I love what I see in MSFS 2020, but I don't know much about the default airports.  I guess Azure will enhance them somewhat.  I fear my payware airports in P3D will need to be repurchased, and because of the high demand will be sold at full price without discounts.  I mean, why discount airports for the best sim in the world, right?  With my catalog of Orbx, Flightbeam, Fly Tampa, etc..., it could be a huge chunk of change.  So, is anyone else thinking about this?  Is my logic off here, or are there some facts I'm not aware of?  

I would (cautiously) predict this to happen, with all of Orbx, FB, FT, FSDT, AS and the like. And I am afaraid I am going to buy them again. I think MS will include a few detailed examples (we already saw KSFO) to show what's possible but there will certainly be enough room for improvement in the rest of the world.

As a small relief, these will certainly not all be available from the release day of MFS but will stretch over years.

Kind regards, Michael

We don't know the format they use so to predict anything about the addon market pricing is premature.

Any city with photogrammetry is going to be targeted.

There's room for a lot of airports we haven't seen before being done now. I hope developers don't just re-hash everything but I'm sure that's what will happen.

I have a feeling ORBX are here to stay!

The way I see it default airports (even African, Asian, etc...) will be an enormous enhancement compared to the defaults now. First of all, due to Bing and Azure, you will most probably get airports that perfectly blend in with the surroundings and in terrain (grass textures, runway surfaces, coloring, etc..) be true to it's real world counterpart no matter where you are. Default P3D/FSX airports were very boring and lifeless..... no matter where you were you always saw the same style, coloring, buildings textures, etc...! The only thing that was different was the airport layout. With Azure I am sure that airports around the world will somehow reflect the region they are in and have their own unique personalities .... at least more so than default P3D/FSX.  Not to mention any airport would have all the Azure goodies (I see not reason why not) like grass, dirt, and other details. Airport buildings might not reflect real world 1 to 1, but the visual and texture quality (again keeping Azure in mind) will most likely be congruent with KRNT or KSNA (as in the b-roll footage). I am a global flyer... I want to explore the whole world. In P3D I always needed payware airports to be able to fly to any given airport, because default (even with enhancements like well crafted AFCAD or the ones provided by Orbx regions) just wasn't enough. I ended up buying airports I'd only fly once. With MSFS I can see myself buying just the airports that I use often like hubs. Other airports I will probably only fly once a year, I can see myself perfectly happy with the default Azure/FS presentation. I surely will end up paying again for airports like Vienna or Frankfurt. But I will also save a lot of money on potential airports and scenery I would have bought for P3D like openLC Africa/Asia, HAAB; HKJK, BGSF, NFFN, NWWW, .....

Edited October 26, 20196 yr by OSJJ1985

ImagineSim has announced that their upcoming Dallas Fort-Worth will be compatible with P3D, XP11 and MSFS2020. To me that indicates that workflow and porting the scenery is very similar. Heck, we might even be able to directly use FSX scenery thanks to their legacy support, but that remains a speculation at this time.

9 minutes ago, OSJJ1985 said:

probably get airports that perfectly blend in with the surroundings and in terrain

We have already seen an example of that with Renton and KSFO. They blend in perfectly. That's something I always missed from other scenery

I can see there still being a good market for add-on airports but I can also see a scenario where the default airports in MSFS look so much better than what we have been used to that maybe they will be "good enough", especially for the airports only flown to on occasion.  I have nearly 100 addon airports in P3D and many of them I have only used once. Some I never actually used at all!  It is safe to say my airport collection will be much smaller going forward assuming we will need to repurchase them even with discounts. It also depends on how the 3rd party airports will perform in the new sim and how they blend in with this new realistic terrain environment. 

Edited October 26, 20196 yr by Flic1

26 minutes ago, Evros said:

ImagineSim has announced that their upcoming Dallas Fort-Worth will be compatible with P3D, XP11 and MSFS2020. To me that indicates that workflow and porting the scenery is very similar. Heck, we might even be able to directly use FSX scenery thanks to their legacy support, but that remains a speculation at this time.

Hi guys,

I wonder where this was published. As well as workflow and scenery port-over aspect, I am wondering how many other developers can or will make this claim (compatible with P3D XP11 and MSFS2020) at this stage of the game. If indeed, it is true, it augers well for the immediate future eh?

Regards

Tony

9 minutes ago, himmelhorse said:

Hi guys,

I wonder where this was published. As well as workflow and scenery port-over aspect, I am wondering how many other developers can or will make this claim (compatible with P3D XP11 and MSFS2020) at this stage of the game. If indeed, it is true, it augers well for the immediate future eh?

Regards

Tony

It was stated in this FSElite article. No mention how easy or similar the workflow is, but since they jumped the gun already and announced compatibility, then it can't be too hard. I bet they as developers already have their hands on some kind of tech build and are able to test thing out.

Evros et al,

I believe that this is what you referred to .... I actually missed this article re Imaginesim, so thank you for pointing it out.

"Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport is now in the works for P3Dv4 and will become available for X-Plane11 and even Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 which is the first scenery addon to be announced for the upcoming MSFS2020, at later dates."

I may well be being a little pessimistic here, but I read that as an indication that they intend to make it available for MSFS2020, and not really a statement that they are actually working on it. I genuinely hope that they (and others) do have access to the inner workings of MSFS (SDK???) already. It will certainly make the changeover much easier and quicker, (if not more expensive) for us all, if there are multitudes working on sceneries and aircraft for this platform already. 

Just my thoughts ... how many others are reading this as an "actually working on conversion" fact?

Rewgards

Tony 

In as few words as possible...

"Global" addons for MSFS will not make sense any longer. Products such as mesh, ORBX (and other developers) world and regional sceneries, sky textures and Wx add-ons will probably not be needed as the new sim (if delivered as advertised) looks good enough "out of the box". Will offline mode users need these kind of add-ons? Possibly but will that demand be enough to sustain said products? Big question mark there.

Specialized and highly detailed airport seneries are still viable and probably necessary for a fully immersive experience. Yes, it will be a big chunk of change but that is the cost of progress.

My 2 Aussie cents, for whatever they're worth.

Cheers 👍

1 hour ago, himmelhorse said:

Evros et al,

I believe that this is what you referred to .... I actually missed this article re Imaginesim, so thank you for pointing it out.

"Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport is now in the works for P3Dv4 and will become available for X-Plane11 and even Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 which is the first scenery addon to be announced for the upcoming MSFS2020, at later dates."

I may well be being a little pessimistic here, but I read that as an indication that they intend to make it available for MSFS2020, and not really a statement that they are actually working on it. I genuinely hope that they (and others) do have access to the inner workings of MSFS (SDK???) already. It will certainly make the changeover much easier and quicker, (if not more expensive) for us all, if there are multitudes working on sceneries and aircraft for this platform already. 

Just my thoughts ... how many others are reading this as an "actually working on conversion" fact?

Rewgards

Tony 

I don't see how a developer could make such a statement without having lots of technical information and a strategy how to implement it. That product statement, experience in the software industry and Asobo saying that there is legacy support makes me believe that this is the case. In all fairness, it is in Microsoft's best interest to provide tools and knowledge as early on to third party developers, because without them and the ecosystem they provide, this simulator will not be a money maker for them. And it is clear that this simulator is not made for the arcade crowd, but for hardcore simmers. Just look what features they pack in to this thing. It is all we have been asking for. If they just want to appeal for an average computer gamer, then they wouldn't go such lengths to make it so realistic and complex.

Then again, I could be completely off my ball game here, and that is just my personal opinion.

Edited October 26, 20196 yr by Evros

My comments were based on "MY" interpretation of that statement.  It is certainly open to other speculations.  I also agree with Evros, in that it would appear to be unwise to make blatantly incorrect statements, only to retract or reword at a later stage. I am quite contented to believe that Imaginesim and others are happily working away at software for the new platform. You only have to look at FSW to realize that full co-operation with 3PD companies is almost mandatory. It is hard to work out just how many mistakes FSW made in the flight sim world and their demise should trigger a lot of responses from all Developers, including Microsoft/Osobo.

Again, interpretation is "personal" and really should not be ridiculed. I have absolute faith, which perhaps, may be misguided, in this new platform. I will not, however, be throwing away my other platforms.  I still use FS2004 ocassionally. LOL

Regards

Tony