Hey,

Some years ago I tried getting into FSE under P3D and it was always a so-so experience, always had problems with it in various forms, like servers suddenly going down and the interface has always been kinda clunky. Today I decided to give it another shot, loaded it up and did a flight, only for the servers to go down, making me unable to log the flight... Doesn't feel all that great and I think my patience with FSE has worn out.

That leads me to the question; what are the alternatives available for MSFS? I saw OnAir but the feedback just seem so lukewarm, people talk about instability, the sub fee and how even the official media channels are completely void of tutorial or information content outside of a launch trailer. Doesn't give me any confidence.

Saw another thing called NeoFly but that sounds a tad 'silly gamey, with them even mentioning drug drop missions.

I think even OrbX did something? but I'm really out of the loop.

What I really like about FSE though is that it's rigid player environment, where everyone starts and works within an equal footing. No custom modes, no "I'll start with a million dollars and 7 jets", as I hate the feeling for imposing synthetic restrictions on myself to create my experience. So any alternatives that has a main mode at least, where everyone starts off the same, allows for building a career, building a company, hiring pilots and possibly a form of multiplayer interaction?

Thanks

Just to comment on FSE... there is a server issue this morning (3rd party hosting). I’m unsure what the issue is but hopefully it will be resolved soon. Usually, the site is stable. There is a daily 15min outage for backup but that’s always at a predictable time. 

A while back, the FSE server was the target of some malicious activity that resulted in some unfortunate outages and feature removals. And yes, the UI isn’t as polished as some would expect in 2021 but that’s the nature of providing a cost-free and ad-free service.... volunteer limitations. 

I don’t have an answer to the OP question. Just wanted to confirm that there is an FSE server issue right now. 

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 20214 yr by Danno
Typo

34 minutes ago, Sethos said:

Hey,

Some years ago I tried getting into FSE under P3D and it was always a so-so experience, always had problems with it in various forms, like servers suddenly going down and the interface has always been kinda clunky. Today I decided to give it another shot, loaded it up and did a flight, only for the servers to go down, making me unable to log the flight... 

Sounds like you've been pretty unlucky, the servers don't go down often at all, it is a stable platform with a lot of positives and a very few frustrating items.
There are some alternatives but usually the player base is much smaller.  I think a new one just started, FsCharter.net
 

59 minutes ago, Sethos said:

Saw another thing called NeoFly but that sounds a tad 'silly gamey, with them even mentioning drug drop missions.

Best to stay away from The Skypark, too. They also have a black market.

I’ve tried fseconomy, onair, neofly, and skypark. The one I enjoyed the most was neofly and fseconomy, however I didn’t use them for long, onair was too involved and complicated for me, and skypark (the orbx one your referring too) seemed way too simple and Un-engaging (I only tried skypark a few times a long time ago so it may be different now)

I will say that I haven’t used any of these programs for an extended amount of time, but those were my impressions on the products, so to get back to your question, I think what’s available out there you are already pretty much aware of so would say if your really interested in something like this you would have to choose one of these options. (Again there may be a unknown hidden jem somewhere but feel if there were It would be known) 

PS you don’t have to the the black market missions in neofly, you can however bring doctors to a crash site that you need to find, or put out Forrest fires if I recall correctly, which seems cool

Edited November 14, 20214 yr by flyinpilot212121

The new kid on the block is fscharter.net

1 hour ago, Danno said:

Just to comment on FSE... there is a server issue this morning (3rd party hosting). I’m unsure what the issue is but hopefully it will be resolved soon. Usually, the site is stable. There is a daily 15min outage for backup but that’s always at a predictable time. 

A while back, the FSE server was the target of some malicious activity that resulted in some unfortunate outages and feature removals. And yes, the UI isn’t as polished as some would expect in 2021 but that’s the nature of providing a cost-free and ad-free service.... volunteer limitations. 

I don’t have an answer to the OP question. Just wanted to confirm that there is an FSE server issue right now.

Thank you for confirming. It does seem like I've been very unlucky, picking the absolute worst times to fly. Unfortunately, even bad luck is enough to kill a positive experience. As for the UI, it's not something that is a major point of contention for me and once you understand it, it's serviceable. Just one of those "would be nice if it had a few QOL improvements".

Currently, I'm just remaining in my plane, parked at the airport, hoping the service comes back up, so I (hopefully) get my trip logged once the servers come up later. 🤞

47 minutes ago, peroni said:

Sounds like you've been pretty unlucky, the servers don't go down often at all, it is a stable platform with a lot of positives and a very few frustrating items.
There are some alternatives but usually the player base is much smaller.  I think a new one just started, FsCharter.net
 

Yeah, does seem like I hit the get-hit-by-lightning lottery by picking today, of all days, to get back into FSE. I'll check out FsCharter, thanks.

33 minutes ago, Twenty6 said:

Best to stay away from The Skypark, too. They also have a black market.

Thank you for the heads-up.

9 minutes ago, flyinpilot212121 said:

I’ve tried fseconomy, onair, neofly, and skypark. The one I enjoyed the most was neofly and fseconomy, however I didn’t use them for long, onair was too involved and complicated for me, and skypark (the orbx one your referring too) seemed way too simple and Un-engaging (I only tried skypark a few times a long time ago so it may be different now)

I will say that I haven’t used any of these programs for an extended amount of time, but those were my impressions on the products, so to get back to your question, I think what’s available out there you are already pretty much aware of so would say if your really interested in something like this you would have to choose one of these options. (Again there may be a unknown hidden jem somewhere but feel if there were It would be known) 

PS you don’t have to the the black market missions in neofly, you can however bring doctors to a crash site that you need to find, or put out Forrest fires if I recall correctly, which seems cool

I do think NeoFly sounds interesting but I'm more interested in the 'Euro Truck' element of it all, just do some boring back and forth, build a company from the ground up, see it all come to fruition. Some of the missions sound cool to spice things up but not something I'd want to do daily or have that be the main bulk of it, so how balanced is it in that regard?

I did check out Skypark plus a few videos after it was mentioned and that was also my impression, looked very simplistic, when something becomes so accessible it just becomes sort-of shallow. I'll keep an ear to the ground, maybe if I can find the time, start checking out some of the free / free trial options.

Left FSE for OnAir. Yes, it is paid, but there it with great support and features.

Edited November 14, 20214 yr by GCBraun

3 minutes ago, Sethos said:

of the missions sound cool to spice things up but not something I'd want to do daily or have that be the main bulk of it, so how balanced is it in that regard?

 

If memory serves me right, it’s as balanced as you’d want it to be as you choose what jobs you want to do that’s available at that location and your ranking of course, I believe you can filter the missions out so you just see the jobs (again if memory serves me right). I do understand your point in that the missions would be fun once in a while but not something to go back to every flight. Hopefully someone who uses it more extensively can give their input on it, but neofly reminds me of fseconomy, only a little more polished.

Good luck in your search!

Cheers!

OnAIr user here. It´s demanding until you get to the airliners, but that´s what I like from a manager like this, a challenge.

I've tried quite a few economic simulations. What sets FSEconomy apart is the community aspect. Jobs are offered to all pilots, which makes it IMHO much more interesting than simulations like NeoFly or AirHauler, where everyone lives in their own job world. I tried OnAir about a year ago, but didn't find it very convincing (lots of inconsistencies and annoyances, such as spawning airplanes at airports with too small a runway or not enough fuel for takeoff). Maybe they improved it by now.

I found that FSEconomy offers opportunities to cooperate in many different ways, simply because it is a very flexible concept. And yes, the server is sometimes down, but it really doesn't happen that often.

Peter

19 minutes ago, qqwertzde said:

I've tried quite a few economic simulations. What sets FSEconomy apart is the community aspect. Jobs are offered to all pilots, which makes it IMHO much more interesting than simulations like NeoFly or AirHauler, where everyone lives in their own job world. I tried OnAir about a year ago, but didn't find it very convincing (lots of inconsistencies and annoyances, such as spawning airplanes at airports with too small a runway or not enough fuel for takeoff). Maybe they improved it by now.

I found that FSEconomy offers opportunities to cooperate in many different ways, simply because it is a very flexible concept. And yes, the server is sometimes down, but it really doesn't happen that often.

Peter

I’m my experience with these, I’d have to agree with you that fseconomy feels more “real life like” with the whole community aspect of it…It’s pretty neat how you can fly an aircraft to a certain airport, come back the next couple days to see it has been flown by someone else and is now parked at another location. 

Because I commented on the FSE server, I will update....  It’s back up but without a solid explanation as to why the database connection severed. It’s been running solidly for quite a while. 

 

I like Skypark but I basically just use it as something to give me a bit of structure while I fly around a particular geographical area for a while. It's not something like what it seems you want where you have to build something up from scratch. It's just a casual bit of fun for now but they are expanding its complexity over time it seems. 

5 hours ago, Sethos said:

I do think NeoFly sounds interesting but I'm more interested in the 'Euro Truck' element of it all, just do some boring back and forth, build a company from the ground up, see it all come to fruition. Some of the missions sound cool to spice things up but not something I'd want to do daily or have that be the main bulk of it, so how balanced is it in that regard?

You can filter most aspects of neofly, so if you don't want to fly certain type missions, or be diverted you can filter that out. On top of that, you can set percentages for when emergencies may happen, etc. I've never used FS Economy so can't make comparisons.