Aerofly FS

[OlaHaldor]

A new simulator?

Came across this new simulator through another forum. Looks interesting. Especially the eye candy. Who knows what the dynamics are like. But look at this video, there's a party where they simulate different winds. Look at the flags to the left in the video... WOW..........

http://www.aeroflyfs.com/images/neuehp/_afs/video/flugphysik.html

As far as I can see, not for sale yet.

[philipp]

It's on sale already. 39.99€ in Germany.

Scenery is Switzerland only. Nonetheless definitely an interesting product. If they have global scenery one day, who knows....

[OlaHaldor]

My german is a bit rusty. As in "I don't know the language". But I guess the simulator is only in german too then?

[Jim Kallinen]

This company use to make RC sims, this is a big step up for them. This has been discussed over at SimHQ.

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3466102/Aerofly_FS_A_new_sim.html#Post3466102

Edited December 6, 2011 by Jim Kallinen

[RojanTrojan]

I think it looks superb and genuinely refreshing. Its nice to see another company having a go, it reminds me of our hobby's golden age when there was more than two flight simulators on the market, such as Fly!, MSFS, Sierra ProPilot, Flight Unlimited, countless combat flight sims as well as X-plane (of course). Unfortunately, it feels these days (and this is my personal view) that it's such a hostile market to be in, I'm surprised developers have the patience. On most of the forums that I have been reading about Aerofly FS, the AVsim Flight forum, Aerosoft forum (where I posted about it), Simouthouse forum etc etc... Some people seem to be quick to judge it's short comings as a simulator and pronounce it dead before it even hits the market. It seems to be the usual thing, if it isn't FSX then it's next to no use. To be honest, I remember the above simulators struggling with the same view years ago with a pretty lack lustre FS2000 at the time. Sad really, you'd think that given that our hobby caters for such a niche market, that people would welcome a new simulator with an open mind, but it seems the exact opposite. I just read a comment on the Simouthouse forum, 'why would pay ware or freeware developers bother learning to build in a new sim', I find it a shame that people think way. I'll be happy to support it when they release an English version.

Be wary of turbulence AeroFly FS, because this market is a bumpy ride.

Rhydian

[ARTIK]

Mac version Feb 2012 (!)... I'm tired with XP10betas so much I guess I'll need some fresh air soon... They are experienced in RC flight modeling, I hope this simulator will be solid as German tank and fast on Todays hardware... I regret it's not that great p-l-a-u-s-i-b-l-e as XP10;) and those old fashioned garbage 1m/pix textures - which looks so real ...

regards

arti

[Spacedust]

Why bother about the world when you have Switzerland?

[RojanTrojan]

It's looking rather sexy....

Edited December 24, 2011 by RojanTrojan

[FlorianR]

they've certainly got their graphics figured out. Too bad most airports are 2d phototextures.

[ARTIK]

definitely...

look at those shadows precision, how clean they are... hmmm...

steady 29-30fps I like that.

I'm on the waiting list:)

Edited December 24, 2011 by Andrzej Artymowicz

[RojanTrojan]

Would be good if Aerofly got together with Outerra, now that really would be something different. Will be interesting if they keep developing for it and make it an open platform for addon developers.

[ARTIK]

Outerra would be nice but seriously 1m/pix texture + fine mesh from the demo videos looks great... I really need antidote for poor performing XP10betas.

[falloutgamer65]

Holy crap that looks great. When can you buy it in the US? If the dynamics are good this can be a really great sim.

[Warmbrak]

Just remember, this engine is currently very limited when compared to X-Plane or MSFS. Very low object count, no autogen scenery, no time of day really (all scenery shadows are baked if I understood correctly). The current focus is on eye candy, and not about expansion/ability to mod etc. I don't want to detract from the beauty of this sim, but take a step back and get some perspective of what you're looking at.

I would like to give this a go as well as it looks real pretty to fly, but it I suspect one will soon get frustrated with the limitations (read everything on their website, the clues are there).

[ARTIK]

oh yeah no autogen, no objects, bad baked shadows, poor fps, 2D clouds and no XP Quality art work !

[Warmbrak]

Arti, you are reading what you want to read. Did not say no objects or bad shadows, nor was I comparing the looks directly with X-Plane 10. I was merely stating the limitations in their engine, not taking away from it. It just seems that you are looking for everything and anything you can use as an argument to downplay X-Plane 10, which you have the fullest right to do if you so please. I use many different simulators, and all of them does something great that another one cannot, but there is always a trade-off somewhere. I'm merely asking that you compare apples with apples when you do go on these rants. I am a potential customer for AeroflyFS, but I am not blind to the fact that it will not fill the shoes that some of my other sims can, and that is my objective approach.

[woweezowee]

I'll buy the Mac version. It's definately an interesting concept, although it won't replace full featured sims like XP and MSFS. But the models look nice and feature a nice selection, switzerland is nice to fly there, and from what I've read until now the flight modelling/physics seem to be really good.

[ARTIK]

I'm just saying it's a very good start for a new Switzerland+ Flight Simulator and I really like that approach doing good things one step at a time. The company have a good if not the best reputation in RC community.

[philipp]

I bought it myself for christmas, and I find it quite enjoyable.

I would call it an "ONLY" simulator:

It is day-only, VFR-only, switzerland only.

The photo scenery for switzerland is *&!"HOLY CR*P THIS IS AWESOME£~+!@ impressive. The dynamic shadows are as good as X-Plane(10)'s. The fps are incredible: Everthing set to "Ultra"+HDR+8xAA=170fps on my machine.

The aerial photos are good. The colors look credible (i have seen a lot awful blue-greeny photo sceneries, this is not one of them). The resolution is okay, but it could use either autogen buildings or an even higher resolution because most houses are simply brown blobs if you look very close.

However, the scenery is ideal for VFR flying. I flew around areas I know from winter holidays and immediately recognized the skiing areas I'm familiar with. Also the highways I know were easily recognized and some adjacent villages also.

The autogen scenery lacks houses (there are some, but too few). The trees are gorgeous however.

The flightmodel physics feel plausible as in "it feels very similar to X-Plane". I would say X-Plane and Aerofly FS feel roughly the same, whereas FSX feels quite different. The weather options are barebone: Two cloud layers and one global wind setting. Thats all. However, it has thermal generation for soaring: dark patches of landscape in the sun generate thermals you can easily find when flying over them and hear the Variometer go "boouuuueeeiiiiii! beep! beep! beep! beep! beep!"

The aircrafts are barebone: Only the "holy six" instruments are working. No radio navigation is implemented. No Autopilot. No electrics. No working switches, no electrics. Engines are always running and cannot be shut down or started.

The piston engine model is nonsense: it has no idea of density altitude, so you can climb the C172 to FL200 with 1000fpm. Mixture control is not implemented. Also the manifold pressure is nonsense, as are the temperatures (neither fuel flow nor EGT gauges work).

For me, Aerofly FS makes for a very good soaring simulator, and awesome VFR flying with simple aircraft.

However, I would love the density altitude effect as it would make mountain flying really interesting, when you really have to plan ahead because your performance is limited.

Philipp

[woweezowee]

great info, thanks for sharing Philipp!

[philipp]

Did you see this?

Wow!

[Simmo W]

Ha, and this too, hot off youtube, skip to 4mins to see the excellent airshow view:

Combine this with those Truesky clouds, and wow.

[edwin]

A word of possible caution:-I am finding it a problem communicating with this company. Ordered from them and had the strangest of replies &/or no replies whatsoever but eventually my order arrived yesterday. Tried to order another product today but when I tried to sign in it was refused--incorrect password--went for the reclaim password--was told I would recieve an email but nothing has happened and its the fourth attempt today-- past attempts have had the same results.

Have attempted to register into the forum--everything 'Hunkey Dorey' & get Ikarus will get back to you. Have made 7 such attempts during 6 days but no results.

Normally if one makes a second attempt to register with a forum--or anything--one is rebuked with the "This name/email is already in use" Not with Ikarus. It's accepted continually & an email arrives--<Your account has been activated but you are currently in the moderation queue to be added to the forum.> for 6 days so far.

I have tried repeatedly without avail--something is going wrong in the pipeline or there is a very 'Shoddy Crew' running it all--Sadly it Smacks of the latter!.

[philipp]

I had no problem at all - you register on the forum, wait a few days until your account is activated (it took two days in my case, because I registered on a Saturday), and then you eventually get an email that you can start posting.

If you created 6 accounts in a row, it is very possible that you ended up on a black list for spamming.

Philipp

[edwin]

Hopefully not Philip--6 daysnow 7 is a long time to create an account--It only took Him upstairs that to create the world.thanks for the reply