Look at FSX as retooling the factory.
A Look back
It had to be done if we were going to continue furthering the advances in simulation.
Yes FS9 was great.... because it had reached the pinnacle of development built on by previous versions (FS98, CFS1,FS2000,CFS2,FS2002,CFS3).
FS9 was the last and best model of all of these because of the previous versions.... but you know what??... FS9 also had reached the end of the line in terms of what it could do.
How could it be possible to put advances such as:
- materials,
- moving carriers,
- curvature of the earth,
- 1m texture resolution,
- true systems simulation built in external modules (aka A2A's Accusim),
- missions
... into code that goes back to 1995-1996??
Answer is.. they could not. With all the advances in technology... to choose otherwise would have been assinine.
A Tough Choice
Aces made the right choice and the team recognized that there would be some backlash as we were moving away from established rules of designing.
Also we would lose some people who became very comfortable using the tools available and those created by our more talented coders in the community who provided the budding designers... some great tools to make their jobs easier (Ground2K, FSDS, AFCAD, et al)
So imagine that one of the greatest cars of all time... the Model T could have somehow evolved to make it into today. Would it still be one of the best selling cars? Of course not.
What Has FSX Accomplished?
Lets look at what FSX has accomplished in it's short 2 year life.
- Given the public a state of the art systems simulation made possible when developers take advantage of the technology... see Accusim.
- Taken scenery objects to it's highest levels ever seen with more detail and enhancements with fewer fps penalties.
- For the first time we can get world texture resolution of 1 meter if the source is available. Being able to get true photo quality textures to add and further advance the realism of the sim.
- A world model where the curvature of the earth is modeled. Mesh can be handled in full detail.... with a lesser fps penalty then what FS9 imposed. Rivers and roads are more accurate, holy cow... we can see the improvements in autogen by even the most pessimistic person can agree... 50x
- new features in modeling have pushed aircraft design quality to never before seen levels.
So in addition to the above....that all FS fans have seen. There are other things behind the scenes that not all simmers might have caught on to.
FSX has done more than any of the previous versions to bring about a new age in simulation. The new advances in simulation that FSX introduced has:
- Helped to return the Train Simulator enterprise by providing the world engine and systems simulation.
- Opened a new ESP franchise to provide professional and certified simulation to a real business entity - aerospace, military and soon systems and procedural simulation.
- Bring about a return of the Comb..... ( OOPS! Wishful thinking... but I am hoping we can see this engine bring about the revival of CFS... hehe I know Aces.... but I am hope everlasting.) :costumes::costumes:
Being First Is Not Always The Best Thing
Now FSX is the first... the genesis of a new simulation platform that will be used not only by FS.
"Who cares!" says a FS pessimist.... well you should care.
FSX, TS2 and ESP all share a Core technology. Heck there is even a team working on nothing but the core engine! Those advances in the Core engine made by the other products only benefit FS. Even advances made outside the Core could help FS.
Ok the pessimist comes back...
" Well maybe the team should just stick to FS and not get distracted."
Those that have been around long enough know what the wait time is between versions of FS. Does one really think that in the past... they finished a version and started working on a new version?
That is simply not the truth. There has been times in the past that all of that talent that was gathered to create the sim.... has not stuck together. If the team does not remain intact... it gets torn apart and the talent flows to other projects. I do not think that Microsoft in the past paid to keep the team together after an FS version was completed.
Now I was waxing nostalgic with CFS2 the other night. I went to open the Readme... I could only find 2 names on that list that are still with Aces today. Here is an exercise.... go open your FS9 readme...check the credits and see how many people you recognize still on Team Aces.
Fact is... Microsoft is not going to pay to keep a team together that does not produce revenue. The amount of FS copies sold could not pay to keep this team together.
So now FSX and the changes made @ Aces has also provided for more revenue streams:
- TS 2
- ESP
- FS(x)
Having multiple revenue streams helps keep the talent intact... a first over there I believe.
Change Can Be Difficult
"Yeah but these new tools though are so difficult and time consuming to learn. I could get it done in <enter favorite FS9 design tool here> but now I have all these other tools to learn."
I would bet the amount of money made is really in the payware side of the industry. You pay $60-70 dollars for a copy of FS. Next one goes off buying a miriad of planes for $20-60 each. Not to mention the scenery modules @ $10-40 a piece. Where does most of the money get spent? .... with the payware. So really payware developers get no gripe about the new tools and learning curve. The price one pays to do business.
As a hobbyist myself... I understand the time constraints that FSX entails. I have not learned all the secrets of materials,bump mapping and the SDK.
True it's tougher now than ever before to keep up with the Joneses.
Heck I have not even finished my first FSX project. Started many... but have completed not a one. :redf:
Hey though.... I do this for love. Those that know me, know that I love to recreate the past.... a 30s-40s-50s look. I love it when I can create something and someone else can use it and say WoW!... just like being there.
Truth is I have even less time than I used to have to devote to FS design. Real Life... the biggest killer of FS design.
To those of you who have built freeware for the world to share... I have nothing but the utmost respect and gratitude.
You do it for love and becuase you want to share your vision with others who share the same vision. Whether it be a WW1 biplane, a ship, a not so famous airfield... and then those who can bring the past to life.
Yep... takes longer now... more difficult learning curve. Love has no bounds though does it? :costumes: Besides... that project you just finished is the best you have ever done eh?
Look at what the new tools have brought.
Reflective materials, metal looks real, wow... check out the # of polys on this model I created and it performs great!, functioning MFD displays?!?, operate in multiplayer as the flight engineer??!??!
Yeah a lot of time put in... but check out those results huh?
In the End
Yep FSX has experienced some growing pains... and so have it's users. Really though it takes some understanding of the history of the franchise to understand where we are going.
No...not all the decisions were right... but we are playing with hindsight.
The reality is... if you have FSX installed on a machine built in the last 2 years... your experience will be enjoyable. Go out today... you can build a machine using first-tier Intel Conroe processors and and video card for anywhere in the range of $400-$1000.. depending on what pieces you can reuse ( case, fans, power supply, disks).
We are talking $ if we want to be first adopters yes. Tell me what in the electronics industry is not that case?
The future of the FS enterprise though looks real promising. Tools will only be optimized even more. Maybe see some more features, and more than likely be more reliable like that ol Model.... er I mean FS9.
In the meantime... we will have all those TS2 and ESP users suffering though all the teething issues next time for us! Heh Heh!:costumes: