Hello everybody ! Neat site here to explore. Been into pc flight since 90’s and is my favorite hobby still. I’m still into Microsoft’s CFS3,(11 expansions) and IL-2 1946 BAT (80gigs in size). Very interested in WWII aircraft and these two sims are still the best all around WWII air combat sims around.Also have Falcon 4.0 BMS for my jet friends. Tried some of the new “stuff” and there isn’t the content or flight modeling as these. The “feel” just isn’t there and all they want is to charge more money for a little more content.What is neat about these older sim is tons of work has been done improving them ,and all for FREE. There is some payware but not much.Until they decide to make another good WWII based open architecture sim i’ll keep what i got. Regards,Scott
Hi and welcome @sixstrings! 
The old sims have definitely not been surpassed in the choice and freedom they give you, so many types that just don’t exist elsewhere. @wheelsup_cavu has a very nice IL-2 topic here that’s worth a look
Welcome Aboard!
Welcome to the spike @sixstrings , and you are quite right. Old Sims don’t die, they just fade (from the public consciousness).
I still even use the Megafortress and Tornado (both amazing and unique classics).I could easily pay hundreds of euros for a modernized high resolution version of them (even with the same textures/3D detail).
I tried to keep using CFS3 but lost patience with it. For years I really liked the 1% planes and other mods more than the old Il-2 1946, even though the water graphics (DX8 ugh) was so inferior, but the larger map and superior campaign kept me going.
Eventually, though, I moved on to Cliffs of Dover Blitz/Tobruk and BoS and left it behind.
I think my oldest sim now is EECH/AH with mods (older than CFS3 even), along with SF2 and RoF that are about a decade newer.
A reborn of CFS3 engine use are the Wings Over the Reich and Wings of Flanders Fields that i strongly recommend!!!
The first games installed on my brand new MSI top tier gaming machine were Megafortress, Tornado, and Age of Rifles when I copied over my dos games directory.
An old favorite of mine (Still installed!) is Wings of Prey, which I thought was great fun, with excellent graphics, but got killed by HC simmers for being too arcade.
I believe the engine went on later to become the basis for War Thunder.
The maneuver near the end of the video always makes my heart skip a beat…
Got a survey recently from Microprose asking if you’d pay extra for a ‘collector’s type edition’, with a big box and extras like maps. Made me happy thinking about getting something like that again.
Welcome. Love old sims (playing a fair bit of BMS at the moment). A vote here for Battle of Britain by BDG group - still an amazing sim - and Flying Fortress Mighty 8th. Maybe not a sim, but an amazing experience, especially hearing and seeing the flak.
Welcome to Mudspike! I’ve mostly moved on from the older sims but you’re quite right - as long as you can look past the graphics, some of the old sims have really matured into something special.
A few years back I was flying a bit with a bunch of Kiwi guys (TFK - the Flying Kiwis) who at the time were still flying their amazing IL-2 package, which was extensively modded to include all sorts of things, TrackIR etc. They have an enthusiastic mission builder and the group would have a new mission somewhere every week, which could be anywhere from the fjords of Norway to the deserts of North Africa. These days they fly DCS, but for a long time they stuck to the tried and true IL-2 1946.
There is a huge fun-factor in the older sims that is missing in the newer . For me , however , no VR = no fly .