I have all 4 sims installed on my PC, but I still use X-Plane 11 more than any other sim. As good as the lighting is in MSFS2020, It's not grabbing my full attention during a flight like X-Plane does.

 

Edited February 17, 20224 yr by Jude Bradley

It's been getting better since the day I first bought it (version 5) and has never felt like a game.

Keep up the great work people!

Edited February 17, 20224 yr by h2egc

 

6 hours ago, mtaxp said:

Yes, developing a flight sim to this level takes YEARS. Lastly, adding more and more coders won't really make a "fast forward" effect as you may think and there is a very recent example;

The HS CL650 sets a new standart for home simulation addons and was done from the ground up by 2 developers in 3 years "only".

While other companies, 4X-5X bigger, on other platforms that are also 1000X bigger, are struggling to port an already exisitng product that might end up not just inferior to the CL650, but also inferior to the same product on another platform.

So, thank you LR for taking the right track, can't wait for x-plane 12!

 

Indeed. Pure manpower doesn't substitute knowledge.

 

5 hours ago, jarmstro said:

It doesn't take, or shouldn't take, six years unless you are falling back on your laurels.

So, why did it take the 'other one' 14 years from its last iteration? Did they rest on their laurels? Seems so. And even with huge manpower, they are still behind or simply wrong in the important aspects of a flight sim.

 

Oh ... BTW ... other aspects why I luv X-Plane: flaps get damaged at overspeed, birdstrikes, microbursts, knife edge flying. And if I search even deeper in my cerebral gyri, yet more will come up.

I think 'love' is a bit strong, but I do strongly like XP and since the release of the CL650, I fly little else.

 

18 minutes ago, RichieFly said:

I think 'love' is a bit strong, ...

It was an irony to another thread in 'the other' forum. However, I won't point to it, the ones who are interested, should search for the term 'luv' (which aren't my own words  🙂 ) .

Edited February 17, 20224 yr by uwespeed

Since I came the X plane 10.45, I have seen this platform develop improve over years I have been in using this sim.
LR shows a roadmap that was steady and measure to deliver the technology needed for growth in various aspects of X plane. Not over done that sets them up for under delivery and failure. But to deliver what is needed for improvements that is appreciated today and into the future.

• They improve their autogen, setting the stage delivery for better graphic representation in scenery assets. 
• PBR material to improve the appearance of the graphic assets.
• They added Fmod to give a better realistic and convincing sound for both their default and 3P aircraft and environment. 
• They add a particle system, given it ability to creates convincing Fog, accumulated snow, contrails and Volumetric clouds. 
• The implementation of VR, opening the door to a new level and immersion into the flight sim experience.
• The had improve the UI to make navigating the X plane experience much easier and less confrontation to new users without need to make configure visual settings with text-based methods and can give real time feedback on most of those change that are impacted. Easy way to connect and configure your hardware as well as selecting the weather, aircraft and location where you want to start.   

And the completion of the move to the new Vulkan api to improve performance while maintain backward compatibility with the OpenGl bridge. This shows their commitment to users who want to continue using their older addon until the upgrades are supporting the new api and not abandon them, just for the sake of change.

They are many dedicated developers who enjoy exercising their talent whether they are payware or freeware and are passionate in bring their best they can deliver and not just chasing the dollar.
Over those years it has already has become a much more mature platform for developers and has advance itself to a become better environment to fly in.
Its updates and beta program are far better managed and much more fundamentally consistent than what has been done on the other side and if anyone believe that is not the case, they are only kidding themselves.
I have seen a number of very detailed study level aircraft that have raise the bar of the flight sim experience that has enter in the XP market place with more to come.
I seen this reflected in the results in the Navigraph survey where XP is holding its position that give me confidence that this market is not going anywhere and should only get better.
I only touch on a few of the things I like of X plane and LR, with all of that, I still enjoy how the aircraft handles and the satisfaction of flight in the sim.
With XP12 on the horizon, there are many more things to look forward to due to strong foundation LR has given this sim and support to the users community and 3P in its past years.
 

Edited February 17, 20224 yr by BobFS88

I came for the (terrible at the time) R44. I stayed for everything else.

And good grief is there a lot of "everything else".

6 hours ago, jarmstro said:

It doesn't take, or shouldn't take, six years unless you are falling back on your laurels.

Longer, tbh. Quite a bit longer.

XP11 "by design" had no changes to its looks (not counting VR) It was already far superior to FSX and P3D - its only competitors when it was released, better looks and lighting were always scheduled for XP12.

The main reason flight simulation stuff takes so long is twofold.

Firstly the math is bonkers hard, basically as hard as math gets, there's nothing "off the shelf" in XP for flight model stuff, Austin isnt just creating yet another simulator with XP, he's creating the science of how to simulate flight.

Secondly, the requirements of the software itself are bonkers hard. Simulation of a 12 hour long haul? CTD 10 hours in.... That's another 2 days just to see if it happens again - let alone trying to actually fix it. Most AAA games these days (not just MSFS) cant go more than an hour runtime on average without imploding. Games for kids with a 30 second attention span no one really notices unless its really bad - cyberpunk bad. But flight sim has no value unless it can simulate at least a reasonably long cross country flight - testing that is a time game, not a "number of people" game.

So, Austin gets a lot of respect from people who at least half understand him, despite him being highly eccentric and not particularly enjoyable to listen to as a speaker. Simply because he has more or less broken the back of that epic challenge, where hundreds if not thousands of others; large and small have tried and failed over the years.

I have a lot of "luv" for all highly skilled experts of their field, who work tirelessly for decades to make the world a safer place and also know how to enjoy themselves doing so, I wish more people would to. Austin seems to me to be one of those people, no?

Thumbs up on Project 76  for X Plane.

mSparks, thank you for speaking a good deal of truth to the tiny minority of puny, snide commentators who are sounding off far too often on this forum. Austin Meyer and his team are doubtless entirely immune to the cheap shots fired randomly here, but a few inadequates continue to lower the tone of too many discussions and, as a result, deter others from taking part. I hope moderators will take a much more ruthless approach to this handful of mischief-makers.

1 hour ago, Brian Mackie said:

deter others from taking part.

I dont believe so. People are just generally afraid to talk. Its also time consuming, people have lives.

1 hour ago, Brian Mackie said:

hope moderators will take a much more ruthless approach to this handful of mischief-makers.

I would be banned under such policies. See also:

There might be a high probability that's talking about me....

People generally form opinions quickly and change them very slowly. Thats something of another pass time of mine. I have/am closely affiliated with companies in the UK, Italy, Khazakstan, Ukraine, Moscow/Russia, Slovenia, Serbia/ex Yugoslavia, Poland and Germany, given lectures from Jakarta to Chicago. Flight sim politics is pure recreation compared to that stuff, and when it gets boring I make stuff for it.

Edited February 18, 20224 yr by mSparks

I've been a journalist since 1967, and identified you as a superior stirrer on this site pretty early on. But the real culprits I have in mind are ignorami who either create personal feuds or divert attention from the subject to something else - usually a competing sim. Their rants make for tedious reading, and must surely put many people off even visiting the forum, let alone getting involved in a useful conversation. If these miscreants were dealt with properly, we would find the entire atmosphere changed to something more positive. I'm veering badly off-topic and, probably, so are you.

 

 

17 minutes ago, Brian Mackie said:

But the real culprits I have in mind are ignorami who either create personal feuds or divert attention from the subject to something else

There's always an element of that. It generally gets worse the higher up the layer cake you go...

But equally I understand statements like "it shouldn't take 6 years" and "XP11 looks absolutely awful compared to unreal engine 5". 

They are almost a natural position to take, they aren't alone - and people who share their views are more likely to be the ones afraid to participate imho.

So I take a little extra time to do my best to explain why I think they are wrong. Its one thing to hear "Xplane is Austins lifes work", but XP appeared in the life of most people that find it instantly from a google search on a bored sunday afternoon.

They dont see all the sleepless nights LR will have had solving both stupid and complex problems, or understand why they became blind to obvious issues they never got round to fixing for years.

What they do see is a bunch of fanatics that must be idiots to "put up" with hours/days of downloading orthophoto, following almost every word of a crazy man that often sounds like he's been smoking something illegal, mostly talking gibberish using lots of words they dont understand.

They dont need banning, imho, they need educating.

We all do in our own special ways. Thats why we are here isnt it?

You learn nothing from an echo chamber, other than how much you like the sound of your own voice.

3 hours ago, mSparks said:

Longer, tbh. Quite a bit longer.

Jeff Minter wrote Revenge of the Mutant Camels for the C64 single-handedly in just two months! It sold in shed loads and is still rated to be one of the top games of all time.🤣

Mind you, it took forty years for him to fix a collision detection bug which he finally did in 2021.😂 True story.

Edited February 18, 20224 yr by jarmstro

2 hours ago, jarmstro said:

True story.

https://thenewstack.io/the-44-year-old-operating-system-bug/

Oh hey, finally the "positive experiences with X-Plane" thread I long wante-...nope, it derailed again.

 

I like X-Plane's "to-the-point-no-BS" approach as a platform. And it's quite stable, handling sessions of serveral hours in length without issue. The fidelity and conveyed sensation of flying is also quite unique; even something as big as a 737 feels rather dynamic and fun to fly.

After I bought XP11 in 2018, I basically immediately stopped using FSX. It was just night and day.