So the life on FSX now is about 7 years. Is it really worth while soaking money into it? Thats the one thing I didn't like about switching from FS9 to FSX was there were a lot of add ons worth hundreds of dollars that I couldn't bring with me. I recently finished my basement after a year and finally assembled my computer back together. In a couple days I bought the PMDG 777, Majestic Q400, OPUS weather. So about 200 bux like that. I am wondering if we are getting to the end of the life of FSX where putting more money into might simply be silly. Sooner or later something has to give, like X-plane taking over. It will just take ONE great company like PMDG to start developing and the rest will follow. Then its good bye FSX (looking forward to that day). 

Well Jack, it is a bit of a paradox. With addons, FSX is good for a few more years yet. Without addons, you would go back to FS9

If there was a obvious answer to the future then maybe I would say it wouldn't be worth it, but for now there isn't.

 

I personally will follow where ever PMDG goes as that is what I fly 95% of the time so for the foreseeable future it is FSX for me.

To be honest, I don't consider the future when I spend money on FSX add-ons.  Every single payware and freeware developer could close shop tomorrow,  and I'd have enough scenery to see and planes to learn to fly on to last me a very, very long time.

 

I have certain planes in my hangar (Q400, I'm looking at you) that could, on their own, deserve a solid year or two of learning how to fly properly.

 

Even if the next 'big thing' comes along, with which my current hangar of planes aren't compatible with, I'd still be happy with what I currently have, and probably spend the next few years slowly transitioning to the other sim, while enjoying both.

I'm guessing the community (for the lack of a better word) will fragment into FSX and P3D user bases. I'm not spending a dime on FSX addons anymore, and I've been a big spender (30-40 addons a year - for many years).

I'm guessing the community (for the lack of a better word) will fragment into FSX and P3D user bases. I'm not spending a dime on FSX addons anymore, and I've been a big spender (30-40 addons a year - for many years).

 

LM have said that they are working very hard to maintain backward compatibility with FSX even when they move to DX11 in P3D 2.0. Surely some add-ons will break, but the vast majority should continue to work fine. DX10 in FSX was different since it was just an experimental feature, which is why it breaks so many things and doesn't always work right.

Spendings are higher immediately after migrating from FS9 to FSX, compared to your spendings a couple of months later (new weather addon, new AI traffic, new scenery, new aircraft), because you want to bring up FSX, starting from default, to the same level you experienced in FS9 quickly.

 

Whatever happens with P3D and/or X-Plane, it won't render your FSX installation defunct. You can stick to FSX for a number of years, if you want to.

LM have said that they are working very hard to maintain backward compatibility with FSX even when they move to DX11 in P3D 2.0. Surely some add-ons will break, but the vast majority should continue to work fine. DX10 in FSX was different since it was just an experimental feature, which is why it breaks so many things and doesn't always work right.

 

LM has also said that at some point it will be neccessary to break the FSX link to move the technology forward. P3D 2 is a stepping stone away from FSX.  I also won't support any developer not supporting P3D. I put my money were my mouth is. I'm moving on to bluer skies.

 

As for FSX being alive for many years to come, I wouldn't count on in. I trust Microsoft as far as I can throw my FSX DVD. Suddenly the online activation goes dead. They've allready stopped support and closed down the real time weather database.  MIcrosoft has made it pretty clear that they detest the flight sim community. Me and Microsoft broke up january 2009. We tried getting back together for a while when FLIGHT was introduced, but I should have learned my lessons. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!

 

 

As for FSX being alive for many years to come, I wouldn't count on in. I trust Microsoft as far as I can throw my FSX DVD. Suddenly the online activation goes dead.

 

MS is still selling FSX in their store so I don't see activation support dropping anytime soon.

 

I figure if I get five more years out of FSX I'll be happy.

 

As for P3D, it's a possible next step for me, but there is no gurantee that LM won't drop the lower pricing tiers in the future and make it unaffordable.

 

Ernie

But wait, there's more. What if one of these days PMDG decides to split and no more PMDG. Then lo and behold guess who rises as the new giant? Captain Sim. Ha, I see some smiles.  (alright, just kidding).

 

 

As for FSX being alive for many years to come, I wouldn't count on in. I trust Microsoft as far as I can throw my FSX DVD. Suddenly the online activation goes dead.

 

Which is a good argument for making a backup copy of your install.  I have a couple of backups, representing several steps in my scenery / add-on / modification procedure.  Re-installing a pristine copy of FSX, if and when I need to, will take about 30 seconds.

 

Seriously though, without the next platform to jump to being yet available, the only person one hurts by refusing to look at any more FSX addons is oneself.  If the next platform isn't fully useable / comparable to your current FSX install for lets say, two years, you'll miss out on two years worth of potential time spent with current releases.

 

Everything computer based has a life expectancy, it's to be expected.  I'm sure I still have games kicking around on media for which I have no means of accessing.  Were those games a bad investment?  Not if I enjoyed them when they were relevant.  Who's to say in ten years from now that our current operating system will be around?  Or even our current idea of interacting with a computer?

 

The way I see it, anytime you make a software purchase for a computer you have to be aware of the fact that there's likely a finite period of time where it's: 1) useable on the current platform, 2) relevant and enjoyable compared to current software/games, 3) equivalent to the dollar value for which you paid.

 

Of course, the larger issue is that this is an extremely expensive hobby, if one wishes it to be!

LM has also said that at some point it will be neccessary to break the FSX link to move the technology forward. P3D 2 is a stepping stone away from FSX.  I also won't support any developer not supporting P3D. I put my money were my mouth is. I'm moving on to bluer skies.

 

As for FSX being alive for many years to come, I wouldn't count on in. I trust Microsoft as far as I can throw my FSX DVD. Suddenly the online activation goes dead. They've allready stopped support and closed down the real time weather database.  MIcrosoft has made it pretty clear that they detest the flight sim community. Me and Microsoft broke up january 2009. We tried getting back together for a while when FLIGHT was introduced, but I should have learned my lessons. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!

 

Um, I've been able to download weather.  The data comes from Jeppson, not MS...

Well, PMDG has a solid pipeline of products in development - I don't think they see FSX going anywhere soon...

FSX will be around for a while, look at FS9 ... still being used.  But if you're in a spending mood, you might want to wait and see what LM's P3D V2.0 offers for you before hitting the wallet.  And of course there is always X-plane's continued development (personal opinion here is their continued use of OpenGL and supporting multiple platforms Win/OSX/iOS is a drain on resources).

 

As has been pointed out, P3D is going to have to break compatibility with FSX at some point in order to move forward.  DX11 can work with older textures but to get the best out of what DX11 offers, entire new sets of textures should be created (and all that goes with that).  

 

And then there is FSX/P3D OOM problems with a 32bit address space, 64bit address space is the solution to this problem and that will hopefully come later P3D 3.0?  64bit will of course break any product that uses DLLs or EXEs ... these will most likely be easy to update with possible type allocation adjustments and a simple re-compile (not all cases such as more advanced products like PMDG and Majestic and a few others might be more involved). 

 

DX10 controller has certainly opened up some doors for extending FSX, it's not perfect but it has helped many.

 

Either way, whatever you go with - one or all products, it does appear that Flight simulation interest seems to be picking up ... perhaps it's the nature of such an "open" environment with infinite (almost) possibilities that people like ... OR maybe the younger generation is finally getting bored with hitting the same WADX Q and E and R and Spacebar repeatedly until the goal is achieved.

 

It's a good future, and we have choices, and we have the hardware to make it "as real as it gets" - 2014 is going to be even better year on the hardware front with Broadwell CPUs, DDR4 and 4K monitors, 3-way Titan's or AMD's ... I think 2014 is promising to be a very good year for flight simulation whether you pick one path or do more than one.

 

Rob

Um, I've been able to download weather.  The data comes from Jeppson, not MS...

Well, PMDG has a solid pipeline of products in development - I don't think they see FSX going anywhere soon...

 

I know, it was provided by Jeppesen (not Jeppson), but it has been stuck with the same weather for ages - aka no longer being updated.

 

FSX isn't going to die, I just don't see the point in spending more moeny on it, just as I stopped buying FS2004 addons years ago. I buy addons for P3D and support a sim going somewhere.

And of course there is always X-plane's continued development (personal opinion here is their continued use of OpenGL and supporting multiple platforms Win/OSX/iOS is a drain on resources).

 

Yeeeees, yes, let's neglect the pretty sizeable flight simulation market for Linux and Macs so that the Windows masterrace can enjoy 8129² px textures and simulated farting mice in the left main gear well.

 

 

 

(Fly! went up against MSFS and crashed and burned. Flight Unlimited - dead and gone. X-Plane...alive and kicking. I wonder why...)