Can payware planes also make a free version that lets you see that model in the skies but not actually fly it?

I see a lot of Bonanzas flying around in multiplayer. Many people have payware planes that i’m not too interested in buying/flying myself but would love to see others in whatever model they are in. Is it possible to make a package for the community folder that just has a livery and (reduced detail maybe) geometry, enough to see in multiplayer but not able to choose it to fly with?

If not then this should be a wish list item!

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Technically, it’s possible. Every aircraft has a file called Aircraft.cfg inside it, there’s two lines of code:

isAirTraffic = 0 ; Is the plane usable for air traffic
isUserSelectable = 1 ; Is the plane selectable by the user

If the first one has a value of 1, then it would be usable as Air Traffic, and that should include multiplayer too.

the second line is for being used for flying by you as the player. If this is set to 0, then you won’t be able to fly it.

So technically, it is possible by having 2 copies of the same aircraft. The Payware will have both entries set to 1. But the freeware version only has one entry like so:

isAirTraffic = 1 ; Is the plane usable for air traffic
isUserSelectable = 0 ; Is the plane selectable by the user

That way it’s only used for AirTraffic without being able to be used as flyable aircraft.

Think something along these lines was discussed in the most recent dev sdk Q & A.

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Oh excellent! Do you know if any planemaker has taken advantage of this?

Hard to say, because this can be a double-edged sword. Say if I download the free version. I can just jump into the aircraft.cfg and change the isUserSelectable into 1. And voila, I’m flying the same aircraft for free.

However, I guess it would be possible if this is done in the in-game marketplace since every content in there is DRM locked into your Microsoft/Xbox Account. But if it’s done on other marketplace where there’s no DRM, people are just going to tweak these values to fly payware aircraft without having to pay for them.

I don’t believe so I think asobo themselves are looking into something along the lines of what your asking but from what I remember I don’t think it’s as simple as first seems. Your have to go watch it as can’t exactly remember for sure what was said.

Right, but if done right the free version wouldnt have any interior geometry… no gauges, no flightmodel stuff.

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I’ve been thinking about this myself, funnily enough. I’m planning to release a low-poly, AI version of one of my aircraft for free, to test it out and see if it works for folks. Not sure about the sim’s structure enough to be certain that it would work, but will ask Asobo next week whether something like that would be feasible.

I did something similar for FSX and Prepar3D for on-line multiplayer groups and it worked really well. Fingers crossed, it does and other devs follow suit! :+1:

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That would be great to add variation in the sim!

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Pretty certain it would also be a very cheap marketing tool as well. Nothing like seeing someone else flying a nice looking bird to generate a bit of “aeroplane envy” :wink:

Yes!! it’d be nice if the low-poly AI versions of planes in the marketplace would just be part of the base package

It’d be certainly nice if developers provided a low-poly AI version of the aircraft they make for traffic. I’d be perfectly ok if they charged for it or simply added it as a bonus to the payware package.

That being said, until Asobo makes traffic model matching better, I don’t see many working on this.

Funnily, Drzewiecki Design is making such good static aircraft for their airports that they aren’t far from being usable as AI traffic. :joy:

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Back in the FS9 days, World of AI produced AI-only models that had no panels and just basic flight dynamics, plus a boatload of routes for them to fly. I see no reason that someone couldn’t do that now. All you need is an external model with just enough cabin to be seen from a distance.

Asobo obviously has zero control over what developers do. They could create a spec for creating AI planes, which, technically they already have, the generic aircraft are that. It would be a not insignificant amount of work for developers to support this, as, the model will likely be quite different, for performance reasons.

What Asobo is investigating is doing a statistical analysis on FlightAware to find something like the top 100 planes that it tends to show, and have somebody make generic models for those planes for AI purposes, and I imagine something like 5 liveries to start for each model, and, hopefully the community will start cranking out more liveries…

I thought it would be mostly for multiplayers where you dont have the payware but your buddies do, not so much AI.

Not much difference from Live AI mode…

Interesting.
Can users of the standard package see the Asobo Premium/Deluxe aircraft in the skies or are they also just seeing Bonanza’s or whatever instead of 787’s (or whatever the premium planes are)?

If these (and any other marketplace vehicles) were in some sort of encrypted/protected asset directory of the base game then this would both look really neat and also serve as a bit of an incentive for developers to get their work into these directories because indeed the point about seeing a nice aircraft and wanting to buy it yourself is valid. It’s excellent advertising.