Lol don’t I know it, in MSFS I only fly vfr and even then it’s mostly gliders. It’s just that watching clouds passing over my wing tips isn’t very high up my wishlist especially as so much of this sim is still unfinished.
1 Like
It´s because air density difference in clouds and fog (incl. tiny water drops) is not considered during lift force calculations across wing and fuselage, only wonderful looking clouds show up, but nothing else, no effect on plane… no surprize, seriously taking care of this kind of maths would even exceed or blast professional programming skills…
I saw some very interesting information on Steam. Right now, XPlane 12 on Steam has about 66 reviews:
Compare this to XPlane 11 on Steam with about 13,607 reviews:
And finally, compare this to MSFS on Steam with 38,522 reviews:
So to be fair, XPlane 12 has only been released for a few days on Steam, so of course, it won’t garner that many reviews yet. However, I think the most active time for reviews is on the release of a game on Steam because that is when most people are downloading it and buying. From the number of reviews XPlane 12 has received on Steam so far, I don’t think the sales of it is all that good. Just 65 reviews over the first several days. At this pace, XPlane 12 won’t even come close to the number of XPlane 11 reviews which is 13,607 reviews.
I really think the sales of XPlane 12 was really, really, bad. It is consistent with the desperation of Austin to force advertisements of XP 12 when users spawn into XP 11. I would not spend any money on XP 12 add-ons at this point, I think XP 12 will become obsolete within 2 years. And for sure, XP 12 isn’t going to catch MSFS at 38,522 reviews on Steam.
1 Like
And consider the vast majority of MSFS are not on Steam, but on MS Store. Regardless, I think there will still be a market for xplane. Hope it’s big enough, would be a shame to see it disappear.
1 Like
I thought that XP12 is an early preview, not released code. Whether or not that’s true, it IS the impression I was given.
Personally, I prefer to wait to see the product I’m buying before splashing out my cash. Perhaps others feel the same way and are holding off?
And who’s going to buy XP11 knowing it’s almost obsolete?
Im pretty sure that most people that buy XPlane buy it from laminar and not steam. Also it early release beta, alot of people are probably waiting until release to purchase it as well.
The time to compare the two products will be when Xplane is 2 years old (and you have the numbers from laminar on how many copies they have sold) and then compare that with MSFS at the current 2 year mark.
No disrespect to you, but IMO, you can see the signs and the writing on the wall, right now, for XP 12. Those signs were very apparent in the P3D home consumer market, before most of the 3rd party devs mostly abandoned P3D by early to mid 2021.
A lot of P3D users were also saying wait it out, it’s not that bad, etc, etc, etc. But there were signs in the fall of 2020 that something was not right - despite many P3D users saying it wasn’t a big deal back in the fall of 2020. Then it all came crashing down on P3D within the first 6 months of 2021 or so.
The other thing that doesn’t help XP is that in one or two Sim Updates, the MSFS team does as much changes, or maybe even more changes, than the number of changes LR did for XP 12. MSFS is running laps around XP 12 at this rate, it’s just going to pull further and further ahead of XP 12.
2 Likes
It is nice to try before you buy. Did it with 1$ MSFS game pass edition, and was overwhelmed by the new graphics engine. I thought, okay, graphic is superb, don´t worry, flight model, planes, weather, ATC, multiplayer, annoying CTDs, getting better by the time.
Now after 2y, l am very, very disappointed. The graphics engine just made me blind for everything else. It is not all about features, sounds, graphics and looking nice. For me, MSFS is a great x-box game, but nothing else. I believe, many people feel the same and that´s the plus for new XP.
X Plane never comes close to the MSFS cloud model. It’s still a cheap cloud model. Show me Comulus clouds in XPlane. You will never find such cloud formations in XPlane.
1 Like
Way too late to this thread and the question “how will msfs compete with xp12”.
It’s not a competitive comparison. One is a mega corporate entity with deep resources, the other is a small flight sim only revenue firm. Both fueled by a passion to deliver the best flight sim possible.
We can quibble about the differences, point out the inferior graphics in one or the lack of some functions in another… but BOTH get my money because we need to support the niche joy that is flight simulation.
I bet the team on Asobo never spends a day saying “where gonna crush x-plane” or scheme for it. That is not the ethos Jorg and team exudes.
We need both, and their teams both exude passion and commitment!
10 Likes
Development take time, if you think 2 years is long, you did not see anything. They are fixing older physic code on may parts and you cannot do this in a flip, release. Xplane took several xplane version for the physic, but all the rest still lacking and still not on average. Now MSFS just hired the god of flight dynamic, and several hiring are available related to simulator feature on atc\ai traffic, flight dymamic, engine programming etc… and so on, these stuff are not related to XBOX but called development challenge and business, Xbox don’t need wind interaction with aircraft either new engine for props\helicopter later, either would not need PMDG and these aircraft quality, again development take time, easy to judge vs the time consuming, will and challenge can occurs during development.
2 Likes
We will have to wait until the “Average” Gamers PC or XBox can handle the additional CPU/GPU load needed to render everything that people on these forums want. So far, I think MS/Asobo has done an excellent job.
2 Likes
Hopefully the cloudsare going to improve in XP12 before release. From the blog - " * Clouds – we are working on the shaping and quality of clouds, improving resolution, fixing artifacts, and improving performance. Clouds are probably the single most expensive part of the renderer, so they are a constant tug-of-war between quality and speed."
That’s nice. But if XP 12 sales are as poor as they are, whatever you think of MSFS will be irrelevant if XP becomes obsolete in the next 2 years for the consumer PC market. And at the rate that XP 12 is going, it’s very possible that XP 12 becomes obsolete in the consumer PC market in the next 2 years, leaving probably over 90% of the market share to MSFS.
1 Like
Sorry to disappoint you. Real cumulus (real METAR) over the West cost of EIRE just now. Not too bad for a Beta.
Edit: XP12 default volumetric clouds, Beta 3
3 Likes
mfs can be played on any phone.
I just add button X+A for spoiler/airbrake and thats it.
Those clouds in XP 12 look horrible because they are so blurry. One of the biggest problem with XP 12 clouds right now is that they are very blurry. Even Ben Supnik from Laminar Research has admitted the clouds in XP 12 need much more work: X-Plane 12 Early Access Is Here - X-Plane Developer
Clouds – we are working on the shaping and quality of clouds, improving resolution, fixing artifacts, and improving performance.
Compared to MSFS clouds, XP 12 clouds are not even close to the quality of MSFS clouds, IMO.
1 Like
REAL clouds are blurry and blend into one another. Game clouds are sharp with defined edges.
As I said, not bad for an early Beta!
1 Like
I would not be so sure of that. Why else would MSFS hire the god of flight code?
1 Like