johnobono

I'm also not a big fan of PG as the melted building look is just another immersion killer for me. I do however understand it may be perfectly suitable for some (inc if you are maintaining proper heights & flight paths etc at all times or if you don't want to pay for city packs). In some locations though, you do get a bit closer to building on approaches / takeoffs so you may notice it (i.e landing 16L/R into YSSY) Performance of PG appears dependent on a number of factors & bandwidth to your ISP alone is not the only factor (as Carlos clearly has a large enough connection). I think distance/ping time to the nearest MS server, the performance of the server itself & in some Internet providers cases - application/server specific data bandwidth throttling. I suspect my ISP is doing this & I would often get insufficent bandwitth errors in MSFS for PG & Bingmaps data even though I have a 100mb connection & it would speed test as such. As soon as I started using a VPN the errors stopped. Turn the VPN off & the errors started happening again. I still think there's a market for citypacks/scenes & these are some of my favourite releases from Orbx (& I own all of them). They really add realism (with no melted buildings), let you get up close to explore VFR (inc in a non real world way ; ) & don't have a bandwidth dependency. I hope these still play a part in Orbx's product mix & hope to see future releases for more Australian cities & others around the world. Cheers.

To those who shudder at the thought of animations or other visual enhancements in Flight Sims: The point of this is not dancing people in Terminals (it was just a fun demonstration) - its about adding realism & life into the simulated world. Whether you fly > FL300 IFR or <5000 ft VFR, eventually you will need to land & taxi to the terminal / gate / parking spot. Currently this entails pulling up to a dead static world - which is not a simulation of a real world pilot's experience. Think of the potential here. Beyond Rotating Radars & Flapping Flags, Moving Marshall's & Baggage Handlers (which have all been done in previous sims) we can see a future of: More ground staff doing things they would do in the real world Passengers embarking / disembarking from planes People in motion (rather than the static dummies we have now) reading newspapers, waving at planes, eating in the small cafes, working on their planes in the hanger etc from areas visible from a plane cockpit as you arrive / depart (especially visible in small GA airports) Birds (& Bird Strikes) Vehicular traffic in & around the terminal I'm sure it can be done tastefully & subtly without being overdone & tacky (& if it isn't then people will no doubt comment / vote with their wallets). Having life in a Sim does not take away from a serious simmers piloting experience or alter the way the G1000 or ILS function. MSFS has been slated by Microsoft/Asobo as a 10 year project & I for one would like to see the boundaries pushed and the immersion increased. I think if we can progress to a state where features can be switched on & off in a scenery as they are in the Graphics settings of the Sim then this will still be accessible to people on varying grades of Hardware. I'm also certain there are ways to optimize these additional immersions so that they don't affect the performance of someone flying overhead or when you are not in visible range. Moores Law states that the processing power of the Hardware will increase at a rapid clip over time & personally I wouldn't want innovation held back for never ending backwards compatibility. After all, Xplane 11, P3D & Aerofly FS2 will still be available for those people to fly if their rig isn't up to chop..

Bahahaha! That is Awesome! Ezy Jet flight to Ibiza is now boarding.. I for one would love to see an Easter Egg (switchable on/off to appease the traditionalists of course) whereby at 2:00am a spontaneous danceparty / rave occurs in one of the hangers or terminals . On a serious note, animations (done well so they're not overdone or look like obvious loops) are exactly the kind of thing we need to see more of in Airport releases in MSFS where the lighting & atmospherics are already approaching realism. It just adds so much to the immersion of being there in a living breathing environment (something we've only been able to mostly do virtually this last year & a bit) Well done Guys - love your work & you're on the right track! Cheers.

As a customer who has purchased a majority of the Xplane & MSFS catalogue from Orbx & who has been a fan of their past work, I have to say I sadly tend to agree with majority of the sentiment of the original post & am also finding my purchasing habits change from an almost instant purchase of an Orbx release to a close scrutiny & often skip of a scenery, to maybe purchase at a future discount rate, or a “lets see if another Dev does a version” - mostly for airport releases. This has come after a couple of recent buyers remorse purchases where I’ve admittedly been a little underwhelmed. I think part of the reason is that MSFS has clearly been a step up visually & these are (mostly) aesthetic addons. When I look back on my XPlane sceneries (which I’ve had to do of late as MSFS has become almost unplayable for me since SU5), I have to admit that what I once thought impressive I now consider dated – I think this is just human nature when you go back to something older from something newer / more advanced. That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed going back to Xplane (& the more stable / better aircraft/IFR experience) for a period. In MSFS, I’ve recently been impressed by some of the offerings of NZA, Impulse, AUScene, Pilot Plus, as well as a few select others, so there is a bar that has been set in terms of what can be achieved within the sim at this stage & my expectations have changed accordingly. Most of these have been priced in the mid $20 – low $30 Aussie Dollar Bucks range (i.e 12-20 Euro or 15–25 USD) & I am personally prepared to pay this for this level of quality. I can only express my opinion as a customer who has purchased many a product in the past & who will continue to buy MSFS sceneries that make the most of the sim & elevate the immersion & simming experience further. I can’t profess to speak for all or to understand the commercial viability of producing these types of products, suffice to say that I’m sure a lot of hours work goes into producing them by a dedicated group of people. The scale / # of sales would likely be a key factor in whether they go beyond a labour of love/passion project to breaking even or turning a profit. Ultimately Orbx is a business that needs to stay viable in order to survive / thrive. It is Orbx’s prerogative about where they want to place themselves in the market going forward & they also have commercial realities to face (& presumably a larger cost base than the smaller devs). I’m sure it’s also difficult to balance quality & performance. I have a high spec PC & personally want to see sceneries that push the boundaries of the platform & offer more bells & whistles, but others might not & want better framerates all-round instead. Without a mechanism for allowing low-medium-ultra dynamic graphics options for sceneries themselves, that balancing act will always be there. I think we also have to accept that the SDK for MSFS has been an evolving challenge for developers who are forced to revisit & patch their sceneries at an extra time/financial cost to remain functional. We should acknowledge that Orbx are being responsive, open & engaged. It must be a brutal experience having your work critiqued on a public forum & so we should always remain respectful & constructive, which for the most part (on this stream at least) seems to be the case. Clearly a lot of the passion stems from some brand loyalty to Orbx & wanting it to succeed on the platform. Things are clearly changing in the industry in new & exciting ways. I too wish to see Orbx succeed in this market as it finds/redefines its place. To end on a positive note, I have still enjoyed some of the Orbx products in MSFS, namely some of the Cityscences (Sydney is a personal favourite) & I also like the direction with the regions & hope to see more soon as I feel these really flesh out the world & increase the immersion even more. Regards to All, Johno

lol, sounds great! ..and I can buy you one back as a thanks to you & the team for your continued stellar work!

So after the end of a hard weeks work (OK it was a short one thanks to a public holiday & an extra day's holiday taken off for good measure), I noticed that Microsoft had released their latest developer partnership video update featuring Orbx, & so I cracked open a Friday evening beer and hit play (super keen to watch what my favourite scenery developer & new favourite sim had to say to the world). Well about 2 mins into the video I almost spat my beer out when I saw Anna Cicognani, CEO of Orbx, at Mittagong Airport of all places! Having spent my childhood in the region many years ago & recently purchasing a home there to escape the big smoke not 1/2 a click away from that very (small) aerodrome, I was bursting with local pride to see it for a brief moment on the global stage & to know it is somehow associated with one of my spare time passions. I'm not sure what the connection between Anna/Orbx & Mittagong is but perhaps a commemorative release of YMIG (& a few local POI's) is in order one day guys? (Pretty please - whenever you get the time )