04-03-2009, 02:25 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-03-2009, 02:28 PM by Ed Bennett.)
I'm hoping for the reverse, actually.
The clock was always ticking on every version of FS, because there was always a new version on the horizon. Just as you got up to speed with one version (developers - including here at TCA - had finally made the planes and scenery you wanted, version specific addons of traffic, environment mods, panel design programs etc etc etc had been released, debugged, and you'd learned how to use them, and the cost of a computer that could run it all had finally dropped to something reasonable) there would be amother coming along and the cycle started again. I don't think I ever got fs98, 2000 or 2002 quite as I liked them, and the only reason FS9 is at about the stage I'm happy with it now is because I haven't upgraded to FSX yet.
But now, with the closing of ACES, there isn't goingto be an FSXI for the forseeable future, and so all the genius that goes into developing addons and tweaks will be concentrated on FS9 and FSX (of course, it will increasingly be on FSX). The developer's won't jump ship to FSXI just because it's there, so the development of FSX addons can continue. Freeware developers will have no reason to stop improving things, and payware developers will only stop when people aren't buying any new stuff - either because they've already made all the scenery, planes and utilities that anyone would ever buy, or because a different simulator has superseded FS and the market for yet another 747 model opens up again.
But before that happens, the clever clever people who put so much effort into making super-realistic boeings and airbuses might have to turn their attention to some less common aircraft. Who knows, in time we might see really good FSX payware versions of some of the underrated planes out there.
And at the same time, the cost of a rig that can actually run all this is coming down and down. Before too long the majority of simmers will be able to afford to run FSX with the sliders all the way over, without worrying about having to upgrade for FSXI.
People aren't going to want to stop simming, so for FSX the clock will only start ticking again when something better comes along. So, whilst it's a genuine shame that ACES has closed, and of course in the more medium term I'm sure we all want to see FS technology improving and improving, for now this interruption has given FSX a chance to really blossom.
[edit - Oh, and 'Hi' by the way...]
The clock was always ticking on every version of FS, because there was always a new version on the horizon. Just as you got up to speed with one version (developers - including here at TCA - had finally made the planes and scenery you wanted, version specific addons of traffic, environment mods, panel design programs etc etc etc had been released, debugged, and you'd learned how to use them, and the cost of a computer that could run it all had finally dropped to something reasonable) there would be amother coming along and the cycle started again. I don't think I ever got fs98, 2000 or 2002 quite as I liked them, and the only reason FS9 is at about the stage I'm happy with it now is because I haven't upgraded to FSX yet.
But now, with the closing of ACES, there isn't goingto be an FSXI for the forseeable future, and so all the genius that goes into developing addons and tweaks will be concentrated on FS9 and FSX (of course, it will increasingly be on FSX). The developer's won't jump ship to FSXI just because it's there, so the development of FSX addons can continue. Freeware developers will have no reason to stop improving things, and payware developers will only stop when people aren't buying any new stuff - either because they've already made all the scenery, planes and utilities that anyone would ever buy, or because a different simulator has superseded FS and the market for yet another 747 model opens up again.
But before that happens, the clever clever people who put so much effort into making super-realistic boeings and airbuses might have to turn their attention to some less common aircraft. Who knows, in time we might see really good FSX payware versions of some of the underrated planes out there.
And at the same time, the cost of a rig that can actually run all this is coming down and down. Before too long the majority of simmers will be able to afford to run FSX with the sliders all the way over, without worrying about having to upgrade for FSXI.
People aren't going to want to stop simming, so for FSX the clock will only start ticking again when something better comes along. So, whilst it's a genuine shame that ACES has closed, and of course in the more medium term I'm sure we all want to see FS technology improving and improving, for now this interruption has given FSX a chance to really blossom.
[edit - Oh, and 'Hi' by the way...]