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Lost the fire?


Smiffy

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In the past I would spend hours upon hours glued to FSX flying round and round the world in various types of aeroplane; pretty much every spare penny going towards the latest and greatest scenery or plane. Like a pig in muck I would pick my favourite (at the time) AccuSimmed aeroplane and trundle off some place, taking great pride in how long I could make my Acusimmed aeroplanes last without totally destroying them. Admiring the scenery and weather along the way, occasionally diverting to that temping airstrip en-route to do a couple of touch and goes. Before continuing on to my destination for the day. Sometimes even making two or three flights a day, I would always pick up from where I last left that particular aeroplane.

 

Though over the past few years I find my desire to "play" (it says its a game for windows on the box :p) FSX ever diminishing. Trying various things like FSEconomy (became somewhat of a grind trying to earn credits to buy the planes you flew regularly), Air Hauler (very similar the FSE and became somewhat of a grind in the end), joining friends to formation fly A2A's B17 across the Atlantic and various other multi-player shin digs. None of which really kindled the fire and enthused me back into FSX again. It's even got to the extent where since upgrading to Windows 10 I've not even installed FSX (it is rather laborious and time consuming to do it right) and pretty much avoided all flight sim based forums that I used to frequent. Which looking at it while I have a little free time (or the frame of mind to reflect) its a great shame. Not just because of the money invested, I probably got great value for that in time spent in FSX, but because it was one of my main hobbies for... Well since the 18th of March 2008 when I registered here and got the itch - for want of a better phrase. And the many friends made within the hobby.

 

So any way after much rambling here I am, I can't believe that I am the only one to lose their passion for FSX, or flight simming in general. If this or similar has happened to you, how did you rekindle your interest? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

I used to fly jets, but I got fed up with them calling me a retard every time I tried to land...:pilot:
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Do you fly helicopters? If not, learning to fly them will get your juices flowing again. Then there are boats of all types. And vehicles of all types to explore the terrain from the ground. With a race track you could race your buddies online, since you already do that. What are your specs? Getting a new PC with a more powerful CPU so you can crank up the sliders to have more auto gen might be a good idea. Installing FSX to 'Program Files' is the 1st 'rookie' mistake. Install to 'C:\FSX' and you won't have any problems. It takes less than an hour to install FSX and hopefully it's Acceleration (ie: the Gold Edition) so you can have moving carriers. THAT alone will help boost your interest. Get back into it. Or get GT Auto and crash into things and run over old ladys in the crosswak, kill Cops, etc, if that is (but I doubt it) your bag. Happy Flying.

Chuck B

i7 2600K @ 3.4 Ghz (Turbo-Boost to 3.877 Ghz), Asus P8H67 Pro, Super Talent 8 Gb DDR3/1333 Dual Channel, XFX Radeon R7-360B 2Gb DDR5, Corsair 650 W PSU, Dell 23 in (2048x1152), Windows7 Pro 64 bit, MS Sidewinder Precision 2 Joy, Logitech K-360 wireless KB & Mouse, Targus PAUK10U USB Keypad for Throttle (F1 to F4)/Spoiler/Tailhook/Wing Fold/Pitch Trim/Parking Brake/Snap to 2D Panel/View Change. Installed on 250 Gb (D:). FS9 and FSX Acceleration (locked at 30 FPS).
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You are not the only one. I can't remember the last time I fired up FSX

or FS9. I updated? to Win10, and it hosed my FS9 install, and have not even done much to get it going.

 

I also have gotten into a hobby/business that takes alot of my time, as well as trying to get familiar with my CO2 Laser Engraver so that I can make a few bucks with that.

 

Just too many things going to do much with simming. Maybe this winter when its too cold to be outside.

 

Darrell

[sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
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Smiffy,

 

As Darrell said, you're not the only one. In fact, I'm going through the same sort of dilemma. I fire up the Sim (Nine), fly around the 'patch for a bit, then land. I change planes, then do the same thing. I just can't seem to find that 'spark' that I used to have simming.

 

Chuck (napamule) brings up a good point; I have been fooling around with helicopters a bit, and as I've been going along, I really want to get the whole LANDING thing down!

Maybe this will re-ignite that spark I've been looking for...

 

I thought trying to learn Heavy Iron would do the trick, but I can't get my head around some of the particulars. Do you step climb slowly, or climb in big chunks? How long should it take (typically) to reach Cruising Altitude? All without using ATC... :p

 

You mentioned all of the FS friends you've made over the years; in the final analysis, that's the most important and most enduring thing... and you've made some new ones, too!

 

Hang in there!

 

Alan :pilot:

"I created the Little Black Book to keep myself from getting killed..." -- Captain Elrey Borge Jeppesen

AMD 1.9GB/8GB RAM/AMD VISION 1GB GPU/500 GB HDD/WIN 7 PRO 64/FS9 CFS CFS2

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I've been there several times. Here is a couple of my tricks.

1. MASTER one airplane, I mean stick with it for awhile. My fave is the CalClassics DC-6. You think you know an aircraft until you marry it. I nail the landings each and every time now and it feels great.

2. Fly relief 'missions'. For example, I am currently flying (The DC-6A) to the earthquake zone in Chile. Fly out loaded, and dry back. This gets you to parts of the world you might not go to otherwise. Go to the library and install any sceneries for your stops.

3. Follow a professional sports/team? Pick a nice GA and fly you and a couple of buddies to the events and back. Again! Check for sceneries if you don't have a payware bundle.

4. Along the scenery note. I have nothing but freeware. Once you find a author you like; go get all of his/her stuff. Then fly to them.

5. Sometimes a break is well needed. I've been off for up to a year and rarely fly in summer (camping a lot). But I always come back.

My next step; I recently reinstalled FS9 on my newest rig. This winter I will dedicate that version to the CalClassics propliners along with their companion '50s and '60s sceneries and AI.

Best wishes.

Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz LGA 1150 PNY GeForce GTX 780 3072MB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 Video

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You're in a rut. I say "DON'T FLY"! Why? According to you all you do is probably fly the same plane or three and fly in circles in the same area. I would be bored out of my gord too, ha! You mentioned about 3-4 things you've tried. I can think of about thirty you maybe haven't. Here's a half-dozen to get you started:

 

1. Take a tour at you local airport. No I don't mean your favorite add-on. Go to a "real" airport. Many do offer tours to the public. How about a local airshow, an aviation museum or even a flightsim convention

 

2. Have creative juices? Try modeling your hometown airport or even your hometown. Seems like when one starts this fascinating hobby what do they do... look for their own home. So build it!

 

3. Have an artistic itch? Scratch it with some Flightsim Photography or videos.

 

4. Howz you typing/editing skills? You buy a lot of add-ons? How about a review or two?

 

5. Help the hobby that has given you so many years of enjoyment. Volunteer your time to your favorite flightsim website. They can always use help in their libraries, forum moderation, website design help or updating?

 

6. Into adventure / exploration. Plan a trip around the world, the continent or a country you have never flown to.

 

As you can see none of these actually tell you to "fly". I know many simmers who truly enjoy this hobby and never fly. But they are busy in so many aspects of it and loving this hobby all the same. I've kept this hobby alive since 2002 by mixing it up and keeping it fresh. I feel I have a good 30-40 years left before I even scratch the surface!

 

Clutch

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At one time or another we all may have lost a bit the flightsim fire, but it's just as easy not to lose it. As I recall Smiffy you have posted some really well thought out and nicely reproduced representations of your flights and areal adventures, and you have been missed on these forums for some time now. However, if you really didn't care about flight simulation anymore, you wouldn't have started this post in the first place. Sometimes you just need to take a break, especially when other pressing matters are in the forefront, we all do. For me fight simulation is a stress reliever and something I do for fun.

Like some before have noticed - don't fly the same aircraft or routes, or you tend to fly yourself into a rut. Try flying different aircraft even those that you are a bit uncomfortable with. Also, fly in different parts of the world, new places and scenery - there is a lot out there just for the taking. Also, don't feel you have to produce on a repeating, or predetermined schedule, only what and when you want to.

Of course we all have other responsibilities and interest in our lives, but flight simulation allows us a break from the daily grind and gives us a chance to renew and showcase our creative juices. It also allows us to satisfy our desire do do something on our computers that we do not normally do in reality. That doesn't make us less capable, but does allow us to be just as creative in simulating something that we would like to do no matter what the limitations may be. Just hang in there and rethink the possibilities that have yet to be discovered. Have you found anything else that is as invigorating and satisfying? If so, good luck, but if not - hope to see you posting something new here when the mood strikes you .

Larry

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as I age I find myself less enthusiastic about many things. less energy and less tolerance for bugs, malfunctions, crashes, and the labor to install new things diminish my desire to use it. for example, after installing the "team sdb enterprise" I was indeed rather enthused at first. but after tyring to figure out how to use the damned thing after many occasions, it finally served only to reinforce the ever growing conviction that the whole game is more trouble than its worth. that's just one example of many. sometimes i'll actually force myself to play around with it, telling myself it will be therapeutic. I just cant relax and have fun with it anymore, I cant bring myself to be grateful for the parts that work and ignore the rest. only reason I ever play this game at all anymore is to participate in the screenshot forum, where I have some friends I enjoy communicating with. I wish I could just enjoy flying itself again, but I don't.

Phil Colvin

 

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My 'fire' was relit when I installed a second version of FS9 & added Bill Lyon's 'Golden Wings' into it. This regresses the sim's scenery to the 1920-30's. I also installed all if his aircraft as well as the scenery & add-ons from http://www.ford-tri-motor.net/

 

I also added a lot of period aircraft from various sites to enhance the sim.

This 'low 'n slow' sim gives a whole new perspective to my hobby.

 

Yes, FS9 has a lot more enhancements in this field that FSX!

 

OR....

why not use FSX for space flight? There are some amazing add-ons that let you do this, including a gauge that simulates no gravity. It's a challenge trying to land on a space station up there!

 

All freeware, by the way!! :-)

Robin

Cape Town, South Africa

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I can't believe that I am the only one to lose their passion for FSX, or flight simming in general. If this or similar has happened to you, how did you rekindle your interest? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

 

Happened to me too mate, the fiery passion for FSX and other sims is gone but the interest is definitely still there, I just don't crank it up as often as I used to..:)

It's like getting married I suppose, you're at it like rabbits for the first few years, then it tails off to just once a week or once a month, but it's still fun whenever you decide to go for it!

Check out this sensational thread to rekindle your desire for FSX-

 

https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?248567-How-do-you-keep-FSX-interesting

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  • 3 weeks later...
Thanks for all the comments, there's been plenty to think over since making this thread nearly a month ago. Work's really been that busy. Well today I thought screw it I'll buy P3D V3 see if it much of n improvement over V2, which I never really liked. At worse I could dislike it still and get a refund. So after and few hours downloading, installing, downloading and installing the latest FTX Global, PNW, FS Global 2010, REX 4 and Soft clouds; cooking and eating dinner (curry for the win). I actually got to make my first flight in a very long time in the default A36 The flight was an enjoyable and scenic hour of low level VFR flying from Boeing Field to Bowerman. I missed the added challenge of my A2A aircraft but I've not had time to get them working in P3D V3 yet. I guss we shall see how things go from here.
I used to fly jets, but I got fed up with them calling me a retard every time I tried to land...:pilot:
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I too haven't used flightsim in over a year. In fact after getting my Private Pilot Certificate last year, I haven't flown a single flight in 2015.

 

I started with FS98 and have only used FS2004! I have been on and off with it for over a decade.

 

So I think this is normal.... With full-time work and and getting married last November 2014 explains why I haven't flown in 2015.

 

BUT, I am very fortunate.... My wife likes airplanes too and She will be taking her intro flight! My only fear is I hope someday we don't have to fight over who is going to be PIC.

Started: Flight Simulator 98 (Year 1999)

Private Pilot Certificate ASEL: August 7th 2014

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My fire started going out when I completed my PPL early last year. It really died after my instrument rating. I wanted to fly more on vatsim, but the manned airports are ones that really hurt my frame rates, like Seattle in the PMDG 737 flying for Alaska Virtual Airlines. The framerate dropping down to under 10 really kills it for me, and the lack of feel doesn't help. I think becoming a real pilot made simming less fun because of the lack of feel, but in itself was not the killer by any means. you can see my system specs in my sig, not bad but not great. I want to upgrade to Intel but I'm looking at over $700 for the setup I want, and I'm not interested in buying older CPUs. I don't have the money needed so I'm sticking with bad frame rates. I did just buy P3D and plan on giving it a go, hope it helps out.

 

Overall, just take a break. You'll feel the itch, just ignore it. Give yourself a good amount of time and find out what's new that you are interested in. If it's framerates, build up your system. Check out P3D, and what new updates have happened. Check out new aircraft, sceneries, etc. I took a break the whole 5 years I was in the military 2004-2009 and when I got back to flight sim, it provided me years of fun trying all the stuff I had missed.

 

Edit: not that I am saying to take a 5 year break, that's a little extreme! But 3-6 months is a good chunk.

AMD A10-6800K Richland 4.1GHz (4.4GHz Turbo) Socket FM2, BIOSTAR Hi-Fi A85W FM2 AMD A85X (Hudson D4) SATA 6Gb/s, G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600, ASUS DirectCU II Radeon R9 280 3GB 384-bit GDDR5, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Corsair H100i liquid cooling
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I've been there several times. Here is a couple of my tricks.

1. MASTER one airplane, I mean stick with it for awhile. My fave is the CalClassics DC-6. You think you know an aircraft until you marry it. I nail the landings each and every time now and it feels great.

2. Fly relief 'missions'. For example, I am currently flying (The DC-6A) to the earthquake zone in Chile. Fly out loaded, and dry back. This gets you to parts of the world you might not go to otherwise. Go to the library and install any sceneries for your stops.

3. Follow a professional sports/team? Pick a nice GA and fly you and a couple of buddies to the events and back. Again! Check for sceneries if you don't have a payware bundle.

4. Along the scenery note. I have nothing but freeware. Once you find a author you like; go get all of his/her stuff. Then fly to them.

5. Sometimes a break is well needed. I've been off for up to a year and rarely fly in summer (camping a lot). But I always come back.

My next step; I recently reinstalled FS9 on my newest rig. This winter I will dedicate that version to the CalClassics propliners along with their companion '50s and '60s sceneries and AI.

Best wishes.

 

This is the kind of thing I do to keep my interest up. I have been simming since FS98 and marvel at what we have available today. I imagine I own a charter company and fly around delivery people to interesting places. I use the best available GA and bizjet aircraft and best available sceneries to make it interesting. Most places I go have interesting approaches and makes for a challenge and learning experience. Still enjoying!!!

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Been simming since FS4 circa 1995. That's 20 yrs non-stop, with some ups and downs.

 

My best advice: there is plenty to do within "simming" to do something new every day..and some can make you extra $$.

 

During my last "down" two years ago, I decided to learn to use Sketchup and do some basic 3D modeling for FS. Two years later, I now know how to use more than 25 different scenery developing tools------which have kept me busier than ever. I'm also designing hardware for the "top of the line" controls manufacturer...all within the last two years, all of it still being relatively new to me, AND getting paid for it (though I still have my full time job).

 

So the beauty of simming is there is lots of room for reinvention. Ask yourself if you have some developing skills, and go for it. We need more scenery developers, effect designers, airplane modelers.......basically it is normal simmers like us that set the trend. So if you are a bit tired of flying, put the yoke aside and head to one of the hundreds of tutorials on youtube and learn some photoshop, Blender, CMX.....and have fun!.

 

Regards,

David Rosado

Photorico Scenery Design

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My advice would be not force it. If you don't feel like flying, don't. Taking a hiatus, even an extended one (would that be more like a sabbatical?) might be healthy!

 

One of the nice things about taking an extended break is that developers will most likely keep, er, well, developing, new things/addons for FSX that will be new to you when you return. Who knows, if you're gone long enough, there might even be a whole new flight simulator sans all the bugs and limitations of the current version of FSX!

I tend to be kinda bi-polar when it comes to things like computer games (for the sake of discussion, please let me include FSX in the games department) - I'll stick with one particular game obsessively until I'm sick of it, and not play it for a looooong time. Then, outta the blue, I'll see something that strikes up interest in a certain game, and the passion seems to come back - for a while. Knowing that I'll always own a particular game, means to me that I can choose (or not) to play that game whenever I'd like.

 

I recently took a short break from FSX as well - kinda due to real-life commitments, and fired up one of my old games, which seemed brand-new again - Homeworld - a completely different game/genre than FSX, and it was a hoot playing it again because I've forgotten most of what happens. I've also played the original Crysis and found some old addons that I never installed, and it seemed like a new game to me.

Oh, these old games just plain work as intended - straightforward install, no fiddling with cfg files, chasing errors, worrying which folder to install to, excellent frame rates, performance, and no OOMs! :cool:

 

Bottom line - if you felt you lost the fire for FSX, don't sweat it - step away for a while. Disconnect completely - including the forums if need be - the itch will probably come back when the time is right. When will the time be right? Only you will know.

FSX (and the forum) will still be around, waiting for you to jump right back in again! ;)

 

E-Buzz :pilot:

i5 4690k @ 4.7gHz (Water-cooled), 8GB ram, GTX 960 2GB, 850 EVO 1 TB SSD, 50" LED TV + 2x27" monitors, Thrustmaster HOTAS, Win 8.1 Pro, P3DV4, TrackIR, EZDOK, a bunch of Orbx stuff, a chair, a hacked-up desk, and a cold drink.
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Pff where to begin..

I used to fly from 1998 until 2014, but not non stop. Got some burned-outs on it in between, but no longer then a few months. Something got my fire burning again and continued. Last full stop is now lasting more then a year.

I was sure it was final. I still am. End of story. But... some say, once bitten by the flightsim bug it will never leave you, and indeed it will.

However, still no 'luck'. I cant get myself to actually DO a flight, but I so think about it, dream about it and phantasyse on making one.

 

Eventually during a flightsim life, one comes to the famous point: 'Been there, done that'.

Meaning you tried all the difficult airplanes, can blindly with the monitor turned off start a 747-400 (PMDG) and one hand on your back, with every switch in a random position, with a cat on your lap, and reading a book in the mean time, start the beast and lift it in the air. (not the cat).

It gets boring. Dangerous airports ? seen them all. Helicopters ? crashed all made by mankind. Anyhow, you get my drift.

 

I switched to the REAL stuff, calclassic.com. And indeed it was a couple of years tha bomb.

But it got me on the same feeling. A bus driver, driving for 30 years the same route. Dull.

 

Now after a year of nothing, I slowly gain interrest again, but didnt do anything yet.

I am seeing some jeans commercial with a DC-3 (a shiny one) in the background, and I feel an itch. Not about the jeans tho..

 

I did VATSIM, IVAO many years ago, but dont like the empty skies, the controller attitudes, and imho it cant be done casually. It needs commitment when online.

 

FSX sucks with frames, but might be good with my DC3 ideas I got.

FS9 shines with everything but not the low and slow (blurry mess).

 

Oh where are the days it was amazing, when with the Posky founder creating his first 747 (i did the fde) and with PSS ( i did the fs2000 fde).. so much to learn then. Did I learn to much ? 'know it all ?' so there is no discovery and amazment anymore ?

 

I mean it is fun to get in the air, land, but the go between isnt fun anymore, but it was.

 

Is there such thing as a flightsimulator burn out ? you bet!

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I'm a PC wargamer in the internet wargame jungle and often take a layoff of weeks or months, but then the old urge to kill starts coming back and I get right back in there..:)

 

"There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter"

-Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)

 

"The soldier tired of wars, alarms, forswears the clang of hostile arms and scorns the spear and shield. But if the brazen trumpet sound, he burns with conquest to be crown'd, and dares again the field" -Thomas Augustine Arne 1710-1778

 

"I have a rendezvous with Death at some disputed barricade...

And to my pledged word am true,

I shall not fail that rendezvous"

-Alan Seeger (US poet killed in WW1)

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/seventhseal.png~original

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have just returned to flight simming after a 3 year "break."

 

My first involvement with this hobby was with fs 2002. Somebody in my office had it on their computer. The next thing I know I got a yoke, rudder pedals and I was in deep.

 

I don't even remember why I stopped but it happened quick. I went from being up til 4:00 AM doing an ils landing in a snowstorm to virtually out of the hobby.

 

I recently started thinking again about "flying" again but was a little hesitant to go back to what I had left. I read some things about DCS and decided to try a combat sim and purchased the a 10c warthog. It's a demanding but different sim from the civilian sims but I enjoyed it. After a while I fired up fsx so here I am again. I don't have much to add to the suggestions already made. I think taking a break is not a bad idea -3 years might be a bit long like I did.

 

In the end I think I came back because there is something addictive about flying for me even though I have never flown a real plane which is good in the interest of public safety.

 

Don't sweat it. I'm also a serious photographer and I go through the same issues. How many sunset pictures can one take ?

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..I'm also a serious photographer and I go through the same issues. How many sunset pictures can one take ?

 

I'm just a casual photographer but I bought myself this Hawke NV1000 night vision monocular for 200 GB pounds/ 300 US dollars, it takes stills and vids for UFO and Bigfoot hunting, they can run but not hide..:)

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/hawke-monocular_zps3a4ab391.jpg~original

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Guest Robert455

I started into this craziness with Bruce Artwick's Flight Simulator for the Apple ][ where the scenery was just a grid and the mountains were lines along one edge of the grid square. I stayed with the hobby for a long time into the Microsoft days, had a shareware add-on for Flight Simulator that ended up popular on FidoNet, etc. I've always been an aviation nut. And my fire for flight simulation also nearly went out.

 

Guys, what brought me back was flying in virtual reality. It's the most amazing thing I've ever experienced aside from actually flying though I never got the opportunity to fly most of the planes I now fly in VR or do the things I do now in VR.

 

I've ridden in and flown a number of real aircraft, been in formation flights, and just been very lucky with what real world opportunities have come my way. But I know what it looks like in the real world. Aside from the slightly cartoony flight sim world, flying in VR in FSX and P3D looks just like that. When I sit on the runway warming up for a flight with the other guys I've been flying VR with, it looks just like we are sitting on the runway warming up. Add a chair shaker and headphones and it's even more real.

 

I've talked with the other guys I fly VR with and they all said the exact same thing. They came back to flight simulation because of VR. The illusion is so real that we all look both ways for traffic before crossing taxiways or runways, we are all very averse to crashing, and when we fly close together we actually feel the fear of a midair.

 

It's extremely hard to convey how VR feels so much like reality but it does. Our brains are conditioned over millions of years to accept what we see as the world around us and the mechanisms that the brain uses to make sense of what it sees are pretty simple. It's easily fooled. Even with the resolution we have now, the somewhat cartoony colors, and not feeling the G forces, it still feels very real when you put on the head mount display. You lean closer to the dash and it looks closer. Stick your head out of the window and it's just like you stuck your head out the window. The only real way to appreciate how it feels is to try it for yourself and see. But it is amazing.

 

There are a number of planes I always wanted to fly but knew I never would. The P-38 Lightning is one. I sat in Lefty Gardner's at Reno one year (it's now the Red Bull '38) and took pictures, looked around. I got the Mil Vis and Flight Sim Developers P-38s and in VR it's the same. The same. You are sitting up fairly high off the ground, the engine nacelles loom large, and it's just very very cool.

 

I'll only post these for people who want to see the real-time head tracking that is just how it works in the HMD. We've been using Dan Church's brilliant FlyInside with the Oculus Rift DK2 (no longer for sale since the consumer version HMDs are going to launch literally any day now) and we all have the fever for flying in formation. The videos do not do it justice. Because of the extreme wide angle views that get fed to the HMD for the wide field of view, things don't look as close as they do in the HMD itself. For us we were so close we would occasionally clip. Most of that is edited out in these but you can get the idea. They are right and left eye images so you can see the depth (details in the second video text) but they are still distorted and inside the Rift it looks normal, natural, and undistorted. But it is a huge rush.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsphAOkGYRI

 

Resolution does have its issues, but Dan added an adjustable zoom feature so you can assign a button and zoom to the smallest features in a GPS screen or whatever. VR probably isn't for all flying styles and I'm sure not everyone will like it. For aerobatics, pattern work, and formation it has no equal simply for the situational awareness you get from being able to freely look around and from depth perception. Glorious depth perception.

 

Anyway, the point is where I (and others) had lost our fire, we are all now back in with both feet. We are all trying to find the time to fly instead doing the things we probably ought to be doing. It's really close to being addictive. It's like having an airplane museum's collection and being able to take any plane up any time you want to. The only down side is when you try to tell people, they generally don't believe you when you tell them how real it feels. But it really does. We (my VR flying buddies) have all said multiple times we are never going back to flying monitors.

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Hi Smiffy

 

We met a few months ago. Sorry to hear you've lost interest. A break does a lot of good though. The number of hobbies I have I can be all fired up on a particular hobby for a few months then drop it for years only to get back into it again.

 

For example in not paying guitar at the moment but I haven't given up. Purely on sabbatical ;-)

 

Why not build a simpit? Im dabbling with arduino code which is quite addictive. And have the odd 30min bimble from oxenhope internatnal when I fancy a bit of a flight.

 

All the best

 

Jon

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  • 2 weeks later...

Totally amazing that a main moderator would say:

 

"Just too many things going to do much with simming. Maybe this winter when its too cold to be outside."

 

I'm not going to reply to any explanation so nobody has to bother, I'm just baffled as to why one remains a moderator at flightsim.com if there is such little time. In my view this is positive proof that this hobby is dying. But hope is on the horizon for those who can still hold on to hope.

 

Anyway, I think that lost "fire" is due to the slump that we are in because of MS trying to pull a DLC campaign on us with MS Flight, causing them to crash and burn.

 

--X-Plane is so dependent on 3rd parties who all have "real jobs", nothing can happen fast enough for even a sloth.

--AeroFly 2 claimed a whole earth, come to find out that only a very small part of their earth is detailed more "dependency" on 3rd parties.

--P3D V3 is ok - it still OOM's for me. The licensing legalistic package & pricing structure that comes with it is way out of control.

Plus the fact that P3D is built on such an ancient platform does not help. They claim simmers are a very small part of their business, I think that is a story, but if its true, good for them, but what about us simmers?

 

Some good news in the form of DTG releasing FSX-SE to try and revitalize the community helped, but we still wait for what their new simulator brings. I have begged them not to try that DLC campaign as part of the business plan. I told them that if their new sim is not a 64bit, DX12, full earth, successor to FSX/P3D then I will not support their effort. It is up to DTG what they do and so far they have zero to say about it.

 

Now, the best news to rekindle any fire is in the more recent events happening at NGiS. They fully intend to make a new flight sim from scratch. They fully intend to make a full earth, and make this the "go to" simulator of choice for veterans and the curious. So if you are finding this flight simming hobby dull and boring here of late - its no wonder why, but NGiS has a plan to resuscitate this stagnate state we are in. The forums there are active and we get communication often about what is going on with the project.

 

http://nexgenflightsim.com/

 

It would not hurt to encourage them in their massive endeavor. By doing so, some volatile chemicals can be added to the fire that is getting smothered by this slump we are in: [[ OOM or cutting back the sliders, the same airports detailed over and over (how many more KSFO or KMIA versions do we need?), 747 737 A320 C172 C182 its the same planes over and over, and so so many texture packages]]

 

Flight simming needs help.

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