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I don't understand Flight Simmers

That's the beauty of Plum Island. It is a back country little ol' town airport. One that you could fly into and find yourself lost in the weeds. This is more about a community, a $100 burger rather than a schedule and a fee. I find such airports more enjoyable.
 
For starters, HD is biased since it's where he lives and it's something he knows. As for the price vs the sim, that is just not something I never buy into to. If any of us that buy addons were to add up our purchases, most here would exceed the cost of the sim, so that argument is not valid, it's just an excuse to try and justify spending.

Simmers always complain about the lack of certain airports that they happen to love and wonder why they haven't been done by any payware company while the same ones keep getting done over and over again, well location is truly important and sometimes you can't really justify the time on development if no one is going to fly there and buy that airport.

There are enough P-51s to keep me happy and I can't think of any features that could be added to justify that kind of cost for my enjoyment. NOW if a P-40 addon came out with a very realistic acting/looking VC, easy on the frames, full combat effects, including an object lkibrary that has damage modeling and maybe some sweet missions, yeah, I would pony up that kind of money for a warbird.

Truthfully, as a developer I can fully appreciate how much more intense the work can be to create an airplane than scenery. Scenery developers are primarily interested in graphics, but a plane team needs to include programmers, gauge specialists, and flight dynamics experts in addition to modelers and texture artists. It's no wonder they cost so much more on average, and you'll never catch me begrudging them their fees. I've always been happier working as a one-man show, which is why I find scenery more rewarding.
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After building several aircraft in FS9, I can truly identify and support this statement from Bill.

barryward12345 said:
I have never been interested in installing individual airport scenery and dont really understand people who do. I installed some years ago - they were very good, but I use the Sim to FLY!, not to taxi around. At the end of the day, most FSx scenery is quite "cartoonish" anyway. . The only addon scenery that I find useful - are some packages that add some buildings to small country fields that are otherwise just a runway in default FSx (boring - and sometimes also hard to find)

Barry
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And that is the beauty of the sim, to enjoy it how you like. I spend more time at the airport than I do in the air. taking off and landing are the best parts of any flight for me, which is why i like short hops.
 
We can also turn the question around and ask the following :

I do not understand freeware developpers

Take for example Tim Conrad's superb PC-7, PC-21, and F-5A !!!

I would have paid between 20us$ to 30us$ for them without any
problems no questions asked !

and I have them free !

Same thing with be Bell 412PE of Jordan Moore.

If I have the talent of these two digital artists I will certainly sold my
creations as paywares !
:typing:
VaporZ
 
That P51 looks quite good but there are others out there of course. I have aircraft that for all the enjoyment I've had out of them I would happily have paid $75 for. I'd be much happier spending money on an aircraft I can fly for hours than a scenery I could fly over in a couple of minutes if I ever found myself on the east coast of the US which I never have and probably never will. If it was my home town or an area I knew well it would be different or if it was in an area with lots of other local addons like the Pacific North West was in the FS2004 days.
 
Some 'food for thought'...

It is not easy paying for an aircraft manufacturer's license in order to put their name and logo to a product without the risk of the law enforcement stepping in. It is not easy to pay for the flights that are taken in the real aircraft in order to get a feel for the aircraft so that accurate flight dynamics can be developed and record the sounds directly. It is not easy to pay for each member of a team that puts together one particular product - developing it, testing it, promoting it, and publishing it, etc, throughout the course of a year or more. And most of all it is not easy dealing with 40% taxes on each and every sale. I can go on, but I think this gives a fairly good summary as to why the price in question is the way it has to be. ;)
 
Plum Island is on my list of most wanted scenery, but at the moment I`m too busy flying in and out of my favourite warbird airports, Hawaii Dillingham and West Malling :ernae: .
..........and of course, when the Warbirdsim P 51 Mustang is out for FSX, I be one of the first to purchase it, and I won`t even ask how much it cost....
 
MCDesigns said:
Seeing as you are still alive and posting I take it the misses hasn't found out about the new rig? LOL :typing:
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I thought about & then decided it was a bad idea LOL!

I will leave it to the UPS gods. If she doesn't see it arrive I am golden. If she does....
 
There are some warbirds and general aviation aircraft that have legions of fans, the P-51 for example. Flight simmers who are crazy for Mustangs will definitely buy that pricey plane and consider it money well spent for a "loaded" version of their favorite ride.
In the model train hobby, fans of the old Pennsylvania Railroad are very similar in their buying habits. If it's an updated version of a classic like the K-4 steamer or GG-1 electric, the Pennsy people will have their plastic out in a heartbeat. And in this case we're talking pre-release deposits for stuff in the $500-$1,000 MSRP price range. At least in the sim world we have the benefit of reviews and feedback from other users before we decide to buy that deluxe plane or scenery package. :)
 
I guess I belong in your league HD, because I am a scenery hound. I will download payware scenery like a hound taking to grease bread. And yes, $15.00 is dirt cheap this day and time for Bill's excellent Plum Island. And you know how much I hate a dang tube, save for the "Connie". The "Connie" is something different!

Caz
 
How can people pay $79.20 for one version of a very much overdone P-51, paying twice as much as FSX alone costs and yet ignore something classic like Plum Island Airport
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some customers are not interested on scenery products..i saw many buying only aircrafts. Probably this is the reason also if not understable. Seems more sales are received by utilities, as fs passenger or real enviroment then aircraft then sceneries.
 
Lets see here.....Still a scenery nut like some......

For me its all about short hops..The greatness for me is taxying out ,lifting off,watching all my scenery unfold in view,then desceding into more of my added sceneries to land.......

Taking off and landing in default FSX scenery to me is boring and lifeless....Hours in the sky looking at haze and ground is not exciting ......


So...I sit on my wallet like most men do...When i pull it from my back pocket its to buy what I decided was important to me...

I have bought from developers lately just to help their economy some...They are struggeling as most are today....But I still own the stuff....LOL Thats just me though.....
 
I know one thing, I sure miss Bill Lyons. $12.50 for a couple of different airplanes, scenery and some flights to go with them. And with excellant craftmanship. It was rare when I didn't get one of his releases when it first came out.
 
There is good and bad nowadays with addons. With more features and the ability for the creators to do more now than ever, people not only expect these features but along with that comes longer development cycles. Making an aircraft isn't as hard, as nearly anyone can do it nowadays, but to create something that truly stands out requires a lot more dedication and time.
 
I believe pricing is less critical than whether or not I really want something. For example, Lionheart's Epic is a model that I was quite price sensitive over. I thought it looked good and it's reasonably priced, so I bit. Great buy! Turns out I love it and fly it regularly. But had it been more expensive, the wallet would have stayed closed. The Wilco Tiltrotor was ludicrously expensive but a model I'd always wanted so I paid a premium. With the support offered by the AH team, it's shaping up as a great model, it's regularly used so a good "investment" from a $/flying hr perspective.
Scenery however is a bit trickier. I had Emma field and loved it, but to be honest I fly 95% of the time in "my patch" being New Zealand and Australia. So if scenery for those regions is offered, I'll definitely buy provided that there's no freeware equivalent, but scenery elsewhere, no matter how good - I'm not a starter.
But what's really put the fly in the ointment for developers is the split in the community between FS9 & FSX. At least 1/3 of the addon buying market have opted to stick with FS9 (including me) and are unlikely to ever adopt FSX. That means either develop for both or face immediately losing over 30% of potential sales. When the entire market is flat
and a developer's faced with twice the work to support both, it's certainly getting tough to make a $ from addons. I suspect those who will do best are the guys who do it as a hobby rather than a full on commercial business. They enjoy the creative process and income is a bonus, so they're less likely to need to directly justify hours against return.

My 2c
LPXO
 
"For starters, HD is biased since it's where he lives and it's something he knows."
Oh, that's a low blow, McDesigns. Are you sure your SOH Staff? If or not I'm familiar with the scenery involved has nothing to do with my original premise.
An overdone P-51 is no more entitled to ask for that kind of money. I could almost justify it for a darn good P-47,. which during the war got more attention and did a heck of a lot more than the Mustang. Be that as it may, that's a lot of money for one lonely airplane
 
This is a perplexing thread... To each their own, but as far as I'm concerned whatever someone chooses to buy is their business and theirs alone, it's one of the many joys of capitalism.
 
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