Hi guys,
Not sure if you're aware of this already, but FSX: Steam Edition has been just released with an 80% off sale price of $5!
Let's ignore all the different opinions on what Dovetail will or will not do with it, the point is this: you have a cheap digital copy of FSX Gold Edition as a backup.
Also it's worth pointing out that these guys did some actual work on it:
General
* FSX: Steam Edition is now built using the VS2013 compiler for better optimisation and performance. (Still makes use of VS2005 libraries for backwards compatibility.)
* Updated splash, launcher and mission preview images for FSX:SE versions.
Multiplayer, networking and communications
* Gamespy networking now replaced by new Steam networking.
* Game chat now integrated with Steam chat
* Friends/Banned lists now integrated with Steam.
* Game invites now use Steam.
* Host networking defaults to a single port 6112.
* Host networking uses 27016 for Steam Master Server Browser.
* Host timeout (loss of connection to host) now 35 seconds by default (was 55).
* "Disconnected" message dialog now retained on screen for 4 mins before automatic dismissal (was 30 secs).
Steam Support
* Top Down Camera (camera view select 4) was previously bound to F12 by default which is normally used for Steam's screenshot feature. Camera View Select 4 now uses Shift+F12 by default to avoid potential clash.
Compatibility with FSX boxed
* FSX and FSX: Steam Edition co-Existence feature allows both versions to be installed on the same machine.
Default System-Setting Alterations
* Increased TEXTURE_MAX_LOAD to 4096 up from 1024
* Changed HIGHMEMFIX=1
* Increased Vertex and Index Buffers and the number of buffers.
Bugs Fixed
* Fix to particle emitter controllers which were not being updated properly.
* Fix to flush all levels of detail in terrain cache.
* Fix to Texture Composition preventing fail and crash.
* Fixed issue where player is able to reserve more slots for friends than maximum players allowed in the game.
* Fixed issue where invalid Briefing Room was presented to player when cancelling session creation.
* Fixed issue where weather text in the multiplayer briefing room is partially cut off.
* Fixed issue where no error message appears when attempting to host a session with the network adapter disabled.
* Fixed issue where there is no error message when attempting to host a session with the network cable unplugged.
* Fixed issue where host player is frozen after a collision occurs in multiplayer.
* Fixed issue where client gets dropped from a multiplayer game after they crash into the host.
* Fixed issue where the Host Options in multiplayer/ Free Flight allow a user to have a maximum of 99 player slots.
* UIAutomationCore.dll work-a-round is now supplied by default with FSX:SE. This fixes a number of crashes relating to UI interaction on 64-bit versions of Windows.
* Fixed issue where the application’s taskbar preview window displays no content on Windows 8 and above
* Prevent default colour mode for Windows 7 and above (enable automatic display composition).
* sserife.fon file now automatically supplied and loaded.
It doesn't sound bad at all, I'm thinking these guys might actually enhance FSX after all....
Dan
