Månad: januari 2014

After many tests to try and figure out how to use flight simulator 2004 without the program crashing on finals I think I found a way.

 

FS9 is not compatible with Win 7 and I just could not use it when I never knew if it would crash or not so measures had to be taken.

 

I found a old computer and did a new install of Win XP and FS9. I installed the same add on scenery and my fav Flight1 ATR-72 500. A complicated plane for any computer to run. But it works in XP and not Win 7. I can still crash the FS software if I open and close a lot of windows. Suspect memory leak somewhere.

 

If I keep to the 3D cockpit and open the windows I need once it is really good. I have made many flights now and no crashes.

 

But I wanted to use my Win 7 machine to so I bought Wideview again. I used to have a license but I have no idea where it is. It is a great piece of software. I use it to run a second copy of FS9 on my work machine. It makes FS9 run in slew mode and that do not crash the software. So here I have two side views. Great for taxi and looking out when flying. I cant see other VATSIM traffic on the side views. For that I have to use FSX I suspect and I have to buy a second copy of it. That will be my next project as soon as I get my wings on VATSIM. 

I have been doing a lot of research into virtual worlds and building and running some Opensim islands for many years. I have a virtual company that maybe should start to develop a new world. https://2worlds2go.com . Maybe, I am not that good programmer.

So what should a new world look like?

I have had a lot of inspiration from Opensim and Second life of course. Looking at statistics. Not many people around the world have the imagination for virtual world living. It’s a few present. It will grow.But slowly.

So nr 1: A new world should not be a toy. Running it on Ipads, webpages and android? No virtual worlds needs power and complicated software. PC and game consoles. Virtual worlds are only for the few so why bother with apps? People interested will buy a good machine.Leave the rest.

Things that was cool in the beginning.

Nr 2. No flying, no things hanging in the air, real physics. I think lot of the success of World of warcraft is that it is a world you can relate to. It looks real and feels real.The magic is optional. When thing do not work as in the real world it just gets us confused.

Nr 3: Landmass (this is technical) The land must be in the viewer. You could have updates. But putting it on your computer makes it very much more usable. You can drive and walk on it and it is better for ….

Takes us to

Nr 4: Physics. Also on your computer. Put it on the server is just stupid. It is your choice if your plane or sailboat should be real or maybe easier. Not everybody is a pilot or a captain. Physics is maybe the most complicated to implement.

Things I was totally wrong about.

Nr 5: Everybody should be able to build. I thought mesh would be a great thing in SL. I was wrong. It is to complicated. Why not use many more basic objects. They are very good for download times. Mesh,UVs are for pro´s. After mesh several great designer quit SL. Everybody should be able to create.

Nr 6: Gaming. Could work. But a virtual world is not a game. If you want MMOs there are many others to go to.

Other.

Of course all the thing we already do in virtual worlds. But partying and chatting gets boring after a few years. I think if you get people the ability to create they will do so. And it must be a open system for add-ons and plugins. I would really like t see what everybody will create in a real world. All the auto manufacturers came to SL but when the cars never worked it was bad marketing and they left. I have a game that is a dream for a car brand. And they are all there. What about a world like that?

And I think the idea to rent out land is dead. I think that the virtual world company’s running the worlds can rent out land but the virtual world creation company must get another line of income.

Some thinking about what a world would look like.

Hope more to come.

Today I was doing my usual flights. Morning from ESSV to ESSB and afternoon back again.

 

This morning FS9 crashed to desktop twice. So I did a hunt for bugs and it seems that the flight computer on my Flight1 ATR-72 crash FS on Win 7.

 

So I decided to do the afternoon flight without the FMC and as the ATR-72 have no GPS it would be some real flying.

 

I filed my flight plan and went to work. But when I logged in to VATSIM I saw that I was going to fly in controlled airspace for the first time. Not really prepared for that.

 

It is just to do it and it went so and so but I learned a lot. As I have FSinn on a second computer and I did not get voice to work there was a lot moving around in the cockpit. Fortunately not much traffic so I did get a lot of help from ATC. Happy about that. It is not that easy with all the software. I can do the flying but the rest is new to me. It is totally different from the automatic ATC in FS. But more fun.

 

And FS did not crash. And I got a voice to work in the end so next time I hope for better flying. 

Todays flight worked very well. NO SIMULATOR CRASH. And my new plane ATR 72-500 worked without a glitch.

I have move FSinn to another computer. I suspect that all changing off windows did eat up some memory and made Flight simulator 9 to crash.

Have to see what happens in the future. Now I have to do some reading to learn the new airplane. The story continues.

Less cluttered cockpit environment. Landing at Bromma.

Landing at ESSB Bromma Stockholm.

 

Now I have done several flights in uncontrolled airspace and it works good. I tried several different hardware settings with add-ons and it have not worked very well. FS crashed several times on finals and that is no fun at all. So now I am running just a FS2004. I have FSX to but when you need to do minor adjustments when landing it does not work well. I am running the simulators on a 8 core machine with a mid range NVIDIA card and it still is not enough.

 

As I like to fly in Sweden and only use prop planes I can use the excellent free airports from RB design/Swedflight  https://www.rbdesign.se/swedflight.html. It is nice to taxi on a well done airport.

 

So next up is controlled airspace and maybe get the voice to function. And I will try to move FSinn to a second computer. There are to many windows to keep track of right now and maybe it will be easy to get voice to work as well.

Still figure everything out. Jets are far away .

Safely landed at ESSB Bromma Stockholm

My first flight was somewhat of a adventure. First the computer that the instruments where on did not work when I was ready to taxi, Quick change. Then departure went very well and flying to Trosa was also ok. Made some errors on ATC when my connection did not work. Wanted to do a STAR approach to the airport. It was ok in the beginning but then it all went sideways.

Could not find the airport. I have done this flight simulated a few times to learn but connected to the network everything changes and gets more “real”. I never even thought of taking up the GPS to look where I was. I was so set on doing it on instruments. And the the ILS on the instruments computer did not work so I was kind of lost. Looking around I could se I had missed my approach, so I picked my self up and did a GO AROUND. Lucky the weather was great in Stockholm so second time around i made a VFR. Not the greatest but I landed on the runway on time.

I think a few people came on to see the crazy woman. But I was so occupied landing I did not care. It was great fun and I cant wait for the next time. I be better.

My interest in flying started when I as a child used to play around and in the airplanes at the old Malmoe airport, Bulltofta. And we were flying Cessnas a lot. I wanted to be a pilot but life took another path.

After many years out of the fly zone I have found my way back to simulated flying. I have been flying around the world since my first software on the Commodore 64. I have over 50 different types of flight software for all kinds of machines.

But it have all been just for fun until now. I found VATSIM and there have been a lot happening with simulated flying. Internet and powerful home PC. Network Flying is another thing.

 

These guys mean business so I have yet to do my first flight in the network. Reading up and listening in. And I have found that my PC setup does not work when you are trying on a approach to a busy airport. Need to rethink my cockpit.

But it is a lot of fun and sooner or later you see me with the other pilots roaming the sky.

The big question have been when are virtual worlds really make a break through. I do not think it is going to be 2014. No new worlds are around the corner. No big updates. Many online games are fighting to survive and Second life gets smaller and smaller. Cloud party and There have very few people online and the Opensim grids are big but empty.
Many people believe that the Oculus Rift https://www.oculusvr.com/ will be the next big thing. I think it will change and expand our way to use computers but only for hardcore gamers and there will be applications we have not seen yet. For virtual worlds my guess is as good as yours. The user interface must be totally redesigned and you need a Kinect or a Leap motion https://www.leapmotion.com/ to really get it going. That’s a lot of hardware and I really do not think that the average user will  get all the stuff and then learn how to use it. By the way I will get all the stuff.
The Opensim conference was a great success and all the enthusiasts was there. Opensim is a great way to start a world and the people behind it does a great job but Opensim grids are far less visited than Second life. The builds are in some cases good but not even close to some of the best in SL. I find that when people get there own island they have no idea what to do with it. 2worlds2go have a island on the OSgrid. It have been running for years but not many people visit it. More now as we have a hypergrid port. I also made several islands for download on https://2worlds2go.com and today they have been downloaded 210 times. This is not a virtual revolution.
Will virtual worlds go away? No I do not think so. I just joined the Vatsim network. https://www.vatsim.net/ I want to learn how to fly my virtual plane in a more realistic virtual world. It all builds on a very old software Flight simulator 2004. But there are when I am write this 644 people online flying all over the world. There are thousands of plane and airports to download on the net and company´s and a community still making new software to expand the possibilities of virtual flying.
This is the way forward. A community and company´s expanding the original software. Linden lab will sooner or later find Second life to be a failing income and scrap the servers but virtual worlds will live on. Virtual worlds are a social experiment and have a loud and lively community. I see a lot of great builds and a area that works is art. I visit gallery´s that I could never go to in RL. It have expanded my life and I hope it will do so even in the future. But I do not think 2014 will be the big break. Just another year with hard work.