Some Devs Are Just Out of Touch

[CFIJose 5,485]

I just saw that Pilot's released KCDK for MSFS for the price of 14.95EU. Are they out of their minds? There's a freeware out there that's good enough. No thank you.

[Twenty6 693]

Only freeware version I found is for P3D v4.x and made to work with MegaScenery Earth v3. Please prove me wrong.

Pilot's software has always been expensive compared to like kind and quality.

[sanh 823]

Why not? People will buy or enough certainly will. Its a bit like the F15 or whatever addon plane that has been getting terrible reviews but a whole load of postings have been from people who paid for it.

The flightsim market is a lot bigger now and even with viable freeware out there the devs will still clean up reasonably well.

[fppilot 4,370]

23 minutes ago, Twenty6 said:

Only freeware version I found is for P3D v4.x and made to work with MegaScenery Earth v3. Please prove me wrong.

https://flyawaysimulation.com/downloads/files/24787/msfs-george-t-lewis-airport-kcdk-scenery/

Edited February 6, 2021 by fppilot

[Chock 17,769]

If people want to pay that, it's up to them I suppose and to be fair, Pilot's scenery is pretty decent.

However, here's one price which amused me no end at Simmarket. This is a reduced price? This bit of scenery actually costs more than the Pilot version of the Majestic Simulations Dash 8 does for P3D, and its only just over ten quid shy of the price of the Pro version of that Dash 8.

I don't care how nice the scenery is, these developers need to put the crack pipe down. 🤣

Edited February 6, 2021 by Chock

[bendead 1,085]

Well, we were supposed to get cheaper airports, sceneries, but I don't really see a big difference compared to P3D.

[CFIJose 5,485]

12 minutes ago, Twenty6 said:

Please prove me wrong.

Here's another link for you:

http://www.allflightmods.com/microsoft-flight-simulator-2020/msfs-kcdk-george-t-lewis-airport-florida/

Please note the release date: 9-4-2020

I've been using it since release and as someone who has trained student pilots in that airfield, I'm willing to pay for anything better than freeware, but the price does not reflect reality.  FSDT is an example of reasonably priced airports that are 10 times the size of KCDK at 1/2 the price.

So it's ridiculous for anyone to pay that much!

[CFIJose 5,485]

I'm in noway trying to sully Pilot's reputation. They are an excellent developer. I have most of their airports for P3D and their weather generator for P3D & XPlane. I just wish that they would have done their research before trying to sell an airport for such a high price, when there's already a freeware that is good enough for most simmers.

Edited February 6, 2021 by DJJose

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

I think sometimes they have already invested time and money in a project and suddenly someone ports an old FSX airport or creates a google maps scenery import as freeware.  If it is already 90% there they may as well release it I suppose.

With Redwings Brindas for example there was not much more they could do to compete with the imported FSX buildings in the freeware one as the airstrip is pretty basic, so they seem to have dropped the price to $5 did a better job on the parking and taxi textures and added lots of gimmicky stuff like cows and hot air balloons.

[PILOT'S 157]

1 hour ago, DJJose said:

I just saw that Pilot's released KCDK for MSFS for the price of 14.95EU. Are they out of their minds? There's a freeware out there that's good enough. No thank you.

Nobody is forcing you to buy this super immersive PILOT'S rendition of Cedar Key Airport. If you're happy with the freeware versions then so be it, you clearly have a lack of understanding though of the costs involved in producing high-quality scenery like this and the many differences to the freeware versions. KCDK scenery from PILOT'S features over 64+ square kilometers of custom crafted satellite imagery that has taken up many hours to be corrected and colourized, not to mention the imagery cost alone. When you fly over our version of Cedar Key you will notice the massive night and day difference between our hand-crafted imagery versus the default Bing imagery for this particular area. There are many custom models, we have also integrated custom code that will make scenery features, such as pelicans or parked cars for instance, appear only at certain times of the day. What does this mean to you, the virtual pilot, landing your TBM 930 in the morning or the late afternoon? The airport will have a different look and feel, there might be an eagle sitting on the windsock in the afternoon, but not in the morning, or a falcon sitting on a powerline pole in the early morning, but not during the afternoon, or the pigeons near the GA parking area and on the roof of the main airport building. There might be a BMW SUV parked just outside the GA area in the morning, and in the afternoon it might gone and you see a Chevy Suburban instead. No freeware features this level of immersion!

So no, we at PILOT'S have not lost our minds, we have released a hiqh-quality rendition of Cedar key Airport that is thoroughly immersive, packed with many unique "first-time" features, that is worth every penny, especially if you fly the TBM 930 and are into challenging carrier-deck type landings, as Cedar Key Airport features the shortest paved runway in the state of Florida!

This is the type of thrilling flying you'll be able to replicate with the TBM 930 and PILOT'S highly immersive Cedar Key Airport scenery:

 

Edited February 6, 2021 by PILOT'S

[Noel 4,499]

I am sure I am in a very small minority here but quite frankly I would have rather seen a strategy of not making freeaware airports possible for MSFS.  When a hobbyist can crank out competition for a professional content developer and give it out for free that does not bode well for sustaining professional developers, and quite frankly I'd rather see a very robust pro developer community continue to bloom for MSFS.  As for costs it seems like most airports in the market place are less $$ than what I paid for P3D content.

[Manny 1,293]

1 minute ago, Noel said:

I am sure I am in a very small minority here but quite frankly I would have rather seen a strategy of not making freeaware airports possible for MSFS.  When a hobbyist can crank out competition for a professional content developer and give it out for free that does not bode well for sustaining professional developers, and quite frankly I'd rather see a very robust pro developer community continue to bloom for MSFS.  As for costs it seems like most airports in the market place are less $$ than what I paid for P3D content.

You ar a minority. I have downloaded over 100 Freeware airports so far for MSFS. and bought 50 Payware airports. I like them both. But the expectation is for payware to increase their quality of the work they do and keep the price reasonable for MSFS unlike in the P3D world which was a niche market, was very high. I know some of them want to keep it high, but its not working in MSFS since the competition is high. All good IMO. 

But to say that freeware should be banned is absurd! 

[CFIJose 5,485]

1 hour ago, Noel said:

I am sure I am in a very small minority here but quite frankly I would have rather seen a strategy of not making freeaware airports possible for MSFS.  When a hobbyist can crank out competition for a professional content developer and give it out for free that does not bode well for sustaining professional developers, and quite frankly I'd rather see a very robust pro developer community continue to bloom for MSFS.  As for costs it seems like most airports in the market place are less $$ than what I paid for P3D content.

X-Plane offered freeware quality airports and it did not stop devs from creating payware sceneries. If the payware is much better many will choose to pay.

I bought FB Denver even thought I received an enhanced version with the sim.

Edited February 6, 2021 by DJJose

[PWJT8D 446]

If there is a payware and freeware version of an airport, I'm buying the payware version every time. Others may prefer the freeware. To each their own. No need to single out Pilot's or other developers for their business. It looks like they've done an amazing job recreating Cedar Key but if it's not for you, hit the back button. 

[bendead 1,085]

10 minutes ago, Noel said:

I would have rather seen a strategy of not making freeaware airports possible for MSFS.

What about passionate people who are living in emerging countries, without a lot of cash, we just forget about them?