AH Game-ulator

[Rolex]

                                                            ** Disclaimer **
This post is just a flight of fancy, an old, unoriginal idea that might be worth looking at again. I'm not fixated or obsessed about it.
                                                            ** End Disclaimer**

I installed a copy of FSX again that I've had for a couple of years. I, probably like many other people, have bought, installed and uninstalled many copies of Flight Simulator over the years. This time, I wanted to see just how good it would work on my middle-of-the-road system. I have a dual core 3 Ghz processor, 2 Gigs of RAM and a mid-spec, 1 Gig ATI video card.

I get a solid and smooth 60 fps in all conditions in Aces High, running high resolution textures. AH looks good to me.

After fiddling and tweaking for two days to find a graphic "sweet spot" for running FSX, it still looks like crap. The virtual cockpit is washed out and barely readable, even when zoomed in. Plus:
- default ground textures are poor, at best
- the view system is poor compared to AH
- frame rates are spotty and stutters are common
- the sound files are nothing special, actually bland
- I've yet to get my controllers working smoothly for a natural feel. The scaling is bizarre. My rudders work fine in AH, but pull to the left in FS. It's frustrating.
- the clouds do look good

And last - it's lonely. Boy, is it lonely out there in Flight Simulator land.

There were only two patches released for FSX, which is good for Microsoft. The FS series ended two years ago and the "new" flight simulator concept MS announced last year will likely be more of the same - expensive, hard to setup, require a system stronger than most customers own, be buggy, have confusing or limited support and have no continuous improvement.

Everything that MS is, is everything HTC is not.

So, could an HTC-inspired, civil flight game be successful enough to add some new players to AH? Don't groan yet, hear me out.

I don't envision a detailed "simulator." I see a game with some enhanced engine and a/c controls (through alternate keyboard and dot commands), nav aids and ILS, lighting and cockpits similar to what we have now.

I understand that this would not be something current AH players would be interested in. It isn't for you. And, as a Flight Simulator "Lite" kind of concept, it wouldn't be something the realism fans would want either. However, I believe there are plenty of people out there who are intimidated by all the supposed "realism" and are frustrated at the headaches in trying to get Flight Simulator up and running. Some people just want to fly, and doing it an arena with hundreds of others is something we all understand.

So, let's say that 99% of the FS people are not interested. The remaining 1% is still a substantial amount. Microsoft has sold over 30 million copies of the series.

Over 250,000 people have signed up for vatsim - the site where people act as ATC for FS people on line. Only a few thousand are active, but imagine if some of them could use an AH created radar screen, AH radio channels and Vox for ATC, Approach and even ground control at airports on line? They would love it.

So, how could we get aircraft?
Create a SDK for 3rd-party developers to create the 3D models based on HTC specs. An Apple/Amazon Kindle-style system would let players click on a hanger within the game to buy a model, with 70% going to the developer and 30% to HTC. I don't know how HTC would want to handle FMs.

What about terrains?
Some constant terrains (Western Europe, Eastern seaboard US?) and rotating arenas (North America sections, Transoceanic with scaled ocean crossing, etc.) could be used with a team coordinating and controlling continuous terrain updates. Just like AH and FS, terrain builders would be hobbyists, people interested in building objects for terrains of places that interest them.

How much would a subscription be? Could it be a form of advertising that pays for itself? Could it be a revenue stream or incremental income, or a feeder for our current game? That's HTC territory and for them to decide.

I do think that HTC could put together a flight "game-ulator" that could attract a lot of lonely people who want to enjoy the "flavor" of flying, and are disappointed with what is out there now... and with how hard it is get into the virtual air.

Anyway, don't take this idea too seriously. As I wrestled with trying to get Flight Simulator going, I wished that I could just click a button to log online and go to arenas filled with people that have better looking textures in a scenic virtual world with a game that just worked. I don't think I'm alone.

[LLogann]

As strange, irregular and absolutely foolish as it all sounds (at first), I do find myself going over it in my head again and again.  There is definitely some merit in this idea.   

But where would they start?

[ImADot]

If HTC decided to go down that road, I envision it being well done.  In the meantime, X-Plane 9 is a good sim.  Really nice graphics, flight seems good, lots of detailed terrain to download, lots of planes to download, and has an airfoil designer built in so you can design your own aircraft.

[skorpion]

it has an airfoil designer built in so you can design your own aircraft.

so i can put a cute fluffy kitten on the wings? and a rainbow on the fuselage?

[BluTrain]

YES, YES, and more Yes.  WWII combat is great, but sometimes I just want to fly civilian aircraft - Stand alone purchase, free download + monthly subscription ( at a reduced rate for AH subscribers  ) and I'd be in.  I've installed MS FS products in the past, actually it was my first flight sim ever, but have always been discouraged by my machine's inability to run the game at levels comparable to how AH runs.

RV8 + 1 or two other Aircraft to start with, release an SDK for user modeled aircraft - hopefully limited to real planes - no VTOL 777's and see how it goes  

[EskimoJoe]

I just want to fly fighter jets and military helicopters 

[321BAR]

How about this. Get MS to make a MMOFS with better/easier graphics

[FLS]

For civil aviation I would go with an air racing arena with souped up ex WW2 fighter planes given that the focus of Aces High is the fidelity of the flight model.

[SectorNine50]

FSX has terrible performance because it's based on an engine that is very old.  It is EXTREMELY dependent on the CPU, the engine was designed before a time when GPU's were the processing monsters they are now.  This, as I understand it, is actually one of the reasons the ACES team got cut, that and they fubar'd prop plane physics and almost every stock aircraft model; none of the a/c fly at the correct speeds at their cruise settings.  Also, look at how the stock 737 flies at cruise (it's at zero degrees nose-up), and it's burn rates (can't make flights that 737-800's make every day).  Everything is #%$&ed.

If you fly FSX, use aftermarket models.

MS Flight has the ability to do it right, and I hope they do.  They lost a lot of simmer's to X-Plane with the last release (which I dislike, personally).  They specifically mention designing the game for today's hardware as well.

[Rolex]

I failed to describe the idea clearly. It didn't matter if anyone here used it or not, since no one here would have been part of the target market. The target market would have been flight simmers who wanted a better massive online environment than what's available now, and people who had less time or were less inclined to spend weeks trying to get a flight sim up and running. The idea was that some of them would crossover to AH.

[Denholm]

Rolex, I love your idea. I envisioned something similar back in the H2H days. Here's two pictures of when I pursued the idea:

[Tyrannis]

Rolex, I love your idea. I envisioned something similar back in the H2H days. Here's two pictures of when I pursued the idea:

(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)

i think i reconize this map.....

did you by chance post this map in the old "8-player"rooms? under the name "[someone's name] airport, no shooting only flying"?.

[SectorNine50]

This would be cool, but based on what I've read, I think this might be the direction that MS is hoping to go with "Flight" and Windows Live.  That would be a scary competitor, and if it were me, before I allocated the resources, I'd see how Flight plays out.

But +1 to this idea for sure.  Hell, we already have the military variant of a civilian model in-game... the C-47!



I get the feeling that this will end up like the WWI arena though... Mostly empty...

[hitech]

Rolex, the issue is simply cost, and target market. You are correct in that they are what we are not. But many things are designed around what we are.

The biggest example is terrain. MFS is designed around real world terrains and airports. We do not have the ability to support real world visuals. I.E. Google photos.

2nd the target market for what you ask, wants exact cockpit representation. I.E. each gauge, radio look land act like the real thing. We do not have that requirement.

3rd the target market want's the ability to expand the plane sets, we do not have that requirement, in fact opening up our plane modeling (not the shape) to the public could be a detriment to us.


HiTech

[Skulls22]

The great oz has spoken!