Simple Multiplayer?

  • Hey All..

    I see a lot of people requesting features for Aerofly and while they are all extremely valid it does surprise me that there aren't more people asking for some kind of basic multiplayer support. Aerofly is currently such a nice VFR sim for shooting circuits or flying aerobatics or doing VFR cross country flights that I think some simple multiplayer support could really help boost the numbers of people flying. I have a lot of friends who would love to join a game with me and just spend a few hours shooting circuits or flying in formation, especially in VR. Grab a teamspeak channel.. Somebody sits on the ground and pretends to be the tower.. Its just like back in the days of FS-98! :D

    Honestly I'm getting a little bored of flying around this beautiful world all by myself. A large part of the fun of flying for me is interacting with the tower or other aircraft, and currently everything just feels a bit lifeless and dead. But if you throw a few friends in there, things suddenly get a lot more interesting!

    I'm not looking for anything complex, just like you have with the Aerofly RC Sims.. Host gets to chose cloud, time of day and wind etc.

    Not to mention I'd love to fly with you guys as well!


    Anyway, Thoughts?


    Cheers
    Cav

    AFFS2 Needs Multiplayer - Please make it happen!

  • I think it's a question of priorities and of course who has the loudest voice. I think it's safe to say that in the current flight simulation community the "I need more buttons to press!" guys are definitely the loudest and most likely to start trashing the metaphorical room if not placated. :D

    Devons rig

    Intel Core i5-13600K - Core i5 13th Gen 14-Core (6P+8E) @ 5.5Ghz / G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB Series 32GB RAM DDR5 6000 / GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070Ti GAMING OC 12G / Sound Blaster Z / Oculus Quest 2 VR Headset / Klipsch® Promedia 2.1 Computer Speakers / ASUS ROG SWIFT PG279Q ‑ 27" IPS LED Monitor ‑ QHD / 6x Samsung SSD/NVME's various sizes / Windows 11 Pro 64-bit / GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS ELITE AX LGA 1700 ATX Motherboard DDR5

  • I think it's a question of priorities and of course who has the loudest voice. I think it's safe to say that in the current flight simulation community the "I need more buttons to press!" guys are definitely the loudest and most likely to start trashing the metaphorical room if not placated. :D

    I'm one of those people too! I have all the PMDG products for FS-X... I Love all of the study level modules for DCS... but I don't see AFFS2 as that type of sim (yet) and I think a simple multiplayer setup would attract a good chunk of people wanting to play around with friends in what is currently a pretty easy to get into sim. AFFS2 has a long way to go before it will attract a hardcore FS-Xer away from their PMDG NGX (I should know - I am one.) but if we think of AFFS2 in its current guise as an ideal gateway sim then a simple multiplayer ability is a must. Some of the most fun I've had in sims is shooting circuits in a Cessna with some friends or taking the same friends on a cross country VFR trip to a tiny strip somewhere and seeing who can land in the shortest distance. Its these kinds of experiences which AFFS2 is perfect for. Need i mention gliding as well! Gliding with friends in AFFS2 would be so much fun!

    AFFS2 Needs Multiplayer - Please make it happen!

  • For myself, I actually think multiplayer would be a huge selling point for just regular (non button pressing) flyers as well.

    Take a look at the zillions of videos since FSX-SE went on Steam, and just about every one shows tons of people in multiplayer flying every which way with a total lack of regard for decorum and procedures sure to cause bulging eyes in some "Serious Simmers". :o

    But those people are having fun, and boy, does fun sell copies!

    I'll also throw in my own bid: I very much remember how much I enjoyed the Aerobatics missions in MsFligh. So sad so few people ever took the time to find out how nice the flight models were.

    I'm hoping that one day Aerofly will implement this sort of thing as well.

    Devons rig

    Intel Core i5-13600K - Core i5 13th Gen 14-Core (6P+8E) @ 5.5Ghz / G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB Series 32GB RAM DDR5 6000 / GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070Ti GAMING OC 12G / Sound Blaster Z / Oculus Quest 2 VR Headset / Klipsch® Promedia 2.1 Computer Speakers / ASUS ROG SWIFT PG279Q ‑ 27" IPS LED Monitor ‑ QHD / 6x Samsung SSD/NVME's various sizes / Windows 11 Pro 64-bit / GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS ELITE AX LGA 1700 ATX Motherboard DDR5

  • I totally agree!! The most exciting feature for me is the smoothest, most fluid (awesome) VR flight sim available! FSX/P3D might have a tremendous amount of features but 200 to 300 fps single monitor framerates isn't one of them. FS2 with future improvements in VR hardware (resolution) will be the most fun and realistic flight simulation experience available - and flying together in formation with TeamSpeak or equivalent will be terrific. Four of us doing the Blue Angels routines over the water in San Francisco would be so amazing. I agree with the OP that the simplest of features that apparently IPACS already has the code for would be quite sufficient.

    Dave

  • I totally agree, with an additional point of view: AFS2 could become a beautiful and easy pedagogical tool for air-clubs to practice radio com in realistic conditions on ground (classes).

    I've been doing it with FSX, which is heavy to maintain. Beyond the multiplayer mode, it requests however 2 things:
    1) One PC on the network must be able to get the position and data of each involved aircraft to play the ATC.
    2) Changing the frequency on the COM radio must enable the corresponding channel in Teamspeak (there are tools doing that for FSX/P3D, but none yet for AFS2).

    My 2 cents
    Cheers
    Antoine

    Config : i7 6900K - 20MB currently set at 3.20GHz, Cooling Noctua NH-U14S, Motherboard ASUS Rampage V Extreme U3.1, RAM HyperX Savage Black Edition 16GB DDR4 3000 MHz, Graphic Card Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB, Power supply Corsair RM Series 850W, Windows 10 64 bit.

    Edited once, last by Trespassers: correction (May 9, 2017 at 11:54 PM).

  • Great ideas but let's not run before we can walk... Or indeed fly together lol. I'd like to just get some basic multiplayer functionality in first before thinking about things like that. Love to have them in the future. But for now just be able to fly together is number one.

    I don't know if you guys remember me back in The Aerofly FS1 forum. I was constantly harping on about how VR support was needed and as I predicted AFFS2 became an amazing VR platform. I believe I'm also right about multiplayer. It's critical for AFFS2s growth as a platform and an online flying community needs to be fostered from the beginning.

    AFFS2 Needs Multiplayer - Please make it happen!

    • Official Post

    I've always liked the idea of a multiplayer for the Aerofly FS 2 very much. It would certainly fit into the sim.
    In the Aerofly RC 7 we had an inbuild voice communication system (teamspeak I think) but I ended up never using it because you were talking to everyone in the session and a lot of users had loud speakers and microphones active resulting in a lot of feedback loops. We always used Skype or some other external software for the calls with the huge benefit of not needing the session or the Aerofly running to speak to each other. When we switches sessions we could still talk to one another... So I'm kind-of hoping that the next muliplayer does not include the voice communication part, the chat is also destroying the immersion a bit, though I see a lot of usage cases for it, too.

    My idea would be to have three kinds of sessions:
    - free to play (world wide session for everyone flying inverted low passes in the 747, player to player chat, or nearby player chat.
    - realistic world (for those training for the real world together (patterns, virtual airlines,...), maybe just downstream the vatsim/ivao/pilot edge aircraft for more traffic and optional log-in to the mentioned networks - this session allows only normal flight envelopes, as soon as someone goes wild he/she might be reconnected to the free to play mp.)
    - private sessions, LAN or private host server (synchronized time for formation flights, incl. collisions, towing, air-to-air refuel, shared cockpit maybe.)

    Also a combination of the shared cockpit in the realistic world mp would be nice.
    Those would be my ideas, that would be the most fun for everyone I think.

    Maybe also think about a replay function that records all traffic around you, including an option to switch the camera to the other aircraft positions.
    And also think about displaying the usernames when you point your mouse at the other players. Or just enable them all in the free to play (optionally).

    Regards,
    Jan

  • I would also be very much in favor of multiplayer support. It may be an easy way of making the world more dynamic (without the need to create a complex AI system). Also it would be loads of fun ;)

    Nice suggestion about the different worlds Jan. I wouldn't like to fly among people who just do whatever they feel like. I do think an integrated audio solution would be nice as well. It could be integrated somewhere in the menu (but that would need some more thought...). Ideally I guess you could "tune" to the radio of every airport, either by a simple button on the map or by actually dialing a frequency. In addition, there could be some larger-region "info" channel etc.

    Anyway, even a simple way of having multiple people in the same simulation would be a great first step :)

  • In the Aerofly RC 7 we had an inbuild voice communication system (teamspeak I think) but I ended up never using it because you were talking to everyone in the session and a lot of users had loud speakers and microphones active resulting in a lot of feedback loops. We always used Skype or some other external software for the calls with the huge benefit of not needing the session or the Aerofly running to speak to each other.

    No need to bother integrating an inbuild voice communication system : Teamspeak is external and works superb, with many advantages over some other communication channels like Skype. For better communication quality and more realism TS also allows to assign a PTT key : think, press, talk, release...

    In a first phase it could work parallel without any link to Aerofly FS.
    In a later, more advanced phase the only needed link between AFS 2 and TS would be a plugin to switch TS channel according to the COM frequency you set in your aircraft.
    SIMCOM does it very nicely for FSX/P3D.

    Cheers
    Antoine

    Config : i7 6900K - 20MB currently set at 3.20GHz, Cooling Noctua NH-U14S, Motherboard ASUS Rampage V Extreme U3.1, RAM HyperX Savage Black Edition 16GB DDR4 3000 MHz, Graphic Card Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB, Power supply Corsair RM Series 850W, Windows 10 64 bit.

  • No need to bother integrating an inbuild voice communication system : Teamspeak is external and works superb, with many advantages over some other communication channels like Skype. For better communication quality and more realism TS also allows to assign a PTT key : think, press, talk, release...

    In a first phase it could work parallel without any link to Aerofly FS.
    In a later, more advanced phase the only needed link between AFS 2 and TS would be a plugin to switch TS channel according to the COM frequency you set in your aircraft.
    SIMCOM does it very nicely for FSX/P3D.

    Cheers
    Antoine

    Yep this is by far the best way to do it... No need to re-invent the wheel.

    AFFS2 Needs Multiplayer - Please make it happen!

  • Yep this is by far the best way to do it... No need to re-invent the wheel.

    + 1 for Multiplayer support PLEASE in VR will be awesome.

    Our group (37 members) ALL will be Aerofly at some point and ALL will only become that IF multiplayer is provided. Else, it'll be me and ONE other who luv ya no matter what else occurs. :)

    I think the case for Multiplayer is there FAR BIGGER that you think !!

    BG2518-Bob

  • Hi,

    I hadn't really thought about multiplayer, but as I read through this thread I realised it would make a huge difference to the flying experience. Simply flying circuits with other traffic and having to make appropriate radio calls would be so much fun. Flying Nav flights with a buddy, competition flying with fellow glider pilots, the list goes on.

    it would be amazing.

    cheers

    Bill

  • Hi,

    I hadn't really thought about multiplayer, but as I read through this thread I realised it would make a huge difference to the flying experience. Simply flying circuits with other traffic and having to make appropriate radio calls would be so much fun. Flying Nav flights with a buddy, competition flying with fellow glider pilots, the list goes on.

    it would be amazing.

    cheers

    Bill

    If you've never played a non-combat flight sim multiplayer than you are really missing out... As they say, everything is more fun with friends! :D

    AFFS2 Needs Multiplayer - Please make it happen!

  • According to Cav, you ask multiplayer game, others ATC, others buttons and activate the existing ones; I, access to. . . ; others ... better night lighting, others, more DLCs, others ...

    We all demand really important and very desirable requests and wishes, but IPACs have their own work script, which will sometimes change if any of our requests is really very important, but they have a lot more work than they can do . I am convinced that even if they were 10 times more technical staff than today, they would not be able to attend to the flow of our demands in a reasonable time.

    Cav. that your demands are really interesting, of the most interesting that I have seen in this forum. They are for you and for many others, also for me, but not for all. Others have other preferences. I also know that adding all this ("Simple Multiplayer") to the current sim, would surely cost a fairly deep change in the company's plans and a considerable deviation from their programming. For you, for others and for me, it would be acceptable and advisable, but we do not know the IPACs script, and surely they have powerful reasons to not change course in their programming.

    As a user, I am also trying to see (and also expose) the problem, from the point of view of the company, and it is not easy to decide for one of the many demands they receive from users. And, I remember that how many more customers (users), more and more wishes and requests for new projects.

    Considering how much it lacks this sim to consider it relatively finalized, it produces vertigo. Everything done so far, in my opinion is very well done, but what remains to be done is much, much; even without taking into account our requests. I repeat: everything is well done and it is not easy to do "MUCH AND WELL".

    I am sure that IPACS has a constant conflict between planning their own work and meeting our demands. How is that setback resolved? In the present circumstances, there is only one way: setting priorities. And ... how are priorities set?. This is the very difficult question: WHAT DO WE DO FIRST?

    What you request Cav, I also fully subscribe, but ...but...but

    Jeff, you who are the cook, tell me: how do you cook all this, and also, simultaneously?

    Regards : Delfin

    • Official Post

    I strongly believe in this product, and I equally believe in the IPACS gameplan knowing much of it. Things are going to move slower than some may want but take a look at what's been done so far; IPACS believes in quality before quantity. Much of what you have so far are core foundation functions, these functions take time to get just right. You need a strong foundation before you build a skyscraper on top of it. A while ago we took a poll on the Steam FS 2 forum to see what the user base wanted to see first, and that was ATC. This is what IPACS is working on right now, so they are listening to what everyone wants. Also being worked on is a new tool to make it very easy to make your own scenery (aerial imagery) and i'll tell you, it's breathtaking (if you want world coverage and have the storage to handle it then this is the path to it). This is another smart move and a catalyst to the future success of FS 2. All of this takes a lot of time to get right so there are always decisions that have to be made. If you take a look at the trend you will see what I see, that Aerofly FS 2 will get there and when it does the bar will be set high. Just give this time, the dreams are big, the motivation is high, the trend shows success.
    Oh, also, you will have a new aircraft to play with soon. Hang in there Delfin.

    IPACS Development Team Member

    I'm just a cook, I don't own the restaurant.
    On behalf of Torsten, Marc, and the rest of the IPACS team, we would all like to thank you for your continued support.

    Regards,

    Jeff