PMDG- Why no demos?

[avgaskoolaid 292]

I would love to see PMDG release demos of their aircraft. Primarily they would be helpful for potential buyers to make sure that their system can handle the aircraft, but they would also be good if someone wants to see if THEY can handle such a complex aircraft. I'm sure that there is a reason why PMDG does not have demos, so what is it? Does it have something to do with piracy? 

[mgh 89]

Maybe PMDG doesn't see any need for release/demo versions?

[KL Oo 695]

The company relies on reputation and word of mouth as to their quality and realism (justifiably so in my opinion). I don't see them needing to release demos like some other developers. 

 

I don't think the people who buy their products would be under any disillusions as to the complexities of the addon.

[ohsirus 241]

[avgaskoolaid 292]

The company relies on reputation and word of mouth as to their quality and realism (justifiably so in my opinion). I don't see them needing to release demos like some other developers. 

 

I don't think the people who buy their products would be under any disillusions as to the complexities of the addon.

I'm sure they're not under any disillusions, but someone who thinks that the plane is too complex and decides not to buy it may find it not to be that bad after using the demo. But that was a secondary point, anyway. The main point of demos, in my mind, is to ensure that the product can run on your computer adequately. Fear of poor performance is one (ONE) of the reasons why I have not yet bought either the 737 or 777. 

 

What do you mean by this? I'm confused. It was a serious question...

[Hirdy2013 104]

Was wondering the same.

 

Hirdy

[Lude2Envy 11]

I would love to see PMDG release demos of their aircraft. Primarily they would be helpful for potential buyers to make sure that their system can handle the aircraft, but they would also be good if someone wants to see if THEY can handle such a complex aircraft. I'm sure that there is a reason why PMDG does not have demos, so what is it? Does it have something to do with piracy? 

 

Generally, if you can run FSX without issues then you can probably run PMDG addons. The most important thing is to make sure you meet the minimum system requirements listed on their product page. If you're using additional addons (scenery, weather, etc..), the biggest issue is to make sure you have a 64-bit OS with more than 4GB of RAM to prevent any OOMs. While the complexity is high with PMDG products, they all come with excellent FCOMS and tutorial flights. PMDG doesn't really need to release demos because their reputation speaks for itself. There are plenty of written and video reviews on the internet to showcase their aircraft while the forum is a great place to have additional questions answered. 

[pete_auau 1,152]

Is  there a pay ware version that runs a demo? I know that flight 1  gives a 30 day refund policy  back if it don't work

[zmak 331]

Your going to upset some very powerful people  :Shame On You:  

 

 

:Just Kidding: 

[xplanery 250]

I think it would be quite difficult to create a demo that would remain useful and full enough to give users a clear idea of the full product, yet impossible for people to abuse (like for pirates to crack it so that it functions like the full product).

 

Regards,

 

Joona L

[Don t moderate me this way 882]

PMDG have been very fair with their system spec recommendations. Get/Have a PC according to their recommendation, and it will run the respective aircraft just fine.

My PC was built according to their NGX recommendation and it still runs the B777, or any PMDG aircraft, nicely.

 

Complexity is only there if you really want it: In order to get the full complexity out of a PMDG aircraft, you have to enable the failure mode - your call entirely. Without the failures even a PMDG plane can be configured for takeoff quickly, and flown in a casual way, except for, maybe, their JS4100.

[avgaskoolaid 292]

Generally, if you can run FSX without issues then you can probably run PMDG addons. The most important thing is to make sure you meet the minimum system requirements listed on their product page. If you're using additional addons (scenery, weather, etc..), the biggest issue is to make sure you have a 64-bit OS with more than 4GB of RAM to prevent any OOMs. While the complexity is high with PMDG products, they all come with excellent FCOMS and tutorial flights. PMDG doesn't really need to release demos because their reputation speaks for itself. There are plenty of written and video reviews on the internet to showcase their aircraft while the forum is a great place to have additional questions answered. 

This is an excellent point. I guess that I would still like to see some sort of demo so that people can test the addon to ensure that it gives them frame rates that they are happy with (some people don't mind running FSX at 10 FPS if that's the best they can get, other people like to keep FPS up if they can). But, like I said, good point and I don't expect to see a demo from PMDG any time soon. And who knows? I could be entirely off in both my assumptions of what people want and the performance hit of PMDG aircraft.

 

Your going to upset some very powerful people  :Shame On You:  

 

 

:Just Kidding: 

Why would I? I'm just asking a question. That's what forums are for. If these powerful people are indeed upset I invite them to either write a reply or PM me to let me know why. 

 

I think it would be quite difficult to create a demo that would remain useful and full enough to give users a clear idea of the full product, yet impossible for people to abuse (like for pirates to crack it so that it functions like the full product).

 

Regards,

 

Joona L

I'm sure it would be, but seeing as how PMDG has been able to keep pirates from cracking the 777 so far (to the best of my knowledge), I would assume that they could develop some sort of software demo that they feel is secure. Again, though, this is just an assumption, and I am not a developer so I have no idea how difficult this task would be.

[MorsAbAlto 19]

I guess there are a few major reasons for not making demo versions.

 

Piracy is certainly one of them.

 

But also the effort to make a "lo-fi" version out of a complex airliner would be rather prohibitive, as all the systems of the aircraft are linked in some way. If you follow these forums on a regular basis, you can see how the developers sometimes break a system or feature by trying to fix a small bug in another. To publish a bug free demo version takes a lot of work and is a small project in itself, likely too much effort for too little gain in this case.

 

Then there is licensing. Some people have violated the PMDG EULA by using their FSX products within P3D. This lead to an uproar by PMDGs licensing partners, i.e. Boeing. It seems likely that Boeing would not approve if PMDG gave away their intellectual property for free and PMDG certainly would not risk to endanger their agreement with Boeing. The license agreement might very well prohibit demo versions and you better know your legal stuff, when dealing with multi-billion dollar companies.

 

Finally, there are so many "Let's play" videos on YouTube and Twitch and reviews in magazines and on websites. There is no real need for a demo version. 

[zmak 331]

 

 

Your going to upset some very powerful people    
 
 
 
Why would I? I'm just asking a question. That's what forums are for. If these powerful people are indeed upset I invite them to either write a reply or PM me to let me know why. 

 

LOL there are no powerful people, you pay your money, you get the product. I guess you missed the just kidding emoticon in my post

[avgaskoolaid 292]

LOL there are no powerful people, you pay your money, you get the product. I guess you missed the just kidding emoticon in my post

Oops, my bad. I guess it's a little early for me to pick up on that haha. But there are 'powerful' people on this forum (and by that I mean mods and various PMDG devs, I guess 'power' is a relative term here) and I know that they have a zero tolerance policy regarding piracy. I guess I thought that you were implying that they would misconstrue my question as supporting piracy in some way. No matter, though!