Black Box Announce A340 Series

[Baylorguy 39]

I am near completion of my first trans Atlantic flight with the A330 as I type this.  I must say... the FMC is already the most complete airbus one that I have used and the FBW characteristics are great. Very strong managed mode (I have AXE to compare to).  So far the only minus I can tell so far is the eye candy.  The VC is nice... but not on par texture wise with the AXE.  That being said, being that V .80 is right around the corner, I expect even more improvements.

 

As it stands this is already a great payware aircraft... has everything I want... airac can be updated via navigraph, full autoland, strong FMC, good managed mode... and textures will come.  P3D is severely lacking a good wide body, and this one has solved that for me.

 

Regarding the comment about the developer(s) having a bad attitude... these guys respond almost immediately... and I would venture a guess that if any of us were asked the same question 50 times that we would get frustrated.  I have had nothing but good experiences with them.   

 

There is another very well known developer on here that is far, far worse at how they treat their customers.  They get away with murder in terms of dragging their customers through the mud, yet many on here worship the ground they walk on. 

[xplanery 250]

 

 

I must say... the FMC is already the most complete airbus one that I have used and the FBW characteristics are great.

 

Last time I checked the FBW made the aircraft turn extremely slowly, full left/right stick was required for a normal turn. Also stall protections really didn't seem to work properly. 

 

I think the A330 is currently quite unflyable for those who expect any realistic FBW behavior. 

[Baylorguy 39]

Last time I checked the FBW made the aircraft turn extremely slowly, full left/right stick was required for a normal turn. Also stall protections really didn't seem to work properly. 

 

I think the A330 is currently quite unflyable for those who expect any realistic FBW behavior. 

 

  I'd venture a guess that most of us have never experienced real FBW, and hence I am unable to comment on how close it is.  Perhaps I am not as picky as other simmers, but so far I have been mostly happy.  The idea here is to realize it is a WIP... and as such it is pretty darn good as of right now, and also allows me to fly long hauls on P3D.  I didn't say it was perfect, but it is far better than what some make it out to be.

[DavidP 1,410]

  I'd venture a guess that most of us have never experienced real FBW, and hence I am unable to comment on how close it is.  Perhaps I am not as picky as other simmers, but so far I have been mostly happy.  The idea here is to realize it is a WIP... and as such it is pretty darn good as of right now, and also allows me to fly long hauls on P3D.  I didn't say it was perfect, but it is far better than what some make it out to be.

+1

[qnh 70]

being that V .80 is right around the corner, I expect even more improvements.

 

v .80 has been right around the corner for quite some time now. 

[Baylorguy 39]

v .80 has been right around the corner for quite some time now. 

 

Every development company of 3rd party aircraft takes a huge amount of time to release updates (based on your sig you are also a PMDG fan, so we both know how the waiting game works).  

[DavidP 1,410]

v .80 has been right around the corner for quite some time now. 

 

So has FSLabs - about 4 years at last count.

[qnh 70]

Quite true to both respondents, there is however a difference and it is called money. Yes it was released as a prologue and I have no issue with that, but with payment comes a responsibility and Graham unfortunately is not meeting his. His supercilious responses of "soon" to any request for information are both annoying and insulting as is his lack of customer care. 

[HighTowers 1,434]

Its very flyable, but definitely needs improvements in certain things. Its nice to fly the A330. But even though they are similar, I would have preferred they concentrate on finishing the A330 and then just adding on the A340 later with the completed code. 

 

They said that the V80.0 A330 would be released about 4 weeks after the A320 and here we are way over that. Sure theres delays but its a little annoying. Will have to give them the benefit of the doubt for now, and hope that sooner really does mean within the next week or so. Perhaps it will be worth it, especially for finally having a heavy in p3d.

[G MIDY 101]

So has FSLabs - about 4 years at last count.

 

The FSLabs I believe will certainly be worth the wait though. Judging on the feature list and it's depth based on comments on their forum; their product should easily surpass in terms of realism any aircraft ever made for FS.

[Baylorguy 39]

Quite true to both respondents, there is however a difference and it is called money. Yes it was released as a prologue and I have no issue with that, but with payment comes a responsibility and Graham unfortunately is not meeting his. His supercilious responses of "soon" to any request for information are both annoying and insulting as is his lack of customer care. 

 

This is a good point... their philosophy is a bit different than others who may want to "perfect" things before they are released.  I suppose in a way it can be a bit of a gamble, but thus far the evidence shows consistent updates for all their products (albeit slow at times).  I have not had any issues with the developers and on the contrary have found them very helpful.  If "soon" is the worst they have said in terms of offending their purchasers, all I have to do is point to a forum of a well known company and I will not be able to count the number of insults hurled at their customers.  The way I look at it... they are waiting on some final coding for V .80... so rather than just sit their, one of the developers has thrown in the A340 for free... fine by me!

The FSLabs I believe will certainly be worth the wait though. Judging on the feature list and it's depth based on comments on their forum; their product should easily surpass in terms of realism any aircraft ever made for FS.

 

Lawrence, their product does look amazing and I would be picking it up if I didn't already have the exceptional AXE.  

[A330-300 88]

I have the Blackbox Airbus A320 v0.8 package, and it's great. It fixes the sluggish FBW and this is by far the best feeling Airbus available in FSX right now.

 

Visually it's nothing that great, but systems wise it's one of the best A320s available, and it's easy on the frame rate as well.

 

The A330/A340 should become as good with the v0.8 update whenever it's released.

[dbw1 445]

I've got the A320 & 330. The 330 though still a ways from being finished I find is pretty good. Looking forward to future versions of it and the new 340 when it is available.

 

Dave

[Phillip Gallagher 101]

I have the Blackbox Airbus A320 v0.8 package, and it's great. It fixes the sluggish FBW and this is by far the best feeling Airbus available in FSX right now.

 

Visually it's nothing that great, but systems wise it's one of the best A320s available, and it's easy on the frame rate as well.

 

The A330/A340 should become as good with the v0.8 update whenever it's released.

I find this "great" comment highly dubious in reference to the BB A320...do you work fo BB?  I don't recommend that anyone buy BlackBox they're not true addon players and their products are half-baked.   

[A330-300 88]

I find this "great" comment highly dubious in reference to the BB A320...do you work fo BB?  I don't recommend that anyone buy BlackBox they're not true addon players and their products are half-baked.   

 

Yeah, I do, because liking a product that you don't makes me a paid worker for BB. /sarcasm

 

There are people who like Wilco's Airbus products as well. Blackbox's product is much better. Visually it is nowhere near AXE but systems-wise it is better in some ways and worse in others. 

 

Have you used it? v0.8 is pretty good. It flies well and there are not many bugs present. A lot of people criticize BB for releasing an 'unfinished' product, but people have to realize that the product is unfinished systems wise. When it comes to bugs v0.8 doesn't mean that there are a lot of bugs, it's overall a pretty smooth addon, it's just that they haven't finished implementing everything they want. It's completely flyable though.