Flight Simulator 2 and the follow-up Jet for the C64 was the first flight simulators I owned.
I remember it took nearly 8minutes to load FS2 on the C64, I would go make lunch and a pot of coffee while waiting.
Also loved the manuals that came with the sim.
Manuals !!! Oh yes, those FS manuals were something that we don’t see anymore. Some even had Charts to support addon scenery packs.
And those 5" Floppy discs … what were “Really” Floppy !!!
(I even came acroos a few old 8" floppy a few weeks ago - (not from FS) –
As Crocodile Dunne would have said –
Call that a floppy, nah… This is a FLOPPY !!
I found a use for old floppies recently!
The inner disks can be cut to size and used as effective filters on lenses and such.
So don’t throw them away yet, folks!
I logged around 200 hours on Sublogic ATP - my first sim around 1992. Whoever played it will remember the amazing innovation - the voice of Air traffic control, if you were lucky enough to have a soundblaster card.
Then moved to FS5… And never stopped simming, somewhere in the way I did my PPL and long time later my IR. All thanks to MSFS addiction 
ROFL. That early SIM Software ( $9.95) certainly ending up costing you a lot more for a PPL + IR !!! Same here …
I believe that “Microsoft Simulator” was the 1st PC version of the sim, and was named before they started adding the year to future versions.
It came on a 5 1/2 Inch Floppy, and a very Extensive manual.
Probably this early version has on of the most comprehensive manuals … after that, they got less & less, until here we are today, with MSFS (2020) and ZERO official manuals !!
I can’t remember how much Bruce’s sim cost me but I can remember the THOUSANDS of pounds it has cost me since lol,
I remember getting a 5,25 floppy disk drive which cost more than the ATARI 800 used to run it, just so I could play the latest version of the sim.
Then there were the Amiga, the first 386 PC, the CRT I paid £1,000 for…and so on and so on, right up to today’s VR, etc.
Even before all of the above, I had a Sinclair and then a Commodore PET which had an integrated screen (green I remember!) and the ‘Concorde Lander’ program…which was basically a lot of dashes, slashes and asterisks 
Even when I was flying for real, I still used the sims to relax, primitive though they were by today’s standards.
Yes, Bruce has cost me a fortune over the years…but I do not regret spending a penny of it.
Mr. Stu Moment also deserves some mention.
I think he just did 
Hi there …
way more than 30 years. I had the Bruce Artwick Sublogic in the late 70’s. So 40+ years ago. I flew it a lot.
We have come a long way haven’t we ? Now MSFS in VR looks almost like the real thing.
All that’s missing are the g forces experienced while flying.
I had a FS that ran on a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model IV. It was written in Basic… Imagine that…
I am still looking for that floppy… I know it is in storage somewhere.
I still have the “functional” TRS-80 Model IV, dual floppy system. It has a whopping 64k memory.
Oh, I dug it out of storage, it is sitting here next to me as I write this and is 100% functional.
If I find the FS floppy, I’ll take a pic and report back here.
Musk was right… If technology kept improving at the rate it is today, then at some point we would have built a simulation that’s indistinguishable from reality. Who knows if brain computer interfaces (Neural Link maybe) became a reality one day and we start streaming computer generated images to the visual cortex, then we’ll have achieved the matrix reality.
At about this point humans will start living and working in the sim coz it’s way productive going around life that way…
I had the Model II I guess. Not sure. It was just the keyboard, basically. Everything was under the keys. I used to fix those things to chip level and had a small business for a few years doing just that. I never saw a Model IV as far as I recall. They were all basically the same computer, but in a different case.
It is certainly amazing how far we have come. We are still a long way from realism though. I just saw a video of a 4K pass over New York, and it is not even close to real. The detail was there, every building, etc. But something is lacking - perhaps the colours are wrong or something. But we are certainly a lot closer than in 1976! (or was it 1978?)
We see the world around us only in the visible spectrum of light, but that doesn’t mean a species seeing the world in a different spectrum of light isn’t seeing the real thing.
What is reality in the end? It’s just how you perceive the world around you.
It’s what your brain tells you is real.
We might be a lot closer to it. With VR we generate 2 sets of images for each eye. Only a matter of converting those images into electrical signals and sending it to the brain
Yes, and interesting things happen if you swap those images.
what happens when you swap those images ?
I have never tried VR, still waiting for the technology to get good enough. I think TrackIR is good enough for now. But I have my eye on it.
But my reality comment was more along the lines of we need more than every single tree displayed on the screen to be ‘real’. It is good enough for you to ‘suspend disbelief’, but I would not be fooled for long. Perhaps you need the physical stuff (wind on the skin, smells, motion, whatever). Perhaps VR will do it.
Anyway - I have a 50" 4k tv I want to connect via a 3080 - still waiting on a 3080 to magically appear. I am quite excited.
Foreground gets swapped with background. If you were to look down at a brick sitting on the ground, it would look like a brick shaped hole in the ground.
Trees are particularly disturbing objects to look at, with the branches in the background seemingly pointing at you.
I don’t know if anyone has tried to get the same effect with VR.
Fly! was one of the BEST simulators ever!! Richard Harvey was the lead developer, & I still remember his last email to us all on Avsim like it was yesterday and I think about root beer and chili often still because of him! I think we can all use a good dose of stopping to smell the coffee and remember the important things in life. Since Richard said it better than I could & for those of you who never got to read these words from Richard before he passed away, here they are just as he wrote it:
I do not expect a reply to this post. I believe I understand the close and loving feelings of this group for me and my family, and those who wish to lift up silent prayers and thoughts, that is fine. I already feel guilty enough to expending so much web storage on my personal health.It is now time for me to say goodbye to each of you, and AVSIM, for the final time.I returned home from the hospital today, and nature will now take it’s final course. I believe the time will be very short, and even now typing on my computer I can feel the weakness in my bones, and the very fact I probably won’t be able to type in a week. I will be spending more and more time sleeping as my pain meds have to be increased to counter the multiple tumors that have now sealed my stomach, small colon, and common bile duct. A fourth surrounds my liver. The chemo I tried last week has whacked my delicate bone marrow, and even after have multiple units of blood and platelets of the past many days I am very anemic and prone to internal bleeding without warning.I’ll miss all of you, though hopefully I will be seeing many of you again in Paradise very soon. If I see your name on the inbound passenger manifest, I’ll be sure to meet you at the door!Tara will notify Tom directly once I have passed away, and will have instructions on where to send flowers if you wish. There will also be a public memorial service held for all who wish to attend, and Tara will have dates on that too (that will be in Lewisville, TX, about 15 min. drive from KDFW). Also remember that Tom and AVSIM formed a scholorship program through Embry-Riddle honoring my name. I believe the link is http://www.avsim.com/pages/scholarship.shtml. This is also a way that we can continue to be present as a tight-knit community in the global aviation industry for many more years to come, even from afar.I hope the absolute best for each of you. I wish I could write a personal letter to all of you. The wonderful debates of Michal J and LAdamson. Amazing creations of people like Todd Klaus, Chris Wallace, Jak Fearon, David Sandberg, Rob Westhouse, Rob Young, Lefteris, PMDG, and others (please forgive this list – is certainly is not all inclusive). Wonderful paint jobs from MacPaint. Amazing tenacity and spirit from GOODY. Our brave (and I believe still singular) female, Lindy. The AVSIM socials and conferences and online forums, all have become a daily part of my life that is very difficult to let go of. But that is the process I have started recently, and I’m letting go of my most precious activities so I can do so under my control and discretion, instead of unexpectedly being rushed off the hospital and never know if I’ll get to say goodbye or not.When you get news of my death, please consider it a joyous occassion. I will be in a much better place. I will be free of pain and suffering forever. I will never have to endure another needle, knife, procedure, nausea, side-effects, or pain again. Specifically, here are the activities that are Richard Harvey approved:Comedy Movies/DVDS:Airplane!American PieAustin Powers, International Man of MysteryMonty Python (any/all)Big Trouble in Little ChinaBlazing SaddlesCaddyshackDirty, Rotten, ScoundrelsFerris Bueller’s Day OffGalaxyQuestThe 'BurbsThe Pink Panther Strikes AgainThe Simpsons Complete Season #2PC Games:Flight Simulation (your choice)Total AnnihilationBattlefield 1942Unreal Tournament 2K3MAMEConsole Games:Animal Kingdom (GC)Super Monkey Ball 2 (GC)NFL 2K3 (Oakland vs. Tampa Bay) (PS2/Xbox)Soul Calibur (DC)Crazy Taxi (DC)Mario Kart 64 (N64)Super Mario Bros (NES)Nintendo Tennis or Hockey (NES)Legend of Zelda (NES)Adventure (2600)Pitfall (2600)Atari Race (w/race paddles, ice track only, 2600)Drag Racing (Activision; 2600)Astrosmash (Mattel Intellivision 2)Downhill Skiing (Mattel Intellivision 2)Appropriate Drinks:There is only 1 – Henry Weinhard’s Root Beer, fully chilled, no ice. (Seattle micro-brew, available online. Some would argue for Thomas Kemper, which is excellent, but I find too heady. Also a Seattle micro-brew, available online.)If you need some appropriate munchies, I’d recommend making a big skillet of Wick Fowler’s 3-Alarm Chili (you can adjust the alarms yourself). Great for a Super Bowl Sunday too.These are only recommendations, of course. Try to stay away from things that are dark, dreary, introspective, tear jerkers, etc. Think HAPPY – be HAPPY. If that is too much to ask, then I’ll change the word HAPPY to POSITIVE. That’s the flow of feeling I want rolling through my soul as I depart this earth from each of you, is absolute POSITIVE energy. Don’t stall on me, I have to soar!******* ■■■■■■ is my Lord and Saviour. As my loving God and Lord has protected and guided me throughout my life, I pray he will do likewise for you and your family. May each of you acheive your dreams, and not be troubled by hardships. I pray for your good health. God will only give you as much load as you can bear, and never any more. Do not lose hope, nor certainly faith. Above all, do not fear evil, for though it surrounds us it can never hurt us. It may claim hollow victories, but it always suffers defeat.I am and will always remain your friend. Please have a good life, and cherish every minute of it. This is my last post forever.Richard HarveyProducer/Lead ProgrammerFly!/Fly!2K/Fly!IITerminal Reality
