The only problem I see could happen is greed… Im worried for my 1500$ orbx collection. If they choose to go down that route and recharge me for all those airports I will stop buying airport addons and just stick with what MS is giving me for free and live with it. No way Im gonna pay all over again for something that just requires small changes from the devs, just to have to do it all over again in 2028…

Edited September 24, 20241 yr by Kaboki

20 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

So you want to pay a $7.99 fee for every MSFS 2020 addon airport that you have, just so that you can use them in MSFS 2024? I would prefer to be able to install the MSFS 2020 versions in MSFS 2024 free of charge, and then anyone who wants to get MSFS 2024 upgraded versions down the line can (quite rightly) pay a fee.

If an airport works right away by copying it from MSFS 2020 to MS 2024 then you can do that without having any costs.

But sometimes the dev has to do some work like elevation correction and perhaps add some MSFS 2024 only features. In that case I have no problem paying an update fee.

Sure : some devs will ask a fee for changing their installers, but you choose if you want to pay that or not.

it will be way less than buying them all over again…

5 hours ago, superspud said:

Ground markings are much higher fidelity so they'll all have to be redone if developers want to keep things sharp.

The ground image has moved multiple times, necessitating moving every single object, line and apron, with new Bing imagery so I wouldn't be surprised if that happens again.

There will likely be extra functionality like the passengers we've glimpsed.

It may be that a plane jumps across with an hour's work, though minus extra features like the walk-around, but a large airport could need tens or hundreds of hours to be top tier again.

I expect the majority will charge even if they didn't expect to because there's more to do than anticipated.

Microsoft has lead us to believe that most MSFS2020 addons will work in MSFS2024. Based on that promise most of us did not stop purchasing addons when MSFS2024 was announced.
I hope that wasn't just a technical remark, like "it works, but it will look like sht ". Some glitches e.g. the mesh not being the same are to be expected but on the whole the scenery should look and function like it does in MSFS2020. If not, than I would feel quite mislead.

Thinking of patches, I can see a can of worms lurking in the corner for scenery developers; How can one be sure that an update to integrate the scenery better in MSFS2024 won't cause issues for those still using it in MSFS2020? Today you always want the latest update, but that could change, making it for end users also more difficult to keep track of updates.

 

13 minutes ago, Kaboki said:

The only problem I see could happen is greed… Im worried for my 1500$ orbx collection. If they choose to go down that route and recharge me for all those airports I will stop buying airport addons and just stick with what MS is giving me for free and live with it. No way Im gonna pay all over again for something that just requires small changes from the devs, just to have to do it all over again in 2028…

I am in a similar boat. I just checked my spreadsheet for the total amount of purchases, something I haven't done in a while, and I was shocked that it amounted to over €5000💸. I don't see myself spending that again for airports I already have in MSFS2020. I might want to spend a small fee to upgrade the addon to MSFS2024 level, but paying to make it work in MSFS2024 at their current level should not be required. If so, Microsoft sort of lied when they promised us the majority would work in MSFS.

1 hour ago, orchestra_nl said:

I hope that wasn't just a technical remark, like "it works, but it will look like sht ". Some glitches e.g. the mesh not being the same are to be expected but on the whole the scenery should look and function like it does in MSFS2020. If not, than I would feel quite mislead.

Thinking of patches, I can see a can of worms lurking in the corner for scenery developers; How can one be sure that an update to integrate the scenery better in MSFS2024 won't cause issues for those still using it in MSFS2020? Today you always want the latest update, but that could change, making it for end users also more difficult to keep track of updates.

I would presume that Microsoft will always try to keep the fundamentals of both aligned. 

They themselves have well over 100 airports spread across both as well. 

If 2024 does create some wreckage it'll likely be desposited in 2020 too. 

But it's hard to know how upgrading the elements that 2024 improves that can slot back into 2020 would work. Maintaining two versions would be a miserable experience. 

We'll have to assume that they've thought all this through. 

Not being 'updated free of charge':

• EGKA
• NZQN
• EIKY
• EGLL
• KBUF
• KSAT
• LEIB
• KLAX
• KDTW
• NFFN

Products released in 2023, update status uncertain:

• KOKC
• LGHI
• KJFK
• EGSS
• LPPD
• PHNL
• EGHI
• KPSP
• OMDB

Products released in 2024:

• EGNM
• OMAA
• EGGW
• KMKE
• HKJK
• LDDU
• FAOR*

I'm okay with new versions of older scenery being made. iniBuilds needs to pay its 28-strong artist team somehow and scenery development has been pushed forward by the likes of Pyreegue, Jo Sund and Marcus Nyberg. New scenery products that could rival these top-end devs would be welcome and worthy of purchase.

However, I won't be paying a 'nominal $7.99' or whatever upgrade fee might be proposed for compatibility sake. Either it works in 2024 with a few minor flaws, someone kindly uploads some freeware fixes to flightsim.to, or if there are major flaws, it will be uninstalled. I'm not playing the compatibility merry-go-round that some devs used in P3D.

I’m guessing scenery (and probably most aircraft) will work in 2024 for free, but not take advantage of all the new features of 2024.  If you want a version that is further developed for 2024 it might cost you something.

Just a guess…if that is what ends up happening I’ll likely upgrade airports I use a lot and leave the others in 2020 version.

9 hours ago, Reader said:

Inibuilds said, in your own link, that they will not be developing for the 2020 version after the A300.
Nowhere does it say that they will be charging again for 2020 versions and in any case, the quote
relates only to their aircraft.

https://forum.inibuilds.com/topic/23474-summer-surprises-behind-the-scenes-with-the-inibuilds-scenery-team

Quote

We have decided that most of our library will be updated free of charge; this will be all products released in 2024 and most in 2023 but there are a select few products that will have entirely new versions made from scratch. Rest assured all current owners will receive a discount on the new versions (which will be significantly better than their predecessors). 

 

You are referring to updated versions. Reader is talking about using the existing 2020 versions in 2024. I would be extremely annoyed if they charged anything for that.

It is probably a little too much speculation and we need to just wait to see what policies developers actually adopt. But they will need to be thoughtful. If most everything comes out with an upgrade fee I will severely curtain my scenery purchases in MSFS2024. I will think twice and then three times and be very careful what I choose. So, sure they may get some upgrade fees from me, but likely will lose a lot more in new sales over time.  It also means the next time a new version is announced, I will completely cease purchasing anything until it is released, no matter what Asobo or developers say. And I think many others may follow suite. So I think they will need to think carefully about whether charging is in their long-term best interest. And I am someone who has purchased about $3,000 in scenery over 4 years.

 

My plan going forward is to wait and see what happens. With being in MSFS 2020 since launch, i know what i would be prepared to pay for with both aircraft and airports. For example, certain aircraft that are still being worked on getting the navigation to work as it should will likely be right down the list, i am not going to purchase stuff just to be a beta test for god knows how long. So it wil be only the recognised top end dev's i'll be bothering with.

Scenary i can see not worth buying as the default looks stunning. So this time it will only be the top end addon's that deliver everytime.

I have no issue paying an Upgrade Fee where applicable, devs have gotta put a roof over their heads too. After all I bought my products for MSFS2020 not MSFS24, so I'd quite happily pay iniBuilds an extra fee for a decent updated EGKA for example.