I remember reading an article back in the '80s about the future of videotape recording written by the CEO of Sony (makers and patent holder of the long-extinct betamax technology).  He was...well...wrong.  Very wrong.  Couldn't blame him for trying to spin the market in his own direction. 

So...P3D (and I surmise also XP) add-on sales slumped precipitously while everyone was anxiously waiting for Emerald City to appear at the end of the Yellow Brick Road.  Is that surprising to anyone?

Of course P3D addon sales have flatlined commercially...Simzilla tromped into town during the 2019 E3 show, and its glitzy PR campaign promised the moon--super-duper 1000-point flight dynamics (no evidence yet that it does anything better or even as well as the existing modelling done in ESP), superior flow-based real-world winds (again, no evidence I can find that it really exists in the sim or if it does, that it does anything at all better than the existing technology we have with ActiveSky or OpusFSI in the ESP sims).  The SDK for complex acft doesn't yet exist, so there is nothing for us to fly except the default aircraft selections, which are as deeply flawed and marginally usable as any default airplanes that have ever released with any of the other sims.  No helicopter modelling available to fly really low and slow...understandable when you realize how ugly the photogrammetry can look down low and up-close.  No sailplanes...understandable when you realize that the absence and/or shortcomings of the much-vaunted wind flow modelling would become crystal clear when flying a sailplane near a ridge or in area of mountain wave activity.

Sure, MSFS has sold a buttload of copies due to its marketing through the existing game retailers as a AAA game...no surprise there.  I think it's a stretch, though, to just assume that very many of those casual users/gamers are going to create a significant market for MSFS DLC--especially the kinds of scenery and acft add-ons we find in P3D/XP today.  I really don't know how it's going to shake out, but I also believe that those beating the MSFS drums don't really know, either.  But they probably believe that if they say it enough times, maybe their commercial dreams will come true.  Suffice it to say that I'm skeptical that the same people who can be satisfied with flying the low-quality default caricatures of an Airbus or 787 in MSFS will be flocking in large numbers to buy high-quality 3PD add-on airports for their pseudo-airliners.

So, it's back to wait and see w/r/t MSFS.  I haven't yet bought a single MSFS add-on since purchasing the base sim, nor am I likely to, at least until capabilities answering a LOT of unmet needs actually materialize--aircraft demonstrating some control and performance fidelity, a flexible, predictable, and usable weather system, ATC options, and AI among them.  "It's coming" doesn't count for diddly. 

Since I bought MSFS, I've also bought 4 new add-on sceneries and the updated Milviz weather radar, all for P3D. 

A flight sim is more than just a pretty face...

Just now, micstatic said:

https://www.avsim.com/forums/forum/436-the-prepar3d-forum/

 

That was my point @micstatic 

There is a P3D subforum.  Use it.  Or, if you think P3D is "terrible", don't use it.

I think that Aerosoft has found a partner who hears it and works quickly in close contact. This is the best part about a partnership. See how easy it is to create new realistic scenes and airports in MFS. Soon every user will see their city as it is in reality.

35 minutes ago, kingm56 said:

That's coming, sir.  New update is expected this week and a group of people are turning the default A320 and 747 into viable simulator platforms. The latter is what's very exciting; we have simmers donating their time to make the default aircraft better.  To that point, we could have a Zibo type aircraft that negates the need to buy expensive third-party add-ons. Finally, I find your statement regrading flight models to be antithetical to my real-world flying experience.  As a PPL holder, I'm using MSFS to continue to evolve my skills flying around NorCal; in fact, I find MSFS far more conducive to those efforts than P3D. The environmental immersion is something I've never experienced before...       

 

 

Sorry... What on earth is a Zibo type aircraft?

 

All I can find, with Google is Zibo Plastics,, a South African Company making plastic containers. Zibo is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong province, China

 We all know that Avsimmers are known prone to thumb-suck names, and this is a new one for me..

What on earth does Zibo mean? 

Zero intelligence by Op? Zero input but organizing?  Zilch in butt operation? 

 

Oh, I just found this..To do with a modified 737 for X-Plane!  

The Zibo Community is a dedicated Facebook page and discussion group, for all related fans of the Boeing 737-800 Zibo Mod.

The Zibo Mod is originally a joint project by Lubos Zibek to further enhance the realism of the default 737-800 in X-Plane.

What on earth has a X-plane Facebook community have to do with MSFS?

 

Edited September 13, 20205 yr by Wobbie

6 minutes ago, Wobbie said:

Sorry... What on earth is a Zibo type aircraft?

It is referring to a freeware mod made for X-Plane 737 IIRC.

Thank you. I'm trying to see the connection between an X-Plane modded aircraft & MSFS.

Are Avsimmers now using Zibo as the new the new word for Study level? 

 

Edited September 13, 20205 yr by Wobbie

What gets me Aerosoft do not make all the scenery they sell and the products for flight sims, lets see how many MSFS users fork out hundreds and some times thousand`s of pounds on addons.   

3 hours ago, kingm56 said:

Does anyone actually navigate to the forum via headers?  I doubt they do; instead, I suggest the majority clicks a link on the front page without regard to the subject location.

I simply don't understand why some simmers are salty about progress...

I’ve been here well over a decade and i’ve “navigated to the forum via the headers” every single time i’ve posted. It both common sense and common courtesy to know which forum you’re posting in.

As to the second point - we’re not salty about “progress”, we’re salty about the MSFS fans who’ve spent the past six months telling us how outdated and doomed P3D is. We don’t want to hear it any more, it’s not remotely true and it got old a long time ago.

See, what sorta "bothers" me about FS2020 is the fact they buddied up with Aerosoft. 

I don't trust Aerosoft because their products always have (big) bugs - especially at release, are fickle, and I feel updates/support is on the weaker side.  If Asobo/MS use(d)/relied on them as a partner, I'm not sure FS2020 will ever be dependable.

The fact that Mathijs even made that comment about P3D makes me think he's hinting future updates/long term support/and development/enhancements for their current P3D products is pretty much dead which is pathetic because they still need much work.

I might be wrong but it's the reason why I won't buy from them anymore - hope you're listing Orbx and CS. 

 

   

Agreed but i am beginning to think they are old XPlane users they used to post here regular.

3 hours ago, kingm56 said:

Active Sky also has nothing to do with the 'appearance'; all it does is interrupt/inject weather.  Weather interruption will be fixed in the next patch; so, I'd compare the two at that time.  

Weather "interruption", I'm sure, is what makes my V5 version end up stammering and stuttering 3/4 of the way through a flight.  I hope it is addressed.

Stan

3 hours ago, shivers9 said:

I have reached a level of Ignorance that I am comfortable with. In my world my opinions are just as much fact as yours. 

Kingm56 is here to troll, i suggest ignoring him. 

Those of us who’ve flown both MSFS and P3D are well aware of the areas that P3D excels in, we don’t need some random person telling us that our sim is rubbish.

MSFS has a lot of strong points - but I’ve spent over 10 hours flying P3D v5HF2 this weekend (A2A Comanche and Maddog), and booted MSFS once for a 10 minutes sightseeing jaunt. 
 

I’ve also bought a couple of P3D addons this weekend, though not from Aerosoft. Not surprised that a company that has long been lukewarm in its support of P3D is not selling much product. I’ve bought dozens of addons this year - i like to support those who support my sim - but nothing from Aerosoft except the CRJ upgrade which was honestly not worth it.

Have been having a heap of fun in P3D VR today, 0520hr and i’m still up flying the Maddog. 🙂

Prepar3d is certainly not dead, despite what a few people with vested interests might suggest. Bring on v5.1!

7 minutes ago, Dreamflight767 said:

See, what sorta "bothers" me about FS2020 is the fact they buddied up with Aerosoft. 

I don't trust Aerosoft because their products always have (big) bugs - especially at release, are fickle, and I feel updates/support is on the weaker side.  If Asobo/MS use(d)/relied on them as a partner, I'm not sure FS2020 will ever be dependable.

The fact that Mathijs even made that comment about P3D makes me think he's hinting future updates/long term support/and development/enhancements for their current P3D products is pretty much dead which is pathetic because they still need much work.

I might be wrong but it's the reason why I won't buy from them anymore - hope you're listing Orbx and CS. 

 

   

In the past I bought multiple products from AS.

Over the last 2 years none. I read their forums too and AS sells to many Addons from other developers with issues at release . And then after months Mathijs acknowledges that he has not heard any reply from the product manager about it..

When AS made only Addons in-house it was better.

Edited September 13, 20205 yr by GSalden

50 minutes ago, w6kd said:

A flight sim is more than just a pretty face...

+1 on everything you said! Now as a very long time user here as well as someone who has donated to support this site, may I ask that you and the other Mods stop the P3D bashing in our own forum. We are all guilty of getting out of line at times but some of these guys just will not go away. I hope other users will support this request. Enough is enough!!

35 minutes ago, Wobbie said:

Sorry... What on earth is a Zibo type aircraft?

I hope the rock you have been living under for the past couple of years is cosy.

Within the larger sim community "Zibo type" refers to a community modded default aircraft that comes close in certain aspects to study-level aircraft. But at no cost, therefore making complex aircraft available for a much larger range of simmers than 100$+ products.