So, now that Flight is officially dead

Oberon · 07-30-12, 09:17 PM

Where does that leave the globe trotting flight community?

An obvious answer is FSX, another obvious answer is X-plane.

But there's another contender out there, which may be the next big thing if the engine works out.

http://outerra.com/

Outerra - Anteworld (not exactly a usual name, but stick with me) plans to model the planet seamlessly from space down to ground level. From aircraft, to rockets, to helicopters, to trucks, Outerra plans to have them flow seamlessly together.

It's already looking quite pretty:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.ph...ml#Post3615800

And it's still only in Alpha status, although slowly moving towards Beta I think. Even so, there's a lot of potential there, could well be one to keep an eye on.

Skybird · 07-31-12, 04:47 AM

Linked first in the combathelo blog. (Combathelo will not use this engine, to make that clear, at least not in the first release - if there ever will be a first release).

But a good flightsim is more than just a visual engine to create a world. It is physics, avionics, functionality.

flatsixes · 07-31-12, 10:23 AM

But a good flightsim is more than just a visual engine to create a world. It is physics, avionics, functionality.

I concur. But, oh baby, I do love the eye candy so!
So let me see if I understand this Outerra: Is it meant to be a program for world rendering that would then somehow be integrated or "overlayered" (a word I just made up to show that I have no clue how these things work) with a flight sim program? In other words, Outerra handles the world, and a some other program provides the aircraft rendering/aeronautics, etc.? So you could/would (at least in theory) run Outerra in conjunction with a next gen sim, say, FS-XII or Il-4?

I don't care if I'm completely wrong. I just want my imagination to be happy.

CCIP · 07-31-12, 10:46 AM

Yeah, I believe Outerra is designed just as a terrain-rendering engine that plugs into other systems.

For all the excitement over it, I keep saying that I'll believe it when I see it in an actual game

I think it's easy to be enthused, but it's been in development for a long bloody time without a single real title using it or indeed announcing commitment to it yet, so we'll see.

Combat Helo looks really cool, but it is a combat sim. As far as civvie flying sims, we'll have to see who can run with it. Right now X-Plane is best-positioned to take the market lead, but there's still a lot of work to do and while it is attracting some third-party development, it hasn't been able to draw the huge Flight Sim add-on community away from FSX. At the same time, it's a title that's been around for a while and still hasn't made nearly as much of an impact as FS - so whether it can or not is also doubtful. If Prepar3D ever decided to go a more commercial route, it might be pretty successful with that community. Other entries into the market, like Aerofly FS, haven't really been able to quite win over the community and take home the bacon commercially.

I actually suspect that the "next big thing" will come from left-of-field, not from a Western developer but from somewhere like Russia (where a lot of FS add-on development and combat sims like DCS, IL-2 and Rise of Flight are based anyway). It will probably be a few years before it shows up, but my money is that as FSX ages, somebody over there will find a way to build a new platform, and do it cheaper than Microsoft could ever do, and more efficiently than X-plane has been able to develop. But we'll see, I guess.

Herr-Berbunch · 07-31-12, 11:05 AM

Outerra was raised here a year ago by difool2 http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...3&postcount=20 it looked good then, I'm sure it's even better now.

Red October1984 · 07-31-12, 11:15 AM

Flight cant be dead. Flightsims basically raised me. Anything and everything about flight was my interest as a kid. IT CANT HAPPEN!

CCIP · 07-31-12, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red October1984

Flight cant be dead. Flightsims basically raised me. Anything and everything about flight was my interest as a kid. IT CANT HAPPEN!

He's talking about Microsoft Flight, which is indeed very dead (i.e. further development was cancelled last week, developers laid off)

Oberon · 07-31-12, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red October1984

Flight cant be dead. Flightsims basically raised me. Anything and everything about flight was my interest as a kid. IT CANT HAPPEN!

Sorry, the laws of physics changed last week, heavier than air transport is now forbidden, although, to Raptors great delight, Zeppelins are exempt from this rule and will be making a comeback.

Red October1984 · 07-31-12, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CCIP

He's talking about Microsoft Flight, which is indeed very dead (i.e. further development was cancelled last week, developers laid off)

Oh. GOOD! I couldnt go without flight sims.

I feel stupid now.

flatsixes · 07-31-12, 02:25 PM

To be honest, I haven't really flown (by which I mean, become proficient at flying) but a fraction of the aircraft in any of the flight sims I play. Time is one factor (of course) but so is personal taste, which for me appears to tend towards smaller fixed-wing aircraft powered by internal combustion engines. Bombers and heavies are fun and all, but left to myself I always wind up in a fighter or Beechcraft, or even a DC-3 (which I dearly love to fly). Maybe I'll give a helicopter sim a go. What's to lose?

Any favorites out there?

Red October1984 · 07-31-12, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flatsixes

Any favorites out there?

Microsoft Flight Sim 2004 and IL-2 Sturmovik.

Combat Flight Simulator 3 is also up there for me.

These are my top 3.

Herr-Berbunch · 07-31-12, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flatsixes

Maybe I'll give a helicopter sim a go. What's to lose?

Any favorites out there?

Either Black Shark 2 if you want to shoot stuff, or Take On Helicopters - there is a demo available http://takeonthegame.com/ both are definitely simulators but TOH has characters and a storyline. Neither are particularly easy to fly from the off.

Dowly · 07-31-12, 03:00 PM

Black Shark 2

CCIP · 07-31-12, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

Either Black Shark 2 if you want to shoot stuff, or Take On Helicopters - there is a demo available http://takeonthegame.com/ both are definitely simulators but TOH has characters and a storyline. Neither are particularly easy to fly from the off.

Oh yeah, that reminds me - I also have some hope for Bohemia Interactive as a future developer/publisher of sims. They've been pretty successful lately - I just hope they get Take On Helicopters to a better state (I hear it's still not quite up to par on the way it models helicopter behaviour, but getting there). They're definitely a company to watch; they fund some pretty ambitious development, and with the money they're raking in both on the military side (VBS) and commercial side (ArmA, DayZ, possibly Carrier Command), I could see them becoming a powerhouse of hardcore games, including possible flight sims, in the foreseeable future.

07-30-12, 09:17 PM	#1
Oberon Lucky Jack Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 25,976 Downloads: 61 Uploads: 20	So, now that Flight is officially dead Where does that leave the globe trotting flight community? An obvious answer is FSX, another obvious answer is X-plane. But there's another contender out there, which may be the next big thing if the engine works out. http://outerra.com/ Outerra - Anteworld (not exactly a usual name, but stick with me) plans to model the planet seamlessly from space down to ground level. From aircraft, to rockets, to helicopters, to trucks, Outerra plans to have them flow seamlessly together. It's already looking quite pretty: http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.ph...ml#Post3615800 And it's still only in Alpha status, although slowly moving towards Beta I think. Even so, there's a lot of potential there, could well be one to keep an eye on.

07-31-12, 04:47 AM	#2
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 42,647 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	Linked first in the combathelo blog. (Combathelo will not use this engine, to make that clear, at least not in the first release - if there ever will be a first release). But a good flightsim is more than just a visual engine to create a world. It is physics, avionics, functionality. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

07-31-12, 10:46 AM	#4
CCIP Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Waterloo, Canada Posts: 8,700 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 2	Yeah, I believe Outerra is designed just as a terrain-rendering engine that plugs into other systems. For all the excitement over it, I keep saying that I'll believe it when I see it in an actual game I think it's easy to be enthused, but it's been in development for a long bloody time without a single real title using it or indeed announcing commitment to it yet, so we'll see. Combat Helo looks really cool, but it is a combat sim. As far as civvie flying sims, we'll have to see who can run with it. Right now X-Plane is best-positioned to take the market lead, but there's still a lot of work to do and while it is attracting some third-party development, it hasn't been able to draw the huge Flight Sim add-on community away from FSX. At the same time, it's a title that's been around for a while and still hasn't made nearly as much of an impact as FS - so whether it can or not is also doubtful. If Prepar3D ever decided to go a more commercial route, it might be pretty successful with that community. Other entries into the market, like Aerofly FS, haven't really been able to quite win over the community and take home the bacon commercially. I actually suspect that the "next big thing" will come from left-of-field, not from a Western developer but from somewhere like Russia (where a lot of FS add-on development and combat sims like DCS, IL-2 and Rise of Flight are based anyway). It will probably be a few years before it shows up, but my money is that as FSX ages, somebody over there will find a way to build a new platform, and do it cheaper than Microsoft could ever do, and more efficiently than X-plane has been able to develop. But we'll see, I guess. __________________ There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers. -Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart)

07-31-12, 11:05 AM	#5
Herr-Berbunch Kaiser Bill's batman Join Date: May 2010 Location: AN72 Posts: 13,203 Downloads: 76 Uploads: 0	Outerra was raised here a year ago by difool2 http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...3&postcount=20 it looked good then, I'm sure it's even better now. __________________

07-31-12, 11:15 AM	#6
Red October1984 Airplane Nerd Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Texas Posts: 6,243 Downloads: 115 Uploads: 0	Flight cant be dead. Flightsims basically raised me. Anything and everything about flight was my interest as a kid. IT CANT HAPPEN! __________________

07-31-12, 10:23 AM	#3
flatsixes Weps Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Virginia Posts: 362 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 0	But a good flightsim is more than just a visual engine to create a world. It is physics, avionics, functionality. I concur. But, oh baby, I do love the eye candy so! So let me see if I understand this Outerra: Is it meant to be a program for world rendering that would then somehow be integrated or "overlayered" (a word I just made up to show that I have no clue how these things work) with a flight sim program? In other words, Outerra handles the world, and a some other program provides the aircraft rendering/aeronautics, etc.? So you could/would (at least in theory) run Outerra in conjunction with a next gen sim, say, FS-XII or Il-4? I don't care if I'm completely wrong. I just want my imagination to be happy.

07-31-12, 02:25 PM	#10
flatsixes Weps Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Virginia Posts: 362 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 0	To be honest, I haven't really flown (by which I mean, become proficient at flying) but a fraction of the aircraft in any of the flight sims I play. Time is one factor (of course) but so is personal taste, which for me appears to tend towards smaller fixed-wing aircraft powered by internal combustion engines. Bombers and heavies are fun and all, but left to myself I always wind up in a fighter or Beechcraft, or even a DC-3 (which I dearly love to fly). Maybe I'll give a helicopter sim a go. What's to lose? Any favorites out there?

07-31-12, 03:00 PM	#13
Dowly Lucky Jack Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Finland Posts: 25,053 Downloads: 32 Uploads: 0	Black Shark 2