~ How many simmers still have their very first screenshot? ~

[darrenvox]

my first screenshot was on fs95, but i don't know where that was and I'm trying to come with if I uploaded them to a site I made or what

 

edit: heres one i might have taken back then

 

https://flyawaysimulation.com/modules/Images/gallery/fs98screenshots/-2010-oct-7-038.jpg

[flightsimg]

The prehistory of sim flight!! :) I myself flew war jet missions with a ATARI PC about 1993 but no trace of it. And I then passed to FS98 (in 1998 :)), then FS2000, FS2002 and eventually FSX.

On the other hand, my opinions about flight sims are maybe based upon that I have my real (French) PPL (I mostly did not maintain the qualification). And I think that albeit the FS franchise never got any flight agency official recognition, it allows -- especially the FSX -- , even with some protocols, to maintain -- and acquire -- some proficiency in terms of real life flight! :pilot::pilot: Cheers!

[darrenvox]

thanks boxcar..ya wasnt my absolute first but close to..

 

also speaking of youtube

 

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WDCyEIfJbkg/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEYCMQBEG5IVfKriqkDCwgBFQAAiEIYAXAB&rs=AOn4CLCS7IJ1diPeX4OqRJ1xAe0iuwNs0w

[KCD]

Gosh, I cannot figure how I missed this thread. My earliest sim was on a Radio Shack Color Computer (baby sister to the old TRS-80), way back in 1979/1980, but that was well before I ever had any interest if expanding my simming experience beyond the joy stick! I'm an old time pilot, one who learned in a wild and woolly part of the country where the rules were loose, and the flying even looser. I learned the hard way, in a Champ, but I learned well. Flying was one of the great joys in my life. I've flown an awful lot of airplanes and owned one of my own. It was natural that when Bruce Artwick published his first software that I had to have it. I also had to heve every iteration of Flight Simulator that followed.

 

 

I was, however, introverted. I never ventured to a Sim Site until 2005, and then only as a visitor. It took eons for me to work up the courage to post anything. Yet, back in about 2010, I did.

 

I cannot find that first post, but here is a reasonably early one. As I developed friends, I used the screen shot forum as a way to communicate with them. One of the things I tried to do frequently was duplicate all of Adam's fancy payware aircraft with repaints and reworks of freeware birds. Here are a couple of shots from an early post (perhaps 2014?) from a Bonanza V-tail series that Adam posted and I copied in freeware.

 

A shot of the panel I duplicated and applied to Mike Stone's very fine V-Tail...

 

 

 

The re-paint of Miike's Bonanva to match the model flown earlier that day on the forum by Adam...

 

Over the years, I have posted many shots of different aircraft. I'm a strong advocate of the very fine developers who give of their talent so openly and as a result, I remain very close to finding ways to add to the exposure of freeware., But, I do enjoy a payware flight occasionally, see my article on the Cranado Seneca II.

 

Thank you for the read and thank you, Boxcar, for the thread! The Plane is by Mike Stone, the scenery by H. Sandman, the sim is FS9, the panel was made by KCD, and Stone's V-Tail was painted by KCD.

 

Thanks,

 

KCD

[azzaro]

One of the things I tried to do frequently was duplicate all of Adam's fancy payware aircraft with repaints and reworks of freeware birds.

 

That way lies madness! :eek:

Adam has apparently bottomless pockets and a penchant for collecting. :( -- Bob

[kingnorris]

I actually took my first and posted them here: https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?130128-First-time-screenshots

[vry]

I love it!

[kingnorris]

Those had me smiling all the way through, man. http://yoursmiles.org/tsmile/rulez/t2025.gif That was a time I was taking several years off as I've done several times as priorities change and life gets in the way so to speak, so your first thread posting was missed at the time. Been a while since I flew FS2004-ACOF though am readying to soon. That Las Vegas fireworks show was always cool to circle at night. Even landed a Cub on top of the Mandalay after several tries. The Strip at night was where I first learned to control helicopters. Thanks for the memory jogging, Jeff, and contributing.

 

.

 

.

 

No problem man! That was FS9, and at the time newly acquired Vegas freeware scenery from this library. I just had to show it off!

[flightsimg]

Hi! All those pics take us a looooong time back :) Since I began simflight with the FS98, by 1998, things have hugely and swiftly progressed. When one thinks that FSX was 8 years later only!

 

"FlightSim is a good place to share, the diversity is large, the benefits huge." Fine remarks. That MSFS pics forum is a good one, and since long populated by nice people :cool: I was here about, say 2005 and then a lull, and then back since few!

[KCD]

"... That panel: is it the one used for the freeware Navion?"

 

No, David, that panel is as close a duplication to the panel in Adam's payware Bonanza as I could make it using my artistic ability and freeware items already on my hard drive. It was done in W-XP with "configedit", before that great machine suffered the invasion of the cyber killers and died, never to return (all was lost). That was about the third time I had lost it all to a major virus and discouragement set in permanently. I'm now on new machines (W-7 and W-10), I'd prefer XP, but it's gone. So, I don;t do that sort of thing any more, I just fly, and mostly in FS-9; I've never cottened up to FSX.

 

At this point, I have not opened FS since before I was sent to the hospital in early January. All I have at the moment is my laptop, and while FS-9 is on it, my yoke and stuff are at home and I'm not. Doubt I ever will be again. I've never used just a keyboard, I need the reality of yoke, peddles, and throttles at a minimum (I guess it's the fading pilot in me that requires it). Once my life gets used to the new routine of dialysis on alternate days and the mood and physical altering (short term) that accompanies it, we (daughter and I) will find a suitable independent/assisted care facility close to her and I will take up residency there. Then things will begin to normalize for me and I may get my FS-9 back in the air.

[KCD]

Here is another early post, originally sent up in the fsll of 2015, I think. Again, it chases the master of the hangar and the screen shot exprt, Adam, but it offers something unique for FS-9. I have abbreviated the original post, but if you want to see the entire post it still exists on this site at: https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?293421-Beechcraft-Baron-B-55-in-FS-9&highlight=KCD

 

Abbreviated version:

 

A month or so ago, Adam previewed his new Milviz Beech Baron 55. It was a beautiful post, not just because it was posted by a master, but because the B-55 is a truly beautiful aircraft. Years ago, in an earlier version of Flight Simulator, we had a B-55, then Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, eliminated the B-55 in favor of the B-58. There are those that would argue that the 58 is as pretty as the 55, but the enthusiast knows better. Aesthetically, the 55 is a far better looking craft.

 

It has always bothered me that no B-55 was ever made for FS-9, but there are a lot of wonderful general aviation aircraft that FS-9 passed over. The Mooney Mark 20 comes to mind, a beautiful, small and compact 180 MPH airplane with wooden wings, and then there was its little cousin, the Mooney Mite, a single place beauty (made for FSX) that went like a bat! Some of the planes never made for FS-9 are available if you are industrious and are willing to invest the time and effort.

 

I was willing to make such a commitment to add a Beech Baron B-55 to my FS-9 hangar. I’ll relate the story of how I did it, but first, here she is headed to FL03 on an IFR flight plan from KPVD to KMVY.

 

 

This little gem started life in 2005 as an AI aircraft. It was modeled by Klaus Brosemann, who has made some very nice AI planes. It took a while to find it, then it took more time to tinker with the “Aircraft.cfg” file and “Air” file to get it to respond the way I felt a Baron should. Once that was accomplished, it needed to be painted, and finally, it needed a proper panel. I have never adjusted to the 3D panel, so I spent my time researching real B-55’s with an eye towards building a proper 2D panel so this plane could fly. If I had one example saved to my desktop, I had a hundred. I searched all the old flight sims as well for B-55 panels, and found several that were pretty good. What I finally ended up with was a BMP file comprised of cobbled together B-55 panels to make one pretty good one.

 

Here is a look at the 2D panel with Martha’s Vineyard on the horizon…

 

 

I do not have any modern panel making software, all I have is an old version of “CFGEDIT”, a program that was made to work with sims of long ago, and a program they say that will not work in FS-9. The panel took a considerable amount of time as several of the gauges are old and had to be located in the depths of my flight sim archives, but I’m reasonably happy with the way it turned out.

 

Finally, On the tarmac at the terminal...

 

 

Well, that’s the story of how I got a Baron B-55 into my FS-9 hangar. It’s not as fancy as the Milviz, the doors don’t open, but I don’t fly it to open the doors. The gear works, the flaps work, the plane flies, and it looks and feels like a B-55. Oh, while I was tinkering with the files, I gave this plane a “Colemill President II” conversion treatment. It boasts a true 300 HP per engine and will do 200 straight and level, just as Colemill advertises.

 

Thanks for looking at my little Beech Baron. I hope you like this abbreviated version as much as I enjoyed making the B-55 and flying it for the past few years. She's a one-off in FS-9 (as far as I know), but if I can do this, anyone can. You too could have the B-55 , with just a little effort.

[flightsimg]

Hi! I like those endevours of making one plane, or panel, or aircraft.cfg, etc. from severals!

 

On the other hand, I found some of my pictures of the time of FS2002 and which I found back just using the search of that MSFS Screen Shot Forum (a good way to find old pictures :) )

 

Those pictures date some 10-13 years ago (at that time I had skipped FS2004). I just downtoned them in terms of light as I was optimistic at the time in terms of overlighting pics to match the real world :) Miscellaneous planes, miscellaneous flights

[flightsimg]

" Seems you had a few different textures fighting it out in a couple of those shots."

Thanks for the comment! Yes, both last ground textures -- as I think your remark is about -- were not the FS8 default. If I remember well I had found a complete set of textures by a Hungarian guy for FS9, but I had managed to make them work into FS8 :)

[Men In Black]

Whoa, this post really got me thinking hard, just trying to remember when e x a c t l y I started simming, which I can't remember. What I do remember, is that several years ago, I somehow heard of these things called "flight simulators" for home PC use, which are kinda like games, but not really games, they're supposed to be a tad more realistic. "Man, I like how that sounds", I told myself, "that's what I need"...so off I went into the realm of internet, looking for info on those home flight simulators.

 

Sure enough, screnshots were abundant, so were videos. So I tried to find a free sim to download and try out, and I ended up on FS sites with addon libraries, such as Surclaro, Flyawaysimulation and FlightSim.com. As I was cluelessly browsing these sites, I landed on their addon libraries, and I remember looking at various addon aircraft listed on these sites, seeing their preview screenshots, and I believed these addon aircraft were the actual simulators. I remember I kept browsing through those lists of "flight simulators" and thinking "oooh, look, a Delta 767...oooooh, but look over there, a Lufthansa 747...maaan, what should I get, a Delta 767 flight simulator or a Lufthansa 747 flight simulator?". Yes, back in my very first days, I was that clueless, I thought the various addon aircraft for FS9 and FSX listed on FS sites, as well as their repaints, were the actual flight simulators, ready to be downloaded and played. But after downloading them, I couldn't understand what the heck I was supposed to do with those folders (panel, sound etc.) and config files, but no executable file.

 

Next, I think I somehow managed to find an actual free flight simulator - the one 'n only FlightGear, I installed it and I succeeded in getting it to work, however, all I actually did in that sim was to somehow get the plane up in the air several times by pressing Page Up (throttle up). But I was not impressed with it at all, I quickly lost patience with the sim and I uninstalled it. Then, or before FlightGear, I can't remember, God knows how I ended up on God knows what sites, where I could download FS98. I had no idea it was a commercial product, I thought it was a free sim, just like those "flight simulators" on the FS sites, which I didn't know how to install previously (the addon aircraft). But I did manage to install and run FS98, and as I was presented with its virtual world, I remember asking myself "is THIS how it's supposed to look like??" First, the sim shows me that nice looking splash screen with that Cessna Citation, or Learjet, or whatever that plane was, but the actual graphics of the sim are nothing like the splash screen, they're terrible, even the dinosaurs would find that outdated. I started to think I did something wrong OR.....or the sim was simply THAT old, it's called FS98 after all. That moment remained stuck in my memory, and I can't help but burst into laughter each time I think of it; I had absolutely no clue about flight simulators, but even at that stage, I could realize FS98 was...well...there was something funny about it. But I did take the 737 up in the air several times, only to crash it on the runway. I used to stare at those disk-like wheels after taking off. I uninstalled the sim, being disappointed by it. That quenched my desires of getting into FS for some months I think, until I restarted my research into FS, and I found out about FS2004 and FSX, the 2 latest sims from Microsoft, but it took me a while until I could find out which one of the 2 was the latest.

 

I then decided to go ahead and buy FS9, after learning the history of MSFS, and particularly the age gap between FS98, which by then I realized was payware too, and FS9. I remember being absolutely mesmerized about FS2004's vastly superior graphics compared to FS98, but...I was still largely clueless about FS. I had forgotten how I got the planes into the air back in FlightGear and FS98, and, as I was standing with the default 747 on the runway, I tried pressing the forward arrow to get the plane going, as you would do in games, like GTA and stuff. The plane would do nothing. Then I started to seriously research and learn about FS, and it was at that moment I realized FS is NOT a game, where you just press the forward arrow and the plane would zip across the landscape, press the backward arrow and the plane would brake, as in a racing game, that's when I realized FS was actually a friggin' simulator, vastly more realistic and more complex than I had anticipated, that's when I realized what I bought myself, and when my smming life actually started. That surely is the time when I took my first screenshots.

 

And now that I think about it, all this happened around the time I got my first wireless USB modem, around 2009-2010, so my simming history must have started in 2009-2010. Furthermore, I had kept some of my very first screenshots in "My Pictures" for many years, up until a few years ago, when I must have moved them on a USB stick or disk or cloud service or something, but not quite knowing where, or if I even have them anymore. And this very post right here, prompted me to go hunting, and try to find those old shots. A quick search in my cloud backups yielded no results, but when I checked an old USB stick...sure enough - I found them, I'm happy to say I actually still have some of my very first FS screenshots. And a quick look at their exif info confirms my suspicions about the time when I started my "FS life" - "modified" in 2010 and 2011.

 

The sims I lost my virginity with are FlightGear and FS98 (not sure which one was the first, it was a long time ago) but I only used those for a few days, after which I got FS2004, which I'm still using today, and probably will continue to use for many years to come. And looking back at those shots, I've come a long way, like all of us. Dayum, these pics bring back quite some memories... It seems by the time I took these pics, I already had REX.

 

According to exif info, it was taken on March 8th 2011. Original title: "America over Alaska". High-end aircraft, Boeing with Airbus panel, Embraer with 747 sound, or as in this case - an AI plane...made no difference to me back then..

 

According to exif: taken on December the 10th 2010. Original title: "757 condor". I remember I was in overspeed when I took this shot. The plane was shaking and trembling.

 

October 31st 2010

 

August 28th 2010

 

October 10th 2010, "bmi a321".

 

October 28th 2010. I remember I was looking at that awfully looking terrain and thinking "this looks like manure for heaven's sake, how can I make it look better?". And that's how my years-long effort at improving the eye-candy of my terrain started, trying out various tricks and configs, terrain addons, often combining bits and pieces of several such addons.

 

September 1st 2010

 

September 20th 2010

 

September 2nd 2010, "JAPAN AIR LINES". I remember the plane was struggling to stay at that altitude when I took this one. That's rather evident from the nose-up posture visible in the shot.

 

September 30th 2010

[Men In Black]

Some more...

 

January 28th 2011. I was already trying out addon sceneries, in this case, that of my hometown airport. I was particularly happy with this landing, as it was among the first smooth landings I managed to pull off, if not THE first one. Again, an AI plane, still made no difference to me.

 

 

January 26th 2011

 

July 31st 2010. No intention to brag, but I think some shots turned out to be pretty pretty, considering I was a noob. ;)

 

January 20th 2011. I think this is my favorite of all first shots.

 

The following 2 shots are also among my favorite. Taken around November or December 2010, again, according to exif. I was really enjoying my brand new REX at the time.

 

 

October 31st 2010

 

December 26th 2010

[flightsimg]

Hi MiB! Your pics will trigger memories among simmers here!

 

About FS98, I only realized later than I used it, that it was already realistic indeed, I think. It had correct navaids but the terrain, I accept that, was poor (albeit also correctly located)

 

The trouble with FSX now -- should you consider to pass to -- is that is turned incredibly expensive. In France at least: I bought a boxed one, the Gold edition, about 4 years ago at about, say, 25 Euros as now you just find second-hand ones at 350! Should I have anticipated that, I would have bought all what remained in the shop :):):)

[TightGit]

I've yet to take my first screen shot, but then I've only been simming for 23 years... :)

[KCD]

Not to worry, you'll get to it some day.

[kingnorris]

Also, while thinking about it, my very first flight sim was Pro Pilot 99. Then I “ moved up” and bought Flight Unlimited 3...

[KCD]

My Gawd, Sky King is back!

[flightsimg]

"a long-time screenshot artiste"

Ho! I know, he also knows the guy who is able to check your wine cellar! Fine :):)

[Men In Black]

David, I'm delighted to know you savoured my story, as much as I savoured the stories and ancient screenies of all the other folks here. See, your reply reminds me of another delightful little thingie that came bundled with FS - all those wonderful virtual friendships I've developed over the years within the FS community, with so many friendly and funny individuals, all the jokes we've exchanged, all the help we've offered to one another, and generally, all the good time I've enjoyed with such like-minded individuals, even if it only happened in the virtual medium. And then there are the occasional multies. No other field of activity, no other place on the internet and no other hobby brought me so much friendly interaction with equally friendly and delightful people, when speaking of strictly online interactions, as FS has. Sure, bad apples or simply "apples" with whom I just don't resonate, are also omnipresent, but that doesn't change anything...

 

As for FSX...sure I'd wish for a superior and more advanced simulator, but as far as I'm concerned, it's just not worth the upgrade. It has always looked that way for me, and the way it seems, it's gonna continue to be that way for a long time. I've often stated why this is, and I shall copy paste what I recently told somebody else about why I'm such a die-hard FS9er:

 

"I've been saying this often - basically, for me it's simply enough what FS9 delivers, I'm just not that serious about FS. It's not that I wouldn't like to have FSX or P3D-like graphics and technologies in my sim, I mean who wouldn't, but the effort and hassle associated with switching over to a newer sim is just far too great for me to justify the upgrade. I'd have to find FSX (or P3D or whatever) specific addons of all the megatons of aircraft and scenery I have in my FS9, many of which don't exist for the newer sims. I've spent countless hours and sleepless nights just to tweak my FS9 and its addons exactly the way I want them to be. Now I'd have to do it all over again, just to have better graphics and other technologies, without which I can still enjoy simming very much. It just doesn't worth it for me. FS9 is far simpler, smaller, it's already "equipped" with everything I need, tweaked by myself, and as ancient as it may be, its level of realism is just enough for me.

 

In other words, let's say I have a Renault Twingo from 2001 customized and equipped with countless accessories and with great efforts over many years until brought in exactly the state I want it to be. Now I could pay 40.000 euros on a Ford Edge SUV from 2016, which is of course superior in every way to my 2001 little Twingo BUT...it would be a far too high price to pay just to have an SUV, which would be nice and all, but my actual needs of driving around my little town and in its immediate vicinity are satisfied just fine by a minicar as old as the 2001 Renault Twingo. Besides, I'd have to spend yet more years getting and customizing accessories for the new car, and it would occupy more space in my backyard."

[jmbiii]

I haven't seen any posted quite this old. :pilot:

 

Date on this one is 10/8/1997 18:42 (?)FS5/FS98(?) KECG and a USCG C-130

 

[KCD]

M.I.B...

You are hardly alone. There is a cadre of us who, for various reasons, prefer FS9. My primary reason would have to be the amount of time, effort and money I have invested. When I try to evaluate the benefits of moving to the allegedly superior FSX, I look at those ingredients and ask myself what is the investment in time, effort, and dollars going to look like to get FSX to reflect levels equal to my FS9, which looks almost as good as FSX anyway. The answer is too much, so FSX sits quietly on the hard drive, unused awaiting the day when I will be forced to migrate because of discontinued support. I find (FS9 to be the most stable FS platform MS ever produced. I'm not convinced that "X" was any more to "9" than any number of replacement OSs were after the very stable XP. Why try to fix that which isn't broken, and my FS9 isn't broken at all!

[kingnorris]

“

Jeff-- Am remembering Pro Pilot 99 from about 20 years ago but never got to fly it. At the time it seemed pretty well rated overall. And I remember seeing shots from Flight Unlimited III that were amazing back in the day with the great terrain textures and mesh. Looking Glass Studios could have done wonders staying with developing the Flight Unlimited series but MSFS2000 got the lion's share of the market so the bean counters won out.”

 

Yes sir. Pro Pilot 99 had a problem whereby the clouds looked like Legos. But besides that, it was ok.

Flight Unlimited III was excellent, although it only covered the state of Washington. But it was a cool touch flying the seaplane right up to Bill Gates’ mansion! And their crash effect was cool; the planes literally broke apart..

 

What could’ve been bad Looking Glass been successful and kept making FS..