History of Microsoft Flight Simulator
[2] Although still called Flight Simulator II, the Amiga and Atari ST versions compare favorably with Microsoft Flight Simulator 3.0. Notable features included a windowing system allowing multiple simultaneous 3d views - including exterior views of the aircraft itself - and (on the Amiga and Atari ST) modem play.
Over the next year or two, compatibility with Sublogic Scenery Disks was provided, gradually covering the whole U.S. (including Hawaii), Japan, and part of Europe.
These included improved aircraft models, random weather patterns, a new sailplane, and dynamic scenery (non-interactive air and ground traffic on and near airports moving along static prerecorded paths).
First from Microsoft and the Bruce Artwick Organization (BAO) came the Aircraft and Scenery Designer (ASD) integration module.
It took about a year for add-on developers to get to grips with the new engine, but when they did they were not only able to release scenery, but also tools like Flightshop that made it feasible for users to design new objects.
In 1995, Flight Simulator 5.1 was introduced, adding the ability to handle scenery libraries including wide use of satellite imagery, faster performance, and a barrage of weather effects: storms, 3D clouds, and fog became true-to-life elements in the Flight Simulator world.
Instead of using the version number in the title, Microsoft instead called it "Flight Simulator for Windows 95" to advertise the change in operating system.
The BAO team was integrated with other non-BAO Microsoft staff, such as project management, testing, and artwork.
Flight Simulator 98 (version 6.1), abbreviated as FS98, is generally regarded as a "service release", offering minor improvements, with a few notable exceptions: The simulator now also featured a helicopter (the Bell 206B III JetRanger), as well as a generally improved interface for adding additional aircraft, sceneries, and sounds.
Other new "out of the box" aircraft included a revised Cessna 182 with a photorealistic instrument panel and updated flight model.
[5][6] It received a "Gold" award from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) in August 1998,[7] for sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
[10] However, even on a high-end system, stuttering framerate was a problem, especially when performing sharp turns in graphically dense areas.
New aircraft in FS2000 included the supersonic Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde (prominently featured on both editions' box covers) and the Boeing 777 which had recently entered service at the time.
Some of these airports, along with additional objects such as radio towers and other "hazard" structures, were built from publicly available U.S. government databases.
The air traffic control system first featured in Flight Simulator 2002 was originally scheduled for inclusion in this version, but eventually postponed due to performance issues.
The external view also featured an inertia effect, inducing an illusion of movement in a realistic physical environment.
Other enhancements from the previous version included better ATC communications, GPS equipment, interactive virtual cockpits, and more variety in autogen such as barns, street lights, silos, etc.
Meigs Field in Chicago was removed following its sudden destruction in 2003,[12] while Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong, which had closed in 1998, remained.
Acceleration introduces new features, including multiplayer air racing, new missions, and three all-new aircraft, the F/A-18A Hornet, EH-101 helicopter, and P-51D Mustang.
The new scenery enhancements cover Berlin, Istanbul, Cape Canaveral, and Edwards Air Force Base, providing high accuracy both in the underlying photo texture (60 cm/pixel) and in the detail given to the 3D objects.
Soon after the announcement, Microsoft Studios made available to the public its Microsoft Flight Simulator Insider Program webpage, where participants could subscribe to news, offer feedback, access a private forum, and be eligible to participate in Alpha and Beta releases of the game.
[17] Flight Simulator (2020) features significantly more scenery detail, accurately modelling virtually every part of the world.
It features high fidelity shadow generation and reflections on aircraft surfaces, busy airports with animated vehicles and people, complex cloud formations, defined shorelines and water bodies, realistic precipitation effects on the aircraft's windshield, and very detailed terrain generation with a vast amount of autogenerated scenery.
From light planes to wide-body jets, fly highly detailed and stunning aircraft in an incredibly realistic world.
Some of the new features are real world aviation scenarios, such as skydiving operations, aerial firefighting, and executive transport missions.
[20] New to Flight is Games for Windows – Live integration, replacing the GameSpy client which was used in previous installments.
An add-on market place was implemented as well, offering some additional scenery packs and aircraft as downloadable content (DLC).
The company stated it will continue to support the community and offer Flight as a free download, but closed down all further development of the product on 26 July 2012.
Lockheed has hired members of the original ACES Studios team to continue development of the product.
Most Flight Simulator X addons as well as the default FSX aircraft work in Prepar3D without any adjustment since Prepar3D is kept backward compatible.
