X-plane - The past, present & future

[peroni 541]

45 minutes ago, mSparks said:

Have you tried X-Plane mobile?

Allow me to chime in, I have given XP Mobile a chance several times, I even went out and bought a tablet to see if that would make a difference.
Every single time I stopped playing after a few minutes wondering who in his right state of mind would want to play with that?

I tought maybe it was because I'm an old fart so I handed the tablet to my kids keen to hear their opinions, they dumped it immediately 😀

[Biology 1,347]

16 minutes ago, peroni said:

Allow me to chime in, I have given XP Mobile a chance several times, I even went out and bought a tablet to see if that would make a difference.
Every single time I stopped playing after a few minutes wondering who in his right state of mind would want to play with that?

I tought maybe it was because I'm an old fart so I handed the tablet to my kids keen to hear their opinions, they dumped it immediately 😀

I guess I'm the only one who plays X-Plane Mobile, even though not regularly. But I'm kinda addicted to flight simulator games so not surprising.

[FlyBaby 659]

1 hour ago, mSparks said:

So far, imho, its done a fantastic job of providing a solid platform to the thousands of little niche crowds in flight sim, from schools offering C172 training, from trainee to helo pilots like me to the over 60s that just want to run through their checklists and sit on VATSIM at FL390 (gliders not so much apparently....)

This is where XP mobile falls down, DCS falls down, even MSFS falls down, everything else serves only one niche well (mobile -> poor people that cant afford desktops - DCS -> the warbird crowd, MSFS -> the light GA VFR crowd that dont know or care that much about aviation).

XP definitely serves its purposes well depending upon what you are looking for.

I did watch your Helo vids earlier in this thread...pretty cool. Prior to MSFS, I used XP exclusively (abandoning p3D & FSX); and I mainly fly Helos in XP (412 and 429); the 3D modeled environment coupled with road traffic (particularly at night) is very immersive for Heli / low level flight  (and the best of any sim).

At the same time, I am studying for my PPL (just starting out)...so I can't describe the usefulness of a "VFR" sim that accurately models every apartment complex, quarry, water tower, shopping center around the airport to help me visualize things as they are in the real world. It's an immersion like no other...I will leave it at that.

I think that the GA VFR crowd encompasses many levels of users. And to me, it's captalizing on a broad user base that brings in the funds to further development and enhancement of the sim to reach higher levels of fidelity.

[Biology 1,347]

Just now, FlyBaby said:

XP definitely serves its purposes well depending upon what you are looking for.

I did watch your Helo vids earlier in this thread...pretty cool. Prior to MSFS, I used XP exclusively (abandoning p3D & FSX); and I mainly fly Helos in XP (412 and 429); the 3D modeled environment coupled with road traffic (particularly at night) is very immersive for Heli / low level flight  (and the best of any sim).

At the same time, I am studying for my PPL (just starting out)...so I can't describe the usefulness of a "VFR" sim that accurately models every apartment complex, quarry, water tower, shopping center around the airport to help me visualize things as they are in the real world. It's an immersion like no other...I will leave it at that.

I think that the GA VFR crowd encompasses many levels of users. And to me, it's captalizing on a broad user base that brings in the funds to further development and enhancement of the sim to reach higher levels of fidelity.

X-Plane is definitely still the best for helicopters. For a VR & helicopter fan like @mSparks I think X-Plane is the best choice because other simulators don't have proper rotorcraft flight dynamics yet.

I personally use P3D mostly because I like big airliners, button pushing and experimenting with failures. I also use X-Plane for FlyJSim classics, more realistic GA & helicopters and MSFS for GA. So far I'm happy with all even though they all need improvements in different aspects.

[peroni 541]

1 hour ago, BiologicalNanobot said:

I guess I'm the only one who plays X-Plane Mobile, even though not regularly. But I'm kinda addicted to flight simulator games so not surprising.

Hey if you like it, why not? 
I wanted to like it, maybe at some point I will get the gist of it, like I did with XP11 after trying and immediately dumping the demo of previous versions, going back to XP8 I think.

 

[peroni 541]

Here's a fresh update from Ben

https://developer.x-plane.com/2021/03/departures-and-arrivals-lua-bug-fixes-g2-controllers-and-stuff/

Jim Keir joined the Laminar ranks, I believe he is the man behind Traffic Global for XP sold under the JustFlight brand.

Edited March 18, 2021 by peroni

[GoranM 3,772]

So it went from you being curious...

8 hours ago, jarmstro said:

I've always been curious. Why isn't the TBM for sale on the Org store as well as X-Aviation? I am sure there is a good reason but I can't think what it could be? The JRollon is for sale on both. Is it the commission? Or what?

to a marketing strategy...

8 hours ago, jarmstro said:

Well you might if you thought it would help your sales? And you might if you thought it would help customers to understand the pros and cons of buying from this or that site? It was a genuine query on my part. I am interested to know. That's all. Nothing else behind my question. If you choose not to answer so be it.

Ok.

My decision not to tell you is partly based on other parties who are involved.  And it wouldn't be appropriate if I explained my decision based on that.

Edited March 19, 2021 by GoranM

[Anxu00 176]

Ok, so I was late to the topic, and after scanning through 7 pages, I am no where near knowing where XP 11 is going from here.  LR is not saying anything, and aside from releasing 11.52r1 has been quiet.  To be honest, I am not looking forward to 12 at all.  Not sure where they make the money from, but keep improving 11 and sell more copy of it seems to be a better option to me.  Unless there is a real reason and gain to be made with a major breaking release, as user, I just want the outstanding issues fixed.  Many problems like atmospheric depiction has been promised but never delivered, with a seemingly 'next version' reply.   This sim thing is a perpetual buy the next HW improvement trick.  I waited 5 years to get the latest (well I bought the RTX2080SC too soon, should have waited for the RTX3080) but when I fired up the various sim again, the best performance is still "meh".  May be in 10 years, we will have quantum PC and then we will finally have a dream sim (yeah right), but the software guys will once again manage to make it run slow again.  What I want is very simple: run smooth and look good enough that I will fool myself that I am flying the plane and seeing reasonably behaving weather, not occasionally break by stutters and reloading that remind me that I just spent thousand of bucks to be reminded again that I am sitting in one place and the word not allowed thing is not real at all. 😆

[GoranM 3,772]

@Anxu00 a vanilla install of X-Plane will run very smoothly on a modern system.  What drags performance down is plugins and an outdated GPU/CPU/low RAM.  I've seen people complain of bad performance, and after seeing their log file, it's amazing their install is running at all, when considering the amount of 3rd party plugins installed.  

Streamline your install.  Get rid of non-essentials.  Avoid freeware plugins (the authors have no obligation to support them due to them being freeware.  It's pretty much a "be happy with what you got" scenario).  

21 minutes ago, Anxu00 said:

I am no where near knowing where XP 11 is going from here.  LR is not saying anything, and aside from releasing 11.52r1 has been quiet.

Have you seen this?

https://www.thresholdx.net/news/amxavi

 

[mSparks 2,092]

2 hours ago, GoranM said:

My decision not to tell you is partly based on other parties who are involved.  And it wouldn't be appropriate if I explained my decision based on that.

Reading between the lines.

You lot trust the .org even less than you trust your windows users.

Not completely stupid then.

But to give them credit they would surely do an even better job of scaring off customers than Cameron does....

1 hour ago, GoranM said:

Have you seen this?

https://www.thresholdx.net/news/amxavi

 

download it here

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/x-plane-control-pad/id961801382#?platform=ipad

7 hours ago, BiologicalNanobot said:

X-Plane is definitely still the best for helicopters. For a VR & helicopter fan like @mSparks I think X-Plane is the best choice because other simulators don't have proper rotorcraft flight dynamics yet.

 

you really need to get in on the 744 action.

[jarmstro 2,405]

1 hour ago, GoranM said:

https://www.thresholdx.net/news/amxavi

When was that? June 2020? 😂 Dream on..... It took them years just to implement Vulkan. 
 

However I do have to say that the long public Vulkan beta program was very enjoyable and was a smart move. It certainly kept people's interest in the sim going. 

[mSparks 2,092]

18 minutes ago, jarmstro said:

When was that? June 2020? 😂 Dream on..... It took them years just to implement Vulkan. 

nah, threshold mistook another Austin iPad app for an XP12 feature. Its been out for a few months now.

Edited March 19, 2021 by mSparks

[jarmstro 2,405]

5 minutes ago, mSparks said:

another Austin iPad app

I reckon there are those who have a poster of The Dear Leader Austin on their wall. 

[mSparks 2,092]

17 minutes ago, jarmstro said:

I reckon there are those who have a poster of The Dear Leader Austin on their wall. 

Next to Steve Jobs, Linus Torvalds and Aaron Swartz

[Janov 2,383]

4 hours ago, Anxu00 said:

This sim thing is a perpetual buy the next HW improvement trick.

There are different marketing models in modern software. Some are subscription, some are free-to-play with in-game purchases, some are regular releases. X-Plane falls in line with other games like Fifa, Battlefield, or even Microsoft Windows. You buy a new version every few years.

I know there are some cheapskates out there that say "oh, just improve X-Plane 11"...hahaha. I know, you bought it already, wouldn´t it be nice if they just kept improving it ad infinitum and just live in their parent´s garage so you don´t have to shelve out 60$s every 4 years (thats 1,25$ every month). If that is too much to pay for a hobby, maybe take up train watching?

X-Plane has had continuous advances within the version 11 run. The next step to 12 will be a more "visual" step, followed by continous advances again. The team doesn´t work in fits and starts, bringing out a new version then kicking back in the Carribean for 3 years until it is time to stir up the next honeypot. There is actually no discernable ebb and flow in effort, it is full steam at all times. The only difference you can see when a new version comes up is that there is a lull in updates right before it - so they can build up enough  "newness" to make people actually want to get the "new version".

If you are still wondering what will be the new things in X-Plane 12, here is what has been confirmed and hinted at in various spots:

• Improved lighting
• Improved weather
• Improved multiplayer
• Improved aerodynamics (transonic/supersonic regime)
• New aircraft

I personally believe we will also see:

• Better mesh (resolution, landclass)
• Better roads (fidelity)
• Better vegetation
• Better support for electrically powered flight/VTOL
• More landmarks

Within the XP-12 run there will be:

• Better multicore support

One thing can not be mentioned often enough: X-Plane 12 will not leapfrog MSFS in visuals. There will be no streamed satellite scenery, the visuals will likely close the gap, but I warn everyone against expecting a "MSFS killer". Just to curb expectations.

Cheers, Jan