X-plane.org suspends people for downloading too much?

[Dreamsurfer]

I downloaded quite a bit since most stuff needs to be downloaded from there (hint devs, start using workshop so I don't have to). Now I am suspended and cannot even get support for a Product I bought 25$ for. This is a first. If not else because it is 2018 and I have am not used to limited bandwidth anywhere.

I think this Product is great but the community around it seems a bit lacking so far. Nees to step up it's game if XP is to come anywhere close to the 1 million copies that FSX sold. These type of shady businesses needs to be controlled for one.

[🐉 Ðŗąçø 🐉]

Community lacking? Sorry, but I think the X-Plane community is the best...

Anyway, X-Plane has sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and the devs have NO affiliation with forums.x-plane.org, so there won't be a workshop.

[Dreamsurfer]

Yeah but I am new. No shade on you though, you have been very helpful. The criticism was not so much people but resources. You get very dependant on one resource here.

Nothing wrong with the Product. I just think it could be improved here. Like Steam Support OR in game downloader. Something that you can find in many games nowadays.

Btw they fixed my access but I have no idea why it was removed.

[🐉 Ðŗąçø 🐉]

Originally posted by Dreamsurfer:

Yeah but I am new. No shade on you though, you have been very helpful. The criticism was not so much people but resources. You get very dependant on one resource here.

Nothing wrong with the Product. I just think it could be improved here. Like Steam Support OR in game downloader. Something that you can find in many games nowadays.

Btw they fixed my access but I have no idea why it was removed.

I understand. The devs don't do support, which is kind of why forums.x-plane.org exists. However, for developer-related queries, you can email the devs direct, and they usually get back to you.

There's just too many things that would make the Steam workshop a bit of a headache. For free aircraft, it would be the expectation of high-quality aircraft, but will mostly be basic. Support would then need to be offered there, which is something developers would not want.

For airports, it's the required libraries most use, that would make airports an absolute nightmare.

Plugins would probably work, but then there's the issue of copyright. Few developers would bother putting their plugins here, and those that do may neglect users who own a standard copy.

Experienced users would have no trouble at all getting airports working, understanding the difficulty of making aircraft and the copyright issues of plugins, but users who classify X-Plane as more of an arcade game than a fully-fledged simulator are the real problem - and Steam only adds users to that pool.

[Dreamsurfer]

Well, then there is the option 2. Try to do something built in. But it could be too much work. Although I have a different opinion on the requirements. One of the cool part about SW with say Train Sim or Cities Skylines, is that you get "required mods" that you need to suscribe to. All that without riscing some shady Mediafire download.

Nothing wrong with x-plane.org per se, just better for the future to not be dependant on it.

[Kosmozuikis]

Yes you can't downbload too much and their servers suck, search is broken, the wbsite is slow. You get a 24h ban if you download too much stuff. Just wait and try again.

[Dreamsurfer]

Wouldn't it be more fair to just tell me? "You cannot download anymore". Not ban my entire IP address :D.

[Kosmozuikis]

I got a message that i received 24h ban because i downloaded too much.
They're just amateiurs living on 1999 and probably still using a dialup connection. Just wait for some time and try again.

[🐉 Ðŗąçø 🐉]

Originally posted by forums.x-plane.org Rules:

Download manager limits

Daily (24 hour period, not midnight to midnight) limits have been put in place for each group in order to prevent abuse and downloads from automatic scripts:

Community Leaders: 50/day
Old Timers: 50/day
Members: 40/day
Novice: 30/day
New Member: 20/day (You fall in this group when you first register)
Awaiting Authorization: 0 (means you joined and didn't reply to the authorization email)

Important: Do not use any downloading software. They use several streams at once and you may reach your limit after only 2 downloads

Servers can be pricey to run, and these limits exist purely to keep them fast for all (they were much, much slower a few months ago - I remember having to download huge files at 0.5MB/s).

[Dreamsurfer]

The problem is when you are new. Many Airports requires tons of extras. One option would perhaps be to do like the zibo guy and use dropbox folders. Sure, they have limits too but not as severe as this :D.

Point is, I wasn't just banned from downloading. I was banned from even reading the forums. Meaning I could get no support for the Dash 8 I bought (couldn't figure out how to turn on FMC).

[Dreamsurfer]

Another option is to do like Flyawaysims and Rikoo. Offer 2 options. Free and slower, or pay a bit and get faster. This is a win/win solution. Much better than getting banned from reading forums at least (I mean banned from even reading). I always check Flyaway first so I don't get banned ;).

[opjose]

You likely hit the download limit.

That is NOT a "ban".

You just need to wait two days and you can download again.

Did you create a login account? You need to do this.

You are also confusing X-plane.org with Laminar.

X-plane.org is not a Laminar web site AFAIK.

Chill. You are just starting out with this Sim and are frustrated because things are not like FSX.
It took you a while to get used to FSX and it's huge list of quirks.

Give X-plane time, you'll find it is much better than FSX on many fronts.

[Dreamsurfer]

You missed the point though. I was banned from even reading the forums. Which is necessary when you buy stuff from them.

As you said, they are not official. Hence the quest to create something like that :). Meanwhile though, it would be nice if addonmakers spread out a bit and used the equally (better actually) Flyaway, AVSIM and FlightSIm.com. The places to go for simmers :).

[opjose]

DId you create an account and can log in?

Do you see the download areas?

[Graubart]

@Dreamsurfer: Please understand that X-Plane exists since many years and a great, large, and very loyal (!!) community built around it over time, completely without the "help" of Steam or similar! The fact that Laminar now offers its sim at Steam does not mean that the community around Steam likes the Steam way of doing things. The community is largely built upon the idea of creating and sharing things non-commercially and many of us do not like the commercial and legal aspects of uploading stuff to Steam (e.g. copyright issues).
I for myself support the idea and concept of X-Plane.org very strongly, and I do not at all like comments of people who just claim they want everything, immediately, and for free! X-Plane.org is, was and will be a free service, accept it as it is (including it's limits) or leave it, but don't complain! This does not cover the fact that you could not access your bought items, that's to be discussed with the X-Plane store team, not here.
Now, honestly: What do you want to do with 20 downloads on one day? You can't even look at them in detail, much less you could really explore them, fly or even master them (in the case of planes) . But X-Plane is a sim, it's about mastering to fly, not collecting senery and airplane gadgets. You don't impress anybody with your collection and the size of your X-Plane library, you impress people by flying well!
I have been using X-Plane.org since many years. XP 11 was the first version of this sim I bought through Steam. I have always relied on X-Plane.org for my scenery downloads and free airplane downloads, you will find the whole of Scandinavia on my harddisk. But I never bumped into anything like a limit there. That's because I really flew my sceneries and airplanes, before I downloaded the next ones. Think of it.

[Dreamsurfer]

Sure but healthy criticism is what takes a community forward. There is a reason why FSX has over one million users and XP only 80k so far. This is because DTG went all in with supporting the Steam version. Obviously if you want to develop your site further you should listen to criticism. This is how small companies become big.

Now, there is a key thing you are missing here. I did not get the Dash for frree. I bought it at their store for real money. That should entitle me to get al lthe support I need. This support was on their forums which I could not reach. This is not very pro. Look at JustFlight and how easy to use their support is. This is the gold standard as far as I am concerned. If the store is too much to handle they could always let it be handled by the pros at JustFlight or something.

XP of course has to ask themselves if 80k is enough or 1 million like FSX is more desirable to have from income perspective.

XPlane.org could always take a look at AVSIM or FlightSIm.com for thriving communities and how to handle downloads without IP-banning regular users :D.

Hopefully with the increased popularity of XP11, there could be more action in the veteran communities with more experience in these matters. That will help increase the quality.