VFXSimmer

Got it. By all means you're free to pony up your money, or not, for anything you see fit. I guess it just surprises me that it seems like people expect a company to spend a huge amount of time and effort to create a product that greatly improves our very niche hobby, .. and deliver it as charity? Or even imply that the company just "wants your money" - the implication being that it is undeservedly doing so.

What a silly thread. If one were truly a Hard Core Simmer (tm), you would forego a lunch one day a month, if that's what it took, to pay the $15. You would do it in a heartbeat If it meant you could get the type of immersion this product seems it will provide (assuming it delivers as promised). If you can't make that kind of sacrifice then you're in the wrong hobby.

I can confirm that this works like a charm. Got it all done last night during the worst of it in about 1/2 hour

... subscription.. not subscription.... Webster's definition of the word... Does it really matter? If this thing is as good as it sounds, is there really anyone that frequents these forums that isn't going sign up and pay for it anyway?

Actually those issues are well known and documented. And most are not listed in the changelog for SU13, so not much of a bombshell to bring them up.

Flight simmers are a weird bunch, aren't we...

The update had a lot of fixes to various aircraft systems (I hit "V" before updating which showed the list of changes). I'm at work and cant do it now, but I'm sure someone here could point to the changelog. Sorry I cant elaborate further because I was in a rush and didnt stop to read it in detail.

I have a full AIG install along with FSTL and FS Traffic. I DO get Hawaiian 717s .. not sure which is providing that but reading the above responses leads me to believe its AIG.

I'm going to buy it! FYI, if any of you happen to have some spare time in Atlanta, GA .. specifically at KATL .. there is a Delta Airlines museum on the property, and in that museum is a retired, but fully functional full motion Level D simulator of a 737-200. It was an actual simulator used for pilot training back in the day, now its part of the museum. A as member of the public, you can rent it for an hour, get a little training, and see how well your MSFS sim time prepares you for something closer to reality. I did it.. and well.. the passengers wouldn't have been happy ... but I did manage to land us in one piece. After that experience I'd happily buy Blackbird's offering to relive the experience and practice a bit more with the older instrumentation to possibly do better if I find myself with another opportunity at the full motion sim. BTW, the museum itself is really great - you get to wander around up close and personal with a DC-8, 767, 747, and several other older planes.

The amount of polygons needed for a typical airport terminal interior pales in comparison to the amount needed for the exteriors, clutter on the apron, AI aircraft, etc, and is an even smaller fraction of the amount needed for photogrammetry. If your machine can handle a typical PG city, terminal interiors are not the problem.

In answer to the OP… me

Omg - been away from Avsim for a week and this drops! I am gobsmacked. The activities look amazing enough but I would plunk down more money just for the the rotorwash amimation of grass and trees - something very important to a helicopter pilot and something I’d asked for on Zendesk in the past. I will have to break the bad news to the family and friends that I’m going to be unavailable starting in 2024 😉

I'm a fan of PG. For me, however, the best option is a combo of things like Samscene 3D and PG. The great thing about the photogrammetry is that you get recognizable representations of every building, not just the iconic ones. For cities that I know I've clearly recognized places I've been by features like signage on the side of the buildings (for example). I assume I must be lucky enough to have an internet connection that's fast enough that I havent had to endure an excessive amount of the melted look issue that plagues others. So I'm sure that's affecting my opinion, but with the combo approach I feel like I get the best of both worlds in that hero buildings are rendered in crisp detail that you can fly right up to, but I can still recognize everything else that is "off the beaten path" and get that deja vu feeling that this sim is so good at delivering. If you're just 100' away from the PG buildings, to me they lose the wonkiness that you get up close and do the job of recreating the real buildings they represent. The nice thing is that PG is a selectable option, so everyone can choose what works best for them.

It’s taxing but still works on a 13900k/4090 even in VR for me (with motion smoothing). One thing to double check is to make sure you’ve disabled Asobo’s LAX because otherwise it still gets processed even though it’s covered up by iniBuild’s replacement.

But that’s really all humans beings do too. New knowledge is not synthesized out of the ether. It’s nothing but an original recombination or extrapolation of existing information. Humans screw up a lot of things too until they learn to correct them over time which is exactly how the tech behind these new search engines work. Its also important to distinguish “intelligence” from “consciousness”. A system can be intelligent by providing ‘correct’, ‘productive’ (choose your superlative) answers to questions even if it can’t internally reflect on them. And these systems don’t have to be “perfect” to gain traction in our society. They merely have to be better on average than their human competition and you will see society switch to their “expertise”. The fact that we aren’t there today does not mean this won’t happen in the not too distant future. These neural nets keep learning and improving at a frightening pace and their database of knowledge to draw from is literally larger than the Library of Congress.