I really want this A330 to be good. 

How is it that a band of freeware developers can produce something quite remarkable (FBW/Headwind), but a band of paid developers can only achieve not much beyond the  acceptable freeware standard? And if that is the case, what  reasonable justification do they have for making it a commercial product.

Edited July 27, 20232 yr by ErichB

16 minutes ago, ErichB said:

I really want this A330 to be good. 

How is it that a band of freeware developers can produce something quite remarkable (FBW/Headwind), but a band of paid developers can only achieve not much beyond the  acceptable freeware standard? And if that is the case, what  reasonable justification do they have for making it a commercial product.

I know it's such a low-hanging answer but I really think it just comes down to passion. Having passion and personal drive to make something, free or paid, just changes a project completely. The eye for detail, getting things right, working on it in your spare time because you can't put it down and generally just a personal interest in seeing a project come to fruition.

Whereas a lot of these projects from bigger names and publishers like Aerosoft, just reeks of tired old paycheck projects, pushing the deadlines to the very edge, dragging their feet, missing the finer details and having little personal interest in the project and making it the best it can be. Just a constant "that's good enough" and "that's what the project contract stated". Then you end up with some of the lukewarm stuff Aerosoft has been pumping out, especially for MSFS.

2 minutes ago, Sethos said:

I know it's such a low-hanging answer but I really think it just comes down to passion. Having passion and personal drive to make something, free or paid, just changes a project completely. The eye for detail, getting things right, working on it in your spare time because you can't put it down and generally just a personal interest in seeing a project come to fruition.

Whereas a lot of these projects from bigger names and publishers like Aerosoft, just reeks of tired old paycheck projects, pushing the deadlines to the very edge, dragging their feet, missing the finer details and having little personal interest in the project and making it the best it can be. Just a constant "that's good enough" and "that's what the project contract stated". Then you end up with some of the lukewarm stuff Aerosoft has been pumping out, especially for MSFS.

100%

Edited July 27, 20232 yr by ErichB

10 hours ago, snglecoil said:

The CRJ has a few issues, but in its current state, it’s not horrible. I’m still stumped about why so many people hate that plane so much?

It started off with claims it was going to be all new and not just a port of P3D code. Only to release with exact same bugs/issues as the former P3D product. It could not fly a normal ILS to save its life on release, and the single dev working on it meant fixes were and still are extremely slow to release. So, not a great start.

It lacks systems depth, they have actively refused to correct inaccuracies, made ridiculous claims about the plane not being able to do something when a bunch of real world CRJ pilots told them otherwise. Neglected to keep promises about for example updating the performance data for higher elevation fields despite being provided the data. Bugs kept being added to a magical list somewhere and threads reporting the bugs got closed saying "it's on the list". Extremely detailed bug reports, with data to reproduce the issue and suggestions on fixes just got ignored.

So yeah, a combination of the addon just being a bit half-assed, slow to non-existing updates, and extremely rude "support" does not make for the greatest customer satisfaction. It has not seen an update in over a year and there are more than a few bugs still around that would cause some issues in the "normal day to day operations" that they like to simulate.

On 7/21/2023 at 9:01 PM, Tuskin38 said:

Cabins are a waste of FPS.

It would be nice to deliver facts instead of engaging in fiction. 

If I fire up the inibuilds A310 or the Fenix A320 I notice hardly any drops when walking around in the cabin. 

- framerate drops occur for a short time when switching views

- Displays, scenery are the biggest "frame rate killers", especially highly detailed airport sceneries with lots of ai traffic. 

11 hours ago, snglecoil said:

The CRJ has a few issues, but in its current state, it’s not horrible. I’m still stumped about why so many people hate that plane so much?

I always felt that generally, there is a strong propensity to exaggerate. There is no doubt truth in it, but it's also often not as bad as the uproar suggests, and so you have to look for the middle to get a decent idea of where that truth probably really is.

...

Edited July 27, 20232 yr by threegreen

On 7/21/2023 at 10:10 PM, omarsmak30 said:

Since MSFS release, they became arrogant with the worse customer support to date. What goes around comes around

9 hours ago, Luis Hernandez said:

And to think back in FSX days they used to be respectable.

2 hours ago, ErichB said:

How is it that a band of freeware developers can produce something quite remarkable (FBW/Headwind), but a band of paid developers can only achieve not much beyond the  acceptable freeware standard?

  Business life cycle in effect.
A lack of competition and getting away with acceptable products, rather than pushing for excellence, is the cause behind at least three big name players to be overly-confident of their places in our hobby at the moment.

Other payware and freeware developers are showing us that we no longer need to tolerate the status quo from the dominant names.

It doesn't have to result in their decline. With some thoughtful customer relations and getting back to the good products that they were originally known for, the big names can have a good future.
Just depends on how much effort they're willing to put into retrieving the situation.

On 7/21/2023 at 8:01 PM, Tuskin38 said:

Cabins are a waste of FPS.

The ability to switch off cabins is a must have. 

2 minutes ago, gb09f said:

The ability to switch off cabins is a must have. 

Why? There is no genuine need for such an ability.

37 minutes ago, Lucky38i said:

Why? There is no genuine need for such an ability.

Some people fancy themselves more "hardcore and study-level " (sim) pilots when they switch off the cabin. 😄

I wouldn't expect the Aerosoft A330 anytime soon by the sound of it.   
And when it does arrive it will be a medium complexity aircraft.  Not all bad if the price point is right.

But I need to declare that I do have an issue with Aerosoft also, due to previous purchases and treatment, so I am biased.  (What has happened to the Twin Otter BTW?)
I would never say never, but I don't think I will be touching it.

I believe the Headwind A330 it is a neo model, so not totally like for like, but I am going to take a look at it first.
It seems quite popular, and if it uses some of the FBW improvements it can't be bad.  There are plenty of repaints for it over on FS.to.

Edited July 27, 20232 yr by bobcat999

Small update

 

On 7/21/2023 at 6:54 PM, carlanthony24 said:

Judging by the comments on the Aerosoft forum. It will probably be the same here. All I can say is what a joke. 

Can it be used on Vatsim etc.

You definitely can. However, you should familiarize yourself with the handling of the aircraft beforehand. Under certain circumstances you will have to fly maneuvers that are usually facilitated by additional systems, which will not be available from day 1.

Sounds like you won't be able to do holds and other basics. Imagine being in a Vatsim event and being asked to hold. Everything they say is big problems on a network regardless and in my opinion needs sorting before they actually release. Going to have to feel sorry for the controllers when people can't hold etc properly.

imagine doing a cat3 and landing on the road next to the airport.

 

 

  

Edited July 27, 20232 yr by fluffyflops

8 hours ago, ErichB said:

I really want this A330 to be good. 

How is it that a band of freeware developers can produce something quite remarkable (FBW/Headwind), but a band of paid developers can only achieve not much beyond the  acceptable freeware standard? And if that is the case, what  reasonable justification do they have for making it a commercial product.

because paid developers have had 10 plus years free reign of pushing out pay to beta and half baked releases, no one has questioned it, and if you do,  you get banned from their forumns or discords.

Now its the norm. We've let it happen by buying and supporting pay to beta products, which is what this a330 "project" is.  They can call it some cool hipster buzzword all they want, but its pay to beta, and theres money to be made in it. 

My garden is a "project" its got a dodgy shed, a fence that needs fixing, and some paving that needs replaceing. Dont be fooled by these buzzwords, its all the generate sales, which they will do.     

Add to that you have a new huge base of ms2020 gamers not simmers that will buy any old junk, wether thats scenery that is horrifc in proformance,777s with 747 gauges, or a320 that slide all over the runway that cant do a manage descent. 

you reap what you sow.  The lowing standard of of addons hasnt happened over night, its been years in the making, and as a community, weve let it happen. You reap what you sow.  

In someways I dont blame the developers for robbing people blind, myself personally i couldnt do it, id loose sleep over it.  But it people are now stupid enough to buy an 330 that cant fly in a straight line, from a company tha has consistently released unfinished products, then more fool them,  Its does now however give everyone else a carte balnce to the same thing, which they surely will. 

Edited July 27, 20232 yr by fluffyflops