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Original FSX add-ons missing

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I am just wondering where all the original FSX add-ons are?It's now almost one year after the release and at least 1.5 years after the beta/developer preview of FSX and except for the Hifisim team with Active Sky X, I have yet to see another "Whoa" add-on.Have developers given up on FSX? It sure looks like it.AirlinerXP and Ground/Flight Environment are still in development. Other than that, it seems that there's really nothing new and original to come our way.The development of FS Flight Keeper and FS Passengers seems stagnant and other developers tend only to port their existing offerings to FSX without developing any new and original content.Nothing can be really expected to get released by PMDG until at least next year (particularly the 737NGX and A320). Ultimate Traffic (and for that matter much of Flight1 offerings) are still the same lukewarm, made-compatible products from 3-4 years ago.I am well aware that the development times have increased significantly, but FSX has almost entered half its shelf life (assuming a 3yr release cycle).Pat

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FS Passengers for FSX is in development according to the website and should be out before the end of the year and I thought PMDG's 747 was to be released sometime this month.Also, what about Ultimate Terrain, that for me is a whoa add-on and the Mega Scenery offerings are really good. I'm just wondering what could possibly be done as far as new products besides aircraft and scenery that hasn't already been done for FS9? Ian.

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Okay, I forgot Ultimate Terrain. Sorry."What could possibly be done as far as new products that hasn't been done?"- A good flight planner, because there is currently none that does it all (weather/wind calc, import/export, ai display, moving map, print out sectionals, integrated logger, SID/STARs)- ATC (Radar Contact functionality with FSX/ATT voices + VFR + more random/generic stuff, simulated emergencies, weather delays, hold)- New AI tools (updated models, real-time schedules, although MyTraffic Live comes pretty close)- Career modes (a la FS Passengers)- Generic, customizable FS2Crew modules (= better FDC)- ACARS module (dispatch interaction for heavies)- Modules for realistic failures- RealityXP gauges- Complete Garmin 1000!- Unified standard for speech synthesis for FSX modules, so that FS2Crew, FSX ATC, FDC or whatever tools have the same sets of speech output and a unified module for speech recognition.I could go on and on. ;)Pat

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Flight Sim Commander seems to do a good job for flightplanning although not sure on sectionals. I'm using FSBuild as I've never been a big moving map person.Radar Contact 5 is due out next year and should have VFR. Not sure about the voices but they do have holds and if you have an emergency (via some other source) you can declare one.Career mode is something I've always wanted although I've always desired an airline simulation. I've been toying around with that idea and have an excel spreadsheet using the VB backend to simulate an airline simulation. Hoping to finish relearning C++ and windows programming and convert it into a finished product....never have enough time though although the ideas are running around in my head.There is a program called FSAcars out there that tracks and logs your flight...seems many VA's use it. There are alternatives to the Reality XP gauges, can't remember what they are though, but at least the weather radar is out.Garmin 1000, not sure on that one. Sporty's sells them but they are expensive :)I like the last one, wish Radar Contact would utilize better speech. Anyway, good list and good points.... patience is the key though, it takes time to develop and polish off a product. I'm also wondering what will come after the SP2/DX10 updates.....not to mention Adrenaline. Should be an interesting 2008 hopefully.Ian.

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It has only been almost a year since FSX was released (not quite I think). As I understand it, it was over a year before FS9 addons were released. You didn't state what addons you are waiting for.As far as I can tell, there's only a couple of the major products for FS9 that don't have FSX versions now, and, yes, brand new planes and scenery are not here yet, but most of the developers spent the last 8 months or so updating their FS9 addons for FSX, I assume believing that way they could continue their revenue stream to be able to create new offerings.FSX released packages that I can think of off the top of my head:Ultimate Terrain USA (and the rest will be released in due time)LDS 767 (nearly a complete rewrite)F1 ATRVOX ATCRadar ContactASXUltimate Traffic <- I'm pretty sure they just released an FSX versionNearly the whole Eaglesoft catalogRealAir ScoutRealAir SF260FSGenesis (all kinds of FSX products released)SceneryTech LandclassCloud9 LandclassTrue, scenery packages are scarce. The problem here being the nearly completely new earth model and several "shortcomings" in the way textures are applied that have thrown the scenery developers for a loop (really, I think they are tired and need a rest. Been there, done that back in the FS4 - FS95 - FS98 upgrade. Sometimes you just don't want to learn new things.). But there are several packages released by Cloud9 that are FSX only.And, yes, PMDG and Dreamfleet are behind the curve on the FSX releases. And Airliner XP has taken up quite a bit of resources from several developers. There is, however, plenty out there to play with, though. How much are you willing to spend? I'm pretty sure you could spend more than $1000 on available FSX addons today.I don't even bother flying FS9 anymore.Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)N15802 KASH '73 Piper Cherokee Challenger 180


Tom Perry

 

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I used Flight Sim Commander. Nice program, but it doesn't take any weather into consideration, so for me it is useless as a planning tool and merely a tool to find waypoints on a map. FSBuild is my current planner, but, if I can get away from the Windows 3.1 cumbersome interface I would be happy to.Radar Contact is also my chosen "best" ATC app, but the lack of ground controllers (AI), the limitations of real voice snippets and VFR is only worth a 3 out 5 for me. Tried VoxATC and was not impressed at all and the ProFlight emulator doesn't seem to cause any "Whoa's" anywhere either.FSAcars has been discontinued and is not FSX compatible - from what I have read.I think a G1000 is in the works at Eaglesoft, but who knows when that will appear.Level-D 757? PMDG 737NGX? PMDG A320? Airsimmer A320? Updated Piper Archers? Anything new from Dreamfleet? Carenado? Any lifesign from PSS? FS Passenger has been now in development for 12 months... to make it FSX-compatible? Same with FS Flight Keeper where the dev has been side-tracked by "real life" and seems to have lost interest.The most active developer has been Wilco/FeelThere and if you can live with a working release, no support at all after 3-4 Service Packs then that's not really good enough for me.I don't even want to start with Ariane *smirk*? And what about Captain Sim?Nope. All the FS200x developers seem to have gone AWOL.*sigh*Pat

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Ultimate Terrain USA - YES, Kudos to the teamLDS 767 (nearly a complete rewrite) - No new features (I guess), made compatibleF1 ATR - made FSX compatible, no new featuresVOX ATC - made FSX compatible, no new featuresRadar Contact - made FSX compatible, no new featuresASX - YES, Kudos againUltimate Traffic - made FSX compatible, no new featuresNearly the whole Eaglesoft catalog - made FSX compatible, no new featuresRealAir Scout - made FSX compatible, no new featuresRealAir SF260 - made FSX compatible, no new featuresFSGenesis (all kinds of FSX products released) - made FSX compatibleSceneryTech Landclass - don't knowCloud9 Landclass - MaybeI was talking about new and original content. There is nothing that is really new, innovative, but rather old releases in a new dress with ASX and Ultimate Traffic being a huge and very welcome exception.I am waiting for addons, like PMDG, LevelD, a new, innovative realistic flight planner, a tool to print out sectionals from the GPS output, new planes, improved gauges, little freeware gimmicks. Nothing like it seems to be on the horizon for at least a few months. Yes, yes, addons have become incredibly complex, but a release with a lifespan of a few months doesn't cut it either.Radar Contact 4, for example, has been released 5 months (or so, I do not exactly recall) before FSX was released. Yep, they made it compatible, but many, many other developers have not and probably never will.Pat

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In answer to one poster above: Eaglesoft, among others, has spent a major part of its development time over the last 8 months in rebuilding its fleet for FSX and they are now available with the exception of our CX 750.----------------------------------------------------------------->"I think a G1000 is in the works at Eaglesoft..."-----------------------------------------------------------------Actually that is the Mindstar Aviation G1000 custom built for Eaglesoft Diamond DA42 Twinstar:-)


Best Regards,

Ron Hamilton PP|ASEL

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Guest jshyluk

The SceneryTech Landclass is pure FSX. The ground texture and tile system, while based on the FS9 paradigm, is incompatible with FS9. That, and their original landclass data is much higher resolution than FSX or FS9, so it's downsampled anyways.Jeff ShylukSenior Staff Reviewer, Avsim

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One of the problems with seeing 'original' stuff in FSX is that FS2004 was around for so long, that pretty well everything that could conceivably be done, had been done. FS2004 was truly an amazing sim for addons judging by the sheer quantity of them. So, to a large degree, there really isn't much room in FSX for the truly new, never-before-seen stuff that really revolutionizes the simming experience. Let's hope I'm wrong.That said, and to kinda contract what I said in the first sentence, I'm about to release a new product, which I think has never been done before in the history of FS, but it's not the kind of product that would only be possible because of FSX itself. It would have happened even if there never was an FSX.However, I personally expect to see the law of diminishing returns starting to come into play with the 'innovativeness' of addons and what they can do. What advances we may see compared to FS2004 are probably going to be in the more esoteric areas of the sim, which is something that 99 percent of all users won't even really notice.-Bryan

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I can get weather info in flight sim commander, it puts clouds and wind direction on the map I believe although I'm not sure where it downloads the weather from....unless I'm thinking of something else....anyway, realair has the duke coming out and the Digital Aviation aircraft like the Do-27 are available....I don't mind the feelthere products, I have the erj145, citationx and 737, despite the CTD's when ending a flight I'm enjoying them....We'll see what happens, hopefully some good original stuff is around the corner.Ian.

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Bryan,Hummm..... FS Checkride?Nice. Or should I say "Niiiiiiiice"? ;)Pat

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>- Complete Garmin 1000!Mindstar Aviationhttp://www.mindstarprods.com/aviation/AVSIM Review Aug 12, 2006http://www.avsim.com/pages/0806/Garmin1000/Garmin1000.htm


Fr. Bill    

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     Avsim Board of Directors | Avsim Forums Moderator

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I understand what you mean.Because of the much more difficult structure of FSX developers need first to understand this new structure and then look at their own skills to see what they can do.The round earth is one of the problems they have to face.When now developing an airport the runways need to on the surface like always but when doing it the Fs2004 way the ends will be coming of the earth.Frankfurt, Rome , Amsterdam , Paris are the airports I am waiting for.I do own Budapest and Glasgow but flying between the 2 of them is not exactly what I have in mind.Scenery like the German Airports series etc are not even announced.On my pc Fs2004 is finished ; I have "tons" of addons and can fly over detailed and real looking scenery in a good looking weather environment.I already did buy several FSX addons, but for me it is more like "having "it and trying to decorate it then flying with it.The thing I do not like about FSX that much are the saturated colors, like you are wearing Polaroid sunglasses when looking at the ground.It probably will sell more, but when I look outside the window of an aircraft the earth looks less saturated.I see the potential of FSX but I am afraid that because of the slow start ( SP1 / SP2 ) and performance issues people are still having it will never be as popular as Fs2004 was and is.If FSXI will have the same structure like FSX than addon compagnies will release products much faster.Just my 2 cents.


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