This great heads up thread made me think about something :-
 

 

.....the truth is I used to buy quite a lot of scenery back in the FSX days (I was on FSX from 2006-2016, before switching to XP11, and then to MSFS in 2020).  But, the types of purchases I used to love were bundles or packages of multi airfields.    There are so few of these available for MSFS.

Anyone remember Graham and Pacific Island Simulations?   I loved his product line;  bundles of 4-8 airfields.  He had St Maarten (4 airfields I think?), Guadeloupe (6-8?) and even a superb "VFR Appalachea" package with about 5-6 airfields in US Appalachea.  I flew between Graham's airfields more than anywhere else in those days.

Regardless of the quality, unless I have a personal connection with an airfield, I just cannot get excited about spending up to $25 on a single airport scenery.   I appreciate that most feel differently to me here.   But the fantastic Caribbean bundle linked above is exactly what I love;  10 airports for a reasonable price, all relatively close together = hours of enjoyment flying between them (whether VFR, low and slow, GA 'fast IFR' or airline IFR).

PS... I'm referring to packages actually built as an economical bundle here (like Pacific Islands Simulations), not things like Orbx 'Multi-buy' bundles, where you buy a collection of full priced, individual airports, at a discounted (but still significant) price.

If you agree with me on this, like the post and maybe it will prove valuable feedback to MSFS scenery developers!  If you disagree and prefer high level, top end single scenery addons, don't like the post, and if my post here rumbles along, alone with the tumbleweed, then I'll know that I'm just in a significant minority here. 😎👍

 

 

Edited February 2, 20242 yr by JYW

Asobo gives these to us for free with their World Updates!

4 minutes ago, MarkW said:

Asobo gives these to us for free with their World Updates!

That is true to a point!

But I'm referring to the 3rd party payware community giving us more of these.

2 hours ago, JYW said:

That is true to a point!

But I'm referring to the 3rd party payware community giving us more of these.

I suspect its better for the developers to release individual airports at a lower price point, as they will generate more sales and total revenue.

I remember TropicalSim used to have a bundle where you got all of their airports for a price that was a big number, but a great deal per airport.

This was posted today, If you like the Caribbean, I snapped it up. Savings of almost $130.00 US for 10 Airports.

SORRY, IGNORE THIS WAS ALREADY REVEALED BY THE OP. MY APOLOGIES.

 

Edited February 2, 20242 yr by TomCYYZ

7 hours ago, JYW said:

hours of enjoyment flying between them

Personally, this is why I don't usually bother with island scenery. Flying over endless blue stuff to go from one to another has zero appeal for me. But if the scenery is well done, I'll happily spend hours with the drone cam just exploring the actual airport/surrounds/landscape.

But as for the main purpose of the thread - bundles are good!

I rarely buy sceneries today or "bundles". For one thing, the default scenery and the many "handcrafted" airports are good, secondly, a lot of the payware stuff just isn't good enough to spend money on, thirdly, there is flightsim.to

Also, check the "collections" on flightsim.to

Scenery Collections

Edited February 3, 20242 yr by Ricardo41

On 2/2/2024 at 8:57 AM, JYW said:

This great heads up thread made me think about something :-
 

 

.....the truth is I used to buy quite a lot of scenery back in the FSX days (I was on FSX from 2006-2016, before switching to XP11, and then to MSFS in 2020).  But, the types of purchases I used to love were bundles or packages of multi airfields.    There are so few of these available for MSFS.

Anyone remember Graham and Pacific Island Simulations?   I loved his product line;  bundles of 4-8 airfields.  He had St Maarten (4 airfields I think?), Guadeloupe (6-8?) and even a superb "VFR Appalachea" package with about 5-6 airfields in US Appalachea.  I flew between Graham's airfields more than anywhere else in those days.

Regardless of the quality, unless I have a personal connection with an airfield, I just cannot get excited about spending up to $25 on a single airport scenery.   I appreciate that most feel differently to me here.   But the fantastic Caribbean bundle linked above is exactly what I love;  10 airports for a reasonable price, all relatively close together = hours of enjoyment flying between them (whether VFR, low and slow, GA 'fast IFR' or airline IFR).

PS... I'm referring to packages actually built as an economical bundle here (like Pacific Islands Simulations), not things like Orbx 'Multi-buy' bundles, where you buy a collection of full priced, individual airports, at a discounted (but still significant) price.

If you agree with me on this, like the post and maybe it will prove valuable feedback to MSFS scenery developers!  If you disagree and prefer high level, top end single scenery addons, don't like the post, and if my post here rumbles along, alone with the tumbleweed, then I'll know that I'm just in a significant minority here. 😎👍

 

 

This isn't keeping in mind the same standards that P3D/X-Plane had. Most P3D/Xplane airports just had to have a decent exterior and 2D windows. Airports & scenery now demand extra features, functions, interiors, HD high-res aerial imagery, etc. etc. Thus, airports are more expensive and overall more work than prior sims. If anything, airports have even gone down in costs. MSFS marketplace store also doesn't really cater well to bundles as well. 

26 minutes ago, Verticalsim said:

This isn't keeping in mind the same standards that P3D/X-Plane had. Most P3D/Xplane airports just had to have a decent exterior and 2D windows. Airports & scenery now demand extra features, functions, interiors, HD high-res aerial imagery, etc. etc. Thus, airports are more expensive and overall more work than prior sims. If anything, airports have even gone down in costs. MSFS marketplace store also doesn't really cater well to bundles as well. 

Good point, but really I guess what I was getting at was; does everyone really want or need these sartorially elegent airport interiors and uber-detail? 😉   I do have some sceneries with highly detailed interiors, and can't say I've ever wandered in to take a look, lol!  I just enjoy reasonably recognisable buildings and layouts.  (And would rather have more of those than fewer super high detail airports.   I appreciate some users most certainly will prefer max detail on everything though.    I guess I'm arguing for a little re-balance in the quality v quantity arena.  I'd prefer a little more quantity and a little less ... I won't say quality but perhaps just detail.

But yes, I was definitely referring to simpler, lighter sceneries that offer something generally above freeware or stock, but not at the high level detail that you're referring to. 👍

11 minutes ago, JYW said:

simpler, lighter sceneries that offer something generally above freeware or stock, but not at the high level detail

Unfortunately for you, that's not where the market is — people are clambering for detail.

The success of Pyreegue's sceneries is a case in point. East Midlands and Glasgow are hardly popular airports in their own right, yet simmers from all over the World have commented on how they've purchased them based on the how detailed they are.

Yep, detail is everything in a next generation flight simulator. I am not buying lots of new airports for MSFS because they have bland textures, empty interiors, and are surrounded by autogen buildings that look like something from a kindergarten drawing competition.

14 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

surrounded by autogen buildings that look like something from a kindergarten drawing competition.

How do you really feel, @Christopher Low? 😆

Can't tempt you with FSXcenery's FOOL, by any chance?

I like how the one star review has a drop down menu above it titled "Language filter"

3 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

Yep, detail is everything in a next generation flight simulator. I am not buying lots of new airports for MSFS because they have bland textures, empty interiors, and are surrounded by autogen buildings that look like something from a kindergarten drawing competition.

Erm, yes that's really not reflecting the point I was making whatsoever.  But ok.

As I said; recognisable custom buildings, realistic ground features.  I was never talking about bland textures or autogen 🤔

But I'll be devils advocate and ask whether wandering around a fully detailed departure lounge, looking at JPG departure boards , buying virtual duty-free and pretending you're off to Majorca is really fundamental to realistic flight simulation?  (Just a rhetorical question; no need to reply! 😉)