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Tom Allensworth

Questions for Laminar Research - Users Invited

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When can we get key bindings like the FS series? I know it is impolite to compare, but the biggest hurdle for my adoption of X Plane is the inability to set up keys to cycle operations. Last time I tried X Plane, I needed a different key assignment to raise and lower the gear - etc. Which was annoying and hard to learn.

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Are these dark enough? :wink:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDAsvSHeFKw

 

Oh yessss :wub:, these ones are dark enough. But unfortunately the current version of XP10 has much brighter shadows (at least my XP10.25). Up to XP10.03 (or so) they were much darker - and also in XP9 (even in XP8 as far as I remember).

 

I started also a discussion on the org on this issue, with some links as it was before and links of real life shots.

When can we get key bindings like the FS series? I know it is impolite to compare, but the biggest hurdle for my adoption of X Plane is the inability to set up keys to cycle operations. Last time I tried X Plane, I needed a different key assignment to raise and lower the gear - etc. Which was annoying and hard to learn.

 

I don't want to turn this into one of these fruitless XP vs. FSX/P3D discussions, but XP keys are usually easier and more intuitive than in the "other" sim - see here. The only "hard" thing about this "issue" is to learn something new, even if it's easier in the end.


My sceneries (excerpt): LPMA Madeira, LGSR Santorini, the city of Fürth (Germany), ...

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When can we get key bindings like the FS series? I know it is impolite to compare, but the biggest hurdle for my adoption of X Plane is the inability to set up keys to cycle operations. Last time I tried X Plane, I needed a different key assignment to raise and lower the gear - etc. Which was annoying and hard to learn.

 

The entire input key set can be reconfigured. Make your own, save it to disk, share it.


Author of Gizmo64 for X-Plane.

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Great idea here's a few...

 

1. What is LR's mid to long term goals (3-5years)? Do you (Austin M.) aspire for XP to compete for the commercial flight simulator market or does your interest in XP remain more personal in nature. If your intent is for XP to be the leader in the flight simulator enthusiast market how do you intend to get there?

 

2. LR isn't a large company in the world of business so how do you intend to compete with a global aerospace giant like LM for the flight simulator market; and perhaps more importantly convince third party developers to support your platform rather than go with a competitor?

 

3. Has LR ever considered outsourcing portions of the sim to be developed by other teams of developers and thus allow you to focus on core improvments, especially with regard to common areas of complaints (regional autogen, lack of landmarks, A/I traffic, seasonal artwork)?

 

4. With crowd sourcing the idea behind populating the worlds airports how does LR intend to maintain quality control/assurance on these user based submissions when quality variation is commonplace. If it requires additional staffing wont this slow development further?

 

5. Interfacing aircraft controls is considered by some to be difficult. LR has remained firm on not implementing mouse wheel manipulators yet with XP10 several "by popular demand" improvments to the sim have been made. Will LR consider any new options for users to improve their ability to control their aircraft; not just mouse wheel manipulators but persistent and easily configurable control layout configurations similar to what FSUIPC offers to the MSFS community?

 

Edit- I see some of the questions have already been asked while I was typing this but I'll leave them included for emphasis.


RE Thomason Jr.

 

 

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A common observation of X-Plane is that it seems geared more towards intermediate or advanced simmers, or real-life pilots. To that end, what is Laminar Research's goal/mission statement when it comes to X-Plane - specifically, will the focus remain more towards the engineering and aeronautics niche of simming, or will it become more inclusive of more casual simmers?

 

Followup: If inclusion of casual simmers is desired, what steps are currently planned for X-Plane 10 to meet that goal?

 

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Will we have a correct AI traffic one day ? Like Ultimate Traffic 2 for FSX, where we can assign real flightplans to aircraft, real schedules time and route, and assign aircraft repaints ?

 

 

Stéphane LI-THIAO-TE

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I disagree about the airport buildings, as I recall there have been only about 250 airports added that have supplied buildings in the latest build 10.25.

 

Promises have been made but this is the single biggest issue with me and other users.

 

Pressure must be applied to Laminar to insure this void in buildings is addressed.

 

Bill Clark 


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I disagree about the airport buildings, as I recall there have been only about 250 airports added that have supplied buildings in the latest build 10.25.

 

Promises have been made but this is the single biggest issue with me and other users.

 

Pressure must be applied to Laminar to insure this void in buildings is addressed.

 

Bill Clark 

 

250 airports might not be alot but remember that WED went into effect only a couple of months ago. as the user base grows im sure we will have much better/ larger collection in years to come

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As you said, "airports have been addressed." Well they have not, as the latest release of 250 is but a tiny fraction of the near 33,000 total X-Plane has according to a review I read.

 

And you also said "and in future updates I'm sure they will add more" or words to that effect. I interpret this as a "hope" on your part as you don't really know for sure what final total count will be via the WED "crowdsourcing" tool.

 

Microsoft airports have buildings at every airport, X-Plane does not.......X-Plane is a really great platform, but it needs buildings at every airport.

 

So my complaint is, that you make a statement that this is not important to you, and should be discounted based on your personal opinion, even though I and another individual have stated it is important to us.

 

So we, and possibly others, want this shortcoming included in the list.

 

If you have a request, then add it, but don't discount others who differ with you about what is important.

 

I know the AVSIM team will look at these requests and provide Laminar with a great list.

 

Bill Clark


Windows 10 Pro, Ver 21H2

CPU I5-8600K 5.0GHz, GPU Nvidia RTX 3090 VRAM 24GB

Gigabyte Z370 Gaming 7, 2TB M2.NVMe, RAM 32GB

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Will we have a correct AI traffic one day ? Like Ultimate Traffic 2 for FSX, where we can assign real flightplans to aircraft, real schedules time and route, and assign aircraft repaints ?

 

I'd love to see a better AI behaviour myself, but IMHO it isn't fair to expect features like this (relatively complex, non-flight model related, and apparently only available in a paid add-on anyway on the other platform) incorporated "for free" into the base X-Plane product anytime soon.

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When can we get key bindings like the FS series? I know it is impolite to compare, but the biggest hurdle for my adoption of X Plane is the inability to set up keys to cycle operations. Last time I tried X Plane, I needed a different key assignment to raise and lower the gear - etc. Which was annoying and hard to learn.

 

I'm pretty sure the same key, "g", will both raise and lower gear. Some other functions have toggle options e.g. autopilot toggle as well as separate autopilot on/off options but might not have keys assigned by default, you'd have to check the Joystick/Equipment options under keys to see all available options.

 

For cycling views, there's nothing built-in but you can try the Cycle Views plug-in (I don't use it myself, just came across it in an earlier discussion and thought I'd pass it on): http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=15665

 

What other cycling operations do you use in the other sim?

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Although not a question, but to inform the uninformed :P: X-Plane has seasons since years, but not in a way you may expect - you can't see it visually, but only in flight through icing on the wings (and the correspondent consequences) or through icy runways, and thus (much) longer braking distances. And there are so many more items, which aren't visible visually, but add a lot to the flying experience.

 

Apart from that - two questions from me:

  1. Would it be possible to have again (!!) darker cloud shadows (or maybe a slider in the rendering options for tuning it to the own liking)? I miss this great feature, since it adds a lot to the immersion. EDIT: I miss the cloud shadows more than seasonal textures ...

 

Respectfully, I found it ironic that you seemed to be downplaying the missing season textures by saying effects of the seasons are simulated, even though their visual absence obviously greatly detracts from immersion when looking outside the cockpit... then ask about cloud shadows, the lessening of which causes you the very same kind of immersion problem, but has no impact on the flying experience  :wink:

 

I doubt your intent was to downplay it, but lacking a disclaimer like "I agree this is a problem, but just FYI...", it came across this way.

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X-plane usually is seen as an ongoing project, pretty much perpetually in beta until the next project in the series is announced.

 

If that is correct, what can users and developers expect an X-plane 10 "Final" to include as far as "completed" features before moving on to X-plane 11?


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My own questions:

 

1a) What are the top 10 features, complaints, or requested fixes submitted by users

1b) What priority has been assigned to them; or if they've been rejected, why and perhaps what would it take to change your minds?

 

In some cases we know steps are being taken to address them, even if it's still early in process and results aren't yet satisfactory globally (e.g. getting crowdsourced airport buildings into the official product; upcoming scenery recuts), I'm not too concerned about those. I'm more interested in why some are considered lower priority, and ones that've been rejected despite high demand even from long-time X-Plane users (e.g. scroll wheel for dials/other manipulators).

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Folks, there are some of you, with intent or otherwise, that are hi-jacking this whole thread. If you do NOT have a question of LR, then do not post here. Your wasting space and intent. Let's get this back on track. What questions do you have of LR? Again, if you do not have a question, then do not post here.

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