Big changes are afoot over at PNW fictional airport scenery HQ. Rather than spell it all out, let’s let this dude explain what’s up…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdYg42IIS9A
Closing Doors and Opening Windows
Next post: The POD Gets a Cockpit
Previous post: The POD Gets a Facelift
Comments on this entry are closed.
Rob de Vries
Hi Bill,
Thanks for this heads-up. It’s much appreciated. In order to reduce my cognitive dissonance I’m imagining myself that some aweful weather demolished the original Emma site and the nearby field (Cushman) has been further developed 😉
Perhaps someday Emma will be rebuilded…
But now I’m looking forward to your new offering!
Rob
Mike I.
Can’t wait Bill. Thanks for the update.
Rick Harms
That is great news Bill! I have spen the last 7 months straight flying PNW (as I live here hehe) and this will be a great hop from KORS! Can’t wait to see it.
Rick Harms
That is great news Bill! I have spen the last 7 months straight flying PNW (as I live here hehe) and this will be a great hop from KORS! Can’t wait to see it.
Sundog
Thanks for the update. It sounds like an improvement and a good way to move forward IMHO.
Chris Brisland
Hmmm… that is heartbreaking news Bill.
Quite simply, this new airfield may sell. It may even sell well, knowing the excellent stuff you produce.
BUT it won’t ever be Emma Field, nor will it be a replacement. Wtihout Fritz, without the crew, without the mad jocks slurping a pint of number 5 specially brewed by Uncle Elmer, without the mad wabbit…
Emma Field wasn’t the runway or the buildings and it certainly wasn’t Richard Goldstein or even any one individual who made any one single local airfield – heck, a trip to Bear Gulch or Hood City (and – ahem – “Brisland Bridge” airport).
Emma Field is the people who owned the addon, the people who organised fly ins, air days, MP events…
So sad that you couldn’t consolidate and reconcile your efforts for Francois.
Bill Womack
Here’s the thing, Chris, Fritz was never in Emma Field. Nor was Uncle Elmer, or the wabbit, or all those hidden barrels of old number 5. They were in your head. Until I finally patent this device I’ve been working on, I can’t control what’s in your noggin.
Actually, your negative reaction to the club house model I showed a while back played into my decision. I figured hell, if the old guard aren’t going to give an inch on one single building, they’re going to be impossible to please with the new Emma. Think I’ll just go off and create something entirely new.
So you see… you’re still playing a role in the new Cushman Meadows after all. ;-).
Chris Brisland
Yes, there are two sides to the coin. Like I say, Cushman Meadows will sell well (heck, I will be a buyer too no doubt) but the anarchy and mayhem that was lived at Emma was a life of its own… 😉
Fritz, however, is a very definite and real character in the Emma Field software. He sits at the radio and directs planes to their parking spaces and he rides the mower around the airfield during the summer months. He may even be the character on the winch on the glider side of the field.
The thousand or so anarchic characters that gravitated to Emma came because that is the way things developed. “Emma Field” developed a special life of its own and there are/were several web-pages that evolved around the software.
A bit like Misty Fjords…
Attempts were made at re-creating the “Emma Feeling” over on Plum Island. It didn’t work. Not because the addon was bad. Quite simply, even anarchists have a conservative way and will have difficulty with change.
“Old Guard” was written with a bitter taste? Maybe, but my “negative” critique reflects how “Emma” affects the people that use that particular software package. “Moving” to a new base in the sim world is exactly the same as if a real world airfield were to close and move to another place. The life of Emma was created by the tales from the many contributors to the forum itself. The internet environment was a “social club” where folk came for a chin-wag.
Emma was also a place of sorrow – friends have passed on over the years and although we never met, there was that certain amount of personal feeling engendered by the community.
Emma was also a place of entertainment. There were a few contributors to “life” there who shared their lives with us. Some very talented people wrote some very entertaining prose which other Emma members enjoyed.
…and many, many, many other members joined in.
That is why Emma Field became what it became and why it will probably never really be the same if attempts are made to make it so different.
You won’t find Emma fans boycotting your work Bill. No way! It’s just too good not to have. But you may experience fly-ins from “rebel” camps such as the Emma Cheese and Wine Militia or the “Toon Team”. I am sure that Gary GB is sharpening his pencils right now. I know “One-Eye and Limp” are debating the new situation over a pint of #5 (Creme de menthe for Limp please)
Emma Field is the “Meigs” of the Pacific Northwest…
I wonder…
Tracy Quiring
Looking foward to the new project. Having had both Bear Gulch and Emma Field in FS9, I am sure this is going be something special.
And thanks for taking the time to make the video update!
Tracy
Rob-PA7RM
Thanks Bill for explaining via YouTube. It’s good to hear the background of the whole software developing business.
And good luck with the development of the new scenery. Great !!
Rob-PA7RM
sbflyer
I owned all the versions of Emma through FS9, but understand that things have to move on.
I’ll certainly purchase Cushman Meadows and am greatly looking forward to the screenshots. I understand the ORBX philosophy that discourages fictional scenery. However, I think that an unpopulated area like Lake Cushman, that lies on a natural flight path from Seattle to the Wash. west coast (KHQM) is a place that an exception should be made for, especially if the scenery is of the high quality of Twin Oaks.
Andrew DeLaney
Great News Bill. I will be looking to add this to the great PNW.
It seems you will not make everyone happy but with this you will make quite a few of us happy.
Bill Womack
Thanks, Andrew, and everyone else who’s been supportive. It’s true, sadly I’ve had to break some eggs to make this particular omelet. I feel bad that a few people feel left out in the cold, but hopefully they’ll get on board when they see what I have planned.
STefaan Cappelle
Thanks for this heads up Bill.
Looking very much forward to it’s release, it’s definitely on my ‘to buy’ list now 🙂
Rob Abernathy
Thanks Bill for the video. I always liked Emma Field for the reasons the hardliners do, the company, the fly-ins, good natured fun that went on there. Emma, tho excellent scenery, was just a catalyst for all this. I hope Cushman can become a place like this too. I see no reason it can’t, given the location, interest, and it may well become Emma again albeit with a different name!
Good luck with the project and count me in as a first customer. Loved the Stark’s project. 🙂
Guido Mazzei
Hi
probably I’ll buy the new scenery, but I am very sad today , PNW has lost his soul and we are a bit homeless now
Even Pacific Fjords fell short of recreating that magic atmosphere of the good old Misty
I think that we old Emmaites will never feel again that friendship , that sense of belonging
Emma wasn’t only a fictional scenery It was the place that a bunch of simmers from all the parts of the world called Home
Guido Mazzei
Rome Italy
EFC 683
Paul
Tend to disagree on the Misty Fjords, Pacific comment comment. Its as close to the real thing without having to fly in there again in real life. Having been there summer of 09 and comparing pictures I took while there and comparing it to the product, its a work of art. Just in my opinion from having doflown there real world and sim world.
Guido Mazzei
Hi
the new PFJ is technically perfect but so desert and lifeless Misty had a surprise behind every corner (perhaps we all had less expectations back in 2005 )
Bill Womack
I think that must be the case, Guido, because just about everything that was in Misty is there, and more. We’re still working on some details like the cabins and such, but it’s a long way from being a desert.
Tom WIlson
Thank you for the video heads-up Bill. I am normally a New England flyer.
This morning I took off from Plum Island in the ORBX Lancair and flew almost 8 hours to KSHD Sanderson, about 15 miles south of Lake Cushman.
There I jumped into a piper archer, the PA 28 and north to Lake Cushman.
The weather was mediocre but I got a good view of the lake and surrounding properties. I think I want a spot there. There are some nice places and some nice spots for an airport.
Maybe you could sell some properties in your scenery like they have in Europe.
Count me in.
Bill, thank you very much for your efforts. I love your stuff.
Tom
Alexf
I like the news. I always loved Emma field and flew countless sessions with the gang in my old FS9 days years ago.
I also suspected EmmaX wont happen given the time and lack of progress news. I see this as good news. Lake Cushman is a lovely place and I’m sure you’ll do it justice. I’ll buy it, just as I had bought Emma at the time and have bought every single piece ORBx has put out.
Maybe François will find the resources and eventually get EmmaX done and then we’ll have two new places in the area to play with. Never say never.
Looking forward to a new page.
AlexF
Alexf
I like the news. I always loved Emma field and flew countless sessions with the gang in my old FS9 days years ago.
I also suspected EmmaX wont happen given the time and lack of progress news. I see this as good news. Lake Cushman is a lovely place and I’m sure you’ll do it justice. I’ll buy it, just as I had bought Emma at the time and have bought every single piece ORBx has put out.
Maybe François will find the resources and eventually get EmmaX done and then we’ll have two new places in the area to play with. Never say never.
Looking forward to a new page.
AlexF
Alexander
Bill,
what a story to tell and I fully understand how difficult this must have been. I loved EF and spent endless hours there but it is time long ago – now memories of the past . Things have changed, social networks are all over the place, EF was an icon of creativity and breakthrough technology. Now you are with another team that does miracles in design, look forward and all will be good.
Nathan Palmer
I dont like to take sides when I’m not involved but at the same time I dont like to see good people get labeled incorrectly when the ones saying it are actually to blame.
Incase it gets pulled, I posted this on a forum where the mod might remove it, but feel for the sake of the innocent, it should be at least considered.
—————————–
Subject: Who really killed Fritz
I read the newspaper article and saw a video testimony of a “hunter” that has been in that area. But while it is stated that Fritz was shot in the back 4 times I can only wonder if that happened to cover up what really happened.
I recall some time ago reading about a couple of fellows showing up to the club house and poking around to see if they could repair things. Seems a deal was made at that time which leads me to wonder who made the deal and what it all detailed.
See in my eyes if a certain prior developer sold or gave rights to a new development team that the person who organized the deal would of made sure they owned not just the name but the actual product going forward.
That way, when the new developers started rebuilding the field they dont get hit with a ‘road block’ of what they (and what would seem to be the general public as well) thought was the idea in the first place.
I feel without hard evidence, to who shot Fritz, it is wrong to direct animosity towards the wrong people such as a mob based group that is aggressive in their leadership, focus and delivery to make the area a better place. As well as those individuals who are the real talent and are only doing what they can with the contracts and deals made by poor leadership and business deal brokers when they are not on extended vacations.
So while Fritz may have been shot in the back by 4 different hunters, perhaps Fritz’s days were numbered when he signed on to let a management firm take over Emma Field and at which that management firm didnt cross all the x’s and dot the lowercase j’s when the deal was made.
Nathan Palmer
Nathan Palmer
I dont like to take sides when I’m not involved but at the same time I dont like to see good people get labeled incorrectly when the ones saying it are actually to blame.
Incase it gets pulled, I posted this on a forum where the mod might remove it, but feel for the sake of the innocent, it should be at least considered.
—————————–
Subject: Who really killed Fritz
I read the newspaper article and saw a video testimony of a “hunter” that has been in that area. But while it is stated that Fritz was shot in the back 4 times I can only wonder if that happened to cover up what really happened.
I recall some time ago reading about a couple of fellows showing up to the club house and poking around to see if they could repair things. Seems a deal was made at that time which leads me to wonder who made the deal and what it all detailed.
See in my eyes if a certain prior developer sold or gave rights to a new development team that the person who organized the deal would of made sure they owned not just the name but the actual product going forward.
That way, when the new developers started rebuilding the field they dont get hit with a ‘road block’ of what they (and what would seem to be the general public as well) thought was the idea in the first place.
I feel without hard evidence, to who shot Fritz, it is wrong to direct animosity towards the wrong people such as a mob based group that is aggressive in their leadership, focus and delivery to make the area a better place. As well as those individuals who are the real talent and are only doing what they can with the contracts and deals made by poor leadership and business deal brokers when they are not on extended vacations.
So while Fritz may have been shot in the back by 4 different hunters, perhaps Fritz’s days were numbered when he signed on to let a management firm take over Emma Field and at which that management firm didnt cross all the x’s and dot the lowercase j’s when the deal was made.
Nathan Palmer
Nathan Palmer
Incase its not clear, I support your decision and work Bill. I also somehow didnt copy over all the post from that other forum. It should read as it does over there:
That way, when the new developers started rebuilding the field they dont get hit with a ‘road block’ of what they (and what would seem to be the general public as well) thought was the idea in the first place, they wouldnt be in a position of how do we make this work by being different and still be the same?
Now my question is, since you already built your own versions of library objects for Emma Field X, whats to stop you from releasing them in the folder of Cushman Meadows so those with scenery developer software can use them to place in other places they like?
I mean it would be sad to have already built a lot of objects not to be used so if released for free be placed by the end user where they like would be a service wouldnt it?
Also can one make it where those object cant be used except in certain areas? If so, then it would be easy to understand if a small patch of Washington State was turned off as to not cause any misunderstandings.
Ron
Bill,
i’m a bit late in seein’ this video, but i get in line with many others who appreciate you takin’ the time to share what you’ve shared. as a customer, i appreciate folks such as yourself and orbx. the customer service is top-notch. the forums where you guys listen to us guys and actually consider our input or opinions is nothin’ short of phenominal. 🙂
the fact that you, once again, actually took your time to explain things is testimonial to your character.
thanks for makin’ our hobby…community…whatever one wants to call it….a great place to wanna be!
sincerely, ron.
Bill Womack
Thanks, Ron. Your comments are much appreciated.
Bill
Bill Womack
Thanks, Ron. Your comments are much appreciated.
Bill