Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight

THE BAD:
This great aviation games is aim for some serious enthusiastic flight simulator pilot, therefore any fast triggers gamers who enjoy speedy action with lots of surround blasting effect sound with find this flight simulator a little boring to their taste.


You need a strong PC to enjoy the high end graphics of this virtual world.

I notice some bugs in the graphics setting; even though my PC is above the recommend requirement. (AMD 1.8 GHz and ATI 64Mb ram). Once you had some cloud formation (2/10 of the sky or more) the graphics start to flash or loose their effect, you could see the polygons overlap each other with discolourations. The other graphic problem is in the weather setting; when you set thunderstorm and than you decide to return in a clear blue sky, the rain and thunder keep going even there is no clouds in the sky, it loose the special effect. Need to restart the Flight Simulator to return to clear blue sky. However Microsoft web site provided a patch to download to fix some of those problems.

SUMMARY:
I couldn’t wait for the costly price of the MSFS2004 come down; I want that little shiny tin box in which the package came in. I needed to have another flight simulator added to my collection. The installation was very painless, I just follow their instruction, but it took some time to install. Going through their menu, all the FSMS2004 learning information is on-line. They have a small booklet that only gives you a quick overview and historical airplanes’ information that are included in their flight simulator.

I decided to try the first historical aircraft adventure, the Wright Flyer. The idea is to keep the unstable aircraft flying the longest as possible. I was amaze with the Wright Flyer details. It was a good idea to add it to the aircraft line up, but the fun of flying this aircraft was to be short for me, since it was not build for long distance travel. I cheated by opening the map and placing the Wright Flyer at high altitude and flying down without stalling it.

I am not much a pilot for commercial or speed jet aircrafts. I like a slower pace propeller airplane like the Cessna series or any bush add-on airplanes, because this gives me a good view of some hidden landmark to discover. Once a while, I enjoyed flying Douglas DC-3, a rugged aircraft with basic cockpit instruments. This aircraft is a bit unstable even though it is airworthy. The challenge is that I’m constantly correcting my altitude and direction to arrive at my destination. The instrumental panels look authentic, including the old style radio communication knobs. The only modern equipment aboard would be the Gramin GPSMAP 295 which help my flight plan.

In some of the vintage airplanes that I try, the cockpit view are well design, but not always practical. The Charles Lindberg’s Spirit of St-Louis aircraft, you don’t have a front view of the outside, because the front panel cover the entire cockpit, there is a small periscope you could slide to see the front. I switch to the 3D virtual view, so I could see all the angles of the detail cockpit instrument location. This makes me wonder how Charles Lindberg ever succeeds to arrive to Paris over the Atlantic without landmarks. I needed the GPS instrument to make it across without getting loss. Another example would be the Amelia Earhart’s Vega 5B airplane, cockpit panel look from her era; however this time I notice the front and sides windshield are too small, I don’t have a good view of the ground. I had a hard time to stay on the runway to take off, because I couldn’t see the runway unless I change my view setting to spot. There is more vintage aircrafts to discover, plus you still have your regular modern aircrafts to fly.

I was able to copy the Concorde folder and gauges files from my MSFS2000 to the MSFS2004. I got an error when I request the Concorde, I just accepted condition, and I was on my way at Mach2. I did the same for the MSCFS3 to import the WWII aircrafts to the civil aviation for more vintage aircrafts.


It includes once again the third party GMAX software version 1.2 to create new aircraft or object. First you will have to register the software via web before having access too it.
On the Microsoft download page you will have to download the SKD files to be able to convert GMAX file to the Microsoft file extension. This will be my next project, to use GMAX to create my own aircraft, but for now I will leave it to the expert and download their masterpiece via the web. (With their permission)

There is a learning center on the main menu to explain history of the vintage aircraft, the use of latest GSP instrument, and some interactive flying lessons with MS certificates.
Overall I would recommend FSMS2004; it is one of the best graphics civil flight simulators on the market today.

This Flight Simulator was play on;

Windows XP SP2
AMD Athlon 2200+ (1.8GHz)
500 MB ram
ATI Radeon A/W 7500, 64Mb AGP
Soundblaster Live 5.1
Saitek Cyborg EVO - USB joystick

PC upgrade to;
1 Gig of ram
Dual video card;
Primary – ATI Radeon 9250, 256 MB PCI
Secondary- ATI Radeon A/W 7500, 64Mb AGP