"General aviation pack" How is it?

[Guest bjornkeizers]

Hi all.I've ordered the "general aviation pack" by...? Well, it says abacus on this site: http://se.pricerunner.com/games-and-consol...s/126560/pricesOK, now here's my problem. I can't find anything on it. Not one single review or anything. I searched abacus' site, but found nothing. I tried google and altavista, nothing. So, before I crack the seal on that baby, has anyone tried this one before? If not, that means it's time for me to put on my reviewing hat once again :D

[Guest progrmr]

I don't have this package - but I bought Sky Ranch from Abacus in the same way - no reviews, but the product looked cool: scenery and addon planes sounded great. The package turned out to be a complete joke. The scenery looked like I did it, and the addon planes looked like a 10 year old did them. It was truly the worst package I have ever purchased - period.I emailed Abacus about the ridiculus state of their product and got an email saying that they knew how bad it was and that they were trying to get with the developer to fix it. Well, no patch has ever been added. I will never, EVER buy another abacus addon. Read and heed / Buyer beware.

[Guest danowat]

Hi,Well I have the package and luckly for me I only paid

[Deaf Pilot 1]

Have you seen the screenshots of the Flight Deck III planes? Most freeware is at that level of quality or better...

[CraigC 0]

Well guys, thats because the aircraft were the ones originally designed for FS2000. I saw this box from Abacus on the shelf at Software Etc, and I scampered over to it thinking it was a great new release that had escaped the front page of Avsim. I quickly found out that it was all of their FS2000 releases on one CD and they wanted 19.99 for it. I laughed and put it back on the shelf hoping that some poor schmuck wouldnt waste his hard earned money on that product.I would go as far to say that that product is false advertisement. It clearly states on the box that it is an add-on for MSFS2002, but they are all FS2000 original aircraft with small FS2002 updates. In the case of Corporate pilot, the FS2002 update could really be considered a downgrade in functionality. Personally I dont think too much of Abacus for putting this product out there, but hopefully anyone who sees the box will have enough sense to leave it to collect dust.CraigEDIT: The box that is shown on your linked page is not the box I saw yesteday, so maybe this is a new product that hasnt been announced yet. Lets hope anyway. Regardless of what I said above, I still think Corporate Pilot was a great add-on when it was originally released for FS2000. I would be happy to spend 20 or 30 bucks on another Corporate Pilot add-on if it offered clickable VCs and all the goodies that can be included with FSDS2.

[Guest bjornkeizers]

Craig,the box you see on the page is the one that's on the page of the store i ordered it from. It will be delivered in store, so I'm not paying shipping on it, so no problem if I want to return it (provided I don't open it.) There might be different boxes though, or the page could be wrong.Oh I bet you might get a kick out of what I'm paying for it: E 29,95, which is about $31,90 Yes, yes, I know. But I live in The Netherlands, so buying software isn't exactly cheap.Here's another page, with some shots.http://www.mailsoft.com/generalaviation/generalaviation.htmThe box definately says FS2002. Included are, according to the box, -Cessna 310-Eclipse 500 biz jet-Piper Navajo-Piper Aztec-Twin Bonanza-Piper ComancheEDIT: The "grassy meadows" Skyranch scenery is also included?? It looks like they just dumped all their old releases on a CD and slapped a "2002" badge on it!Looking at these shots, they're definately the Abacus planes, try before you buy. Look on www.abacuspub.com , then downloads, private planes. There's the 310, navajo, aztec, comanche and twin bonanza. However, I can't find a trace of that Eclipse. All the above cost $10 to purchase, let's say the eclipse costs $10 as well, that's $60 worth of planes (I use the term "worth" loosely)OK, so here's my dilemma. These look about on par with 2000 freeware/reasonable payware. I also own, and fly to this day, Corporate Pilot and Private Pilot. Corporate is the better one, and some of these look about that quality (from what I can see) I really enjoyed these and still think they're good to this day (well, I grew up with FSFW95 so naturally, these look OK to me)I'm really interested in the Navajo and Eclipse. If these are any good, then mwah, if not, bye bye $32What are your thoughts on these two aircraft Mr. Watkins?

[Guest danowat]

Hi,Well I would say whatever you do don't open it, just send it backAgain my offer still stands if you want it you can have my copy.If you download the trial versions on the abacus site you will see how poor these are, I have also noticed that on some of the planes they have gauge issues with FS2002, were some of them don't work.All in all not a very good package.Dan.

[Guest bjornkeizers]

>Well I would say whatever you do don't open it, just send it >back From what I heard, I think I will. >Again my offer still stands if you want it you can have my >copy. Well, I guess in this case I'll defer to the judgment of a fellow simmer. If it's that bad, then I'll pass on it altogether. But thanks for the offer.>I have also noticed that on some of the planes they have gauge >issues with FS2002, were some of them don't work. Really?? Wow. How on god's green earth can they sell this as "For FS2002" if the quality is even less then 2000, and some of the gauges don't even work as advertized? To me that looks like you *want* angry customers, or at the very least some nasty reviews. Anyway. Thanks for preventing me from making a $30 mistake :D

[Guest JDH]

Oh dear oh dear.I have never ever seen a good review of Abacus products and the shots of their products hark back to FS98 days.I agree with the comments regarding their new flight deck product, most of what is there can be got as far superior freeware.God only knows what goes on in Abacus product development meetings. Apart from "make it look as cr@p as possible."

[Guest danowat]

>Well, I guess in this case I'll defer to the judgment of a >fellow simmer. If it's that bad, then I'll pass on it >altogether. But thanks for the offer. Damn I thought I may get rid of the thing :), I just could'nt bring myself to lob it in the bin :)Dan.

[Brian_Gladden 0]

>>God only knows what goes on in Abacus product development meetings. Apart from "make it look as cr@p as possible." I wouldn't know about that... The GA pack seems to be a european release of the Sky Ranch boxed set. Remember that the Sky Ranch was one of the FIRST FS 2002 add on's to come out almost 2 years ago. The Planes were made (except for the Navajo) by Dave Eckert. They were, when released, state of the art in FSDS 1 planes. Since ABACUS is the publisher of FSDS, do you think that they would do a GMax plane???? I doubt it. Remember when these planes were originaly done the VC's were a new thing to FS planes. Now am I saying that they are good planes??? Maybe, they are good for "first generation" FS 2002 planes but they may not be up to the current standard. I have the Aztec in my stable and fly it regularly. The Corperate Pilot add on was done for FS 2000 not 2002. They did an update to make it compatible with 2002, a complete rebuild I'm sure would not have been finantialy feasable. I fly quite a few of the Corperate Pilot planes quite often, Particulary the Citation X.I've always been happy with the products I have purchased from Abacus.Brian

[gosta 0]

What I find ironic is that the same people who are responsible for such great design programs as FSDS2 and ASD put out such bad end-user products. So the tools to develop excellent add-ons are at their disposal, yet they decide not to make proper use of them - weird!Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

[Guest danowat]

Hi Brian,I also have corperate pilot by abacus and I think that it is MILES better than the GA pack.Also you say that when the planes first came out they were state of the art, I think this is also wrong, I have freeware in my hanger from FS2000, and it is way better, the FSD pilatus is one that springs to mind.If you think that they are good for first generation FS2002, then what about the fleet canuck by bill lyons. that was an early freeware plane that I still use now, it shows that early FS2002 stuff need not be the quality of the GA pack.To release it now stating that it is an addon for FS2002 (which is funny seeing that some fuel flow gauges do not work in FS2002)is wrong.I just don't think it is worth it at any price and I am definatly not happy with the pack.Dan.

[Guest bjornkeizers]

>Damn I thought I may get rid of the thing :), I just >could'nt bring myself to lob it in the bin :) Lol, OK, OK, I'll let you send it to me.. for a $10 disposal fee :DI too find it hard to believe that the people who made FSDS turn out products like that, I mean, Yes, I did enjoy CP and to a lesser extend PP. But if you look what can be done with just plain FSDS, like the Falcon 50, or Posky, or FSDS, or PSS, or Dreamfleet, then these new releases, or this piece of junk that was falsely advertized as "for 2002" .. well.. How can they even *think* of doing such a thing?

[Bearracing 3]

Bjorn,For the last review I know of concerning any Abacus product (aircraft download) check here at AVSIM for my review of their SkyRanch package. I was being as kind as I could about the package, but I was NOT impressed, even in the slightest with it. I am not aware of any aspect of this release called "General Aviation Pack", but their (Abacus) Corporate Pilot release for FS2000 with the compatability patch for FS2002 isn't bad, not great mind you (no VCs), but the aircraft are basically pretty decent and most have a Steve Small airfile. I like the Beechcraft Starship and the Cessna Citation X from that package (Corporate Pilot). All of the aircraft from the Corporate Pilot package have acceptable 2D panels and they do include some aircraft types that have not become available otherwise.Bear!