6 hours ago, Andreas Stangenes said:

That's have been the paradigm so far,  but recently I heard people being able to modify premium content as well. And I think that MS will open things up further down the line. 

Correct. I'm using a livery for the Cirrus SR-22, something that people were claiming was impossible. Over time, more mods of the deluxe aircraft will come as either they open them up or the community figures out work arounds.

20 hours ago, Chris Dalby said:

If you buy the Standard version I feel as if I'm picking the pockets of Microsoft.

I would never feel like I was "picking the pockets" of multi billion dollar corporations like Microsoft or Lockheed Martin.

8 minutes ago, Phantoms said:

Correct. I'm using a livery for the Cirrus SR-22, something that people were claiming was impossible. Over time, more mods of the deluxe aircraft will come as either they open them up or the community figures out work arounds.

I suspect the encryption is to stop people copying the premium aircraft and posting them on warez sites for free. Hopefully they will find a way people can mod them without a risk of them being pirated.

22 minutes ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

I suspect the encryption is to stop people copying the premium aircraft and posting them on warez sites for free. Hopefully they will find a way people can mod them without a risk of them being pirated.

Seems to me they could make some of the premium a/c files available, such as the flight_model.cfg files which would let users modify key parameters like the effectiveness of the flight control surfaces, while still keeping other files, like the model files, etc., encrypted to prevent piracy.

Al

Edited October 6, 20205 yr by ark

22 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

I would never feel like I was "picking the pockets" of multi billion dollar corporations like Microsoft or Lockheed Martin.

See I don't think Lockheed Martin, and Microsoft making flight simulators is a totally selfish action on their behalf. As you say, they are already multi billion dollar companies, so why bother making flight sims? I'm pretty sure the revenue they collect is way down on other projects they are currently engaged in.

Of course they want to make money, but it was quite relevant to me, what was said in Microsoft's last live stream. If we create perfect aircraft, systems, scenery right off the bat, the 3rd party developers will struggle to make a living. What would be the point in them building 3rd party aircraft, if the aircraft in game was already as good if not better than what they could produce.

Because of this, I believe this is why LM and MS start their packages at around the £60 mark. To allow as many people access to the sim as possible. Opening them up to the flight sim ecosystem. We should honestly applaud MS and LM for doing this. And us hard core simmers will go and buy the premium packages, as we want the best on offer (subjective I know). 

When I said I felt like i was picking their pockets, it was said tongue in cheek. I obviously don't feel like that, yet I still think the prices they charge is on the face of it compared to other games outside the flight sim genre, extremely well placed. I know of games *cough* war robots, that absolutely pull the pants down of their customers for £1000's. I really don't feel like that with MSFS 2020. 😊 

Edited October 7, 20205 yr by Chris Dalby