X-Plane Webinar

[Gilandred 732]

2 hours ago, GoranM said:

First time I've seen this.

Leaves getting affected by wind??

Seasons??

Yeah, definitely next gen, and making me very happy that I stayed with X-Plane.

😘

I too like what I see.  But what does “stay” with XP have any relevance?  My understanding is all these goodies will come with XP12 which for all intents is another purchase, both for base game and likely the majority of addons.

[akita 429]

For those who haven't watched, while I'm aware of other articles some miss some other teased and non talked about features, so this is mine LOL:

1) As a first all the videos and shots are out of context, meaning, for example the forests video, is without new lighting and all the other new features because:

2) No XP12 known yet although highly hinted for beta until September, but there is no XP12 nor we know it's name yet, no full branch yet as Austin explained all are working on different ones and new features are still scattered across different builds.

3) Seasons and tree animations are compute shader driven, based on location, time etc...leaves (and probably grass) will just dynamically grow and change colors over time, it's not a set of textures.

4) A nice one that I caught: on the new jetways shots, there is a data ref for jetway animations, meaning we are probably getting moving jetways and ways to implement it out of the box.

5) The same goes for water and snow effects on ground, included with a picture of data ref list.

6) Weather and clouds are being worked on NOW.

7) ATC fixes are happening now too, as well as new richer nav data that'll interact.

8( There will be no orthos for Xplane out of the box, they are focusing on an high quality art driven scenery, however the new art assets with out a doubt imply they'll use more data to draw stuff like golf courses, parks, sea ports and more we are yet to see...to carefully create a realistic based on data scenery.

And lastly, they say it's just a tiny bit of what's going on and we should wait for a lot more, hopefully everything will be set in place for late September on the flight sim con.

Edited July 29, 2021 by akita

[tonywob 4,784]

Austin seemed very reluctant to mention anything about it being called XP12, which I did find odd... I presume it will be a new paid version though, but I really hope it's not going down a subscription route.

[Gilandred 732]

Just finished watching the whole livestream.  This was a great discussion and exciting times ahead!

i love listening to Austin.  I get the feeling his mind is always 10 steps ahead of what he’s saying and has a hard time keeping up with his voice lol.

Edited July 29, 2021 by Gilandred

[mSparks 2,129]

someone needs to start hitting Austin over the head with collision detection.

Everything else was spot on.

[jcomm 6,091]

3 hours ago, tonywob said:

Austin seemed very reluctant to mention anything about it being called XP12, which I did find odd... I presume it will be a new paid version though, but I really hope it's not going down a subscription route.

And, and some point, he did mention - "talking about price..."... Hmmm, maybe you're guessing right Tony ...

[GoranM 3,818]

3 hours ago, Gilandred said:

I too like what I see.  But what does “stay” with XP have any relevance?  My understanding is all these goodies will come with XP12 which for all intents is another purchase, both for base game and likely the majority of addons.

I make add ons for X-Plane. People have been telling me I’m stupid if I don’t switch to MSFS, because X-Plane is dead and can’t compete with MSFS. Hence, I’m glad I stayed with X-Plane. 

[Gilandred 732]

13 minutes ago, GoranM said:

I make add ons for X-Plane. People have been telling me I’m stupid if I don’t switch to MSFS, because X-Plane is dead and can’t compete with MSFS. Hence, I’m glad I stayed with X-Plane. 

Ah ok makes sense in that context.  I was looking at it from a consumer standpoint.

[Murmur 3,978]

The preview screenshots of the next XP version are promising. Still very early, I reckon.

I think they should strive to get a daytime lighting and atmosphere on the level of the competition, lighting is maybe the single most important factor in the realism of a scene. So hopefully they're still working on that.

At the same time, it's good that XP is not trying to copy the competition (they couldn't anyway, with the vast difference in resources), but keeping its own path, and adding all those features that it was lacking.

Edited July 29, 2021 by Murmur

[Sims Smith 303]

10 hours ago, tonywob said:

Austin seemed very reluctant to mention anything about it being called XP12, which I did find odd... I presume it will be a new paid version though, but I really hope it's not going down a subscription route.

He gave a run down of XP11 Cost of Ownership.  That is a language most company use when they go to SaaS model. XP mobile is already subscription so I think Desktop version will follow soon. 

People are paying Navigraph subscription, and hundreds of dollars for payware software every year. I am fine if they go sub model similar to "game pass" (if you don't sub you can still use the software but no update)  if that increases LR revenue.  They work hard and only gets paid once every 5 years in current model. A strong LR = better XP

[Janov 2,383]

28 minutes ago, Sims Smith said:

XP mobile is already subscription so I think Desktop version will follow soon. 

I would not read too much into Austin´s hesitance to talk about what the next version is called or how it will be sold.

The stance at LR is to be still "tightlipped" about anything that isn´t cleared to go public, and Austin has been given (and agreed on) divulging only about certain subjects in that interview. So just because he did not confirm that the next version will be "X-Plane 12" or "yes, it will cost another 59.99$" does not mean that there is some hidden agenda or big revelation.

As I said before, a subscription is not necessarily the more lucrative option for a developer. It does "smooth out" income a bit, and may also entice people to shelf out 2$ per month more easily than 60$ every 5 years...but at the same time people will cancel subscriptions much faster when they decide to not use X-Plane for a few months or if something more appealing comes along. So I personally doubt that XP desktop will go subscription.

[Pastaiolo 1,690]

All those features are welcome and needed, so i am happy.

I just thought that, if it was another sim implementing all those, there would be the same people going and going about how the sim is supposed to be a flight simulator and not a world simulator, so leaves moving with the wind are not needed, same for seasons, environmental sounds etc etc. 😛

The most visually changing features will be lighting and clouds. We saw a glimpse of the first, let's wait to see the latter 🙂

[GoranM 3,818]

1 minute ago, Pastaiolo said:

I just thought that, if it was another sim implementing all those, there would be the same people going and going about how the sim is supposed to be a flight simulator and not a world simulator, so leaves moving with the wind are not needed, same for seasons, environmental sounds etc etc. 😛

Yep. I’m one of those. But if it’s added, it’s the icing on the cake. Could I go without it?  Sure. Would it be sweeter with it included?  Absolutely!  The problem I have is with people who claim those features are a necessity, otherwise, “X-Plane will die!”  
In any case, it’s clear that Austin is busting through expectations with things I never would’ve imagined. (Wind affecting trees). 

[Janov 2,383]

19 minutes ago, Pastaiolo said:

there would be the same people going and going about how the sim is supposed to be a flight simulator and not a world simulator, so leaves moving with the wind are not needed, same for seasons, environmental sounds etc etc.

I agree! But it is a bit like Italian television (RAI): Does a good game show need dancing girls in skimpy outfits? Probably not, but it sure increases the number of viewers 😉

[strider1 588]

9 minutes ago, Pastaiolo said:

The most visually changing features will be lighting and clouds. We saw a glimpse of the first, let's wait to see the latter 🙂

Fore-sure! My psychic abilities tells me Ben and the crew are going to have a home-run when it comes to clouds.

I would also like to see the water Ben previewed some years back be implemented! I think that will probably be delayed.