Big update coming soon!

    Quote from AOB

    Probably a lone voice of dissent and this post will probably not last long enough for most of you to read but .... Complete lack of excitement regarding the "big update coming soon" announcement. The graphics in the current version are already way ahead of other sims. The planes are fine as they are. A meaningful update to me is where we get significant new sceneries, helicopters, and cloud/water management. This update is care factor zero for me and this whole sim is going the same way the longer it takes for REAL improvements to appear.

    I also have to disagree with the 'planes are fine' comment: they are way too basic right now. The Q400 is the most advanced one of the bunch and during the actual flight I can do most of what I would have to do in the Majestic Q400 in P3D (apart from opering the FMS) and that's 'fine' but on the ground most options are lacking and the very few options which are there, like starting up the engine, clearly are fake (so you never have that nice feeling that the systems are working in the background as they should: it's all a rather empty shell). In order to become a SIM we need more basic options to be simulated badly. (BTW Which doesn't mean I can't enjoy AFS2 for what it is now: I am enjoying it a lot!)

    Apart from that: I can't say I really like the scenery as it is: there are some nice parts, specially in Colorado, but most of the scenery is badly colored and totally flat, lacking building completely, with trees in the oddest places, so I don't know if I would become very happy with more of that same scenery.

    What I FULLY AGREE with, and this should come as no surprise for those who know me here, is we need 'cloud/water management'. Now I don't know exactly what you mean with it but I am talking about a weather engine here. I am having big fun flying around on a sunny day all the time but weather is really missed. As I said before: a flightsim without a weather engine is like a sailing sim without water to sail on. But well, we all know a weather engine won't be here anytime soon. Or anytime late, because IPACS has made it clear it's not even on their to do list yet. (I am sure it's on their wish list but that's an entire different list... ;) ) I'd be surprised if we'd get a weather engine before 2022 or so. When we are probably all flying in AFS3. ;) And 2022 is pretty soon already, when you look at the progress of ATC. But well, who knows, maybe one day, when the simming parts of AFS2 are good enough, HiFiSimulations will decide to have a look at AFS2 after all...! 8)

    Clearly and obviously all this depends on why you are flight simming! Do you like to look down on an FMC most of the time or on scenery? Do you like high and dry or low and slow (which btw also is dry in this sim LOL)?

    Anyway, I am looking forward to the big update! And specially the updates on the planes! For this sim to become a real sim those are the updates that are needed: extra scenery is fine but we have enough places to fly around over for now.

    PS The ONLY scenery I am looking forward too is TrueEarth Netherlands...! Now THAT is what I call nice scenery! No flat post-apocalyps landscapes but pretty realistic looking scenery which actually can be enjoyed at 3000 ft!

    PS 2 And let me repeat: I love AFS2! I still haven't reinstalled P3D so it's the only sim I fly right now!

    Quote from Hartman

    But still flat landscape - if we ignore the dunes?

    I suppose I wasn't really clear. ;) The problem isn't the flatness of the original landscape itself but the flatness of photoreal scenery without autogen/cultivation/3D objects. Specially cities look awful without 3D stuff. As if an atomic bomb has been dropped the day before. Rural area's, specially where there are no buildings at all, can be quite nice in AFS2 but cities usually look totally unrealistic because you don't see buildings, only flat photoscenery. I personally can't stand the look of it. Even at 25000 ft in the Q400 it looks fake.

    The Netherlands is completely flat indeed, specially when looking at it out of the air, but with properly placed buildings and vegitation everywhere it looks pretty real, even when flying at 3000 ft. In the Netherlands there also are buildings EVERYWHERE so it would look totally odd and wrong with just flat photoreal.

    Quote from J van E

    ...As if an atomic bomb has been dropped the day before. Rural area's, specially photoreal....

    Yeah, it's similar situation like catalog photos vs unstaged IRL photos. A little bit of 'life' is what triggers the brain into immersion, not necessary how accurately is being modelled. Bits of detail and also, movement (of stuff). :)

    Best Regards

    Balazs

    Ryzen 2700X, HyperX 32GB, 2060 Super 8GB, win10/ubuntu19

    Saitek X52 HOTAS, Logitech G920 pedals

    freetrack/opentrack
    X-Plane 11, DCS modules: A-10C, Ka-50, FC3, Mirage 2000C, F/A-18C, Persian Gulf

    • Official Post
    Quote from J van E

    ... like starting up the engine, clearly are fake (so you never have that nice feeling that the systems are working in the background as they should: it's all a rather empty shell). ...

    Excuse me??? We actually simulate the engine startup very accurately without using some look up tables to fake the values that you see on the display. The engine start is one of the most detailed simulations on the market, we model a full thermodynamic model of the engine with all of its shafts, compressors and turbines, even the burner has physics in our Q400, the electric load of the starter, the drive shaft torque of the starter to the accessory gear box, full FADEC engine start without any faking what so ever, it commands ignition, fuel flow to a simulated fuel metering unit, that is all simulated.... all of the parameters depend on the altitude and temperatures (density) and the engine values are quite close to the real world I think, at least we used real world values to set up the engine model.

    The systems attached to the engine, at least in the current release are not fully modeled yet, that is true. So hydraulics and bleed air are fake for now, but at least something is affected, even though it could be improved.