Long time no see

[Jarmatus]

Hi!

I left YSP in 2006, but I'd like to come back to the YSF community now because no other simulator is quite the same, and I feel nostalgic.

Hoping you all are well. What kind of place is this?

[NightRaven]

ohai

Welcome to HQ! I would say that our community is fairly vibrant and all, but since you do have a background that goes back to YSP, here is a reality check.

Most of the people from YSP have gone since the site went down in 2011. A few remnants like myself (though you wouldn't know me) have stayed on in HQ. Now it is pretty much the only coherent YSF community, after the Japanese community website got hacked recently.

Most of the activity that it sees is usually when an airshow is organised. Apart from that, it is business as usual: a few posts a day, a few people on the servers, and lots of new members signing up but never showing their faces.

Civil and Military YS are pretty stagnant, a stark contrast to back in the days. The only active squads left are the 171st, 49th, SARF and probably a few more I don't know. PAVA just brushed off the dust with new routes, and NatCom is still pretty much buzzing, but other big names like HAVA have fallen inactive.

Servers come and go: GAF, WW3, eric's, 42S have all but shut down. In their place are the specific squad servers (171st, 49th) that serve as training grounds, and general servers like CP's and 555 server. Activity peaks at around 10pm EST, with 10 people tops flying at once. After that, servers are generally empty the rest of the day. TS also reflects this trend: peak in activity corresponds to peak of server activity. There are also generally more people on TS.

Our community is small as compared to YSP : 50 active and contributing members at most. About half are post-YSP. YSP guys like Flake, MR, decaff, Gunny, Neocon (aka Patrick) etc do still hang around fairly often, while others like Skyline, Raven, Welnio etc poke around once in a while.

I would like to apologise for putting all of this is such a glum manner, but it is the way I see it. Maybe cos I live in Asia, which also happens to be halfway around the world from Europe and the US . Even then I would welcome you, and any other member, with open arms, and I'm sure the others would also do the same. I do hope that you would stay and hang around, and, even better, fly with us! YS has come a long way since 2006.

[Jarmatus]

I weathered the slump of NationStates.net, I'm sure I can weather the slump of YSF. I remember a few of those names you're talking about. Good to see that the 171st continues (I was technically part of it at one point) and that the 49th also continues - I remember you guys from intermittent attempts I made to keep track of what was going on through the 171st forum in the succeeding years.

I'm also halfway around the world, but I'm in Australia. Server inactivity has always been a curse for me, but it does sound like it's worse now. It would be nice if something could be done about it. I appreciate your welcome, and I'd love to fly with you, personally, sometime.

[Gunny]

Hello there Jarmatus and welcome back.What NightRaven said was pretty much on the mark but there are also some pretty exciting things going on as well.Dr.Yamakawa is still developing Ysflight and adding capability's and features to the game as well as Officerflake developing a server enhancement add on called OYS that promises some vary exciting adjunct capability's on servers.If he promised you the sun and the moon would you believe him Weather variables up the yingyang and all flavor of things to enhance the server experience.And as you may remember from YSP there is a seasonal lag component that is cyclic in nature.School being active the site not so much.But summer break is coming so I expect an upswing in activity when it gets here.So hang with us and it will get better.

[Stingx]

Sup. Sorry no textwall.

[Copperhead]

Long time never see, but Howdy anyway. ^

[Midnight Rambler]

Yohai fellow Aussie, best server activity is usually 0900 onwards on a weekend, people are usually on TS at that time as well so it's worth checking out

There are a few Aussies, mainly Flake, Dragon029 and myself as well as the odd Kiwi or two that float around... You know, that old story. Watch Welshy as well, he likes reminding us that we're a penal colony but i just remind him of a 5-0 wipe out in the Ashes and he shuts up.

See you around

[Welshy]

And all I do in respond is talk about the Lions tour

[Copperhead]

Banter n' stuff.

[decaff_42]

Hello there! Pretty new compared to you, but I would also like to point out that there is still a host of modding and aircraft creating. Nightraven has been teasing us with some DC-10s and I've been on a Boeing shopping spree

There are some brand new folks learning the modding trades. Speaking of which, one of the 'new things' compared to your departure is the introduction of scripts (2009-2010ish) for blender for 3D modeling, animating, and painting aircraft all-in-one. Scenery Editor is more advanced as well, with lots of new features to play around with. Gunny, DTPilot, or Patrick might be some of the better people to talk with about that. I have drifted away from maps and found a home in aircraft development, but I sprinkled a few tutorials around youtube and the hq forums if you are interested in catching up! My site should have links to most of the stuff.

[Neocon]

Your name is familiar. Did you go by that name on YSP? I think I was Neocon back in those days.

[NightRaven]

Nightraven has been teasing us with some DC-10s

ha lol

viewtopic.php?p=84946#p84946

[Jarmatus]

Thanks for the welcome, everyone! Just out of curiosity, what are the current aircraft packs one should probably have for online play? I sense they change over time.

Gunny: Nice Alan Parsons reference. I'll be waiting with bated breath.

Stingx: All good.

Copperhead: Same to you.

Midnight Rambler: Hey there. A weekend our time, or theirs? Any particular server in which the Aussies tend to congregate, or ... ? (And yeah, that tends to be a pretty effective way of shutting up the people in and around the old country. )

decaff_42: I'm interested to see your work. I'll certainly have a look, and might study the tutorials. I always wanted to get into aircraft development, but was never any good.

Patrick31337: I did. I wasn't exactly known for being the most reasonable or levelheaded user, but the alternative for me would have been pretending to be someone else and I couldn't have done that.

NightRaven: That's some great work you've got there. I'll certainly be watching that thread.

[NeurAxaL]

Hi!
like copperhead, long time never seen (that was a good one copperhead)
with the packs, some i would reccomend are:

HQPack
GACPack
Lordflash Pack
DownInFlames pack
Major Pack
Kuro Pack
Oranleed
Skipper

I would also reccomend the 49th and 171st packs, but you dont have to.

i would also reccomend scarecrows hawaii, among other scenery packs.

Hope you enjoy and stay here for a long time!