Any plans for marketplace? Wonder if it relies on some external programs like Maddog/Fenix?
Only an external updater so far. Performance/frame rate is very good too (I’m on high-end rig though)
paid for Early access but its no longer happening…
There was a collectors edition first for 1000 people to purchase, giving needed funds for the development of the project. Early acces comes later, full release after that.
And yet … I watched 737NG Driver’s video yesterday and saw exterior textures that looked like the worst FSX level work, almost crayon-level of resolution in places, LOD issues on the few oddly placed details (like brake hydraulic lines disappearing). I saw an EFB with small, weirdly laid out icons, many of which didn’t work, and pages that even state “Will be replaced (eventually);” features that don’t stick once you exit the page and come back to it; and charts that can’t even be zoomed in.
Say whatever you want, but had PMDG released the 737 line like this 17 months ago, and charged a premium for some kind of “limited edition exclusivity”, they would have been laughed out of the market.
But people in this thread think TFDI doing the same is some kind of 4 dimensional chess-level genius. Okay, sure. Whatever.
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Both these points can be true simultaneously.
For a well-established player like PMDG, the EFB/UFT/Speak & Spell isn’t (yet) at the level it ought to be compared to what even some freeware developers have put out.
The streams of the MD-11 yesterday showed a product far below what you could and should expect for $80 (even in this early beta stage of development). Can only wait and hope the first 1,000 buyers eventually receive an aircraft that merits the price tag.
No developer deserves your uncritical defence of their products. There’s no incentive for them to improve if people accept shortcomings and deflect by rubbishing other devs.
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I am one of the first 1000 buyers - and we will some day get the same quality as anybody else. We just did get a earlier access to the unfinished aircraft. That was communicated and I think none of the 1000 collectors edition owners , at least not me, has expected a finished aircraft, at this stage. They were very open in communication on the discord about the state of the aircraft, we can expect right now.
If it would be finished already, they would have released it to the public now, and we would have gotten access a few weeks before now. I think you understand what I mean.
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Until relatively recently, only the less scrupulous flight sim add-on developers would present you with the opportunity to buy an early access product.
A certain established Boeing add-on developer not completing the full list of updates envisaged for an airliner on a different platform also jaundices my view towards buying incomplete products in advance.
You clearly tolerate a much higher risk to unfinished software than I do and that’s fine, it’s a free market after all.
I just don’t like the trend of developers like FSS and TFDi (and I can see an arguement for Fenix’s inclusion here, if one was being hypercritical) offering this advance purchase model for products that are missing key elements and that quality developers would call unready for release to market.
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I agree. Paying up front for unfinished products seems to becomming more and more usual. I only did it this time because it promised a ‘beyond studylevel MD11’ and that was the only argument I needed personally. 
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I understand you, and I indeed be a fan of early access, because it very often is the financial support that keeps that game / addon going. And I therefore like the trend. There is no disadvantage for you - if you dont want to buy early acces products, you just dont do it. In these days it just helps the developers (small ones especially) to work on their product. PMDG maybe doesnt need that financial support, so they dont need these early access models.
But I definetely accept that people also have other opions about this.
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You cannot compare these both releases. The MD-11 is not officially “released”. Collector Editions Owners just get “beta” access, simply speaking. So what you see now in pictures and video/streams is not the release version.
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The thing is, the collectors edition was sold back in January. A full year before release. That meant these people had to make a rather large investment in hopes that it would pay off. Now, to encourage people to do that investment, there was a variant of the plane that was promised to never be released to anyone other than those investors of the collectors edition.
So now that something is out there that people can actually use in the sim, people are getting upset that NOW they want to purchase the collectors edition. The point of the collectors edition was people were taking a risk, but investing in the project to help offset development costs. People that sat on the sidelines, wanting to make wise investments of the money, that is cool. But now that the risk is over, yes, the collectors edition is not something that people can purchase. Yes, it is a digital asset. But it was a digital asset that came at risk because you had to purchase a year early before there was any product. Essentially, it is a reward for investing in the project.
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I seen the video of the collector’s edition and with all the “it doesn’t work as it should” or “not modeled yet”, I wouldn’t download it if it free as it would be more work flying than it is worth. Just my opinion obviously.
My comment was to the person who said stating that it was ridiculous to not have the collectors version available now for purchase since it is just digital goods. So I was explaining the reason WHY the collectors edition is not available for sale anymore. I’m not going to justify my purchase based on a work from progress that is still 2 months of more from release.
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At least were getting a pretty open view into how far development on it is and how its progressing, even far before release. I think it might need more time than the 2 months but it will be very good at some point.
Agreed. Their expected dates seem very optimistic, but then that’s every software developer ever! Good luck to them, be great if they can deliver as projected.
Wow, does that mean they’ve sold already 1000 copies of the product?
Yes, at least. You can still already buy it - but now you dont get this closed access anymore and have to wait till public release. So they might even have sold way more.
[WIP]
