Look at Us Simmers in 2023 and how far we have come.

[TP_Bunster]

Dont forget Battlehawks 1942 ! My 1st WW2 combat flight sim

S! Bunster

[Baders]

Was never really interested in a sim unless it was massive multi-play online. Something about the human factor made it much more immersive. Started with Air Warrior (over GEnie) and progressed to Confirmed Kill and then Warbirds. Targetware/Target Rabaul came around 1999 and was the pinnacle for me. Rough around the edges and very unfinished, but highly immersive with some excellent scenario missions. It was the ONLY sim where we had to, for instance, use Lindberg's high boost / low RPM procedures to enable us to get our P38's to the combat area.

[Rodwonder]

Started with Red Baron and moved to RB3D and European Air War... EAW was so immersive I would get lost for hours, I can still hear the opening music.  

[wheelsup_cavu]

14 hours ago, Rodwonder said:

I can still hear the opening music.  

Same here. Was one of my saddest days in simming when the 7217 error made EAW unplayable.

 

Wheels

[Gambit21]

2 hours ago, wheelsup_cavu said:

Same here. Was one of my saddest days in simming when the 7217 error made EAW unplayable.

 

Wheels

Still the best sim we’ve had in some (very important) ways. 

[Sea Serpent]

My DCS installation is almost 500 Gb and with new releases on the horizon, I expect it to grow rapidly.

First DOS PC I used probably had no more than a 20 Mb HD and I had several games on it.

[dburne]

On 6/17/2023 at 2:20 PM, Sea Serpent said:

My DCS installation is almost 500 Gb and with new releases on the horizon, I expect it to grow rapidly.

First DOS PC I used probably had no more than a 20 Mb HD and I had several games on it.

I feel your pain, mine is at 540 Gb now. Hoping I have enough room till I do a new build sometime early 2024.

[javelina]

Mines at a hefty 565GB's...   (holy smokes)

[JediMaster]

Nothing beats the joy of getting the floppy disks for Falcon 3 home from Electronics Boutique and starting the install only for it to fail on the next to last disk after 30 minutes because there was a fatal replication flaw in the 5.25" masters...

Then heading back to EB to exchange it for a 3.5" version.

[Sea Serpent]

I remember a thrill way back then when I merged with a MiG in Microprose F-15 Strike Eagle.  It was like a see-through triangle with a line drawn through it.  I was pretty sure I was an expert pilot in a time when my friends were plugging quarters in machines, or at best playing Mario Brothers on an early console.

So, then I get the pre-release Strike Eagle manual, recently, and I’m like Oh no, this is going to hurt like a m&#3$cker, but it will be worth the accomplishment!  Yes, times have changed.

[OriginalCustard]

I remember those heady days in the very early 80s when I thought Aviator was the best thing since slice bread 🍞 Hot damn those where the days !

[343KKT_Kintaro]

23 minutes ago, OriginalCustard said:

I remember those heady days in the very early 80s when I thought Aviator was the best thing since slice bread 🍞 Hot damn those where the days !

 

If my memory serves me well, in 1995, at least in France, Microsoft offered that sim as a "Sopwith Camel simulator" with every OS sold (Windows 95). Obviously it wasn't. I think it was one old version of "Flight Simulator" from the period 1979-1982, the one that had become "Microsoft Flight Simulator" in 1982 when they added "Microsoft" to the "Flight Simulator" brand. I was 7 years old in 1982 and didn't start playing flight sims until ten years later in 1992. Congrats Custard for staying so long in the flight sims domain.

 

[Flying H]

I remember the first sim that really got me hooked. Overlord, you´d fly either Spit, Tiffy or the Mustang, making ground attacs in France, taking out bridges, trains, veicle columns and more. Occationally dogfighting Jerry. From then on was CFS1, 2, 3 followed by a plethora of other titles until the IL2 came and that became the main sim for me. I also ventured into Flanker and its followup, DCS but it never really took hold as it was too much maniging the planes and too small theatre. And now after the GB series a venture into the PTO with modern gameengine and grafics I´m exited.

[Feldgrün]

The better the graphics the more appealing flight sims will be to the general gaming public. I've been thrilled with the current offerings from IL2 and DCS. However, the flight sims are more than just graphics, although those get folks interested and help to create a more realistic experience.

[GPatricks]

On 6/17/2023 at 8:20 PM, Sea Serpent said:

My DCS installation is almost 500 Gb and with new releases on the horizon, I expect it to grow rapidly.

First DOS PC I used probably had no more than a 20 Mb HD and I had several games on it.

My first PC was an 8086, 5.25 floppy (3.5 was not out yet), and 512k RAM (IIRC) running IBMDOS (No MSDOS yet). No such thing as a "Hard Drive", and when they did come out they were $$$$!

Edited June 26, 2023 by GPatricks

[AeroAce]

On 5/26/2023 at 5:58 PM, wheelsup_cavu said:

I played the heck out of that sim. I was devastated when the 7217 error made it unplayable on my system.

 

Wheels

Maybe try creating a VM with an old operating system.

[Boom]

On 6/17/2023 at 2:57 PM, wheelsup_cavu said:

Same here. Was one of my saddest days in simming when the 7217 error made EAW unplayable.

Wheels

GOG has revamped European Air War so that the 7217 error is no longer a problem. And it's a steal at $14.50. 
https://www.gog.com/en/game/european_air_war

If you ever have the urge to step back in time. 

Edited December 5, 2023 by Boom

[Reschke]

Been playing flight sims since 1986-87 and I had completely forgotten about Confirmed Kill, heck I had worked on the Eidos QC Testing team (unpaid internship) for it and Joint Strike Fighter which released about a year after CK went live. The article in Computer Gaming World Magazine was huge for CK and being able to have access to the TEN servers in the building in San Francisco made for some really late nights and super low ping rates. Then I got to work on what ended up being the aborted online game Desert Fighters for Dynamix/Sierra for a little bit as an unpaid QC Testing intern for them also. Then my wife and I moved back to Alabama in mid 1998 and I remember Janes WW2 Fighters, MS Combat Sim, EAW, and tons of others; because paying an hourly fee for AW or WB was super expensive for me. When I landed my first real job and I was able to pay $15 a month for Ace's High....that was huge.

[sercrets]

On 5/26/2023 at 9:16 AM, FAW-SPIT said:

I think many users are not young men or kids   many of us are history fans, aviation fans ( I've fly as glider pilot mainly or a bit civilian but work and money...)

Being practically just out of infancy myself, (17), I can testify that it is an unfortunate and rare thing to see younger generations flying... Ah well, I suppose the "youn'ins" that fly today will be the old ones tomorrow and more will take their place...

If only we could all just play now though... The new kids seem to not like older sims; I tend to go back and have a look at them to have a gander at ground breaking mechanics of the time and to see how far we have come... Though with the recent GB and DCS content being made I find myself more satisfied with older titles such as IL-2 1946, Falcon BMS, Red Baron 3D etc... 

cheers,

sercrets

[parkerc341]

On 12/7/2023 at 10:44 AM, sercrets said:

Being practically just out of infancy myself, (17), I can testify that it is an unfortunate and rare thing to see younger generations flying... Ah well, I suppose the "youn'ins" that fly today will be the old ones tomorrow and more will take their place...

If only we could all just play now though... The new kids seem to not like older sims; I tend to go back and have a look at them to have a gander at ground breaking mechanics of the time and to see how far we have come... Though with the recent GB and DCS content being made I find myself more satisfied with older titles such as IL-2 1946, Falcon BMS, Red Baron 3D etc... 

cheers,

sercrets

For me being 17 myself its usually because of UI or Graphics. I struggled to enjoy CLoD and that game is only 12 years old, along with 1946 but that games UI was decent. I just miss some features from those games though.

[Feldgrün]

Flight sims have come a long way in the last 40 or so years, but it seems to have flatlined for the last 10 years. More planes & maps, but the technology seems not to have improved much. Sure, slightly better graphics, but not the leap between major games. I'm hoping for the next generation of flight sim game play. 

[Trooper117]

It may be we have reached the zenith of what can be achieved... that doesn't mean though that improvements cannot be made with what technology is available.

[Skelthos]

On 12/5/2023 at 7:33 AM, AeroAce said:

Maybe try creating a VM with an old operating system.

I use PCem for this, not only does a VM but emulates the hardware which can help with game compatibility issues that sometimes crop up.

 

On 12/9/2023 at 6:21 AM, Trooper117 said:

It may be we have reached the zenith of what can be achieved... that doesn't mean though that improvements cannot be made with what technology is available.

I think there is likely a lot of truth in this, if you look at hardware over the last 10-15 years, the improvements have been much more incremental than during the earlier days. It would make sense if our software follows suit with incremental rather than revolutionary changes.  Also, have to keep in mind that devs need to balance between optimizations that the average user can run and what the high-end PCs can handle.

 

On 6/8/2023 at 10:10 AM, TP_Bunster said:

Dont forget Battlehawks 1942 ! My 1st WW2 combat flight sim

Not sure if it was the first WW2 combat sim I played but definitely in the running. 

[TheSNAFU]

My favorite and vote for two best combat flight sims are EAW and BOB2. Both had engaging campaigns, good ai, nice visuals and ultimately excellent performance on the pc for their day. Shows what can be done in those categories which is where modern sims fall flat to me. Hopefully this game will fully leverage today’s pc power particularly in vr while hitting the marks for campaign, ai and visuals. 

[kestrel79]

I can remember playing Air Warrior on America Online in the mid 90s and having my mind blown that you could fly online with another real person. Crewing up a B-17 with 10 people was a lot of fun and raiding the map's deep factories in the back.