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Last post Author Topic: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!  (Read 31280 times)

lanux128

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Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« on: March 04, 2012, 01:42 AM »
found it via Gizmo's, this is a great piece of news for flight sim fans!

... It has a new name (just Microsoft Flight), and it's free. In its new incarnation, you play it as an online game, and the adventure takes place in and around Hawaii.  Other planes and environments are, or will be, available but these will be optional paid-for extras.

Before you can play, you'll need to download the Windows client for Microsoft Flight.  From my testing, this seems to work best from Internet Explorer.  Also, note that you'll need a decent games-spec graphics card in your PC, so check the requirements on the web site carefully.  It also requires Windows 7.


Website: http://www.microsoftflight.com/
Source: http://www.techsuppo...ack-and-its-free.htm

40hz

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2012, 02:42 AM »
Thanks for sharing. I was wondering if if they were going to do something like that with FlightSim. As a long time owner (starting with the first) right up until "X" the last incarnation, I'm not exactly happy. I would have preferred them to bring it back as a packaged product. But this is better than nothing I suppose.

And so much for the hopeful rumors that were circulating that Microsoft was going to either open source it - or just release it for free. (I never believed those rumors for a minute. Microsoft doesn't do things like that.) ;D

Also check out FlightGear - the free open source multiplatform flight sim! Here's a preview from version 2.4:



Note: version 2.6.0 has just been released.

And if you're bored flying around Earth, check out Orbiter 2010 Space Flight Simulator. Does for space what FlightGear does for "atmo."  (Windows only - sorry Linux & Mac people!)



 8) :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup:


ewemoa

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2012, 02:49 AM »
Both look quite impressive!

Thanks for sharing :)

40hz

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2012, 03:14 AM »
Both look quite impressive!

Thanks for sharing :)

You're welcome.

Now if somebody would care to personally recommend a good modern strategic submarine/sub-warfare simulator (i.e. SSN/SSBN class - not WWII era), or a full naval warfare simulator with decent submarine coverage, I'd be more grateful than words could tell. :)

Shades

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #4 on: March 08, 2012, 05:29 AM »
Well, there is a rather nice (and free) one for space vessels called: 'Battleships Forever'. 

40hz

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #5 on: March 08, 2012, 07:32 AM »
Well, there is a rather nice (and free) one for space vessels called: 'Battleships Forever'. 

I'm on it! Thx!!!

Carol Haynes

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #6 on: March 08, 2012, 09:56 AM »
Anyone actually tried FlightGear?

I eventually found a config file for my joystick (there was a specific file supplied as part of the install but it didn't work properly - unless you like to spin on the spot) but then I found if you did any sort of aerobatics the artificial horizon was way out afterwards.

I tried Oribiter too - I am sure is very clever but it looked like too steep a learning curve for me!

tranglos

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #7 on: March 31, 2012, 10:55 AM »
I eventually found a config file for my joystick (there was a specific file supplied as part of the install but it didn't work properly - unless you like to spin on the spot) but then I found if you did any sort of aerobatics the artificial horizon was way out afterwards.
-Carol Haynes (March 08, 2012, 09:56 AM)

Haven't tried it, but from what I've read around MS flight sims, this is how the actual thing behaves IRL. The gyro goes out of whack when you pull too many Gs, and it may take up to 30 mins or so for it to stabilize. What I am not sure about is whether flight sims "for the rest of us" should simulate such detail, as it makes the whole thing quite frustrating.

(It's like the oil temp indicator in the cockpit: what am I supposed to do if it goes too high? Call MS support? The sim doesn't include airport mechanics, after all. Why simulate something that I have no control over and is entirely irrelevant to the gameplay? In a real pilot training sim, sure, but in a general audience product that's going overboard IMO.)

I tried Oribiter too - I am sure is very clever but it looked like too steep a learning curve for me!

Aargh. Orbiter won't play sound for me, and there's no solution to be found. Too bad, since it looks very neat. I'm sure it works on the devs' machines though :-) Reminds me of when I tried Red Hat Linux more than a decade ago. With a sound card, you were on your own. (Sad to say, but sometimes I do prefer corporate products, because they can be expected to actually work across all hardware. I don't have anything unusual, either. Orbiter apparently doesn't talk to my chip.)

« Last Edit: March 31, 2012, 11:05 AM by tranglos »

Carol Haynes

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #8 on: March 31, 2012, 11:09 AM »
For Orbiter sound you have to download and install the sound bits separately. Not sure why they did it that way.

Sounds works for me but I don't find the sound terribly inspiring - mainly just roaring noises of the engines.

Carol Haynes

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #9 on: March 31, 2012, 11:30 AM »
PS: I have MS FlighstSim X and am just downloading Free MS Flight.

I have now discovered why they haven't gone for a new packaged version!

The base game is free but lots of stuff that was in X now has to be bought as an addon - and they are not cheap at all.

For example the Hawaiian Adventure Pack (which seems to be included in X) costs $19.99 alone. I haven't paid for it (and won't be) so maybe they added something extra - but still it is part of the cash cow that MS is trying to become. What's the betting MS Flight will be a free Metro app in Windows 8 and all the addons will be in their own App Store - they way they can drag in revenue from 3rd party FS developers who would have to sell through the App store or get out of the MS FS market!

A couple of those 'addon' packs would probably cost more than the complete MS FS X (which by the way still runs fine on Windows 7, including 64 bit).

40hz

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #10 on: March 31, 2012, 12:04 PM »
Sounds works for me but I don't find the sound terribly inspiring - mainly just roaring noises of the engines.
-Carol Haynes (March 31, 2012, 11:09 AM)

You're very polite about it. Not "terribly inspiring" is a masterpiece of understatement. My GF likens Orbiter's audio to the sound of roaring plumbing in a busy public restroom.  ;D

I usually play it with the sound off and some Strauss playing quietly in the background. Blame that on me being imprinted when I first saw the docking sequence scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey when I was a helpless and impressionable child. In my poor brain, Strauss waltzes have been inextricably linked with space flight visuals ever since. 8)

For those too young to have remembered:



 8) :Thmbsup:

tranglos

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #11 on: March 31, 2012, 12:12 PM »
PS: I have MS FlighstSim X and am just downloading Free MS Flight.

I have now discovered why they haven't gone for a new packaged version!

The base game is free but lots of stuff that was in X now has to be bought as an addon - and they are not cheap at all.
-Carol Haynes (March 31, 2012, 11:30 AM)

True, and it's been a common complaint. Then again, the same can be said about third-party add-ons to FSX, without which the sim environment is rather bland.

The Hawaiian Adventure Pack gives you all the major Hawaiian islands and one (only one!) new plane - a small, fast, single-prop RV-6. Even that doesn't allow you to fly all the missions in the game though. To fly cargo and passengers you need the larger Maule, which is a separate paid add-on (but a very satisfying plane to fly, unless your main joy is in aerobatics).

I've actually gone and bought the pack and the Maule and I love them and I am seriously hooked, even though I don't like how MS is selling them at all. But, the sim experience is really cool; it's just bound to become very expensive in the long run. Ask me if there's anything I can help with. (If I can find the time, I may write a detailed review of MS Flight.)

In short, MS Flight cannot be seriously considered free, since the free package is extremely limited. It's no more than a demo.

A couple of those 'addon' packs would probably cost more than the complete MS FS X (which by the way still runs fine on Windows 7, including 64 bit).

Yeah, but barely :-) It's another story. I bought FSX and MS Flight within days from each other. MS FLight, with all the detailed terrain, weather, lighting and shadows, runs fine at max quality settings on my system. In FSX, by contrast, I have to pull the terrain, weather and all other sliders almost to minimum just to get a frame rate that's usable but still not smooth. FSX really shows its age; I've read that it doesn't offload any graphics rendering to the GPU, so the CPU has way too much to do. Does it even use multiple cores? It feels as if it's running on one! In fact, with the generic airports, default terrain both ugly (water!) and boring (same everywhere), I am seriously underwhelmed. MS Flight only gives you Hawaii, but in an amazing detail and quality. I fly just to look around, and it's awesome. (And the airports and other landmarks check out against Google Maps in satellite view - there's a lot of actual terrain, not generic textures).

« Last Edit: March 31, 2012, 12:26 PM by tranglos »

tranglos

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #12 on: March 31, 2012, 12:16 PM »
For Orbiter sound you have to download and install the sound bits separately. Not sure why they did it that way.
-Carol Haynes (March 31, 2012, 11:09 AM)

The OpenAL? The installer claims to be installing it. But, no joy.

Carol Haynes

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #13 on: March 31, 2012, 12:23 PM »
A couple of those 'addon' packs would probably cost more than the complete MS FS X (which by the way still runs fine on Windows 7, including 64 bit).

Yeah, but barely :-) It's another story. I bought FSX and MS Flight within days from each other. MS FLight, with all the detailed terrain, weather, lighting and shadows, runs fine at max quality settings on my system. In FSX, by contrast, I have to pull the terrain, weather and all other sliders to minimum just to get a frame rate that's usable but still not smooth. FSX really shows its age; I've read that it doesn't offload any graphics rendering to the GPU, so the CPU has way too much to do. In fact, with the default terrain both ugly (water!) and boring, I am seriously underwhelmed. MS Flight only gives you Hawaii, but in an amazing detail and quality. I fly just to look around, and it's awesome. (And the airports and other landmarks check out against Google Maps in satellite view - there's a lot of actual terrain, not generic textures).

Strange FS X seems to run fine on my system with everything cranked to max ???

Where do you buy the extras? I can only see Hawaii Adventure Pack and three planes. Is that all there is?

tranglos

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #14 on: March 31, 2012, 12:34 PM »
A couple of those 'addon' packs would probably cost more than the complete MS FS X (which by the way still runs fine on Windows 7, including 64 bit).

Yeah, but barely :-) It's another story. I bought FSX and MS Flight within days from each other. MS FLight, with all the detailed terrain, weather, lighting and shadows, runs fine at max quality settings on my system. In FSX, by contrast, I have to pull the terrain, weather and all other sliders to minimum just to get a frame rate that's usable but still not smooth. FSX really shows its age; I've read that it doesn't offload any graphics rendering to the GPU, so the CPU has way too much to do. In fact, with the default terrain both ugly (water!) and boring, I am seriously underwhelmed. MS Flight only gives you Hawaii, but in an amazing detail and quality. I fly just to look around, and it's awesome. (And the airports and other landmarks check out against Google Maps in satellite view - there's a lot of actual terrain, not generic textures).

Strange FS X seems to run fine on my system with everything cranked to max ???
-Carol Haynes (March 31, 2012, 12:23 PM)

At max, I get maybe one frame per second :-) Win 7 32-bit, Core2 Duo 2.6 GHz, 4 GM RAM, NVidia GTX 275 GPU with 896 MB memory. Not the hottest specs today, but it still runs new DirectX 10 games well at close to max settings.

Where do you buy the extras? I can only see Hawaii Adventure Pack and three planes. Is that all there is?

Two ways. When you start Flight, at the main screen there's a sliding image on the left. (Click the arrows to change). Maule should be listed there, as well as two other add-on aircraft: the Mustang and the Zero. (But they are crippled - there's no cockpit view).

In-game, click the Hangar icon. The pane at the bottom shows all planes: the ones you can fly and the ones available for purchase (marked with a price in MS points).

You may need to register an MS Games account first (frustrating! nowhere near the ease of Steam) and be connected to it in-game.


On edit: actually, scratch that. You did say you see the Hawaiian pack and the planes, sorry, I missed that. Yes, this is all there is for now. Four single-prop planes plus the two crippled ones (and who came up with the brilliant idea to fly a Mitsubishi Zero over Pearl Harbor?).

MS has announced an Alaska expansion pack, to be out in Spring. Hope they include some twin-engine aircraft there, and jets. Within Hawaii, there really isn't much to do with a jet, but the whole of Alaska rendered at the same level of detail would be nice.

But, yes, for now that's all there is.
« Last Edit: March 31, 2012, 12:39 PM by tranglos »

KynloStephen66515

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #15 on: March 31, 2012, 01:46 PM »
MSFlight vs X-Plane 10? = Gimme X-Plane any day!

tranglos

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #16 on: March 31, 2012, 02:03 PM »
MSFlight vs X-Plane 10? = Gimme X-Plane any day!
-Stephen66515 (March 31, 2012, 01:46 PM)

Tried that too, the trial. Got a god-awful frame rate, even though my system falls well within their specs. No idea why, but it was so bad I uninstalled it after one try.

Will try again some time, when I've had enough of MS Flight, but in my initial impression it was somewhat frustrating to get started with. Does it have tutorials? Aircraft info?

It's probably quite lame of me, but I find it tedious to stay up in the air for hours without anything interesting to look out the window at. Hawaii was a good choice for MS, as is Alaska, since the terrain is varied and beautiful (and provides for many challenges if you want). Don't know about X-Plane, but in FSX Hawaii looks totally bland, and anywhere else is only worse. Add-on scenery is expensive, limited and it would probably make the frame rate unplayable.

But I *am* hooked and I finally have a reason to upgrade my hardware. The only problem is I'm not sure any hardware upgrade will help in FSX, since it really depends on the CPU clock only, and the clocks today are pretty much what they were five years ago.

KynloStephen66515

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #17 on: March 31, 2012, 02:34 PM »
MSFlight vs X-Plane 10? = Gimme X-Plane any day!
-Stephen66515 (March 31, 2012, 01:46 PM)

Tried that too, the trial. Got a god-awful frame rate, even though my system falls well within their specs. No idea why, but it was so bad I uninstalled it after one try.

Will try again some time, when I've had enough of MS Flight, but in my initial impression it was somewhat frustrating to get started with. Does it have tutorials? Aircraft info?

It's probably quite lame of me, but I find it tedious to stay up in the air for hours without anything interesting to look out the window at. Hawaii was a good choice for MS, as is Alaska, since the terrain is varied and beautiful (and provides for many challenges if you want). Don't know about X-Plane, but in FSX Hawaii looks totally bland, and anywhere else is only worse. Add-on scenery is expensive, limited and it would probably make the frame rate unplayable.

But I *am* hooked and I finally have a reason to upgrade my hardware. The only problem is I'm not sure any hardware upgrade will help in FSX, since it really depends on the CPU clock only, and the clocks today are pretty much what they were five years ago.


I had the same problem with Frame Rate up until I upgraded my GFX card and full utilized DX11 -I also found that (still cant figure it out) with default aircraft, when you try to take off, your plane will veer dramatically to the left for no reason I can explain, other than the default Cessna loading with the rudder on full and it doesn't help to actually rudder right to account for it.

Carol Haynes

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #18 on: March 31, 2012, 07:18 PM »
I have absolutely no problem running MS FS X.

6-core AMD Phenom II
Sapphire Radeon HD6870
16Gb memory
Windows 7 64-bit

I would be surprised if I did have problems running it as it is supposed to work on much lower spec.

WRT veering - I wonder if it is your joystick config? I had a similar problem with my joystick in FlightGear (went round in circles!).

KynloStephen66515

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #19 on: March 31, 2012, 10:12 PM »
I have absolutely no problem running MS FS X.

6-core AMD Phenom II
Sapphire Radeon HD6870
16Gb memory
Windows 7 64-bit

I would be surprised if I did have problems running it as it is supposed to work on much lower spec.

WRT veering - I wonder if it is your joystick config? I had a similar problem with my joystick in FlightGear (went round in circles!).
-Carol Haynes (March 31, 2012, 07:18 PM)

I can run FSX on Ultra :) - My previous post was about X-Plane  8)

*edit*

Just re-read my last post, it does look like im talking about FSX lol sorry.

Note to self: Read properly before posting a reply
Note to self 2: Dont post when your rushing around to leave

 ;D

tranglos

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #20 on: April 15, 2012, 07:07 PM »
A quick update to say Flight is now available on Steam - the full Hawaii package. Now, before steam, you had to open a MS Games account (which is a Live account plus Game Points that you buy), and during the game/sim Flight connects to that account. Since you can now buy it through steam, I wonder what happens to that. If you buy it on steam, can you buy new DLC later directly from MS? Not sure that I'd want to mix the two!

There's a good, fair write-up of Flight here. Though this is written by an experienced simmer, and I am a total novice, I'd say pretty much what he says, about the good parts and the bad parts. His impression is spot-on:

my first impression was: Wow. This is awesome. And terrible. And beautiful. And ugly. And compelling. And boring

(Well, almost spot-on - I can't say I've seen the "ugly".)


I've been switching between Flight and FSX. Since FSX has a lot of tutorials, I use it to learn, then try it all out in Flight, where the flying environment is more fun. Then I go back to FSX, because it lets you plan longer trips, use the autopilot, ATC, all that. My main impression is that flying and (particularly) landing is significantly easier in FSX!

Now, I'm only flying single and twin-prop aircraft (since I realized I can't even level out a jet in flight :-) in fair weather, with realism settings at about medium, increasing them gradually. I have no idea which of the two has a more realistic flight model and aircraft response, but the difference is surprisingly large.

Flying the tutorials in FSX, when I am instructed to maintain 55 knots in the Cessna 172, no problem. Climb or descend at an assigned rate, comes after a few tries. Maintain an altitude - that takes me more time to get right than I think it should, but I can get there. Trying to do the same in Flight is way harder, sometimes next to impossible.

I like the Maule 7 a lot, and it's the only aircraft available in both Flight and FSX, so there should be some comparison. In Flight, this thing knows only two settings: climb uncontrollably or drop like a rock. Above 56% or so throttle, it will continue climbing until it stalls, regains airspeed, then climb again, in a huge flattened sinusoid. Below that, and it will descend at much more than the 500 feet per minute you're supposed to keep (more or less) during descent. There is nothing in-between.

(The intriguing thing is that when you switch to "flying with the mouse", everything becomes child's play - just point the mouse level and the aircraft will fly level. No fun, and certainly no realism. But with throttle+joystick, the same tasks become a near impossibility.)

That same aircraft becomes completely tame in FSX. Level flight - easy. Reduce throttle to 25%, and it will glide down nicely they way you want it to. In Flight, at 25% it's a paperweight.

Oh, there's trimming, but the controls are way oversensitive in Flight, with no settings to make them less so. A single press of a button will trim by 5, 7 or 9 percent, and the amount varies, so you can't bring the trim back to neutral at all. The only way to trim by 1% is to use the mouse wheel over the trim control in the virtual cockpit, which almost always requires panning the view, which prevents you from controlling the aircraft properly... and even the 1% changes seem to have an exaggerated effect.  Exaggerated in comparison with FSX, that is - not sure which is closer to reality.

In FSX, flying the simpler aircraft, I can grease the landings fairly easily, even make the recommended three-wheel touchdown in Maule is not that hard. In Flight, after over 80 hours flying time and over 700 landings (it keeps these stats for you), I can't make consistently soft landings. What's worse, at 100 or so feet above ground I still don't know what the touchdown is going to be like or if/how I can assure a soft one. It's unpredictable, and the aircraft just doesn't like to stay in the air very much.

Of the four aircraft available in Flight (excluding the external-view-only Mustang and Zero, which I'm not buying), the Stearman and the RV-6 behave very much like the Maule. Only the lowly Icon is more manageable. The RV-6 is the opposite of Maule in that it will climb happily even at 15% throttle or less, which makes it impossibly hard (for me, the greenhorn in the room) to properly slow it down to 60 kts or less for landing. With full flaps, I'm finding that I have to reduce the throttle to idle long before the touchdown point in order to slow down sufficiently, and then be very careful not to increase it above 6-8% if I don't want to overshoot the runway.

Somehow I have none of these problems in FSX, even when flying the more powerful twin-engines. They behave much more predictably to me, while I am really in no position to "predict" aircraft behavior in the first place.

Both FSX and Flight are great fun, both have tons of annoyances. FSX has all kinds of navigation (having ATC direct you to the runway is kinda cool), but I get off at the stop where you're supposed to start calculating fuel and landing weight (in your head, too). It crashes way too often, which is awfully frustrating during a training session or a mission, since they tend to be long (20, 40 minutes or more) and you can't skip to waypoints, like you can in Flight. And, I just have to say it, the UI in FSX is murder. Starting with the map, which you cannot resize beyond the tiny rectangle, or the spin controls in which you cannot type or which tend to reset to zero out of their own will when you set their values. Or how you cannot load a flight into the flight editor (e.g. to reuse the aircraft and airport but change the weather, etc.). It's hard to believe this UI passed quality checks in 2006. (I won't even mention usability tests.)

Flight, OTOH, is smooth as silk and has truly wonderful graphics, but as I switch between it and FSX, the lack of ATC, GPS, autopilot, a real map and other navigation aids takes away much of the initial fun. (Though flying an ILS approach in zero visibility without those helpers is as hard as it probably should be. Haven't cracked that one yet.)

I have no complaints yet about the limited range of aircraft in Flight - after all, the idea of taking a 7?7 from Maui to Oahu seems somewhat... out there. The limited area is more of an issue of course, but with the very limited navigation facilities, you would be hard pressed to navigate longer distances. (VOR does work, as long as you have FSX to learn how to use it in the first place!)

The much harder landings are more satisfying when you get them right. The frustrating part is, it's hard to know why you did or did not get them right. There's no recording, no replay and no flight analysis, so you are left to your imagination trying to figure out what you did wrong on approach. To me, learning, this is as bad as - maybe even worse than - all the other limitations in Flight, as it really adds to frustration. Trial and error works only as long as you can diagnose the error, which flight makes that much harder.

The appeal of Flight does seem to wane with time. What's keeping me with it is the challenges I haven't successfully completed, the varied weather patterns you can play with, and the overall ease of use and non-crashing. But I'm learning more from FSX, and in the long run FSX is probably the one to stay, if only I can keep it from crashing. In the end the only real advantage of Flight is in the beauty and detail of its graphics.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2012, 07:16 PM by tranglos »

KynloStephen66515

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #21 on: April 15, 2012, 07:14 PM »
MSFlight = Shitty Flying Game - No user created addons - Must pay out your ass for a single airplane - NOT a simulator.

Flight Simulator X = Pretty Decent Simulator, Huge Community, nice amount of aircraft as default, map = WHOLE WORLD

X-Plane = Incredible, although difficult. (And not all that expensive) - Only downfall = Requires insane Graphics capabilities to run in anywhere near "Top" GFX mode

---

Tranglos, do you fly online (FSX)? - If so, PM me, I am looking for some flying buddies :) - I only fly single/dual prop, no Jets, Jets are no fun for me...(Take off, hit AP, wait till you get close, disable AP, land...)

tranglos

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #22 on: April 15, 2012, 07:40 PM »
MSFlight = Shitty Flying Game - No user created addons - Must pay out your ass for a single airplane - NOT a simulator.
-Stephen66515 (April 15, 2012, 07:14 PM)

I don't know about the shitty game part. It *is* a game, with points, missions, achievements and so on. When you make a bad landing, at least you'll know by the reaction of your passengers. (Though sometimes the way they react has no bearing on whether you are awarded points for "happy passengers").

The ease with which you can get into it and start flying without hours of reading and memorizing acronyms, speeds, approaches etc. makes it pretty good as a game for me. As a simulator, I really cannot judge. On flightsim forums I have seen very respectful comments on its flight model though, even from people who despise it for all its limitations.

Flight Simulator X = Pretty Decent Simulator, Huge Community, nice amount of aircraft as default, map = WHOLE WORLD

True, but it's a poor quality world. I'll have to check more thoroughly, but from what I've seen so far, my country (Poland) does not have a single landmark in FSX, except the rivers, lakes and mountains. In FSX there's a mission set in Hawaii... full of empty, uniform green hills. In Flight, you are really there. And I imagine recreating the whole world at this level of detail would take considerable time and investment.

For FSX there are add-ons which are much more expensive than either sim. $70 for "Northern Rockies" from ORBX? (The sad thing is, I'm thinking of buying it anyway, they have a sale during April.) And even at this price all you get is limited areas (kind of like Hawaii in Flight, really), not the whole world.

X-Plane = Incredible, although difficult. (And not all that expensive) - Only downfall = Requires insane Graphics capabilities to run in anywhere near "Top" GFX mode

This I can totally believe, but I will need to seriously upgrade my machine before I can run it.



Tranglos, do you fly online (FSX)? - If so, PM me, I am looking for some flying buddies :) - I only fly single/dual prop, no Jets, Jets are no fun for me...(Take off, hit AP, wait till you get close, disable AP, land...)

Same here on jets, but I''ll have to learn to fly them first, before I make up my mind :-)

I've never used multiplayer since I tried that in Quake all those years ago and couldn't last 10 seconds. I don't really know yet how it works in FSX or if my system can take the additional load. Besides, no-one wants to see me fly at this stage :-)


KynloStephen66515

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #23 on: April 15, 2012, 08:11 PM »


I've never used multiplayer since I tried that in Quake all those years ago and couldn't last 10 seconds. I don't really know yet how it works in FSX or if my system can take the additional load. Besides, no-one wants to see me fly at this stage :-)



Multiplayer is very low on system resources, you can do local multiplayer, or use the built in Gamespy.  Plenty of servers online, mostly people just chasing each other in planes though. 

I try to create realistic flight conditions and sometimes do live ATC depending on my mood, those sessions are always fun xD

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Re: Microsoft Flight Simulator - Free!
« Reply #24 on: April 16, 2012, 12:48 PM »
Found some good tips for tweaking configuration files for Flight, especially stuff that cannot be modified inside the app. Includes advice on how to tame the out-of-control trimming.

And AvSim has a few useful tutorials that fill the significant gaps, such as navigating by VOR and ILS. (Older tutorials for FSX and other sims will likewise work, since the principle is the same and the controls are always similar.)