I’ve run into this issue a few times now: there are multiples of the same airport available on the Marketplace (note - I’m talking about the official Microsoft Marketplace - not third party mods that aren’t officially approved by Microsoft), so on occasion I’ve accidentally purchased and downloaded - and occasionally installed - an airport and later found that either the standard game has the same airport already, or I’ve already purchased the same airport from another Marketplace seller. Just a few examples of multiples are…
CYVR (Vancouver) - offered by FSDreamTeam and FSimStudios.
EBBR (Brussels) - offered by Aerosoft and JustSim.
EDDH (Hamburg) - offered by Bredok3D and by JustSim and by Sim-Wings.
EGGD (Bristol) - offered by both Pilot Plus and UK2000.
EDDS (Stuttgart) - offered by FeelThere and JustSim.
EDWE (Emden) - offered by Aviation-Sim-Design and M’M Simulations.
EFHK (Helsinki) - offered by JustSim and MK-Studios.
EGGP (Liverpool) - offered by DigitalDesign and in World Update III.
EGHC (Land’s End) - offered by Stairport and in Microsoft World Update III.
EGKA (Shoreham) - offered by Iniscene and Orbx.
EGLK (Blackbushe) - offered by LN Design and SC Designs.
EGPF (Glasgow) - offered by Pyreegue Dev Co and UK2000 Scenery.
EGLL (Heathrow) - offered by Iniscene and in the Microsoft Deluxe Upgrade Pack.
ENGM (Oslo) - offered by JustSim and Orbx.
ENMH (Mehamn) - offered by FlyThreePeaks and OnFinal Studio.
FACT (Cape Town) - offered by FSDG and NMG Simulations.
FAKN (Kruger) - offered by NMG Simulations and Pearl Simulations.
KTNP (Twentynine Palms) - offered by 29Palms and RMStudios.
LFNC (St. Crepin) - offered by FSX3D and FSDreamTeam.
LSZN (Hausen am Albis) - offered by Simultech and in one of Microsoft’s packages (you can only see the latter from the Content Manager).
NTTB (Motu Mute - Bora Bora) - offered by Pearl Simulations and in World Update XIII.
NTTM (Moorea Temae) - offered by Pearl Simulations and in World Update XIII.
TNCM (Princess Juliana St. Martin) - offered by Airworthy Designs and in Microsoft’s 40th Anniversary Package (you can only see the latter from the Content Manager).
These are just the few that I’ve found. I’m sure there are many more.
I don’t know if downloading and accidentally installing multiples of the same airport can cause crashes, but I’m sure it’s not a great idea. There should be some way to tell if you already have an airport before you buy another version of it, and I think there should be a way for us to easily tell if we’re accidentally running the sim with multiples of the same airport.
If only it were that simple. Many developers forget to add the airport marker and the star won’t show in the world map without the marker (it only shows up if you zoom in really close). Moorea and Motu Mute were around for months without any easy-to-find evidence that a purchased airport was there. Now they have a marker and a star visible from high above the Earth thanks to their inclusion in World Update XIII, but if anyone bought the Pearl Simulations versions of these airports and forgot they had them (which is easy given the world map showed just a tiny dot), they now have two copies of both these airports - and no way to tell that they have multiples until they fly there and see scenery colliding (if they get that far without crashing the sim).
And the problem is not confined to 3rd party developers. LSZN (Hausen am Albis) has no airport marker that shows up until you zoom in really close, so no star that’s easily visible (even though we all own it). So no easy way to tell that Microsoft has a hand-crafted airport there. It’s the same with TNCM (Princess Juliana St. Martin). Check it out - go to the world map and see how difficult it is to find these markers without doing an actual search for their ICAO code - you have to be REALLY close.
Sure, if you diligently look up the ICAO code on the world map before buying an airport, this won’t be an issue. Buy I guarantee the vast majority of people don’t do that. The point is, it’s really easy to miss the fact that you have certain airports, which is why I think there should be a warning when you’re trying to purchase an airport you already own. And there should be some way to run a check to see if you have any conflicting airports.
How hard is it for a user to check he doesn’t have an addon before buying a duplicate? What we have is no different than if folk buy from other markets, if in doubt they still need to check.
By “check the world map” I did mean search the ICAO. It’s 4 letters to search on so easy as, and seems to be a trivial case of buyer due diligence. Certainly I’ve always done this without even thinking twice about it. In fact I’m often searching to see what other modelled airport’s I already have in that region. It’s helpful to get a balanced coverage of airports for use.
I don’t dispute that. My point is that, although you think checking ICAOs is trivial and the minimum due diligence, I’m telling you that most people DON’T do that, and therefore MOST PEOPLE have conflicting airports on their computers, causing crashes and lock-ups which waste their time and also that of Microsoft, who have to wade through the resulting bug reports. To cut down on this wasted time, which probably prevents Microsoft from doing a lot of work to make the sim better, I think Microsoft should give us a couple of simple tools to make the process of finding conflicts foolproof. Clearly such a tool would not be for you, but I’m pretty sure you are not representative of most users.
I regard myself as fairly diligent, yet a few airports slipped through the cracks, and I only found them after going through every airport and checking each one for conflicts. This took an entire day. With a simple tool to compare ICAOs and point out conflicts, the process would have taken less than five minutes. Surely even someone like you can understand how that might be helpful.
These are tools that I think MOST PEOPLE would find helpful. And again, I assume you are not most people. Either way, it’s not as if you’d be forced to use it.
But I’m super keen to read your next post on why you think people should be as perfect as you, and why a tool that would undoubtedly save the average simmer (who is not perfect) and the average Microsoft complaints department person (who would be better employed making the sim better) some valuable time is therefore a horrible idea.
The subtle personal attacks are really quite unnecessary around here.
I don’t believe at any point I said that I was against such a feature being added to the sim, I was mainly trying to help by showing how it’s quite easy to avoid falling in this trap. If the help isn’t wanted that’s fine by me, have a nice day.
??? I can assure you that is most unlikely and if so it’s only because they bought before their WU inclusion. Not everyone is addicted to the marketplace and considering the diverse spread of MSFS users I’m sure that most people will mull considerably over every purchase they make. I know that I certainly do.
Why am I not surprised it’s the usual suspects trying to make the sim harder for people to use and more labor intensive for the folks at Microsoft. Some folks just love stagnation, it seems.
if you use the map for airports in the market place, if you have bought from market place it will have a tick on it or of its a hand crafted airport then it shows what pack it comes from and usually has a tick too.
ive only bought once then realised i also had the hand crafted version . also remember if you buy a third party airport and its to replace a hand crafted one for example Heathrow then you need to delete the hand crafted one in content manager
I see what you did there or at least what you are trying on for you own personal satisfaction. Why not simply let Asobo decide where their time could be better spent? … too many cooks and all that?
