Nick Cooper

Hello John, I think that view is not correct. There is no second bite at the cherry in this case, it is simply that the Xbox system is closed and locked. If the product is bought at the in-game Marketplace, there is only one bite. Third-party developers did not implement that system, Microsoft did and as far as I am aware, that closed system has been in place since the Xbox was invented. I don't think that it is within the ability of one third-party developer of one Xbox game to make Microsoft change their entire approach towards Xbox. I don't have any kind of game console but from someone I know who does, the usual approach is to install a complete game. The concept of then adding bits to an Xbox game is a new one and applies to MSFS only. I stand to be corrected on that one.

Hello, your story appears to reflect the similar fate that befell the FlightSim Store. Life can be unfair, but there can also be an easy solution. You need to be contacting the developers, not another retail outlet. In the case of the FlightSim Store, most developers simply found another outlet and when customers provided their proof of purchase, granted them a licence at the new outlet instead. One thing is for sure, if you do nothing, apart from speculate, you will indeed end up paying the full price.

Hello Wayne, as things stand, the Microsoft in-game Marketplace is the only place where you can buy Orbx products to use on an Xbox. It is the same for every other "third-party" developer. If you have bought products at the Marketplace, then most of them, but not all, can be installed onto an Xbox, as well as onto a PC. If you have bought products directly from a third-party developer, then they cannot be installed onto an Xbox at all. If you decide that you want to use your MSFS on a PC and an Xbox, then you will indeed need to buy all of your addon products, by Orbx or any other third-party developer, from the in-game Marketplace. This is regardless of whether you have already bought them elsewhere. As I understand it, though I have no direct experience of this, you will also need to be careful, even at the Marketplace, to make sure that the chosen product is also compatible with an Xbox. It should not be hard to see that this policy is not imposed by the third-party developers and cannot be modified or undone by them either.

Hello Les, I think that you must have installed P3D directly into the C drive, as that is what Orbx Central is finding. One solution, if you have more than one drive, is to move the whole library folder to that drive, where it will still work but not be inside the simulator folder. Nice picture.

Thanks for your comprehensive reply. In fact, John was asking for his Orbx Direct purchases to be made valid to a whole new device, the Xbox. About charging for updates, while I have been with Orbx, which is for quite a while now, they have only charged when the airport was redeveloped from the ground up and I think that in all of the few cases, that was done to reflect major changes at the real life airport. In each case, there has been a new price for new purchases and an update price for existing licence holders. Like this: and of course, this:

I think that you have missed my point. It is the customer who chooses to move from one simulator to the other. By definition, the customer must "notice there has been change", as they have themselves made that change. If an aircraft model, for example, is of a Boeing 737 in simulator A and it looks good and works well, then the same Boeing 737 model cannot really look different, or behave in a different way, even though its developers may have had to spend hundreds of hours redesigning it from the ground up, to make it work in the new simulator B. Ideally, in this case, there should indeed be a "'perception' by the customer that nothing has changed". The expectation among some customers, such as yourself, it appears, is that as the customer has changed their preferred simulator, the developers have a duty to update or redevelop that product to accommodate the customer's new simulator and to do so for nothing. Very few payware developers, if any, have released versions of their existing products free of charge between simulator types. P3D users, however, have seen from Orbx, well over five free updates to accommodate the P3D versions and sub-versions. There is no machine where you simply feed an airport or aircraft into one end and a new version emerges from the other. However, from what you have written here, it would seem that you think that there is.

Hello, could you have installed a simulator into C:\? To resolve the "empty folder" problem, close Orbx Central. Rename C:\Orbx Library to Orbx LibraryX, then create a new and empty C:\Orbx Library folder. Create your new library, if Orbx Central will let you. Close Orbx Central. Then delete your new Orbx Library folder and rename the original back to Orbx Library. Restart Orbx Central and you will have your new library.

Hello, perhaps, if you relate it to the real world, it might seem to be less unfair. If you have a diesel vehicle and you wish to change to petrol, because you have read about particulates, it is most unlikely that an approach to your local dealership seeking a cost-free exchange would be successful. A low-cost exchange would be far more likely but realistically, buying a whole new vehicle should be expected. Let us assume that you also have your own fuel pump and a diesel storage tank. Good luck in finding a contractor who will supply you with an underground petrol storage tank and exchange your diesel for petrol free of charge. Strangely, in the world of flight simulation payware, there is an expectation that whatever the customer chooses to do, the developer should spend time and effort to update or indeed redevelop their products at no cost, so that the customer can then use them in their new chosen simulator.

Hello, the problem is only that on the Orbx Direct page, at the top, next to the picture of an Orb, everyone's total has reverted to zero. No one has lost any Orbs and you can see your actual total by opening Orbx Direct, clicking on the Orbs tab at the top, scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking on the Orbs Transactions tab. I have looked at your account and you do indeed still have 405 Orbs.

Hello, open Orbx Direct, click on the Orbs tab at the top, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the Orbs Transactions tab.

Hello, with thanks to those customers who have also sent in a support ticket, this fault is under review and repair. The fault is only that the total reported at the top of your Orbx Direct webpage is zero. In all other respects, the system is up and working as before. Your actual Orbs total is not affected and they can be amassed and redeemed as usual.

Hello Ken, I see what you mean. The internet is a strange place though. Just you can never be quite sure who someone is, as anyone can assume the identity of anyone, you never know if the view count of a topic is say 400 people, or one person, 400 times, or indeed anything in between. On top of that, the most valuable topics, those that are usually pinned and that address commonly asked questions, can have a view total of several thousand, but once again, that may well not be a true reflection of the actual number of different people who have looked at it. If you want to see the most viewed topics, you can open a forum using the Sort by/"Most viewed" drop down. You might be surprised at just how many views some of the topics have amassed, but usually over several years.

Hello, there is indeed a glitch.

Hello John, the Orbx forums have always been principally about supporting Orbx products. The first post was on August 23rd 2006, which I notice is now getting on for 17 years ago. Some unfortunately will have died. Some will have registered and then never needed to post. Some will have moved on, maybe even leaving all flight simulation behind them. Some look, find what they need and are never seen. In that 17 years, there have been many radical changes, to include the release of two versions of FSX, four, if you include Flight and Flight Sim World, five versions of P3D, two versions of X Plane and Aerofly. All of them proved to be a challenge to both their users and the developers who made addons for them. Orbx Support forums were very busy with Orbx staff and developers contributing their technical support and customers helping each other. Things quietened down greatly when the product support was moved away from the forums to the present ticket system. Then there was the release of Microsoft Flight Simulator, which, we are told, came out of the blue for everyone, including all "third party" developers. Whether by design, or by coincidence, MSFS is far less open to user-induced problems than any of its predecessors. The main benefit is that by definition, everyone has the same version, as when updates are published and in fact every time that it is opened, the simulator will not start until it has checked and updated all of its files. The second benefit is that once installed, the MSFS user needs never to visit the core files, thus massively reducing the likelihood of them being interfered with. The Community folder is where the damage can be done, but it is so easily disabled, leaving only default files, that troubleshooting is relatively straightforward. This long post outlines why the support requests have dwindled away and with them, visits to the forums. The busiest parts are now the Neil Hill Lounge and the screenshots forum.

Hello Ken, if you open the Home page: Forums - Orbx Community and Support Forums (orbxdirect.com) all the various totals are listed at the bottom. It loks like today's total is 104,651.

Hello, there is indeed an error in the system and for that, apologies. You have not lost your Orbs, it is only that everyone's total in Orbx Direct is showing as 0. I notified the IT staff yesterday, but it is, of course, the weekend.

Hello, please send in a support ticket. Thanks.

Hello John, I understand an unwillingness to pay for the same product twice but I posted this cautionary topic on 31st August 2020 and nothing has changed since then. Perhaps, your message should be directed at Microsoft, rather than Orbx Direct, whose products are for a PC only, because, as stated then and again now, the Xbox is a closed system? Perhaps you can persuade them to give you XBox product licences because you bought them from a third-party developer.

Hello John, that's an easy one, none. The Xbox is a completely closed system and therefore no one else's installer has access to it. For anyone who thinks that the responsibility for this lies with third-party developers, it does not.

Hello, here are some English equivalents that I do remember: 3. Sweet cigarettes 6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with silver paper lids (this still happens) 7. Party lines on the telephone 8. Newsreels before the film 10. Brylcreme (that was our hair product) 11. TV test card that came on at night after the last programme and were there until TV programmes started again in the morning. 12. Peashooters 14. 45 RPM records (also 78 rpm and 33 rpm) 15. Green Shield stamps 16. Hi-fi systems 17. Metal ice trays with a lever 18. Mimeograph paper 19. Blue flashbulb 22. Cork popguns 25. Washing machine wringers

Hello, it is not "on the back burner" or "shelved". I have now been told that it is in a queue behind another project, which is being worked on now. When that project is complete, work will start on the third part of the Great Britain series. As this topic has now served its purpose, I will bring it to an end with this good news. Thanks to all those who chose to contribute to it.

Hello Brian, Fact: the update will most definitely be taking place. I have collated all of the customer feedback and it is where the development team can see and address it. I am in direct communication with the development team leader. Second fact: As I am not a part of the development team, I am not in a position to either speculate as to how long this will take, or give an ETA. As a long-standing Orbx customer, you will know that Orbx do not give timelines for release dates in any case. I realise that this does not make any of us any the wiser but it should address the perceived lack of feedback that was being complained about.

Hello, thanks for your speculation. Like much speculation, there is no real truth in it. Indeed an update for this excellent aircraft model will be taking place but due to factors beyond the control of the development team, it has had to be delayed. Apologies for this delay but please be assured that the update is still planned and the full intention is to release it as soon as possible.

Hello, thank you for your feedback. I have checked Orbx Central and find that both the card payment and the PayPal payment systems are working.

Hello Rodger, a frighteningly large amount, within the context of my income. I justify it to myself as having had thousands of hours of entertainment, having made new friends, both online and in the real world, who share an interest in flight simulation and having a very good computer. This takes no account of the addon aircraft, scenery and utilities that have been bought and installed on successive computers since 1996. I am quite happy to avoid sitting down and adding it all up. What do you mean "its memory was full"? If you mean disk free space, that is one of the least expensive parts of a computer and as a rule, one of the most easily fixed.