I Must Ask This Question As To The Future Of The MS FSX

[casey jones]

I am wondering will FSX survive into the distant future? With FS9 light years ahead of it in add-ons and most certainly airplane add-ons we look at most of thr freeware planes..they are FS9 mods which do not always perform very well in the skies of FSX...I can only see mostly payware for FSX that could over take the freeware planes...is this because the freeware planes are harder and longer to produce? What will happen to FSX when it becomes 10 yrs old or even 15 yrs old?


Cheers

Casey:unitedstates:

[Francois]

Although FS9 will most likely remain popular with at least part of the communities, we see a gradual shift to FSX nonetheless. Maybe not as fast anymore as a year ago, now that MS has stopped its marketing. But people are getting more and more powerful PC's and then FSX just makes the most sense.

Indeed, developing for it has become a lot more complicated quite a few of the 'habitual designer' have given up on re-learning everything. There is new bloos in the hobby though, so I am not too concerned.

Also, there's a lot more time to LEARN the new program now, so gradually more people will get t grips with designing for it.

[stiz]

personaly i think it'll mostly depend on a few things.

1, People who get more modern pcs migrate from fs9 to fsx
2, Weather people will stick by their nearly 3 yr old sterotypes
3, How the new MS flight turns out

and for the last rudy time, developeing planes for FSX is no harder than for FS9, if anything its actually easier, its just different and people are either unwilling to relearn everything and are bashing FSX because of it or the more likely case is that their more than happy with FS9 and build to please themselfs and not others :)

[Kiwikat]

FS9 addons are light years ahead of FSX addons?



Guess you learn something new every day...

:monkies:






QUALITY over QUANTITY, my friend.

[mmann]

QUALITY over QUANTITY, my friend.

Which explains why there are relatively few aircraft addons for FSX compared to FS9. The bar has been raised incredibly high and with it expectations.

Regards, Mike Mann

[Kiwikat]

Which explains why there are relatively few aircraft addons for FSX compared to FS9. The bar has been raised incredibly high and with it expectations.

Do you see that as a good or bad thing? I definitely see it as a good thing.

I'd rather pay 80 dollars for an addon that blows me away than 20 dollars for one I will never touch beyond my first flight.

[mmann]

I see it as a great benefit! I would rather have a few great aircraft then a large amount of mediocrity!

Regards, Mike Mann

[mal998]

"What will happen to FSX when it becomes 10 yrs old or even 15 yrs old? "

If it's not replaced by something better, I suppose some people will still be using it. But why would you even be concerned about what is going to happen 10 or 15 years from now?

[Prowler1111]

I´ll chip in my 2 cents...FSX development is lightyears ahead of FS9 development.
Sure, i was one of the 1st to complain/rant/cry foul game at FSX early days, we didn´t have a Rosetta Stone with us to understand what was going on (unless you were a coder) but once you get the hang of it, well, it´s up to your imagination what can be done or not, and most of it, well, simply can´t be done with FS9 sdk tools, they simply can´t be done (starting with higher poly models).Just look at what you could have with FS9 high tech addons (either free or payware) and what you get now..there is simply NO COMPARISON.
As for FSX future? well, Win7 made mine run a lot better than it was with XP, and there is so much to discover there, that unless Flight takes a critical directional change (which i really doubt) will be well and alive for quite some time.
Best regards

Prowler

[pilottj]

well looking long term, developers seem to have laundry lists of projects that are years away. A2A has all their Accusim projects, even after the ones shown in their October update video. Orbx plans to do NZ, The Rockies, California, and possibly the southwest, plus the various enhanced sceneries for those areas. Who knows where they go after that...Alaska, Japan, East Coast? All those future releases are likely a few years out. I am sure others have long project lists too. And all these projects will keep FSX viable for a long long time, regardless if MS flight turns out to be a dud or a winner.

[Overshoe]

That question is both easy and impossible to answer. In the first place, it has nothing to do with FS9 anymore. Although your observation is correct that there are fewer freeware offerings for FSX so far. The fact is, it is harder (or different anyway) to develop for FSX. To remain state of the art surely requires more time to develop an aircraft and many of the best payware aircraft have involved more than one person building it.

Nevertheless there are a number of native freeware FSX aircraft available that are not FS9 mods. Piglet has released a few, Ant's Tiger moth is another. Brett Henderson & Alejandro Rojas Lucena have made several that are available at Simviation. I'm sure there are others I am forgetting.

The same thing is true of scenery. There are a lot of freeware airports, some freeware mesh and textures too, but the best stuff is payware because it requires new tools and teams of people working long hours to produce a top notch major scenery product.

We could say the same for utilities but I think you can see what I am getting at.

Now, as for what FSX can become?? Simply put, whatever we make it. Developers and code wizards have already worked around many of the unfixed bugs we were left with when Microsoft abandoned FSX. Who knows what they will do in the future. And that brings us to the final question: What will FSX become. That's impossible to answer. Nobody knows because there are too many other factors that can alter any future plans.

Biggest of those is Microsoft Flight. We don't know what that will be so who can say if all of today's FSX developers will move over to Flight or continue to build FSX forward? How many will just quit as the FSX user base gradually diminishes? I don't know those answers.

[empeck]

Which explains why there are relatively few aircraft addons for FSX compared to FS9. The bar has been raised incredibly high and with it expectations.

Regards, Mike Mann

And this is the reason why FSX is my favourite simulator available today, including combat sims. Some of the aircrafts are so advanced, that they shouldn't be called 'an addon'. Its a simulation on it's own, working in FSX environment.

[Dangerousdave26]

The future of FS9 and FSX is going to be defined by Microsoft Flight.

It is going to depend on how the new platform is structured. What does it cost? What reoccurring costs are involved? and I am sure some other little surprises they might throw in.

Another factor that will be big on the life of FSX is when do they shut off the Activation Servers?

*** Hint it will be some time right before Flight is Released. This is my gut feeling you might not agree but I think it is logical.

If people can not activate FSX and they decide they dislike the new Flight software whats left?

X-Plane and FS9

And maybe FSX until you have to do a reinstall.

Either way I bet $1 US that Flight will not be out for another 1.5 years.

[txnetcop]

The future of FS9 and FSX is going to be defined by Microsoft Flight.

It is going to depend on how the new platform is structured. What does it cost? What reoccurring costs are involved? and I am sure some other little surprises they might throw in.

Another factor that will be big on the life of FSX is when do they shut off the Activation Servers?

*** Hint it will be some time right before Flight is Released. This is my gut feeling you might not agree but I think it is logical.

If people can not activate FSX and they decide they dislike the new Flight software whats left?

X-Plane and FS9

And maybe FSX until you have to do a reinstall.

Either way I bet $1 US that Flight will not be out for another 1.5 years.

That is a very possible scenario since the only thing they have shown us so are graphic artists renderings... I will say that X-Plane 10 is coming along very well and will continue to evolve. I just have a hard time loving X-Plane over FSX.

[casey jones]

I thank all of you who responded to my old worn out question...I think I received very good responses.


Cheers

Casey

[warchild]

I'll add only one thing to what Dangerous Dave said..
Looking at it from the perspective that no authentication means no flight sim installs, i'm willing to put good money on it that when the auth servers go down, hacking the auth code is going to become a very popular and accepted work around to no more flight sim.. Just my opinion of course..
Pam

[mmann]

I'll add only one thing to what Dangerous Dave said..
Looking at it from the perspective that no authentication means no flight sim installs, i'm willing to put good money on it that when the auth servers go down, hacking the auth code is going to become a very popular and accepted work around to no more flight sim.. Just my opinion of course..
Pam

I was thinking the same thing but didn't have the guts to post it. Thanks Pam!!

Regards, Mike Mann

[Roadburner440]

I can guarantee you this. If they EVER shut off the FSX activation server I will find a work around myself for it. Especially after the thousands of dollars I have sunk into the hobby. I am quite fine with FSX the way it is. I think PMDG, A2A, Lotus Sim, and others have shown what is truly possible when you push the limits of FSX. I think there is even still a lot left to go, and that we have not even come close to the limit. FSX seems to be the biggest sandbox title of all time IMHO. We just need to drum up ideas, and continue contributing to these companies that are pushing the title forward. That is just my take. I really look forward to seeing what the future has in store for all of us, and after seeing the videos of Flight it does not look to be a revolutionary leap forward. Again that is without seeing anymore than the little videos. Like with FSX I may be proven wrong. I just hope that they do not lock out third party add-ons in this future title as has been rumored in the past.

[stiz]

theres allready a workaround that bybasses the activation ...


since the only thing they have shown us so are graphic artists renderings

not true, the lastest flight video was in-game footage :)

[Lionheart]

On the statement 'FSX is more easier to make planes for...' um.. no..

FS9 has a quick turn around time in making planes for. Code is far easier, no Attach Points needed for animation, no animating of basic parts (rudders and props and tires) needed, just name it right, spell it right, done. Materials in FSX are about the most touchy, ultra sensitive, super sophisticated things I have ever seen!!! 5 pages of entry's... Some dev's have spent 2 weeks non stop trying to get their plexi glass to appear correct, and I think most of them have gone through this.

FS9 is the winner in making planes most easiest for. So much so, I 'almost' went back to making only FS9 format MDL's. I am tired of FSX's sophistication....

Having to take 2 weeks to figure out how plexi works properly is a total waist of time. It shouldnt be that hard to do....


And why do we have to have double entries on FSX part code?
Why dont the Attach points 'always' work in FSX Animation Manager?
Why cant we erase a part code attach point animation string if we accidentally hit the wrong button next to the correct one, and end up having to remake the darn thing from scratch?
Why cant we have mirroring work properly with bump mapping in FSX with things like wings and elevators that are mirrored from the other side, making the rivets indentations on the right, and bumps on the left? (same with fuselages). At least we figured out how to get around that, make a reverse bump map for the other sides... (in FSX).

I could go on, but I would lose several valuable eyebrow hairs..


So, I hear 'MS Flight' will be 'streamed' to our computers? No more having the FS on our rigs. Is this true?

[beana51]

One thing I do know, When Tom Constantine,AKA Overshoe,
speaks....I listen.with thirsty ear!!...this is a never ending question,and its most important to our Sim world.....with FSX,the more money I spend ,the more get disappointed,FSX promises so much,and sometimes one gets a glimpse,of what it promised us.

Our FS9,now the venerable FS9, as we know it today ,is an updated product ,that Microsoft never envisioned to be.The same may be true with FSX,providing its condusive to innovative,and creative art..we have been fortunate to have talented,resourceful,unselfish ,extraordinary artists ,who contributed to our great hobby...Hats off to them all.

Many of us ,I'm sure dabble in both worlds....some use FS9 a a vehicle for new and never ending add ons..some see it a as GAME as its called,and some see it as a training tool,but I think most just enjoy the Walter Mitty world it affords ....however,I never seen a game which fosters such camaraderie ...I think desk top simming at home is here to stay...I look at my avator every time I fire up,and marvel at the progress made to date.which begs the question what does the future really hold for us?...

Mean while FSX,or FS9.....ENJOY! fly a lot! visit the world! Learn the history of aviation, Something unmanageable a few short years ago.....thanx..Vin

"OLD PILOTS NEVER DIE,THEY JUST BUZZ OFF"

[SkippyBing]

Why cant we erase a part code attach point animation string if we accidentally hit the wrong button next to the correct one, and end up having to remake the darn thing from scratch?

I'm fairly sure we can do that, do you mean in the animation manager or the attach point tool?
If it's the attach point tool go to Edit->Object Properties->User Defined and delete the long string of gibberish.
If it's the animation manager you just highlight the animation name in the right hand box and press the delete button.

[Rattler]

I have seen the Future gents.... And Its Bright!!!!... Enjoy what ya Got.. while ya Got it!!!!:salute::salute:

[stiz]

Code is far easier



I didnt think it was, if you ask me both are just totally confuseing!


Materials in FSX are about the most touchy, ultra sensitive, super sophisticated things I have ever seen!!! 5 pages of entry's

There not bad, and each one is explained indepth in the SDK :)



And why do we have to have double entries on FSX part code?


ones for the animation, ones for the mouse react/visability


Why dont the Attach points 'always' work in FSX Animation Manager?


Mine always have *waits for everything to suddenly stop working!*


Why cant we erase a part code attach point animation string if we accidentally hit the wrong button next to the correct one, and end up having to remake the darn thing from scratch?


see skippys response :)


Why cant we have mirroring work properly with bump mapping in FSXI

I've never had that problem, but then i use simitry



So, I hear 'MS Flight' will be 'streamed' to our computers? No more having the FS on our rigs. Is this true?


I havent heard anything about that cept rumours. Also i highly doubt that cloud computing will take off at the moment, theres allready several places that do it and its had no effect on the market whatsoever really.


Anyone rember the onslaught of "hey this used to work but now it isnt" when the fs9 sdks got released? all those rudy co-located vertices errors, how'd you get chrome looking the same? how'd we set up the dynamic shine to look right? how do you work with the new visibility code? how'd we do wing warping?? how do we tag VCs so that they show up?? the countless hours playing with pivot points so that the airilons+flaps would animate correctly ... all the stuff we take for granted now, and which no one had a clue how to do back then. Want a history lesson, go to the devloper sites which where around back then and read from the back.

[empeck]

After few years of using Unreal Engine 3 material editor, FSX materials are much too simple (or rather poor), and very easy to use. I'd love to have at least 10% of this funcionality:

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/MaterialsCompendium.html

[Bjoern]

If FSX dies, I'm going to be found in FlightGear.

[SkippyBing]

Another factor that will be big on the life of FSX is when do they shut off the Activation Servers?

What makes you think they're going to shut off the activation servers? It's not like they've got a load dedicated to FSX, it's just one of a range of products they activate and currently my copies of XP and Office are activating fine despite at least one successor product coming out for each.