I have just purchased the Dream Liner from Abacus. What a botched job. First flight no airspeed tape. Checked with Abacus support site. Need update No2. Flight dynamics awaful in pitch on autopilot. No OBS adjustments thatI can find.Anyone else had any better experiences or is just me?

No, it's not only you. I kind of find it as an unwritten rule of FS not to buy Abacus products.

Concur, never again buy from Abacus... Before any purchase you can always check here in the forums for opinions.

I have just purchased the Dream Liner from Abacus. What a botched job. First flight no airspeed tape. Checked with Abacus support site. Need update No2. Flight dynamics awaful in pitch on autopilot. No OBS adjustments thatI can find.Anyone else had any better experiences or is just me?

I too made the mistake of buying the 787 from Abacus. I concur with Alec. Never again will my wallet grace their doorstep. Chin up, the CamSim is not bad.

<!--quoteo(post=1801806:date=Jul 28 2010, 03:58 AM:name=batchelork)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (batchelork @ Jul 28 2010, 03:58 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1801806"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->No OBS adjustments thatI can find.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->You couldn't find the CRS knob that's directly above MFD#1 on the glareshield's eyebrow?EDIT: 08/06/01 - Apparently ABACUS never updated their Dreamliner package to use the new gauge and panel system they paid me for... :(

Edited August 7, 201015 yr by n4gix

I purchased the B787 Dreamliner from Abacus as well a while ago in a sale at a PC World store. Its not good - after trying it out once I never flew it again. Even though I got it for cheap I am still not happy that I spent anything on this.

You couldn't find the CRS knob that's directly above MFD#1 on the glareshield's eyebrow?

Just had another look. There is a knob above MFD1 but it does nothing and is not mentioned in the panel PDF. Still convinced, given the flight dynamics, that this is one on of worst payware a/c I have ever bought. Abacus have offered me 20% of for the airbus collection - no thanks.

Why all the big fuss regarding the Abacus 787.All one has to do is look at the screenshots to see the detail level you'd get, its so cleartheir panel is using default gauges.The funny thing is people have been bashing them for years, and they are still in business.I don't have a problem with Abacus, this 787 product is typical of the type of products theyhave been selling for years. Very lite on the details nd features. Just know what you are buying before you put your money down.Regards.Ernie.

Plkus that there are two reviews at Avsim alone. You could have easily searched for them and you'd then know what that 787 is worth...

I have often wondered how Abacus stays in business. Their aircraft add-ons are appalling. But in all fairness to them, I will say this. After I bought a version of their Flight Deck naval air ops add-on and found it to be totally pathetic, I sent their support folks a rather unpleasant email. And instead of ignoring me or sending me a nasty reply, they (it was a woman whose name I cannot remember now) sent me a very courteous email with a very fair offer. They offered to give me any other Abacus products that I chose in the same price range in exchange. Though there were no aircraft I was interested in, I did get two utilities that I have enjoyed using ever since. With that kind of customer support, if they hired a couple of competent developers/modellers they would soon gain some respect.

You couldn't find the CRS knob that's directly above MFD#1 on the glareshield's eyebrow?

Just curious, did you work on that one?

I have often wondered how Abacus stays in business. Their aircraft add-ons are appalling. But in all fairness to them, I will say this. After I bought a version of their Flight Deck naval air ops add-on and found it to be totally pathetic, I sent their support folks a rather unpleasant email. And instead of ignoring me or sending me a nasty reply, they (it was a woman whose name I cannot remember now) sent me a very courteous email with a very fair offer. They offered to give me any other Abacus products that I chose in the same price range in exchange. Though there were no aircraft I was interested in, I did get two utilities that I have enjoyed using ever since. With that kind of customer support, if they hired a couple of competent developers/modellers they would soon gain some respect.

One big positive for Abacus, from my POV, was FSDS. I was able to make an aircraft with FSDS fairly quickly--not something worthy of freeware release, but certainly something I could enjoy. One of my own designs, my trike, is my favorite aircraft for low and slow VFR flight. FSDS provided and still provides for some an avenue for creation in our hobby, and is arguably easier to use than GMAX although more limited.As for purchase of Abacus aircraft, most aircraft have demos available. They aren't aircraft that meet my tastes, but they do offer something for the less demanding (in terms of systems modeling) user and they do sometime fill a niche that freeware and finer payware groups have forgotten. Thus I try to stay away now from judging them, not to mention many of their modelers have offered freeware to our hobby.Regards,John

I have often wondered how Abacus stays in business. Their aircraft add-ons are appalling.

Well, Abacus is one of the oldest software publishers around: I do recall Abacus products since the days of the Commodore 64...they are obviously very capable of doing business, since it's the only flight sim publisher that was constantly able to put their products in the important chains like EB, etc., something that has always been very difficult for any other flight sim developer.Product quality doesn't mean much, if you are able to get those deals. On the contrary, having very low standard products to sell, means they are probably able to offer very good deals and interesting discounts so, those store chains will take their products regardless of the quality. They don't target the hard core users, that's fairly obvious.

I don't like sounding so negative and I apologize to any designers who have done work for Abacus, especially if they have also supported the community by providing freeware. Anyone who can produce an aircraft that someone else would want to download and use is definitely "competent" and my use of the word "competent" was not a good one - I guess "cutting edge" or something would have been fairer. The products I have seen have just not been payware quality but as I couldn't design an add-on no matter how hard I tried, it was not fair of me to imply that the designer of a product I didn't like was incompetent. Sorry guys.... I also agree with the person who pointed out that they do offer "try before you buy" and you can't get any fairer than that. I wish far more companies would do the same - it would save a lot of hard feelings. (Thank you FS Dream Team and Cloud 9 - I have tried all your products and the only reason I didn't buy all of them was because my old computer couldn't run all of them very well. Those it could handle - I bought!) :( But I just wish that Abacus would realize that putting out product after product that use default FS gauges and out-dated VC techniques etc. isn't a good way to develop a loyal customer base.I was fascinated by the analysis of how they have stayed in business. It showed me how naive I really am about the business side of the hobby. For me the companies that should flourish are those who provide excellent products at a fair price and give good customer support. But I guess there's more to it than that.... Interesting insight...Cheers all - see you all again soon on the "new forums" :(

My apologies up front for being a bit, well, "strident" in this post.Arnie Lee and his team have never claimed to cater to the flight sim market represented in these forums. The flight simmers that find their way to forums such as AVSIM's are not your casual, satisfied with the sim out of the box, flight simmers. That's the point... Arnie's products, for as long as I can remember, have addressed the market for those casual simmers who are happy to throw a representation of an aircraft type into the air, and could care less about the fidelity of the model or the accuracy of the livery / door locations / contact points / ad nauseam. Abacus' market is addressed at the new simmer, or the simmer who could care less about the details.For those new simmers who want to progress up the "food chain" of accuracy and fidelity, Abacus is a great entre' point once one tires of the MS models. Their product is inexpensive and provides a stepping stone to other, more accurate and complicated models, such as FSD, PMDG, FeelThere, Flight One, etc. The bottom line is that the Abacus product has a role to play in our community.Now here is where the message gets a bit strigent... The thing that amazes me, and continues to do so after all these years of reading this stuff, is that knowledgable users like YOU continue to purchase Abacus products. And then, when that product does not meet your expectations, that is, on par with PMDG, etc., you come in here and blast Abacus. The blame doesn't lie with Abacus. There are no end of messages in these forums that clearly describe and provide notice to the more expectant flight simmer as to what Abacus supplies. The blame lies with you. If you spend money on a Ford Fusion expecting it to be a Dodge Charger, then silly you. You may not like that message, but you might want to think about it for a while before you respond.