6 minutes ago, tolip2 said:

Problem is, you have to spend an additional amount of $$$ to get a descent weather engine, another $$$ to get sky textures, $$$ for autogen buildings, $$$ for ATC, $$$ for... the list keeps growing

In the grand scheme of things, it's a relatively inexpensive hobby.  Try golf

Some people will think that the cost of AI Lights Reborn Professional Edition is too high, and refuse to buy it. Some think that the cost of PMDG aircraft is too high (particularly the P3D versions), and refuse to buy them. That does not stop them both being great products. It simply means that everyone is making a choice about how to spend their cash.

And that's OK.

The important part is how many people decide that these products are worth the asking price, or that they add something to the simulator that is impossible to ignore.

Edited October 4, 20196 yr by Christopher Low

Just a comment on Microsoft's new Flight Simulatore that does indeed look amazing:

There is no doubt that many of us are now a bit more reluctant to invest in add-ons. But the big question for us AI enthusiasts is the implementation of AI traffic and what we can carry over to the new sim. 
For example,will AI aircraft work? P3D already broke flight dynamics (e.g., landing speeds) and animations of the most common used AI models and it took years to have the same traffic fidelity that we were used to from FS9/FSX. And even today many models are still not working in P3D (SBAI, TCAI, GAI, RFAI, Makc-Sim, etc.).

Compatibility of Flight Plans and AFCAD files is also fairly uncertain to this point. Every AI user who changed to P3D will know what hurdles can come with a new sim.

And VATSIM/IVAO users are affected too by this, as model matching is using the same AI models.

Don't get me wrong. I am still optimistic about the future of AI, but I think any new AI environment for us will start with a rather long reincarnation of the infamous Landmark Airlines, Orbit, and World Travel.

Hence, any transition to the new sim will be slower for AI users and online flyers.

Edited October 4, 20196 yr by Wolkenschreck

5 hours ago, ErichB said:

In the grand scheme of things, it's a relatively inexpensive hobby.  Try golf 

Now you're talking about cost in absolute terms. This was not my point. If you buy a golf club, advertised as a golf club, you would expect to be able to play golf with that golf club. You could let a 3rd party company with specialized tools and skills improve it slightly, but you should still be able to play golf with it from the very beginning.

In the flight sim community we have come to accept that if we buy a brand new golf club, we need to pay at least five to ten different 3rd party companies to pimp that golf club before it even looks like a golf club. Each company will charge you almost as much as the cost of the actual golf club. And we all happily accept it and think it's the most awesome thing ever that the golf club almost starts to look like a golf club.

The reason why most of us spend a lot money on add ons, regardless of price, is the same reason why we donate to AVSIM, to support devs and to keep this excellent community alive.

The reason why AVSIM has survived over the years, despite the countless of other option that are available all over the web, is because of the kind individuals that contribute both their perspicacity, time, and their hard earned dollars.

To them I say THANK YOU!

Edited October 4, 20196 yr by DJJose

Its a great add-on, and even when i have a beta at home i will buy it anyway as i couldn't help as much as i thought.

Regarding the price: its not a cheap addon for sure, but as i'm a tube flyer and lurking at big airports a lot its worth the money for me.

I look at this whole stock sim / addon thing this way: i can buy an car in its basic configuration. It will bring me from A to B. But i have the possibility to add fancy leather seats, an stylish metallic paint, high-fifdelity sound system or other cool stuff for a bunch of money if i want. I don't have to but i have the choice to upgrade it to my liking. You get the picture?

38 minutes ago, tolip2 said:

Now you're talking about cost in absolute terms. This was not my point. If you buy a golf club, advertised as a golf club, you would expect to be able to play golf with that golf club. You could let a 3rd party company with specialized tools and skills improve it slightly, but you should still be able to play golf with it from the very beginning.

In the flight sim community we have come to accept that if we buy a brand new golf club, we need to pay at least five to ten different 3rd party companies to pimp that golf club before it even looks like a golf club. Each company will charge you almost as much as the cost of the actual golf club. And we all happily accept it and think it's the most awesome thing ever that the golf club almost starts to look like a golf club.

Then when you have the golf club you want you have to pay the golf club to play or take out a membership £1,000 yearly average. 

PS ex-greens chairman.

Edited October 4, 20196 yr by rjfry

Good morning all,

I have just posted 10 short videos in the Video Forum. These are various GA aircraft all filmed in the live preview mode. Enjoy!

Heavy iron coming tomorrow (hopefully...😉).

Best,

Gerald

Edited October 4, 20196 yr by gsand

59 minutes ago, JoeFackel said:

i can buy an car in its basic configuration. It will bring me from A to B. But i have the possibility to add fancy leather seats

Getting an addon for £25 is more like stopping the car for petrol and buying a cuddly toy for the kid. 

The great thing about flightsming is that it can be as expensive or cheap as you want, depending on your needs/desires and what you’re willing to live with.  

If you are really into it, it’s not the cheapest hobby, but there’s definitely more expensive ones (I also golf and am resisting the urge to get back into model railroading...that can be huge bucks).

So if paying 25 pounds for AI lights doesn’t seem right to you that’s fine.  To me it’s definitely worth it for what it will bring. 

Edited October 4, 20196 yr by regis9

3 hours ago, DJJose said:

The reason why most of us spend a lot money on add ons, regardless of price, is the same reason why we donate to AVSIM, to support devs and to keep this excellent community alive.

The reason why AVSIM has survived over the years, despite the countless of other option that are available all over the web, is because of the kind individuals that contribute both their perspicacity, time, and their hard earned dollars.

To them I say THANK YOU!

Exactly 👆

On 10/3/2019 at 12:44 PM, Wolkenschreck said:

Hey Ivan,

as David said: ### AI infringed the copyrights of various authors and is considered as pirateware. Therefore, it is not supported by AILRP nor will it ever be supported.

But I understand that many users want a simple AI solution. I can highly encourage you to check out Alpha India Group and its AI Manager. This handy tool comes with an One Click Installer that will install hundreds of airlines, hundreds of models, thousand repaints, etc. with just some mouse clicks.  Alpha India's AI Manager is authorized by all of the freeware authors and it is constantly updated with new airlines. Moreover, it does compared to illegal solutions not suffer from faulty repaints and models that might crash your sim. 

And the best thing about AIG AI Manager: it is freeware!
https://www.alpha-india.net/forums/index.php?topic=28686.0

Thank you for all the information you have provided me, Christoph. I'm looking for some AI traffic as 'freeware'.

I will try the one you mentioned.

Regards

Free Enterprise is a marvelous thing. You can work by yourself make things and sell them or you can work for someone else making things. When things are made and sold all people involved in the making of those things, make money.

Those people who got some money, pay money to others involved the same process. For example a baker buys natural gas from a utility company to keep his family warm in the winter. A car salesmen buys food at a grocery store. A farmer sells wheat to a grain processor, who sells flour to a baker, who sales bread to a car salesman, who sells vehicles to a utility company. ( community ) 

Along the way, people who make things cheaply and those things do not provide the service expected, they fall to the wayside because eventually no one wants to pay for their things. Those who provide a serviceable product for the best price, get to sell more. ( competition )

The best part is that those doing the buying have a choice to buy from who they choose and to not buy from who they choose. ( freedom ).   

   

On 10/4/2019 at 2:15 AM, tolip2 said:

He's a talented guy, he and all other 3rd party developers should be able to focus on improving good things to make them even better, not spend time to fix broken fundamental stuff that another paid developer didn't care to fix.

I agree with your point on the main sim and most of what you said in your post. However in this case, Simbol has developed a product that improves the lights on freeware AI traffic and UTLive and other AI payware addons that use freeware AI models. I am going to buy it because Simbol is one heck of a nice guy and to show support for all he has contributed to this hobby. He also has a great looking marketing team. What does his addon do again?

Regarding all of the other addons. I am glad that we have the opportunity and choice to buy them at all.

Ted

I absolutely am going to buy this.

My Nightlighting already looks perfect and now the AI Nightlighting will look perfect too.

Simbol is a perfectionist so no doubts...