Ariane 737 - Rip off??

[Guest]

I was thinking of updating my 737 fleet to GMAX and i looked at the Ariane website and decided to buy 3 737's, i looked at the price i supposed to pay...

[Guest B52Drivr]

Having been a Porsche owner for years . . . at the price of the mark today, its true, not everyone can afford one! (I for one, sure can't afford a new twin turbo . . .)On the matter of FS addon's however, I think my point would be, if you like it, and can afford it, then you should buy it.If you like it, but find it is too steep for your wallet, then you should either save your scheckles or forget it. Not bash the product for being too expensive.Bashing a product for being too expensive is usually a way of saying, I' can't afford it, so I'll talk bad about it, and nobody will want it. That dog doesn't hunt well. Come on guys, don't we have better things to do than rehash this crap all over again? If you like it and can afford it, then by all means, buy it. If you don't like it, or can't afford it, by all means, don't buy it . . .but don't bad mouth a product, (anyones product) just because you don't have the bucks to buy it. It shows how small you really are.I think in 2003 we should perhaps think of makeing the FS community a kinder and gentler place . . . get back to helping people with their problems, rather than cause them or make mountains out of molehills.Just my humble .07 cents worth.Best to all,Clayton T. DopkeMajor, USAF (retired)"Drac"B52Drivr@aol.com

[Guest]

Felix,Since this thread has fallen into the Ad Hominem abyss, I shall try to give you some straight info on these aircraft and the DF merge issues that entail.First, the gmax 734 & 733 offered are expensive. You have to consider whether or not you are comfortable paying (USD)$19+ for a model. These gmax models are second to none and will yield a better frame rate than most fsds offerings, but 12 pounds is expensive.Second, Ariane's track record for customer service is just plain bad. You cannot expect an easy go of it if you have problems with purchase or download. You can also expect very little help from the general enthusiasts around here, as Ariane comes with a lot of baggage and is not well loved by the community at large.Three, if you plan to merge the Ariane 733 model with the Dreamfleet 734, expect some .air file issues. While there are a couple "merge files" floating around, none claim to attain the quality of the original Dreamfleet .air file. I would guess that for the 734 model, the result would be a little more desirable. However, there are only a few gmax 734 liveries available.Flight Simming, by nature, is a selfish thing. Your setup is just that (yours). If you are comfortable with purchasing, after having weighed all the facts involved...... and your personal want & needs, then buy it. If not, then don't. Just make sure you base your decision on your own research.Cheers,Roger

[Guest]

I usually just read these kind of posts, but all I can say mellow out everybody.Everybody is entitled to their opinion. Some of these replies are the kind of responses I expect from my 10 and 7 year old sons!

[Guest Van]

.air file issues?...not really as with FS2002 most of the flight characteristics are handled by the aircraft cfg. You need the .air file, but its main purpose is to enable many of the features present for simming such as autobrake, spoiler deployment, autothrottle availability, etc etc. If you reference the dreamfleet aircraft cfg, you can then get all the info you need to have the panel functioning properly with the Ariane GMAX 737's or any other 737 for that matter. You can enter weight info into the FMC or if you want to go with the autoload option, then you can simply match the DF734 weights to the Ariane 734 or 733, both of these methods have worked perfectly for me. I will agree that the FDE's that ships with the Ariane planes leave much to be desired, but this issue can be fixed and with a little effort one can have the Ariane 737 series flying very nicely with the DF panel, but like many have said you need to ask yourself if that effort is worth the money you need to spend to obtain the aircraft in the first place. To me it was and I have yet to be satisfied with any FDE that has accompanied an aircraft, whether it be payware or freeware. I am a FDE tweaker and creator and I am constantly changing my own creations to try and obtain that much more stability and realism, so if you don't know how or just don't think you should have to do that to an aircraft model that is quite expensive, than I would think twice before purchasing.Regards,Van LatendresseYeoDesigns Panel/FDE Designer

[Guest]

>Felix, >>Since this thread has fallen into the Ad Hominem >abyss, I shall try to give you some straight info on these >aircraft and the DF merge issues that entail. And I have just cleaned out all the junk. For those involved, do not rehash your posts over again or they will be removed again.

[Guest]

Van,See, this is what happens when I try to get technical about a subject I know little about :-lolI guess I should have said "flight model" or "flight characteristics", instead of .air file. I have heard numerous comments about how the aircraft wants to play like a space shuttle and run "hot" when using vnav during initial climb out. Some have simply called it over-powered.These comments are in reference to the 733 characteristics of the "merge kit" made available by Ariane.Thoughts ?Roger

[Guest Van]

The Ariane merge kit for the DF panel simply puts some info into the aircraft cfg that is copied from the DF aircraft cfg. The FDE remains the same and the stability issues also remain because of this. I actually had to totally create an all new FDE for my own DF/Ariane 733 and 734 merge in order to get the plane flying correctly. I was lucky enough to have a real world 733 driver test my FDE and he said it was spot on, so that at least tells me I was heading in the right direction when creating my flight dynamics.I don't understand how some aircraft can be released for purchase when the plane handles so poorly. Regards,Van LatendresseYeoDesigns Panel/FDE Designer

[Dillon 2,197]

Hey Van, can I get a copy of your updated FDE's for the Ariane planes??? I was looking for someone who took care of this issue.Thanks...Les--

[Guest Van]

Hi Les,My Ariane 733, 734/DF merge files including all new FDE is available from the Avsim library. Just type my name in the search box and you will see them.Regards,Van LatendresseYeoDesigns Panel/FDE Designer

[CF104 0]

Hi Van,A word of praise to you! Your new FDE for the Ariane 734 is great. It at least acts like a 737 now and can even manage an ILS autopilot approach without landing a mile short.Cheers,JohnBoeing 727/737 mechanic

[Guest]

In the end the market will decide if the planes are too expensive. If no one buys them, then they will be forced to reduce prices to meet their costs - if people do buy them, then there is a market for an expensive model-only 737. I will ad, however, that their flippant reply to your question is a very good indicator of how this company views its customers. Perhaps too good an idicator...Good luck. Colin

[Guest Van]

Hi John,Thanks for the compliment and you are quite welcome.Van LatendresseYeoDesigns Panel/FDE Designer

[Guest]

>Bashing a product for being too expensive is usually a way >of saying, I' can't afford it, so I'll talk bad about it, >and nobody will want it. That dog doesn't hunt well. No, it is an attempt to estimate if the proportion of value/price is OK. Of course there will be people who are prepared to pay more for a nice looking visual model than can be justified by trying to look at it from a realistic and objective point of view (including myself, because I bought it). But then there will always be people who need something so urgently that they would be prepared to pay almost any price for it. That