Hello, All,
Gifted with FS2002 Pro at Christmas (through my own prodding, I admit), I
finally got around to installing it today. With only brief fooling so far, I'm
delighted with it.
If GMax proves as handy as I suspect it will, I am likely to become a
regular GMax/FS2002 builder and flyer.
I note this as encouragement to other fence-sitters (such as myself) who
wondered whether their computer was up to the rigors of FS2002. Mine is a stock
Dell T-600, Pentium 600-MHz, with their 256 SDRAM option and whatever video
card they suggested at the time (not that FS-pesky Turtle; an NVidia 32,
maybe?).
As others have reported with FS2002, I get silky smooth operation bumping
the 25-fps target that seemed to be a default setting. (And, recall, modest
thought 25 fps may sound, it's 1 fps quicker than motion pictures.) Everything
else in my out-of-the-box installation was kept default with the exception of
full realism in flight difficulty and a couple of activated texture options
(not ground shadows, but others that looked promising). I haven't tried
optimizing anything as yet. But the Corsair is good fun, the Cessna on floats
is super, and even the Camel is nicely revamped compared with FS98's.
My next goal is to install and tune a bunch of my old crates, beginning with
the Wright Flyer, of course.
Last, in today's paper, I'm even seeing FS2002 at a modest discount, though
I suspect my kids paid the long price for FS2002 Pro. (Being the sport I am, I
gave them the $15 rebate form and necessary documentation.)
All in good fun. -- Dennis S, FSEngEd@aol.com