Not enough llamas.

 

When Gary Summons announced he would be switching from P3D to MSFS one reason he gave was the difficulty of designing airports and the lengthy process with the tools available.

He said life was so much easier in MSFS presumably because the tools were much better. Is that the case and if so why are people dissatisfied with the quality of 3rd party addons?

Is it lack of skill / experience or a lackadaisical attitude? I’m sure many of you can remember lots of errors when checking AFCADs in P3D but those didn’t seem as prominent. Many were easily fixed with AFD.

Are these issues fixable with third party tools or are they only fixable by the developer?

Do not misunderstand me. I am not disappointed with the overall quality of payware airport addons in MSFS 2020. Issues like these have always been a problem for me, and my somewhat OCD nature makes me feel uncomfortable when I see them. What bothers me most is that something as simple as runway centreline alignment should never be a problem in an airport addon. IMO, it is basic stuff that should be corrected in the first beta testing pass. It actually makes me wonder just how many airport beta testers care about stuff like this. I mean, do you guys care if the runway centreline markings are all over the place? If not, then why not? An issue like that sticks out like a sore thumb to me, and I cannot avoid it! I have to use the runway every time that I visit an airport in my 737!

With respect to Gary's statement that developing airports in MSFS is much easier than it is in P3D, I am guessing that he can probably change things without having to reboot the simulator every time.

On the positive side, some of the MSFS 2020 payware airport addons that I have installed are absolutely stunning works of art. Anything by Pyreegue is at the very top of my list, and I can add another that I visited for the first time this morning (Jetstream Designs/Marcus Nyberg LSGG Geneva). That looks fantastic, and framerates are super smooth (even on my PC from yesteryear).

22 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

I decided to start this thread primarily because of an issue that I have noticed at quite a few of my purchased addon airports (including the one that I have just tested this morning)....

• Misaligned runway centreline markings

As a beta tester, alignment of runway markings and lighting is the first thing that I check whenever I am given a new airport to test. It is (IMO) the single most important aspect of an airport to get right, and yet I am constantly amazed at how many addon airports are affected by it. I simply do not understand how a set of markings that should be perfectly aligned with each other can look like they have been slapped down by a blind man doing a Michael Jackson dance routine.

Other issues that I noticed.....

• Badly misaligned displaced runway threshold arrow
• Terrain elevation issue on the apron

To be fair, the latter is almost certainly due to me not using PG (and this should give you an idea of the developer/publisher of the airport that I tested)), but that is no excuse. All addon airports should be designed to work properly with PG enabled or disabled. No exceptions.

 

Apparently it doesn't just happen in sim-world:

 

Federal Aviation Administration

Pilots who encounter ineffective, incorrect, or confusing markings or signs on an airport should make the operator of the airport aware of the problem. These situations may also be reported under the Aviation Safety Reporting Program as described in paragraph 7-7-1, Aviation Safety Reporting Program. Pilots may also report these situations to the FAA regional airports division.

11 hours ago, bennyboy75 said:

Airports in the Middle East/North Africa region seem particularly poor quality and overpriced!

Only seem to be a couple of developers for those so I guess they don't have any competitive pressure, but I agree there's some overpriced and underproduced stuff there.

9 hours ago, ryanbatc said:

Same same.  There is a pretty decent addon though in the marketplace for both 2020 and 24 (different developer name I believe) that fixes this though.

Yeah I'm vaguely familiar with the program.  I remember never pulling the trigger because it was a very manual process to make it play with payware.  I have hundreds of payware airports and do not fly to any stock airports.  So I aborted moving in that direction. 

2 hours ago, andy1252 said:

Only seem to be a couple of developers for those so I guess they don't have any competitive pressure, but I agree there's some overpriced and underproduced stuff there.

Absolutely, although the mad situation of airports being done 3 times is prevalent even in the MENA region. OEDF Dammam in Saudi Arabia for example had one terrible FSX freeware looking version, a second one that looked a little better but didn't install properly and for a tiny airport (building-wise at least, and in the middle of nowhere) had appalling performance. It wasn't until the 3rd iteration dropped from Vertex Design Studio did a decent version arrive which looks and performs well. These airports range from 18 to 22 euros (for the second one with the worst performance) which is far too much IMHO.

After World Updates, one of the most annoying things I noticed was double windsocks at some runways.

I still see these today at some add-on airports, but I've learned to live with all my sim's annoyances.

21 hours ago, Reader said:

On the other hand:
Who would be a developer?
I guess that the customer has unlimited time to ferret about looking for the slightest blemish or inaccuracy.
Sometimes, it takes years before something is spotted, like misaligned skid marks, recently reported, that
have been there since October 2020.
Sometimes, the developer has done their best and the simulator is changed, particularly with the two in the MSFS.
Sometimes the developer does something because to do something else would cause performance problems.
Etc, Etc.
It's easy to post on a forum that a great many developers don't read, whereas a more useful path might be to
approach the developers themselves and seek an explanation or a cure.
If doing that, it is best to remember that you might be one of hundreds, or even thousands and most likely not
the only one.
 

You are right about that.

What is also correct is seeing pictures of your favorite airport for a simulator, it looks amazing....you buy it.....then you realize you're 15-25 dollars you spent has major flaws, issues, bugs, glitches.

Or, maybe there is a Sim update and it changes things (rare) and now the developers have to find a fix. I understand that as well. Then again, some developers made products, had issues then we never hear from them again. Looking at you, Gaya!

15 hours ago, ryanbatc said:

Same same.  There is a pretty decent addon though in the marketplace for both 2020 and 24 (different developer name I believe) that fixes this though.

Ah do tell! Think I've seen this! Looks promising. Thanks! BTW love the liveries you make.

19 hours ago, molleh said:

i find exquisitely modeled terminal interiors or the McDonald's two blocks away utterly useless, both in terms of developer resources and the resources they consume on my PC.

In defense of that neighborhood McD's... while I completely get where you're coming from, it's not necessarily an either/or kind of thing.  Sure, I appreciate devs who get the tech details right, but I also appreciate those who take the time to model the surrounding area as one of the things that I put high value on is being able to fly in the vicinity of the airport (on approach/in the pattern and on final) and have what I'm seeing actually look like it does IRL.  As a no-longer-active RW pilot, I love flying into familiar airports in the sim that almost make me believe I'm back doing it for real.  For that reason, including significant local landmarks (which may in fact include a prominent FF chain if it's an obvious local point of reference) in the airport vicinity is a big deal and much appreciated.

Just another perspective...

 

Scott

4 hours ago, Sonosusto said:

What is also correct is seeing pictures of your favorite airport for a simulator, it looks amazing....you buy it.....then you realize you're 15-25 dollars you spent has major flaws, issues, bugs, glitches.

When I buy airports for my chosen sim they’re usually from SimMarket. Where users have posted reviews I use that as a guide to their quality. Buying without reviews is risky unless they’re from a known quality developer such as FlyTampa.

I absolutely agree with Scott. Accurately rendered local landmarks in the simulator adds a huge amount to the immersion for me.

One other "little thing" that annoys me is low resolution textures. Now, I do not see too many of these (thankfully) in MSFS 2020 airport addons, but there are exceptions. This includes those default cars that some developers use. Now, I appreciate that these are probably cheap as far as performance and development time are concerned, but....to be blunt.....they do look a bit word not allowed when up close. I have seen really nice looking cars in other airport addons, so it can be done.

In short, low resolution textures of any kind do not belong in a next generation flight simulator in 2025.

its simple

a badly unoptimsed, youtube aviation lads hype ridden, eye candy galore type of airport will sell way more copies than an optimised unhyped airport from a lesser well dev.

its a new selling market nowadays.