Avsim File Library is Full of "Junk"

[MadDog 353]

Hi folks,I'm posting this in the FS forum because most library additions are created for MSFS.Despite the provocative title, I admit up-front that I'm probably way off-base - I'm just interested to see how other folks feel about this subject. In the interest of keeping this thread 'G' rated - I substituted "junk" for the word that originally popped into my mind :-). To make a long story short, my searches for files in Avsim's library have often become a major "adventure"... although I eventually find what I'm looking for, it's not uncommon to have to sift through hundreds of files (and dozens of pages) before finding what I really want.Here's my point - because my downloads are usually based on user opinions (in the forums, etc.), 99% of the time, the files I'm seeking tend to be very popular (500 to >1000 downloads). Unfortunately, I often have to plow through a lot of undesirable "junk" to find what I want. The "HOT" and "NEWEST" files pages are great - but the quality add-ons tend to get lost in the Riff-Raff after a couple of months. As a former freeware contributer, I whole-heartedly encourage everyone to contribute their work to Avsim's library; However, I think it might be desirable to develop a method to "weed-out" inessential files after a certain period of time - it would save us a lot of hassle and it would save Avsim some disk space.Admittedly, this is a very touchy subject and I'm not trying to be cruel. I honestly don't even know if there's a reasonable solution - but I'm convinced that 99% of Avsim's (or any other flightsim sight's) library is a repository for "junk". What do you think? Do I have a point or am I full of "junk" :-)Regards,Marc

[Guest]

"One man's junk is another man's treasure."Dunno who said that but it's true. Some may consider FS98 stuff to be junk. No relective textures etc. But to those that are still flying FS98, those files are gold.And FS2000 stuff? There are still tons of people still flying that version of the sim either becuase they can't or won't go over to FS2K2. For them FS2000 files are gold.But I will agree that AVSIMs file library search engine is not the greatest (perhaps we all need lessons on using it properly), but digging through all those files to come up with a gem is, in my opinion, a just reward for the patience and percerverance of the "hunt".And if you really still think all those files are junk, just go load up version 5.0 of the sim and fly that for a month or two. Then reload FS2002 and I'm sure that you will have seen the light:)JMHOCF-AOA

[Guest]

Given the excellence of all your work and expecting everyone to live up to those it is perfectly understandable that you find the majority of items in the database here to be poor.Maybe you should create a major tutorial for people creating FS addons on how to make them better, maybe that would mean higher quality uploads in the future.mode off>Yes, not everything is of the highest quality. Maybe the majority of what you can download is not as good as is possible with the tools available, but that's because the authors either didn't have the data or the knowledge to make it better.I'm sure they did the best they could with what they had available.A lot is also older, from a time when the maximum that could be achieved was lower. My point stands though. If you think you can do better, show it and don't bicker about how poor the work of others is.If you find a flaw in something, tell the author what is wrong and what it should be. don't just go around screaming "this and that is rubbish"...

[Guest Dominique]

Marc,1- I am not sure that the provocative mode is the best way to argument on a forum which has been prone to tiresome polemics recently2- If you are not satisfied with the library why dont you propose positive reforms, ideas about "desirable methods" to the librarians instead of b*tching aloud ?Maybe acknowledging that the library is blinding fast now would have been nice too. You've contribued better to the community in the past.D

[nudata 10]

Ah, the defenders of freedoms are coming to the fore.... I agree that the Library is overpopulated (as is the Earth). I also agree that there is a need for correction so that we can quickly locate our personal desires. It is not an issue of junk versus treasure as posted elsewhere. It is an issue of being able to find something amongst whatever you may call the other stuff. I asked that a repaint category be created and it was. The vast majotity of items are repaints and they make it difficult to find a lone item that is not in that genre. Now with the category (sometimes violated) it helps considerably.The point is organization. Let's have suggestions for categories instead of opinions of worth. Yes, it makes the managers job more difficult but that is the penalty that must be paid for popularity. Dick

[Vulcan 14]

Marc,Considering you say 99% of the files you seek are from user opinions, there is an easy solution.Just ask the person who's post caught your eye for the file name, maybe the file is not even available from avsim, maybe they got it from flightsim.My biggest problem is not so much looking for files here but looking through all the stuff I have down loaded from here :-)

[ejoiner 21]

I've become more picky over the years...mainly because I dont need 300 airplanes I wont fly on my HD taking up space. Typically, I hit the new files then the yesterdays hot files, but usually wont download until I hit the months hot files. Those lists tend to really filter junk from quality.FWIW, I've seen "other sites" with a lot more junk and less capable libraries. Avsims lib I think is the best on the net.Eric

[Guest]

I'm not a fan of the pop up ad for the Avsim store while downloading freeware. I feel that it is capitalising on ones ooops lets just forget this :-roll I would would like to see Avsim do what the other site does. Break down aircraft by country/ and by airline. I.E. North America-American Airlines. Then like the other site have a map of the world, click on the continent, click on the country and you have all available scenery of the one particular country. Call it lazy but a couple of clicks and scrolls and your there. Jeff

[Guest]

Buy that man a beer :DI agree, at times i find some newer files mixed in with the old stuff. You dont know how many times i have to search thru pages and pages of 747's to find what i need. I do a search for lets say "new york air" in the repaints section. Now i know for a fact that there is a repaint for this livery, a bright red skin i put on one of my heavies. You think i found it? After typing the exact words "New York Air"......nuthing came up,,,,,,,LOLNo skin off my nose,but it is weird.......=Swiv=

[michal 44]

>Maybe acknowledging that the library is blinding fast now >would have been nice too. You've contribued better to the >community in the past. >Dominique,I personally don't agree with this harsh tone leveled at Marc who has contributed greatly to this hobby. There is nothing in the tone of his post that would warrant this.I stated a few times that there is a number of ways searching through the library could be improved. For example scenery could be seperated into "landclass" and "airports", also there should be a way to find scenery based on geographical location. In short, the more categories the better.Michael J.

[Guest]

Ahh my problem is the search engine dont get me worng avsim you guys are great! :D but the search engine needs alot of work :( there sould be some kinda of othere type of rateing or somthing to make the search better :)

[Bearracing 3]

Being a person that is constantly using the Library here at AVSIM, I personally feel there are many good points about the way the new format works, but I also feel there is always room for improvement. I do like that feature (at Flightsim.com) of the world map for searching scenery files in a regional area, simply by clicking on a country or state. Though there are things about the AVSIM library that I like better also.I did like the idea of increasing the number of available categories, such as having the repaints seperate from the aircraft files, though there are always going to be some errors. Because of the changes (improvements) in the uploading process here at AVSIM, I think that over time each individual's search will become more fruitful, as long as the author uploading a file creates a complete description. To give you an example: the recent upload of the Grumman G21 Goose by Mike Stone, lead to a pretty fair number of repaints. Under the heading of "Quick Search" I typed in the keyword "Goose" and set the category to "FS2002 Aircraft Repaints & Textures" and my search yielded 33 seperate files, all of which were repaints for Mike Stone's G21 Goose, save for one repaint (KLM) of the default 777. Looking through the file description for that 777 repaint the words "..goose bumps!" was used by the author to describe his work. Someone above noted that they could not find a New York Air repaint of a Boeing, and when I tried it by the same method he used, I too had no results, but when I entered "New York" (including the quotes) I found several files referring to the city of New York and a New York Air (bright red) repaint of the default 737!One of the things that I do like about AVSIM's library is your ability to search an entire category (and you can set the view to date) without having to provide a key or search word. You can't do this at Flightsim.com, but you can at Train-Sim.com, go figure! I do know that the fellows that take care of the library are always open to new ideas to make searching the library easier, but its never quite perfect (if it could just read my mind for that perfect file that I'm searching for, now that would be great). I also believe that open discussions here in the forums is also the best way to find new ideas and just maybe discover new and better ways to have our library work for all of us. Bear!

[Guest]

Just a random note unrelated to anythign that is not related to this forum: sometimes, if you need to enter a search term in something somewhere, but you want to get a full listing of the database, you can use an asterisk (*) in the search field. :)On a more related note, I will comment on the speed of the AVSIM library: it's fantastic. Even with the high user load, it's never slow, so thanks guys. As suggested though, searches often fail to turn up results even when the exact search term appears in the description of the file. Maybe someone who uses the search often (ok, we all use it often, but _really_ often) could suggest a reason for this that the staff could look into?Matt

[Guest Stamatis]

All it takes is a more thorough Library search engine.In fairness it must be said that the Flightsim.com search engine allows one to narrow down his search more than Avsim's.But I do not agree with the first message. It is not so difficult to find what you are looking for, assuming of course that the author has used keywords that make sense.Stamatis