An Idea for Flight, the new simulator

[Lionheart]

Hey all,

This is 'just' an idea, nothing more.

My dream was to see a sim that you could 'drive' out to the airport and get into a plane. You could walk around the plane, even go into a terminal. But to walk out to a plane, see how big it is, do a walk around pre-flight, then get in and fly it, has always been a sort of fantasy for me with FS. Yes, we had 'walk around' and cars to drive to the airfield, but no way of doing 'select this to fly it' type of controls.

In the FS2004 room, they announced a tractor that just came out for towing planes. But, you cannot 'tow' AI planes around.

Then it occurred to me, what if a new sim platform had 'selectable scenery objects'. What if you could;
1. Create a AI object for FS
2. Create a AI flight file that places the object at a location(s)
3. It is selectable and can be activated to be flown (right click,select 'fly this' )
4. Could also 'interact' with AI object, such as towing it around

You could link up with a 747 and tow it out onto the ramp, move Hornets around on a Carrier flight deck, etc.

Would be kind of fun....

 

[falcon409]

Oh yea, drive out to your local airport early in the morning, open your hangar doors, hook up your lil' tug and pull your airplane out onto the ramp. Do your walkaround, climb in and "Clear". A lot of possibilities there for sure.:salute:

 

[wiltzei]

Yeah, that would be cool.

The closest thing to what you described (AFAIK) is placing a plane you wanna fly to a spesific spot, and then record the waiting plane´s position with FSRecorder. That recording can be played as traffic. I´ve actually used it a couple of times, and it´s quite fun with Orbx Bob or a nice automobile.

 

[MudMarine]

I'd rather jump on my FatBoy and ride out to my warbird hanger.

 

[Bone]

And after the flight, drive to the "O" Club and have a few beers, then do the "dead bug".

Seriously, we need a Holo-deck like they have in Star Trek NG. If only.

 

[txnetcop]

Put me down for one of those Holodecks!!! I wanna be in it not just look at it on a screen!!!!!!!!!!!
Not a bad idea though Bill! Hey what about getting a team working on a simulator like those open source flight simulators like Flight Gear? We know what we want. I can school myself in writing code again...but I would really wanna see a die-hard commitment by the whole team. I hated programming!

 

[kilo delta]

Or how about having a sim that's so in depth that you can spend an hour setting up the flight, you spend a while looking out through the virtual cockpit windows at an amazingly hi fidelity airport, marvel as birds fly about in the mid afternoon haze under a carpet of fluffy white clouds. You request clearance for start up,then push back before commencing the slow roll to the allotted runway for take off.
Clearance is swiftly given...you push the throttles forward as the engine sounds reverberate around your Sim room in all of it's 7.1 channel 103db goodness. Bookshelves rattle as the aircraft rushes along the runway.......V1.....rotate......................................positive rate of climb....gear up.........CTD



Carlsberg don't make flight sim's ...but if they did....they'd probably be a lot better than MS's latest offering!





:d

 

[stiz]

what i'd like to see ..

the "main office" where you could select free flight, mission, multiplayer, options etc thats set up a bit like the dirt2 area, so its a 3d office with say free flight on a blank map which then leads to planning etc, missions on a map with markers and what not all over it, multiplayer could be a cabanet full of airfix models or summing, and options could be a desk.

Then once you've selected free flight, it'd take you to a simple planning page, bit like fs, so set location, date time and what not, with an option to do more advanced stuff if needbe. Then once you click fly it loads the airport and plane you wanna go to and sticks you either in a hanger or on the apron, where you can walk around and do a pre flight, then click on the canopy/door to board the plane and off you go.

If you had the skill, patience, time and a lot of money its certainly possible

 

[limjack]

I had that same exact dream Lionheart. Be nice to have all your aircraft parked down at the local feild that you could walk around and then enter the one you would like to fly for the day. I like it...good dream and I am sure it will happen someday.

Jim

 

[Lionheart]

Some cool additional details guys.

Limjack, you can do that in a train simulator now. You start out at a train yard, go to the one you want to run, and setup in it. So it is possible. Before you pick your train though, you can cruise the entire train yard and surrounding area if you want, sort of like Slew mode, but with no car or plane or in this case, train.

I think walking would be more realistic, and having a car or plane or bike to choose would be good.

Ted,

I know that one. I talked with the designer/owner. Great guy. Many people are building up their own versions of that sim. Very interesting. It has a ways to go, but its totally doable.


Bill

 

[heywooood]

along these lines - I would like to be able to set up virtual hangars at various airfields of my own choosing.

such that - upon airplane selection (or airfield selection, you could select either) - you are taken to the field where that particular aircraft is 'maintained'...

you could keep a few planes at each location - and upon airfield selection and spawn..you could change your mind and fly one of the other planes you keep there....

you could fly to a destination airfield and leave the plane there, by saving 'destination' so that the next time you open 'Flight' you can resume xcountry - or let the plane be saved to the field you have preset as its base and returned there for the next time you use m/s 'Flight'
this should be an easy option for a civilian sim - not something you need to work around

some simple changes like these would give more of a sense of joining a living world then what we have in FSX currently....just a little more cow bell

 

[centuryseries]

Personally would it be too much to ask that overcast cloud actually looks like overcast cloud! We get a lot of that in the UK and FSX doesn't reproduce it well.

 

[wiltzei]

Personally would it be too much to ask that overcast cloud actually looks like overcast cloud! We get a lot of that in the UK and FSX doesn't reproduce it well.

Try this line for starters in FSX.cfg's Weather-section.

CLOUD_COVERAGE_DENSITY=12

 

[Lionheart]

along these lines - I would like to be able to set up virtual hangars at various airfields of my own choosing.

such that - upon airplane selection (or airfield selection, you could select either) - you are taken to the field where that particular aircraft is 'maintained'...

you could keep a few planes at each location - and upon airfield selection and spawn..you could change your mind and fly one of the other planes you keep there....

you could fly to a destination airfield and leave the plane there, by saving 'destination' so that the next time you open 'Flight' you can resume xcountry - or let the plane be saved to the field you have preset as its base and returned there for the next time you use m/s 'Flight'
this should be an easy option for a civilian sim - not something you need to work around

some simple changes like these would give more of a sense of joining a living world then what we have in FSX currently....just a little more cow bell

Now that would be brilliant, lolol...

Perhaps an 'automatic save last flight?' A screen that showed you where all your planes are left at, but the option to move them. Maybe 'hanger locations'.

One of the things Bill Lyons used to create was some wild custom hangers. He made this one that had all these cool posters and things in it, old furniture in one corner, an RC plane hanging from the cieling that gently turned in the breeze.

 

[Lionheart]

what i'd like to see ..

the "main office" where you could select free flight, mission, multiplayer, options etc thats set up a bit like the dirt2 area, so its a 3d office with say free flight on a blank map which then leads to planning etc, missions on a map with markers and what not all over it, multiplayer could be a cabanet full of airfix models or summing, and options could be a desk.

Then once you've selected free flight, it'd take you to a simple planning page, bit like fs, so set location, date time and what not, with an option to do more advanced stuff if needbe. Then once you click fly it loads the airport and plane you wanna go to and sticks you either in a hanger or on the apron, where you can walk around and do a pre flight, then click on the canopy/door to board the plane and off you go.

If you had the skill, patience, time and a lot of money its certainly possible

Long ago, there was a sim called 'Flight'! It was brilliant. Very basic, but had photo real scenery, and a choice of like 4 or 5 bits of land to fly over, with their respective airports. When you started out in the sim, you were in the FBO office, with desk, choice of planes, etc. You could see the airport out the window, hear planes flying over, had clickable wall maps (locations?) and things. I vaguely remember it, but I remember putting in alot of time on that sim, and starting up in the FBO was one of the fun parts. It put you into the realism mode. Hard to explain.

 

[stansdds]

How about props that turn slowly while the starter switch is engaged and the engine fires and the prop spins up only when the mags are turned on and fuel is allowed into the engine?

 

[mjahn]

I sure wish MS would read this thread and take good note.

 

[Lionheart]

I am sure they do. It might be too late for the new 'Flight' sim, but maybe in the future.

 

[falcon409]

Long ago, there was a sim called 'Flight'! It was brilliant. Very basic, but had photo real scenery, and a choice of like 4 or 5 bits of land to fly over, with their respective airports. When you started out in the sim, you were in the FBO office, with desk, choice of planes, etc. You could see the airport out the window, hear planes flying over, had clickable wall maps (locations?) and things. I vaguely remember it, but I remember putting in alot of time on that sim, and starting up in the FBO was one of the fun parts. It put you into the realism mode. Hard to explain.

Yep, I flew that one too Bill, was that the same as Flight Unlimited, or was that an extension of "Flight". . .been too long. . . Also ProPilot.

 

[Lionheart]

It may have been Flight Unlimited. It had a little red Pitts biplane on the front of the CD package. I think it was in the Win98 era...



Bill