Dovetail Games acquires Flight Simulator liscence

[Takeda Shingen]

Hello everybody. It is I, back from the dead and with some news that some of you may be interested to hear.

http://www.joystiq.com/2014/07/09/tr...t-sim-license/

While this is very interesting and I welcome a revival of the franchise, I am somewhat concerned by Dovetail's business practice of drowning the customer in thousands of dollars worth of DLC. Are we going to get five planes in the base game and then have to pick and choose the rest for $4.99 a piece? Only time will tell.

Anyway, peace to you all and be well.

[Oberon]

Aaaaah, zombie!

Welcome back Two Shingen.

In regards to DTG, their DLC is rather hit and miss of late, however they are fairly open in regards to other developers generating content, and good at updating the base game for free...although the updates are rather small since any major updates would break all the DLC...

I guess in a way it will be just like the old days of FSX, the main developer created content will be fairly basic in quality, and it'll be up to 3rd party developers (like Accusim and Just Flight) to bring the good stuff to the yard.

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Aaaaah, zombie!

Welcome back Two Shingen.

In regards to DTG, their DLC is rather hit and miss of late, however they are fairly open in regards to other developers generating content, and good at updating the base game for free...although the updates are rather small since any major updates would break all the DLC...

I guess in a way it will be just like the old days of FSX, the main developer created content will be fairly basic in quality, and it'll be up to 3rd party developers (like Accusim and Just Flight) to bring the good stuff to the yard.

Braaaaiiins. And thank you Oberon. Sorry I haven't been on Teamspeak lately. My G930 finally died after a long and painful end and I haven't picked up a new one yet. Lesson learned: Logitech is not the same Logitech from a decade ago. So, I am using my awesome HD280 but it has no mic. I'll be back, though. Maybe we'll shoot up Russians or D&D it up or something.

In regards to Flight Simulator, I hope you are right. However I suspect that Dovetail will be using and/or developing a proprietary engine, and I wonder just how mod friendly that would be given the company's revenue MO. Not to say that Train Simulator isn't a good game; it is, I enjoy it. Rather, that it seems less mod friendly than FSX.

[Schroeder]

So Raptor does perform necromancy after all.

[Aktungbby]

Two Bears!

[Skybird]

Lockheed'S Prepar3d! v2.2 is to be preferred, I think. Even v1 .

http://www.prepar3d.com/

Addon developers like Aerosoft supply their modules with exe'S that are specially designed for easier installation in P3D 2 now, since many months. Technically, P3D is further enhanced over the original MS code, and many important developers like PMDG have started to develope for P3D and announced their packages to be moved to P3D 2. P3D 1 already was able to run all that stuff.

Myself, I have not flown since long now. Must be almost a year or so. Assetto Corsa took a very huge bite off my timetable.

[CCIP]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/314160/

And it's out!

Was on for 80% off earlier today, which made it $5 - and probably means that it'll be back on for that price sometime again in the next two weeks. Keep an eye on it!

The reported additions are Win 8.1 support, built-in multiplayer, CPU optimizations/stability fixes, and a bunch of new aircraft and objects. It seems that most add-ons are unaffected and FSUIPC works properly. Promising so far!

[Skybird]

They say themselves that owners of FSX Gold probably do not benefit too much from this. New customers maybe should consider it. However, they also say they cannot test addon compatability. For somebody like me with many addons, this is a critical concern.

[CCIP]

Yeah, I think for some things compatibility will take time to catch up, but I'm optimistic that the makers of the add-ons themselves will resolve that pretty quickly.

For FSUIPC, a new compatible version is required: http://forum.simflight.com/topic/782...steam-edition/

But there are still a couple of things in it that aren't yet implemented.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by CCIP

Yeah, I think for some things compatibility will take time to catch up, but I'm optimistic that the makers of the add-ons themselves will resolve that pretty quickly.

For FSUIPC, a new compatible version is required: http://forum.simflight.com/topic/782...steam-edition/

But there are still a couple of things in it that aren't yet implemented.

Ouh, I would not bet on that regarding older addons like PMDG 737NGX or Aerosoft sceneries of older date. They all have swung towards the P3D line. I doubt that they will start to bother for a thirds development line.

However, many addons seem to work. Its just that you cannot be sure that the ones you want to use are amongst them.

[CCIP]

I don't know, I'll wait and see myself how things pan out - if Dovetail keep up support, I could see add-on developers swinging back to this as a main development line. It does have the advantage of being far more accessible to a wider user base than P3D (which is always positioned as "not a game!")

I think for advanced players it's a wait-and-see. Considering I never bought into FSX (still on FS9) and have been delaying getting a new PC, as I see it - I'll probably be choosing between this and P3D as my main sim in a few months. We'll see how it pans out by then!

[CCIP]

Heads up - it's at 80% off again. You'll be able to grab it for $5.59 (or whatever 80% off the regular euro price is) today and tomorrow

[Skybird]

From Aerosoft's forum:

We like to warn customers that our add-ons are NOT compatible with the new FSX STEAM version unless clearly stated. While the files might be compatible our installers will have to be adapted to install into this new version of FSX. Of course we also have to do some tests because we already have found some issues. We expect to be able to retrofit the installers with options for FSX XSTEAM rapidly. If you want a clear overview of all the simulators that are now in the FS family check our forum.

full thread here: http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?...-product-list/

[Skybird]

Also, Aerosoft disagrees with the assumption that the Steam version of FSX is the one with advantages over standard FSX:

http://forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?...dont-think-so/

The fact that many people feel it is faster because their STEAM version is less 'polluted' and probably less tweaked. The loss of VAS memory is troublesome and noteworthy, as it the fact that starting the STEAM version takes 40 seconds on my machine while the non STEAM version takes 11 seconds. For somebody like me who starts FSX 20 or more times that matters.

So while we like FSX on STEAM and will support it (the Airbus is now available), there is as far as I can see, absolutely no reason to switch. P3D still remains king of the hill with a huge margin.

As is being quoted in that thread, the main purpose for the Steam version was to bring back multiplayer fiuc ntionaöity into FSX after Gamespy was shut down. And that pretty much was at teh core of it so far. That is very different to what Lockheed has done with P3D, where there was focus on technical improvement and code optimization to also increase stability.

I conclude that my earlier assessment probably was correct: the future is P3D/P3D2, not Steam-FSX.

[CCIP]

Yeah, I've bumped into a few things with Steam FSX now that I've had a chance to try it where I'm iffy on it now - though I definitely think it's still a good evolution of it into a player-friendly and stable platform, especially for multiplayer. But I am starting to get convinced as well that P3D is well ahead for the serious simmer for whom price is not an object - and let's face it, when you spend hundreds or even thousands on add-ons, that's hardly a consideration compared to what you get as a result. But for those only willing to spend $5 and $30 and looking to enjoy flight sims without hassle, the steam FSX is pretty much perfect.