Tower Simulator by Wilco Publishing / feelThere

[mfraser]

For anyone considering purchasing the recently released Wilco / feelThere Tower Simulator mentioned elsewhere on the Forum......... in one word DON'T! I did and certainly wish I had saved my hard earned cash! I won't go into the full details as the link below echoes all of my sentiments. In short, once you look past the glossy download site and nice graphics, you will quickly come to realise this is nothing more than a game - and a cheap, nasty, poorly coded one at that. Aircraft taxi way to fast and very jerkily, the flight dynamics are completely unrealistic (Think flat approaches, no landing flare, no nose rotation on takeoff), you only require about 7 of the 30-odd programmed commands to survive, there are no penalties for losses of separation, despite coming bundled with Voice Buddy and TrackIR they neither work well and worst of all no support is offered.......... and the list goes on and on! My advice - save your $95 and buy something nice and shiny for FSX! I would absolutely HATE for someone else to throw their cash at this dog! I have the old BAO / Apollo Tower Sim which is about 12 years old now and would rate it better than this latest offering. You would think that the technological advances in this time could have produced something really stunning (Just look at the advances in the MSFS series in this time). Screenshots included below but DON'T BE FOOLED!

Tower Simulator by Wilco Publishing is a Rip-Off

[NZ255]

Bugger...95 bucks... pitty

[Adamski]

QUOTE (NZ255 @ Aug 1 2008, 10:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Bugger...95 bucks... pitty

Don't bother ... it's quite *DREADFUL*. Slow ... even on my [pretty fast] system ... and I had aircraft going through each other on the runway. I wouldn't even dare to call this thing BETA.

Frankly, I'm surprised Wilco put this out.

[Naki]

Ouch $95 bucks!

[mfraser]

Yup - I pre-ordered this on the weight of the YouTube preview and media from Wilco's website and have since seen the fallout from its release all over the net. I've had no end of frustration getting the thing to run properly with the radar screens and flight progress strips displayed on the screen - which is a known problem and still doesn't work for me. I forked out extra $$$$ to get the Voice Buddy bundle only to find the speech recognition only works about 5% of the time. To clarify that point, Voice Buddy works great and I can use it with FS2004 and FSX which is why I got it anyway - its just that Tower Simulator doesn't seem to be able to take the shortcut key outputs from Voice Buddy properly. Its like they put all their energy into the photoreal terrain and backgrounds and just stopped there! I'm naively optimistic that the updates they might release could help it become something worth the cash outlay......... I know......... I'm a sucker for punishment!! LOL

YouTube Tower Simulator Preview

[AlisterC]

Perhaps a lesson well learned for you guys with lots of money Wait until the reviews are in!
But thanks for posting to save others the trouble. I for one would never have looked at it in the first place, but definately won't now, so thanks

[towerguy]

I'm so relieved I didn't get it - oh well back to staring out the Tower windows ...

[mfraser]

QUOTE (towerguy @ Aug 2 2008, 12:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm so relieved I didn't get it - oh well back to staring out the Tower windows ...

Its a sad and worrying day when two ATCO's go out and buy a program that simulates the stuff they call 'the daily grind'. My wife certainly didn't understand!! I told her that I only purchased it as I'm off to Oceanic in the not too distant future and may not have another opportunity to talk to an aircraft again!!

[Daniel]

Shame mate about your experiences with it
Will take your advice and not get it.

[Njbb1995]

same here by the sounds of it, you would pay to have it taken off you!!!

[Adamski]

QUOTE (towerguy @ Aug 2 2008, 12:22 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm so relieved I didn't get it - oh well back to staring out the Tower windows ...

Mind you ... there *IS* a thing called ATC Sim (Aerosoft, I think) ... I seem to remember it was written in Visual Basic or something. Wasn't too bad, but it kept crashing .... VERY worrying for all those planes out there

Before that, there was TRACON (and RAPCON) that were both pretty good.

[mfraser]

QUOTE (Adamski @ Aug 2 2008, 02:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Mind you ... there *IS* a thing called ATC Sim (Aerosoft, I think) ... I seem to remember it was written in Visual Basic or something. Wasn't too bad, but it kept crashing .... VERY worrying for all those planes out there

Before that, there was TRACON (and RAPCON) that were both pretty good.

Funnily enough I went and downloaded the "ATC Simulator 2" demo for a look. The voice recognition is pretty impressive but overall it isn't really what I would call 'as real as it gets' and it was a MISSION to get it installed and running correctly under WindowsXP. The procedures and interfaces are very 'american-ised' and are far removed from what we use here in NZ. I guess my view is tainted somewhat as I'm in ATC and expect something similar to the tools I use everyday. I do know that there is a SDK available for writing customised radar sectors for the program, which I may take a look at doing. Apparently you can change the airline callsigns as well which is a bonus. "ANZ491 descend and maintain three thousand feet, cleared VORDME Approach Runway 18, established inbound contact Hamilton Tower on 122.9"........... it might just be possible!!

ATC Simulator 2 Website Link

[Naki]

QUOTE

"ANZ491 descend and maintain three thousand feet, cleared VORDME Approach Runway 18, established inbound contact Hamilton Tower on 122.9"........... it might just be possible!![/quote]That would be very cool

[Anthony]

Shame you wasted your money mate
Lots of reviews seem to be quite negative, maybe Wilco will change their minds and refund everyone.

[happytraveller]

I have had hours of fun using the online, free ATC sim :

http://www.atc-sim.com/

basic, but you can really get involved and it is easy to use too. No fancy graphics, just the ATC radar-type view, but great fun anyway.

smooth landings.

[greaneyr]

Thanks for sharing. That's really disappointing to hear how much it sucks. We ATC fans get pretty slim pickings as far as home PC software is concerned. While the market continues to be small, there will continue to be a limited amount of high quality ATC sims out there - if the demand ain't there, why would you invest a lot in developing one?

However, if you DO decide to invest in the development of one then the first thing you need to do is understand your target market. No 'gamer' is going to give an ATC sim the time of day, lets be realistic about it. The only people who are going to want an ATC sim are those with an interest in ATC. The same people who will see plain and simple any inaccuracies beween your simulation and the real thing, and do what buyers of this thing are doing to it right now - slamming it (both verbally and physically into the bin or onto auction websites). Every time a new ATC sim comes out, I live in hope that it doesn't try to appeal to the 'gamers'. It sounds like this one sure doesn't.

I still submit that BAO tower is the best tower sim out there, and Xavius ATCC one of the best radar sims. Both are dated but there's very little that is any better.

[mfraser]

QUOTE (happytraveller @ Aug 5 2008, 08:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have had hours of fun using the online, free ATC sim :

http://www.atc-sim.com/

Yeah! That little sim is not half bad!! And if you're keen enough and have some free cash, by registering and paying US$20 thru PayPal you can control THE NZAA TMA!

QUOTE (greaneyr @ Aug 5 2008, 08:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I still submit that BAO tower is the best tower sim out there, and Xavius ATCC one of the best radar sims. Both are dated but there's very little that is any better.

I tried resurrecting BAO Tower but couldn't get it to run under XP so gave up. I'm not familar with the Xavius program and there doesn't seem to be much info on their website unfortunately.

I'm busy looking thru the ATC Sim 2 SDK to see if I can get something to work for NZ with local callsigns. Looks promising. Will most likely model the Bay TMA sector first...........

[Naki]

This looks to be a better product

[towerguy]

I just wish people would stop talking about "crashes" and equipment not working and management that put out faulty crappy software and hardware all the time ............


I come to these forums to get AWAY from work!

[mfraser]

Careful! They may be listening! But I know what you mean.... maybe the Association will ring in some worthwhile change this year!