Railworks America

This is on AVSIM, but their site is overloaded according to a message when I went there and guests are temporarily not allowed in due to server usage. So here it is from one of the owners of PMDG.

"Gents-

We have been in conversation with Dovetail about whether or not we will support their Steam release by pushing PMDG products via their Steam channel, but we have not yet reached agreement with them on the topic, and it is unlikely we will do so soon.

Since we did not agree to give (word chosen intentionally) them our products for inclusion in their steam channel, we have not been given beta/testing/advance copies of their product- and thus we do not know anything about compatibility with our products.

At this point compatibility between our products and the steam version of FSX is purely at your own risk until we have an opportunity to evaluate and determine how best to support this new version.

If you would like to know more- or have questions for PMDG-stay tuned.

I want to be very cautious and not give you the impression that PMDG and Dovetail are engaged in some struggle- as this is not the case.

Dovetail and PMDG (in partnership with a few others in the FSX development community) were competitors in the bid to purchase the rights to the FSX code- and Dovetail won. They have been gracious with us- and invited us to participate in their steam channel- but at economic terms that make it very hard to justify for the type of products we produce.

Dovetail has made what we think is the correct choice with this early release by allowing access to it for outside developers like PMDG- but in order to fully support it with our existing products, we will have to rebuild our installation processes to accomodate the changes- and this is going to take us time and testing.

There has been none of the communication that we would normally have expected from a major publisher to allow us preparation time in order to adequately support our mutual customers who wish to use PMDG products with the new steam version of FSX- but this is likely due to the rush to make the marketing deadline- and as such all of us will have to adapt on the fly.

While it would have been nice to have a beta/advance copy so that we could simply roll out installation updates to you all in concert with Dovetail's release- that didn't happen so we will have to address it sometime after the holidays are over....

It might lag a bit after that too- since our primary focus right now is the 777 release for P3D and the 744v2.0....

We will look things over and report back...

Robert S. Randazzo
Precision Manuals Development Group
http://www.precisionmanuals.com

I am so sick about hearing about licensing issues, simulator core differences, and everything else, that I am just going to stick with good old FSX for the forseeable future. It's a full time job trying to keep up with who's supporting what, what's compatible with who, what tweaks are needed to install who's addon, and on and on and on. In my opinion we've ended up with the worst of both worlds, as far as FSX-based flight simulators. Lockheed Martin has made a licensing hell for developers (and thus a jungle of hoops to jump through for end users,) and Dovetail is out to make a profit at any cost.

" Dovetail is out to make a profit at any cost." Now there is a oxymoron if I ever heard one.

Horrible writing on my part.

Dude... that has got to be one of the best quotes of the year!

As for profits? Most people strive for it. That is.... making more money than our expenses paid out. It's called capitalism. I don't hate on people that try to make it. If the price is too high for you then don't buy it or wait for it to go on sale.

Anyways... from what I've seen of this PMDG company, they have top quality products and I really hope they can come onboard. But if they can't, I hope they are able to continue to 3rd party it outside the Steam environment.

I knew someone would say that. Of course every company is out to make a profit. You would have to be a complete imbecile to think otherwise. I was just saying that I think DTG is more aggressive than most with their "pricing policy" and they are tightly controlling with regards to publishing products/add-ons for their game(s). This is very different from FSX where it's a free for all (anyone can make just about anything and charge whatever they feel is appropriate,) and P3D where it's a licensing/EULA crapshoot.

The only real point I wanted to make is that it's tiring hearing all this bickering about the "new" FSX-based sims.

plethaus wrote:The only real point I wanted to make is that it's tiring hearing all this bickering about the "new" FSX-based sims.

No more tiring than hearing all the bickering about TS2015 and predecessors and of course DTG for how many years...

artimrj wrote:

plethaus wrote:The only real point I wanted to make is that it's tiring hearing all this bickering about the "new" FSX-based sims.

No more tiring than hearing all the bickering about TS2015 and predecessors and of course DTG for how many years...

Indeed. If only they would stop giving us things to bicker about.

plethaus wrote:

artimrj wrote:

plethaus wrote:The only real point I wanted to make is that it's tiring hearing all this bickering about the "new" FSX-based sims.

No more tiring than hearing all the bickering about TS2015 and predecessors and of course DTG for how many years...

Indeed. If only they would stop giving us things to bicker about.

Then no one would have anything to talk about.

It seems that some just live to complain. It must be a unhappy state of mind to be in. Most of the people I know who compain about everything are pretty miserable. I'm too busy trying to create things to waste my time bitching about the efforts of others.
I tthink Eric has the right approach. He hasn't been happy about some parts of Donner Pass so instead of sitting around complaining about he set about to modify it to his liking and guess what? His efforts now make our pleasure better. Everyone wins!

Who doesn't have dog, hunts with cat...

I'd bet most developers will come around and adapt their product to work with the steam version. Just makes business sense as they have a whole new market to those that hadn't already purchased FSX....such as myself. If DTG wants a cut of the pie then they can just continue selling from their own stores. My last sim was FS9 so I still have links for quite a few companies and after going thru those most are still going. I bought PMDG back then so I know they are one I will most likely buy from again if it works with this version.

artimrj wrote:Who doesn't have dog, hunts with cat...

I had a cat once that topped 25lbs. It learned it could take a person down by tackling them from behind at the knees. Loved that cat

Shaa wrote:I'd bet most developers will come around and adapt their product to work with the steam version. Just makes business sense as they have a whole new market to those that hadn't already purchased FSX....such as myself. If DTG wants a cut of the pie then they can just continue selling from their own stores. My last sim was FS9 so I still have links for quite a few companies and after going thru those most are still going. I bought PMDG back then so I know they are one I will most likely buy from again if it works with this version.

artimrj wrote:Who doesn't have dog, hunts with cat...

I had a cat once that topped 25lbs. It learned it could take a person down by tackling them from behind at the knees. Loved that cat

My cat is 36 pounds! He is the fastest cat I ever had and his claws are like a Raptor's. I have 8 cats at the moment, the other 7 are normal 8 to 14 pounds.

Well it looks like PMDG is making new installers to support FSX-SE. They appear to be starting with their newest products first though. So it may take while to get the ones I bought. The 747x and the 737 NGX and the MD11.

artimrj wrote:My cat is 36 pounds! He is the fastest cat I ever had and his claws are like a Raptor's.

That's one fat cat! It he feral, i.e. a half breed wild cat?

artimrj wrote: I have 8 cats at the moment, the other 7 are normal 8 to 14 pounds.

Why so many?

Back to topic, FSX-SE: What are must have add-ons to wait for the licensing to complete? Are airlines as picky as BNSF when it comes to licensing their liveries?
Are US features like Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, etc. available in 3D HD?

I have so far only installed complete 3D HD scenery for The Netherlands so I can fly over my home town. FSX scenery quickly eats up terabytes.