[Flightgear-users] Comments on multiplayer.

[Daniel P. <leg...@gm...>]

Hi all,

Last month we had some upgrades in our area.. the result of which is
that I now have something which resembles broadband! - Yea.. it's very
cool!

Anyway one of the first things I did (have been doing) is to try out
FlightGear online.. I must say it's really neat, seeing other planes not
flying boring "pre-programmed" routes.. and some pretty good (well
virtual at least) pilots.. - like the guy I saw parking the Bo105
helicopter on top of the KSFO control tower.. ;-)

I did notice some things though.. maybe some of them can easily be
fixed.. or not?

It seems that the multiplayer system only shares info about the physical
position of the planes and not much else.. I notice for example that
other players aircraft tend to either have their landing gear
permanently up or down whether on the runway or in the air.. of course
I've seen that AI aircraft don't tend to have control over this either
so maybe it's more a handicap with the AI system than the multiplayer
protocol? It's not very noticeable all the time though.. only really
with things like
the helicopter which flies whilst its blades are standing still.

I did notice though that if I'm flying the same aircraft as another
online pilot,then their aircraft's landing gear, flaps or whatever else
mimics mine.. i.e., although another craft is flying independently to
mine, if I drop my gear, it's gear drops in synchronization to mine..


The other thing I notice is that the regular AI aircraft continue as
normal..
I know the AI subsystem needs to remain activated for multiplayer to
work, but is it possible to disable all non human aircraft?
It also seems that the AI system gets "reset" continuously ... I notice
that every time another person logs onto the server, the "KSFO 737"
reappears (or a new one appears) and runs it's route..


Other than that the system is great.. the only thing I think it really
needs is some kind of in game chat-box to talk to other players.. would
be great if one could try doing some formation flying or something. :-)


Well.. I was more wanting to share my positive experiences on the
multiplayer mode than any negative ones.. :-)


Cheers,

Daniel Pekelharing