John Dow
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Posts posted by John Dow
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9 hours ago, Dozer16 said:
Orbx has unfortunately dropped off significantly. Not sure what kind of management change they’ve made but the quality of their sceneries have dropped off as well. KPBI for MSFS is nowhere to be seen. Hopefully they get back on track.
As a beta tester I disagree. I've been simming forever, beta testing for over a decade, and it's expectations that have changed more than Orbx quality. Yes there are differences between sceneries, because different developers have different priorities, and access to detailed information varies between airports, but overall standards are as high as they always been, with some concessions to the constant changes as updates are introduced regularly.
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Surely you jest? In aviation terms 300' and 301' are exactly the same. There wouldn't be a runway anywhere in the world that wouldn't have a greater variation than this.
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4 hours ago, PavlinS said:
The silence of Orbx on the project for more than a year is a sign of drop of support for P3D and FSX. And since there is still people, users, of those simulators, to be dismissed that way is more than disrespectful. It is very annoying, especially minding the fact we invested a lot of money into this company for products over the years. We gave a lot of funds to that company and we deserve respect non less than the users of MSFS2020. We deserve to know.
I think you misunderstand the nature of Orbx as a flightsim development company. Orbx started out as a collection of talented designers who took on scenery projects and shared resources but each designer had a project or a share in one, but there was no requirement for anyone to take part in any project. And so it is still. Developers are offered projects, or developers bring projects to Orbx, but if no one puts their hand up to be part of a project, people are not 'assigned' except maybe for some minor aspects.
Given the amount of work that would be required to get up to speed and then complete LC Asia, and the existing market for P3D, the return would probably be measured in cents per hour for the dev.
The fact is, LC Asia exists, in a format that leaves the old LC standard for dead, it's called MSFS and it's included in the sim along with the rest of the world. Technology moves on, CD replaced vinyl and cassette tapes, DVDs replaced VHS snd Beta, MP3 replaced CDs, streaming replaced DVDs, and so it goes on. Similarly, MSFS scenery out of the box is replacing the LC products, that were the best in their time, but no longer make the grade.
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7 hours ago, Justin Thomas said:
Secondly, if they can't get to it in a reasonable timeframe, get another developer to do it. That seems to be the climate for MSFS2020 and so many developers - if you don't do it, someone else will.
Orbx doesn't 'get' other developers to make sceneries. There's cooperation in the marketplace but only to a point. If YMML is do-able, someone will do it, the fact that it hasn't appeared yet either from Orbx or any other developer indicates there might be issues that make the project unfeasible or impossible as a commercial product.
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On 1/31/2023 at 11:17 PM, DModjo said:
Radio silence from Orbx lately. I can't believe we're still waiting for YMML 3 years after release of MSFS
The development of an airport depends on many factors that all come together. It's not as easy as someone waking up one morning and deciding to develop an airport and a couple of months later out pops a product that satisfies a wide range of users, including recent expectations of terminal interiors. By the time everything comes together, bugs ironed out, MSFS changes dealt with, etc, it's probably going to be a year long project, that might return cents per hour on the time spent. The airport might well say sorry, no photography of the airport allowed. Lots of factors control airport development, until all the pieces come together, a project can't be expected to proceed.
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You can point the P3DV5 scenery library to the location of your V4 files, and you can then fly in the V4 scenery from your V5 installation, and see what works and what doesn't.
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5 hours ago, Adam777 said:
ircraft type writing on the stand lines are missing (this one confused me as I was not sure which line to stop at).
This was mentioned in testing but the most up to date imagery we could find showed there are no aircraft type markings at the stands. This shouldn't be a problem when no airbridges are there as alignment isn't so critical. Aircraft are always marshalled in so for authenticity you should have a marshall crossing arms where he/she wants you to stop.
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3 hours ago, bvdboomen said:
I'm especially interested in the poly counts and texture updates of the VC on the new version.
MSFS has a graphical quality as if you just can grab the knobs, handles, etc. right of the screen. I do not get that with the two 206's.
I believe 3D models are also called mesh?
Never heard that. Polygons is a clear difference from scenery.
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I'm away as well until next week. The screenshot request looks like it is for something else, it mentions mesh which doesn't apply to a helicopter.
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16 hours ago, Rylo said:
Also, finally, @John Dow as a real world pilot, X-Plane really has no equal as a flight simulator. MSFS looks much MUCH better, but that's quite literally the only thing is has going for it. Forced updates mean that the sim will never be taken seriously by flight schools or by individuals who need it for actual training, because we just don't know when Asobo are going to throw another SU9 in our face, rendering the sim unusable for months. Never, ever making that mistake again, better graphics or not.
Then there's the flight model. People can talk all they want about how the MSFS flight model is 'much improved' over FSX's/PMDG's lookup tables, but uh - try flying a GA plane IRL and then going to GA in MSFS. It's laughable. Fenix and the PMDG stuff are extremely high quality for sure, but if you're flying an airliner you're activating the AP at 1500' AGL and then turning off below 200' (unless you're autolanding), but for general aviation pilots it's horrific.
I find the opposite. The XP flight models feel wooden, stilted, with little feel of momentum and certainly no modelling of the fluidity of airmasses over the landscape. But each to their own, but my point is more people find the MSFS flight model to be closer to reality than the XP versions.
Forced updates are actually a good thing, because it has proven to be a way of introducing stability and reliability into the sim where everyone is on the same page.
I shall now bow out of this conversation because I've learnt one thing in flightsimming in almost 40 years, it's a bit like gangs in hoods, trying to move people from their particular patch can be impossible.
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1 hour ago, JimmiG said:
Maybe some kind of response would be in order. I'm not expecting a detailed roadmap just yet, but at least a "We're working on it" or "It's not happening" type of response.
I imagine that Orbx may not have enough info at this stage to make a call. Orbx have always been industry leaders in offering free upgrades despite the inherent costs, and would I'm sure continue the practice if possible. But they also need to consider the costs of constant upgrades and for XPlane's diminishing market share it may prove too much.
I must point out that that the products that have been purchased for XPlane 11 continue to be compatible with the version of the sim that they were purchased for, so there's no denying that purchasers have received exactly what they paid for. XP11 can still be used, therefore the products have not been superseded or devalued.
In this case I expect Orbx to not release any statements of intent until they have enough information to make a decision one way or another.
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1 hour ago, Jon Clarke said:
Just to clarify
I wasn't fired but deemed not required. The flow of Support requests has greatly diminished for XPlane.
And therein lies the crux of the matter. For years a dedicated band of devotees insisted on maintaining Lotus 123, but eventually Excel did things better and Lotus 123's share of the market plummeted, despite it being a perfectly good spreadsheet program.
MSFS is so far ahead of XPlane in so many ways it's having the same effect. Like it or not, Orbx must consider its financial return from any product, and if an XPlane product costs the same to develop but generates a fraction of the sales, it's not a sustainable business model to continue with development.
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I ghet those sort of tiles in the mesh around Canberra. I don't think it is related to any add-ons I think it is in the default Asobo scenery, as there were no add-ons in the area when I originally noticed them.
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21 hours ago, Dozer16 said:
@Anna Cicognani Happy New Year! Is your team still working on KPBI? If not, its fine we just have a big group that would like to know. Thank you.
For X Plane yes I've seen something in the pipeline.
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A lot of the parameters of MSFS are set by the MSFS developers, Asobo, and the third party developers, such as Orbx, are restricted to what is set by the Asobo coding.
Unfortunately if you want the kind of performance and scenery that MSFS delivers, you have to accept some compromises. It's always been that way in flight simulators.
In your situation I would concentrate on the instruments and cockpit tasks and if you look out towards the city and there are no buildings yet, pretend it's a visibility issue (haze, dust storm or the like) and fly the approach until visual witht he city closer to the airport.
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Guess it's part of the as real as it gets mantra. In the real world you have a logbook that you fill in after each flight,manually. Maybe that's what you need to get back to.
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Hey Jon, sorry to hear that, you've been a real asset to the community, and from what you say you'll be continuing, just more informally. Glad you are sticking around!
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2 hours ago, cosy said:
Hi Anna,
Weve been waiting some time for the updated NZ Mesh and you indicate that its one of the things due out 2022. Its near end of year now and no sign of it.
I see New Zealand is on the list for MSFS World update and was wondering if Orbx is playing a part in this update and will the mesh get changed anyway.
For those that have already purchased the Orbx NZ mesh will that get a higher resolution than whats due to come out with the world update.
If you see my meaning will those that bought the NZ mesh be short changed here ?
Thanks
Colin
Can't see how you can say you've been short changed if the upcoming NZ update has better mesh. Flight sims evolve and improve constantly and at any time an improvement might emerge that is better than something you paid for in the past. You've had the ability to enjoy what you paid for for since the release of the mesh, and that's what you've paid for, not insurance that something better might come out later.
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With a bit of informative commentary. Note my comment re occasional stutters in the YouTube blurb.
BTW flying a helicopter in 2D after doing all my flying lately in VR is unsettling and difficult when a feeling of depth in the sim is helpful.
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I'm sure that the developer is on to this, but until they themselves know why it was broken by WU11, they won't be able to release a fix in case the issue is deeper than it might appear to be. Personally, I have never used the autopilot in this plane, it's such a joy to fly manually it seems wrong to give that up to let it take over.
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3 hours ago, mburkhard said:
Thanks for that. Can you perhaps comment on FPS and stutters, do you think it's running smoothly? Asking because some previous airport offerings from Impulse had not been well optimised for performance.
Flew VR circuits in the C152 last night. Not a single stutter. Can't comment about complex airliner performance but I know Impulse did a lot of work optimising performance.
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One of the best representations of an airport I've ever seen. You'd be hard pressed to find any detail across the entire airport that isn't included. No more airbidges in the middle of the tarmac!
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2024 or 2025?
Your guess is as good as mine. If it turns up in 2023 it'll be a nice bonus!
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46 minutes ago, wain71 said:
Okay thanks for that, I wish Devs would put some kind of graphic showing size of plane that can't land there, it's certainly a thing I consider before a purchase...
Google is your friend. It's amazing how much information is readily available online about all sorts of things we'd like to know.
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What we are working on - 2023
in General Discussion
Posted
As a beta tester I know as much as you until a product appears in the testing area! And nothing for MSFS has yet appeared. But a lot of the modelling is transferable between sims I believe so I would expect that at the very least it is being assessed, but of course it needs to be picked up by a dev or a team within the Orbx sphere.