What has happened to CFS3 ?

[sixstrings5859]

What has happened to all the members that used to be here at SOH ? See only a handful of members in CFS3 General Discussions . Not a good sign. On the other hand i see many in the FSX discussion threads.Hate to see this happening with my favorite sim.What can we do to make things better ? I try spreading the good news of CFS3 everywhere i visit.Don't know if this helps but we got to do something to improve things. A topic most shy away from but it needs to be said.

 

[BorekS]

my friend told me FSX allows to enjoy some kind of shoot-to-traget features, so maybe people just thinking the dated CFS3 isnt needed anymore ... they probably didnt saw CFS3 with AnkorShaders.

the ultra combat simmers still keeps the Sturmovik series to play, which is moddable game some while too. not my go to sim, yet to download a BAT mod which is over 60 gigabytes (huh! having even not such free HDD space for download it) to play a few airplanes I like there.

CFS3 modding just lacks advertising. I thought I could hook some new fans with some new airplane add-ons, but I was wrong.

 

[MajorMagee]

Personally, I would have gone the way of everyone else a couple of years ago if it had not been for AnKor. His update removes a lot (but not all) of the old annoyances in the basic CFS3 game that turned the masses off way back in the middle of the last decade. Having said that, the freedom and creativity his shaders provide comes at a price, and for anyone that is only casually interested in CFS3 that doesn't want to make any investment in understanding what's going on under the hood, it's a non-starter.

Even over at WOFF where the quality of the models and the improvements in the campaign engine and AI have been world class, you'll find that interest is already falling off for anyone who isn't a dedicated enthusiast. I'm surprised and saddened when I read complaints over things like it's too difficult to change the settings, when someone doesn't like the default values.

It can be frustrating at times. For example, I've never been able to get the ETO and PTO Theater changing system to work reliably without eventually corrupting my install. Perhaps those of us that that have spent the time to understand the inner workings of CFS3, just don't have enough appreciation that those who are casual passers by have zero desire to do anything more that click the play button.

 

[sixstrings5859]

Must admit i'm been put off by the new shaders and not willing to get in too deep because of other interests . Have several sims for the "hard core" enthusiast such as RoF,OFF BhaH,Falcon 4.0 BMS,CFS3(9 installs), Il-2 '46 (updated version,VP modpack and BAT),BoB WoV, Flaming Cliffs 2 and a few others. Of all CFS3 is close to my heart because of the gameplay and mods. Years ago there was much more interest and growth was great. Now when i get to discussions there are only a few of us around.Mostly guest and very few users. CFS3 got a bad rap in the beginning and has had that cloud over us every since. Felt the same with Il-2 '46 until i realized just how much had been done to it over the years. Now i love it. CFS3 still has life to it so talk about it everywhere you can and spread the word. I'm only good at installing expansions, planes and other small stuff . Put off with the shaders because iv'e read a lot of problems here and there with it and can live with the way it is for now.Regards,Scott ps Thanks guys for all you have done for us. You're the greatest.

 

[sixstrings5859]

Most of the threads i did were to bring interest back into all things CFS3. But have not been met with any rewards so i'm doing something wrong. All the great things that can be done may fall by the wayside but i hope not. The one thing i'd love to see is Pat Pattle's CFS3-BoB updated with all new missions and campaigns and i'll be in hog heaven.Have a pre-release version and it's a lot of fun. My favorite CFS3 install. Great work . Maybe that would be a spark as it could end up being the most popular expansion for CFS3.Very easy to install and with the right missions and campaigns to make it immersive would be the trick. I haven't got tired yet of CFS3 and plan on being here a while.

 

[gecko]

There is something in the works that I hope will rectify some of the issues new players have with diving into CFS3. Not yet ready to spill all the beans though.

 

[Pat Pattle]

Sounds intriguing Daniel, I always get excited when I hear that you have a new idea!

My tuppence worth:

Just because some folks are not posting all of the time it doesn’t mean that there’s no interest in CFS3.
Besides which, given the 100’s of aircraft and other mods available if development stopped today there’s still many years worth of flying fun to be had with what is available already. I don’t see why new stuff has to be coming along all of the time to retain interest.

Yes CFS3 does require some input but at the minimum if people bothered to learn to use just mission builder then every session would bring something new.

Here is just some of the stuff I have in the works. Progress is painfully slow but there’s all manner of other things going on that have precedent over hobbies, unfortunately.

Rant over, here’s some pics…:0)

 

[Pat Pattle]

few more:

 

[hairyspin]

I say old chap, that pier needs a concert party!

Just because people don't drop in or post every day doesn't mean they have lost interest entirely, and it's spring-like at the moment with the other demands on our time that brings. CFS3's heyday has certainly passed and the initial incompatibilities with Windows 10 are also bound to have an effect, but this is still one of the best forums around for helpful enthusiasm and general camaraderie. Why else would we be here?

Oh Clive, I am glad to see that pilot has his suitcase as well as the old crates...

 

[MajorMagee]

I say old chap, that pier needs a concert party!

hairyspin

I saw the movie Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children recently and perhaps that pier deserves a battle with invisible monsters.

 

[hertzie]

Once in a while, especially when there is an interesting new download available, I give CFS3 a new try. Sometimes even a fresh new install. And it ALWAYS ENDS in disappoinment. Whether I try it in XP, Win7 or Win10, somewhere halfways the game crashes or gives errors that are mostly impossible to repair. The only CFS3 that really works is OFF or WOFF.

hertzie.

 

[sixstrings5859]

There are many visitors in general discussions so the word is getting out. CFS3 still has some legs and is still fun to me. Thanks to the few modders we have. Thanks guys for all the time and work involved to bring us joy. Don't have any problems with any of my 9 installs and is very stable and bug free. There is plenty of work done so far to keep us busy for a while. Thanks to all involved in bringing us all the wonderful stuff for CFS3. Regards,Scott

 

[Pat Pattle]

I've just checked out the new aircraft uploads of recent months, Tempest II, Black Widow, ME163, Luft '46 aircraft etc etc. There's a certain RAF twin fighter in the works, an all new P47, Manchester, Nigels skin work and lots more. Thinking about it, what part of CFS3 is dying??

 

[sixstrings5859]

Guess you are right Pat. A lot of stuff has come out recently . A lot to be thankful of.

 

[gecko]

Those do look appetizing Clive! I hope they see the light of day. We've enjoyed a steady stream of new high quality content lately, a few years back I seem to recall a time when not much was being built, but not so today. But for the uninitiated, the price of entry to the best CFS3 has to offer is a somewhat daunting learning curve.

 

[sixstrings5859]

Clive always does a fantastic job. His BoB install is my favorite expansion. There are some really great people here. Will wait till things get sorted out with Ankor's shaders before i dive into that. A great improvement but complicated from what i read. It is the same with Il-2 '46. Can install the expansions but don't add anything to them, (with over 500 aircraft there is not much to add). With CFS3 i can do more but been around a while with it. If everything stopped for CFS3 it would still be my favorite sim. So much has been done it is hardly recognizable . Thanks for the great work guys ! Regards,Scott

 

[MajorMagee]

Will wait till things get sorted out with Ankor's shaders before i dive into that. A great improvement but complicated from what i read.
Regards,Scott

I'm curious what you think is going to happen that will sort things out for you?

 

[sixstrings5859]

Read from posts of problems with code.Something i try not to mess with unless for some aircraft i can add lines to effects or the like. I can do the simple stuff like installing expansions,adding aircraft,vehicles,missions and so on.That is why, in my opinion,i don't have problems with my installs. Keep it simple. Graphics are fine the way they are and aircraft just wasn't so shiny as pictures in the posts show. Plus i don't want a drop in fps. Just my opinion (that doesn't mean much). See where there is a lot of fans but i'm not yet convinced .

 

[MajorMagee]

Thanks, I understand. It can be intimidating if you want to customize everything to the full potential of the new shaders, but my package attempts to make it as simple as possible to drop in a few files and you're ready to go with default settings.

As far as the FPS dropping, mine actually went up with the last few updates as the code now manages the CPU workload across multi-processors better.

 

[grover1]

The thing with CFS3 is a Microsoft didn't put the effort into it like they did with CFS2 and CFS1. That's not to say a lot of things are done better than CFS2 or CFS1, but there are a lot of things that could have been improved upon. Part of it is how the game is predominantly in .XML format instead of the older format from CFS2 or CFS1.

But third party designers have improved a lot of the visuals and immersion factor, there are always rooms for improvement.