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Some questions from a newbie

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gangl1234
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Some questions from a newbie

Post by gangl1234 »

So I'm not new to FSX, but I'm new to this site and to modding AI traffic. I already found and made use of WOAI, and just happened to find out about this site through a random google search for FSX aircraft.

I *want* to make use of the stuff here, I'm much fonder of military aviation than I am civilian....but Matrix is only compatible with P3D, which I don't have and can't afford, and not being a modder or programmer, I don't know why there's this restriction. Looking at the installation tutorial for a base copy of FSX, all I can think is "....yeah, this is WAY too damn complicated and time consuming." Despite the number of airlines WOAI makes use of, I made use of that because everything goes through an easy to use, automatic installer.

Is there any hope for this happening with MAIW/Matrix for a non-P3D copy of FSX, or am I SoL? (Or am I missing something?)
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Firebird
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Re: Some questions from a newbie

Post by Firebird »

Welcome to the forum.
You have touched on one of the oldest debates that we have had here, what platforms are supported and to what extent.

In simple terms this org was set up to support FS9. FS9 is our base system, still.
When FSX came out there was immediately a split in the FS user base which ultimately, IMHO, killed the franchise. Some liked what FSX brought and were willing to throw their built up systems out of the window, and some decided that there was not enough reason to do that after the time and money spent on it and they would stay with FS9 until maybe FS11 came out.
Those mindsets still exist today.

Then came P3D. That was a big change and to a lot of P3D users chagrin a some things they had in their systems broke with each new version.

Now as there is no one way to go here we have kind of expanded of support to be more FSX/P3D friendly over the last few years.
Are we likely to move to an FSX base support base the answer is probably not, purely because why would you move from one non-actively produced system to another? It just doesn't make sense.

With P3D it was more a case of which version do you support because of the differences. From what I understand P3Dv4 delivered quite a few new features.

If I had to guess my gut feeling would be that once the vast majority of the aircraft we have used over the years has been converted to FSX/P3D standard then we are likely to move to P3D as a base system. However, this has not been decided or even talked about yet as I don't think we are yet in the position to do this.

Greg, who developed the Matrix, can tell you more about why he developed the program but I suspect that it was all about delivering content easily in bulk to P3D due to its config system, which FS9/FSX do not have the facility.
Steve
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gangl1234
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Re: Some questions from a newbie

Post by gangl1234 »

Firebird wrote: 23 Jun 2018, 05:44 Welcome to the forum.
You have touched on one of the oldest debates that we have had here, what platforms are supported and to what extent.

In simple terms this org was set up to support FS9. FS9 is our base system, still.
When FSX came out there was immediately a split in the FS user base which ultimately, IMHO, killed the franchise. Some liked what FSX brought and were willing to throw their built up systems out of the window, and some decided that there was not enough reason to do that after the time and money spent on it and they would stay with FS9 until maybe FS11 came out.
Those mindsets still exist today.

Then came P3D. That was a big change and to a lot of P3D users chagrin a some things they had in their systems broke with each new version.

Now as there is no one way to go here we have kind of expanded of support to be more FSX/P3D friendly over the last few years.
Are we likely to move to an FSX base support base the answer is probably not, purely because why would you move from one non-actively produced system to another? It just doesn't make sense.

With P3D it was more a case of which version do you support because of the differences. From what I understand P3Dv4 delivered quite a few new features.

If I had to guess my gut feeling would be that once the vast majority of the aircraft we have used over the years has been converted to FSX/P3D standard then we are likely to move to P3D as a base system. However, this has not been decided or even talked about yet as I don't think we are yet in the position to do this.

Greg, who developed the Matrix, can tell you more about why he developed the program but I suspect that it was all about delivering content easily in bulk to P3D due to its config system, which FS9/FSX do not have the facility.
Very informative, Firebird, thanks. Yeah, I didn't know about the split cuz while I've been playing fight sims since I was 7 (I'm 30 now) I never got involved in forums or anything, thus never knew anything about the 'fandom' as it were, and I'm not even really sure what P3D even *does*,if I'm perfectly honest.. Even if it isn't via Matrix, is there any way to make a base FSX install of MAIW less cumbersome in the future, or any chance that it might happen?

If not, another question I have is, I noticed in the long list of files needed for MAIW, you do make use of some of WOAI's files-I have these already, since I downloaded literally every airline WOAI has, but I haven't noticed any military aircraft flying around or talking to ATC-is there something I need to download from you in order to get them to appear?
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Re: Some questions from a newbie

Post by Firebird »

The only WoAI files we ever used was the installer and that was for the first 24 packages.
It was a nice installer with some nice features but we broke it. Our package structure meant that some path and file name lengths exceeded some limits.
What we found was that everything installed OK but when some de-installed a couple of packages it de-installed a lot more. I can't remember exactly but I believe it came to light with some C-130 packages. When somebody de-installed one it de-installed all of them.
We couldn't work out exactly what the problem was but we strongly suspected that the WoAI installer supported a certain path/filename length and we exceeded it and so it deleted everything with a pathname that matched what it looked for.
We did ask for assistance but it is unfair to expect WoAI to fix something that worked for them.

Now as for what Prepar3D does, it is essentially the next version of FS after FSX. Microsoft sold the code to Lockheed-Martin. Yes, seriously, that Lockheed-Martin who wanted to develop a more realistic training aid.
They took FSX and developed into P3D. It is not too much of a stretch to think of P3D, P3Dv2, P3Dv3 and P3Dv4 as FS11, FS12, FS13 and FS14.

There are various licences for the program and they specifically market it as not for home entertainment but most people buy the Academic License – $59.95, for trainee pilots. The fact that you may never actually take a lesson is neither here nor there.

All of our packages are Fs9 installable with a couple of late ones having FSX versions. Quite a few recent addons created by developers here have FS9 and FSX versions. Some clever people have developed a guide and techniques for making the FS9 packages work in FSX but it does take some work on your part.

As for a base FSX installation, I don't see one on the horizon UNLESS we move to FSX being the base sim and as I stated earlier I personally can't see the point.
To see Mil aircraft flying around you will have to download and install our packages, individually. It is the same for FS9 users.

Now if you are starting out on the Mil AI path with us it might be worth you investigating Prepar3D as an option as we are producing more and more projects to rollout through the Matrix which is more of an semi-automatic system.
Steve
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gangl1234
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Re: Some questions from a newbie

Post by gangl1234 »

Firebird wrote: 23 Jun 2018, 08:30 Now as for what Prepar3D does, it is essentially the next version of FS after FSX. Microsoft sold the code to Lockheed-Martin. Yes, seriously, that Lockheed-Martin who wanted to develop a more realistic training aid.
They took FSX and developed into P3D. It is not too much of a stretch to think of P3D, P3Dv2, P3Dv3 and P3Dv4 as FS11, FS12, FS13 and FS14
Ah, thaaaaat explains the price tag. Definitely did not know that, I thought it was a fan made thing.

I might look into it, but it'll be a while yet. I'm still waiting for disability, so until I get approved I am *dirt* poor, so it's freeware only mods for me for the time being. Guess I'll just bite the bullet, buckle down, and dive in to the base FSX installation manual XP
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