Sorry if this has been discussed previously; I've not surfed the forum for awhile.Are there any folks out there who've purchased FSDS 3? I have version 2.24 and am quite happy with it. The Abacus website really does not offer much detail re: what the new version offers over 2.24. :-hmmm Is it just a few tweaks, or significant new capabilies?Any recommendations either way would be much appreciated!!

I will move the post to the Aircraft design forum--you'll get more interested parties there.I made the upgrade, and I am torn as to the results. The biggest issue is that none of my FSDS 2.x aircraft will compile using Makemdl, in part because of the bad "habits" I picked up along the course of learning FSDS that don't jive well with the SDK. If I were a better designer, with the intent of turning out either professional work or high quality payware work I would say it's worth the upgrade. But I can't see myself converting the half dozen projects that would have been great for FSDS 3, so in that sense I feel let down.However, having said that, the Boolean tool that's part of FSDS 3 has served me well. I've booleaned a door into the Eclipse project I adopted from Dave Eckert, and the result was excellent. I was able to then take the parts, and import them into my FSDS 2 project. Some have had worse luck with the Boolean tool, but it's the main reason I opted to upgrade. With a little work I've been very happy with it. Dave Eckert, who walks on water in my opinion when it comes to FSDS design, has managed to teach me through his tutorials some good habits that are a must for the Boolean tool. I've given you as fair an answer I can give. If you're a serious developer than FSDS 3 is worth it, otherwise it just depends on how patient you are and whether you're willing to keep working at it. -John

In addition to John's comments:If you want to make full use of the XML animations, per the makemdl and panel SDKs, you'll also need FSDS3.While you "lose" the FSDS2 pre-processes, they can easily be supplanted with XML part animations/conditions.