Geofa

So, so sad to hear. Thanks to Tom for all he did to make flight simming what it became from a primitive start to state of the art. Thoughts and prayers to all. Geof Applegate

So, so sorry to read this. My prayers and thoughts with you and your family. it was a privledge to help out for a while with your creation and the greatest website for flight simulation on the planet Geof Applegate

Jason-not taken that way at all. All the best!

Well just to be honest-Geofa has had it. As a mod seeing all kinds of things that would make peoples skin crawl -to posting honest assesments on xplane-its flight model etc.-being labelled an fsx'er-then tonight being labelled an xplaner for giving a critique to p3d's autogen-this hobby is no longer fun for this one. 31 years of simming over-and after tonight I am grateful. Bye...

Well Geof is leaving avsim as he did flightsim.com 20 years ago. Bye...

Ok guys-after 31 years I am outa here. If you don't want opinions that is fine..

Wow.

Well then I am really confused. As far as I know p3d has no god rays, and has no rotating clouds via their pr release as of today.My post on xplane was made well before the release of p3d. Please let me know what I did wrong.

I find it interesting that you are calling me an xplane folk-since for two years the xplane folk have been calling me an fsx'er. Probably because I beta tested everything from pro pilot to fly to fs from 2000 and have been highly critical of xplane the last two years. Easier probably to lable someone as a something'er than to take a critic-have found the same on the xplane boards when I have taken great exception to the "superior" flight models. Yes-I posted the xplane shotstonight -because after being a huge critic of the xplane for 2 years something ground breaking came out. Trolling-I was a mod here. I am a flight sim enthusiast since 1980. Really? Is that the best you can do?

I find it odd-that you post all this because I happen to post an honest opinion that the autogen in p3d has not changed in 6 years and looks dated-especially since you haven't ever had any interaction until tonight. I did beta test fsx and am quite familiar. I also happened to coincidentally post some positive posts about xplane after being a huge critic of it for two years because some really positive stuff came out for it this week. Are you a flight sim enthusiasist-or do you have an agenda?

What is this-an honest appraisal of what is available right now. Seems defensive to me-especially since I have never had a loyalty to any sim-seems you might.

Quite amazing since I have been so critical of xplane the last two years. My enthusiasm for the fs world is once again waning.

Say what-I haven't compared anything to p3d. I did say the autogen from the screen shots looks like a toybox -I stand by that-the autogen is exactly the same as when I beta tested 6 years ago-except perhaps more. Are we that defensive? I really have no loyalty to any sim except the best at the moment. I have made no direct compare to xplane-where did this come from except a position of defensiveness?

No-I mean like reality-and my sig shows I have no loyalty to any sim. Sorry to get the hair up-I don't see any change in a 6 year technology of autogen I beta tested-and to me it looks very dated.

No I haven't-but the screen shots posted above look like a toybox. If that turns you on go for it-I prefer a rw look. Take my opinion as a rw pilot of 26years and beta tester for fs since 2000 as it might be....

Reality is always my litmus test-this one is a fail...

Gotta say-that autogen looks nasty. It looked great for the time when fsx came out-but as a user said about autogen with another sim a couple years ago looks like someone opened their toybox and spilled it out.

Well I think this answers it.. http://forum.avsim.net/topic/427009-multi-platform-pricing-policy-expectations-fsxp3dxplane/

Well I'll keep fighting for what is lacking (gps is best news for me-I hope you are right)-but not only the mesh which does bring a high point to geography detail, but new clouds that have God rays and actually move-this is cutting edge stuff. I could start xplane, sit on the runway and just watch the clouds-it is that amazing! I'll also complain about osm/landclass which is still very poor in my part of the world and I sure hope a fix can be made for that. :( The basics always need work -but again-a few jaw dropping wow factors that no one else has done or come close to I think bring the excitement factor in which brings converts. No sim is ever complete-but getting excited is the big thing. I'll bet p3d doesn't have God rays, and clouds that move or look as good as skymaxx, and from their pr. the mesh hasn't been improved and won't have the detail we have now thanks to alpilotx. A superior stock gps, ai traffic that blows the stock fs system away would be other wows. The wows don't have to all come from stock xplane-and add on people can fill it in-but the more wows-the more conversions-really that simple. After all is p3d is just fsx with minor improvements-people like me will get bored and be looking for something that is cutting edge or just adds a little excitement. Probably because xplane is greatly effected by this?! <edit> Just looked at some prelim p3d shots-the autogen frankly looks lame and dated. Once someone accused xplane's autogen as looking like a kid had scattered his toy box-I can only think the same looking at this. As a contrast in the screenshot forum I posted some shots of xplane today-again quality, wow factor, and getting the info out should do its job eventually.

Hey -my Baron this Baron was modelled on was a 1974! By then we were using cassette tapes...

I felt that way about xplane10 until this week when two ground breaking add ins came out for it. The tubeliner folk will definately head the P3D way-that is unless there is stuff over here that is so ground breaking one will have to have a look, a try, and possibly convert. The last two years of xplane I really thought there was little that would drag one away from fs-though I begrudingly tried. It has been frustrating to look at a basically catch up sim. Today after putting skymaxx and alpilotx's mesh to its paces there would be little to drag me back to anything else. This is new and cutting age stuff-and it is new and cutting age stuff that will create such a wow factor that people will be sucked in. I have been sucked in big time by these add ins-hopefully more will come. Add on developers are the key. Wow factor is simply very hard to ignore-by anyone or any camp-and that is a good thing. In my case, after 30+ years of flight simming I really started losing interest 3 years ago. Fsx felt dated, flight did not meet my expectations, and xplane 10 though had potential seemed only to have potential. This all changed this week for me in a sudden fashion. I realized today I did not lose interest in flight simming-there just has been nothing in the last 3 years that caused me to get that wow factor and become excited. All changed now-time to keep the momentum going here... Wow factor is terribly important-one can ignore other deficiencies if there is just a little magic.... I have had the best flight sim experience in years today-that counts for a lot!

Skymaxx, the new mesh, and Urban Maxx turned this sim from a semi frustration to extreme excitement for me.The past 3 years I had really thought after 30+ years of flight simming I had lost interest-now I realize there just hadn't been anything out there that excited me terribly-this stuff does-it is new and innovative.

Thanks John. I haven't been this excited about a sim since the release of fsx-these new add ons just make it a completely different animal imho.

With the Urban Maxx addin, Alpilotx free High definition mesh, and now the incredible SkyMaxx Pro which does the most incredible clouds/Crepuscular Rays/Cloud rotation.... Takeoff from San Diego with rare T storms-cumulus T storms finally look real-that was a bolt going off in the bottom of the cloud way back! Overfly of some nice free San Diego freeware with nice smooth fps Shot of the God rays now possible with SkyMaxx High def mesh really makes a difference with great default textures Great clouds that move and can be seen well from the ground and great lighting effects

A little photo scenery draped over that mesh and there would be no difference. A little photo scenery draped over that mesh and there would be no difference.