SurClaro Flight Simulator Resources

[hwh888]

Hello All,
Before spending $$$ on Fltsim X release I'd like to know if the ATC has been improved to any degree. MS doesn't have much to say about it as compared to their hype about views & scenery. It appears to me only major changes/improvements have been in that area. To serious pilots the ATC was sorely lacking. Can anyone shed any light on this subject???
Thanks a bunch for any responses. :D

[TJ33]

Good question.. I am hoping that FSX will have voice controlled ATC. Other than nice graphics, I don't see much reason to spend a lot of money on FSX at this time. .

Maybe 2008 when all the vendors catch up and DX10 graphics cards start to come down in price and Vista is debugged.

FS9 with all the graphics and weather add ons and lots of plane selections is doing great.

[capt.PropwashKCHS]

as of yet, with no FSX Patch released (might not be released until after DX10 and Vista -- i suspect) the ATC is much the same as the one in FS9. Still clears you to land 10-15 miles out, then just as you touch down it says "go around", or "climb to 5000 and expect vectors ils". i spent 45 min the other night on approach hold flying a circle cause it kept saying i was clear to land, then just as i got 1/2 a mile away it said go around, so i just landed and it said i was not clear to land and to get off the runway!!! I have no clue.

anyways, without the possible patch, save your $70 and stick with what works.... FS9!!!! (wish i had :roll: )

[Flight]

From what I can see of FSX so far ATC is much the same as FS9. No disrespect intended, but the voices are still all American, with the exception of some of the new FSX missions. ATC still has the same annoying habit of "zig zag" vectoring, that you almost feel dizzy at times. Also when coming in on final approach it's most frustrating to be told go around despite the fact you've been given clearance to land and there are no other aircraft waiting to take off or even on the runway. It would of been nice if Microsoft had taken notice of the many requests for more voices/accents. If they could issue an update to address this problem it would make an otherwise good programme even better. Here's hoping!!

[skipperdan]

Sometimes, we just have to laugh at ATC. I can remember a situation about a year ago with FS9 where I crashed during a landing and was in no shape to move. The ATC came on the radio and said, "Please exit the runway via the closest taxiway". I was ready to grab a megaphone and shout so that the whole world could hear, "I will be very happy to exit the runway as soon as you send a tow truck". 8) 8)

[hwh888]

Hey everyone thanks for the input.
Guess I'll save my money till MS gets the ATC thing right. Yes voice communication would be great with ATC.
I'd just be happy with not being switched back and forth between departure and arrival TACAN frequencies. 30 mi DME from destination get switched back to departure airport???? Not even real Microsoft!!

[Behrentzs]

If you want real ATC, try VATSIM.

[jamesdad]

Quote: If you want real ATC, try VATSIM.

Fair point, but it seems once again Microsoft have ignored the pleas of their CUSTOMERS (potential and existing) and just let their graphics people have free reign but left the 'game play' out of the equation. When all said and done it is only a game but you'd think at least one person in R&D would look on sites such as these and think 'hey, maybe they have a point?'... But noooo, that would be too easy. Far better to provide what they assume people want, rather than what they asked for.. I'll stop now before I start going off on one!

[skipperdan]

You'all really need to get a life. There are really more important things in life to complain about. The team at Microsoft have done a great job for several years developing a fantastic product. Each year it gets better. How about considering the complexity of the whole ATC module. I have a very strong background in Data Processing and I am very impressed with the complexity of Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Rather than accusing the team of not reading the posts from the forums, how about thanking them for taking the time to read the thousands of posts and reacting to the ones that they thought were important.

I think that they deserver our praise for a job well done.

[jamesdad]

Were you on the Beta testing team perchance Skipper?? :lol: Microsoft aren't omnipresent, they don't deserve adoration of right. I agree the number crunching that has gone into any sim is phenomenal. I agree the amount of work thats expended is very high, the people who do it are very well paid, but for a game that is aimed primarily at civilian aircraft simulation, the atc is fundamental (so if it keeps frustrating the 'pilot' because of artificial stupidity, it's less than useless) And I agree there are far more important things to get upset about, I haven't got FSX yet, and not likely to yet. As there isn't just the game to get, there's the new drive, memory, CPU, Graphic card.. list goes on.

[skipperdan]

Jamesdad:

Yes, I was on the Beta Test Team for FSX. Unfortunately during the early months, working on the test versions of FSX was like driving a Lexus with a VW engine and a joystick instead of a steering wheel. Many of the modules were not upto par which meant that we were unable to test the product at 100 percent of it's capabilities until the very last version. I wished that we had more time to review this last verion before it went to market.

In defense of the Microsoft staff. they were very receptive to every one of the posts that everyone made. They responded to every post and either indicated that they would react to the requests or else they requested futher input from the Beta Tester. The staff at Microsoft received many requests/responses from the Beta Test team and they had to prioritize which ones to react to. Unfortunately not all of my requests made it to the top of the list either. However, I have to respect their judgement. 8) 8)