subLOGIC

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Please improve this article if you can. (November 2006)

For the Dutch netlabel, see Sublogic Corporation.

subLogic

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 is an American software development company. It was formed by Bruce Artwick when he was at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and later incorporated by Stu Moment.^[1]

Artwick and Moment's ground breaking computer video graphics programs combined with interest in flying led to producing a very successful flight simulation, FS-1. It was then licensed by Microsoft, improved, and released as Microsoft Flight Simulator.^[2]

1 Company flight simulator timeline
2 subLOGIC denouement
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Company 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".

1980

January: First generation: FS1 for the Apple II, 4 color/monochrome, with a 2-gauge panel (airspeed, altitude), on cassette tape.
March: 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 5¼" floppy disk.

1982

New release of FS1 for the TRS-80 with enhancements, on 5¼" floppy
November: 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. Better 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.
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 better.

1986

Third generation: New releases by subLOGIC of FS II (some call it FS III) for the Amiga and Atari-ST with 320×240, 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.
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).
June: FS 3.0 (part of third generation), created by BAO but released by Microsoft for the PC only: 16-color EGA (640×350), 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.

1989: September: 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.

1990

January: FS 4.0b — 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.
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 graphics, freely movable windows, compatible with add-on sceneries, no multiplayer.
SGA (Sound, Graphics and Aircraft Update) by Mallard, features the first Concorde and an enhanced panel for the Boeing 747 (800×600 resolution)
SEE (Scenery Enhancement Editor), by Laemming Wheeler (Kikiware)
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.

1993: September: Fifth generation: FS 5.0: 640×400, 256-color, new "true" world co-ordinate system, better mountains, buildings, aircraft, weather, sounds etc. First real textures, including photoreal Meigs Field airport. Many bugs.

1994

February: FS 5.0a big bug fix release
First version of Europe-1 scenery, created by the (Dutch) Alting brothers for BAO. Featuring incredible detail and dynamic scenery objects.

1995

April: FS 5.1 first version on CD-ROM, many improvements, like: 32× increased resolution, better coastlines, textures, night lighting and haze in the distance.
October: FlightShop (Aircraft-factory and Adventure programming with ATC) released by BAO, including Boeing 747, DC-3 and an ultralight.

1996

January: BAO and FS-copyright acquired by Microsoft, Artwick stays on as consultant.
Apollo buys rights to FlightShop and Europe-1 scenery.
January: SubLOGIC taken over by Sierra to produce ProPilot.
August: 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.

1997: August: FS98 (FS 6.1): 15 year milestone, higher resolution (1280x1024, 16 bit color), first true helicopter simulation (Bell JetRanger 206B)

1998: November: Microsoft releases the first version of Combat Flight Simulator, a military flight simulator, based on the techniques and standards used in Flight Simulator.

1999: September: 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.

2000

March: 2000b update for FS2000: most problems fixed, aircraft and ground scenery shadows are back, better and smoother performance.
November: Release of CFS 2 (Pacific Theatre), a new version of Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator. Many small improvements.

2001: October: 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. Smoother performance.

2002: October: Microsoft releases CFS 3 (Battle for Europe), the next version of Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator. New graphic engine, virtual cockpits.

2003: July: Ninth generation: FS 2004 (FS 9.0) — "A Century of Flight". Better weather and clouds. Improved mesh and autogen, better AI aircraft and ATC. Old planes in keeping with the theme (A Century of Flight), better aircraft in general. Smoother performance.

2004: October: 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.