First, Opus has terrible winds aloft modeling. This is very evident in the fact that if you look at their website, any mention to real winds aloft says "coming soon."

 

Second, it's not a PMDG issue, it's a weather issue. Any plane, when placed into an erratic situation has been set to disconnect the A/P. In FSX, it's not unheard of to go from a 100 knot headwind, to a 60 knot tailwind, and right back to a 100 knot headwind. This isn't something a normal aircraft would be subjected to, so the idea that you should patch an aircraft to fix it is borderline absurd.

 

Third, it's a well-known issue that more complex add-ons are more sensitive. This is part of the reason they do so well, otherwise. The fix is to use a program that allows wind smoothing. The best results for me have been AS2012 DWC with FSUIPC wind settings in place.

 

OpusFSX has just been updated to use Real Life GRIB Upper Wind Aloft, the Coming SOon on the website is a thing of the past. I have tested it and it matches very well with the Forecast Data for my Country, including Temperature.

 

This is a FSX issue that can't be corrected, so FS Addons have to predict this will happen, and have a "Filter" to interpret these Spikes which normally last less than a second and don't allow it change the AP Setting. If a plane in FS do any major change in it's Flight System because of a One Second Wind Shift, then the developer don't fly FSX that much, because it happens with any Weather Engine, no Wind Smoothing in this world can prevent that from happening. If your Weather Engine doesn't have this, then the developer has made some compromises to match the Real World Data in order to make the Winds more stable. I wish we could fix that.

Do the MD11 Bounce After Touchdown? Watching some MD-11 Videos on Youtube it's quite common to see it bounce before settling on the ground. That aircraft is a beast to master... wow

 

Yes, the MD-11 likes to bounce on touchdown. It actually took me a bit to get used to landing the MD-11 to where I wasn't consistently bouncing it.

 

It is a rather complicated airplane to learn, but that is part of the enjoyment and satisfaction of completing a flight where everything went correct. Like I said earlier, it is hard for me to go back flying the 747 and 767 because the MD-11 is just so much more rewarding and interactive.

This is a FSX issue that can't be corrected, so FS Addons have to predict this will happen, and have a "Filter" to interpret these Spikes which normally last less than a second and don't allow it change the AP Setting. If a plane in FS do any major change in it's Flight System because of a One Second Wind Shift, then the developer don't fly FSX that much, because it happens with any Weather Engine, no Wind Smoothing in this world can prevent that from happening. If your Weather Engine doesn't have this, then the developer has made some compromises to match the Real World Data in order to make the Winds more stable. I wish we could fix that.

 

I really have a hard time believing this. I have FSUIPC, which restricts how many degrees and knots the wind can change within a certain amount of seconds. With that setting enabled, I have zero issues (since 2010).

 

.

 

...so what was it that you were saying?

I think it worked in FS9 but FSX use it's own SimConnect Interface to send Wind Information from the Weather Engine to the Simulator, so FSUIPC can't do much, that's what I read anyway... Maybe it helps, but it doesn't cure the problem. I Have FSUIPC Also, and Opus developers are recommending us not using it for FSX.

 

I think you not getting any wind shift is more a result of AS2012 doing proper Wind Smoothing, they have developed lots of technology to prevent this shift from happening, OpusFSX is also developing their own, you can't have the exact Wind Direction in FS as in RealLife, FSX doesn't like some Direction Changes, so they have to be very gentle with changing Wind Direction to prevent SimConnect to Overload and send Crazy Wind Shift, I read it also depends on how overloaded your FS is, depending on your Hardware.

 

I'm no Weather Engine guru. If you're saying you don';t have it, that's fine. Just confirm you're getting true Wind Aloft according to your Country's Wind Forecast for the FL and Time of Flight. It's easy to make wind Smooth, but hard to make it smooth and accurate.

 

Yes, the MD-11 likes to bounce on touchdown. It actually took me a bit to get used to landing the MD-11 to where I wasn't consistently bouncing it.

 

That must be lots of fun!

I was gonna say I guess Pete Dowson wasted his time fixing the unfixable. Alec your information is completely wrong. These are precisely the things FSUIPC fixes and prevents. I have zero issues with any payware aircraft. You really need to do some more research because what your saying now is completely wrong.

I really have a hard time believing this. I have FSUIPC, which restricts how many degrees and knots the wind can change within a certain amount of seconds. With that setting enabled, I have zero issues (since 2010).

 

.

 

...so what was it that you were saying?

 

I don't have any issues in normal 1x time acceleration in the MD-11, but I do with 2x. I have the same settings you do in FSUIPC but I'm using ASV6.5. Then again, if people are having issues in 1x time acceleration than there are a multitude of other issues that need to be addressed and verified.

holy smoke your a 10 year veteran, well done! try hitting your dad up for a loan, if you go to the website you will see it discounted.

Yeah and I'm guessing i'll be flight simming for a long time yet

I try and ask around my family- see if someone will lend me the money to get this amazing plane

I have to correct myself after doing some research. FSUipc Still works in FSX, it intercepts the Values that SimConnect is sending to FSX, which has been sent to SimConnect by the Weather Engine, then it processes this data for the Wind Smoothing before it's entered in FSX for it's final form.

 

Now, this is from Pete Dowson himself.

"FSUIPC wind smoothing isn't 100% successful, but generally it works well. It is mainly aimed at preventing the 180 degree sudden wind shifts which FSX (and FS9 actually) is liable to in the upper winds. These are due to an interpolation bug in FS's Weather.DLL which was never fixed."

 

And this is the recommended setting from ActiveSky team for sensitive Addons like the MD11.

 

"Using PMDG MD-11, 747 or other high-sensitivity aircraft - For maximum wind aloft realism and smoothing with reduced turbulence effects:

-Follow the above configuration steps to minimize turbulence effects in FSX

-If FSUIPC is installed, disable FSUIPC wind smoothing / turbulence effects

-Use DWC (Direct Weather/Wind Control) within AS Options"

 

So, they really recommend you not using FSuipc, and instead using the built in Wind Smoothing system from their Weather Engine. All three main Weather Engine Developers, HifiSim, REX and OpusFSX recommends their users to do this.

Right, and Garnier recommends that I use both of their shampoo and conditioner together to get the best effect. Why? "Because we're the best and you don't need anything else."

 

It might just be my system, but I needed FSUIPC in order to get it to work properly. In any case, if you have your sim properly set up, the MD-11 works perfectly.

According to Vataware, I have about 130 hours in the bird online. While that's probably a lot less than others here, each one of those is a complete flight, sitting in the vicinity of my computer (can't run too far away while online). I can vouch for its lack of issues while at cruise. No s-turns, no A/P discos, no hassle.

I'm pretty sure Mercedes would sell more of their cars if they dropped the price, too.

 

There is a massive difference between tangible and intangible, however. There are different schools of thought here when it comes to sales of digital products. Some see dropped prices as worthwhile, others do not, and there's no real hard sales data to say one way or another.

 

Sure, you sell X more products at a lower price, but what do you gain? I'd argue that your end cost would go up as a result. Why? It's a digital product, you say? Support. Lower prices often mean the consumer takes the product less seriously. As a result, you get more "OMG the AUTOLAND feature doesn't work at [airport without an ILS]." Heck, even the NGX's added attention got us a good amount of that, and that was at normal PMDG prices. Imagine what we *don't* see here on the forums that they have to deal with through the official support channel.

 

In any case, they've said before that they don't do sales. The one exception I could think of was a conversion-type deal for those who had the FS9 744 to upgrade to the FSX version.

 

"I'm pretty sure Mercedes would sell more of their cars if they dropped the price, too."

I am not so sure that they really ever strive for a lower price as it is a "premium product". Those who can afford it would lose interest and buy from another company. It is like Apple. Make the product "expensive" and the people want it more and more.

Mercedes have traditionally not been designed to a price point. Their engineers design the car, then the money people decide how much they have to charge for it. In one case, the 600, the engineers were given a blank check to design the best car they could. It was more expensive than the Rolls Royce that year.

 

I'm not sure if this is still the case.

 

Hook

 

(who has owned 3 used Mercedes)

It was my way of saying "most higher end products could sell more if they dropped the price a little," but that's not their goal.

That's all.

I wish John Deere would drop their prices. New tractor killed me this year.

Is there anyone buying PMDG for the luxury of it? Comparing PMDG Addons to a Mercedes Benz doesn't make sense to me. PMDG Charges what they do to cover the years of several people doing nothing but developing all day long, I'm pretty sure after three years of sellings they can say the addon has covered that gap, and it makes totally sense to squeeze a little more money out of it by making a pretty good Sale. PMDG 737NGX doesn't need better price, it's worth every cent, and they should recover what they have spent with it, but the MD11 has probably already reached it's state of constant selling number, and it will now keep it low until the end, has nothing to do with Luxury.

Is there anyone buying PMDG for the luxury of it?

 

Wasn't my point.

 

Comparing PMDG Addons to a Mercedes Benz doesn't make sense to me.

 

Also, wasn't the point. It was more of an indirect comparison. Some companies charge what they do because they can, and aren't motivated by the potential additional sales through lowering prices.

 

PMDG Charges what they do to cover the years of several people doing nothing but developing all day long, I'm pretty sure after three years of sellings they can say the addon has covered that gap, and it makes totally sense to squeeze a little more money out of it by making a pretty good Sale.

 

Do they? Since when did PMDG become a full time employer? Ever wonder why add-ons have such a long development cycle? It's because they have primary jobs and lives to attend to. As I mentioned earlier, it really doesn't. You may think it does, but a good developer supports their product after the sale as well. So, yeah, they sell 1,000 more copies, but they now have to support 1,000 more people essentially for free now (Apple charges for such a service, as an example). Is it really worth it to make that extra money, but have to support that group? Additionally, as I argued in an earlier post, people who pay less for a product tend to take it less seriously. Compared to the group who paid full price, they may be proportionally less inclined to read the manuals, or approach it with the necessary seriousness for a study-level sim.

 

PMDG 737NGX doesn't need better price, it's worth every cent, and they should recover what they have spent with it, but the MD11 has probably already reached it's state of constant selling number, and it will now keep it low until the end, has nothing to do with Luxury.

 

I never said it had anything to do with luxury. As I said earlier in this post, my earlier point was more to say they aren't interested in the fringe sales as much as you'd perceive.

 

What you seem to fail to realize is that there are essentially zero initial costs here. Each one of the developers already had a computer, likely already had the necessary skill set, and have a job to cover their living costs. Sure, they put their blood, sweat and tears into it, but they didn't put any money into it, directly. With this, they have no costs to recoup. If they only sold one copy, they'd make $80 (minus taxes). If they sold 100,000, they'd make $8,000,000 (minus taxes). Dropping the price to pull in the fringe sales doesn't really have much of an added benefit.

 

If you look at console games, as an example, they do drop the prices to recoup the costs of production because they spent money on those CDs, and the cover art, and the employees who made the game. This isn't the case, however, with fully digital sales (the boxed editions are not sold by PMDG directly, so this is not their concern). Note that the boxed copies drop in price over time because they really just want the cost of its production to be offset. It isn't the depreciation of the software, it's the cost aversion of the seller. That box, CD, and artwork cost money, and selling it - albeit at a lower price - offsets that cost.

 

It's not as simple as you're making it.