Aerofly fan site

  • Hi there,

    My name is Raymond and I've been a fan of flightsims for almost as long as I can remember. I started on my brothers Commodore 64 with Sublogic Flight Simulator and worked my way through many succeeding flightsims including FS4, FSX and X-Plane. When I got my Oculus Rift the only thing I wanted to try was a flightsim so I ended up playing DCS and War Thunder for a while, it was fun for a while, but I'm actually more a fan of a commercial aircraft. So I tried P3D in VR, well that was quite a let down, it didn't give me the feeling like I was there for a second.

    Then one night I was bored and saw Aerofly FS 2, I wasn't really expecting anything but it had native VR support and the graphics looked quite good. So I bought it and fired it up, chose the Cessna as that is the only aircraft I have real-life experience with and put it on the platform of some small airstrip. Navigating the menus was so easy in VR compared to the other sims, it only took me about a minute to figure everything out.

    So when the sim loaded up (so much faster than expected) I couldn't believe my eyes, I was really in a C172, it felt as tiny as the real thing and the instruments looked gorgeous. Impatiently I started to configure my yoke, throttle and pedals and within minutes I was ready to taxi away. It all felt so real and when I took of it was the first time a flightsim made me feel like I was really flying. I spent the whole night trying out all the aircraft and visiting many airfields and I went from one amazement into the other, everything is so well made and detailed.

    Right now Aerofly is the only flightsim I play besides X-Plane 11. The only reason I play the latter is because of its superb night lighting. I might switch back now and then when they release their VR implementation as it looks quite good, but I think the long loading times may put me off frequently.

    Anyway, that's not why I started this post. I am a professional software developer and in my spare time I have created a web application development system. I've been working on it for the last couple of years and now it's ready, so I thought it was time to give it a spin and try to make a full functioning public website with it. Now Aerofly FS 2 is great and all, but I think it misses a lot of exposure. Too many people might think like me at first, not really expecting anything of it and thus not buying it. So I made an Aerofly fan site that fully displays the awesome graphics, helps people track the latest news and updates and find the best add-ons and tools.

    You can preview the final version on its URL at http://www.aeroflycentral.com

    Please see the current content as a placeholder until I publish the final version of the website. I would love to hear your opinion on the site and wether you think it will be useful to you. Please also let me know when you have comments, ideas or feature request. You can contact me by using the contact link in the footer of the site or by replying to this forum topic.

    Kind regards,

    Raymond Groenendijk

  • Hi Raymond, excellent idea. Your site looks gorgeus and as you said, because AFS2 has not a lot of exposure, I think your idea may help the fs community to know more about this excellent simulator!. Already bookmarked!.
    Cheers, Ed

    • Official Post

    Hi Raymond,

    this is really nice of you to provide this, and yes, more exposure is always welcomed. Although we can't provide too much detailed information about what's currently being worked on, feel free to take information from the official Wiki: https://www.aerofly.com/aerofly_fs_2/dokuwiki/ and the update release information located on the Aerofly FS2 Steam Store page and forums: http://store.steampowered.com/app/434030/Aer…ight_Simulator/

    There is a lot of great stuff coming as well.

    Also, welcome to the forum!

    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

  • Nicely done! I am the original thread author of the now closed thread titled "Is Aerofly a sinking ship?" in which I urged Aerofly to at the very least update their web site to indicate developments that have occurred since the May 2016 launch date of FS2. I took a quick peek a minute ago and nada, nothing more than the original launch data, no mention of Utah, New York, or the freshly released Meigs and Innsbruck. Shame on them, that they continue to depend on users or other providers such as Orbx to hawk their wares for them. FS2 is an incredible simulator and they should be so proud that they can't wait to shout the news, yet they can't even bother to put some new graphics, screenshots and text in a web page or two. I remain very worried that newbies stumbling on the Aerofly site will never know what they are missing...

  • Really? If you are trying to make things better by providing feedback, do you think you could be a bit more positive. Give 'em a break.

    I stand by my statement. You mean to say that in 13 months they couldn't spare someone to spread the good news? Updating a web page is an incredibly simple task that should take little or no time at all. I have been very consistentl in my praise of FS2, and am really worried that this casual attitude towards promoting the product could lead to complete failure. Flight simulation is my hobby, but it has to be a business for Aerofly.

    • Official Post

    Hello Raymond,

    I like the idea of having a seperate web-page for some sort of Aerofly News. I've thought about doing something similar on my own dedicated Aerofly webpage https://www.aerofly-sim.de/ which is currently a location to download free Aerofly add-ons. Since I don't have that much time and am not too too much into blogging I never really started a news channel for the Aerofly. But if you are interested I could make you a moderator there though I figure you would probably prefer to use your own software. The page already has quite a number of visitors (about 15000 hits a month) so we wouldn't have to start all the way from zero again.

    So there already is another Aerofly page that has been running for quite some time and you're welcome to join me (IPACS team member) in creating more content for it, just a suggestion.

    Community screenshots?
    Just go to the Steam community, there already are A LOT of them.

    Regards,
    Jan

  • Hi Raymond, excellent idea. Your site looks gorgeus and as you said, because AFS2 has not a lot of exposure, I think your idea may help the fs community to know more about this excellent simulator!. Already bookmarked!.
    Cheers, Ed

    Thank you :) Please note that I have moved the site to its final URL on http://www.aeroflycentral.com, so you may want to update your bookmark. If you have any feedback on or ideas for the website just let me know :)

  • Hi Raymond,

    this is really nice of you to provide this, and yes, more exposure is always welcomed. Although we can't provide too much detailed information about what's currently being worked on, feel free to take information from the official Wiki: https://www.aerofly.com/aerofly_fs_2/dokuwiki/ and the update release information located on the Aerofly FS2 Steam Store page and forums: http://store.steampowered.com/app/434030/Aer…ight_Simulator/

    There is a lot of great stuff coming as well.

    Also, welcome to the forum!

    Thank you and I will check the mentioned sources to expand and improve the information displayed on the website.

  • Nicely done! I am the original thread author of the now closed thread titled "Is Aerofly a sinking ship?" in which I urged Aerofly to at the very least update their web site to indicate developments that have occurred since the May 2016 launch date of FS2. I took a quick peek a minute ago and nada, nothing more than the original launch data, no mention of Utah, New York, or the freshly released Meigs and Innsbruck. Shame on them, that they continue to depend on users or other providers such as Orbx to hawk their wares for them. FS2 is an incredible simulator and they should be so proud that they can't wait to shout the news, yet they can't even bother to put some new graphics, screenshots and text in a web page or two. I remain very worried that newbies stumbling on the Aerofly site will never know what they are missing...

    I definitely share your concern, that's the primary reason for creating Aerofly Central and I think that they should improve their own website quite a bit before releasing Aerofly FS 2 to the public. But please note that for now Aerofly FS 2 is an early access release where the broad public isn't the main target yet.

    One thing I really like about the developers of Aerofly is that their product comes first, you can really see and feel this when you are flying around; a lot of love and patience went into this product. Now look at the competition like Dovetail Flight Simulator, a lot of money and effort went into marketing, colourful websites, YouTube exposure, etc. I tried their product but I didn't like it at all.

    So for now I think that we as a community have a great role to spread the word about Aerofly until the developer gains enough traction to expand their team into more than just a small development team.

  • Hello,
    Excellent initiative Raymond ! Can we expect some kind of community screenshot section where all aerofly fans could post shots of their wonderful flights ?

    Not for now, I agree with Jet-Pack that the Steam community screenshot section offers just that for now. Maybe in the future, I will regularly poll for feedback on the website if it generates enough visitors.

    My first efforts will go into generating enough content on the website to make it attractive and making it easily findable for search engines like Google. After that I will probably enable users to login and post comments. This will also enable the creation of more advanced functions like a community faced bugtracker or a wishlist with voting.

  • Hello Raymond,

    I like the idea of having a seperate web-page for some sort of Aerofly News. I've thought about doing something similar on my own dedicated Aerofly webpage https://www.aerofly-sim.de/ which is currently a location to download free Aerofly add-ons. Since I don't have that much time and am not too too much into blogging I never really started a news channel for the Aerofly. But if you are interested I could make you a moderator there though I figure you would probably prefer to use your own software. The page already has quite a number of visitors (about 15000 hits a month) so we wouldn't have to start all the way from zero again.

    So there already is another Aerofly page that has been running for quite some time and you're welcome to join me (IPACS team member) in creating more content for it, just a suggestion.

    Community screenshots?
    Just go to the Steam community, there already are A LOT of them.

    Regards,
    Jan

    Thank you for the generous offer, however using my own software and testing it in a real world application is what's in it for me though. I've already tweaked some things based on my experience with designing the website and I've got some larger changes in mind for the future. It is also a nice reference for me towards future customers. Being able to support a product I love and believe in is, at the same time, a very great plus and motivation.

    I also want a primary focus on Aerofly FS 2 as I think it really is a market shifting simulator that will some day become the de facto market standard. It really should shine on its own in my opinion :)

    Furthermore I would like to be able to add more advanced functions down the road. I was thinking about a community faced bug tracker (hopefully eliminating the countless threads on Steam and the IPACS forum a bit) or maybe a community wishlist where people can vote on features they would like to see in future releases.

    I did link to your cold and dark C172 and I will try it out tonight :)


  • My first efforts will go into generating enough content on the website to make it attractive and making it easily findable for search engines like Google. After that I will probably enable users to login and post comments. This will also enable the creation of more advanced functions like a community faced bugtracker or a wishlist with voting.

    Hello Ray,

    Your new website has good appeal. You may want to link to the Avsim.com review of Aerofly FS 2. AFAIK this is the only comprehensive review published this year.

    I also authored a very detailed IFR Flight Tutorial specifically for the Aerofly FS2 Learjet 45. This flight tutorial was approved by IPACS and forwarded to a team member for final formatting and publishing. This was over 2 months ago and it is apparently not being worked on so if you like, we can explore putting the Tutorial on your website.

    Regards,
    Ray

  • Sure. You can find the review here: https://www.avsim.com/home/reviews/a…imulator-r4002/

    Regards,
    Ray

    Raymond has added a new link for the FSX Steam review of KCGX Meigs Field that is available over at Avsim.com. Even though there is nary a word about the AF2 version released last week, not much if really different. The AF2 version was ported over by Orbx for a redo so there remains a lot in common between the two editions.

    I recommend anyone interested in the history of Meigs Field, or what the adjacent scenery might be, go read it for this review is especially deep in those subjects. Most of the images are super sized for big-time zooming.

    Of special interest to many is a link for 2mins of the fantastic video from the DVD - One Six Right - that discusses and graphically shows just how awful Mayor Daly's destruction of the airport was in real time. (found about midway through the review)

    I failed to find a way to leave a note of thanks to Raymond for adding this to his new Aerofly FS2 dedicated website. There are lots and lots of other timely and interesting comments and screenshots on display for our enjoyment. Thanks Raymond for all your hard work bring us this dedicated website.

    You can find it here http://www.aeroflycentral.com/

    Enjoy,

    Regards,

    Ray

  • Hello Ray,

    Your new website has good appeal. You may want to link to the Avsim.com review of Aerofly FS 2. AFAIK this is the only comprehensive review published this year.

    I also authored a very detailed IFR Flight Tutorial specifically for the Aerofly FS2 Learjet 45. This flight tutorial was approved by IPACS and forwarded to a team member for final formatting and publishing. This was over 2 months ago and it is apparently not being worked on so if you like, we can explore putting the Tutorial on your website.

    Regards,
    Ray

    I was about to post asking if, by any chance, Ray was you :)

    Now I know he isn't!

    How's it going Ray ?

    Haven't seen you most around avsim lately ?...

    Limited by Main Thread...

  • I was about to post asking if, by any chance, Ray was you :)

    Now I know he isn't!

    How's it going Ray ?

    Haven't seen you most around avsim lately ?...

    JCOMM


    Hello JCOMM,

    All is well with me. I have been spending more and more time with the FS2 since the first of the year. But, still fly FSX Steam, P3D, FSW , practically everyday. I have several reviews in work, Carenado Premier 1A, Milviz Beaver, Milviz Phantom II, MegaSceneryEarth V3, Sim Innovations Air Manager for iPad, SPAD.neXt, and a couple of Orbx sceneries. I am trying to roll all the Saitek related gear and gauges into one review that covers the whole shebang of what it all looks like in mid 2017

    I managed to write a nice IFR Flight Tutorial for the AF2 Learjet 45 somewhere in the mix. Meanwhile I keep tweaking my VolSim external cockpit and Saitek FIP gauges.

    Other than that, I get some real flying in from time to time.

    Best Regards,

    Ray

    Maybe we can refer to the other Ray as Raymond.