SubLOGIC
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- The correct title of this article is subLOGIC. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
| subLogic | |
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| Type | Corporation |
|---|---|
| Founded | |
| Headquarters | Urbana-Champaign |
| Key people | Bruce Artwick Stu Moment |
| Industry | Computer and video games |
| Products | subLOGIC Flight Simulator Microsoft Flight Simulator |
The subLOGIC Corporation was an American software development company. It was formed by Bruce Artwick and Stu Moment when he was at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Moment's ground breaking computer video graphics programs combined with his interest in flying led to producing a very successful flight simulation that was licensed by Microsoft; known as Microsoft Flight Simulator. They also made the subLOGIC Flight Simulator before they made it licenced for Microsoft. They made a fully-working prototype in 1975: FS-0.
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[edit] Relevant (to subLOGIC) Flight simulator Timeline:
1975 "FS-0" - engineering thesis by Bruce Artwick: 3D-graphics demo of the simulation of flight on the Apple-II .
1978 Bruce Artwick and Stu Moment start subLOGIC to market graphics and systems software for microcomputers, amongst which the once famous "Night Mission Pinball" and the even more famous "Flight Simulator".
Jan 1980 First Generation: FS1 for the Apple II, 4 color/monochrome, with a 2-gauge panel (airspeed, altitude), on cassette tape.
Mar 1980 first release of FS1 for the Tandy TRS-80 (16 Kb), monochrome, without panel, on cassette tape.
1980/81 new releases of FS 1 for the Apple II, with altitude-counter, enhanced terrain lay-out, "3D"-mountains and other structures. On 51/4¡¨ floppy disk.
1982 new release of FS1 for the TRS-80 with enhancements, on 51/4¡¨ floppy
Nov 1982 Second Generation: Microsoft releases FS 1.0 (created by subLOGIC) for the IBM-PC: 4 color (+ dithering), panel with 8 gauges, new co-ordinate system, 4 scenery areas (20 airports) , 2 COM radios and DME (no ADF), 9 view directions, weather, slew, simulated aircraft is a Cessna 182.
1983 first release of FS II for the Apple II by SubLOGIC, comparable to PC-version, but 6-color, solid filled, 4 areas, now with 80 airports, more roads, rivers, mountains, buildings, bridges, ADF, simulated aircraft is a Piper Archer. Nice manuals.
1984 new releases of FS II (8-color) for the Commodore 64 and Atari-800. Several new releases with some added functionality for all processors follow.
1984 several new releases of MS FS 2.1x for the IBM PC with the same functionality as FS II, including a special version for Tandy computers. Manuals for these versions were first class.
1986 Third Generation: new releases by subLOGIC of FS II (or as I call it FS III) for the Amiga and Atari-ST with 320x240, 16-color display, new menu system and multiple windows and views (including spot view), an enhanced co-ordinate system and enhanced scenery (buildings, bridges) in 5 areas with 120 airports. Autopilot and multiplayer option. Aircraft: Cessna 182RG and Learjet 25. 1986 Microsoft releases FS 1.0 for Apple Macintosh. Functionally the same as the third generation Amiga and Atari versions, but high res, monochrome. Without multiplayer option. Also comparable to FS 3.0 for the PC (1988).
1986 first add-on sceneries by subLOGIC, gradually covering the whole of the USA, compatible with both Microsoft and subLOGIC FS versions. 1987 first non-USA add-on scenery (Western European Tour, with special Paris, London and Munich scenery) by subLOGIC 1988 Bruce Artwick leaves subLOGIC and founds BAO Ltd (Bruce Artwick Organisation). He retains the copyright to Flight Simulator. subLOGIC goes its own way with the development of ATP (Airline Transport Pilot).
Jun 1988 FS 3.0 (part of Third Generation), created by BAO but released by Microsoft for the PC only: 16-color EGA (640x350), new panel, new high resolution scenery structure, better weather/time of day features, flight recording/analysis, multiplayer. Mediocre flight model. Comparable to FS II for Amiga and Atari ST.
Sep 1989 Fourth Generation: FS 4.0, an improved FS 3: much better flight models, improved scenery, random weather, dynamic scenery, approach lighting systems, "aircraft design" (experimental aircraft), Schweitzer 2-32 sailplane.
Jan 1990 FS 4.0b - much needed bug fix release (nothing new under the sun). After this release is a huge time-gap to the next version, leaving room for third parties to enter the FS scene with their own add-on developments.
1990 A&SD (Aircraft and Scenery Designer), programmed by BAO, released by Microsoft, features Boeing 747 with first ¡§glass panel¡¨.
1991 version of MS FS 4.0 for the Macintosh: same functionality, superior but monochrome graphics, freely movable windows, compatible with add-on sceneries, no multiplayer. 1991 SGA (Sound, Graphics and Aircraft Update) by Mallard, features the first Concorde and an enhanced panel for the Boeing 747 (800x600 resolution)!
1991 SEE (Scenery Enhancement Editor), by Laemming Wheeler (Kikiware)
1991 new series of add-on sceneries for USA, Europe, Japan and elsewhere by subLOGIC, Mallard and other firms. 1992 AAF (Aircraft and Adventure Factory) by Mallard: including first "real" ATC.
Sep 1993 Fifth Generation: FS 5.0: 640x400, 256-color, new "true" world co-ordinate system, better mountains, buildings, aircraft, weather, sounds etc. First real textures, including photo real Meigs. Many bugs.
Feb 1994 FS 5.0a serious bug fix release
1994 first version of Europe-1 scenery, created by the (Dutch) Alting brothers for BAO. Featuring incredible detail and dynamic scenery objects.
Apr 1995 FS 5.1 first version on CD-rom, many improvements, like: 32 x increased resolution, better coastlines, textures, night lighting and haze in the distance.
Oct 1995 FlightShop (Aircraft-factory and Adventure programming with ATC ) released by BAO, including Boeing 747, DC-3 and an ultralight.
Jan 1996 BAO and FS-copyright acquired by Microsoft, Artwick stays on as consultant. Apollo buys rights to FlightShop and Europe-1 scenery.
Jan 1996 SubLOGIC taken over by Sierra to produce ProPilot.
Aug 1996 Sixth Generation: FSW95 (FS 6.0): first Windows version, 640x480, easy installation, 50% higher frame rate, better haze, completely textured, new planes (Extra 300S), etc.
Aug 1997 FS98 (FS 6.1): 15 year milestone, higher resolution (1280x1024, 16 bit color), first true helicopter simulation (Bell JetRanger 206B)
Nov 1998 Microsoft releases the first version of Combat Flight Simulator, a military flight simulator, based on the techniques and standards used in Flight Simulator.
Sep 1999 Seventh Generation: FS2000 (FS 7.0): 3D-elevation terrain, better textures, all world airports and navaids database (Jeppesen), Boeing 737-400, Mooney, King Air and Concorde. But no shadows and many other bugs.
Mar 2000 2000b update for FS2000: most problems fixed, aircraft and ground scenery shadows are back, better and smoother performance.
Nov 2000 Release of CFS 2 (Pacific Theatre), a new version of Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator. Many small improvements.
Oct 2001 Eighth Generation: FS 2002 (FS 8.0), embellished version, in which many of the then existing wishes were fulfilled. Improved 3D-elevation (mesh-scenery), AutoGen buildings, trees, virtual cockpit with working instruments, AI aircraft at airports and in the air, "live" ATC. Smooth performance.
Oct 2002 Microsoft releases CFS 3 (Battle for Europe), the next version of Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator. New graphic engine, virtual cockpits.
Jul 2003 Ninth Generation: FS 2004 (FS 9.0) - ¡§A Century of Flight¡¨. More or less the FS 2002 as we would have liked it. Great weather and clouds. Improved mesh and autogen, much better AI aircraft and ATC. Nice old planes in keeping with the theme, better aircraft in general. Very smooth performance.
Oct 04 (FS 9.1) - Patch to version 9.1 by Microsoft, solving a number of problems, including fixes for crashes, Autogen and multiplayer support, improved mesh support and re-installment of missing bridges. New problems with existing add-on programs.
[edit] subLOGIC denouement
Bruce Artwick left subLOGIC to form the Bruce Artwick Organization, which was taken over by Microsoft in December 1995.
SubLOGIC continued under the ownership of Moment,who produced Flight Assignment: A.T.P., which specialised in simulating passenger airliners. It used a scoring method to determine the performance of the user.
SubLOGIC began a new flight simulator but was taken over by Sierra who completed the program and released it as Pro Pilot.
Moment continues to run the present subLOGIC corporation as a generic simulation company in addition to being an airshow display pilot with his Classic Airshow company.
