[Skybird]

I tend to see some positive for the FS community in this developement. I can'T say whether or not the loss of TS2 really is a loss, since there is a new train sim out for almost a year now, but the number of addons or announcement for addons still is low - one is wondering if this new version really can get the popularity of the first TS.

On FS, I have seen quite some famous or wellknown names in the German Fs communities disappearing since FSX was released. Many of them I rememberhaving lend a helpful hand and contributed addons since FS95. Some of them tried with FSX and then left, or moved back to FS9. It's not the same thing anymore in and with the community. Devloping addons at the FSX standard has become an incredibly slow and painful process. It necessarily slows down things.

The developement interval for new versions of FS was around 2-3 years, but this simply is too little time now for developers to unfold the rhich display of addons for the latest version anymore. Plus the fact that many, if not all, of the FSX-conversions of the really complex cockpit packages available lack the technical stability of their FS9 pendants, one year after release still feature many bugs and problems and with the technically demanding FSX platform give a less stable experience than it was the case with the very stable FS8 and FS9 versions. Series of addons, like multi-parts landscape packages, have become unlikely to ever be completely released for one FS version alone anymore, but more likely will be released in parts only for any given platform, spreading their full set of titles over two or even three versions, this already showed to become a problem with FS8.

What is needed is more years passing between FS versions indeed. some years ago, I even wrote a (poetic, reflective) German essay on that for a German FS-forum, FlightXpress. For the community, this possible delay if not interruption of the FS franchise - imo is the bst thing that could have happened. It gives us the time needed to close up with things again. And to enjoy the experience for longer, and learn it to greater depth again than it is possible right now.

One word for Zachstar. The technology of FS is such that even the FS9 version already becomes unstable if you use it with maximum settings on today's hardware, that is becasue of an internal maximum memory limit that can be avoide donly at the pürice of sacrificing certain features and compatabilities with certain Addons, for example AES. FS9, seen nthat way, already was designed with options that even in a far away future could not be fully used without this price to pay. People flying complex airliner modules to the addon scneery of Heathrow can sing a song of this. Other locations where these internal contradictions in options design becomes evident, are addon versions of Paris CDG, and in general complex mesh locations with high object density and then medium to high traffic and traffic addons. what it all means: I do not hold my breath for ever being able to fly FSX at maxed out details with airport scenery and a super-complex airliner module with complex cockpit simulation on a future hardware platform. It seems that internal software contradictions are - probably unvoluntarily - forming barriers here that limit the ammount to which better hardware necessarily result in freedom to further max out detail settings. FS9 beyond a certain point simply loses stability. and I've read many reports until today that it is not different with FSX.

It's bad for the employees, of course. But seeing it from a flightsimmer's perspective missing the old (and better) community scene of past years, I celebrate the break we have been given to catch a breath and truly en joy in depth what we already have been given. I really believe it is the best thing that could have happened to us. And my own example gives proof to that i am serious: I am still flying FS9, and went on expanding the installation with addons while FSX already had been out for longer time. And quite some people meanwhile have moved back from FSX to FS9 as well, especially those IFR- and airliner-flyers.