German Interview with Phillip Münzel includes some news about coming features

[alpha12125 213]

http://fs-kurier.de/interviews/uebersicht/2947-philipp-muenzel-ein-technikfreak-mit-flugzeug-tick.html

 

if someone is interested there is some info there that afaik hasnt been posted anywhere. Google Translate does somewhat a good job or maybe someone German has the time to write a translation

 

some highlights include:  seasons, hardware tesselation, opengl 4, vastly increased autogen function including differnt regions,  crowdsourcing autogen object in a similar way to airports. etc.

[tonywob 4,768]

Thanks for the link, this is a very interesting interview.

 

Since X-Plane 11 was mentioned, I'm guessing this is  a "confirmation" that this is now under development, and we'll see the above promised features in that release. 

 

So, we see they are really trying to nab new users over from their mobile versions, and also bringing across features such as a simpler interface, missions, etc. Most people here will probably snub this, but I think it will go a long way to getting more users using X-Plane.

 

I'm curious about crowdsourcing the autogen. For Europe, we've had this for a while now with the Europe Library and also the world-models library for World2XPlane. If they are after regional models, we literally have hundreds of them already. How about regional style roads, better documentation, etc.. this would be very much welcome. The community for X-Plane has since a long time already taken it upon theirselves to build this. The news about the updatable scenery is very exciting, as OSM has come a long way since 2011.

[FloB 34]

If a specific question arises I will be glad to assist.
No time for a full translation.

 

Concerning future releases:

- Expect changes in the UI and a new particle system anytime soon in XPX.

- Hope for updated global scenery based on latest osm data in the near future

- Wait for shader based seasons, tesselation and regional autogen, coming in XP11

 

All information is subject to change

Flo

[tonywob 4,768]

There didn't seem to be a mention of the all too common "ATC, AI, Weather" updates (Maybe lost in translation). I really hope these don't get brushed aside. I know they are wanting to grab in new simmers, but please don't forget about your current loyal user base who have been waiting patiently for these since 2011 ;-)

[alpha12125 213]

There didn't seem to be a mention of the all too common "ATC, AI, Weather" updates (Maybe lost in translation). I really hope these don't get brushed aside. I know they are wanting to grab in new simmers, but please don't forget about your current loyal user base who have been waiting patiently for these since 2011 ;-)

 

the interview didnt sound like a complete featurelist but merely a glimpse on what to expect. I even doubt that it was meant as an official publication on xp11

[tonywob 4,768]

 

 

the interview didnt sound like a complete featurelist but merely a glimpse on what to expect. I even doubt that it was meant as an official publication on xp11

 

Understood, I was reading with google translate, so lots of stuff was garbled or didn't make sense :smile:

 

What I did gather is that their target audience is new flight simmers (Steam and iOS), and they're simply not that interested in grabbing the existing FSX/P3D crowd, and adding features that FSX has and those users request. Whether or not this an official confirmation, at least it explains why LR don't seem to acknowledge the common requests of such features and are going for new users and younger people.

[mdavis 10]

There are several types of users to attempt to please.  The mobil crowd will seek a simplified UI, I think.  The FSX/P3D crowd are after eye candy, although there are a lot of them who are complexity-oriented (i.e. PMDG, etc.).  A lot of the XP faithful seem to be on the European, Australian side of the water.  I fly both FSX and XP10 and even with the "deficiencies" of XP10 compared to FSX, there are a lot of "deficiencies" in FSX compared to XP10.  XP10, warts and all, is my sim of choice for 90% of my flying in the current "state of the art" and I'm good with whatever comes along.

 

I began with an Atari 800 and 8K (that's "K", not "M") of RAM and a subLogic 5¼" floppy looking at a solid line between blue sky and green ground.  I can live with about anything that continues to reduce the amount of imagination required.

[Humpty 751]

It would be better with a pure english version. Can't make much of it. Some words feel they want to capture P3d guys and some hmmm.

 

Whack whack no weather whack whack.

[tonywob 4,768]

 

 

Some words feel they want to capture P3d guys and some hmmm.

 

Not the impression I got. AFAIK, they've said that P3D is not appealing to new users because you simply can't buy it off the shelf or in a gaming store, which I agree with. Their market base/approach is new users, youngersters, casual gamers, etc.. I'm all for this, because this is basically how I got back into flight simming after a few years break. I saw X-Plane for the iPhone, played around with it for a few days, and then went out and bought the desktop version

 

..but I think X-Plane 11 or whatever version will have these features will have to keep the newcomer interested. When I purchased XP9 after using the iOS version, I lasted maybe a month or two before I dumped the thing and went over to FSX with ORBX scenery, as the scenery available at the time was pretty bad, and all the videos and screenshots I saw of FSX put XP9 to shame. X-Plane 10 is much better, but it's going to need something special to stop people jumping ship to another sim when they see what is available on those other platforms.

[Humpty 751]

@Tony,

 

 That's the problem wait and watch thing , which is making me dump XPX and go back to the FS series.

 

 It's like oh we have an update ah wow did they fix that weather ? that AI ? nah not for me.

 

 No doubt the visuals and the 3d depth is stunning and it has the best freeware add ons which takes it 10 notches to the top but hey it feels dead most of the times.

 

But as we simmers what everything in a sim from head to toe which is very difficult. You will never have it.

 

I see it this way , XPX can go be the top most simulator if they want it to be.

 

But are simmers willing to wait for it to happen ?

 

 

 

P.S :   Looks like I will have to really leave XPX damn my hdd has crashed and it's a physical one. So i am stuck with FSX on a 160   GB oops

[LAdamson 240]

There are several types of users to attempt to please.  The mobil crowd will seek a simplified UI, I think.  The FSX/P3D crowd are after eye candy, although there are a lot of them who are complexity-oriented (i.e. PMDG, etc.).  A lot of the XP faithful seem to be on the European, Australian side of the water.  I fly both FSX and XP10 and even with the "deficiencies" of XP10 compared to FSX, there are a lot of "deficiencies" in FSX compared to XP10.  XP10, warts and all, is my sim of choice for 90% of my flying in the current "state of the art" and I'm good with whatever comes along.

 

A few notes here. Sure, I'm into to eye candy, as I think the high cost of real life flight would have not been worth it, if there wasn't something special to see. Some of the best panoramic views from altitude were only minutes away, from where I live.  If just seeing that runway, after hours of grayness is someones  thing, then computer flying is a whole lot cheaper.  I'm having a great time with X-Plane 10 and FSX right now, thanks to eye candy. The X-Plane mountains and water look magnificent at sunset, especially at 65 to 165 fps.  And that's default, right out of the box. The majority of my real life flying was around and over rugged mountain country.  I'm very pleased!  

 

But, this does bring up another point. I flew a lot of different airplanes in my real life flying. Flight models are an essential part of my simming. Very important!  This applies to both FSX and X-Plane 10.  What I'm saying............is that it just isn't about eye candy. I've also been into flight simming, since the beginning of computer flight.

[alpha12125 213]

Not the impression I got. AFAIK, they've said that P3D is not appealing to new users because you simply can't buy it off the shelf or in a gaming store, which I agree with. Their market base/approach is new users, youngersters, casual gamers, etc.. I'm all for this, because this is basically how I got back into flight simming after a few years break. I saw X-Plane for the iPhone, played around with it for a few days, and then went out and bought the desktop version

 

Ok i will translate the p3d part roughly:

 

the question was "How does x-plane see itself in relation to other flight sims, mainly p3d from Lokheed"

 

The answer will probably get into the Eula discussion but i hope that is not a problem

 

the answer was basically: " P3D has a big advantage and that is the very simple upgrade path for fsx simmers. It is compatible with allmost all add-ons and still offers some nice new features. However these FSX Simmers that have addons worth up to thousands of dollars are a minority in the flight sim word. And they are the only ones that know that P3D exist.  Lockheed is not allowed to market P3D to end users, they use the construct of the academic liscense to get fsx users as beta testers for their commercial software. They are not allowed to market P3D in the media and not allow to sell it in the stores (something that is big in Germany, lots of software still bought in boxes) or steam. Their contract with Microsoft doesnt allow that. 

 

That means a big user base is missing that we intent to cater to. The people find out about it on the ipad and then realize there is alot more on Steam for the Desktop. P3D will never reach those users, but they are essential to keep the scene alive. X-Plane must cater to the new people, for instance with more userfriendly Interface. This is more important to us than trying to be a FSX replacement.

 

Lockheed Martin delivered the better FSX and serves its customers fantastic, however new people comming into the community only get X-plane, maybe AeroflyFS   (i guess this interview was recorded pre FSX-SE)

[gizmosellsbunnys 106]

XP11 comes out I am looking forward to it. I fly in the last year more in XPX than in FSX. Done lots of OSM work in last year will gradually enhance Xplane. I am vfr and scenery guy as you have freedom in vfr. PMDG style flying never interest me anyways. XPX overlooked by FSX/P3D crowd not shocked at all.

[tonywob 4,768]

 

 

I am vfr and scenery guy as you have freedom in vfr. PMDG style flying never interest me anyways

 

One thing that is really good about X-Plane is how easy it is to create your own scenery, and it would seem the X-Plane crowd are more receptive to the idea of modifying their area in OSM and getting their hands dirty in WED. I think their decision about crowd-sourcing out airport creation and regional artwork is a big win all round and I look forward to seeing this. I'll submit the hundreds of buildings I 've done for the UK when this becomes available.

[gizmosellsbunnys 106]

One thing that is really good about X-Plane is how easy it is to create your own scenery, and it would seem the X-Plane crowd are more receptive to the idea of modifying their area in OSM and getting their hands dirty in WED. I think their decision about crowd-sourcing out airport creation and regional artwork is a big win all round and I look forward to seeing this. I'll submit the hundreds of buildings I 've done for the UK when this becomes available.

Crowd sourcing airports better on the wallet as most of cant buy $40 dollar airfields all the time. DIY of Xplane users is what keeping me with Xplane. Easier to move runways and update it in xplane 10, with fsx it actually more legwork.