The last week contributed even more to my enthusiasm with X-Plane10.

 

I bought my first add-on, from X-Aviation, also downloaded GMap, which I already use with MS FLIGHT.

 

I have tested several aspects of the simulator, using not only the default aircraft, which in beta8 feel better (baron58 and C90), but also a few freeware add-ons picked at x-plane.org.

 

While I do not yet have rudder, I plan to get one since most of my preferred models in x-palen8 and 9 were helicopters and indeed, X-Plane undoubtedly shines over the alternatives in this field.

 

I have also found what I believe to be the "perfect" settings for my Saitek X52 pro, so, controlling even the trickiest airplanes has been rather manageable.

 

I'm really happy and looking forward for 10.10 final, and then 10.20 (and maybe the 64bit version of X-Plane for the 1st time in History :-)

Lack of rudder may help your thoughts. I am curious though why so many people are awaiting for 64bit. It reminds me back in the days of 32bit game consoles. Number of bits by itself really doesn't mean much.

 

I do enjoy the sim, though, despite all my issues and facepalm moments with it. It'll get even better when the likes of A2A, RealAir and PMDG can really do the studying to get well-behaved flight models in all areas.

 

Found any good gems of addon planes?

Hello!

 

I have to agree with you. I was an FS guy since early nineties but the day Microshaft announced they would no longer develop the FS franchise further and announced Flight (Which I knew would be a failure from day one), I switched to X-Plane and never looked back. Yes, XPX is missing some things such as AI traffic a la Project AI or Traffic X, as well as seasons, and the myriad of addons available for FS, but it will all come in due time. The fundamentals of this sim are incredibly well done. I am a retired pilot and now a days fly over 150,000 miles per year as a passenger due to my work requirements and it never ceases to amaze me how realistic X-Plane could be in many situations. The aircraft fly relaively well and the whole experience is pleasant. I have a Saitek Pro Flight Yoke System, with the switch panel, GoFlight rudder pedals, a Saitek Cyborg joystick to fly Airbuses, and a Goflight console with various modules - I was able to migrate all these pripherals flawlessly to X-Plane and it makes the flying experience much more realistic. X-Plane's future looks bright right now.

 

Happy Flying.

 

Dennis

I am curious though why so many people are awaiting for 64bit. It reminds me back in the days of 32bit game consoles. Number of bits by itself really doesn't mean much.

 

People await 64-bit for very good reason. 32-bit is only able to access a very limited amount of RAM (3-3.5GB depending on system), and in many moments it proves to be insufficient and the sim will just crap out. This is especially true for OSM scenery projects, or any scenery with large areas and big detail (speaking of roads, objects, etc...not orthophoto type stuff). Until 64-bit is out, a lot of systems are struggling. X-Plane 10 is not X-Plane 9 in terms of hardware requirements. It's actually quite demanding.

Thank you for the answer. I'm sure there are reasons but I've only heard of it spoken as some magical chant, "XP isn't perfect but just wait until it's at 64bits!"

Thank you for the answer. I'm sure there are reasons but I've only heard of it spoken as some magical chant, "XP isn't perfect but just wait until it's at 64bits!"

 

It affects the Mac users the worst, and for those that catch a sniff of the issues on Windows (and Mac for that matter), the solution is to dumb down your resolution settings. Not very ideal when in all technicality your computer can handle the tasks but the software can't utilize the full potential of your hardware!

 

Things will get much better, yes, but then we open up a whole other can of worms (issues). And, that is, plug-ins produced by third party developers will need to be re-compiled. It's a matter of whether developers coded with 64-bit in mind ever or not, or even if a developer is still present in the community for an older application/add-on. I hope this won't be a big fiasco, but growing pains are just "part of it!"

Aye and thank you again for your reply. I haven't run into memory issues yet but I also haven't used any custom scenery.

I keep my eye on XP10 and honestly wish to be optimistic, but there just seems to be so much missing currently IMO. Everyone has their own personal features they wish to be implemented which makes the wish list very long indeed. It really comes down to opinion again when the question is asked "What should be the bare bones feature list of a flight sim?" That is really a loaded question because there are situations that can and have influenced XP10 specifically. One being the original marketing of the product. What has actually been implemented compared to what was promised, and what has not been implemented but still being promised, and what has been promised that WILL NOT be implemented? I never heard LR promise a 64 bit version when the original product was released or prior to it's release but I could be wrong. It seems to me now that LR is sort of whispering that if we implement the 64 bit version more can be accomplished, or doing so would allow us to do X and X. There seems to be a number of posts from folks that seem to know what LR is up to but there are no facts to back it up it seems. What I would like to hear is "This is what we are going to do". It just seems so foggy to me. Everyone has these questions. It might be about the ATC, or AI planes or having 4 seasons and many more. For some it's about no airport buildings or no airport lighting or the HDR feature which seems to have fallen by the wayside. Will HDR ever get implemented correctly or do we need the next processor down the line in order to run it correctly? LR must know what it will take to run HDR effeciently IMO. I just get the feeling that the facts are just not available. There is way too much speculation and just not enough communication and facts. I still download the beta's and fly a little but I really truly cannot say "I'm in". I do like the night flights though!!

 

Bob

Unless you hear it or read it direct from the x-plane.com website or Ben Supniks blog, everything else that people post in various forums is just hearsay, assumption or misinterpretation.

In any kind of programming arena, nothing is a certainty.

I remember PMDG saying their 737 would be ready in early to mid 2010. It was over a year late because of certain programming obstacles.

They also said they would make an A320. That never eventuated and most likely never will.

These things happen.

There is way too much speculation and just not enough communication and facts.

 

Hey Bob..yea programming is like that. Technology is a moving train and what you look at one day might be a bit down the road the next...or the "bend" might be tigher than expected. The "todo list" is indeed endless as you mentioned and Austin can change his mind fairly quickly....and that is a aspect of XP that one just has to deal with. Whereas some folks did not like the "impersonal nature" of MSFS development.....some won't like Austin's whims and we just have to take what comes that way.

 

As we chase targets and goals..what happens is the other things crop up along the way so we have this "general path", but have to frequently tangent off to squash bugs or squeeze a feature in while the opportunity is convenient. The only thing I can point out that progress is being made is that X-Plane is more feature packed and better looking today than it was a year ago....and a year ago better than the year before etc. So at best, we can simply say that as long as we are progressing, then that's the best we can do. Whatever we choose to focus on, someone will be unhappy that we're not focusing on their priorties first and this is the nature of the beast.

 

LR must know what it will take to run HDR effeciently IMO

 

Maybe....but knowing and implementing are two different things. Einstein may know what it takes to achieve time travel...but doesn't mean its an easy task. In conclusion, I wouldn't disagree with your assessment of x-plane as it is for each of us to determine when that critical threshold is met for our own standards. We will keep working to make XP better and better and more reliable and hopefully one day, it'll be ready for you.

 

Best,

Tom Kyler

Laminar / IXEG

www.ixeg.net

Found any good gems of addon planes?

 

Hi Timmer,

 

A few freeware at x-plane.org, Felis An-24, the Yak-40 here, the BK-117 here,

n this video :-), etc...

 

Would like to get good glider projects, or start one :-)

Hey Bob..yea programming is like that. Technology is a moving train and what you look at one day might be a bit down the road the next...or the "bend" might be tigher than expected. The "todo list" is indeed endless as you mentioned and Austin can change his mind fairly quickly....and that is a aspect of XP that one just has to deal with. Whereas some folks did not like the "impersonal nature" of MSFS development.....some won't like Austin's whims and we just have to take what comes that way.

 

As we chase targets and goals..what happens is the other things crop up along the way so we have this "general path", but have to frequently tangent off to squash bugs or squeeze a feature in while the opportunity is convenient. The only thing I can point out that progress is being made is that X-Plane is more feature packed and better looking today than it was a year ago....and a year ago better than the year before etc. So at best, we can simply say that as long as we are progressing, then that's the best we can do. Whatever we choose to focus on, someone will be unhappy that we're not focusing on their priorties first and this is the nature of the beast.

 

 

 

Maybe....but knowing and implementing are two different things. Einstein may know what it takes to achieve time travel...but doesn't mean its an easy task. In conclusion, I wouldn't disagree with your assessment of x-plane as it is for each of us to determine when that critical threshold is met for our own standards. We will keep working to make XP better and better and more reliable and hopefully one day, it'll be ready for you.

 

Best,

Tom Kyler

Laminar / IXEG

www.ixeg.net

 

Hey Kyler,

 

Thanks for the reply. Well it is certainly up to Austin what path he chooses and I cannot disagree. I have not purchased XP so I really am not disappointed one way or the other, nor do I have the right to actively criticize really . It is his baby as you point out, so he can do whatever he likes. I know there are others that are sitting on the fence. One may find something implemented that allows them to say "Im buying it now", but it's not yet there for me. I agree it is getting better and better and I will keep my eye on it. Honestly I was hoping for more sooner. Have I said that the night flying is really impressive? :rolleyes: It's hard not to get disappointed because I love flight simulation and maybe one day a release will be available that knocks our socks off!

 

Bob

Thanks for the reply. Well it is certainly up to Austin what path he chooses and I cannot disagree.

 

This very fact is what makes me reluctant to go to Xplane. Everything seems to be centered around one person, the Guru, and everything seems to be at the mercy of his moods, his wills whether rational or not. I would so much prefer that a college of experts (as in a studio) takes decisions.

 

I find that perplexing in the current days of services.

 

Minos

I would so much prefer that a college of experts (as in a studio) takes decisions.

 

Minos. It is really that way. It is not like Austin is a dictator dismissing all of our suggestions....all of us at Laminar are flight sim enthusiasts and have been for 20+ years...some of us for 30.....and we all pretty much generally know what we (as part of the community) want. Austin is simply the most visible in that there is some appeal that one guy out of his living room breathed life into product that is poised to move to the top of its class...plus he's a unique personality....but there are many of us who sound off on suggestions...Aerosoft, certainly the development team. Yes it's up to Austin to choose the path, but so is it the job of every other boss in the world to do the same. Choosing a path is not the same as dreaming up the path...and Austin is quite open to suggestion before making a decision. He might not go with 'decision by committee" every time, but he does listen.

 

Tom Kyler

Laminar / IXEG

www.ixeg.net

What X-plane offers that the others do not?

 

- A talented and dedicated team we can talk to, either at forums or through email, and even enter into discussion about valuable aspects of the simulation, and actually implements / corrects things we ask for - I must certainly acknowledge the recent work with both the Baron58 and the C90 who turned into very interesting airplanes to fly for cross-country, specially under adverse weather, and to train some emergency scenarios :-)

 

- An excellent simulation platform, with lot's of room to grow even better, and growing along this version 10, even with a tempting 64 bit version coming by 10.20 or 10.30!!! Ah! Multi-OS!!! One that gives as unique modeling of rotary wing, and other sophisticated types...

 

- Great add-ons to make the default simulation platform even more enriching, growing in complexity and quality from month to month;

 

- Great default scenery (as compared to default FSX), tools for creating scenery and aircraft that are not available on the competition;

 

- Weather model that, not being perfect as even as complete as FSX's default weather, can give you the basic features required for gaming or even training and even a few more such as thermals and slope winds - just came from a very nice dawn flight with a 12 knot wind making it possible to keep flying lazy eights at a small mountain nearby the aerodrome I took off from ,just like in RL in the very same AS-K21 :-)

 

And much more certainly....

 

Loving it :-)