Interesting new tidbits from FSL (Flight Sim Labs)

[Christopher Low]

Leaving a lot of the work to the virtual FE would be perfect for me if I ever wanted to fly the FSL Concorde in MSFS, but it puzzles me why the option for manual control for a lot of the functions was removed in the P3Dv5 version. For the sake of the Concorde experts like Ray and others, I would hope that the situation is reversed for the MSFS version.

[KL Oo]

2 hours ago, 737_800 said:

Can someone change the title? I am always tempted clicking on it for new tidbits, but they are not discussed here anymore.

Agreed - There's no new tidbits in here, just the same people engaging in sim debate.

[Cognita]

1 hour ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Everything is controlled by Checklists that are initiated by various trigger points. The Virtual Crew read out checklists and most are controlled by the PNF and VFE. You as captain have a few to do.

This pretty much completely dampens any interest I would have in Concord, if it is brought to MSFS like this. The idea of a Virtual Crew is a great one, it can help me learn the aircraft -- which is the only reason I would buy it -- but if all I can do is listen to checklists and watch the work being done I would lose any enthusiasm pretty quickly; gradually understanding the aircraft and learning to practically manage it would be the only reason I would pay money for an aircraft. 

Edited August 22 by Cognita

[btacon]

8 minutes ago, KL Oo said:

Agreed - There's no new tidbits in here, just the same people engaging in sim debate.

Should be closed. Thread has lost focus.

-B

[Ray Proudfoot]

3 minutes ago, Cognita said:

but if all I can do is listen to checklists and watch the work being done I would lose any enthusiasm pretty quickly; gradually understanding the aircraft and learning to practically manage it would be the only reason I would pay money for an aircraft. 

Well you still have to fly it. 😁 But I do agree so much is not under your control it does get annoying. The previous version had options you could deselect so you had control. After 3 years I took over fuel management and it was very satisfying. Let’s hope those options return.

[Ray Proudfoot]

2 minutes ago, btacon said:

Should be closed. Thread has lost focus.

-B

No one is forcing you to read it. FS Labs aircraft are being debated. Hardly off topic.

[btacon]

10 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

No one is forcing you to read it. FS Labs aircraft are being debated. Hardly off topic.

From what I see, just one is being discussed.  I stand by my comment of focus lost and you can stand by your comment to keep it open.  Fair?

[Ray Proudfoot]

19 minutes ago, btacon said:

From what I see, just one is being discussed.  I stand by my comment of focus lost

One keeps the topic relevant. What are you expecting to read in this topic given FSL are notoriously secretive? You’ve gleaned info from those who’ve bought Concorde for P3Dv5 as the Concorde forum over there is only accessible to customers.

[btacon]

Well ok Ray.  You so a fine job here keeping us denizens in line.  Like you said, I don’t have to read it.  If that’s the case why am I calling for its censorship, and make no mistake it was censorship.  Unintended but censorship nonetheless. 

Thanks Ray, I’ll just step back now so you can continue your discussion.

-B

[BostonJeremy77]

@Ray Proudfoot, I certainly do still have my v5 license. But that would entail purchasing an aircraft for an old version of P3D. Your explanation of why FSL chose v5 is understandable, but my thing is... would it REALLY have been THAT much work to make the aircraft v6-compatible? I can't imagine why - after all Majestic's Dash 8 was made compatible... And I believe TFDI's new MD-11 is also v6 compatible. Why shoot yourself in the foot that way? I am certainly lamenting not having P3D anymore - after all, I have invested literally thousands of dollars into the products for v5 - just about all Orbx you can get, all PMDG, Aerosoft, FSL, A2A, Milviz aircraft, and a good amount of JustFlight ones, along with most of Carenado's catalog. It sucks having "wasted" all that, but... maybe it wasn't waste. Between 2021 and 2024, I did enjoy thousands of hours of great simming on P3D, so that's worth something. And having only 35 Gigs left on my main drive (though about 400 Gigs available on secondary), I would have kept P3D, but that eats about 10 gigs on main drive even though you have the sim installed on the secondary (mostly the Documents folder - add-ons etc)... FSL's Airbus products were almost as good as Fenix (and the only advantage to Fenix is their EFB is way better).

[Ray Proudfoot]

@BostonJeremy77, your post is identical to one you posted some time ago. 😉

I don’t really want to discuss P3D here. All I’ll say is that when you’re flying Concorde at 60,000ft over the Atlantic I’m struggling to understand why one sim would be better than another whatever it is. All you have is water, sky and zero weather.

[FrankSalo]

6 hours ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

 after all, I have invested literally thousands of dollars into the products for v5 - just about all Orbx you can get, all PMDG, Aerosoft, FSL, A2A, Milviz aircraft, and a good amount of JustFlight ones, along with most of Carenado's catalog. It sucks having "wasted" all that, but... maybe it wasn't waste. 

I see this thought many times on the forums. Its something put into a hobby you love and part of life. The money I spent on games for my PS2 back in the day, can't play them now but it wasn't a waste, they added great experiences. The money spent on going out to dates, enjoyed the food, learned how different people operate. Not a waste. Life keeps moving, different phases and in this case different platforms. I got my time out of the FSL busses, still love them even though I'm on a different platform now. I'm satisfied. All add to the experience.

 

On the topic of FSL, I made a post in their forums about not repeating the mistakes of Kodak and Blockbuster video, we know they produce great stuff but things have changed rapidly in the marketplace. I've stated before, putting out the A330/Concorde first would be the best strategy. Its a blue ocean market. And what ever special features FSL are bringing to MSFS, a quality A330 would be the best way to introduce it as no one has made a good one yet and people will eat it up. FSL will recoup their investment rapidly and because of the customers experience with the 330 they may consider switching to FSL A320 family when it releases, securing continued success. If the release the A320 family first it will be in a congested market (a red ocean) and much harder to convince people to switch to them subsequently reducing revenue. 

I've had good experience with them and I want them to succeed but they can't just depend on name and reputation in this market. They have to strategize and hit their niche. The MSFS platform is developing much faster that previous ones and with Microsoft/Asobo using 3rd parties who have proven themselves on the platform to add previously payware only aircraft to the base sim in 2024, the window is shrinking. Look at the situation both iFly and PMDG face now with a MAX in 2024? If iFly and PMDG release after November (which I doubt, but for sake of example let's say they do) the sales will be much lower than if they did when the base sim didn't include a quality 737-8.

At this point its a wait and see what FSL will do, I really hope they give people what they want in a timely manner as their future in the enthusiast space depends on it.  

[CAP1234]

Fslabs went completely the other way compared to other developers at the time. A very good example is PMDG - when MSFS appeared, PMDG took on the advantage of all of available resources and features the sim had to offer (Yes the sim had its own bugs and what not which some of them still exist ) which resulted in their first B737ng for MSFS or NG3 as they called it. Immediately after the launch of NG3 - they potentially saw the opportunities that sim could bring as well as increased sales numbers compared to P3D, they've halted all development for P3D to move completely to MSFS. Fslabs at the time was still staying away from MSFS and were still evaluating the potential for MSFS. 

Then Fslabs released Concorde for P3D V5 only - Again don't understand why they went for V5 only - It was originally developed on v4 but the end product was v5 only which means people on older version v4 cannot use it. Similarly v6 is not supported either - I am curious as to what their sales were. They probably lost money rather then making money I think - had they gone for both versions v4 and v5, more people would have bought Concorde. Soon after the release of Concorde, they halted all of their development for P3D to focus on MSFS - Sound decision but too late I am afraid, They should have done that quite early on. Fenix has literally acquired short haul airbus market - with their release of A319/A321 and sharklets on the way, it will be very tough for Fslabs to recover their lost territory. I use Fenix on MSFS and fslabs on P3D and running side by side - I can say Fenix has improved drastically so much so that it now surpasses fslabs in P3D. Fslabs would have to do a lot better in MSFS then what they offered on P3D for people to consider. Personally I wouldn't buy it if the changes are not drastic. Mind you Fenix is also a lot cheaper then what Fslabs offered in P3D but I can understand the pricing with regards to P3D development costs being higher. 

They did mention that they were working on Concorde and A330 for MSFS but so far no further info has been shared. If they are smart they should go with either Concorde or A330 if they were to succeed. Perhaps the reason why they haven't released a single info yet is maybe they want to know what MSFS 2024 has to offer. Maybe bypass MSFS & go directly to 2024 version. Again this is a speculation - no one knows except the developers themselves on what their plans are.