Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Guest Jimbofly

Another example of why flightsim is headed downhill

Recommended Posts

Guest Flane

So today I saw an ad for a FSX product called Central Florida GA Airfields - Volume 1. So I go to the website to check out the screenshots and read the description of the product. I'm shocked to find out that for your hard earned $11.11 you get a bunch of default FSX objects placed at airports that apparently there are no buildings previously. This is something that can easily be done by anybody with a product like Instant Scenery (and probably was). How does a person in good conscience charge for this? Where has the creativity and originality gone? In the last few years of this hobby this sort of project would have been freeware. And now that FSX flyers are so desperate for addons you have projects like this coming out of the woodworks. Doing a search of the FS2004 libraries you can find a scenery series by the name of California Central Coast by Al Wheeler. These were a great set of addons that did about the same thing for California that this Central Florida offering claims to do but Wheeler's addon did it so much better since it offered custom scenery with custom objects. Central Florida GA Airfields just fills in space. It's not even a true representation of what these airfield look like in real life. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE FS COMMUNITY, WE"RE HAVING TO PAY FOR FREEWARE QUALITY ADDONS!!!Check out the screenshots at the FSADDON site. Today is yet another sad day for FS. :(Here is the product description:Central Florida GA Airfields is part of the new FScene Design Network Triple-7 and 4x1 Series. Joe Watson has used the embedded FSX capabilities and objects to render a large number of small and private airstrips in Central Florida a more life-like aspect. Out of the (FSX) box these are all barren fields, just showing a runway and nothing else. Hardly realistic.By placing default objects in a natural fashion, Joe has given these fields a more realistic appearance, although they are not modelled after the real world as such.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest fsxmissionguy

Some people may find this worth the money.And certainly ... the person releasing this believed that the time they put in to do the work was worth the money.I would compare what this person has produced to mission designers, who (usually) add nothing architecturally to the simulator, but who put in just as much effort as other developers.What I find interesting is the notion on the FScene website that they are distributors of "'low-end' software where ALL products in the cost ONLY US$ 11.11."I note with some interest that, if you purchase all the Central Florida airports, you will pay $44.44 - more for these airports than Flight Simulator X costs!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Flane

But look at the screenshots!!!I've seen better freeware!!! $11.11, are you kidding me? What the heck is happening to the freeware market?!?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Easy, less people working and willing to spend time doing something for free. As you said, it's easy to do the airports but the fact is:no one does it.and yes I did my share of freeware and still doing.Jos

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Flane

So you see my point. Alot of the quality freeware designers are staying with FS9 which is opening the door for simplistic sub par work for FSX. And since the FSX offerings are so sparse people are jumping on anything that they can get their hands on which is what some of these less talented developers are preying on.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You say:It's not even a true representation of what these airfield look like in real life." then you quote the developer's site as saying:"....although they are not modelled after the real world as such"What's your problem - you got what the developer said?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Flane

>You say:>>It's not even a true representation of what these airfield>look like in real life." >>then you quote the developer's site as saying:>>"....although they are not modelled after the real world as>such">>What's your problem - you got what the developer said?My point, and I backed it up by the developers quote, is that you are paying for a fantasy setup. My problem is that every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to get paid for anything that they throw together and put into FSX. We need to stop this by avoiding products like this. When you avoid products like this one you are telling them that you expect more for your money. The message needs to be sent out that just because you put a little time into a mediocre scenery doesn't mean that you should get paid for it. This freeware looking offering is half the price of the average FlyTampa product and yet nowhere near the quality. You'd pay for this? As the saying goes: Please, vote with your wallets. Pass on this sort of thing and send a message.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If you want to support something, support Aerosoft's scenery for Venice for FSX. Amazing! I have it in FS9, but it looks even better in FSX.Those are the developers we should support.Lee


Lee H

i9 13900KF 32GB Ram 24GB RTX 4090

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

>My point, and I backed it up by the developers quote, is that>you are paying for a fantasy setup.Relax, Fred. In case you haven't realized it yet, ALL flight simulation is a "fantasy setup". I've been a real-world pilot for over 30 years. But I've never flown an actual B747 in real life. So every time I fly one in FSX, it's a "fantasy". And I darn well would never fly my real-world C172 under the Golden Gate Bridge in real life, but I've done it numerous times in FS. Another fantasy fulfilled.And as for your analogy that "anybody could make this scenery themselves in FSX so paying for it should be wrong..." (not your exact words, but a paraphrase), I am quite capable of making my own cup of coffee every day. But I still spend good money to buy one or two of them from an industrious "coffee developer" on my way to work each day. So it's all relative.If you don't want to spend the money on something, don't buy it. It's as simple as that.


Rick Ryan

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

>>My point, and I backed it up by the developers quote, is>that>>you are paying for a fantasy setup.>>Relax, Fred. In case you haven't realized it yet, ALL flight>simulation is a "fantasy setup". I've been a real-world pilot>for over 30 years. But I've never flown an actual B747 in>real life. So every time I fly one in FSX, it's a "fantasy". >And I darn well would never fly my real-world C172 under the>Golden Gate Bridge in real life, but I've done it numerous>times in FS. Another fantasy fulfilled.>>And as for your analogy that "anybody could make this scenery>themselves in FSX so paying for it should be wrong..." (not>your exact words, but a paraphrase), I am quite capable of>making my own cup of coffee every day. But I still spend good>money to buy one or two of them from an industrious "coffee>developer" on my way to work each day. So it's all relative.>>If you don't want to spend the money on something, don't buy>it. It's as simple as that.True..but we need say...what a crappy product it is..when it is crappy!:)Manny


Manny

Beta tester for SIMStarter 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

>If you don't want to spend the money on something, don't buy>it. It's as simple as that.That...is the bottom line. Looks to me like the developer of this product has been very honest about what he has done...if you want it, buy it...if you don't....don't.I used to spend hours upon hours years ago on freeware stuff for FS, and still will to an extremely lessor degree. But....there is a huge difference between the FS5 days and what we see today. Back in those days, selling FS add-ons was a huge point of contention within the FS community. Funny though...most/many of the folks who were providing freeware back in those days are now either selling their goods, or, in fact, have set-up shops for folks to sell other designers FS goods, including their own. In other words, folks have been moving to 'sellware' for over 10 years now. It isn't just now happening.It is what it is...but it ain't new.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Fred said...WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE FS COMMUNITY, WE"RE HAVING TO PAY FOR FREEWARE QUALITY ADDONS!!!Darn!! I didn't realize that we all HAD to purchase this. Man, that is a rip. I wish we could go back to the days of being able to decide whether or not to purchase a product. It was so much better when we could decide not to support vendors who sell sub-standard products, or products I wasn't interested in. Oh well...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

>Fred said...>WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE FS COMMUNITY, WE"RE HAVING TO PAY>FOR FREEWARE QUALITY ADDONS!!!>>>Darn!! I didn't realize that we all HAD to purchase this. Man,>that is a rip. I wish we could go back to the days of being>able to decide whether or not to purchase a product. It was so>much better when we could decide not to support vendors who>sell sub-standard products, or products I wasn't interested>in. Oh well...>Amen to that. I was under the impression that we all had free will to tell a developer "no thanks" by not purchasing their product.Personally, when I read a post like the OP - I tend to think the poster has a hidden agenda. Maybe that's just me.Just MHO,VicQ6600 G0 CPU 2.4 o/c 3.65Evga 680i A1 with P31 BIOS 2G XP2-8500 DDR2 1066FSB Mushkin 996535 RAM 5-5-4-12-2T320G 7200 HD partitioned for XP/Vista/Programs 2 - 74G Raptors in RAID0 500G 7200 HD for backup SATA DVD burner Evga 8800GTS 640 PCIx 169.13 beta driverKandalf LCS case w/ built in liquid cooling 850W Thermaltake power supplyVisit the Virtual Pilot's Centerwww.flightadventures.comhttp://www.hifisim.com/banners/hifi-supporter-sigbanner.jpgRadar Contact Supporter: http://www.jdtllc.com/


 

RIG#1 - 7700K 5.0g ROG X270F 3600 15-15-15 - EVGA RTX 3090 1000W PSU 1- 850G EVO SSD, 2-256G OCZ SSD, 1TB,HAF942-H100 Water W1064Pro
40" 4K Monitor 3840x2160 - AS16, ASCA, GEP3D, UTX, Toposim, ORBX Regions, TrackIR
RIG#2 - 3770K 4.7g Asus Z77 1600 7-8-7 GTX1080ti DH14 850W 2-1TB WD HDD,1tb VRap, Armor+ W10 Pro 2 - HannsG 28" Monitors
 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
Sign in to follow this  

  • Tom Allensworth,
    Founder of AVSIM Online


  • Flight Simulation's Premier Resource!

    AVSIM is a free service to the flight simulation community. AVSIM is staffed completely by volunteers and all funds donated to AVSIM go directly back to supporting the community. Your donation here helps to pay our bandwidth costs, emergency funding, and other general costs that crop up from time to time. Thank you for your support!

    Click here for more information and to see all donations year to date.
×
×
  • Create New...