CS 757 Impressions....

[Guest PPSFA]

First off, to be clear, I'm no fan of CaptainSim, for all the reasons others have stated. Having said that, the 757 absolutly ROCKS on my machine!!My criteria for getting an addon plane is simple, good performance, good support, good graphics. Once I get burned, thats usually it for me, they have lost my business, the 757 is the exception.The first thing I look for is the cockpits, both 2 and 3D. If they are good, I then check out any support forums for problems, and finally, if all is ok, I get the plane and try it.A friend of mine told me about the 757, but I was hesitant since others have had many issues with it. When I wouldn't 'bite', he sent me a picture of the cockpit, and WOW! When I saw that, I just had to try the plane, even with reservations about it. I have been flying it since Wed, and outside of my personal issues with the FMC (I HATE FMC's but I'm now determined to master it), this plane is outstanding.It does give a small performance hit, but I also have tested it against other planes I fly and it is similiar. What blows me away is how 'real' the cockpit is, it is one of the best I have ever seen, and because of that, I can live with the few small glitches I have found.If you want an airliner comparible to Flight 1's MD80 in quality, I highly reccomend this plane, it is rapidly becomming once of my favorites (once I get this ^%&$##&^* FMC figured out!)XP Pro SP2-FSX SP2AMD FX60-8800GTS-2 Gigs RAMFEX-GEX-UTUSA-FSGenesis-and a bunch of other stuffComputer optomized by www.fs-gs.com

[G7USL 117]

Are you a reviewer?

[Guest fsxmissionguy]

I'm curious how you were able to review the support forums before you purchased this aircraft.I tried to look at the Support website, and it is locked behind a pay wall (you must first purchase the aircraft before you are even able to read the support forum).That's an interesting policy. Can you shed any light on why Captain Sim would lock the support forum behind a pay wall? I realize that they wouldn't want to spend money providing support to people who have not purchased their product ... but that's not what I'm talking about.I'm talking about allowing anyone to read their support forums (but not ask questions, or receive support until purchase).Why do you think they hide the support forum?

[Guest firehawk44]

I got it when it was first released. Can't say I agree with your review. I have the Level D 767 and PMDG 747 too and maybe that's why I disagree. It would be difficult for me to buy an aircraft for approx $103 based on the cockpit alone. I don't care how 'real' it looks! For one thing, the FMC is difficult to program. Maybe they made it as real as it gets and PMDG and Level D made their's not so real, but I have had major difficulties with this FMC and especially getting it to capture the ILS on landing. I've been successful in getting it programmed a couple of times but the frustrations of being unsuccessful many other times has caused me to park the aircraft in my hanger until its improved with better NAV data, etc. I don't know if they are working on enhancing the product further but it will be parked until maybe an update improves things. The 757 is an old aircraft and maybe the FMC technology is worse than the technology in the 767. I agree with Kevin Greene's post above whereas you cannot check out their support forum for problems until you purchase the aircraft. Perhaps you checked the unofficial support forum here on AVSIM or another forum on another site? To be fair to CS, Level D has the same policy but at least they have a public forum too. I personally agree with the policy because you can get info about a product from reviewers and other individuals who have purchased the product such as yourself to make an educated decision. IMHO, if you want to know how good the flight dynamics, or whether the startup is realistic or not, it would be more appropriate to ask the questions on a forum such as this one. This way the developers can use their time to answer problems real customers are having. You also speak about living with the small glitches in the aircraft. When I pay over $100 for an aircraft that cost me more than FSX alone, I don't expect any glitches. There shouldn't be any and the developers shouldn't release a product with "glitches". If they have their hands full developing more aircraft, then maybe they should slow down and produce only what they can manage, like PMDG and Level D.Best regards,Jim

[tf51d 284]

>I'm curious how you were able to review the support forums>before you purchased this aircraft.>>I tried to look at the Support website, and it is locked>behind a pay wall (you must first purchase the aircraft before>you are even able to read the support forum).>>That's an interesting policy. Can you shed any light on why>Captain Sim would lock the support forum behind a pay wall? I>realize that they wouldn't want to spend money providing>support to people who have not purchased their product ... but>that's not what I'm talking about.>>I'm talking about allowing anyone to read their support forums>(but not ask questions, or receive support until purchase).>>Why do you think they hide the support forum?The support forum is not hidden, you can read it at anytime!

[Guest firehawk44]

"The support forum is not hidden, you can read it at anytime!"Strange! I have to enter my order number and e-mail address to "check in" (at least today I do).Jim

[scoob 18]

>That's an interesting policy. Can you shed any light on why>Captain Sim would lock the support forum behind a pay wall? I>realize that they wouldn't want to spend money providing>support to people who have not purchased their product ... but>that's not what I'm talking about.>>I'm talking about allowing anyone to read their support forums>(but not ask questions, or receive support until purchase).kevin:don't paint a wide brush about putting support behind a 'pay wall'. levelD (767) and coolsky (MD80) do the same.but ... levelD & coolsky have a Q&A section where people can ask about the product (ie, what features does the aircraft have v. how to make a feature work).--edit: syntax--

[Mike T 208]

Asthetically, the CS 757 cannot be beat. Unfortunately, it is the "Paris Hilton" of aircraft: its pretty, glamorous, sexy.... and as dumb as a box of rocks. If you strip away all the glitz the most intellectual conversation you'd ever have with Paris Hilton will probably revolve around the subtle art of toenail painting. Likewise, if you dig deeper into the CS 757 you'll find that your "conversations" with the 757 seem fun, but are shallow and inaccurate. The CS 757 looks spectacular but is functionally inaccurate in many areas, rushed through production, full of unresolved bugs, but had the potential to be much more. Done properly, with just a little bit more attention to detail and bug fixes, the CS 757 could have easily been another LDS 767 or PMDG 747 because the components are already there...just broken.So yes, your review would be correct if you are into the "Paris Hilton's" of the world. My preference is to give up a little of the flash and glamor in exchange for a lot more brains. Having stupid conversations don't work for me, in the sim world, or the real world.Regards,Mike T.

[Guest PPSFA]

Dave, no Im not a reviewer, just a person who thinks others might benefit from a users input when an addon is found that is worth talking about. Especially one that has had bad press and doesnt live up to it.fsxmissionguy, I didnt look at the forums before I got it, because as others have stated, they are locked. The friend that reccomended this plane looked for me, and I asked him questions that he researched in their forum. The locked forum thing is the single biggest reason why I would never blindly purchase anything from CS.If my friend hadn't been so insistant, and sent me the screen shots first, I never would have got the plane, based solely on their support policys.Jim(firehawk), I have had both the LevelD and PMDG, and both caused me enough problems that I removed them, .dll issues and FPS, so ALL planes have some kind of problems, depending on your system. Before last Wed I knew next to nothing about FMC's, we never had them when I was flying, and I hate the **** things! Having said that, once I got the basics, I find the FMC in the 757 extremely EASY to program, for one simple reason: I fly multiplayer exclusivly and this FMC allows you to DIRECTLY load a flight plan from FS, instead of having to manually load it.As far as 'glitches', I agree all payware should be trouble free, but as we all know, NONE are. Level D and PMDG were so bad for me I removed them. The 757 glitches are small for me, things like some of the buttons dont work the same between the 2 and 3D cockpits, weather radar doesnt work in multiplayer, fuel in kg, etc. For me none of these are 'showstoppers'. My personal biggest problem with it, and its MY technique, not the plane, is the final approach transition using VNAV/LNAV. After making dozens of approaches in the las few days, I think I finally find out my problem and hopefully thats solved, today will tell the story.MikeT: I wuold love to know why you say its 'shallow' and 'dumb as a box of rocks'. I have flown many planes, both real life and FS, and this plane, to me anyway, is one of the most complex, best flying planes I've seen in FS. Please provide more details as I would love to know what I am missing. XP Pro SP2-FSX SP2AMD FX60-8800GTS-2 Gigs RAMFEX-GEX-UTUSA-FSGenesis-and a bunch of other stuffComputer optomized by www.fs-gs.com

[G7USL 117]

>Dave, no Im not a reviewer, just a person who thinks others>might benefit from a users input when an addon is found that>is worth talking about. Especially one that has had bad press>and doesnt live up to it.I asked because I find it hard to believe that you actually PAID for it?Just read here and wonder why you, and only you, has praised this one?As for what you said about your freind, then you should have noticed that there has a been a free demo of this aircraft present on the front page of Avsim for 2 weeks to my knowledge.Still, it's your money.............

[Guest PPSFA]

>As for what you said about your freind, then you should have>noticed that there has a been a free demo of this aircraft>present on the front page of Avsim for 2 weeks to my>knowledge.If I had just gone by the posts of the DEMO version, I never would have persued this, there is a hugh difference as is clearly stated. And why would you find it had to believe I PAID for this? I trust my friends judgement an heck of a lot more than people who I dont know, posting about a plane they dont have, and maybe grinding an axe at the same time.I made the original post so others may benefit from it, nothing more, use your own judgment, its YOUR money.XP Pro SP2-FSX SP2AMD FX60-8800GTS-2 Gigs RAMFEX-GEX-UTUSA-FSGenesis-and a bunch of other stuffComputer optomized by www.fs-gs.com

[Mike T 208]

Complex yes, accurate no,eg dumb as a box of rocks. I won't rehash the dozens of inaccuracies, but check out the Unofficial CS forum here at Avsim since CS has removed all of our lists of inaccuracies that we posted. FYI, I found 14 of them just on the ground, at the gate, the first day I downloaded the CS 757. Mind you that what I found were innaccuracies, the bugs are another story all together.Mind you the two aircraft that you say that you can't get to work, the LDS 767 and PMDG 747, had problems at the start. Now, they are THE most accurate commerical airliner simulations ever released for MSFS. You might want to revisit them because touting the CS 757 as great but dismissing the LDS and PMDG offerings doesn't bode well.To CS's credit, the flight model is BEAUTIFUL and handles like a 757 should AND there is a patch coming that fixes a great deal of what seems to be broken.As I said the CS 757 has the potential to be one of the best airliner sims, its just a matter of CS's dedication to fixing their product.

[Guest fsxmissionguy]

Scoob,Why do these companies place their support forums behind a pay wall?I can certainly understand that a company would want to limit the ability to post questions to people who have purchased the product, but I'm trying to understand the rational behind hiding the support forum from potential customers who may wish to only view current support conversations. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with such a policy ... but I would like to hear a rationale behind this philosophy.It seems sketchy to me ... but maybe there's a good reason.Despite what Tom writes higher in this thread, you cannot view the support forum at CaptainSim without logging in with an order number. Maybe I'm missing something and Tom can explain how someone could view the support forums without first buying the product.Cheers,

[Paul_Yorks 97]

I have no connection with any of these companies, but I have both the Super80 and the LDS767, am very happy with both, and I suspect that the "real" support is behind pay walls to prevent pirates getting support, and that's the end of it.Can't think of another reason. Ok, I suppose it could be because the support is crap, so the vendors don't want us to see it; but since I can guarantee you that isn't the case, in either case, I think my first hypothesis is the better one.I have yet to see someone complain, in a serious way, about support on either site. So what else can it be?Now if a few dozen people come out of the woodwork and say it's all about bad support, you might then be able to take a different view - but I'd reckon a) it won't happen and :( for every complainant I'll find you 3 happy campers.The conspiracy theory fails there, I suggest.

[bonchie 2,305]

I'm totally confused by your statement that the LVLD was removed b/c of FPS issues but you think the CS757 runs great? That right there makes me think you a) are trolling at the request of CS or :( are just biased for whatever reason.The LVLD from personal experience, and countless other opinions of people who own it, is the best performing airliner addon on the market. Actually, the Coolsky MD80 is just as good. The CS757 was the first plane I unfortuneatly bought when I first starting simming with FSX. It had terrible, horrible performance. Thats been the main gripe against it since it was released. FPS would drop to 4 and 5 at major airports, where the LVLD would reach almost 20. Their support forum is filled with complaints about performance.