Is Flight Unlimited the first true modern flight sim... and should I have run it on a 486 DX2?
134Any question can be answered "yes" if you get to define your own parameters. Nevertheless, I would like to tell you about Flight Unlimited, why I think it does indeed deserve consideration for pioneering two vital tenets of the modern flight sim, and what it was like to play it on a 486 DX2/66, barely above the minimum spec. And what were we doing with a 486 that late in 1995 anyway?
Plus, while it may be an interesting diversion into the past to play Flight Unlimited on an emulation of suitably underpowered vintage hardware, there's also a case that when given more resources it's a better game than its immediate successor, the unique flight model and crisp software-rendered graphics eclipsing generic '90s GA sim techniques and blurry early 3D. At the very least, it was less of a pain to get running.
Navigational aids:
0:00 What is the modern flight sim?
1:12 Where everyone comments a different flight sim
1:32 The 286 era and upsetting Amiga or ST owners
3:00 Pushing boundaries
3:38 I spend too much time in Blender
4:06 The clock-doubled 486
4:54 It's how Wikipedia claims you say Meigs
5:49 Ultima Underworld takes to the skies
6:54 Careless CD (mis)management
7:40 Alpine Shepherd Boy
8:21 That 486 thing again
9:30 s'good though, innit?
10:36 The blackboard returns
11:55 No continents
13:02 A fluid situation
14:20 Inevitable compromises
15:05 Gliding over the complicated bits
15:40 The notional 486/1000
16:47 Well actually the foreground is polygons actually
17:18 I guess we have to play Flight Unlimited II. Sigh.
17:56 The great jelly wars of 2024
Photo of Seamus Blackley (and Charles!) by Seamus Blackley, CC-BY-SA 4.0. Photo unmodified except for the background behind it. The CC-BY-SA 4.0 larger work exemption applies to this video as a whole, but the section 6:07-6:12 may be adapted under CC-BY-SA 4.0 terms (both myself and Seamus Blackley as original author must be attributed and a compatible licence must be used).
Additional sound effects CC0 from Freesound.
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Music: Lucky Rubber Ducky by Quincas Moreira, from the YouTube audio library.
Yes, I did indeed spend a lot of time making those stupid rendered bits work. I'm still far too proud of that "virtual world" one even if it doesn't line up exactly right.
Bonus fact: that is indeed my original 286 in its original configuration as a 286 sitting on the floor of a very chaotic bedroom. I'm not sure why it's on the floor as it was definitely on some sort of desk most of the time, but the mess surrounding it and possibly my need to take a photo suggests some kind of transitional state for bedroom layout, computer, or both.
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