I think as of now msfs has the largest freeware community. Its just insane. And we're only like 20 days in. What a wonderful start.

1 minute ago, duckbilled said:

The idea, however, that an army of new developers is somehow going to completely disrupt this ecosystem is probably a little far fetched.

I actually feel the possibility is very real. Its just that this genre was so cloistered previously, that there was no incentive for zillions of people to hop onboard and try their hands. Of course, time will tell, but there is also the fact that peoples standards vary, and something that looks not detailed enough for one person is possibly more than sufficient for your average Joe.

It will likely come down in the end to which types of users have the numbers and collective buying power to call the shots over time.

In the meanwhile, I'm not sure I would use peoples (likely) 1st attempts a few weeks after launch as a benchmark.

As I (almost) always say "We'll see."

It should be interesting, and I love revisiting things like this a year or two later and see what happened!

2 hours ago, Twenty6 said:

Already out there. www.freewarescenery.com. Just have to convince them to start including MSFS2020

Personally I think nexusmods is the best place, very well organized and mobile friendly.  If you’re at all familiar with rpg games (ie Skyrim, witcher) this is the go-to place to find mods.

Just now, Gilandred said:

Personally I think nexusmods is the best place, very well organized and mobile friendly.  If you’re at all familiar with rpg games (ie Skyrim, witcher) this is the go-to place to find mods.

A possibility. I use them extensively for Skyrim and other things. I'm just not sure the traditional clientele trends towards this genre.

And I suspect Asobo/Microsoft is intending to have a say on how this all goes, as well.....

1 minute ago, HiFlyer said:

I actually feel the possibility is very real. Its just that this genre was so cloistered previously, that there was no incentive for zillions of people to hop onboard and try their hands. Of course, time will tell, but there is also the fact that peoples standards vary, and something that looks not detailed enough for one person is possibly more than sufficient for your average Joe.

It will likely come down in the end to which types of users have the numbers and collective buying power to call the shots over time.

In the meanwhile, I'm not sure I would use peoples (likely) 1st attempts a few weeks after launch as a benchmark.

As I (almost) always say "We'll see."

It should be interesting, and I love revisiting things like this a year or two later and see what happened!

A lot of things contributed to the disappearance of the freeware developer. The first thing that chased most people away was when they learned that you need 3D Studio Max to make models; it used to cost $4000 to purchase. Now it's $2000 per year. Including GMax with FSX was a nice gesture, but it was never as powerful or easy to use as 3d Max.

Right now a lot of other popular games are opening the envelope to cheaper, better development tools. Blender is a tool of choice for many and a great example, and it includes importers and exporters to the GLTF format that has become so popular and is used in MSFS 2020.

I was pleased to see that there is a very useful tool called MCX, with a very powerful and intuitive interface that will let you load an FSX MDL file and convert it to GLTF format, this being the first necessary step to upgrading legacy aircraft to utilize the new flight dynamics. The conversions we are seeing at this early stage are admittedly atrocious, as there is no way to tweak all of the necessary variables past a certain point to achieve a realistic representation of the planes character. I understand why previous developers are upset, and rightly to see their aircraft  converted so promiscuously and shabbily without their permission. It has however afforded us a chance to see how they might look in the simulator. I think Manfred Jahn's C-47 converted beautifully as far as it went, CTDs not included. and I hope he pursues the complete conversion of his aircraft to the new sim. I don't know how old he is, but some of the flight sim grognards are getting pretty old...

On 9/4/2020 at 2:44 PM, SmokeDiddy said:

Thanks for the reply!  The install instructions are sort of confusing, but I think there is only one Community folder and since I installed MSFS2020 to a drive different that 'C', the file path was much different, so I wanted to make sure I got it installed correctly.  I've already made a flight from there and found it in the search, so I knew it was in the right place, but was unsure of the Content page.

But it shows up on the map where you chose your flight from. It even has the "scenic star".

2 minutes ago, dobee51 said:

A lot of things contributed to the disappearance of the freeware developer. The first thing that chased most people away was when they learned that you need 3D Studio Max to make models; it used to cost $4000 to purchase. Now it's $2000 per year. Including GMax with FSX was a nice gesture, but it was never as powerful or easy to use as 3d Max.

Plus, a lot of the earlier software was designed for stereotypical techno-geeks, and was not user friendly at all, which is not the case nowadays.

Things that practically required a degree and the patience of a diety, are now within the reach and capability of just about anybody with time, patience and a driving creative urge.

That changes things quite a bit.

The tools are widely available, cheaper, and lots of people know how to use them.

 

31 minutes ago, dobee51 said:

Right now a lot of other popular games are opening the envelope to cheaper, better development tools. Blender is a tool of choice for many and a great example, and it includes importers and exporters to the GLTF format that has become so popular and is used in MSFS 2020.

A gentleman by the name of Otmar (Vitus) over at FS Developer has been coding the FSX/P3D export tool for Blender, and is now working on a version for MSFS. Completely freeware and pretty easy to use.

Arno G. is the MCX developer and one of the founders of FS Developer.

2 hours ago, duckbilled said:

If only there was a well-known site that had a file library where freeware creators could upload their work, and simmers could easily search for and download the files.

I'm sorry, but as much as I enjoy this place as a forum, the file library is a bit of a disaster.  Even compared to other forum-integrated sites it feels about a decade out of date.  (And it's not really even integrated, it's basically a separate feature attached to a forum, but with even different user accounts.)

Compare this:

https://i.imgur.com/o6Ya4ff.png

To this:

https://i.imgur.com/Cvg1XFv.png

Appearances aren't everything, but the latter isn't just more visually appealing.  It has rating, tags, stats, more useful preview images, plus it's directly integrated with the community so you can easily message the author, see what else they have done, and so forth.  The one thing it's lacking is "ZipDive", which is pretty cool.

But not even that has something like this.

Combine the antiquated feel, the limited functionality, and the community that can be at times unwelcoming, and it's no wonder that that side of the site is somewhat languishing amidst this bloom of content.

This is absolutely not to denigrate the work done to build what was in its time an amazing content library, nor the pivotal role it's played in the community for years.  That's something to which we all owe a debt of gratitude.  But it's starting to need a desperate refresh to be relevant.

 

Edited September 6, 20205 yr by kaosfere

I'm really excited by the hints from Jorg Neumann, that they might introduce some means for simmers to submit their own updates and fixes to the sim's "default" world data.

Imagine how much even better the world of MSFS could look after a few years of the community submitting thousands of terrain fixes, and landmarks, and so on.  People taking some time to fix up any visual warts present in their little corner of the world.

We've already got single people taking the time to fix up 400 lakes and rivers in the state of Alaska

19 minutes ago, Scottoest said:

We've already got single people taking the time to fix up 400 lakes and rivers in the state of Alaska

Not to forget the Mighty Mississippi river

On 9/3/2020 at 4:40 PM, jpe828 said:

Really? I would love to know where to find these things. I haven't seen any of this.

Google...'MSFS Freeware'...and you'll get hits...

Any chance that Steam Workshop will work with MSFS? Maybe it already does, or maybe it never will. I use the Workshop for things like Space Engineers mods and ships, for example, but I think SE has Workshop support baked right into the game. For Skyrim, Nexus Mods is my go to place. I like convenience of both of these mod repositories.

What about FS Marketplace? Is this just being used by the big players, or are any of the freeware modders making plans to use this tool?

Edited September 6, 20205 yr by Keto Ketchup
grammar

IMO freeware really "takes off" when/if Asobo allows freeware into the in-game MSFS market place.

Good luck then to Orbx (etc) who try to sell any airports for more than $10.

14 minutes ago, MatthewS said:

IMO freeware really "takes off" when/if Asobo allows freeware into the in-game MSFS market place.

Good luck then to Orbx (etc) who try to sell any airports for more than $10.

They are planning something like the XP community gateway.