3 ms·

How does this compare with Prepar3D from Lockheed. I thought Lockheed had bought MS FlightSim and even hired a good number of their developers and that was the

by rdtsc 7y ago

How does this compare with Prepar3D from Lockheed. I thought Lockheed had bought MS FlightSim and even hired a good number of their developers and that was the end of MS FligthSim https://www.prepar3d.com/ https://www.prepar3d.com/

aphextron 7y ago
Prepar3d is literally just a licensed version of FSX with UI tweaks. It's not even at the level of X-Plane these days.
- jillesvangurp 7y ago
  It's a bit more than that. They did a lot of work to port the platform to 64 bit and modernize the rendering engine, content, etc. I'm an x-plane person myself as well but p3d is pretty impressive in its own right and probably still has better commercial content. X-plane is catching up rapidly though in that respect and e.g. the recent orbx scenery looks amazing. Also stuff like simheaven and ortho4xp are amazing free add ons for x-plane.
namenumber 7y ago
Hard to say with just a 1m30s preview video to go off, but if those visuals are the "basic" MSFS global graphics then they are quite impressive even compared to copy of P3D that has been modded out with global scenery from third party content providers. If i were to guess, its probably a technological leap instead of an increment, as they'd be disinterested in competing with the X-Plane and P3D install bases unless they knew they had something that was more than a sideways improvement. I would find it weird if they just try to be as good as the rest of the pack, at least. As for your second question, you're right and wrong. Lockheed got the rights to further develop the old MSFS engine, and to rebrand it as P3D, but only for academic/professional simulation purposes. So they are not allowed to sell it as a game, only as a learning and simulation tool. Here are some of the reqs from the Academic License (60USD) EULA, whereamong you'll find this : (3) in connection with Academic Education, (4) by students, instructors and staff associated with Licensee's Academic Education, .., (6) for purposes other than personal/consumer entertainment. Point (6) also appears in the EULA of the Professional (200USD) license. Though this has, AFAIK this has been done more for corporate legal reasons than for any desire to go after individual users. I've never heard of any revoked licenses on the above-mentioned grounds. So Microsoft has always signaled that they consider MSFS a product still in their gaming portfolio. Though people learned to cope with the absence.
- rdtsc 7y ago
  Interesting. Thank you for replying. > So they are not allowed to sell it as a game, only as a learning and simulation tool. That makes sense finally. I had noticed that when was using it and always thought they just didn't want to bother with the gaming part because there was not enough of profit for them to restructure having to support that market.
  - Macha 7y ago
    Pretty sure it's not a coincidence that the academic edition is sold at video game pricing.

by rdtsc 7y ago

aphextron 7y ago

Prepar3d is literally just a licensed version of FSX with UI tweaks. It's not even at the level of X-Plane these days.

jillesvangurp 7y ago
It's a bit more than that. They did a lot of work to port the platform to 64 bit and modernize the rendering engine, content, etc. I'm an x-plane person myself as well but p3d is pretty impressive in its own right and probably still has better commercial content. X-plane is catching up rapidly though in that respect and e.g. the recent orbx scenery looks amazing. Also stuff like simheaven and ortho4xp are amazing free add ons for x-plane.

namenumber 7y ago

Hard to say with just a 1m30s preview video to go off, but if those visuals are the "basic" MSFS global graphics then they are quite impressive even compared to copy of P3D that has been modded out with global scenery from third party content providers. If i were to guess, its probably a technological leap instead of an increment, as they'd be disinterested in competing with the X-Plane and P3D install bases unless they knew they had something that was more than a sideways improvement. I would find it weird if they just try to be as good as the rest of the pack, at least. As for your second question, you're right and wrong. Lockheed got the rights to further develop the old MSFS engine, and to rebrand it as P3D, but only for academic/professional simulation purposes. So they are not allowed to sell it as a game, only as a learning and simulation tool. Here are some of the reqs from the Academic License (60USD) EULA, whereamong you'll find this : (3) in connection with Academic Education, (4) by students, instructors and staff associated with Licensee's Academic Education, .., (6) for purposes other than personal/consumer entertainment. Point (6) also appears in the EULA of the Professional (200USD) license. Though this has, AFAIK this has been done more for corporate legal reasons than for any desire to go after individual users. I've never heard of any revoked licenses on the above-mentioned grounds. So Microsoft has always signaled that they consider MSFS a product still in their gaming portfolio. Though people learned to cope with the absence.

rdtsc 7y ago
Interesting. Thank you for replying. > So they are not allowed to sell it as a game, only as a learning and simulation tool. That makes sense finally. I had noticed that when was using it and always thought they just didn't want to bother with the gaming part because there was not enough of profit for them to restructure having to support that market.
- Macha 7y ago
  Pretty sure it's not a coincidence that the academic edition is sold at video game pricing.