MS Flight Sim X: Accelerator... watch the trailer!

[Wedg1e]

http://www.fsinsider.com/news/Pages/AccelerationTr...

Who needs a real plane?

[dilbert]

Looks cool, but the video quality in the trailer doesn't look that different from the video quality in the trailer for MS flight sim that was capable of running on a P200 back in 1995.

I'm sure that the performance of the software has improved considerably, especially on more recent hardware, but you have to decide on videos of the actual software, and not the trailers!

[Digby]

dilbert said:

Looks cool, but the video quality in the trailer doesn't look that different from the video quality in the trailer for MS flight sim that was capable of running on a P200 back in 1995.

I'm sure that the performance of the software has improved considerably, especially on more recent hardware, but you have to decide on videos of the actual software, and not the trailers!

You lost me! That clip showed in game footage, but are you
saying that it was a poor quality so you need to see some better quality in game footage?

[dilbert]

Digby said:

dilbert said:

Looks cool, but the video quality in the trailer doesn't look that different from the video quality in the trailer for MS flight sim that was capable of running on a P200 back in 1995.

I'm sure that the performance of the software has improved considerably, especially on more recent hardware, but you have to decide on videos of the actual software, and not the trailers!

You lost me! That clip showed in game footage, but are you
saying that it was a poor quality so you need to see some better quality in game footage?

Er, no. I simply said that the video trailer doesn't seem that much different from those of 10 years ago. Back then the quality of the game was very much worse than the video. I'm not certain that the sim has improved considerably, but I would think there is a greater degree of convergence between what they advertise, and come up with in practice.

Something that is worth thinking about is that you can get Google Earth for free. I appreciate that GE doesn't offer a very good IMC sim, but the thing is that there have always been better IMC simulators, than MS Flight sim.

[Digby]

dilbert said:

you have to decide on videos of the actual software, and not the trailers!

That's the bit that confused me.It did show footage of the software, or am i missing the point of your post Sir?
If you watch a decent flight sim x vid for example, it can look utterly stunning.Compare it to a video
of FS 98 and 98 looks like a bland, flat, wishy washy, texture devoid mess
An old spec PC wouldn't have a hope in hells chance of running the later flight sims.

When you say the video trailer doesn't seem much different than they did 10 years ago, that is surely like
suggesting a Call Of Duty 4 video is much like an original Doom clip?

[Marc W]

dilbert said:

Looks cool, but the video quality in the trailer doesn't look that different from the video quality in the trailer for MS flight sim that was capable of running on a P200 back in 1995.

I think your memory of Flight Sim in 1995 must be better than the reality! I've got Flight sim from back then and I just dug it out, the current version of Flight Sim is absolutely miles ahead of the 95 version. The Graphics of the current one are getting pretty close to relaity whereas the 95 one is very clearly a computer game. The sound is also a huge leap forward with the 95 version sounding really flat.

[dilbert]

Digby said:

dilbert said:

you have to decide on videos of the actual software, and not the trailers!

That's the bit that confused me.It did show footage of the software, or am i missing the point of your post Sir?
If you watch a decent flight sim x vid for example, it can look utterly stunning.Compare it to a video
of FS 98 and 98 looks like a bland, flat, wishy washy, texture devoid mess
An old spec PC wouldn't have a hope in hells chance of running the later flight sims.

When you say the video trailer doesn't seem much different than they did 10 years ago, that is surely like
suggesting a Call Of Duty 4 video is much like an original Doom clip?

I seem to remember that many of the game trailers back then had a disclaimer at the bottom that said something along the lines of "Not Actual Gameplay", or something. I'm pretty sure that MS never did!I'm not saying things have failed to moved on, but I would say that the adverts are less optimistic than they once were!

I don't have a copy of MS flight sim, I never did, but I spent some time with it back then, and I'd be surprised if "the world" is any bigger than it was then.

I suppose it depends alot on what you might want out of it. I never really looked at it from the perspective of a "game", although I can appreciate that many may do. The thing you really need IMO, is the hills to be in the right place, and towns that map correctly. I couldn't really be bothered if the towers on a plane racing course look that good.

What would be really good would be Google Earth with the ability to simulate a variety of planes and instrumentation. I don't think it's quite there yet.

Another key point that's really missing, is that no-one produces a collimated display small enough for home use. I think that stereoscopic goggles might improve that, and be practical for home use, again, I'm not clear that such things are available for the consumer market.

Edited by dilbert on Saturday 15th December 19:19

[Digby]

I'm no flight sim expert, but from what i gather, over 20,000 airports are available, multi
monitor setups are also available to view side window/cockpit views and even behind if you wish, real time weather
can be downloaded, there is a huge list of planes and choppers available (all with detailed cockpits) and you
can even listen to other airport radio chatter etc.In fact, one guy flew round the word and his route took 21 days hopping from
airport to airport to refuel etc.I'm not saying the entire world was 100% mapped, but all the inetersting mountain ranges, deserts, sea expanses and city scapes were.Even those little backwater strips were available.

I played flight sim X on a decent rig and it was stunning.There were buildings galore, cars on freeways, all the terrain/hills
were supposedly mapped just as they were in the real world, heck, you could even fly down the strip in Vegas
The higher you got, the better it looked to be honest.In fact, the original video in this post looked much worse than
it did when i played.That clip looked like there was quite a bit of high end detail missing and the res wasn't set very high.

Believe me, if you crank up the numerous bells and whistles on the latest flight sim games (terrain, buildings, clouds etc etc etc) you can make almost any current machine struggle.

I understand what you are saying regards GE though, maybe one day..

Edited by Digby on Saturday 15th December 20:29

[dilbert]

Digby said:

I'm no flight sim expert, but from what i gather, over 20,000 airports are available, multi
monitor setups are also available to view side window/cockpit views and even behind if you wish, real time weather
can be downloaded, there is a huge list of planes and choppers available (all with detailed cockpits) and you
can even listen to other airport radio chatter etc.In fact, one guy flew round the word and his route took 21 days hopping from
airport to airport to refuel etc.I'm not saying the entire world was 100% mapped, but all the inetersting mountain ranges, deserts, sea expanses and city scapes were.Even those little backwater strips were available.

I played flight sim X on a decent rig and it was stunning.There were buildings galore, cars on freeways, all the terrain/hills
were supposedly mapped just as they were in the real world, heck, you could even fly down the strip in Vegas
The higher you got, the better it looked to be honest.In fact, the original video in this post looked much worse than
it did when i played.That clip looked like there was quite a bit of high end detail missing and the res wasn't set very high.

Believe me, if you crank up the numerous bells and whistles on the latest flight sim games (terrain, buildings, clouds etc etc etc) you can make almost any current machine struggle.

I understand what you are saying regards GE though, maybe one day..

Edited by Digby on Saturday 15th December 20:29

Even GE isn't so great when you start digging. The biggest frustraton is things like the Aleutian islands, and stuff. Being able to see that many Russian fields are ploughed with Oxen, is quite interesting though!!!

There is also no substitue for sticking the goggles on, looking over your shoulder and seeing the tail!!!

Edited by dilbert on Saturday 15th December 20:47