By which I primarily mean all of the Zibo-style groups that have sprung up to dedicate tons of time to improving and deepening not just the aircraft, but even the world itself.

I can count something like four different projects off the top of my head, working on various default aircraft.  And then you've got the people creating terrain enhancements, or painstakingly correcting errors (such as the person who "fixed" hundreds of anti-gravity lakes and streams in Alaska).

I don't really have a profound point to make here - it's just heartening to see how people have gotten down to work, doing what they can to elevate parts of the default product.  You folks are heroes.  I hope Asobo eventually come up with a way to recognize your efforts.

I so agree with this. 

45 minutes ago, Scottoest said:

 I hope Asobo eventually come up with a way to recognize your efforts.

Yeah right! just like anything else in life you buy something and improve (modify) on it from the OM (original manufacture) and expect to get some credit from them. That is not how life (reality) works don't expect no gift cards from MS/Asobo anytime soon.

Edited October 19, 20205 yr by jbdbow1970

8 minutes ago, jbdbow1970 said:

Yeah right! just like anything else in life you buy something and improve (modify) on it from the OM (original manufacture) and expect to get some credit from them. That is not how life (reality) works don't expect no gift cards from MS/Asobo anytime soon.

There is a freeware category in the marketplace however it is currently empty.

Presumably at some point there will be Asobo checked and approved freeware showing up there once the backlog of Payware waiting approval is cleared. 

Though I suspect there may be legal issues to sort out if a paid product like MSFS is offering content that they are not compensating the original authors for in some way.  Volunteer and community content in commercial games can run afoul of US labor laws in a big way.

Edited October 19, 20205 yr by Glenn Fitzpatrick

35 minutes ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

There is a freeware category in the marketplace however it is currently empty.

Presumably at some point there will be Asobo checked and approved freeware showing up there once the backlog of Payware waiting approval is cleared. 

Though I suspect there may be legal issues to sort out if a paid product like MSFS is offering content that they are not compensating the original authors for in some way.  Volunteer and community content in commercial games can run afoul of US labor laws in a big way.

They've mentioned in a couple of Q&As now that they do indeed intend to have a properly populated freeware section on the Marketplace, but it's still WIP.

3 hours ago, Scottoest said:

By which I primarily mean all of the Zibo-style groups that have sprung up to dedicate tons of time to improving and deepening not just the aircraft, but even the world itself.

I can count something like four different projects off the top of my head, working on various default aircraft.  And then you've got the people creating terrain enhancements, or painstakingly correcting errors (such as the person who "fixed" hundreds of anti-gravity lakes and streams in Alaska).

I don't really have a profound point to make here - it's just heartening to see how people have gotten down to work, doing what they can to elevate parts of the default product.  You folks are heroes.  I hope Asobo eventually come up with a way to recognize your efforts.

Specially when you dive in a bit deeper and realiser that the SDK is quirky at best, extremely buggy most of the time. Even a simple repaint is a pain to make due to the layout of the files and textures.

 

So i agree, these people are wizards, amazing work!

35 minutes ago, leprechaunlive said:

these people are wizards, amazing work!

Given that we're just a few months in and at 370+ airport / strips updated, 230+ cities modded, and a boatload more liveries painted (including one hilarious barnfind), couldn't agree more. Wizards indeed.

https://flightsim.to/file/1850/rusty-x-cub-barnfind

  Edit: I'm assuming the best would end up in the in-sim freeware category, but it would be great for Asobo to shout out some recognition to those in futures updates.

Edited October 19, 20205 yr by DylanM

There are many sites where you can find freeware. I'm sure Asobo will not check 3rd part add-ons, they are a games developer, contracted by Microsoft, & have nothing to do with other peoples add-ons. They are too busy with their own game designs. Everyone is free to market their creations wherever they want to. 

Passion,  creativity (and open source)  is a great combination.   

We need more threads, at AVSIM, like this one.

8 hours ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

Presumably at some point there will be Asobo checked and approved freeware showing up there once the backlog of Payware waiting approval is cleared. 

Presumably yes, because at least on the xbox console version, it likely won't be easy or possible to install freeware/mods. Also, a lot of the city addons are in breach of copyright (taken directly from Google PG), so it's unlikely they'll ever be approved and I'm amazed Google haven't done anything about it yet.

Anyway, I think a healthy freeware/modding community is essential to keep interest in the sim going. It worked for X-Plane and also Aerofly, making those sims far more appealing and interesting than they would be without. Some of these freeware developers will go on to be tomorrow's payware developers 👍

 

 

5 hours ago, tonywob said:

Anyway, I think a healthy freeware/modding community is essential to keep interest in the sim going. It worked for X-Plane and also Aerofly, making those sims far more appealing and interesting than they would be without. 

During the bleak FSX era, the freeware community was the only space to get coverage for some of the less-loved parts of the planet. Heck, some of the best scenery for Hawaii was freeware.