X-Plane Technology Preview One

[sanh 823]

8 hours ago, rka said:

I'm actually staggered by how little impact this video has/had in the forums I visit regularly. Almost nothing on Reddit and even on the org forums. You have to actually find those threads instead of the Discover page being full of comments. Before MSFS, this would have caused threads with 100s of replies by now IMHO.

I really wish LR had done this a couple of years ago. It doesn't have the wow factor in today's flight sim eco-system. Its just catching up to what is already out there.

[GoranM 3,764]

5 hours ago, FlyBaby said:

I am sure you do....with only 52k views...you might want to tell your account to "brace" for that onslaught of potential new sales.

Ok...?

 

Edited June 4, 2021 by GoranM

[Greazer 1,320]

Much more substantive improvements are required, not simple lighting 'tweaks'.

[mSparks 2,086]

1 hour ago, Greazer said:

Much more substantive improvements are required, not simple lighting 'tweaks'.

yes, and 6 months ago or so they fed back on what they are working on and planning, then a few days ago started showing what that looks like.

You are on the correct thread.

Personally I'm most excited for some of the things coming that are not on the feedback page, which I know are going to improve the VR experience even further from an already outstanding offering.

Edited June 5, 2021 by mSparks

[Janov 2,383]

9 hours ago, sanh said:

I really wish LR had done this a couple of years ago. It doesn't have the wow factor in today's flight sim eco-system. Its just catching up to what is already out there.

Of course it is just catching up. Is that a bad thing? Would you rather have them NOT do it? Why did FSX not do this? Why did P3D not do this? Maybe because the technology (for flight simulators) was not quite there yet?

I see it this way: XP is ahead in several features and areas compared to MSFS. It is severely behind in graphics. So...if it catches up in the graphical department...where does that move it in the overall comparison?

With the same logic you apply one could tell Asobo to just stop "catching up" in the other areas. It just doesn´t have the wow factor if aircraft follow a flightplan on the GPS 🤣

Edited June 5, 2021 by Janov

[rka 916]

So, it's all great and fine and XP is ahead in so many areas that it actually doesn't even really need any catching up. It's actually MSFS that needs to catch up. The silent majority of users actually just fills the gap to XP12 with MSFS and soon XP sales will roar. Addon developers are turning away from MSFS and towards XP because they realize how advanced XP is. Especially compared to that scenery simulator game that noone uses anymore after they saw the crowd cheering (well not cheering publicly, but privately) for that new XP video.

Is that it? ;)

 

[GoranM 3,764]

34 minutes ago, Janov said:

Why did FSX not do this? Why did P3D not do this? Maybe because the technology (for flight simulators) was not quite there yet?

Be careful.  Flybaby the Gatekeeper, will jump in here and scold you for including the "other" sim in this narrative.  According to him, it's FORBIDDEN to bring up the "other" sim.

Edited June 5, 2021 by GoranM

[jcomm 5,938]

Hey guys... you continue to feed the fireplace... 🙂

Enjoy !

Enjoy the moment, dream of the future !  Will XP12 become available somewhere by the end of 2021 ? 

It is now time to start suggesting the dev team they should really take the chance o add features to areas like weather, maybe ATC too (?).

The weather simulation alone can always receive so much attention, allowing for instance for "soaring", but also to more closely model some aspects of RW weather, that I am much more "concerned" about those features finding their way into the next version of X-Plane than loosing my time making useless comparisons or answering / commenting such comparisons.

If you're a developer, instead, FOCUS ! If I had the skills / knowledge to create code for X-Plane I would surely be as busy as life could let me be about trying to prepare for the "next generation" of the sim instead of spending my energies in useless / longish debates on what this or that is better done here or there...

Just look at platforms like Aerowinx PSX, which has received very recently a significative attention by it's developer to answer to a problem related to licensing of navdata. The end result was extremely positive and has actually attracted even more users, and relighted the interest of guys like me who, these days, seldom start a flightsim.

 

[GoranM 3,764]

42 minutes ago, jcomm said:

Enjoy the moment, dream of the future !  Will XP12 become available somewhere by the end of 2021 ? 

No one knows yet. 
 

 

42 minutes ago, jcomm said:

It is now time to start suggesting the dev team they should really take the chance o add features to areas like weather, maybe ATC too (?).

Weather is confirmed. Weather depiction used in xavion will be used in X-Plane 12. 
 

 

44 minutes ago, jcomm said:

If you're a developer, instead, FOCUS ! If I had the skills / knowledge to create code for X-Plane I would surely be as busy as life could let me be about trying to prepare for the "next generation" of the sim instead of spending my energies in useless / longish debates on what this or that is better done here or there...

Some of use like to ensure the correct information is posted. Not “fluff”. 
 

 

44 minutes ago, jcomm said:

Just look at platforms like Aerowinx PSX, which has received very recently a significative attention by it's developer to answer to a problem related to licensing of navdata. The end result was extremely positive and has actually attracted even more users, and relighted the interest of guys like me who, these days, seldom start a flightsim.

Ever since MSFS was released, I’ve seen a surge in sales. New simmers coming in and being made aware of other options. 
XP12 will be something else. 

[Janov 2,383]

3 hours ago, rka said:

Is that it? 😉

About right! 😆

We both know that this is not what I wrote at all - and that you are purposely skewing my post into something that fits your agenda (MSFS is better than X-Plane in so many ways that X-Plane can never catch up!)

Oh well, I will just use different words to explain the same thing again, this seems to help sometimes:

X-Plane will try to catch up in the areas it is lagging behind. It will try to stay ahead in the areas where it is leading.

MSFS will try to catch up in the areas it is lagging behind. It will try to stay ahead in the areas where it is leading.

Who comes out "ahead" in this game? No one knows. If either one does not lag in any area but excels in one (or more) other areas - it is "ahead" overall.

Now sanh came in and said "X-Plane should not try to catch up in the areas it is lagging behind. It is too late!". In light of what I wrote above, I replied that I think that this is not the correct way to look at it, because there is likely always a disparity in feature fidelity and games are always "catching up" with the competition in one way or the other.

As to 3rd party devs and user numbers - nothing is set in stone. Users are likely to get XP12 out of curiosity, even if they continue to fly MSFS after that. All that LR needs is just that one purchase, if you never even install the sim - all the better (less bandwidth cost!) 🙂

Third party devs will go where the sales are, but numerical advantage does not always equal a quality advantage. There seem to be some aircraft out for MSFS that garner great sales... 😉

 

Edited June 5, 2021 by Janov

[rka 916]

51 minutes ago, Janov said:

Now sanh came in and said "X-Plane should not try to catch up in the areas it is lagging behind. It is too late!". In light of what I wrote above, I replied that I think that this is not the correct way to look at it, because there is likely always a disparity in feature fidelity and games are always "catching up" with the competition in one way or the other.

I'm basically with him. It is probably too late. Which is neither good for me nor for the simming community in general.

Not quite sure what you're on about regarding my "agenda". I try to keep a realistic view on the platforms and not let that be influenced by how much I personally am attached to that platform financially or emotionally. To be quite honest with you, that is something I would suggest some people in this thread try out themselves.

[Murmur 3,941]

36 minutes ago, rka said:

I'm basically with him. It is probably too late. Which is neither good for me nor for the simming community in general.

So, would you suggest that the competition is too late in improving their flight model & avionics to catch up with X-Plane?

[jarmstro 2,402]

14 hours ago, sanh said:

I really wish LR had done this a couple of years ago. It doesn't have the wow factor in today's flight sim eco-system. Its just catching up to what is already out there.

I agree. I've spent £1000 plus on XP addons but find myself using X-Plane less and less because it looks and feels so out of date now. If they aren't quick with XP12 I fear I will just throw in the towel and go to MSFS permanently. The more time that goes by the harder it's going to be for LR to claw people back. And just catching up won't be enough because MSFS isn't standing still.

MSFS visuals are no longer surprising, amazing or revolutionary. People have just got used to them as the de facto norm.

Edited June 5, 2021 by jarmstro

[Janov 2,383]

1 hour ago, Murmur said:

So, would you suggest that the competition is too late in improving their flight model & avionics to catch up with X-Plane?

It is hard for some folks to see relevance in this - they are focused on the visual aspect of flying (usually due to not knowing enough about real aviation to care about avionics or the flight model), so that aspect is "minuscle" and they don´t see MSFS lagging in that regard.

I don´t see Hayday lacking at all in realistic representation of botanics or farming, either. You plant stuff, it grows, you harvest it and then sell it - nothing more to it! 😉

[rka 916]

1 hour ago, Murmur said:

So, would you suggest that the competition is too late in improving their flight model & avionics to catch up with X-Plane?

That's exactly what I wanted to say 😄

 

55 minutes ago, jarmstro said:

I agree. I've spent £1000 plus on XP addons but find myself using X-Plane less and less because it looks and feels so out of date now. If they aren't quick with XP12 I fear I will just throw in the towel and go to MSFS permanently. The more time that goes by the harder it's going to be for LR to claw people back. And just catching up won't be enough because MSFS isn't standing still.

MSFS visuals are no longer surprising, amazing or revolutionary. People have just got used to them as the de facto norm.

I couldn't agree more. Especially the second part. It's basically just todays industry standard in terms of gfx. Lets just say XP takes a year from now for the new weather engine and clouds and another half a year of testing and whatnot (my guess is it will take longer). Then we're in 2023 and there's still no ortho. Hard to predict a bright future here. Looks more like a niche position for Linux and Mac flight simmers IMHO. Oh, and mobile.