Am I the only one here who started entirely with X-Plane and have never used FSX/P3D? Am I really missing out on that much?

I fly X-Plane for the scenery and lighting but to be honest the planes in FSX/P3D are of a significantly higher fidelity and less buggy. I can fly a PMDG Boeing or an Aerosoft 'Bus and be fairly sure the systems will work like the real thing within reason. X-Plane payware aircraft tend to be less reliable and many airliners do not have fully functional systems. Even those that do can often be susceptible to developer's whims rather than matching the real functionality. Case in point: JarDesign's first commercial effort, the A320neo has a Fisher Price MCDU and an FCU that constantly frustrate the operator. Rather than improve that they decided to move on to the A330 which still suffers the same frustrating systems (e.g. the MCDU annoyingly doesn't remove passed waypoints from the F-PLN page and the FCU doesn't allow runway heading to be set on the ground...!).

 

So that is why people like myself swing between sims (mind you I am not quite as much of a hussy as Jose or Mitch lol); we love them all and they all have their strengths.  :smile:

I fly X-Plane for the scenery and lighting but to be honest the planes in FSX/P3D are of a significantly higher fidelity and less buggy. I can fly a PMDG Boeing or an Aerosoft 'Bus and be fairly sure the systems will work like the real thing within reason. X-Plane payware aircraft tend to be less reliable and many airliners do not have fully functional systems. Even those that do can often be susceptible to developer's whims rather than matching the real functionality. Case in point: JarDesign's first commercial effort, the A320neo has a Fisher Price MCDU and an FCU that constantly frustrate the operator. Rather than improve that they decided to move on to the A330 which still suffers the same frustrating systems (e.g. the MCDU annoyingly doesn't remove passed waypoints from the F-PLN page and the FCU doesn't allow runway heading to be set on the ground...!).

 

So that is why people like myself swing between sims (mind you I am not quite as much of a hussy as Jose or Mitch lol); we love them all and they all have their strengths.  :smile:

 

As much as I can relate to your frustrations regarding JarDesign, can't count the numbers i screamed at the FMC/MCDU of the A320Neo, he never abbandonds the planes. the 2.4 beta currently is a huge improvement and the big rework update in the works will change even more.  Still i can completley agree that it should have been out of the box V2.4 but atleast he does no carrenado

 Am I correct in thinking that the stars are even correct in FSX? I'm sure I remember once seeing Orion whilst cruising at night above the clouds?

 

Yep, as well as in DCS and IL2 BoS which also accurately represent the Moon with it's correct position and phase, based on date :-)

And I hope they will make default clouds move with the wind. Quite unrealisting having clouds moving sideways (relative to the aircraft) when flying in a strong crosswind.

clouds moving sideways (relative to the aircraft) when flying in a strong crosswind.

Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a crosswind where the wind moves sideways as well? So what's wrong with that behaviour?

Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a crosswind where the wind moves sideways as well? So what's wrong with that behaviour?

 

Murmur means that, if the clouds AND the aircraft are in the same moving airmass, the only relative movement should be that of the aircraft relative to the clouds. If you're flying towards the clouds, at the same level, you shouldn't see them move sideways , because you'll be moving with them :-)

 

Of course if the clouds are at another ( higher / lower ) layer, then they can well be moving differently.

 

But I guess SkyMaxx already accounts for all of that ( ? ) 

Cockpit prep:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gkppPKWVi7w

 

Hope they put in a 1-click Vspeeds for dummies option!

 

PS. I love the monotone voice of the alerts, it reminds me of the ship's computer in Star Trek TOS.

This may be the only reason why I buy XP10.

First day purchase for me.

Looks aboslutely fantastic!

 

Hope they get all the sounds "right" before release. I.e. I think "bi*ching Betty" should say " Woop woop""Autopilot" when the APU is connected to the busses. Same goes for the stabilizer motion horn - it has two modes, 1: short duration movement: horn 2: Long duration movement: horn + "stabilizer motion" aural warning. Also think the STALL-warning should sound like "stall-all" - because the MD has two stall warning systems, where one of them has a slight timing offset in relation to the other, to indicate that they are both working properly when tested.

 

The "Betty" aural warning system is one of the reasons why I love the MDs - it´s almost impossible to get it wrong! The takeoff config warning for instance, tells you what´s not in the proper configuration - it doesn´t just say "beeeeep", and leave it to you to figure out whats wrong. It´s just brilliant:D As a child of the 80s, I just love the 8-bit sound! I remember I test drove a Peugeot 505 Turbo Injection from 1984 a decade ago - it had a similar aural, 8-bit, "takeoff" config warning system. It would tell you " beep beep oil pressure", "beep rear brake light" etc. Similar to the BMW "Check"-system at the time, although far more interesting.. Sadly - I didn´t by the car (and now there are almost none of them left).

Best regards

 

Kristoffer

A sure buy for me too, together with the iXEG 737, and of course, the PMDG dc-6 :-)

Preview of the first five liveries is up!

Looks like this baby is getting close!

http://rotatesim.com/md-80-liveries/

 

The MD-80 release will include ten liveries of the most popular companies that have used this aircraft in the real world. Of course Delta, AA (not ready yet) or Alitalia will be there.

2016 will be the year of xplane

Liveries look beautiful.