Big Holiday sale in Marketplace

[orchestra_nl 953]

1 hour ago, peroni said:

Because I use an external tool to handle the amount of airports I load into the game each time, the only way I found to avoid duplicates is to use LittleNavMap option to show add-ons with a different icon.
I also keep addons separated in folders, i.e airport, landmarks, utilities, planes, etc.
Even only considering freeware sometimes there are two or even three different sceneries for the same airport. Given that most creators do not correctly compile the manifest.xml also adds to the confusion.

I wish Addon Linker could be updated to detect these conflicts by comparing the coordinates of each package (hint hint @Bad_T)

That LitttleNavMap option is quite usefull but doesn't seem work reliably for airports purchased via the marketplace. e.g. 1S2 (Darrington) which I've bought via the marketplace is still shown in LNM as a base airport.

[JacquesBrel 639]

49 minutes ago, orchestra_nl said:

That LitttleNavMap option is quite usefull but doesn't seem work reliably for airports purchased via the marketplace. e.g. 1S2 (Darrington) which I've bought via the marketplace is still shown in LNM as a base airport.

Content bought from the marketplace is encrypted so there's currently no way for 3rd party software to read the addon files and data.

[regis9 4,031]

I just got an email from LatinVFR on their Christmas sale and it doesn’t include MSFS products, so it looks like the MSFS will be the only option for those discounts.

[Manny 1,293]

5 hours ago, ega said:

Manny,

Are all these sales on Marketplace? If not where is it available the following:

 - KSAN San Diego 35% 10.49

- LEBL Barcelona 32% $11.49

- EDDK Cologne/Bonn 25% $13.49

 

Many thanks and have a happy Christmas!

Yes. they are on sale in the marketplace. Check it out. 

[Manny 1,293]

5 hours ago, peroni said:

Easy to explain, there's two LFTZ airports on the marketplace, both with the same price now

Thank you. And sheesh to MSFS and me. LOL 🙂

[orchestra_nl 953]

20 minutes ago, JacquesBrel said:

Content bought from the marketplace is encrypted so there's currently no way for 3rd party software to read the addon files and data.

That's probably it. I don't mind encrypted add-ons per se, but at least the developers could have thought about how to make certain information available to other third parties like LittleNavMap, Airhauler etc. A (dummy) .cfg or .nfo file might be sufficient.

[knich 113]

I cannot purchase anything in marketplace since the game launched.  Each time I select "buy and download" it reads "purchase in progress" but then everything freezes.  I have no idea what I am doing wrong, and I cannot seem to locate a fix.  Anyone have this problem and a fix?

[NismoRR 191]

Quick question on KSAN...as it was being released, some were talking about performance issues that LatinVFR needed to address. Does it work well or do you lose more FPS than other add ons? Definitely interested but as my 6700/1070Ti system gives me just over 30 FPS mostly, I can’t afford to lose much performance. 

[Turpentine 376]

Out of the three Carenados (182, Mooney, Seminole), any of them has some kind of functional anti- or de-icing feature?

[regis9 4,031]

53 minutes ago, NismoRR said:

Quick question on KSAN...as it was being released, some were talking about performance issues that LatinVFR needed to address. Does it work well or do you lose more FPS than other add ons? Definitely interested but as my 6700/1070Ti system gives me just over 30 FPS mostly, I can’t afford to lose much performance. 

No noticeable performance issues for me.

[NismoRR 191]

15 minutes ago, regis9 said:

No noticeable performance issues for me.

Appreciate the quick reply Regis. I’ll certainly pick it up. For ten bucks you can’t go wrong. I can say that about almost all the sale items in the marketplace. 

[duckbilled 310]

This is more for the benefit of those who never used P3D, FSX or FS9, or people who used those sims, but didn't go very deep into AI traffic.

I will not buy from the marketplace because they encrypt the files. Until I hear differently, encryption will prevent users from editing AFCAD files. For those that don't know what this means, this could have a big impact on your experience down the road depending on how you plan to use the sim. I'm basing this assumption on my current understanding that the AFCADs are similar to the ones in P3D, FSX and FS9. Payware developers include an AFCAD in their scenery that details all of the runways, taxiways, and parking spaces. Each parking space has a number of parameters like size (size of aircraft allowed in spot), type (Gate, Cargo...), and airline codes (airline code in aircraft cfg must match code for gate). The AFCADs also may control AI approaches by limiting the use of certain runways or opening multiple runways for takeoff and landings.

If mu understanding is correct, you will not be able to edit the existing parking if you purchased the scenery from the Marketplace. Developers rarely update these AFCADS, so what you typically see is a snapshot of what the parking situation was when the scenery was developed. Also, in far too many cases, developers just punt on the AFCADs so they are a mess from day 1. One example of a potential problem can be illustrated by the merger of Continental and United (or American and US Airways). When Continental became United, all of the Continental gates needed the UAL code added so the United aircraft would park at the right gates (both AI and user ac). Without proper codes at a major Continental hub like EWR, United AI aircraft may disappear upon landing if the United gates are all occupied. Since all of the Continental aircraft are now United, that means most of your gates will also be empty. For the user, ATC may not direct you to a gate, because there are no gates available for your airline.

Now, if you have no airlines codes at any of your gates (guessing this is what the default AFCADS look like), aircraft will park in whatever space is large enough for the aircraft. This may place UPS and FedEx aircraft at gates or passenger aircraft in military spots. There are additional parameters that also control these things (parking code, radius...), but you still need to be able to edit the AFCADs.

As I have mentioned in other threads, Scruffyduck is working on an MSFS version of Airport Design Editor (ADE). From what I have read, this tool will be able to edit the AFCAD files (sometimes referred to as ADE files), but I haven't heard whether they can edit encrypted 3rd party AFCADS. Perhaps we will be able to read them, export them, edit them, and place them in the community folder so that they take priority over the originals, but until this is clear, I'm staying away from the Marketplace. I don't want to have to re-buy scenery just so I can make the airports operate properly.

Anyway, buy from the Marketplace if you what something specific, but I'd pump the brakes on stocking up on scenery due to the sale. You may not like the result a few years from now, and there will probably be a number of sales after more information becomes available. If a workaround is developed (perhaps what I outlined in the previous paragraph), or AI handling is vastly different from other sims, this may turn out to be a non-issue. We'll really need more info from Alpha India Group and ScruffyDuck before we know how things will work.

The only way I think we'll get more info from AS/MS about this if we stop buying from the marketplace, and frankly, many people have issues with the marketplace, so I have no idea why we are buying anything from the Marketplace at this point.

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,799]

5 hours ago, knich said:

I cannot purchase anything in marketplace since the game launched.  Each time I select "buy and download" it reads "purchase in progress" but then everything freezes.  I have no idea what I am doing wrong, and I cannot seem to locate a fix.  Anyone have this problem and a fix?

I suspect the game transfers the purchase to the MS Store and the issue is actually with the MS Store.

[109Sqn 1,583]

10 hours ago, orchestra_nl said:

What doesn't help is that some titles start with their ICAO code, but not all. e.g. ST. Tropez is available twice but they are not even listed next to each other.

One partial workaround to that is, when you see an airport you are interested in buying, type its ICAO code into the Marketplace search bar and any 'duplicates' will be displayed as well. That's how I discovered there were two St Tropezs (Stairport's looks a little more polished , judging from the screenshots in the Marketplace).

[knich 113]

3 hours ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

I suspect the game transfers the purchase to the MS Store and the issue is actually with the MS Store.

Yeah..I was on the phone with Microsoft today and said it was Steam's fault...incredible!