mldavis2

No problems here. Blame Linux?

I don't have AEP, but for me the real question is how accurate is it? I don't want dozens of ground vehicles and scattered "junk" around if an airport shows to be "clean and bare" on the ESRI or satellite view. I seldom put things in my rebuilds that I can't see in the satellite image. I've flown into default airports and found the wrong class of aircraft, tugs, stairs, chocks scattered all over the tarmac, and planes parked in rows where the satellite shows none. Many small munis and regionals are very quiet during the day, especially on week days with most planes hangared and few tie-downs. I'm looking for realism and that's what I expect to see.

Except for a few select commercial airports built by LR, virtually all other airports in XP12 are made and updated by volunteer artists like myself. There are over 38,000 airports in the XP12 database, so it is easy to see why not all are kept up to date with each iteration of XP12 versions. Some of these airports date back to 2018 or earlier and some are even default CIFP runways with simple parallel taxiways unchanged. Large airports take literally months to update correctly using the newest library assets and a few new artistic conventions for boundaries, etc. Since I build default airports, I do not purchase any commercial airports. But then I also fly random flights all over the world rather than using a single airport as a base of operations. If you use one airport consistently, it might call for a commercial purchase unless/until LR updates the airport. I would hold these to an absolute minimum. I am a sim pilot and my joy is in exploring the virtual world from the cockpit, so I don't see one airport more than once or twice in a very long time. In addition, my system is rock-solid and I have no problems with a perfectly smooth, stable system, most likely because I avoid as many add-ons as possible with the exception of aircraft.

Except for a few select commercial airports built by LR, virtually all other airports in XP12 are made and updated by volunteer artists like myself. There are over 38,000 airports in the XP12 database, so it is easy to see why not all are kept up to date with each iteration of XP12 versions. Some of these airports date back to 2018 or earlier and some are even default CIFP runways with simple parallel taxiways unchanged. Large airports take literally months to update correctly using the newest library assets and a few new artistic conventions for boundaries, etc. Since I build default airports, I do not purchase any commercial airports. But then I also fly random flights all over the world rather than using a single airport as a base of operations. If you use one airport consistently, it might call for a commercial purchase unless/until LR updates the airport. I would hold these to an absolute minimum. I am a sim pilot and my joy is in exploring the virtual world from the cockpit, so I don't see one airport more than once or twice in a very long time. In addition, my system is rock-solid and I have no problems with a perfectly smooth, stable system, most likely because I avoid as many add-ons as possible with the exception of aircraft.

Because I use an international aviation incident list to "assign" my flights, I need a LOT of different aircraft. To that end, I buy almost everything offered by X-Plane developers because sooner or later I will need one or more of their offerings. It's also a matter of trying to support any and all developers for X-Plane for their work and to encourage them to keep working for us.

I've purchased nearly all of my after-market planes at the org for over 20 years. Never, ever had a problem of any kind.

As have I. Yes, thanks for your work!

You can ignore deprecated items and just let the auto-update conversion turn them into whatever they think is current. But that doesn't always result in the best replacement for existing deprecated items. By using current library items for XP12.4 you extend the working life of those items.

That is why I almost never just "update" my airport work. I strip everything off and rebuild from the runway up. Ben said they will honor the work of WED artists in the upcoming "finer mesh" so boundaries are very important. I re-align pavement type and seam directions to be more realistic, remove all autogen trees and deprecated objects and facades, replace flat top hangars with gabled tops where appropriate, replace unrealistic ramp starts, update all taxiway and ramp markings and lighting and try to use the most accurate and appropriate library items available at the time. It doesn't really take that much more time and eliminates with threat of deprecation or rejection.

Might help if they actually used their own products in X-Plane for some quality control before putting them on the market.

The fear is for misuse by inexperienced artists....which could result in some problems with default scenery.

Obviously it's up to LR when to change the evolving name from 12 to whatever in order to re-fill the coffers. Can't expect them to hang on to 12 for years to come while continually upgrading the product for free. My guess is that the big scenery update will force next version.

Hopefully XP12 flight dynamics have reached a more or less stable point in development. If so, along with a few inevitable tweaks by Austin, XP12 aircraft "should" remain viable into XP13 with some minor editing. I expect most of XP13 to be scenery intense and our current stable of aircraft can be ported over. No one knows how far out XP13 might be, but I suspect developers wouldn't be working on new XP12 aircraft if there is a threat of obsolescence in the near future.

Thranda was working on Carenado updates, then Carenado stopped giving them permission to do so. Yes, it's their choice. Just isn't very friendly to the simming community. I'll never purchase any Carenado product again for that reason, first because I don't use XP11 and second, I vote with my wallet and their are other XP12 developers who need my support.

The Saab 340B is a good tweak on the basic Carenado. Thranda made some better versions. My complaint is not that we no longer have Carenado, it is that they have blocked better developers from being able to make better planes out of their list. They no longer sell to XP12 users. they used to let Thranda (and others?) work on their planes. No longer. Who knows why. It's not costing them anything now, except that those who have both XP and MSFS are not buying Carenato for MSFS.

Yes, sadly Carenado went south and not only abandoned X-Plane but will not allow Thranda and others to re-tune their XP11 planes to XP12 levels with a couple of exceptions before they cut everyone off. They had several that we still "need" in XP12 like the Beech 1900, B200 KingAir, C182.

I buy (too) many aircraft from developers because I want to support them. I have a few I seldom if ever fly but I want the few X-Plane developers to survive and continue. Thranda is doing good work. Give them a try if you haven't already done so.

My own immersion comes from using the aviation-accident list and using that for my daily flight assignment. That, of course involves nearly every available aircraft available for XP12 except for some notable absences like the Beech 1900D, ATRs, Metroliner, A220, etc. I don't download the freeware unless they are extremely good, but I do try to support all of our great commercial vendors. Using that list gives me assignments into airports I'd never use otherwise and is a great random flight generator as well as the challenge of staying on top of so many different aircraft and their individual quirks and characteristics. I started with an Atari 800 and subLogic Flight Simulator .....

I like the X-Craft ERJ and E-jets. Not totally "study level" but enough to be great planes that fill a very important niche in commercial aircraft. I also like their attitude and support.

Caveat emptor. No one would ever expect a $10 aircraft to be one of study level complexity or anything but a quick and dirty toss into the pond. I always look over the specs on an aircraft, check the pics and look online for reviews before I spend money. Some developers have a solid reputation that might suggest bypassing the "check it out first" steps. A blind purchase is always your own risk if you fail to vet it regardless of who runs the cash register. If the new integrated "store" at X-Plane excites you, go for it. I simply use the URL.

I don't get the problem. The store is online at x-plane.org. What is the advantage to having it integrated with X-Plane? C'mon, guys, get a life.

There is also the possibility that the windshield (part of the aircraft, not the weather engine) uses a transparency that does not provide for display of rain droplets. Does it show on the ground?

I think the main flight model updates will be for helos. Also some wind gust updates, but that's weather. Austin has the blade theory stuff down about as good as it gets so don't expect much change in fixed wings.

First, it depends on the scenery, and you never know when you purchase add-on scenery if their libraries will contain objects that violate X-Plane geometry. The internet forums are full of complaints of scenery incompatibility, much of it built for XP11. Some works, some does not. It's a word not allowed shoot because X-Plane is constantly being re-coded for things like multi-threading, atmospheric layers, terrain mesh, etc. Second, LR is updating scenery constantly with each update for the current version. I'm not expecting XP13 any time soon, so we can forget that. Constant Gateway updates are being filtered into each and every new update, and scenery artists are being afforded new and better objects for inclusion in their work within XP12 with each update to XP12.

As a "pilot" and not a sight-seer, I fly with default X-Plane scenery. There is a large group of volunteer artists in the Gateway site constantly updating airports to realistic standards (within the rather limited but growing default scenery items) so many airports are extremely accurate with respect to runways, taxiways, buildings, etc. In addition, constant updates to the X-Plane scenery engine renders 3rd party scenery problematic or obsolete and can be a waste of money as things constantly improve. Default scenery is updated automatically when developed within the allowed parameters of the WED editor. In addition, X-Plane is expecting some major scenery updates in upcoming versions or even with the possibility of a new X-Plane 13 sometime down the road. For that reason, I don't bother with trying to improve X-Plane 12 scenery except for my work on the Gateway, all of which eventually becomes default.