Orbx remarks about X-Plane

[tkyler 88]

Awesome! Totally agree carrotroot! I'm adding that quote to "my list"!

[alainneedle1 97]

Not a personal issuse Orbx and X-plane its likely cost benefit analysis the CEO is making, and X-plane setup likely means extra costs to retool thier scenery to work in X-plane enviroment. Obrx is like any other company it needs revenue to sustain itself, but if Xplane users grow and thier revenue from FSX and P3d falls they will be forced by market conditions to switch making products to X-plane.

 

Good point but after JV's comments (severals of them about XP) he will look like a bigger fool if he does, he said before that he will NEVER make scenery for XP, not maybe or we will see but NEVER as they are a MS FSX addons company.

[Muskoka 104]

Not a personal issuse Orbx and X-plane

 

giz, do you know both these gentlemen personally? I imagine about as much as I do. It's not accurate / logical to speculate one way or the other about personalities, it could very well be for personal reasons, were not JV, we don't know.

 

To "not" develop for "business" reasons, and or, at least give it a honest look, doesn't make sense. There is potential here to make a lot of money with Xplane. Perhaps he did give it and look, do we honestly know?

 

To "not" develop for "personal" reasons, could be considered "childish", and a lost opportunity, but it's his business, and "if" he doesn't like the man, or his product, for what ever reason, it's his choice, he can do and say what he wants.

 

Don't like what he said, don't support his products, simple enough.

 

Glen

[gizmosellsbunnys 106]

Good point but after JV's comments (severals of them about XP) he will look like a bigger fool if he does, he said before that he will NEVER make scenery for XP, not maybe or we will see but NEVER as they are a MS FSX company.

 

Obrx CEO may hate Xplane its founder but if you are low on money as company you will take risks to stay afloat for economic surival. JV lucky not at public company as shareholder can revolt influence board of directions as they have the ability to remove CEOs.

[MSFS Ralf 149]

I remember RR of PMDG telling us never to release add on planes for FS. At this time they sold a PS1 744 manual and planes for FLY! Time will tell.

[Guest]

I don't doubt your contact with them, but can you tell who at Laminar stated this? If like to get further clarification, as I have serious doubts. As someone familiar with the sound engine to a large degree, I am every bit confident that X-Plane uses SoftAL, not DX.

 

I'll be happy to PM or email you and forward my contacts at LM with you, but this is not the place for that. I've moved over to communicating with LM directly for clarification of current and future technology use. LM have been VERY responsive and supportive in my communications with them - which is refreshing.

 

As you can see from "no programmer" comments in this thread, people don't understand what DX is nor what OpenGL and versions of each and why versions are important -- I'm basically looking at what the LCD is (lowest common denominator). I understand why you "think" LM used DX references ... and you maybe correct in that assumption, I'm not debating that and you've agreed it was poorly worded.

 

But in my specific context (as a programmer), my concern is over what Apple will do and how/if LM are tied to what Apple will do in regards to OpenGL 4.3 support. I know Apple too well, they drop products and/or break compatibility faster than Microsoft do, much faster ... I've gone thru enough "dropped support for it" with Apple thru my years under ADC. To Microsoft's credit, they do make a strong attempt to retain a compatibility chain. As a potential 3rd party developer, this IS important to me.

 

I hope I'm making myself more clear. If not, well then I'm sorry, but this is about as much motivation as I can find to put into this thread.

 

Cheers, Rob

[JasonHarris 96]

As a potential 3rd party developer do you not care how many people might be using xplane and how many might use your product?

 

 

If LR sells 5 million copies of xplane based on an old version of opengl should that make any difference to you as a 3rd party developer? I bet it wouldnt make any difference to others?

 

As a developer myself it didnt take very long to understand that xplane uses opengl. As you are a developer it should not have taken you very long with your apple knowledge to realise that xplane would probably not be using DX as it also runs on osx/ios and linux.

 

I am surprised with your comments and stated knowledge that you assumed based only on a one liner that said 'recommended card' what xplane would use. Most games dont have much relation with the technology they use to what they state in their recommended hardware one liner.

 

Some of what you are saying seems contradictory to me.

[jjjallen 37]

There is something to be said for having the same developer for the game API and the OS. IOW the reason that I will only support DirectX games is because I can be assured that the 2 will work in harmony. While I have nothing against GL games I feel that it is another layer of complexity that my system shouldn't have to deal with.

 

That said my only option for an FSX upgrade is P3D 2.0 which seems to be the best path at this point in time.

 

To put a finer point on it - I don't do Apple and I don't do OpenGL.

 

Cheers

jja

[woweezowee 10]

As a potential 3rd party developer, this IS important to me.

 

Just curious: what exactly do you want to develop that's not possible with the OpenGL version that's used by Apple today? That sounds to me like it has to be something really great.

[JasonHarris 96]

There is something to be said for having the same developer for the game API and the OS. IOW the reason that I will only support DirectX games is because I can be assured that the 2 will work in harmony. While I have nothing against GL games I feel that it is another layer complexity that my system shouldn't have to deal with.

 

That said my only option for an FSX upgrade is P3D 2.0 which seems to be the best path at this point in time.

 

Cheers

jja

 

Thats not how it works though, microsoft may have written the os but the implementation of the dx layer lies with nvidia and AMD.

 

Microsoft started DX but it is done with the hardware makers these days as it is so much tied to them as microsoft. The same way that DX is developed opengl is done this way as well with the hardware manufacturers making up part of the committee that drafts it. The way opengl and DX are developed by the developers is the same, there is not the difference you think there is.

[jjjallen 37]

Umm - DirectX is a Microsoft technology and Windows 8 requires DirectX to run or am I missing something?

 

Cheers

jja

[JasonHarris 96]

Who do you think has written those directx (the graphical ones) drivers? Where do you go to get the latest version of them, from nvidia or AMD, most likely one or the other. The programmed the drivers. Microsoft develops the specification alongside others.

 

You are getting confused with the specifications and who is actually writing some of the code, it's not all microsoft with nice microsoft code playing happily with microsoft drivers. The DX drivers made by the hardware developrs is not really any different than the opengl drivers they create.

[jjjallen 37]

Good points. the fact remains however that my OS runs on DirectX and not OpenGL.

 

Cheers

jja

[JasonHarris 96]

Yes, the os does use directX although that has no bearing on how well a game will perform using either dx or opengl.

[JonRD463 146]

Guys, I've decided I'm only going to wear Nike socks from now on. Since my shoes are Nike, it's clear to me that the best socks to wear are Nike as well. Lord knows what sorts of problems I'd have if I mixed Fruit of the Loom socks with my shoes.