[My X-Plane folder...]

Nath, I knew yours would be bigger....  ;D

All those photo textures, huh?

Stop filling up your scenery folder & get the jag done  

[Challenger 300 released!]

it's just that, for me, the virtual walkaround seems a bit pointless on an add on that has nothing wrong with the exterior.  I would have much rather wanted to see at least a somewhat rudimentary FMC, instead of the default.

Namaui has described the appeal of the walk-around rather well, but if it doesn't appeal there is a quick start option too, which will run through the start up procedure for you. Or of course you can start with engines running...

Denis has said that he intends to add a custom FMC. I think a lot of people are happy to get the aircraft sooner, rather than wait, but if a custom FMC is all important, I guess it's easy enough to delay your purchase until it's incorporated.

[Challenger 300 released!]

I do wish people would spend less energy on the Org/X-Aviation politics & more on the aircraft artists like Denis put so much work into...

+1

Perhaps you could convince Nicolas instead of telling us.

As far as I can see, Nicolas hasn't posted any of that nonsense in this Challenger 300 thread. Others have - my comment is for them, obviously.  :

On topic: One of the features I love on this aircraft is the preflight walk-around, I hope more developers will adopt that. Also, clicking on the MFD enlarges it to fill the screen, including the glare shield controls, really helpful in a 3D 'pit.

[Challenger 300 released!]

I was lucky enough to do some beta testing on this aircraft, and haven't flown anything else since getting the first beta... Denis reminds me of Nils in his ability to put together a package that includes great 3D modelling, textures, flight model, innovative features AND optimisation. And like Nils he doesn't seem to get as much attention as some other developers, nothing like as much as his work deserves.

I do wish people would spend less energy on the Org/X-Aviation politics & more on the aircraft artists like Denis put so much work into...

[Dan's ERJ available]

If he used PNG, one might try converting them to DDS and seeing how the performance difference as DDS generally load faster, and you shouldn't need to lower them to 1024.

Interesting point - but I'm sure in my case I'd still need to downsize as it's VRAM usage that is the issue. With any aircraft using multiple 2048 textures (say 4 or more), I risk a slide show rather than just low FPS. I'm talking seconds per frame, as the VRAM requirements jump over my video cards limits.

It's obvious to see how this happens when you consider each PNG is needing another 9Mb of VRAM, (I have a 512Mb card), but it would be interesting to see if DDS textures actually help FPS when VRAM is not being exceeded.

[Dan's ERJ available]

Dan has said it is a texture issue but I don't know what kind of texture issue he is speaking of.

The ERJ looks to have somewhere over the 200 000 polygon (triangle) mark.  Duplicate objects would push that to a maximum of 400000 if ALL objects were duplicated.  Add that to a bunch of 2048 ^2 (and no 1024 ^2 textures) texture maps and you're going to have fps issues.

I'm sure you didn't mean to suggest that Dan might have been careless enough to duplicate the entire model... Whatever, in my case it's not the polygons that cause FPS issues, but the pixels:

On my system, the 'lite' low poly count version gives me about 6 FPS more than a 'low res' version that I created for myself. That has a set of 1024 textures I made up applied to the 'full' version of the aircraft, so the reduced poly version is really doing very little in my case. In fact I'd suggest anyone with FPS issues using the 'full' version tries creating a new option with the original model & lower resolution textures from the 'lite' version. I certainly think the aircraft looks better with the original model, but as my screen resolution is not that high, I don't actually see any benefit from 2048 textures unless I zoom right in on external views. Which I rarely do. YMMV

[Congrats to October "Best OF" at the org]

but over time, you can get to know someone through their words and actions.  

Thanks Tom for taking the time to reply. I think we never fully know others, except through their words and action, hence the ease with which we can be surprised by them. I'll leave it at that, but thanks again.

[Congrats to October "Best OF" at the org]

I think you mean XPFW and not XPFR, of which I have no affiliation to. Either way, sorry to hear you acknoweledge you get scared off easily.

I acknowledged what???  Cameron, the prospect of working with a team that includes you is about as appealing as catching Herpes - but far less scary.

This coming from a moderator who works alongside Nicolas at the org? Not surprised.

Thanks for your contributions to the thread, Will.

Yes I chose to join the moderating team to help make/keep the Org the great XP site it is. AFAIK, you were first banned from the Org long before Nicolas was running it, so I guess you've got a lot more issues with the Org than just Nicolas running it. Then again you're happy to work along side the very person who cheated in an effort to win the competition this thread is discussing. His non-apology speaks volumes & can be found here, under his 'girlfriends' account name elma79:

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=34304

I think Six7's final post summed it all up rather well, as he often does.

Cameron, I'm happy to contribute to this thread, though I'm only really interested in what Tom has to say, and why he started this thread with a barrage of low sarcasm, aimed a harmless Freeware 'Best of' competition at the Org. You're bullshit doesn't interest me at all, and if you'd made that first post I would never have been surprised, or bothered to comment.

I already know for a long time what the "Best of.." on x-plane.org is and that it not stands for the "best" addon.

But don't let this forum become a place of anti-org sentiments, point your rants at something else.

You'd have to hope that the Org's monthly 'Best of' didn't contain the best XP add-on, otherwise there'd be little hope for the payware developers   Inevitably some months are lean, some public vote choices seem downright bizarre, but looking through the Best of the Year this month, there are some great (free) add-ons in there.

I appreciate, and agree with your sentiments, but it may be a bit late. The anti-Org rant is one of the longest threads here... I guess if you want to discuss XP you go to the Org, if you want to moan about the Org you come here.

[Congrats to October "Best OF" at the org]

Sorry, man. Truth hurts, sometimes.

Truth from you Cameron? Well that would be news as well.

Tom, I certainly know some of the things that have been going on from here - sad as they are. I would like to think we could all be working to see the XP community as a whole grow - rather than divide.

Anyway Tom, glad to hear things are going well for you, I hope you'll continue to succeed & find less need for negativity.

[Congrats to October "Best OF" at the org]

Cameron,

1) no problem reading sarcasm, especially when it is SO obvious... Just you're reply was off, that's all. ('he was stating')

2) I wasn't moaning - it just didn't make sense in the context of your reply (see above)

3) Great, thought there must be one somewhere out there.... didn't think the idea was all yours

4) 'Thick thoughts'? Nice.

5) No problem. So, you 'love contributions of payware (as the founder of XPFW, and still as a member there), yes I'm sure you do, you certainly sell it.... When I was invited to join XPFR recently, I declined in part due to lack of time, and in part due to your involvement (and one other person).

6) So, you'd vote for me in a 'Best moan about the Org contest' - even though I haven't been moaning about the Org? Guess we may have uncovered the reason why you don't seem to 'get' what the Best of the Month competition is all about.....

Edit: yes, XPFW obviously.

[Congrats to October "Best OF" at the org]

You appear to be missing the point. Yes, Tom's posts were far from genuine...it doesn't take much thought to figure that out, nor does it take much to figure out why. He's simply stating that "Best Of" should more or less be named "People's Choice" or similar.

Really Cameron? Where, exactly, in Tom's first post, does he say he thinks the title 'Best of' is inappropriate? His sarcasm seems directed more at the choice of winner (by popular vote) than at the title of the contest - though that is something brought up later in the thread. Fact is, all over the world, on TV, in print media & on the internet there are public vote contests to establish a 'Best of' for just about anything. Mostly they're called 'Best of' (I've don't recall ever seeing one called 'People's Choice' but I guess it must've happened somewhere).

It's no big deal if people take "Best of" to mean what they've got the most pleasure from, rather than what has the best 3D modelling, switch animation, or pilot figure... It's just a monthly contest for FREEWARE, giving the guys that do it a boost. Perhaps you're all spoilt by the amazing Payware you sell, and no longer appreciate what others do for fun & freely share.

Oh well, at least it's given you all another chance to moan. Perhaps you should start a 'Best moan about the Org of the month' contest, that would be popular here.  :

[Congrats to October "Best OF" at the org]

Tom, after reading your subsequent posts, it's pretty obvious that the 'I am a bit embarrassed', 'I just can't understand' and 'please tell me what things am I missing?' from your initial post are far from genuine. In fact it seems as though your first post is nothing more than a shallow attempt to generate more bad vibes here, aimed at the Org. You talk of 'the x-plane.org view of flight sim quality' as though it's an entity: Clearly it's not, it's a community & as such it cannot have a single 'view', at best it could have a consensus - though I don't think you could describe the results of a vote as such. From the dealings I had with you last year while working on the paints for your Mu-2, all I can say is that kind of thing should be way beneath you...

But what of the points being raised here? To me the raison d'être  for the Org's 'Best of the month' competition has always been to give credit, encouragement & acknowledgement to the FREEWARE developers who, month after month, put the fruits of their labour into the DM, to freely share with the rest of the XP community. For that it should be applauded, not mocked.

The far more significant benefit for the rest of us is in the nominations, which give us, each month, a listing of what other XP enthusiasts have found to be of merit amongst the torrent of free offerings appearing in the DM. To me at least, that is the real benefit of the Org holding the competition - and I genuinely get more out of that than I did out of winning an award for a scenery some time back. Tom, I'm sure there will be people who only looked at the Falco after it's nomination - and who knows, a few of them may have gone on to buy your Mu-2 as a result.

BTW, if you're genuinely upset at having not been in the top three, spare a though for the freeware scenery developers: In months were an 'I don't know' voting option is available, the 'I don't know' usually gets the most votes in the scenery section. Imagine how that feels for someone who has spent months or years on a scenery... Actually, spare a thought for the painters.... there's never been a 'liveries' section    (yeah, I'm joking)

Is there anything wrong with the competition being decided by popular vote? The only alternative would be for nomination/winners to be chosen by a panel of 'experts'. As it's at the Org, they would be Org experts, and what next? The anti-Org element here would have even more opportunity to moan & complain about 'favouritism', 'bias', 'censorship' and the rest. Face it, it's a fairly light-hearted attempt to bring some attention to people who are giving a lot to the community & go largely unacknowledged. It's right that the community itself should make the choices. Only a die-hard Stalinist would seriously suggest that the whole thing should be run behind closed doors, in secrecy, by an un-elected elite, is that what you guys want? Well if the community is made up of 'uneducated hordes of children' then I say let them have their vote, and don't get so precious about the result - it's freeware & it's meant to be fun...

The only downside I see to this competition is that it can bring out the worst in people, turning them into devious cheats. Thankfully, in the history of the competition, I'm only aware of one occasion when anyone has been caught cheating & that was Jrollon/Japo32, whose winning entry ended up disqualified after he was found to have created multiple accounts at the Org so he could vote repeatedly for his plane. I guess most freeware developers are pretty decent people, and don't take the whole thing too seriously, which is what I'd suggest everyone else does.

(And if some MSFS fans don't want to use XP because they're not happy with the quality of the FREE add-ons, well I think the miserable gits are welcome to stick with MSFS...)