mldavis2

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.

Different opinion here, FWIW. Second image is slightly oversaturated and unnatural. Yes, it looks "prettier" but not realistic. Real world is full of haze, smog, smoke, mist, etc. I don't use addons if at all possible. Yes, I have AviTab, BetterPushback and a lot of aircraft, but addons are frame killers and CTD threats as LR continues to improve their code and visuals. But then I'm a virtual pilot, not a sightseer. Scenery is incidental to the experience to me, not the reason to fly. JMHO

The haze is consistent with the METAR visibility distance in most situations. It is what it is.

A bit off-topic here but something to consider. nVidia driver is quite out of date. The 581.xx WHQL drivers are safe. 591.xx have given problems with X-Plane. Haven't used the newest so not sure if they've been fixed or not. Also, I had a CTD yesterday with the FlyJSim Dash 8 and newest BetterPushback. Don't know why yet. Engines started before pushback and CTD when it was called.

Yes, I've updated many out of the way airports and airstrips that perhaps no one will ever visit. I track aviation "incidents" and let those "assign" my flights and aircraft. So I end up in some really out-of-the-way places. So while no one may ever land there, you never know. And how nice it is to land at some obscure airport or airfield and find it up to date and accurate according to the charts -- if it even has charts. But even with no charts available, there are often things that just aren't right. Like diagonal taxiway and tarmac seams, new buildings missing, excessive traffic, oversized aircraft, etc. Things are in constant change, and there are still those older airports that were AI generated solely from CIFP runway dimensions by WEDbots that need either removal (private airstrips no longer there) or updating. Others fly for VA's which are stationed at one airport, and most all of their flights are out of that one airport. Good excuse to add that one to the list of commercial purchases. So it depends on how you fly. When I land at a "new" airport, I look it over from the pilot's perspective. If it needs updating, I add it to my work list, update it and send it to Gateway. Thanks for the comments.

With a few exceptions (larger commercial airports,) virtually ALL smaller airports (municipals, regionals, airfields, etc.) are updated by volunteer artists of which there are hundreds -- a really dedicated group of simmers who give up some flying time to update things. Although there is some standardization filtering by the moderators who approve Gateway submissions, each airport is a more of less personal interpretation of how the airport looks in available satellite images. Older airports (original automated WEDbots and later XP11 vintages) often have incorrect taxiways, buildings, and incorrect aircraft and ground traffic. These things are gradually being updated and improved. But there are over 38,000 airports/airfields in X-Plane, and it takes time to fix all of them. Many are small, almost obscure airports, even private airstrips that come and go and escape attention from all but local flyers. It takes me hours if not days to update a single regional airport to XP12 levels, so updating large commercial airports are usually done by a single artist over months. Finally, the rate at which updated Gateway airports are included in XP updates has increased. Once approved and "recommended" by the moderator, they are incrementally included in virtually every XP update. If you fly smaller GA aircraft into randomly selected airports, you will be surprised to find many of them up to date and very accurately rendered.

Not necessarily a suggestion, but I don't buy any 3rd party scenery. X-Plane version updates often render such scenery obsolete as LR changes and updates their own scenery display parameters. Default scenery is getting better and better as new library assets are released for Gateway artists. And unlike many, I fly random airports so seldom see one more than once or twice. JMHO

A lot depends on how you pick your flights. I use the ASN listing to "assign" my random flights and aircraft. Since the listing is international, many smaller airlines use E-jets and CRjs/ERjs for short hops and many are still in service. The older ones are the ones that create the most "incidents" so there is no lack of regional jet activity and hence failures/incidents. I find it a challenge to have dozens of different aircraft in my virtual hangar and master the demands of each plane. I also try to support any and all developers for X-Plane, and while there are some aircraft I don't fly often, I try to rotate through all of them from time to time. X-Crafts is doing good work, relying on actual pilots for details, and paying attention to users. Gotta support that!

All the E-jets and ERJs are now 2.0. I still have the older XP11 updated ERJs but getting ready to delete them.