Hi all,

 

Now that DTG Flightsimulator 64 bit has been announced , probably due to be released later this year, I am curious as if this will affect LM's long term strategy regarding P3D 64 bit...

 

Looking at myself , I am very pleased with v3.1 : no more OOM's and with each update there are improvements.

Surely, if a P3D in 64 bit is going to be released I will buy it, but tome there is no need to rush...

 

I have my sliders were I want them and 64 bit won't add any extra fps as far as Iknow.

 

However, I am curious about LM's strategy for 2016 now.....

Hi all,

 

Now that DTG Flightsimulator 64 bit has been announced , probably due to be released later this year, I am curious as if this will affect LM's long term strategy regarding P3D 64 bit...

 

Looking at myself , I am very pleased with v3.1 : no more OOM's and with each update there are improvements.

Surely, if a P3D in 64 bit is going to be released I will buy it, but tome there is no need to rush...

 

I have my sliders were I want them and 64 bit won't add any extra fps as far as Iknow.

 

However, I am curious about LM's strategy for 2016 now.....

 

Goedemorgen Gerard.

 

Well it's not only 64 bit also different techniques used and a change in code and legacy left behind.

We have to wait and see all is just speculation at this point but it will be a interesting year for sure ;-)

 

Cheers,

 

André

The question first of all is: will LM react at all? I don't think they really care what some game developer is doing on Steam. LM is in a totally different business so I doubt if they will react at all. One thing is for sure: LM isn't going for 64 bit to please us simmers so I don't think this all will have any effect om their "long term strategy". 

As for me the OOMs are gone with V3, I personally have absolutely no need for a 64bit version.

LM will not react at all as P3D is not competing with anything DTG might sell. Or do you really think someone will build a professional sim based on a Steam product?

Although I agree that LM will likely not "react" they also probably need to appease the performance that entertainment simmers are wanting. Thats where DFS comes in as it is made to run on consumer level hardware and should have performance to make us happy. LM's big bucks belong to a completely different demographic that we have weaseled our way into.

 

Like Rob Randazzo said some time ago, I expect DFS to be the entertainment consumer platform of the future with P3D being the commercial platform. 

The business model that Dovetail has for their Train simulator is to sell the sim and then crank out large numbers of  add ons, which is where they generate their income to pay their quite large development team that is constantly working on new add on content. I would expect that they will work the same way with their new flight sim. I would count on aircraft and scenery add ons being created by them and being sold through Steam. Since none of the pre existing content will work with 64 bit, this will be a good source of revenue for them. I will stick with my 32 bit which works well with all the content I use. 

Anyway, if you start with a new sim (be it DTG or P3D 64bit), we will all start from the begining in regard of most of the functional addons. Would be interesting to see though whether the 64 bit code would also affect (break) the reading of airport sceneries or texture files, which are usually the most frequent files in a sim.

 

As said before, 64bit will not gain any more fps or change the look of the sim. So it remains to be seen what features DTG brings out in order to be ahead of FSX and P3D. And all this most be done within the limits of hardware restrictions we have.

Like Rob Randazzo said some time ago, I expect DFS to be the entertainment consumer platform of the future with P3D being the commercial platform.

 

One of the BIGGEST advantages of DFS will be the end of all those questions about licenses.  :rolleyes:

 

 

 

I would count on aircraft and scenery add ons being created by them and being sold through Steam.

 

Nothing wrong with that: you make it sounds as if it's a bad thing. I absolutely love Steam because of the ease of use. One login for everything. One system for everything. I can't say I like how the add-on market is doing it right now: each developer having its own site, its own way of selling things, its own way of downloading things, its own way of registering, its own way of activating things, its own way of updating things, in short, it is a total mess and a core to reinstall things. With Steam you only have to deal with ONE login, ONE system of buying, downloading, updating, and it is a matter of clicking on 'install' and you are certain the latest version will be put on your PC just like that. Easy as can be. Again, I love it and I would love to use this for my flight sim too. 

 

Apart from this: Dovetail already announced they will be working with 3PD's so they won't be doing everything on their own as you seem to think. I do hope though that even 3PD's add ons will be handled through Steam. Also because this will prevent your add ons becoming totally useless whenever a 3PD goes out of business.

I agree with Stefan. The massive improvements in VAS management in P3D v3 have solved the main problem affecting the simulation. Unless the future 64bit version is a completely updated and transformed simulation (both in looks and design), I am struggling to find a reason why I would want to go through the process of reinstalling again.

So it remains to be seen what features DTG brings out in order to be ahead of FSX and P3D. And all this most be done within the limits of hardware restrictions we have.

 

They have improved AI behavior, already in Flight School. They are looking at upgrading terrain data for the full flight simulator. They're considering improved ATC and sloped runways for the future. A lot of stuff to keep me very interested. The release of DFS is still far away, but if I had to make a choice now I would choose DFS over P3D.

One of the BIGGEST advantages of DFS will be the end of all those questions about licenses.  :rolleyes:

 

 

 

 

Nothing wrong with that: you make it sounds as if it's a bad thing. I absolutely love Steam because of the ease of use. One login for everything. One system for everything. I can't say I like how the add-on market is doing it right now: each developer having its own site, its own way of selling things, its own way of downloading things, its own way of registering, its own way of activating things, its own way of updating things, in short, it is a total mess and a core to reinstall things. With Steam you only have to deal with ONE login, ONE system of buying, downloading, updating, and it is a matter of clicking on 'install' and you are certain the latest version will be put on your PC just like that. Easy as can be. Again, I love it and I would love to use this for my flight sim too. 

 

Apart from this: Dovetail already announced they will be working with 3PD's so they won't be doing everything on their own as you seem to think. I do hope though that even 3PD's add ons will be handled through Steam. Also because this will prevent your add ons becoming totally useless whenever a 3PD goes out of business.

 

Steam has some negatives too, that I have experienced. If you modify something in the sim or one of the add ons, when steam looks at your system, which they constantly monitor, they will change it back to the original. This gets to be a real PIA many times.It's their way or the highway.  The other issue with DTG is that we have been involved in simming for many years, and so have the add on creators that make things for flight sims. This is all brand new to the folks at DTG, so if you expect them to launch add ons with the detail and functionality that companies like PMDG and Aerosoft make, you will be in for a rude awakening I am afraid. The other issue is once they release something, don't hold your breath waiting for bug fixes on the product. Their team is working on the next income generating product and has very little time for fixing bugs. I can remember buying a locomotive for Train sim that costs around $35, and it had bugs right from the beginning, that were never fixed, and still are there a year or two later. That is the way they operate, so you will have to get used to it. DTG has been working on a new train simulator with a new graphics engine, most likely 64 bit, for a long time. They have already announced that current content from their Train Simulator that they are still selling now, will not be compatible at all. Many users of Train Simulator have many thousands of dollars worth of add ons, and it would all be useless in the new version. DTG has already stated that they will continue to support the current version because they already realize that many of the current users will most likely not change to the new version. 

I for one will purchase the DFS when it's released, if nothing else just for the 64 bit aspect. The critical factor will be whether the conversion of FSX /P3d addons will either be simple or will require a whole new rewrite. If it's the latter, the DFS will be just another "pretty face" like XP10.

 

I know that what's posted on FSDeveloper.com may not necessarily be indicative of the developer community at large, but until there is a robust suite of development tools available for any new sim, enhancements will be strictly the purview of DFS.

They have improved AI behavior, already in Flight School. They are looking at upgrading terrain data for the full flight simulator. They're considering improved ATC and sloped runways for the future. A lot of stuff to keep me very interested. The release of DFS is still far away, but if I had to make a choice now I would choose DFS over P3D.

 

Agreed. The speculation and rumors didn't interest me at all but now some more official news comes available, I am getting seriously interested. But seeing is believing because a lot of what Steve from Dovetail is saying is 'we plan', 'we hope' and 'we want'. 

Agreed. The speculation and rumors didn't interest me at all but now some more official news comes available, I am getting seriously interested. But seeing is believing because a lot of what Steve from Dovetail is saying is 'we plan', 'we hope' and 'we want'. 

 

Jeroen, once again you speak far too much sense!

 

From what I recall, 64-bit is on LM's radar. And that's all it needs to be, no reaction is needed from LM as the core market is totally different. My personal view is that a small company like DTG will never be able to compete with a multi-billion dollar defense contractor, even if only a fraction of its resources are used on P3D. Oh and they've had the code for *considerably* longer.