9 minutes ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

I am a customer and I have a right to like or dislike a product. I understand if some 3rd party company started creating nonsense content for a flight sim, but it's approaching the absurd and it decreases my appreciation of it because I am losing respect for the first party and dislike their vision of what the product is. There is a loss of identity and a focus... 

You're free to dislike the features, but judging the whole sim based on the things that you don't even use doesn't make sense. It's like, XP12 has everything you need, but some day they decide to add some new ADDITIONAL feature that you don't need, and you decide to come back to P3D because XP12 has lost focus. It simply doesn't make sense at all. 

I would get that you stop liking the sim because some features have been modified to alter or interfere with your simulator experience, ok. But that's not the case here.

9 minutes ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

Let's imagine this... "Laminar Research is proud to present: X-Plane: The Nightmare on Elm Street Expansion. It features a free Ultralight that allows you to fly over the haunted neighborhoods tormented by Freddie Krueger and the hellish dreamscape he created." Sounds bloody ridiculous, but it's not a far cry from Dune and Stranger Things. 

I wouldn't mind if the ultralight aircraft is realistic. Actually, flying realistically through a fantasy land is quite recreational from time to time. And optional, too...

9 minutes ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

Again, all this does is make me not want to use it, because the creators of this franchise have lost the plot. This is a sim that still has no weather radar that has tilt capability.

The radar tilt is coming in the next update, due in a few weeks (currently in beta tests). Because yes, contrary to what you wrote here, the development is still focused on the simulator aspects, such as avionics 🙂

9 minutes ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

Last time I checked it, dual jetways weren't a thing either. And their version of Scenery Gateway that they promised years ago is still nonexistent. Default airports still look abandoned and are still filled with things like jetways not attached to anything... just jetway sitting by itself and you spawn next to it! There are taxi lights all over taxiways. Sometimes randomly thrown all over the place. 

You spawn exactly where you choose to spawn, from the UI, you are not "randomly thrown all over the place". I do agree that the promised scenery gateway, which is one of the greatest features in XPlane, is still missing from MSFS, and that's a very valid pain point.

9 minutes ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

But sure, let's have the Avatar expansion next... I don't know why my opinion is so hard to understand. You don't have to agree with it, but THESE are some of the things I switched to XP12 for my sim of choice. 

By "avatar" I was referring to the avatar mode like in P3D, that let's you walk outside of the aircraft. But an "Avatar" expansion would be fun, so why not. This won't remove any of the realistic addons/features of the sim anyways 🙂

16 hours ago, Lotharen said:

@Bjoern  Thanks for sharing those freebies. I knew about the Zibo mod but I'm not great at airliners. I'll learn to use it but fly piston engine mostly. That Evo looks really nice and I will totally take that one up. I was meaning more something like a Cessna 182 and or a turboprop. Also, might want navigraph for updated navdata.

If you have a Navigraph suscription for MSFS, it will also apply to X-Plane and the best option for a 182 is also free, btw: https://forums.x-plane.org/files/file/96575-cessna-182s/

Sooner or later, you will spend money on add-ons for sure, but sticking to freeware at first is a good entry point.

 

1 hour ago, Daube said:

The concept however is closer to Stranger things extension: you get a new scenery that recreates the island with the park from the movie. The park is populated with dinos here and there, and you just fly over them with any realistic aircraft you want. You can also land where you want and explore on foot with the avatar mode (same as in P3D, by the way) to take a closer look at these dinos moving around. In VR it's actually quite a thrill !

Sold! Now I want a dinosaur* island for X-Plane.

 

(*No feathers, i.e. no heresy.)

On 4/18/2026 at 8:12 AM, Lotharen said:

Loved reading this. I've been considering upgrading to xplane 12 but haven't convinced myself to do it. I think the variety of clouds and the atmospheric effects (lighting, cloud variety, and horizon haze) are better done than MSFS, grated it can be hit or miss at times. I just dread dropping more cash to get a collection of study level aircraft I was to fly and possibly wanting more add-on's for QoL reasons.

Well, theres no reason to switch whole hog to one or the other. 

And, of course, there’s at least a few freeware that are worthwhile to keep you going for awhile. 

And finally, the holiday sales make a huge dent in the acquisition costs for those must-have addons. E.g., I got the ToLiss 346 for $45!

£15 on XOrganizer is probably an almost necessary purchase. The scenery_packs.ini file and the directory structure in general takes a bit of getting use to, and XOrg certainly helps with this. 

Edited April 20Apr 20 by The_Flying_Potato

On 4/18/2026 at 9:57 PM, sloppysmusic said:

I went from FSX to MSFS 2020 to P3dv5 to XP12. Spent ton of money on each for addons. At this point in time I can't see me ever using msfs again. I still have all 3 installed and running well. Well there's a caveat there. Xp and p3d are installed and running well. I never know when I fire up msfs IF I'm going to get the same experience I did on the last startup. P3d never changes, xp changes subtly but msfs can change wildly and be unusable for days after a mandatory update. 

I will use p3d again as it has some of my favorite legacy planes. PMDG's 747-8, RealAir props and A2A beauties being my favorite. 

At the moment XP12 looks fantastic to me with map enhancement and sim heaven. Combined with that gorgeous weather I do not NEED a better looking sim and the interface to actually get me flying is hands down my favorite. 

Currently using the FF 777 range in XP12 and it makes me want to uninstall my pmdg triples in other sims. Every morning I get up early to do a flight on my current world tour with them. Oops it's that time already later folks... 

I must be super lucky because I can’t remember the last time I had an issue with MSFS 2024 that I couldn’t directly pin on an addon. And even then, issues are rare. 

That said, 100 pct with you on both Prepar3D and XP 12 🙂👍

p.s.: I hope you already know that all the MilViz addons for P3D are free downloads now? 😁

22 hours ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

I just can't do MSFS 2024 anymore... It's SUCH a chore, I feel. Yes, it looks somewhat good (except default airports, useless default APC, that stupid Universal Tablet without which you can't plan a flight and it still doesn't load aircraft correctly OR communicate with ATC even if you filed flightplan)... but that word not allowed UI of theirs. That main menu where Freeflight is like an afterthought... The constant collaborations with things like Stranger Things, Dune, Orbx' new Jurassic Park thing... I just can't anymore. I still have it, but I never use it. It's XP12 for me and has been for a year and a half at least. Mind you, used 2020 as much as XP11/XP12. But 2024 killed it for me. Can't seem to enjoy it anymore. 

This is truly bizarre to me…

Yeah, MSFS has its issues, but:

A. it’s literally 2 clicks vs XP’s 1 click to start a free flight.

B. there’s no doubt the MSFS EFB and Flight Planner is something that’d be an absolute boon for XP. 

C. All the collabs in MSFS are 100pct optional, 100 pct free, and have 0 pct impact on Free Flight. 

And D. The collabs are GOOD for business. They get people to either trial or buy the game, or rekindle interest, or avoid boredom etc. 

This attitude just smacks of elitism, frankly.

ITS A GAME.  

23 minutes ago, UrgentSiesta said:

And D. The collabs are GOOD for business. They get people to either trial or buy the game, or rekindle interest, or avoid boredom etc. 

This attitude just smacks of elitism, frankly.

ITS A GAME.  

No, as a businessman myself, I can assure you that not all collabs are good for business. There are concepts of dilution of identity, feature bloat, etc... If as a restaurateur in an upscale/fine dining segment, I begin to collaborate with drag show performers (nothing against drag show performers - they have their own market segment), would it bring in people? Yes... Perhaps. Will it dilute identity of a restaurant that has its own niche and focus? Absolutely. It's entirely not the place for those events. Therefore, I'd never do it. Because it makes no sense. Read the audience. That would get other segment (the core one) of the clientele to leave... kind of like what MS is doing with quite a few people commenting everywhere how they are switching to XP12. 

The definition of Elitism is believing that one belongs to a group that should exclude other groups considered "not worthy" of being part of it. No such thing is expressed here. What I expressed were my own feelings about the direction of the product and why I don't enjoy it anymore. If someone has MSFS as their sim of choice, I'd say... more power to them. Go and enjoy.

I think Purism was the word you were looking for. I believe the simulator experience should be about aviation and nothing else. Sure, it's a game, but not in a traditional sense. Quite a few people, myself included, use it to become familiar with flows and procedures. It can also work well for training the brain for making good decisions when it comes to real-world aviation. I can tell you that I am a better pilot of my C182 today BECAUSE of the extensive amount of times I spent in XP and MSFS. I try to learn from every session and every failure scenario I practice and the decisions I made are self-evaluated and questioned. It's not about "flying" - nothing like this can compare to actually being at the controls. Without feel, the inputs are fairly devoid of real impact. This is about flows, procedures, and training decision-making ability. So... not really a traditional game... like STALKER or Elder Scrolls. It's pretty hard to learn anything from those games you can use in real world. 

Purism is about not diluting the essence. Sometimes less is more. When you narrow down the focus and make it razor sharp, you have a better product. In which case, I am happy to be a "purist". It doesn't mean things I have no interest don't deserve to be in the product. A great example is Laminar's next update which will focus on VR. I am not a VR user, so it's meaningless to me, but it's obviously meaningful to a ton of people, which makes me happy for them - a feature THEY use is being improved. All of LR's work focuses on the core experience of it being a flight simulator, the best one they can deliver. THAT is important. Do they want to be successful in terms of sales? Of course! But not at the price of diluting what the product is all about. If XP started adding fantasy elements and entertaining the audience by throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks, it would be highly disappointing. So yes, call me a "purist", I am not ashamed of being branded so. 

@BostonJeremy77

I think people like you and I are just getting old. 

😜

2 minutes ago, GoranM said:

@BostonJeremy77

I think people like you and I are just getting old. 

😜

Haha, that may be true! But I have always been a curmudgeon - since my 30s. Now at 49, forget about it! In 10 years I will fully become a member of "get off my lawn" club. 😉

1 hour ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

The definition of Elitism is believing that one belongs to a group that should exclude other groups considered "not worthy" of being part of it. No such thing is expressed here. 

but then again...

11 hours ago, BostonJeremy77 said:

I am sure the XBox crowd loves it

Right. No elitism at all.

There's no elite-izing in any of those comments. More like (fairly accurate) age-ism. Or anti-corpo(rate) altruism.

Simzilla's UI has never won any awards. Drenching it in the neon signage of what are effectively ads doesn't exactly help retain the demographic looking for simplicity. Nothing elitist or superior-ist about it. At some point you just want to go stare out into the fields and trees instead of squint through the blinding pizzazz of modern society.

I'm a Boomer! 

8 hours ago, Daube said:

but then again...

Right. No elitism at all.

I think you're turning this into something it's not.  Jeremy prefers focus over feature bloat.  He probably could've chosen his words a little more carefully, but I seriously doubt there was any ill intent.  It's just a preference.  I've seen the ugly head of elitism, many times.  And it's far more obvious than what I've seen in here.

Edited April 21Apr 21 by GoranM

18 hours ago, The_Flying_Potato said:

£15 on XOrganizer is probably an almost necessary purchase. The scenery_packs.ini file and the directory structure in general takes a bit of getting use to, and XOrg certainly helps with this. 

Free alternative: https://forums.x-plane.org/files/file/98823-x-addon-oxide/

18 hours ago, UrgentSiesta said:

p.s.: I hope you already know that all the MilViz addons for P3D are free downloads now? 😁

They don't want to maintain stuff anymore and made it freeware?! Your move, Carenado*!

 

(*X-Plane portfolio)