Anyone have any experiance with Flightsims ?

[Dutch_guy]

I was wondering if there are any flight sims that are worth buying , at the moment .
I have IL 2 forgotten battles, which I liked, I als o have Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 ( doesn't work ATM due to a prblem when launching )

But if you know of any Fsims that are worth buying , feel free to post here

[Nelson]

Pacific Fighters, also by Oleg Maddox, is very good.

What we need is a good WWI flight sim with a dynamic campaign.

[ICantSpellDawg]

the il-2 games are sh*t-your-pants amazing

pac fighters IS good

if you are into it, try silent hunter - its a sub sim tho

[Productivity]

Falcon 4.0. That game was scary. More to the point the manual was scary.

*wishes he knew somewhere he could buy it. I can't find my copy anymore.

[gunslinger]

Have you already tried the Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator? It's been out for several years now. I enjoyed it even though some bug always caused it to quit recognizing my joystick at the least opportune moments.

[Androo]

MS Combat Flight Simulator 2 is very good and comes with a good mission builder. Additionally there are many, many excellent freeware planes, missions, scenery add-ons and campaigns available for it at the Sim Outhouse and elsewhere.

MS Combat Flight Simulator 3 is also very good, but needs a much more robust system to run it than does CFS 2 and has some annoying stupidities, which have to be scripted out by the user. For example, in the Quick Combat and Freeflight modes the game automatically spawns enemy airfields and ground vehicles in anomalous places, e.g. Tiger tanks in Sussex . A mission builder for it is downloadable from MS. There is a growing number of freeware planes (many of them 1%, ie they perform within 1% of the specifications of the real aircraft) and campaigns available for CFS 3 (including Korean War and World War I campaigns).

Lock On Modern Air Combat is great for current aircraft and has an easy-to- use mission builder.

[Samurai Waki]

FALCON 4.0 ALLIED FORCE! I'm a Falcon Junky...

[Husar]

What we need is a good WWI flight sim with a dynamic campaign.

Something like this?

[Fragony]

There was this really cool flightsim called JSF, not the most realistic but it had VERY cool and relaxing music. You could do a campaign, or just throw in a few bots and go dogfighting. Everything could be modified, time of day, weather, very very cool. It should be dirt cheap by now.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

What we need is a good WWI flight sim with a dynamic campaign.

Damn right. That's real dogfighting.

It's quite embarrassing that no-one's managed to surpass Red Baron 3D yet.

[Androo]

Nelson and Big King Sanctaphrax, have you tried Over Flanders Fields ? I haven't had a chance yet, but it sure looks promising to me.

[Sjakihata]

LoMac

Lock On Modern Air Combat: http://lo-mac.com/ the best one out there atm. both gfx and gameplay wise.

[Beirut]

My kinda thread!

The IL2 series is great. From the original right up to Pacific Fighters. I spend more time flying IL2 than all other games combined. Can't wait for the new expansion pack with the Mosquito in it.

CFS3, to me, sucked in a way that can barely be described. Horrible from start to finish. A buggy, ugly letdown of tragic proportions. And I was a hardcore CFS1 & CFS2 fan for years. My CFS1 flight time was hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours.

Janes WWII Fighters was/is a great sim as well. There are hundreds of megs of free add-ons that greatly improve the game and are free on CD. I think you just have to pay $5 for the cost of the CD and the shipping. Head over to ww2fighters.org. The forums are the the most polite and helpful on the web. A great bunch of guys.

Falcon 4 was a masterpiece, still have it as well as the original 400 page ring binder manual. Going to buy Falcon 4: Allied Force next week I think. Flying Wild Weasel missions in F4 is one of the most intense flightsim experiences you can have.

Lock On is great as well. Lots of variety, insane grahics, good mission builder. And it's got an A-10. Look for one of Sinan's Lock On threads to see unbelievable screenshots. You can get Lock On for ten or twenty bucks these days. Well worth it even if you just want to putz around and look at the scenery.

For WWI action, Red baron 3D is still the one to beat. Get the "Full Canvas Jacket" patch, about $15, it got great reviews and upgrades the game in every way.

I have MSFS2004 as well with the Megascenery Pacific Northwest add-on ($50!). Very nice stuff. Great learning tutorials. Looking forward to MS Flightsim X that's coming out next winter. Looks very sharp.

My setup on my unglorious desk. Hope to drastically improve the esthetics of it next summer. Much, much nicer with the lights off.

I was going to blow $200 on the Saitek X52 HOTAS system, but I LOVE my MS FFB2 stick. So I just spent $40 on the Saitek Evo stick (left) and programed it a left hand throttle. Works great! Right hand is weapons and flight controls. Left hand is throttle, flaps, landing gear, many different view options, and padlock. The 9 button control pad is for extra stuff. But 99% of the time I can fly without ever taking my hands off the two sticks. Well worth the money for a setup like this.

[Sjakihata]

With a desk setup like that, I'd expect you to have at least 5 LCD screens, one in the middle, one left and right, one top and one bottom

[Beirut]

With a desk setup like that, I'd expect you to have at least 5 LCD screens, one in the middle, one left and right, one top and one bottom

Nice thought. But to my immediate left on the screen is my woman's PC. Also, my woman. And She Who Must Be Obeyed takes great exception to my flightgear cramming up the table.

Also, I can't afford 5 LCD screens. Might buy a 19" black top of the line Viewsonic CRT screen soon, though. They're getting very cheap, seems nobody wants CRT screens anymore. Fine with me.

[Just A Girl]

I used to play a game called aces high 2.

Its a free full download of a game and you can play it for ever,

Its a huge MMO flight sim. (Massivly Multiplayer Online)
And as such is payed for in a similar way to MMORPG s.

by this i mean you get the game free and get to play on there servers for 1 month free of charge. "vs 100's of player at any given time, night or day."
After this month expires you can chose to Pay the monthly subscription,
Or chose to only play 8 player multiplayer games.

This is not only a flight sim,
But allso allows command of tanks and feild guns exetera

Strategic attacks are carried out 24/7 And an ongoing battle is the result, between 4 teams of players *all human*

This historically accurate flight sim also controlls Incredibly well. With flight proving to be a bit tricky at 1st.
It is well worth the efort of downloading even if you chose to never buy a subscription and chose to play only 8 player
IMHO it is better than Microsofts combat flight sims.
being more acurate in flight and with a more realistic dfamage model.

[Androo]

CFS3, to me, sucked in a way that can barely be described. Horrible from start to finish. A buggy, ugly letdown of tragic proportions.

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with it. When it was released it was a mess. I held off on getting it and now, heavily patched, it works great for me. Of course the minimum system requirements reflect Bill Gates personal sense of humour and are really very funny. In the same way that other commercial frauds are side-splittingly hilarious to those who are victimized by them. I would agree with PC Aviator's general policy of doubling the recommended requirements and considering those a more realistic minimum. As for "ugly", I find it to be almost as attractive as any screen shots of IL2 I have seen, but this is just a matter of personal taste.

I have stayed away from the IL2 series because of the near consensus of negative opinion I have heard and read in the mainstream press and flight sim community concerning its flight models (e.g. problematic or absent stalls, on landing sticking to carrier decks as though they were flypaper etc., etc.). However, I just did a quick check and both ign and Gamespot write glowingly about the accuracy of the flight modelling.

One thing I definitely don't like about the IL2 series is that the games are intentionally un-moddable (except for aircraft skins). Whereas CFS2 and CFS3 are getting better and better all the time, thanks to many dedicated modders. How long have you been waiting for that Mozzie?

As you know CFS2 maps the globe(!). With mods I believe CFS3 now covers North Africa, Korea and part of the front lines of the western front in WWI, plus the whole of Northern Europe which was covered in the original. I believe that in all the IL2 series, only small parts of Russia, Northern Europe and the Pacific are covered, though I stand to be corrected on that. When I am flying a cross-Channel raid, I want to fly across the Channel. And newly modded airfields are based on period photographs.... Modders are re-sculpting parts of the Dutch coastline and various Pacific islands to reflect not their present outlines but their forms sixty years ago... More and more 1% aircraft are available. For me anyway, I doubt either CFS2 or 3 can quite be beaten at the moment in terms of achieving an almost obsessive level of realism and accuracy. Definitely just IMHO!

On the other hand I am always up for something new! Thanks to this thread I have taken a second look at the IL2 series and I sure like what I see. 90 or 95% realism may be good enough for me. Anyway, I am definitely going to give 'em a spin! I'm blissed out- suddenly a bunch of new flight sims to try out!

Head over to ww2fighters.org. The forums are the the most polite and helpful on the web.

Except for the Arena, right?!?

[Beirut]

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with it. When it was released it was a mess. I held off on getting it and now, heavily patched, it works great for me.

As for "ugly", I find it to be almost as attractive as any screen shots of IL2 I have seen, but this is just a matter of personal taste.

I bought it the second it came out. Loaded it up and my poor heart sank. Horrid terrain, lousy graphics, buggy from start to finish, and CTDs every five minutes. I desperately wanted to like it but after an hour I was ready to toss it. Tried to trade it online, no takers. Ended up giving it away to a buddy at the WW2fighter site. I've been tempted to try it again but I'm having way too much fun with the IL2 series.

I have stayed away from the IL2 series because of the near consensus of negative opinion I have heard and read in the mainstream press and flight sim community concerning its flight models (e.g. problematic or absent stalls, on landing sticking to carrier decks as though they were flypaper etc., etc.). However, I just did a quick check and both ign and Gamespot write glowingly about the accuracy of the flight modelling.

One thing I definitely don't like about the IL2 series is that the games are intentionally un-moddable (except for aircraft skins). Whereas CFS2 and CFS3 are getting better and better all the time, thanks to many dedicated modders. How long have you been waiting for that Mozzie?

I've always been of the opinion that IL2 has great flight modelling. (My many years in the Luftwaffe allow me to justify this. ) There is a huge difference in FM between planes in IL2, some will stall and spin if you look at them funny. I find IL2 takes a deft touch to master. As for planes sticking to flight decks... not that I've seen. I've bolted off the end enough times to question this.

Modding? yeah, I liked the CFS mod-ability, but IL2 already has such insane variety I don't mind.

Look at what's available in the sim: (Copied for the IL2 site)

Flyable Red planes:
A_20G
B_25J1
BEAU21
Brewster Buffalo
BI_1
F4F3
F4F4
F4F_FM2
F4U1A
F4U1C
F4U1D
F4UCORSAIR1
F4UCORSAIR2
F4UCORSAIr
F6F3
F6F5
HurricaneMkIIb
HurricaneMkIIc
HurricaneMkIIbMod
I_153_M62
I_153P
I_16TYPE18
I_16TYPE24
I_16TYPE24DRONE
I_185M71
I_185M82A
IL_2_1940Early
IL_2_1940Late
IL_2_1941Early
IL_2_1941Late
IL_2I
IL_2MEarly
IL_2MLate
IL_2Type3
IL_2Type3M
IL_2T
LA_5
LA_5F
LA_5FN
LA_7
LA_7B20
LAGG_3SERIES4
LAGG_3SERIES29
LAGG_3SERIES35
LAGG_3SERIES66
LAGG_3IT
MIG_3EARLY
MIG_3SHVAK
MIG_3AM38
MIG_3U
MIG_3UB
MIG_3UD
P_38J
P_38L
P-38L Late
P_39D1
P_39D2
P_39N
P_39Q1
P_39Q10
P_400
P_40E
P_40EM105
P_40M
P_47D10
P_47D22
P_47D27
P_51B
P_51C
P_51D5NT
P_51D20NA
Mustang MkIII
P_63C
P_80A
SBD3
SBD5
SEAFIRE3
SEAFIRE3F
SPITFIRE5B
SPITFIRE5BCLP
SPITFIRE5BLF
SPITFIRE5BLFCLP
Spitfire5c
SPITFIRE8
SPITFIRE8CLP
SPITFIRE9C
SPITFIRE9CCLP
SPITFIRE9E
SPITFIRE9ECLP
SPITFIRE9EHF
TB_3_4M_17
TB_3_4M_34R
TB_3_4M_34R_SPB
YAK_1
YAK_1B
YAK_3
YAK_3P
YAK_7A
YAK_7B
YAK_9
YAK_9B
YAK_9D
YAK_9K
YAK_9M
YAK_9T
YAK_9U
YAK_9UT

AI ONLY RED PLANES
B_17D
B_17E
B_17F
B_17G
B_24J100
B_25C25
B_25G1
B_25H1
B_29
BLENHEIM4
F2A2
C_47
G_11
IL_4_DB3B
IL_4_DB3M
IL_4_DB3T
IL_4_DB3F
IL_4_IL4
LI_2
MBR_2AM34
PBN1
PE_2SERIES1
PE_2SERIES84
PE_2SERIES110
PE_2SERIES359
PE_3SERIES1
PE_3BIS
PE_8
R_10
SB_2M100A
SB_2M103
SU_2
Tempest
TBF1
TBF1C
TBM3
TBM3AVENGER3
TU_2S
U_2VS

FLYABLE BLUE PLANES
A6M2
A6M2_21
A6M2_N
A6M3
A6M5
A6M5A
A6M5B
A6M5C
A6M7_62
A6M7_63
BF_109E4
BF_109E4B
BF_109E7
BF_109E7NZ
BF_109F2
BF_109F4
BF_109G2
BF_109G6
BF_109G6Late
BF_109G6AS
BF_109G10
BF_109G14
BF_109K4
BF_109Z
BF_110G2
CR_42
D3A1
F2A_B239
FW_190A4
FW_190A5
FW_190A6
FW_190A8
FW_190A8MSTL
FW_190A9
FW_190D9
FW_190D9LATE
FW_190F8
TA_152H1
G4M1_11
G50
GLADIATOR1J8A
GO_229A1
HE_111H2
HE_111H6
HE_162A2
HurricaneMkIa
IAR_80
IAR_81A
IAR_80C
JU_87B2
JU_87D3
JU_87D5
JU_87G1
KI_43_IA
KI_43_IB
KI_43_IC
KI_61_IKO
KI_61_IHEI
KI_61_IOTSU
KI_84_IA
KI_84_IB
KI_84_IC
KI_100
ME_163B1A
ME_262A1A
ME_262A1AU4
ME_262A2A
P_11C

AI ONLY BLUE PLANES
AR_196A3
B5N2
BF_110C4
BF_110C4B
BLENHEIM1
BLENHEIM4
FI_156
FW_189A2
FW_200C3U4
GLADIATOR1
GLADIATOR2
H8K1
HE_111Z
HS_129B2
HS_129B3Wa
J2M3
JU_52_3MG4E
JU_52_3MG5E
JU_88A4
JU_88MSTL
KI_43_II
KI_43_IIKAI
KI_46_OTSU
KI_46_RECCE
KI_46_OTSUHEI
L2D
ME_210CA1
ME_210CA1ZSTR
ME_321
ME_323
MC_202
MS406
MS410
MSMORKO
N1K1J
N1K1JA
P_36A3
P_36A4

In addition there are......

Maps-70

Moving Objects

Armor-227
Vehicles-56
Trains-22
Ships-75

Stationary Objects:
Armour-61
Ships-74
Other Objects-173
Buildings etc-431

Static Cameras

ALSO.......

A full mission Builder that once you get past the outward complexity... and the lack of things like triggers notwithstanding that can fully utilize all of the above mentioned objects. In addition settable targets for Recon, Escort,Ground Attack,Air Attack,Take Off,Landing......

Add to that:
The ability to record viewable tracks either on the fly or after the mission is done.. depending on whether or not you are online.

24 settable levels of difficulty ranging from no death no crash no damage to locked in the cockpit with your head on a swivel.

Scalable controls for the guy with the $300 HOTAS setup... or the guy with the $39 bargain stick....

Scalable settings so that if you have a 4 year old CPU on a 4 year old video card you can fly..... if you have a top of the line mega system you can REALLY fly......

Offline or online play... with as many planes in the air as your CPU can handle... up to 128....

Stunning grphics that are almost photorealistic. Damage models that are un equalled in any WW2 era air combat simulator. AI that while stupid at times.. with the right mix of numbers and skill levels can present a challenge to just about anyone.

A clock that runs in real time. Run a mission offline. Set the time to your time.... park your plane and go to bed. When you wake up the next morning....

User made utilities that make up for some of the shortciomings in the sim... and some that just make the good things even it better.

I may have missed a thing or two but thats the gist of it. Not too shabby if you ask me.

*************************************************

Sorry for the long reprint but it's worth showing what you can get for $40 by getting IL2FB Gold + Pacific Fighters and installing them together as one sim.

The IL2 series really is the Grand Enchilada of WWII flight sims.

[Androo]

Beirut, it all sounds very, very, very good.

I would still guess that CFS3 will remain my favourite, though I could be in for a happy surprise. But it doesn't matter. Based on what you have described, there is no question I will have a great time with Forgotten Battles Gold. I am also sure that there will be at least some aspects of it which I find superior to CFS3. So, for $40 it is an absolute no-brainer!

I have located the Flying Legends website and its repository of skins. Can you point me in the right direction for some other good IL2 websites? I'm particularly curious to see what additional maps are available.

[Just A Girl]

Seriously,
if you like flight sims, or WW2 sims Try this.
http://www.hitechcreations.com/frindex.html











IMHO.
Its better Than Any other flights sim,
and if thats not good enough...
Its free.

[Androo]

Just A Girl, it does look pretty good (I would be just as interested in the tanks as the aircraft actually). And I definitely have no objection to it being free. However there is a catch for me: I'm a strictly singleplayer kind of a guy.

[Beirut]

Falcon 4.0. That game was scary. More to the point the manual was scary.

*wishes he knew somewhere he could buy it. I can't find my copy anymore.

I just bought Falcon 4: Allied Force today. If my original (North American) F4 CD will work in your Down Under machine I'll fly it off to you. PM me and we'll set it up.

[Dutch_guy]

Have a question for you all.

I'd like to know if the MP is any good in flight sims, particulary in Il-2 Forgotten battles, without the expansion pack.

It's been lying on my desk for the past 6 months, and I thought I'd give it a go - especially the MP, which I've never done before with the game.

[Beirut]

Have a question for you all.

I'd like to know if the MP is any good in flight sims, particulary in Il-2 Forgotten battles, without the expansion pack.

It's been lying on my desk for the past 6 months, and I thought I'd give it a go - especially the MP, which I've never done before with the game.

The MP with IL2 is great fun. Stable, easy to connect and, where I played, a low shmuck-to-gentleman ratio. You might have a hard time finding good games that allow you in without the expansion pack. Most people have it and want the variety. Mind you, the expansion and Pacific Fighters can both be had very cheap and they offer incredible variety to the sim so they are well worth buying.

I've been tooling around with my new sim, Falcon 4: Allied Force, for the past few hours. I forgot what an absolute bear this sim is to fly. The manual is 716 pages and there are over 400 cockpit commands.

F4:AF to Lock On is like chess to checkers. Mind you, the F4:AF graphics, though improved, still look five years old. But the sim (this is no game!) offers a level of depth that is almost unprecedented. There is little easy in this sim. At full realism, it's a 42-stage process just to start the engines and get ready to taxi. (I don't fly at that level.) Mastering the radar on this F-16 sim on full realism (which I haven't yet) is a weeks long process and requires lots reading and practice. But the rewards outweigh the complexity and lack of eye-candy. Running a successful mission, especially a SEAD (Suppress Enemy Air Defence) mission, gives you a great feeling of accomplishment.

If you can handle the Mission Editor, which is not easy, you can build scenarios that are insanely realistic. Also, the dynamic campaign is unprecedented. It's not just a flight sim - it's a war sim. You'd have to be in a NATO air ops center to approach this level of depth and realism.

If you're an old hand to Falcon 4, this is a must buy. If your new to flight sims, approach with caution, the learning curve is very high, the realism is almost painful, and the graphics are pure 1999.

But the rewards are worth it if you can get past the complexity. The old saying about Falcon 4 is true: Falcon 4 isn't a game - it's a way of life.

[Just A Girl]

i realy advize trying aces high if you want a MP combat flight/tank/feild gun WWII accurate, sim.
its A purpous built multi player game.

The other MP combat flight sims i played, Allowed others to have Moded aircraft. And Helicopters of all things.

This makes the games tedious.

Atleast with aces high They are Set in ww2
And all though the me262 is available. And a whole host of other planes that arived at the end of the war.
becous of the points system (you technically haft to buy the best planes with points you earn) no 1 would use a
me262, as it costs so much and its not worth geting shot down in.

Its a great game,
theres realy nothing to loose if you try it,

You dont even need to enter creditcard details "ever" not even to set up an account.

"the only time you would need to enter creditcard details. is if you decide after a month that you wish to subscribe"

Otherwize you just cant play in the big server with 100's of people at a time,
but its still good fun in 8 player.

Seems that I am ranting on about this game lol...

And i havent actualy played it in awhile.

last time i played they had just implimented snazzy new efects like Your blood geting splaterd across the cock pit.
And then a oil pipe bursting al over the cockpit 2. leaving a smeared mess of a wind sheild,
great 4 those dificult landings !
:)

[Beirut]

For anyone who cares, the newest patch (4.03M) for IL2-Forgotten Battles + Pacific Fighters was just released. (Just 4.03 if you don't have PF installed.)

Lots of new stuff, lots of fixes, but best of all... now we get a Mosquito.

Nothing like free toys being handed out for a game you paid for ages ago.

[Xiahou]

Beirut, how representitive of FB / PF would you say the original IL2 demo is? Would it be a good indicator of what to expect or is it too out of date?

[Samurai Waki]

Does anyone remember A-10 Attack! and A-10 Cuba?? Those were the games that inspired me to play flight sims.

[Beirut]

Beirut, how representitive of FB / PF would you say the original IL2 demo is? Would it be a good indicator of what to expect or is it too out of date?

Yes and no. The graphics are remarkably similar but have been refined to a cutting edge. The original demo is a plain hamburger compared to the 24oz Rib Eye with all the trimmings, a great beer, and huge chocolate cake that is the IL2-FB series.

As I mentioned, the sheer size and variety of this sim is astounding. I think we're up to 100+ flyable planes, 30+maps, dozens of ships including battleships and aircraft carriers, hundreds and hundreds of armour, vehicle and artillery types, as well as hundreds more placeable ground objects to build your own... anything.

All this for $40 Cdn. It's the best deal going. You could probably get the original IL2 for about $5. Get it, load up the patches and try that out. You'll love it and you'll want more.

And the new Mosquito is cool!

[Beirut]

Does anyone remember A-10 Attack! and A-10 Cuba?? Those were the games that inspired me to play flight sims.

I had A-10Cuba! What a riot that was. It had the best physics I've ever seen in any flight sim. I remember landing, then rolling off the runway to a stop. Minutes later, I was getting a beer or something and left the game, I hear a quiet squeaking noise coming from the speakers; my plane was on an ever-so-slight hill and started rolling down. It took ages but I watched it roll all the way down this shallow hill and right into the river. It was amazing.

I think I played it on a Pentium 90mhz.