Nostalgia: How good is our Fs2004?

[PhrogPhlyer]

6 hours ago, loki said:

You need to head over to Flightsim.to, however, as that is where the MSFS add-on community has largely coalesced.

I took a look at this site. To my surprise there were over 700 bush airfields, and nearly all the screen shots with those had classic single engine aircraft. Also their aircraft selections include many classics, from Cubs to Connies. No, not as complete as what is available for 2004, but not completely forgotten either.

[JSMR]

5 hours ago, leuen said:

 

You hit the point with that statement. Only, and that's the shame: no one is interested in vintage flying and Golden Wings anymore. No matter how many advantages and countless possibilities FS9 can offer to keep this era fyling. Nobody uses it.

 

I'd disagree, as you only have to look at how many people were/are engaged in the calclassic scenery and aircraft that show that many were/are interested in the vintage. Yes I know you're specifically talking the Golden Wings and early period, but that's only because numbers for FS2004/FSX/P3D have all dwindled as most have headed to the arcade game style MSFS google maps idea. So less interested all round. I've been slowly working on my GW bit by bit as I have some plans for it in the future. VA's specifically for this era etc. 

I keep saying it, FS2004 cant be beat for using it during every era imaginable. WIth quality scenery and aircraft. Hence why I'm not interested in changing any time soon or in the future. 

[JSMR]

3 hours ago, jgf said:

 

So, seeing so many recommendations, tried FSGRW.  In six weeks got nothing but messages it "could not connect" and that  "you need to check your internet connection".  So am left with REX, which I've had for years but rarely used other than for its cloud textures;  it is slow enough, inefficient enough, and bloated enough, to be a MS product.  And you must watch it like a hawk because it will overwrite, rather than swap, files.  So for now I mainly just d/l weather themes and select at the start of a flight.

 

I miss having variable weather but otherwise still enjoying FS2004.

I would've had that fixed by means of the support forum in less than a week considering the price I paid for it. 
It works great. It's the best available currently that works with live weather In my opinion. 

It does do the odd thing or two better than AS but since I cant currently compare, its a moot point I suppose. 

[jgf]

3 hours ago, JSMR said:

considering the price I paid for it

I was using the demo, so not out anything but the time.

[jgf]

5 hours ago, Dan Druff said:

It seems to be a generational thing - which might seem like an unfair swipe to some.

 

There seems to have been a shift to consumerism over commitment - a desire to "have experiences" rather than gain experience. It's cheaper to buy the next big thing rather than devote some precious life force to digging in and understanding a platform.

 

As you pointed out, the typical experience of users is now more often superficial, commitment measured by attention span and not "content". A great many venerated developers cut their teeth on the FS2000/2/4 platforms, and new users are benefiting from that experience on the newer platforms. "I don't see next year's crop" - Don Henley - "A month of Sundays".

Absolutely.  I'm reminded of a blog i read a few years back, exemplary of "modern" gamers' attitude, (paraphrasing)

 

"I installed Skyrim , created a character, and started playing. Went to a small village, talked to some NPCs, got some quests, visited a cave, fought some creatures, went to a larger village ...and noticed I'd been playing three hours!  I don't have time to talk to every NPC for quests, I don't have time to look in every nook and cranny for loot.  I like a game I can play through in 12 hours or so and move on."

 

Of course the "generation gap" hits us all eventually.  I complain that a local "oldies" radio station plays too much new music ...then it dawns on me that "new" music is thirty years old.

 

[defaid]

19 hours ago, jgf said:

"I installed Skyrim , created a character, and started playing. Went to a small village, talked to some NPCs, got some quests, visited a cave, fought some creatures, went to a larger village ...and noticed I'd been playing three hours!  I don't have time to talk to every NPC for quests, I don't have time to look in every nook and cranny for loot.  I like a game I can play through in 12 hours or so and move on."

 

 

We do still see the odd new member in the FS9 forum so perhaps it hasn't yet lost its appeal.

 

I've had Skyrim for three years to the detriment of my simming. I've exhausted all but the radiant quests in two play-throughs (did resort a couple of times to looking stuff up in walkthroughs, though). I drop by Nexus occasionally and have picked up some very large free extensions that are quite remarkable for their scope & detail. Some took years to create. Some are still taking years to create. A lot of the comments left for freeware devs show downloaders at the opposite end of the commitment spectrum and run along the lines of "The quests required to complete this new village took too long" or "Just give us the new [whatever] from the start" or "Monsters are too hard to kill" or "I want unlimited [whatever]".

 

They boil down to the 12-hour "Too hard, didn't play".

 

But then what comes with experience is understanding that too easy has very little intrinsic value and rapidly loses its shine. And, I suppose, that going to the races to watch the crashes is ok too... The lost shine suggests the possibility that monotony has a lot to answer for but that contradicts my continuing delight in just flying from one place to another -- without shooting anyone.

 

I find working for an outcome in Skyrim enhances the immersion just as it does in FS9, just as a (forgotten) persistent mission did in FU3. Others perhaps are short of time as much as they are short of natural inclination and simply want a couple of hours bandit-bashing. Perhaps also I'm just getting old: had such games been available when I was in my teens, I guess I'd have had no desire for lengthy quests or missions and I'd certainly have preferred a combat flight sim. Since acquiring Skyrim I have found that I'm regressing and don't spend nearly as much time with books, an effect that flight sims never had. Whole weekends used to go by when the furthest I travelled was from one cover to the other.

 

Still, the new names that occasionally appear in this forum reassure me that FS9 still has a lot to offer, both to adherents and to newcomers.

 

D

[jgf]

I loved Morrowind, enjoyed Oblivion, but never played Skyrim (due to Bethesda's decision to only release it via Steam).  For the latter two the best mod is definitely "Companion Vilja" by Emma, she adds so much to the game.  For some occasional mindless mayhem I still enjoy Torchlight 2, an old fashioned dungeon crawler.  But in general I prefer games where I build rather than destroy, which somewhat limits my options.

 

As I get older it seems more and more difficult to concentrate to read, in my younger days I averaged a book a day, now lucky to finish 2-3 a month.

[Airbasil_1]

again just a little show off, how good my FS2004 currently is... 

Literaly THAT GOOD.... 
(btw. yes I know, a little "vintage" if you want to call it like that... but however, New York is not New York without the Twin Towers... so I just added them to Manhattan again. I somehow can't deal with the New WTC which truly looks awefull..)

[PhrogPhlyer]

2 hours ago, Airbasil_1 said:

I somehow can't deal with the New WTC which truly looks awefull..

+1

[darrenvox]

On 6/2/2023 at 4:11 AM, Skywatcher12 said:

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!

 

amazing that fs2004 has more than all listed, wonder if fsx has more though, if it doesnt theres more clame to fame...fs2004 forever!!

[loki]

2 hours ago, darrenvox said:

amazing that fs2004 has more than all listed, wonder if fsx has more though, if it doesnt theres more clame to fame...fs2004 forever!!

 

Phil Taylor, the ACES project lead for FSX, wrote a blog about how well FSX sold. While it does indicate FSX sold better than FS9, I think the more relevant point is that, when looking at the numbers Skywatcher posted as well, the MSFS series has long been popular.

 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/ptaylor/success-of-fsx-and-future-of-the-franchise

 

Unfortunately, some MBA elsewhere in Microsoft spoiled Mr. Taylor's conclusion.

[MAD1]

Been awhile since I've been online. I like this thread, my thoughts precisely re all posts.

1. Joop: Glad to hear you've seamlessly gotten FS9 running on Win11. (And today am going to enjoy watching all your videos of your 'Around the world in a Learjet' that I haven't had a chance to watch yet.

2. PhrogPhlyer: love your saying 'Always Aviate, then Navigate, then Communicate. And never be low on Fuel, Altitude, Airspeed, or Ideas.'. I'd add the extra phrase 'especially all at the same time!'. In that scenario, the pilot's future is very limited! Ha, ha.

3. Question guys: I haven't got my sim going again, will need to build a new PC (or buy an older one). I have FS2000 and FS2002 (including the original boxes, perfect condition). As I'm only an occasional simmer, don't have much time or inclination to fiddle with stuff. Years ago I visited VATSIM and did lurk for a few sessions, in the proper manner, in my Cessna parked on the grass and observed traffic taxing and taking off. Was a good training experience. Then I couldn't connect anymore via FS2002 into VATSIM, they changed the connection infrastructure. So I believe that you can do group flying using FS2004, perhaps including within VATSIM. Is that correct?
3.1. If you can still connect into VATSIM and group fly via FS2004, is that situation likely to persist for some years, or are there plans to drop FS2004 out of connectability sometime? Anyone heard anything on the grapevine.
(Of course, I'd be very disappointed and angry if I went to the trouble of getting FS2004, installing it, in the hope of getting into VATSIM group flying, only to find again my setup is 'too old'. (If there are any plans to drop it, I think there should be a world-wide protest to keep so-called 'legacy apps' being able to be used, for the 'greater good' of the worldwide sim community.)

[PhrogPhlyer]

19 minutes ago, MAD1 said:

'especially all at the same time!'. In that scenario, the pilot's future is very limited! Ha, ha.

But if you walk away, it makes a great story at the O'Club.