Fs2002 vs Fs2004 - NOT the same!!

[DazzyB]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jul-09-03 AT 08:12AM (EDT)[/font][p]I am amazed at how many people are saying that they will stick with Fs2002 because "it is as good as Fs2004 with the many third party add-ons available". Well, I want to put the record straight here...

I spent nearly a whole day around a friend's house who is a beta tester for fs2004 (so he says). So, he showed me what it could do! In my experience...

Fs2002 cannot complete with Fs2004 due to the following main factors...

1) The Clouds/Weather - Even with add-ons, you cannot change Fs2002 clouds into 3D models like Fs2004. Yes, you may be able to download nice textures that make them look more realistic from a distance, but they will still be made of cardboard. I guess someone will no doubt release some new textures for Fs2004's clouds, making them even more awesome than they already are (and believe me, they ARE awesome - I saw it running on a friend's PC who was a beta tester - he flew at about FL330 and the white sun reflection off the fluffy cotton clouds looked incredible. And when he descended through them, OMG!!!!! There's nothing else quite like it...). And as a plus, the weather is very realistic. Take off in clear skies, and land in rainy near-zero visibility at your destination (the rain is also fantastic as it moves down the windscreen). Try doing this in Fs2002!

2) Improved ATC - Although you can buy add-ons that add a very good ATC experience to Fs2002 with many features, the AI aircraft know nothing about this ATC add-on, and therefore when you hear the controller telling "Speedbird, taxi into position and hold...", you will not see the aircraft.
Fs2004 is different. Also, there are great features like 'Execute published missed approaches', and 'Taxi into position and hold' (yes, it's there!). There are loads of other great features that I can't remember, but all I can say is that I was 'Wowed' by what I saw and heard. There were probably still loads of features that I didn't even see.

3) Blurries - Not much to say here, except that they are miles better. Another thing that can't be fixed on Fs2002 with add-ons!

4) AI intelligence - This amazed me...
We sat parked at a heavy gate at Heathrow, and my friend showed me the AI movements around the airport. I was amazed as one aircraft switched on his Wingtip nav lights. 2 mins later he then got clearance and pushed back (yes, AI pushing back!). Then he turned on his rotating red beacon lights and started his engines. He proceeded to contact the ground controller, and got taxi clearance. After clearance, he switched on his taxi lights and we followed his to the active. The tower told him to 'taxi into position and hold' while another a/c landed on the same runway. He proceeded to do this and once lined up, you could actually see the flaps going down into takeoff position. He also at this point enabled his strobes. Once the other a/c had cleared the active, he got clearance and took off. I also noticed that the landing a/c actually flared his nose and performed a 'greaser'. This will make plane-spotters happier.
This alone converted me to Fs2004! All ai aircraft now have their lights turned on in the daytime as well, which is more realistic. This used to really annoy me in Fs2002 when they only came on at night. Simply amazing - try and do this with an add-on in Fs2002!!

5) AutoGen - This was also stunning, and the most evident changes (apart from greater density) were telegraph poles on the roads, road signs, traffic lights, electricity pylons and towers, water towers, farm barns and boats (consisting of oil tankers, cargo ships, passenger cruisers, ferries, yachts, fishing vessels and speedboats - and there were thousands of them everywhere!!!!). Trees are no longer 'cardboard' either.

6) Clickable panels - This was simply a blessing! I was expecting frame rates to be ##### (from my experience of using Wilco's clickable-cockpit products in Fs2002), but there didn't seem to be any whatsoever. We did an entire flight (from start-up to shutdown) in the clickable VC, and it felt more like 'being there' than I have ever experienced before. With multiple setting switches like the Off/Start/Gen switch on the overhead, you click and hold the mouse button and the cursor changes to a 'grabbing' hand. You then move the mouse left or right to turn the switch - very efficient and quite realistic. You can even change your radio frequencies using the clicking VC. And there are many switches on the overhead that work as well. We even taxied in the 737 using the autothrottle. And unlike Fs2002, we didn't need to set it at 35kts before the aircraft started moving. Set it at 10kts, and off it goes! Another bug resolved. An excellent addition to an already impressive version.

7) Frame rates - Just as good, if not better than fs2002 when configured with the same features enabled. With all the improvements enabled, there wasn't too much of a hit.

8) Historical aircraft - This does not interest me in the slightest, but the flight models looked very well.

9) Map and GPS - The map is great as it showed me all the airspaces and frequencies. What is even better is this...
One thing I hate about Fs2002 is that to get a frequency for and ILS runway at the destination, I keep having to bring the map up and locate it, which is very unrealistic because it pauses the sim. Hate that! In Fs2004, you can see all the info from the GPS - miles better!!

10) Taxiway signs - It actually works very well. We taxied round O'Hare from the gate to the active just by listening to ATC's taxi instructions, and following the relevant signs. It was very hard to get lost as long as you wrote the instructions down. The signs are clear and easy to see.

11) Scenery - Most notably the smoothly curved taxiways. Makes taxying much easier! Also, I noticed that the flashing green/white airport lights work really well, and allow you to locate airfields much easier. Everything just seems much lusher and denser. Even the waves looked better, as the breakers came to shore, and then actually slowly rolled back into the ocean before another wave came in. The elevation mesh is much improved, and also working windsocks and radar structures are at most airports. The detail of the ground textures are also much better. Runway lights now come on in rain, snow and low visibility. Sun reflections on the water noow much better than Fs2002, and the instruments even reflect it in the VC. Also, contrails (both ai and your own) are much better - they now are produced according to the atmosphere settings, so they may have at a lower alitutude than fs2002).

My Conclusion

There seems to be so many improvements with Fs2004 (and I didn't even see all the great new stuff), I for one will definitely be getting it! What I saw was only a beta, so the gold version should be even better, as the beta I saw wasn't even optimized.

Cheers, and be patient - it will be worth it!...

Your Fs-Friend,

DazzyB.

[KylePrestwood]

Geesh,,,,,you're making me drool all overrrr,,,,,,,,

Whoops, just did it again ;-)

Kyle

"Still thinking,,,,,,"

[DazzyB]

LOL Kyle!

I know exactly how you feel! In the words of the famous philosipher, Homer Simpson, ... "Gwwwwwrrrrrrrrrrrr...."

DazzyB. :-wave

[KylePrestwood]

Of course the line from him ,,,

"Ooh, they have the internet on computers now..." was also one of his best writings ! :-lol

Kyle

"Still thinking,,,,,,"

[DazzyB]

Lol - Of course, how could I forget that one???? :-hmmm Doowww!!!!!!

DazzyB.

[bjratchf]

sounds wonderful!



Brendan Ratchford
Private Pilot
Worcester KORH and Danbury KDXR Airports

[Joker328]

I just want to thank Dazzy for this excellent post. I was already excited for FS2004, but the wait will be even more painful after reading all that. If this list doesn't convince you that FS2004 is worth it, nothing will.

[lnuss]

That's one of the best verbal pictures I've seen of what 2004 should be like. Thanks, Dazzy.

[HR]
Larry N.

http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...7454c071bd.jpg

[painter]

I'm sold. Dazzyb you would make a good salesman. 2004 will be another step further into virtual reality. You can fly basically anwhere around the globe, not many restrictions, no terrorists, no airport improvement taxes, lots of eye candy- more every two years or so, and with all the talent on this board and many like these around the world, we always have plenty of addons and improvements. I for one say thanks to those that take the time to improve FS in any way . Now to my question Dazzyb did you see any moving headlights on the roads? Or do you know if there will be any traffic on the roads below as in FS 2000? thx hl

[DazzyB]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jul-10-03 AT 05:10AM (EDT)[/font][p]Painter,

Thanks for the Salesman comments. LOL! Maybe I should get a job with Microsoft!! Shall we say $250,000 per year to beta test their new flightsims and say nice things about them on general flightsim forums }>

I'd have to admin that I did not see moving lights, although we did not do very much night flying. I would hope to see it there, because I too miss it in Fs2002 (which, by the way, I just am not interested in anymore!!). maybe some other beta testers know the answer to this one...

Anyways guys, I forgot to mention yesterday (when I posted the original message) about the flight models, so here you go...

I did not fly the 737 or any other planes except 2 of them: the Cessna 182 and Piper Cub. All I can say is that the default flight models were out of this world IMHO! I have flown different flightsims (Fly!, FU2, X-Plane) and none of them came close to this. The closest that I could think it came to would be Flight Unlimited II. We went up to about 40,000ft (slewed) and set the weather up as a major thunderstorm. Then we pressed the Y key and came out of slew. The airplane gently stablised into a shallow descent. Now, this is where the fun started!!...

As we entered into the cloud, the airplane was thrown all over the place. Thunder and lightning could be heard all around (you could even tell the direction), and what amazed me even more was that each time the lightning flashed, it lit up the whole cockpit! The rain looked and sounded awsome beating against the glass and then 'rolling' up the winscreen, once we entered the cloud. The weather has been amazingly modeled, because when we flew into the core of the Cunim, the aircraft hit VERY strong lift. As we left the center, we hit dramatic sink. I have studied meteorology, and this is REAL!!!!! Keeping control of the aircraft was really hard, and needed my full concentration. Eventually we broke out of the base and the strength of the crosswinds then became evident!! I had to crab along the ground as I set myself up on the long approach. Then something unexpected happened... I hit another large area of lift and turbulence. This caused the aircraft to shoot up gaining height, and since I was on final I had to think fast. I opted to slip into the crosswing to help me maintain sink. As I crossed the threshold, I leveled her out and yawed into the wind again. The minute the main wheels touched the ground, I straightened her up and lowered the main nosewheel.

My knuccles were white and I was totally exhausted! This really is very good, and like in real life, it can throw unexpected situations at you that you need to think quickly about. That is a very good teaching aid!

The Piper Cub (I have never flown one by the way) just felt right. I used it to fly through a barn door, and inside the barn there were chickens!!!!! I then did a roll into inverted flight and crashed because the engine cut out. I forgot that the fuel feed on these uses gravity, and so starved the engine of fuel!! ROFL!!!!

This is good stuff people - GET IT!!!!!!

DazzyB.

Ps. We did not have crash detection enabled, because when we tried it, the plane was just ripped apart by the turbulence. visual crash detail was off, so I do wonder what we would have seen if it was enabled... and this was also on easy mode, I wounder what the most realistic mode would have been like ; )