Existing aircraft compatibility? Really?

[AviatorMan 253]

Some of us have insisted vehemently that if our current addon aircraft, that we paid good money for over the years, are not compatible with the new MSFS 2020 sim, we won't buy it. If the new sim really is a revolutionary new simulation, not just a remake of FSX, I would not want it to be held back by compatibility with existing FSX or P3D aircraft. I have purchased many over the years - for FS9, FSX, and for just about every version of P3D. Of all of these aircraft I now fly only 3 or 4 :RealAir Duke, A2A Bonanza and Comanche and PMDG DC-6. And I fly these in P3Dv4.5. Of the 20 or so other a/c in my hangar, they are out of date, or else were poor quality to begin with, and I haven't flown most of them since P3Dv3x came out. If the upcoming MSFS 2020, in order to be a real step-change simulation, is not compatible with existing aircraft, I will be happy to buy new ones without a second thought. I expect the new aircraft addons themselves will be able to be better than anything we have today, and many existing simmers, not to mention the thousands of new ones that may join the hobby, will be grateful to have not only a new and better simulation, but also new and better aircraft. Just my opinion.  

[MaDDogz 242]

here come the ''old code'' brigade..

(I like the idea BTW)

[rocketlaunch 614]

Personally Im looking forward to buying many planes again for the third time 🙂

[Bob Scott 7,720]

At this point we really don't know what we don't know.  One thing to remember is that with all of the iterations of MSFS up through FSX, all that we know about the flight dynamics and .air file format was gleaned from decades of reverse-engineering by a few talented users like the late great Ron Freimuth...there is not and never was an SDK from Microsoft that explained the internals of the .air file and the sim's flight dynamics engine.  They expected flight dynamics to be done by way of aircraft.cfg parameters, which we know only allows a very limited amount of lattitude in setting up acft performance.

So despite our hopes and expectations about better aircraft performance, the history right up into the present is not one of openness when it comes to flight dynamics and acft performance.  We could well find ourselves back to square one having to suss out how the new sim does flight dynamics.  Surely we hope not, but, again, we don't know yet if we're going to get what we really need to be able to replicate the sort of realistic acft performance we're accustomed to right out of the chocks, or if it will be, as it has been in the past, a long, slow process of rediscovering how the new sim's proprietary internals work.

I have high hopes--but somewhat lower expectations--that it'll be different this time.  If not, it could be a very long time, if ever, before we get back to, much less surpass, the fidelity of the add-ons available today in FSX and P3D.

Regards

[Krakin 5,760]

More posts like these, please. It's like Phil Spencer said, they wanted to get back into it if they could move the franchise forward in a meaningful way. Sometimes in order to do that you have to say goodbye to the past. I also have no qualms with that. Bring on the eye candy and better physics.

[G-RFRY 1,711]

FS2002 was a good example of breaking backward compatibility but it had to be done to move the platform forward, in P3D today some addons will only work in P3Dv4.4 and above due to the SDK. 

[CaptainIronside 52]

It's like getting over an ex cold turkey, with zero communication, it's the best way to get over them. 

If it's going to get in the way of progressing forward, we need to leave our old birds behind, it's gonna be hard, it's going to suck, but it might need to be done. Embrace the suck guys. 

[bernd1151 5,855]

3 hours ago, AviatorMan said:

I expect the new aircraft addons themselves will be able to be better than anything we have today, and many existing simmers, not to mention the thousands of new ones that may join the hobby, will be grateful to have not only a new and better simulation, but also new and better aircraft. Just my opinion. 

+1 !!!

[Pugilist2 878]

I am happy to leave all of my existing payware aircraft and am looking forward to new aircraft with more features and a better flight model.

I think the FSX/P3D engine needs to be left in the past and will be unhappy if current planes are compatible with the new simulator.

Edited August 12, 2019 by Pugilist2

[Dominique_K 10,138]

2 hours ago, w6kd said:

  If not, it could be a very long time, if ever, before we get back to, much less surpass, the fidelity of the add-ons available today in FSX and P3D.

Regards

In other words, be careful what you wish for, a most sensible post.

Edited August 12, 2019 by domkle

[WarpD 824]

To be honest, the FDE (cfg and air files) are not something that limits the flight model.  Nor do the gauge files limit the sim's future abilities.  It's how things are used/stored that are far more important.

The current flight model is far more accurate than many want to give credit.  Is it perfect, nope... but it is, in fact, one of the best out there.  With a properly designed FDE in a well designed scenario... I cal leave a seasoned pilot sweating bullets in a sim.  I've seen pilots actually panic at the moment of control loss in sims based on Prepar3D.  So... the FDE itself and the gauge interface... they're not a technological road block.  Just 3D models, textures, that area are a possible road block.

[overspeed3 410]

Don't know at this moment whether or not I will be forking-over another $$700 to $800 for new FSX payware.  But forward-compatibility issues aside, I definitely will not be spending more bucks to either upgrade or to purchase a new gaming PC that might be necessary to run MS2020...   

[CB_Pilot 54]

A really interesting discussion 🤔. I would not be in favour of retaining backward compatibility because it would inhibit progress and compromise the experiences offered by the new technologies and solutions available today. Sure, I have loads of add-ons but I don't use them all now, having settled on favourites over the years. So, replacing my "fleet" would only be necessary for the few aircraft that really work for me nowadays. I'll take that hit if it means I can use the very latest that Microsoft has to offer as a flight simulator - no doubt about that.

(One small request though - please don't break or discontinue FSX or FSX:SE because it works really well for many of us. Please don't force the new simulator upon us as the only option from Microsoft.)

[FPStewy 538]

I could just see the threads now.... "Oh it's just a port over from P3D"

[andyjohnston.net 617]

Should the new sim come out and not be backwards compatible, then you will have your FSX/P3D memories, just like with previous changes.  Just like we lost tons of old planes after FS-2004, just like our 777 vanished.