Well, that's interesting ...

Hmmm. Heard of that.
Just redistributing the old FSX through a new (possibly restricting) channel won't bring anyone any benefits, neither the users nor the redistributor.

I'm pessemistic.

Mark
 
Certainly interresting.

At least it secures a future source to purchase FSX once my original disks are starting to show read errors.
 
FWIW I run DTG's rail simulator, which has a lively-if-often-volatile third-party sector, and there aren't restrictions on that. Of course, it all depends on what kind of licensing deal they get from MS, who could stand to see their revenue side improve. Like all third-party hosts, Steam has it's advantages and disadvantages. Not that this will do me much good either, since I tend to use FS9 Silver Wings (yeah, I'm that retro). It's just that it tends to get my attention when MS blows the dust off a popular product they summarily dropped nearly a decade ago.
 
Not really going to do much for the hard core simmers and unlikely to appeal to the arcade lot.
And frankly, I really dislike being tied to Steam ......................... :banghead:
 
I have Steam, but I like to disable it before I fly, as it's just one more resource I don't need running on my PC that eats up performance.

I wonder if this effects Lockheed Martin's P3D licenses? Or if they (MS) are finally just going to sell LM the original software rights (I can't remember what the original was called anymore).
 
Sundog said:
I wonder if this effects Lockheed Martin's P3D licenses? Or if they (MS) are finally just going to sell LM the original software rights (I can't remember what the original was called anymore).
Click to expand...
It will have absolutely zero impact on Lockheed-Martin's licensing of the ESP1 source code. A factoid not well-known at all is that both Northrup and Flight1Tech also licensed the ESP1 source code.
 
I remember a couple of years or so ago wanting to get some additional mods, upgrades, aircraft, etc. to my "IL-2 Shturmovik: 1946" package so I could try out some post-WW2 and Vietnam-era aircraft and campaigns but found I could only do so through STEAM. Turned out to be nothing but a headache. so I chose to settle not having them. Some of these backroom deals between developers and third party gaming conduits rarely seem to benefit the users/players/fans, and more often seems to be an attempt at absolving the developers from future support for the products and those who buy them while making, by design, any further interaction a cash cow for "providers" like STEAM. Not impressed...

N.
 
There are plenty of older games that I have in a box with a code (Like most of the Simbin racing sims), and I can enter that code into Steam and get a digital copy of my game for free!

If this will be possible for FsX we could all get a free back-up, so this could be interesting.
 
ThinkingManNeil said:
I remember a couple of years or so ago wanting to get some additional mods, upgrades, aircraft, etc. to my "IL-2 Shturmovik: 1946" package so I could try out some post-WW2 and Vietnam-era aircraft and campaigns but found I could only do so through STEAM. Turned out to be nothing but a headache. so I chose to settle not having them. Some of these backroom deals between developers and third party gaming conduits rarely seem to benefit the users/players/fans, and more often seems to be an attempt at absolving the developers from future support for the products and those who buy them while making, by design, any further interaction a cash cow for "providers" like STEAM. Not impressed...

N.
Click to expand...

Skyrim is on Steam, and it's full of mods from the freeware community.
So Steam is absolutely NOT a problem for the community addons.
In reality, everything will depend on how the new owner of the franchise.
If they decide that FS should not be modable anymore, just like MS Flight, then FSX will end up like MS Flight (and I hope the owner will get some kicks in the teeth).

But if they simply "port" FSX to the Steam platform, then the sim should stay as modable as it ever was. I sincerly hope they will make it this way (and for once, I'm quite optimistic about it).
The only difference will be the install/uninstall of the sim. It will be so simple it might be hard to believe in the beginning :D
 
One major factor in the demise of a lot of commercial developers has been the lack of an ability to promote their brand. Conventional forms of advertising have been prohibitive to most due to costs not being covered by sales.

What an on-line delivery process like Steam can do is provide a much wider market base for commercial developers to sell product through the system. Usually, of course, a royalty or commission is deducted but the net result is access to a very large market otherwise denied to most developer/publishers.

If Flight had survived, I think it would have gone this way for most developers.:engel016:
 
n4gix said:
It will have absolutely zero impact on Lockheed-Martin's licensing of the ESP1 source code. A factoid not well-known at all is that both Northrup and Flight1Tech also licensed the ESP1 source code.
Click to expand...
ESP1, that's it. So you don't think MS will sell the code for that? They must be getting some good money through their licensing deals then.
 
Reading that announcement again the FSX distribution through Steam is an addition to the 'development and publishing' rights they agreed for all future flight products based on MS's platform.

I think it is unlikely this means FS11 is on its way, P3D has developed the FSX code to a point that DTG couldn't compete with unless they invested huge sums. So will they distribute an official 'entertainment' version of P3D or is this the resurrection of MS Flight? That was a sim in need of a lot of work as well.

Hard to see how DTG makes this viable, but it could be interesting to watch and unless they do something dumb like try and restrict the sale of FSX mods then it seems like it can only be good.
 
When word got out that MS had found 'a licensee' in the game business for their FS francise but wouldn't reveal its name, and around that time DTG ( who had just changed their name from Railsimulator to Dovetail Games... ) began talking about 'broaden our horizons' on their website it was not that difficult to put two and two together.

Later on rumour had it that it most probabely didn't concern FSX that much. Instead the name of MSFlight began to turn up more and more. And of course that would've been the right choice for DTG/Steam, wouldn't it. Take the poor MSFlight ugly duckling, feed it, nourish it and let it become the beautiful white swan it sadly never came to be while in the claws of MS. It's not too late !

I have read not only once that the complete FS world is still supposed to be there, locked up in the dungeons of MSFlight, waiting for a prince on a white horse to be freed from its chains.

I had good hope DTG would be that prince... Alas it looks like it's just another salesman who is going for easy money only. No prince, no white horse.... More likely a BMW.

'Broaden our horizons' ?...Ha!! Not with FSX you don't. With MSFlight you certainly COULD have !!


Dissapointed!! :a1310:
 
the DTG announcement says they are 'taking Flight' - and that "in addition - they have ALSO acquired FSX for Steam" -

so I understand their announcement to mean that they will develop both MSFlight and FSX - giving 3rd party groups the chance to model for both simulations...win win yes?

for us legacy FS9and FSX users who have hundreds if not thousands of dollars invested in PC upgrades and add ons for FSX this is good news
and for new simmers coming along, who will likely spend more on the newer MSFlight software this is good news

of course one can always install both simulators and see what changes may come
 
Steam will now also carry xplane.

Still can't get into this - hard to set up and scenery not on fsx level
 
heywooood said:
the DTG announcement says they are 'taking Flight' -
Click to expand...

Must've missed that... i only read that the overtaking by DTG of the MSFS franchise now 'takes flight' , aka the show is on the road, the cat's out of the bag, and all that.. :smile:

I just wish there's specific mention of 'MSFlight' in the announcement, then we had something to hope for. Maybe they thought it is not opportune to talk about that now, just in case it doesn't work out....

Here's something interesting i picked up from the, sofar, 11 pages of comments about the subject at Avsim :

quote

(disclaimer, I was a dev on Flight, TS2 and somewhat FSX). I really hope they make good use of the Flight codebase as it had so much more potential than what we were able to achieve before it was shutdown. The tools alone are like night and day in terms of usability compared to the ones in FSX. All it needs is some AI\ATC, jets and a little more content and I think the majority of people playing FS would seriously consider switching.

unquote

Maybe there's still hope...

We all laughed and ridiculed MS about the saddest show on virtual earth that was called "Flight" and quite rightly so, but personally, during my quarter century of virtual flying, i did NOT experience THE most immersive and atmospheric flightsim event ever in FSX, nore in FS9 or any version before that. Nope, happend in MSFlight !
 
I still have Flight on my HD...loved that Stearman

5 things I'd like to see in a Flight sim - 1) dynamic ship movement at sea..if its stormy and there is a swell the damn boats (carriers) need to simulate that - makes trapping much more interesting
2) if engine failures are part of the sim then mayday calls and emergency equipment and crews should mobilize (commercial airports) and ATC should be able to divert traffic
3) well there's 2 anyway


I wonder what else MSFlight could do within its structure that was beyond FSX....the weather effects and their impact on the aircraft in flight was better
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top