Al Denelsbeck wrote:
"Dr. Anthony J. Lomenzo" wrote in
:



Quips Al, "You want 'realistic', Don --- how about Microsoft's claim
that with FS2004, hey, all you really need to 'share in the
excitement' and 'experience the challenges' and bag the desired
results is, and I quote, "a 450 MHz CPU with 64 MB of RAM [if using
'98 or ME] and 128 megs [if using 2K or XP] and just 8MB of video
RAM.....how's that for sounding 'realistic'.... ."



Alright, you drew me out on this one! I've long been a proponent of
the idea that Microsoft gets kickbacks from both Intel and the RAM
manufacturers. since they manage to 'upgrade' everything they market every
two years, and somehow these 'upgrades' require a new processor and twice
as much RAM to run.


And hence the rub...while their 'minimums' to run the sim may serve to
sell more copies of same, I believe it is unrealistic [read: unfair] to
give those kinds of minimums [read: hype] and make folks believe that
they can 'share the excitement' as those usual website screen shots
depict yet I doubt that the hawked 'hey, LOOK!' screen shots were ever
done with those Microsoft minimum machine requirements.

Sure, sure, the old "...well, naturally, ya' gotta' make [slider and
frame rate] compromises... ' gambit but they don't tell the uninitiated
that who fork over $50 plus and believe they are in for a treat with all
the hawked and visualized bells and whistles....until they try it on
their 450MHz machine. Ohhh, it 'will' run, yes indeed, but to what
expectations-- Microsoft [it's running, isn't it?] .... or the end user
[what's this? Psychedelic City?]. I note while other folks give a sort
of minimum...better...preferred..and best range to get the max use out
of 'whatever', MS sticks with their minimum as if to suggest however
that if you have at least 450MHz, hey, you've got it all!


You know me, Doc (though the rest of you don't): I've
got the Czech L-39 screaming along inverted, trying to see just how close I
can drag that fin along the asphalt. FOD detail, my ass - there are ways to
keep debris off the runways, and it's called "wake turbulence".

Or there's the fun of approaching in an EMB-121 light twin turboprop
perpendicular to the runway (no, not the approach path, the runway itself),
chopping throttle and going full flaps at 25 feet AGL, yanking up and
standing on one wingtip as the gear drops, and touching down at stall lined
up perfectly on centerline. Or, ahem, the attempt thereof. I won't consider
it 'realistic' until the mechanics drag me from the flight deck and pummel
me senseless for wracking their aircraft around...

And then, of course, is my passion for helos.


You know me and helos, Al. Indeed, if we could get Fr. Bill in here, no
doubt he would shake his head at the sheer number of helo 'baptisms'
I've performed with those egg beaters! Talk about the 'De Profundis'!
Depths, indeed! It takes much patience to fly those things...correctly
anyway...and thus far I haven't been very successful. The only decent
'hover' I could do is if I pause the sim and fake it with muttered
guttural sounds of whoop...whoop...whoop...whoop....usw. !

None one of these
habits lend themselves to crummy framerates. Not long back, I was running
my favorite high-speed driving game on a system with dual network cards and
Internet Connection Sharing installed, spreading the wealth of the cable
modem. Someone else starts downloading mpegs, and the display turns into
one of those photo sequences of disasters you see in Newsweek - blink!
damn, looks like I might be going a bit too fast for this turn, blink!
that's some mighty fine detail in the rock textures, blink! look at the
pretty sky, though it's hard to see through the shattered windshield.
Thankfully the router is now in place and everything isn't passing through
my RAM.

So spending $500+ on a new system for eye-candy? Keep it. Give me an
F-14 that *loses airspeed* when you go null throttle and an F4U that won't
do flips at the slightest touch of the brakes. Clouds? That's IFR
territory, why you need pretty pictures for IFR?

But yes, I have long recognized the apparent disparity between MS'
'minimum system requirements' and the real world of ones and zeros. Though
it could probably work, *if* you weren't running an MS OS at the same
time...

And to emulate Doc (those of you who don't know Doc will learn
quickly, and those of you who dare to chime in will have a hell of a lot
more fun): "That's a Nakajima Type 97 or I'm a bigger dummy than he is!"
pipes Eddie Deezen as the P-40 screams past. And if you recognized that
line, did you also realize that the line "Safety Bar? We don't need no
safety bar!" was an obscure homage to "Treasure of the Sierra Madre"?

Oh, yeah, while we're on the subject: I did finally see "Brassed
Off!", pretty good movie. And if you liked that one, check out "An
Everlasting Piece" (that's not misspelled). Anna Friel doesn't quite
compare to Tara Fitzgerald, but is nice all the same...

- Al.


Good flick! And Tara! Ahhhh! I got the CD too and performed by the real
McCoy "Grimethorpe Colliery Band." Nice!

Doc Tony
;-)

[suddenly...]

Don Parker: "Well, there's always Mister Chuckles!" [or 'chook-ulls' as
the UK brethren would say].

Tara F.: [miffed!] "Ohhhh, 'stoof' that one, Doc!"

:-( !