Nostalgia: How good is our Fs2004?

[Skywatcher12]

This good. Comparison against other sims of the time. (Source: PC Gamer)
I'll just keep living in the past and keep enjoying my FS2004!

 

[JSMR]

Nice comparison. Some cool games there too.I pacific fighters too I recall. And nascar racing. Good memories. 
 

And fs2004 is still going strong! 

[Nels_Anderson]

I'm rather surprised by how low the numbers are. It would be interesting to see world sales to get a fuller picture.

 

On many of those, the sales are so small I wonder how the companies managed to stay in business?

 

Fun fact: I personally wrote and sold a game that outsold all but one of the sims shown

 

[Joop Kruize]

How is it possible that a 20 year old design like the FS2004, with poor landscape images, is still so popular? And of course it is hardly bought, sold anymore. But this FS9 gives the pilot a very good feeling because of its very good flight performance, better than any other. Furthermore, there are many add-ons and many tools to adapt the program to everyone's liking. Moreover, it runs on the humble PC, is inexpensive and affordable for many. So long live FS9-FS2004 in 2023.

[PhrogPhlyer]

4 hours ago, Nels_Anderson said:

It would be interesting to see world sales to get a fuller picture.

Agree. But in the mean time, to put FS2004 sale into a better perspective, according to Wikipedia "All entries in the Microsoft Flight Simulator series released in the 2000s, including Flight Simulator 2004, reached combined sales of 3.1 million units in the United States by August 2006"

[Nels_Anderson]

2 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

Agree. But in the mean time, to put FS2004 sale into a better perspective, according to Wikipedia "All entries in the Microsoft Flight Simulator series released in the 2000s, including Flight Simulator 2004, reached combined sales of 3.1 million units in the United States by August 2006"

 

I would think that would include 3 versions, FS2000, FS2002, FS2004. Or did FS2000 actually come out in 1999 and wasn't counted? Because of this, the quoted statement is kind of unclear. But if I'm reading it correctly, that's about 1 million copies of each sim...and probably the same 1 million customers each time

[PhrogPhlyer]

I hope we all can agree that the legacy FS versions are good solid platforms with many faithful users.

Microsoft even tips their hat to the  four legacy versions which can be played while flying MSFS (You’ll need to choose a Diamond DA62 to fly, and flick the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) on the plane’s instrument panel to on. The original Flight Simulator from 1982 should appear, and you can move between the four legacy versions by selecting at the top of the small screen).

I will also agree that these don't hold a candle to the graphic capabilities of MSFS.

Every simmer makes their own decision as to what they want to get out of simming, and what they want to invest. 

I for one will take pleasure in what everyone who participates in these forums has to offer, with whatever version they fly.

Even if unintentional, often responses sound condescending and demeaning when directed towards those who don't fly "your" preferred version.

These comments at times become fueled by emotion and for me, quite tiresome to read.

Let's try to support and elevate every simmer, do what we can to share in their excitement and discovery, regardless of what version or hardware they utilize.

Happy simming, and remember to HAVE FUN!

 

 

[Skywatcher12]

What's interesting is that in some charts, even in 2006, FS2004 was still making the top 20 of ALL games, not just sims. This is quite an achievement.
 

Despite people telling FS2004 users we should all move on, a little history demonstrates why FS2004 was such a ground breaking sim in it's day and why it can still retain a fan base today. Newer does not always mean better unless you only look for graphics from your software and nothing else.

[NEBOJSA]

Good old FS9 and Level-D .  Will be updating (fresh reinstall) in  my pc to Windows 10 64 bit. Currently Windows 7 and 32 bit. From what i read they should work in 64 bit.

 

Nebojsa

[Airbasil_1]

If you take a look at the FS2004 Random Shots Thread, you'll see, that I can't get enough of FS2004... 
Its still my most loved sim... i even prefered it alldays over FSX, P3D and all the others (except X-Plane 12 which really is awesome - sadly i don't have it but love the realistic look of it). 

Since FS2004 is the only Sim working and working and working since 22 Years (and counting) on my crappy old Laptop, i won't upgrade anything... totally happy with it... 

There's also a good anekdote which sais: "Never change a running System" 
And that's literaly what I am doing... I don't change anything which runns without any issues for Years and Years... Why should I even do that? 

[Mowgli22]

1 hour ago, Airbasil_1 said:

If you take a look at the FS2004 Random Shots Thread, you'll see, that I can't get enough of FS2004... 
Its still my most loved sim... i even prefered it alldays over FSX, P3D and all the others (except X-Plane 12 which really is awesome - sadly i don't have it but love the realistic look of it). 

Since FS2004 is the only Sim working and working and working since 22 Years (and counting) on my crappy old Laptop, i won't upgrade anything... totally happy with it... 

There's also a good anekdote which sais: "Never change a running System" 
And that's literaly what I am doing... I don't change anything which runns without any issues for Years and Years... Why should I even do that? 

The screenshots you produce are by far the most realistic and dynamic i have ever seen. I hope you continue to post them.

[lnuss]

2 hours ago, Airbasil_1 said:

Since FS2004 is the only Sim working and working and working since 22 Years (and counting)

Interesting, since that sim was released just under 20 years ago (late 2003, if I recall correctly). Granted that it was really the first one to behave really well, and is still decent today, for most purposes.

[Airbasil_1]

2 hours ago, Mowgli22 said:

The screenshots you produce are by far the most realistic and dynamic i have ever seen. 

Thanks a lot, appreciate these words... they make me continueing on 
 

2 hours ago, Mowgli22 said:

I hope you continue to post them.

For sure... as long as my Sim runs and runs and runs without any issues as it does so far... I will continue posting them... 

[jgf]

A few points to consider.  MS FlightSim has always had an MSRP substantially higher than than the average "game" and, unlike most devs, MS never reduces that.  The other "flight sims" listed are all aerial combat sims, a quite different market from a pure flight sim, and while many enjoy both I've found more "flight sim" people enjoy combat sims than the other way around (I recall when I first became interested in FS98 my combat sim friends attitude was, "Flight Sim?  You take off, you fly somewhere, you land.  Big deal".)  Sub Sims are even more niche market than flight sims.  GTR was flawed and within a year or so was replaced by GTR2, which is still one of the most popular racing sims around.  NASCAR Sim Racing couldn't hold a candle to NASCAR Racing 2003, which is still widely used while NSR is mostly forgotten.

 

I was surprised recently by this list (which doesn't include MS FlightSim as they consider it a MMO, lol)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_PC_games

[Joop Kruize]

Installed Windows 11 yesterday and today made a sightseeing flight with a Cessna 172 at my airport Eelde without any problems. Everything works..!!! Hip Hip Hooray. FS2004 or FS9 can last another 10 years. Foto: My Favorite.. The Learjet-45 .. (World Travel 12)

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

59 minutes ago, Joop Kruize said:

Installed Windows 11 yesterday and today made a sightseeing flight with a Cessna 172 at my airport Eelde without any problems. Everything works..!!!

Nice to hear this Joop. Gives me hope that when I must switch to Windows 11 FSX might actually be OK also,

[JSkorna]

FSX has always worked with Win 11 and no hoops to jump through.

[PhrogPhlyer]

33 minutes ago, JSkorna said:

FSX has always worked with Win 11 and no hoops to jump through.

Thank you. Good to know.

[darrenvox]

yep fs2004 is like a step back in time where you can still fly a nice flight without killing your system like newer sims have the potentially to do here and there..

 

its a fun sim and alot of us legacy simmers just love it for all it has to offer but hate how the external apps break down sometimes..but are willing to sit throigh those awkward times..

 

yes its a nostalgia trip to when winxp was king!!

[jgf]

10 hours ago, PhrogPhlyer said:

when I must switch to Windows 11

"must", an interesting choice of word, lol

[Roger Wensley]

Well, there is definitely one aspect of FS9 that now outshines even MSFS. There are more airports and airfields with buildings that are realistic replicas of real life than in any other flight sim. It took a few years to get to this situation of course, and I would like to see the same thing happen with MSFS, but at my age I am not optimistic!

[JSkorna]

Is that a default FS9 screen shot?

 

What airport is that?

 

Here is a list of hand crafted airports in FS2020:

https://flight.fandom.com/wiki/Microsoft_Flight_Simulator_(2020)/List_of_hand-crafted_airports

 

[loki]

33 minutes ago, JSkorna said:

Is that a default FS9 screen shot?

 

What airport is that?

 

Here is a list of hand crafted airports in FS2020:

https://flight.fandom.com/wiki/Microsoft_Flight_Simulator_(2020)/List_of_hand-crafted_airports

 

 

There's plenty more from third parties, such as Orbx and Drzewiecki Design, and lots of freeware available at the Flightsim.to site. And as the AI scenery generation and photogrammetry data gets better, the included airports that aren't hand crafted will get better too.

[PhrogPhlyer]

49 minutes ago, leuen said:

I don't understand the reason for publishing a MSFS link here

Maybe because Roger said...

 

4 hours ago, Roger Wensley said:

There are more airports and airfields with buildings that are realistic replicas of real life than in any other flight sim.

So perhaps this is just to inform that more airports can be obtained in MSFS, as in FS9?

At least that's how I read it.

[JSkorna]

18 hours ago, leuen said:

Sorry, but I don't understand the reason for publishing a MSFS link here ....

Because Roger thinks that default FS9 has more airports and airfields with buildings that are realistic replicas of real life than in any other flight sim. I would say he is mis-informed.