Question for Jomni, PanzersEast or other Flight Simmers

[Bardolph]

I took the springs out of my CH pedals, though I can't remember why at this point   ::)
I think it had something to do with flying choppers in ARMA3.
Either way, they made a huge difference from the twisty stick days.

[Yskonyn]

Only pushing the Pedals with the tip of your feet is a good tip. There is no need to have your feet on the Pedals other than braking.

I always found the Pedals to be very sensitive , probably because of the limited range of movement. So I would recommend putting a S-curve on the Axis so it becomes slower in the initial input range.

[Toonces]

^ Yes, I do it the Doctor Quest way.

[jomni]

Xplane 11 announced and coming in November.
Catch some videos here.  So far it doesn't look radically different from XP10.
http://xplanedotcom.wpengine.com/

[Grim.Reaper]

Never played it but this is what they list as enhancements....I have been tempted in the past but since Flight Sim did not grab me, I assumed this wouldn't either....

New in X-Plane 11
– A completely redesigned, intuitive user interface that makes setting up and editing your flight a breeze.
– Consistently usable 3-D cockpits and stunningly high-resolution exterior models for all included aircraft.
– A new effects engine for lighting, sounds, and explosions.
– Realistic avionics: all planes are IFR-ready right out of the gate.
– Busy, "living" airports with pushback tugs and roaming fuel trucks, able to service both your aircraft and the simulator's AI planes.
– New buildings & roads to better simulate European cities
– ...and more!

In the coming weeks, we'll dive into the new features and new aircraft coming in X-Plane 11, so be sure to check back here each week!

[jomni]

New in X-Plane 11
– A completely redesigned, intuitive user interface that makes setting up and editing your flight a breeze.

Not shown in vid. But maybe just a small enhancement.

– Consistently usable 3-D cockpits and stunningly high-resolution exterior models for all included aircraft.

This means all default aircraft now have 3d cockpits and improved models.  But I don't use them for one reason or another.

– A new effects engine for lighting, sounds, and explosions.

Should be a good improvement.  But looking at the videos, it does not look significantly different.

– Realistic avionics: all planes are IFR-ready right out of the gate.

Again, for the default aircraft which I never use.  The 3rd party planes already have great avionics.

– Busy, "living" airports with pushback tugs and roaming fuel trucks, able to service both your aircraft and the simulator's AI planes.

A welcome addition but not shown in the videos.

– New buildings & roads to better simulate European cities

Still looks the same based on videos.  Which means all cities look like suburbs.

– ...and more!

Interested to know about this. 

Take note X-Plane is my default simulator so any change would be welcome.  On the bright side, minor changes may not break the current add-ons.  Which is good.

[Skoop]

I would have liked to see seasons and default airport buildings.  I can't believe there are not default winter textures.  You can mod them in like all things in Xplane.  The default airports would be nice to have some detail added to them maybe that's what they are talking about in xp11.  I hate having to download dozens of airports for an area I'm flying, a peeve to be flying over an airport and see just a pavement strip with no buildings.

I've put a ton of time into xplane over the last few months after getting it in the steam sale.  If you take the time and download some mods or spend some money you can make xp pretty cool.  I've rather enjoyed the IXEG 737 classic, best plane in xplane so far.  The weather sucks in xp so I broke Down and got the skymax+real weather+fsglobal weather addons and it's been a huge improvement.

[jomni]

Thanks for reminding me about the IXEG.  I have yet to get it.

[Skoop]

^ Its has a pretty stiff price tag but after a month flying it, was definately worth it.  The flight model is so nice for a an airliner, even hand flying it is a dream.

[jomni]

Dovetail's Flight Sim World Bites the Dust

https://www.helisimmer.com/news/dovetail-games-flight-sim-world-fsw-being-shut-down/

https://pcflight.net/flight-sim-world-development-cancelled/

Interesting reaction from PMDG:

Captains,

This morning we awoke to news that Dovetail Games has taken the long expected step of pulling the plug on Flightsim World, their hard-scrabble effort to re-invigorate the flight simulation genre abandoned by Microsoft.  I don't think anyone in the developer community is particularly surprised by this news, except perhaps that it took as long as it did for the inevitable to sink in.

You may recall that I took Dovetail to task eleven months ago, for what we perceived to be Dovetail's position as a dishonest broker within the long established community of developers and consumers of flight simulation.

(You can read that original post here: https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/509763-07may17-the-sorts-of-behaviors-that-cause-me-concern/ )

While all of us very much wanted to see them succeed in the development effort, it had became clear that Dovetail endeavored to subsume developers like PMDG by killing off established distribution channels, ending existing developer-customer relationships and forcing all developers to become subservient to their own marketplace established using rigid constraints designed to limit competition.

The end result was predictable, if not entirely inevitable.

You see, from the very beginning, this community has thrived on the concept of individual innovation and success.  The innovators of the late 1980s begat the tools and concepts that lead many of us to begin development for flight simulation in the very early 1990s, and the results of those efforts created companies like Aerosoft, Flight1, Justflight, PMDG, and scores of others that you recognize today.

Each developer and company worked hard to create new ideas, innovate new approaches and create a relationship with the customers community based on trust, openness and creativity.

Along the way, individuals have sprung up from time to time that attempted to unbalance the community through selfishness or greed, (How many of you remember the Papa Tango fiasco?)  In all of those instances, the community of simmers and developers banded together to keep things moving forward, pointed in the right direction.  Developers acting with the community's best interest at heart have long been supported by simmers, and the marketplace continues to expand and thrive with new entrants, new ideas and innovation.

I don't think you could find a more pure example of free market economics anywhere in the online world.

Five years ago, a group of us were involved in attempting to purchase the rights to FSX and Microsoft Flight from Microsoft with the intent to continue development for the benefit of this community.  None of us had the financial strength to complete the transaction alone, so we joined together (sometimes uneasily) in order to build a marketplace in which all developers would be given a chance to grow and thrive in a living platform.

Our fledgling conglomerate was grossly out-bid by Dovetail Games in part because we just weren't well funded, but also in part because Dovetail leveraged their established, largely positive reputation along with a costly high bid.  They knew from day-one that their plan was to subvert the third party development community and enforce high fees on their own distribution channel that we would all need in order to survive.

They tried to gain cooperation by assuring us that this wasn't the case, but the reality proved to be different than their promises and many of the long-standing trade names in this community (including PMDG) opted not to play along, which presented the dual problem of optics and finances.

And THIS leads me to the entire point of this post:  I like this community.  Very much.  I like simmers, I like our customers, I like our fellow developers, even those with whom we compete.  (Okay, maybe not that one that stole from us, but that is another story for another day.:ph34r:)  This community, for all of it's trials and tribulations and ups and downs has a way of weeding out the bad actors, the malefactors, the thieves, the cheats and those who would do the community harm.  You often don't see it, but the development community supports one another, communicates with one another, and genuinely enjoys seeing one another succeed and thrive.

So at PMDG, we don't view today's news as negative.  Sure, we feel terribly for the developers who's project was just trashed, because we know what it is like to pour your heart and soul into something for years on end- but this also wasn't THEIR fault...  The fault lies with whomever made the decision that all of us (simmers and developers alike) would follow a concept to certain death, simply because it was held out before us.

This proved not to be the case, however.

On a side note, XPlane is thriving, and those who want to stay in the Microsoft FS Platform has Prepar3D.  Or can still stick to the original.

[mbar]

Hm. Well glad I did not buy the P-40 Warhawk add on. I can't complain about this one since I bought DTFS and got FSW free. Dovetail sure are weird with their games. Release for a year then pull the game from sale in both cases. Of the two I got more enjoyment out of Flight School.

[mbar]

The Dovetail mission packs are now free. They will be available until FSW is removed from Steam 05/24/2018. Also there are 3 other modules being discounted until then. P-40 Warhawk is $11.99.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/389280/Flight_Sim_World/

[jomni]

X-Plane add-on plane with amazing rain effects.  And check out the ice!

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/324831384

[jomni]

Acronyms!

[jomni]

X-Plane helped developed this aircraft.
http://www.thedrive.com/tech/25914/beta-technologies-a-vermont-e-vtol-air-taxi-start-up-might-be-about-to-change-the-aviation-world