadloom Carpet width"

Aerosoft control Patent/design/software/licence of the A787 XWB

USB for all major components

Manufacturers must follow the Aerosoft design/software/licence

3D

Find a Chinese/Indian Manufacturer to get costs down

After a lot of thought and running through building a simpit again unless someone comes up with something like in this post I wont bother

http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/showthread.php?15234-VR-headset&p=81484&highlight=#post81484

This headset is nearly there

http://www.vuzix.com/iwear/index.html

Most of the parts can be purchased

http://www.flightdecksolutions.com/pcupload/A320-PRO-M-nose-Jan1608.pdf

http://www.cockpitsonicusa.com/oxid.php/sid/ca1f6e0bf3477a8cdd976fd38ddf5b47/cl/details/cnid/89945f83b84b2f7f5.76051338/anid/40946c0b2a147ab92.25797228/A320-pedestal-box---powered-by-TEMPEST/

http://www.cockpitsonicusa.com/oxid.php/sid/ca1f6e0bf3477a8cdd976fd38ddf5b47/cl/details/cnid/89945f83b84b2f7f5.76051338/anid/40946c0a9d2657fa0.46762345/A320-interior-lining-kit/

http://www.cockpitsonicusa.com/oxid.php/sid/x/shp/oxbaseshop/cl/details/cnid/e7b44302a85c0d786.66040039/anid/4bc45be2f189a2627.05952990/A320-Overhead-Panel-Set/

The motion platform and outside visualization is the killer

[Hiflyer 129]

Great Idea

And if they could control updates to the product via an unique number built into each sale I am sure more people

would make more software .

I am sure developers would not mind paying a couple of dollars on each sale

The current system with FSX is crazy.

Expanding on the idea, think of a flight simulation (Or just sim oriented version) of steam.

[Lazlow 1]

Hi there!

I'm new here, this is my first post, and I have a question. Regarding graphics, can we finally see windwardmark's WindLight and Nimble in action? That would mean a totally realistic looking sim. I hope you consider it. Thanks! Bye!

Ps: link to windwardmark: http://windwardmark.net/index.php

[Arista 64]

For example - I am flying from the country side into Seattle. In the settings menu I have given the autogen a higher priority than the ground texture resolution. As the load on the system increases during the flight the sim will automatically reduce the ground texture resolution to maintain the frame rate. This will continue until the setting hits the minimum I have pre-set on the slider. Then the system will reduce the setting with the next higher priority (in this case the autogen), again until the pre-set minimum is reached. Then the setting with the next higher priority will be reduced - and so forth.

But what if your system is CPU-limited in this example? The sim would lower one setting after the other to the minimum, with huge impact on the visual quality, but without much noticeable change to the frame rate, before it even touches the single most CPU-intensive feature - autogen (just guessing on relative CPU load). Your general idea is good, but it is much too complex to implement, in my opinion, while overburdening the casual user with even more sliders than today. Besides, it still doesn't really cover the difference between flying from the country side into a Seattle area reliever airport, low and slow in a Piper Cub, and flying from the country side into SeaTac Int'l in an MD-11.

On a slightly different note, in order to help the casual user with tweaking the sliders, I'd like to see meaningful tooltip explanations for every settings, not Microsoft's standard "The Drop Dead Gorgeous Factor setting might lower your performance. But then again, it might not," which doesn't even explain what the setting does, let alone its implications on performance. A more useful explanation could be, for example, "This setting usually loads up your CPU quite heavily, but it doesn't have much impact on the graphics card or memory usage", or even "The Daisy Density setting controls the amount of daisies rendered on open grass area textures. This increases texture variety, thereby increasing texture memory requirements considerably. At the current setting, this feature alone will use about 10 MB of graphics memory and 50 MB of main memory for every square mile of visible grass area. This will quickly add up with high visibility settings. At your current location with your current settings, this adds up to a total of 487 MB of graphics memory and 2371 MB of main memory needed for this feature. As long as you have enough memory, the impact on performance is usually negligible, but as soon as the required memory exceeds the amount available in your system, your frame rate will instantly drop sharply. However, keep in mind that all this data needs to be loaded from disk and transferred over the bus as well. If the bus is your limiting factor, frame rate will drop more slowly with higher values. If your hard disk is slow, higher settings will increase loading times. If your hard disk is really slow, you might experience some stuttering at high ground speeds with higher settings. The impact on the CPU and the graphics card is negligible for all but the slowest systems. If you really want this setting at high values despite hitting one of the limiting factors, you can make a trade-off by lowering the Dandelion Density slider and checking the Use low-resolution Flowers check box." Of course, if all of this doesn't fit into a tooltip, a help panel or some kind of floating or dockable help window would do as well.

Judith

[Tassie Tiger 4]

.

Maybe you could have tick boxes like this

[ . ] I am happy to let you guys set my machine for optimum performance

[ . ] I did not pay for this Simulator and want to waste my life fiddling with settings

.

[wyoming 2]

May I drive your attention to this video on youtube?

Must be the most amazing georendering engine made so far. Apart from the looks, the techniques used behind the scenes are outstanding. This is REAL data from google earth, vegitation is computed by a gazillion of factors/data, and they haven't even implemented everything.

Demo should be out this month.

If Aerosoft could buy/license this engine, it would be the killer flightsim :-)

Nice engine. Someone needs to do something about the square mesh though... It rounds everything.

[kameleons 2]

It will be compatible with mac?

Mac users have nothing but x-plane, and it would be good if this was compatible with mac

[bandsma 11]

Ability to water bomb forest fires

http://www.pbyma.org/images/22164whidbeyPBY-dropping-water.jpg

[Tassie Tiger 4]

It will be compatible with mac?

No

[Josch 6]

Hi,

A updateable navigation database was mentioned earlier. But what's about the airports themselves? They grow over time, add runways or even close some. Others change ILS frequencies and so forth. Will the simulator update the included airports as it will do with the nav database?

It would be nice to have a global update about once or twice a year.

[Hiflyer 129]

Random thought of the day.

I hope that if the new Sim goes forward, that some real thought is given to the best possible compression technologies, as the current file sizes for large swaths of scenery is reaching the point of extremes of hd storage space, especially in a time when the majority of purchases may soon be digital downloads.

The avid simmers that frequent this site may be willing to put up with it, but Mr and Mrs Joe six-pack are supremely unlikely to want to devote a day or more of their precious computer time to download a scenery!

This is spoken as one who was once rash enough to download the entire Megascenery California.

As an aside, these schemes I occasionally hear about to deliver scenery on hard drives that can then be returned sound like acts of sheer desperation. I would be fascinated to see any vendor attempt such a thing in any sort of high volume!

[Guest Kona]

Howdy,

I was wondering when the next set of news was gonna come out about Aerosofts Sim.

About having "Apple Store" like method would be awesome.

[mc-homer 3]

Hey Matjis and Co. I'm new in this forum and first of all I wanted to mention what a great job you all are doing. The next think I wanted to ask or suggest is, how would it be about compatility of the addons you can buy now for FSX and FS9? Because you have to think about the fact, that people invested hundrets of euros and dollars into their Flight Simulators (me including) and it would be said if they had to invest all the money again into new addons.