Lobolopez220

The engine does definitely look interesting (there seem to be a few more videos at the infinity website as well http://fl-tw.com/Infinity/infinity_videos_1.php ), apparently it is going to be free to license the engine for non commercial use, so whos gonna be the first to create a free flight sim with it :biggrin: Lobo

Just as a side note this video was shown as part of the Game Developers Conference as a demonstration of the technical aspects of the new terrain engine. The link below is to the powerpoint file of the whole presentation and is pretty interesting, quite technical in parts, but it gives some idea of what MS is working on in terms of the terrain: http://rapidshare.de/files/16620222/GDC2006_Szofran_Adam_Terrain.ppt.html Lobo p.s. One of the embedded videos in the presentation is missing unfortunately but the MS developer who gave the presentation said the following about that: "Mon Mar-27-06 11:17 PMby Adam Szofran By the way, the missing "living world" video is missing for a reason. It contained some super-secret stuff that isn't really done yet so our marketing department only allowed me to show it at the conference but not upload it. Sorry, but it'll all get out in time... "

I posted this in another thread here as well but just in case there is anyone who hasnt seen this video yet here it is again, apparently this is the terrain engine in the next version of flightsim (and yes I know its a no combat sim, but it would be pretty cool to have something like this in the next ED project :D ) http://rapidshare.de/files/16545247/spaceshot2.wmv.html Lobo

Video does indeed look good, but how about this one: http://rapidshare.de/files/16545247/spaceshot2.wmv.html Apparently the new MS FSX terrain engine, looks pretty impressive if you ask me, would be nice to have something like this is the next ED sim :D Lobo

Not very difficult, dongles are still not going to stop determined pirates. I remember when 3D software like 3D Studio Max (costing several thousand more dollars than Lock on !!) had a hardware dongle which would cause constant problems, dongles would stop working and have to be replaced in which time the software could not be used and in addition to all of this you did have dongle software emulators created by pirates that still allowed the program to be widely copied and distributed. Lobo

and to clarify you also need to be in the US as pointed out by this bit at the bottom of the page: "*This offer is available in the U.S. only while supplies last. Limit one per customer. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery." Lobo

Yup, other than the cover everything else is B & W. Lobo

Just received my manual from simware this morning, looks good. Would have looked better in colour but i am sure that would have pushed the price up a fair bit so its good as it is :D Lobo

Really ?? Seems to work fine with me. Lobo

For a nice compilation of similar shots check out the competition that was run by The Register website: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/14/google_earth_competition_results/ Lobo

Thanks for the link :) Lobo

Come to think of it you actually have a point. With their programming talents I am sure ED would be able to work something out :) Lobo

As with others I also know a bit of Russian so I`m not too bothered. If we actually do have a clickable cockpit we will also presumably have a mouse pointer so an interesting option may be that if you hover the pointer over the Cyrillic a tool tip type label shows up with a translation (thats probably not possible with the current engine though ??) Lobo

There are some new high res (1600x1200) shots of "Black Shark" over at Simhq.com for those that havent seen them: http://www.simhq.com/_air4/air_153a.html Lobo

Ok so just out of curiosity does anyone know if the development on the follow up to Lock On has begun or is that only going to happen after 1.2 has been released ? Lobo

Yup you are right. The particular pics in that thread were for an F4 pit but he did say the following: "Hi there, Well I have been looking at a Lockon pit lately, they are pretty nice already Not sure how my pits would fit in, but it is not an impossibility. Am doing a MiG-29 for F4 currently, great plane and pit." So who knews maybe if there was enough interest it may happen..... Lobo

Aeyes was already working on a Lomac cockpit, checkout the following thread: http://forum.lockon.ru/showthread.php?t=6540 This was a while ago though and since then things have been quiet.... Lobo

Sounds like the trojan clicker that comes in various guises. Read more here: http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/trojclik.shtml and if you do a search on Google for Trojan Clicker you will get a lot more info. Basically it just connects to the web and repeatedly "clicks" on ads as set by the virus writer. 100% this has nothing to do with the Lockon 1.1 demo. You can try checking again with this http://www.ewido.net/en/?section=features . I havent used this software personally but its meant to be pretty good and free for 14 days.... Lobo

Ah yes but thats the important point, in the example you give above you assume that the cost of buying the bike will be offset by the increase in sales but this is difficult to gauge. To expand on that just look at the number of people who constantly post on various forums saying they will not buy Lo:mac becuase it doesnt have x US/Non-Russian plane etc. This and the fact that Ubi dropped ED leads me to believe that demand is not as high as you may think. It is oversimplification to state for a fact that demand already exists and that you are guaranteed sales if you publish in the West :) (of course if you want to get really complicated about international trading there are many additional issues to consider for example foreign exchange costs for selling in one currency and paying your suppliers/staff in another etc.) Lobo

I agree that they wont be the saviour but it certainly cant hurt the genre for them to continue producing sims of this nature. On a more global scale I think it would actually be a fair loss as slowly you are starting to see huge multinational firms carving up the western games market. I would say its generally easier for smaller companies that have no corporate limitations put on their creativity to be innovative with their products. Lobo

Stupid ?? Possibly not, think about it Arklight, their bottom line as you put it is probably already seriously being eaten into by the fact that they need to pay for stuff like extra bandwith for their website for the western download, preparing the english documentation etc etc. Personally in a business mind frame sure selling to the CIS may mean lower margins but then again production costs there are lower and as its mostly in the developers native language it will be easier to produce and it makes sense to limit your market especially if you are a small company with limited funds. In regards to MS the point I was trying to make is that they also require to you reactivate after a certain change of hardware and its at their discretion whether they allow you to do this or not. We do not know whether ED will take this approach too, its too early to comment.

I have a question for all you people concerned about activation and hardware changes, considering that microsoft has been using a similar scheme in a lot of products for quite some time including windows and office products have you stopped using these as a result ? I suspect not so please stop with all the doom and gloom about how you arent going to buy 1.1 just because of this point. Personally I feel you are probably driving ED to conclude that we in the West are a bunch of whining sissies and that they should only develop for the CIS market !! :roll: Lobo

Nope - the best translation is Aircraft Accessory Gearbox. Because everithing not engine related is mounted on it (in contrast with the engine's accessories, which are mounted on the two KDA's). DC generator, AC generator with it's constant speed hydraulic transmission, main and booster hydraulic pumps, and the GTDE-117 gas turbine is also mounted on the KSA, and not on the ground start unit. The KSA is full of gears, and electrohydraulic clutches, for distributing power to/from engines, generators and pumps. Octav I stand corrected. I would assume though that it would at some point need to include a reducer as if the KSA transfers rotational energy between the engines, generators and pumps they probably do not all operate at the same rpm or am I understanding this wrong ??

Pleasure, just to add to the good explanation that Lemon Lime has given about the KSA after having a look on the internet I think it could also be translated as a "geared reducer". Lobo

My russians not great but here you go: 4= Oil Left 5= Oil KSA (have no clue what ksa is) 8= Oil Right 14=Trimmer Aileron 13= Trimmer RN (not too sure what the RN stands for) Lobo p.s. Flanker it Maslo not Maspo