cfs or cfs2?  seem that it's starting to lean toward cfs in the zone lately or it's been real close.  what are the pros and cons of this sim vs cfs2?

I got CFS a few years ago and practicaly wore out the cd flying with it.   

CFS2 both both impressed me and disappointed me all at the same time.

The good:  better scenery, better looking planes, better damage model.

The bad:  takes up lots of HD space and needs a very good computer to play well (I had to increase my ram to 512 and download new drivers for my graphics card before it would run smoothly and this was with a brand new computer).  I don't think the single missions or the campaigns are as good as in CFS.

Bottom line:  I did all of the single missions and the campaigns many times over in CFS, but not in CFS2.  I have spent more time in CFS2 in free flight and various combinations of winmen and opponents dogfighting.

They are both very good, though, and I am happy to have purchased both of them.

With the 2MX I'd suggest CFS1 is a better bet. You really need a 64mb vid. card upwards for decent performance in CFS2 to really see the effects and kites at their best.

Ozzy

now i did a little reseach and it might look like i can only upgrade to a 64 mb card based on my computer power soure at 145 watts.  i was told that a 64 mb card would work no probs... what do you guys think?   ???

Trust me, your PC can run CFS1... whatever it is. Mine is a PIII 500Mhz 128Mb SDRAM Nvidea TNT2 Pro (Acknowledged king of cr@p). I get around 35FSP, maxed out! It's pobably the easiest to make add-ons for as well. Go CFS1  8)
Dan

IL2
You probably can play all CFS games without problems. I never played CFS 2 or 3, but I'm still playing CFS 1 on the Zone.  (And I like it )

I've been playing CFS1 almost every day for 4 years (except for a brief sojourn into IL2).
I've tried CFS1,2,& 3, the various IL2 games and a few smaller ones.

My reply to your question would be 'what do you want from the game?'

For me, I want a nice, fast, simple, dogfight arena in a community where I can discuss attributes and tactics with others in a friendly constructive manner, and CFS on the Zone ticks all the boxes. The down side is that it's 7 years old and shows:- The graphics aren't 1/2 as good as any of the others; There's less variety; The controls aren't as accurate; The flight models are poor by todays standards (particularly when you compare all of these to IL2).

If you want something more realistic, go for any of the others. If you want a real fast buzz / rush and can put up with the poor graphics, come n join us old dinosaurs back in the Ridge (and ignore the few idiots, whom we still haven't been able to eradicate from the chat area).

You'll be able to tell who the good gamers are coz they'll be the ones who'll offer to help out with any problems you have and seem generally polite.

Bear in mind also, what will run on your system. Not sure you'll get IL2 or CFS3 running with sufficient degree of quality to warrant choosing good graphics over CFS1 anyway. The release of IL2 has hit both CFS1 and CFS2 badly but seems to have hit CFS2 particularly hard. Possibly because the folks who left CFS for CFS2 did so to try and get more realism from the genre.

Amazon have just announced Jan 1st as the release date for BoB (next IL2 game "Battles of Britain"). I predict their will be a lot of interest in this from the CFS1 crowd who are jealous of the graphics of later games. But they will not be impressed by the increased realism of controls/models, as this isn't why they've stuck with CFS1 all this time.

One last selling point: As old as CFS1 is, and despite the difficulties M$ are putting in everyone's way (ie, hiding the CFS access page from casual gamers, and ceasing production / sales),  it is STILL, after 7 years, attracting new gamers to it online.

What does that tell you?

¤§¤
8)

ok  here we go..  I concider myself a CFS vet. i dunno if i am stepping over the line but..  i knew almost every exploit, i belonged to one of the best (and still going) squads  first ZAC (Zone Air Core) then merged to Eagles, now CFS_Eagles (varius spread of game caused the change)  CFS was a very open platform, as are all the flight sims from microsoft,  i enjoyed this game emensely but i have grown apart from the CFS series to move on to FS 2004 (grapics and interactive ATC got me lol)  but out of all 3 i have flown 1 and 3  wanted to try 2 but never was able to.  I flew CFS for about 6 years maby?  i dont know how long it has been out and its still one of the best ones out there. CFS 3 was a waste of money beacuse of the incompadibillity between any other version.  but if i had to pick one it would be CFS 1    and you say its comming back?  perhaps i may reinstall it and re-join my old squad?  only time will tell