payware vs freeware

[Guest robsm03]

Now, I love FS as im sure all of you do too but I find it hard to empty my wallet to buy all the payware aircraft and scenery. Especially when it costs more than what i paid for FSX. How do you know that what youre buying is a quality product and not something you can easily find freeware? Are there any high quality freeware addons that are worthwhile? I cant even buy a competent joystick. How do you expand on your hobby on a limited budget?

[Geofa 108]

You think about what real flying costs and then thank your lucky stars! :-)http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/1b5baf...b9f427f694g.jpgMy blog:http://geofageofa.spaces.live.com/

[Guest Desert Flyer]

Yes, there are some nice freeware stuff out there, one only needs to find it.I'm a cheapskate, and for me to open up my wallet to buy third party payware is impossible. Sure i could afford to do it, but I just refuse to do it based on my thoughts that I've bought the game, and any items that are created for the game shouldn't legally be allowed to be charged for it. It goes along with almost every other game that I've owned (and trust me here, I've got over 300 games in my Merax 500 CD case sitting next to me) there is a clause or two that says something to the effect that the software is owned by the publishers/developers (whomever) and that any items created using the software such as maps, new characters, in game items etc can NOT be sold but may be passed around freely.Im sure that must not be the case for FS else they'd not be able to charge for it, unless of course they are using third party software to create the items, in which case it would be hard (impossible?) for MS to enforce the same rule that any items created for the game that they own can not be sold if the party developed it with software that wasn't created by Microsoft or whomever owns FSX.Yeah yeah, I know I don't have a clue what Im talking about here because I havn't read the EULA for FS games so far but I've read a lot of other games EULAs that state what I mentioned above.So it's with this in mind, as well as that when I create maps and campaigns and scenarios or new items for games that I own, I freely give them away, it doesn't matter to me that I spent 42 hours on a scenario for a game, Im still giving it away as I feel it's a good thing to do for the particular games community.I won't go any deeper into this than I am because all that's left for me to say is how I truly feel about people that charge for items for a game IF they were to use software provided by the game to create it, and that really wouldn't be a pretty thing to read.Anyway, I've seen plenty of nice freeware stuff for FSX floating around here and there, though Im sorry I didn't bookmark any of it so I'll have to relook it all up and try to find it all again since Im just now getting back into FS goodness. But I remember downloading huge amounts of planes and what not for FS2004 much of which IMO looked great and actually worked perfectly.And before anybody has a kinipshin about it, yes I realize that some folks like to be paid for the stuff that they create, like in the Sims games where they can't charge for the actual items so they get circumvent that legality by charging access to their website or use a "mandatory" donation to access their sites content which IMO is sneaky and underhanded and yeah I have a friend that has one of those sites and he makes a nice bonus to his regular income by providing it even though he tells on his website that everything earned through donations are returned to paying for the sites bandwidth, hosting etc when he's told me he gets substantially more than it costs him to run the site.Ooops, there I go again off into my own little world. Sorry about that.If I find the links to the freeware good stuff again I'll post them.

[Geofa 108]

I like your logic. Can you find me the same in the real world for the same cost? I'd be elated!http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/1b5baf...b9f427f694g.jpgMy blog:http://geofageofa.spaces.live.com/

[Highmike 68]

Here's a bird I'm getting a lot of enjoyment out of at the moment. It's the de Havilland Dragon Rapide by Dave Garwood and the CBFS Design team. The zip file is called dh89fsx.zip, and it's in the Avsim library. I've added an HSI popup panel, and one with a full set of radios and AP. It's a taildragger but it's a pleasure to fly, and it just goes to show that you get an amazing variety of historic aircraft from the freeware developers which you just don't get in payware.Mike.

[Guest cbuchner1]

For those who still own a copy of FS2004: A lot of older scenery titles are on sale right now (say 10 Euros for detailed city sceneries of Rome, Venice etc) because recently "X" versions of these sceneries were published.

[MarkW 1,490]

To answer the question, you need to do your research on this and other sites to figure out which is the high quality payware, what it does and whether or not it fits with your type of flying (no point buying the latest Heathrow scenery if you only fly GA). There are some excellent payware products out there and lots of junk as well. Be an informed consumer and don't run out and buy the release on the day it comes out...wait for the reviews and customer feedback first. I personally find that global scenery addons (mesh, landclass, environment, weather) are very worthwhile. Aircraft that you really will use should be next. All of us have payware planes that just sit in our hanger so be careful with these.Mark.

[Manny 1,293]

You should look into AVSIM library for freeware. I haven't checked FSX Freeware. For FS9, there are tons of high quality freeware sceneries. You can enjoy FS9 and not get tired of it and without paywares for a long time with just these freewares. For FSX, I think its very limited.For high quality add on Payware, I buy from vendors who have consistently put out quality paywares. Even here..Addon sceneries are limited. some of the good payware vendors have gone AWOL. "Flight scenery" (The best ever) and Fly Tampa are AWOL. And in their absence, there are some poor quality scenery vendors out there putting out few buildings around the airport using default runways and default taxiways and charging for "airport sceneries". I avoid them like the plague.Here are some good addon vendors for sceneries for FSX.1. Aerosoft. They are publishers as well. So not all the scenery stuff is great... But most of them are good. So you need to see the screenshots and try them out.2. Fly Tampa has 1 product so far for FSX. Thats their St.Maarten airport scenery (Princess Juliana airport). 3. Megascenery. Try out their Hawaii for FSX. This is a "MUST HAVE". They have a large scenery for Souther California in addition to DFW, Phoenix and Las Vegas as well.4. UK2000 (For British airports). You can install their demo versions and try them out as well.5. VFR France. This is primarily FS9 sceneries but they provide an FSX upgrade and many of their sceneries look good in FSX. I am waiting for their FSX only sceneries. 6. LLH. This is a little know vendor who produced this amazing Courchevel, France airport that works even better in FSX. This along with the VFR France's Northern Alps is my fav scenery in FSX. 7. FSDreamTeam is an up and coming airport vendor.. You can try out their sceneries and then decide if its worth getting it or not. Their Geneva airport is really good. Also their Bergen Flesland Airport. They used default runway texture for the Bergen airport. This was developed prior to MS came out with some fixes. I hope they would publish a patch for this. Since you can try them out before making a value judgment. Give it a try.As you can see.. for USA, there are hardly any...Apart from Megascenery, there is no one who is good enough out there.Now for aircrafts. This is a slightly difficult one to figure out. First let me put out the truly outstanding ones IMO. These are folks, no matter what they put out, I would buy it.1. PMDG (these are so real in terms of systems if you are a casual simmer, you may find these difficult unless you are willing to spend the time learning to fly these)2. Level D.3. Real airOther Good vendors out there who have some amazing aircrafts (not in any particular order). You would have to check each aircraft out and see if you like them. But as far as vendors go, they are first class vendors.1. Flight 1 (They are primarily publishers and they have a 30 day money back...so you can try them out for yourself)2. Dreemfleet3. Aerosoft4. Eaglesoft (Love their Cirrus and their Piper Comanche Twin). They have a 30 day money back also..I think). Since I never bother returning anything back, I am not 100% sure.Other Addons..You may want to check them out are and see for yourself if they add value for the price you pay for them.1. Radar Contact for ATC.2. VOX for ATC (Voice recognition)3. Hi Fi Active sky (Weather)4. Ultimate terrain (for realisitc coastal lines and water bodies)5. FS Genesis (for mesh)6. Flight Environment X (for their sky and CLOUDS). Also look out for the up coming Real Environment X.7. AI Traffic. There are a few and then there are the freewares as well. And there is also this amazing GA traffic freeware. As far as why they are expensive relative to the cost of the flight sim itself. Its economy of scale. MS can sell so many copies. These addon vendors target audience is small and hence it costs more. But if you count for the amount of time you spend on these as entertainment value and compare it to going to the movies, you may have a better perspective.Hope this helpsManny

[Guest prdant]

Is there anything out there that will allow you to add cabin announcements. I am using FSX with Radar Contact and would like to add another level of realism.Thanks

[Manny 1,293]

There is FSPassengers for FS9. But not yet for FSX.http://www.fspassengers.com/?action=homeThen there is FS2Crew.http://www.fs2crew.com/See if thats what you are looking for.Manny

[Guest prdant]

Thanks Manny, FsPassenger is not ready for FSX but I did look at FS crew, does this require payware aircraft or will it also work with stock FSX aircraft as well.hanks

[byork 2,258]

To answer your question about FS2Crew, there are multiple versions of FS2Crew: some work with the default aircraft in FSX and FS9, others work exclusively with 3rd party aircraft like the PMDG and Level-D aircraft.FS2Crew also recently released a 'gold edition', which contains all the different versions in a single package.Cheers,Bryan

[Clutch Cargo 384]

How about trying the FlightDeck SFX Panel (FDSFX)by your's truly :) Has all sorts of Cabin Announcements you can add either with real world airlines or you can mix and match your own to make generic Voice-sets. I haven't tried it myself in SFX (I created it way back for FS2004) but I hear it works fine in FSX. Oh, and it's a freebie.

[Guest prdant]

Thank you Mr. Cargo (great show prior to computers) where can I get your feeware, I'd be glad to try it out on fsx and report back.

[Guest JeanLuc_]

After reading this post, I was about to question why I have to purchase Office, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Visual Studio, and I don't count the others I have! They are all been developped with the Windows API!And don't forget: any of these items running on Windows cost more than the sim, euh, sorry, than Windows...