29Palms coming to Xplane!

[finkelstein 25]

Picked this up yesterday and have been thoroughly impressed. The textures are top notch. There's lovely details in the surrounding areas and the night lighting looks great. Love the hangar light. Highly recommended!

 

One thing: would be nice if they would offer an option of ortho or no ortho for those that use ortho imagery already. I guess one could go into WED and delete it though.

 

That said, I can't wait for them to bring their other sceneries over! Not sure if Berlin is needed just yet but the others such as Mykonos and Skiathos are high on my list. Instant purchases judging by this.

[Airline2Sim 489]

I've not had a chance to pick it up yet but I will. Having spent a lot of time with X-Plane these last few days I am mightily impressed. The one thing that I'm less keen on is that to get your XP looking really good takes a lot of research and the myriad of 'packs' that you need to make sceneries work can become tiresome, along with the fact that behind the really cool lighting and effects the texturing of a lot of the free stuff is a long way off the pace of payware level.

 

If more devs come to XP with stunning one-click install sceneries then I'm sure more P3D/FSX guys will come across, especially as there is now PMDG-level payware with the IXEG. XP is still a bit 'hobbyist' for me, which is fine for some folks but the payware stuff takes time and development $$$. I'd be happy to pay for it to come to XP.  

[Jimmy RFR 406]

I've not had a chance to pick it up yet but I will. Having spent a lot of time with X-Plane these last few days I am mightily impressed. The one thing that I'm less keen on is that to get your XP looking really good takes a lot of research and the myriad of 'packs' that you need to make sceneries work can become tiresome, along with the fact that behind the really cool lighting and effects the texturing of a lot of the free stuff is a long way off the pace of payware level.

 

If more devs come to XP with stunning one-click install sceneries then I'm sure more P3D/FSX guys will come across, especially as there is now PMDG-level payware with the IXEG. XP is still a bit 'hobbyist' for me, which is fine for some folks but the payware stuff takes time and development $$$. I'd be happy to pay for it to come to XP.  

 

I can see your point.  However, I personally prefer the 'drag n drop' nature of a lot of XP addons vs. the installer method frequented by almost all FSX/P3D payware.  For example, being able to install scenery by simply moving a folder into the proper place (and possibly changing it's order in the config file if needed) is very efficient and allows the user to exercise a great deal of control over their installation.

 

The ready availability of freeware in XP has it's pros and cons - just as in FSX/P3D, the majority of it isn't at the level of high quality payware, because of course that would require resources not available without serious time and financial commitments.  But as annoying as the reliance on multiple object libraries are, they give the freeware developers the ability to offer more and more impressively 'believable' scenery.

 

And of course, in some cases, there is indeed freeware scenery available that comes close to being as good as payware.  A case in point is MisterX6's rendition of Juneau; I own and have enjoyed the Orbx scenery for quite awhile, and with only a few exceptions I prefer this free XP version.

 

And in regards to XP being perceived as hobbyist... while I can most definitely see that, when you open up the P3D forum and see the top half dozen threads about either overcoming problems or hardware performance discussions, you would have to admit there is a great deal of 'hobbyist' involved there as well - perhaps just in a slightly different direction!

 

(I also say that as someone with all three sims, XP, FSX, P3D, installed and getting daily use.  Not trying to be biased!)

[finkelstein 25]

I agree with Jimmy here and it's probably something long-time or "native" X-Planers will almost always disagree on with FSX/P3D converts. I vastly prefer the drag & drop method of installing and managing add-ons easily. 

 

Whether that is the majority of (potential!) customers I do not know.

[Airline2Sim 489]

Chaps I quite agree with your points above. The drag and drop install is indeed simply itself. I was referring more to the fact that it can be a big job to get the sim looking good, compared to the ESP sims. But yes, I agree.

[finkelstein 25]

Chaps I quite agree with your points above. The drag and drop install is indeed simply itself. I was referring more to the fact that it can be a big job to get the sim looking good, compared to the ESP sims. But yes, I agree.

 

You are right that it can be daunting to newcomers. I think this is partly due to X-Plane's UI (or lack thereof, i.e. scenery ini file) and partly once again a case of what one is used to. I remember being absolutely bewildered by FSX's system and had no idea what to get or what was needed to improve the world.

 

I wonder if it's also a case of more quality FAQs/tutorials for this being available for FSX/P3D, due to the larger amount of users.

[CFIJose 5,485]

It was much easier, quicker, and way cheaper to get XP to look and perform great than it was to get FSX to run smoothly with a bunch of add-ons.

 

There are still a couple of things missing in XP, but the future looks bright.

 

It's great to see that Lars embraced XP. I hope he converts LGSK. That's one of the best sceneries ever created for FSX.

[uwespeed 497]

.... but the others such as Mykonos ....

 

Unnecessary to wait, there is already a quite nice one out -> here.

[Paraffin 2,197]

You are right that it can be daunting to newcomers. I think this is partly due to X-Plane's UI (or lack thereof, i.e. scenery ini file) and partly once again a case of what one is used to.

 

 

I think it's also because the brains behind X-Plane (Austin Meyers and Co.) are all big Mac enthusiasts, and AFAIK code everything on Macs. Between that, and having to run on Linux too, it means the UI has always had this utilitarian look that tends to spook Windows users when they first see it. Some of the Windows keyboard and mouse UI conventions aren't supported either, which tends to be an initial block for people coming over from the FS9/FSX/P3D world.

 

I do like the easy drag 'n drop installation for most things. It made it an absolute breeze to move everything over to a new computer six months ago. There are a few payware planes with DRM and one utility (SkyMaxx Pro) where I had to look up user ID's and passwords for activation after moving to the new system. I'm not thrilled with having to do that. But if the product is good enough to warrant it, and if it keeps a developer in business to make future products of that quality, then I'll live with it. Overall, X-Plane is a very easy system to manage and update, considering the complexity of a flight sim. 

[Airline2Sim 489]

A lot of people get their knickers in a knot over the UI but I don't have an issue with it. It does indeed look like something spawned from a Mac, albeit around 10 years ago. One thing I would say is that for the non expert user many of the options are unnecessary. An option to turn them off would declutter things considerably.

 

Some XP things baffle me however. I'm still struggling with the click and drag controls that litter all X-Plane add-ons, and the fantastic RTH add-on comes with a UI that involves clicking, dragging and scrolling all in one. Its functionality is amazing but the user interface makes my face itch.

[Jimmy RFR 406]

 

 

Its functionality is amazing but the user interface makes my face itch.

 

Hah, that made me laugh!

[tonywob 4,768]

 

 

Some XP things baffle me however. I'm still struggling with the click and drag controls that litter all X-Plane add-ons,

 

Oh yes, if there is one feature I badly want from FSX, it's universal scroll wheel support. Cockpits have certainly improved over the years though.

 

Either way, it is seeming increasingly likely we will see a new UI in X-Plane 11 (based on the mobile app).

[Guest-475 81]

Having used MS FSs and P3D for years, I always thought that scroll wheel support was essential. But after using X-Plane almost exclusively since more than a year now, I got to like the concept of clik+drag much more. Using the wheel to manipulate knobs in the VC now feels uncomfortable for me when I fire up P3D from time to time.

 

I guess it's a matter of what you are used to.

 

That being said, mouse wheel support will see a much better integration into X-Plane with version 10.50 according to the developers blog: http://developer.x-plane.com/2016/04/a-partial-list-of-10-50-features/

[wolke85 150]

This is great news!

Go ahead 29Palms, bring it all on to X-Plane as well!

:smile:

[Jimmy RFR 406]

 

 

Having used MS FSs and P3D for years, I always thought that scroll wheel support was essential. But after using X-Plane almost exclusively since more than a year now, I got to like the concept of clik+drag much more. Using the wheel to manipulate knobs in the VC now feels uncomfortable for me when I fire up P3D from time to time.

 

I completely agree. Also, It's almost a guarantee that every time I fire up FSX or P3D, that I try and move the view without holding the spacebar.  Once a person has used XP for a time, the view system in FSX just seems so clumsy.

 

But back on track! Go 29Palms!