Mawson

Unfortunately I bought the Milviz products on Orbx just before V5 dropped and pretty soon after I dropped v4 ... I hardly got any use so I was hoping after this amount of time we may have got a patch or an upgrade path but Milviz have gone very quiet. Does anyone at Orbx have an update ?

Too right!

I thought it my be a distribution agreement as Orbx is becoming it's own marketplace for MSFS, which is a good thing as it works better!

is this the same one already on the Ms Store that you are distributing?

Like I mentioned in the post you replied to, X Plane is quite a different user base to what was FSX and then P3D and now MSFS . It started off more scientific in its approach with no eye candy and very procedural but after the demise of FSX it started to fill the eye candy gap but its focus is more flight dynamics and procedures in the cockpit. You can demo it for free and it runs wonderfully on the Vulkan API. The rotary wing flight model is very accurate and the helicopters I fly in real life and on X plane fly pretty close to real flight profiles. I see many people say the same about the fixed wing models. The flight model has lots of advanced cross coupling of all the forces you experience when flying and in the helicopter models I can experience nearly all the real secondary flight effects and the cross coupling of these effects from the inputs of primary controls. You don't need to invest a lot and just a few Orbx investments can make this visually spectacular but its not eye candy like MSFS but in the Orbx areas it pretty darn close at times. I use MSFS and X plane for different reasons and I get a lot of fun from using both. One thing to note is after 30 years X plane is in it for the long run so investing in a few basic add ons wont break the bank and over the years they look quite cheap on a longer term basis than any other sim I have used. I am not dissing out on MSFS as this now has a place but it's not so good I don't need X plane and it's clear Orbx are committed to continue to support X plane just like they did when it was a niche sim and at worst it may go back to being a niche sim but it has a lot of strengths and it will maintain a good following for those that like those strengths.

@EasternT3 The fact that Orbx has not abandoned the other sims is probably due to the fact that both sims as they are now probably appeal to a different audience and therefore there isn't really much of a competition between them, just looking at the past history of each one makes me pretty sure that I will maintain x-plane for as long as it keeps being developed. What we have in X plane today is the result of dedicated team of aviation enthusiasts who have now worked for almost 30 years straight on a flight simulator, taking a very special engineering/physical approach and the first sim to implement a next generation API while the new sim on the block MSFS released with a legacy API Dx 11. On the other side we have Microsoft (who are well known for losing interest and dumping the flight sim community twice before without notice) who hired a really talented French game studio to create a new msfs. I have read that most of these developers at ASOBO are already working on their next projects which have nothing to do with MSFS, but that's just how the gaming industry works. With the huge investments in technical breakthroughs such as the Azure streaming service and creating Blackshark AI to generate airports and cities, I am hoping they really will keep their word and this becomes a 10 year project. I am really interested in seeing how this evolves now that the hype is over and they are selling less copies and the gamers move on and we have less players but what I am confident of is that MS would never do anything for goodwill or passion only, unlike X Plane that is full of passionate Aeronautical simmers. I am investing in MSFS now we have a helicopter and I am thankful we get good discounts from Orbx for multiplatform buys but while I see the end of P3D for me once more airframes turn up in MSFS, I will be with X Plane so long as they keep moving forward as it offers something quite different to MSFS and I am thankful Orbx are still supporting this platform.

I won't be waiting five years as there is still of lot of fun to be had with X Plane and P3d and in the meantime MSFS has now finally joined my stable and like said I previously said the X Plane and P3d sims will be moving along too we hope!

I totally agree they ( Xplane P3d Aerofly) may be obsolete to those that just want a GA sim and one for just rubbernecking and a limited range of aircraft now and into the near future. I certainly agree FSX is obsolete without a doubt. I will reiterate that we need more than one sim as where would we be, or where would Orbx be if X Plane had not stepped it up when MS abandoned us for 12 years. Don't underestimate or forget that X Plane survived against MS FSX and its multi billion dollar company publisher so X plane will adapt and change to compete as they wont be standing still either. MSFS has a lot to catch up on to fill out functionality and deliver and XBox to support and a lot of unreliable code to fix along the way. I am sure the boffins at X Plane will find a way to keep the dream alive as they have always been a niche player and very good at what they do and they have a great sim and a great following so they will adapt like they always do as there is always a niche that is forgotten when trying to look after what they (MS) think is the major market. I am hoping MSFS doesn't just turn into a Box game. Some already argue that point that it is very game like so before everyone disregards X plane it may be history repeating itself when they save us from MS once again and the callous disregard that had for our hobby in 2008 if they decide to change tack. many of the ASOBO MS promises and timelines are just vapourware at the moment and there is a long way to go. It concerns me that leaders like PMDG are still holding back, you have to wonder why .... don't you? I have MSFS and a few other sims and will continue like many others to do the same though there are some first time sim users here and they don't know what MSFS is missing and a good part of that is 20 years of third party development . MSFS may catch up but its not caught up yet and that's my point in disagreeing that X Plane and to a lesser extent P3d are obsolete. In terms of P3d well who knows what LM may do as this is a big commercial sim company and focus more on systems and procedural type experience for training than eye candy as us regular hobbyist mostly demand but who knows what a new multi thread or faster processor could do to LM's P3d in the future ? Obviously Orbx don't agree with you as they are still releasing titles for the other sims but not at the same ratein the past which is not surprising as they already have a full catalog of years of development for these titles and MSFS is a new market and this is reflected in their pathway forward.

Yes thanks these guys caused P3D and X plane to adopt a native VR so they certainly have credibilty though unless Asobo change the flight model its never going to reach the very good flight dynamic model of X plane though it may mean I can shut off P3d and go back to 2 sims.

It's simple becuase everyone likes different things and MSFS does not cater for people that like detailed systems or have a favorite complex aircraft. MSFS is good for rubber necking but some people just want to fly IFR in the dead of the night in IFR conditions. Maybe you like wandering the globe rubbernecking but that's not everyone and maybe people want good helicopters and not just GA fixed wing or they like to fly around a particular area as that is where they flew or fly IRL and don't need to tour the Suez Canal and are just happy in their own backyard like me at Jandakot and Murray field. The general Australian landscape is not much better than x plane in the most part at the moment just dressed up with trees and north american houses and the older platforms do it much better at the moment.

Yes that would be great as MSFS looks in Australia is not a lot better than X plane with phtotoreal scenery except for the few paid upgrades.

and a Perth Cityscape and it's stable mate of GA Jandakot. Perth is home to the B787 direct to London and Auckland so I would have thought it would have been a must do for MSFS.

Wicked and will you update your awesome Jandakot?

I have checked the Allied health and it is solid ! Thanks. Any chance we could get some windsocks and lighting on these helipads? It would be great to improve the artwork on the Allied Health to the same standard as Adelaide hospital too while you are at it like proper H markings and yellow caution lines ect? Thanks for your interest. much appreciated.

Ill check today for the one on the North East but thanks for the reply. The helipad at the hospital is one of the best I have seen in MSFS so very keen for it to be solid as the h 135 add-on is a terrific model to fly and when you do Ill try to get a video up!~

The beautiful twin helipad structure on the MSFS Adelaide Hospital is not solid. Can we get the developer to fix this up please as a lot of us are using the new H135 Euro copter now and its a bit annoying when these city packs don't have a solid helipad. Why create such stunning buildings and a such a detailed helipad and not make it solid?

Yes me too, a lot of shortcomings in MSFS unless you are deeply into fixed wing GA VFR. Unrivaled for that but still a big gap for most other forms of flight compared to X plane or P3d.

Me too!

Yep its just another sim in my stable of sims and they all do something different. Maybe one day MSFS will take out P3D and X plane but I am now thinking probably not. I doubt the helicopters if we ever get them in MSFS will be anywhere near Aerofly Fs2 as it appears to me MSFS is a sim aimed at visuals and landscapes and less at being a flight sim.

I have shelved MSFS for 12 months as it lacks a lot of features and I guess we will see how P3D improves over the next 12 months as well. I will be buying this as soon as it drops.

Missing out, go buy the academic version, it's the cheapest full functioned sim out there.

Why would this be the last, is there something you know?

Well so many people were claiming that MSFS was going to mean you did not need add on scenery, but here we are back where we started .

I am also somewhat cynical about the long term survival for this franchise based on the FSX and MS Flight experience. I am going to hang back and see how well it's received while they deliver VR and helicopter to the sim some time in the near future, I'll jump in then. The problem potentially as I see it is that MS does this soley to make money and their is no real passion for flight simming, which MS unlike say X Plane, which only does flight sims or an Aviation based Company Like Lockheed Martin, that does P3D or the IPACs guys with Aerofly, there is no passion at the "corporate" level, so if it doesn't fly high it may end up in the discount bin like FSX Gold. Time will tell. Now this is not a criticism of Asobo they obviously have the passion but they are no different to the Aces Studio , they will fly or they will be binned. This is not to say Orbx are not passionate either because clearly they also have a deep interest in flight simming as well as a business and in many ways they have kept the genre alive during the lean years with their wonderful add-ons, This is a good opportunity for Orbx to develop more content and I hope some of that spills over into the other sims and it doesn't just become focused on DLC selling to X Boxers, not much I can do about it than wait and see.

Hi Paul, I notice you have a helicopter as your picture and that you are new but do you realise MSFS 2020 has no helicopters? If you are chasing helicopters then I suggest Aerofly Fs2 and Orbx have a few nice add ons for Aerofly.