X-Plane Frustrations
I recently had a chance to see things from a customer’s point of view and it was eye-opening.
Last November and December I worked on the production of a TV documentary about 10 different plane crashes. As sad as the topic was, it taught me a great deal about aviation, safety, the importance of certain systems, and pilot training. As an on-set flight sim expert, I oversaw the running of a large X-Plane setup with seven screens, three PCs, and a lot of different X-Plane add-ons. Unfortunately, I cannot share more info or pictures with you just yet, but I will dedicate some of the future Not-A-Newsletters to this once the documentary is released. But let’s talk about the things I learned while working on this project.
I have been exposed to many payware X-Plane add-ons in the past few weeks and I must say that in many cases it's been a rather frustrating experience. From complicated installations to random crashes, or a blue screen covering the cockpit when in 3D cockpit view, just to name a few. And what was more frustrating was that finding the solution or answers online proved to be even harder. Many times, it was unclear where I could reach out to the devs, and many of their forum topics were answered by users, not the devs themselves.
This gave me a unique opportunity to see things from the customer's point of view and made me rethink many things. But it also gave me a great insight into what great features other developers have created. We at X-Crafts still have many areas in which we can improve, and that is why I am bringing this up.
As a developer, it is easy to get lost in the rabbit hole of X-Plane and disconnect from you, the community, and the pilots who will fly our add-ons.
THEREFORE, I WOULD REALLY LOVE YOU TO TELL ME WHAT ARE YOUR BIGGEST X-PLANE FRUSTRATIONS?
I am sure everyone is frustrated by different things, but I’d love to make sure that none of those frustrations are caused by our products. Your input would really help improve the overall (your) experience with our add-ons.
At the same time, I would like to know all the things that you really enjoy in other add-ons. Specifically features, plugins, menus, or anything that we do not have or do differently that you’d like us to change or add. With the new E-Jets in development, this is the perfect time for you to share your wishlist with us.
Don't be shy! A few sentences would be great but if you'd like to express all of your frustrations accumulated over the years, please write them all in a reply to this email, the more the better! We only get better through the community’s feedback, so your opinion really matters to us.
WHAT WE ARE CURRENTLY WORKING ON
MARKO
I am in the final stages of cockpit modeling of the new E-Jets. Every day, I am getting more and more excited about how accurately I was able to recreate the cockpit thanks to hundreds and hundreds of pictures from many E-Jets pilots. I really cannot wait to see this in X-Plane for the first time, which will hopefully be soon!
I spent the past few weeks remodeling the cockpit walls after feedback from one of our pilots and it really paid off! I’m mostly done with the main cockpit elements, so I now get to add all the tiny little details which really make a big difference in the “real look and feel” of the model. For example, yesterday I was adding cable ties to the cables that power the floodlights.
Here are some new exclusive pictures of the E-Jets Family Cockpit. Feel free to share and ideally include the #xcrafts or #ejetsfam hashtags so that I can keep track of the posts and respond to questions people might have. Or if you will be sharing on Facebook, just tag our page.
NOTE: Due to the ongoing pandemic on our planet and the uncertain future, we will not be announcing any ETA. However, rest assured that this is now our main project and we cannot wait to bring this to you.
STEVE
Steve is currently working hard on converting the FMS in the ERJs to use the CIFP (X-Plane 11) nav data format, instead of the older GNS430 nav data format. This has proved to be much more complicated than expected (as with everything that we do) but we are looking at releasing v1.4.0 which will include this change in the next month or so.
The conversion is particularly important because it will make sure that the FMS can be used without the need to install custom data separately and it will ensure that the FMS is ready for the future versions of X-Plane. This has been one of my frustration with our add-ons and I am sure all users will appreciate this change as much as I do!
It is also important because this part of the code will be the core of the new authentic FMS which Steve will develop for the new E-Jets.
Speaking of removing frustrations… I am extremely excited that my single biggest frustration with our add-ons will soon finally be resolved! I am of course talking about the horrible NAV Map on the MFD. Long story short, Laminar Research has not updated the default map instrument since at least X-Plane 9, and it was almost impossible to modify this instrument or to increase its resolution. I’ve been looking for someone to develop a custom map for me for literally six years, without luck.
But it seems that I have finally found the person and we will soon be getting a beautiful new high-resolution Nav map with TCAS! The new map is already in production and you will finally be able to read the map without a magnifying glass. You have no idea how excited I am about this!
That’s it from me! I’d like to wish you all the best in the new year and I hope that we will be able to deliver an awesome new addition (or five) to your hangar.
I am hoping to hear back from you about your biggest X-Plane frustrations as well as your favorite features.
Please do not hesitate to ask any questions! Just reply to this email.
Marko | X-Crafts Director