FMS, ATC, SIDS & STARS
All of these features are often requested and we are very aware that one segment of our users want these in the product.
We seriously talked about all of these during the development of FSX and there were several reasons why each fell off the plate.
FMS - I designed a pseudo FMS using the GPS backend that might have worked okay, but in retrospect the people that really want an FMS would have been disappointed with it and the majority of users wouldn't have cared, so it's just as well we didn't pursue that design.
For an accurate FMS, we would have to build a different one for each of the jets in our fleet, modify/upgrade the flight planner system, and incure the testing time penality to get it all done.
Instead of the FMS, we decided we should get a little closer to the current buzz in GA and do the G1000 which we think will appeal to a wider audience. We could not have done the G1000 if we had tried to provide FMS functionality in our jets.
We may decided to build an FMS or two in the future, but for now, the third party community is doing a great job with this.
SIDS & STARS - The same arguments described for the FMS apply, although it mostly comes down to a lot more data that I'm not sure our contracts with data providers includes (it may, I'm not sure), a huge testing load to see if they all work, and without the FMS, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to have them in the first place.
ATC Enhancements - This seems to have the most people tied in knots on forums, and I think it's understandable that they are. During the initial design and redesign for FSX, all of the various requests for ATC were on the table. Many of the fixes are more complex than you would think, and are risky because we could easily introduce more bugs and problems in the end. That said, I'm sure our developers are capable of doing most of what has been requested, but not easily. For instance one of the requests is to make the voice speak faster and more realistically. Frankly, using the system we have that will NEVER happen. We have thousands of lines recorded and these are combined as you fly to build the phrases necessary. To do this takes time and it will never sound natural.
The ATC system is labor intensive and with every version of the product we need to record more lines. To support international accents would be virtually impossible for us to do as we would have to record thousands of lines for each accent and the accents might get messed up because of how we combine different lines to build the resulting lines you hear. On top of that there are storage space concerns for each accent, so we would probably have to limit the number of accents we could do, and then we would be criticised for not including this accent or that for a particular region of the world. It's just not worth it...
As for the future of the ATC feature, I have to question how long we should carry it along. The long range future of the franchise will be on-line and getting the ATC system to work on line is a nightmare concept. I am all for retaining a single player experience into the future, so maybe it will continue to be maintained going forward, but it will be a little unlikely that we will invest a lot of time and money expanding the system further (I can hear the cries of unfair treatment and M$ commentary already).
As for the on-line element, I really think it's more fun, more interesting, and potentially more realistic to interact with a real human controller than to use our ATC system. VATSIM is hardcore and intimidating for most users, and frankly requires either real pilot training, or at least some study time before a user would be accepted within that environment. We built our Air Traffic Controller options in multi-player so that users could have this experience in smaller and hopefully friendly sessions and try it out with a real human controller. If you don't like one session and a particular controller(s), then join a different session. We hope to promote controllers that can build a reputation as great controllers to interact with, and kind of make them celebrities in their own right. Maybe we will just have our community team play that role until it all gets going on it's own.
Eventually some of our users that cut their teeth on smaller sessions will try out VATSIM or IVAO or some of the smaller MMO groups and grow their skills that way (it should be technically much easier to get into these groups with FSX).
I know I didn't answer most of the questions being posed on forums, but I hope this information helps a little.
Comments
- Anonymous
January 01, 2003
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August 24, 2006
Is online play with default router settings possible (ie is all that directplay stuff fixed / changed)? - Anonymous
August 24, 2006
While I can understand why ATC wasn't improved this time around, please don't chop it entirely.
Unless MS is planning on having a round-the-clock ATC center open. :-) - Anonymous
August 24, 2006
IMO, Multiplayer and Single player can never be mutually exclusive. The idea that Multiplayer is the future and single player in flight simming is on the way out is simply wrong. Here is why. Unlike some PC Games flight simmers for the most part are adults who fly by themselves. Expecting this human behavior to change is pretty ambiteous. VATSIM and other groupware systems are not heavily populated not because they are hard or have a steep learning curve, its simply because many times I want to fly by myself with an automated AI and ATC..where I chose the time, place and the rules. This is freedom.
I like to fly VATSIM on occasion. But I don't believe I would ever get together with 16 novices or strangers and get to fly in a small environment for very long.
That ain't going to change.
Manny - Anonymous
August 24, 2006
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August 25, 2006
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August 25, 2006
Interesting on the Garmin and SIDS and STARS. I am obviously a bit behind the times on my avionics knowledge. That's what happens when you stop being the aircaft PM... - Anonymous
August 25, 2006
One thing to remember about flying online is that there may not be enough controllers compared to the amount of people that just want to fly at any particular time. :)
Of the two big groups I know of, both are a bit too regulated for me. I'm not much for IFR flying, and would never get a pilot's license in the real world with the way I fly. :)
The thing I really miss when I've flown online is ATIS. And sometimes tower/ground control. I'm not looking for the most realistic ATC possible. But it would be nice to be able to fly online with friends and be able to know what the active runway is at the same time. :) - Anonymous
August 25, 2006
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August 25, 2006
I appreciate the enormous complexity of improving ATC or AI in general, but I'm optimistic in these matters - what seems an almost impossible request now may very well be feasible 5 or 10 years from now
“Downgrading” a product certainly isn’t going to help, but I understand the team had very different priorities this time round. - Anonymous
August 25, 2006
I heartily agree with Martijn, a system which allows users to create their own SID/STAR's (like PMDG) would be a great addition. Without a doubt most important airports will be covered within a couple of months after release. If there is a way to make the ATC interact with this database it would solve the problem without investing all the man-hours in designing and testing the procedures. Just give us the framework, the userbase will fill it in further. - Anonymous
August 25, 2006
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August 25, 2006
Lots of great feedback here and please be assured we are listening and taking notes :) - Anonymous
August 26, 2006
Thanks for taking the time to explain the reasoning behind the decision.
I'm relieved to hear that despite your belief that multi-player is the future, you will be retaining the single-player experience.
Like others have said, yes, VATSIM and IVAO may be significantly more dynamic and/or "realistic" than a scripted ATC engine, but unfortunately, those online services fail to meet my needs. It's a very rare occurance for me to find places to fly that are fully staffed by controllers. Quite often there are very large gaps in coverage, and that spoils the experience for me.
I love the default ATC because, I can "talk" to every facility from Clearance Delivery to Center, and it's always there when I want it, even at 3am.
We've seen a dramatic increase in the level of detail an realism within the game world in FSX, and I can only imagine the amount of work that went into creating it. I'm thinking of the completely new spherical earth, the completely new Hi-res texture art, the brand new avionics and 3-d models, etc, etc,...and I think the payoff for that effort is going to be huge.
Similarly, the amount of work to create a truly advanced ATC and AI system may be extensive, but I think the payoff would be truly worth it. Especially if the techniques used to make it work advance the current state-of-the-art.
In short, the single-player mode of play is here to stay. Maybe a ground-up overhaul of the ATC system will pay bigger dividends than you realise. Attacking the problem from a different direction may provide a workable solution to many of the obstacles currently standing in the way of improvement. For instance, using a TTS engine to generate the ATC and player voices could solve both the storage space issue and the unnatural voice concatenation issue.
I sincerely hope to see some major improvement in the ATC and AI department next time around. I guess I'll just have to enjoy the incredibly rich and detailed environment of FSX until then. ;
Nick Landolfi - Anonymous
August 28, 2006
I would have to cast a vote for offline ATC also. I've never had much desire to fly online in any sim I"ve had, and I can say that probably won't change. If FS were to eliminate the in-game ATC, it would cut out a huge part of the experience for me, and I would probably stick with the last version to have it, or go with another sim. I would be satisfied if it were kept as-is, and carried on with future editions. After all, everyone who desires has the option to use VATSIM. If ATC were removed from FS, it would leave us offline flyers in the cold. - Anonymous
August 29, 2006
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September 04, 2006
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September 27, 2006
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