• Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.

    Post 16 Update

    Post 17 Warning

  • Bandwidth Drive 2026 is over

    Thanks to everyone who donated.

Virtavia freeware page, rut rhoe..

As far as I can tell, the latest Virtavia product is the B-36H for MSFS from December last year. I downloaded the manual, and the only email address I could find was "tech.support@virtavia.com". Perhaps Phil can be reached through this address.

It also seems to me that Gavin's comment about each of their freeware files' "readme.txt" including the sentence "Please amend/distribute as you see fit." applies here as well as at Avsim and FlightSim. To distribute a file, you have to supply a place of availability like a file library . . .

But then, I am in no position to make a decision on behalf of this site.
 
And this is from their Vulcan..
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

These files are a commercial product and should NOT be treated as freeware.
These files may not be copied (other than for backup purposes), transmitted or passed to third parties or altered in any way without the prior permission of the publisher. Any breach of the aforementioned copyright will result in the full force of law being brought to bear on those responsible.

All rights reserved - ALPHA SIMULATIONS 2003
WWW.ALPHASIM.CO.UK
 
My humble opinion is that anyone can download any of the Alphasim/Virtavia files from the Free site for their own use & backup.
I cannot see any reason that any of the 'Free' files should be uploaded to SOH for sharing.
Just because the files are 'free', it does not mean that the files can be re-uploaded here or to any other site
There are various 'Copyright Information' conditions within the 'ReadMe's of the many files that do differ in conditions.
I think that we, at SOH, should respect any & all copyright conditions as per the Alphasim/Virtavia files.
It must be mentioned that the guys from GAS & Ford Tri-Motor Project have given us permission to host their files, unlike Alphasim/Virtavia (at this stage)
 
@zswobbie1 , the text you quoted from the "Vulcan" does not appear in the readme that is in the Vulcan available through the wsayback machine copy of their freeware site - that is, the file "ALPHA_Avro_Vulcan_B2_FS02_FS9.zip". That file contains the sentence I quoted earlier, as did Gavin - "Please amend/distribute as you see fit."

But I think that you are confusing the two distinct subjects of copyright and freeware. Hosting the files here would make no difference to the copyright of the files, just as it does not for the Golden Age Simulations files - all copyright still resides with the creators of the files, whether those be the existing copies of ex-payware files from AlphaSim or GAS as explained in their respective readme files.

The only difference between the ex-payware files that we already host and the ones that we do not (yet) is that the ones already here were submitted by Frank Safranek on behalf of AlphaSim. I had hoped that I could find an email address for Frank, but have been unable to do so, even at "Mirages for FS" . . .
 
Strange, my quote came from 'INSTALLATION GUIDE - Avro Vulcan B.2 (Avro Vulcan B2.zip)
(I have a 'library' of probably all FS9/FSX Alphasim/Virtavia files)
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

These files are a commercial product and should NOT be treated as freeware.
These files may not be copied (other than for backup purposes), transmitted or passed to third parties or altered in any way without the prior permission of the publisher. Any breach of the aforementioned copyright will result in the full force of law being brought to bear on those responsible.

All rights reserved - ALPHA SIMULATIONS 2003
WWW.ALPHASIM.CO.UK

sales@alphasim.co.uk

So, I'm not debating this issue!
I propose that we wait for explicit permission from anyone representing Alphasim/Virtavia, to upload files.
In the meanwhile, the files have been freely available for many years, via https://web.archive.org/web/20251009230905/http://www.virtavia.com/Freeware/
 
taken directly from Virtavia primary site: https://virtavia.com/ dated April 15, 2023:

Apr 15: New releases to freeware ! The following models are all now available in the Freeware area of the site: - C-7 Caribou (FS9/FSX) - SAAB J39 Gripen (FS9/FSX) - CH-46 Sea Knight (FS9, FSX) - EC-121K Warning Star (P3D) - Consolidated-Vultee XB-46 (FSX, P3D) - C-17A Globemaster III (X-Plane 9/10) - B-29 Superfortress (X-Plane 9/10) - SH-3 Sea King (X-Plane 9/10) These are all the full versions of the product. Normal freeware restrictions apply - post to other free sites OK, but DO NOT sell or reverse compile the mesh for profit !

cheers!
 
wolfebee89 said:
taken directly from Virtavia primary site: https://virtavia.com/ dated April 15, 2023:

Apr 15: New releases to freeware ! The following models are all now available in the Freeware area of the site: - C-7 Caribou (FS9/FSX) - SAAB J39 Gripen (FS9/FSX) - CH-46 Sea Knight (FS9, FSX) - EC-121K Warning Star (P3D) - Consolidated-Vultee XB-46 (FSX, P3D) - C-17A Globemaster III (X-Plane 9/10) - B-29 Superfortress (X-Plane 9/10) - SH-3 Sea King (X-Plane 9/10) These are all the full versions of the product. Normal freeware restrictions apply - post to other free sites OK, but DO NOT sell or reverse compile the mesh for profit !

cheers!
Click to expand...
Okok, still, it would be better to get an official approval. We've just done a bandwidth drive (in record time!), we'd like to keep SOH online for quite a while longer! ;)
 
wolfebee89 said:
taken directly from Virtavia primary site: https://virtavia.com/ dated April 15, 2023:

Apr 15: New releases to freeware ! The following models are all now available in the Freeware area of the site: - C-7 Caribou (FS9/FSX) - SAAB J39 Gripen (FS9/FSX) - CH-46 Sea Knight (FS9, FSX) - EC-121K Warning Star (P3D) - Consolidated-Vultee XB-46 (FSX, P3D) - C-17A Globemaster III (X-Plane 9/10) - B-29 Superfortress (X-Plane 9/10) - SH-3 Sea King (X-Plane 9/10) These are all the full versions of the product. Normal freeware restrictions apply - post to other free sites OK, but DO NOT sell or reverse compile the mesh for profit !

cheers!
Click to expand...
When going to that site and clicking on the freeware link....you blast off to India land. That must be the Hack that Larry is describing!
 
To me, this doesn't look like a "hack" as much as taking over an abandoned web site. :unsure:

Either way, a LONG time ago I got the impression that Phil stepped away once Alpha transitioned over to Vertavia, although it appeared that he still retained some ownership. :indecisiveness: I'm pretty sure Frank wouldn't want to make a call, even if he could. He only did texture-work on new projects.

You could download Alphasim ex-Payware files from Flightsim.com and AVSIM and some other web sites took this to mean that they could also upload the ex-payware files. I'm not sure how legit that was? While I already have all of the helos that zswobbie mentioned :very_drunk:, one of them sticks out. It started out as Freeware until it wasn't and it was sold as Payware by ABACUS and later by Alpha, so it wasn't exactly an Exclusive deal.

MANY years ago, some of us at FreeFlight/FFDS discussed this idea of Freeware turning into Payware and vice-versa and it got hairy REALLY fast. That was why we decided to avoid the topic and ONLY concentrate on freeware aircraft. :encouragement:

Priller is RIGHT as far as the Legal stuff goes. In more common terms, Payware and ex-Payware can be a VERY hot potato.
 
FWIW, I have just remembered a comment that Phil posted after he had restored their freeware website the last time that it was hacked. He said that he would NOT restore it if it was hacked again . . .
 
zswobbie1 said:
So, it is only those models, available from a 'dead' Freeware site, that can be posted to other sites.
Click to expand...
I assumed it was the most up to date instructions concerning the Virtavia freeware library, presumably applicable likewise to prior releases, and not merely the ones mentioned in the news briefing??

further, the index.php directory listing of the freeware site is hacked, but should you wish, you can use the web archived site as a guide and download the complete freeware library directly from Virtavia; in fact web archive has not necessarily archived the later freeware releases such as the CH-46 Sea Knight, and accordingly, should you be in need of said file or the like, you'd have to download it directly from Virtavia - thankfully, still accessible!
Priller said:
Okok, still, it would be better to get an official approval. We've just done a bandwidth drive (in record time!), we'd like to keep SOH online for quite a while longer! ;)
Click to expand...
I concur! better to be safe than sorry!

cheers!
 
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BTW folks, when I started this thread I specifically did NOT include a link to the web site. :cautious:
For those of you who are thinking about checking it out, I would think wisely about purging your cookies. :encouragement:
 
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