Does payware meet the threshold of the Zibo Mod?

[Loco]

I think all X- Plane users can agree that the Zibo mod is one of the best things to ever happen to X-Plane 11.

I'm keen to try another aircraft, particularly Airbus. However, I think the only good airbus aircrafts are payware. Are these payware aircraft on the same level as the zibo mod or higher?

I'm also pretty keen on the 777 payware.

But I don't want to pay between $50-100 for an aircraft that will be lower in value than Zibo.

Thank you.

[The Roaming Tofu]

From what I heard, the FFa320 and Toliss a319 have excellent systems simulation and are just as good or even better than the Zibo. However, the ff777 is not very good, and it does not has as much care put into it compared to the Zibo or the Airbuses. If you wanna buy a new plane, then the 777 may not be the best choice. If you wanna buy the Airbuses be sure to know how to fly it and the basics of the systems, just like the Zibo. Have fun.

[joku04]

I love zibo for what it is, but don't think for a moment that its the best out there. The FFa320 and ToLiss are both excellent airplanes with very high system depth, which unlike Zibo, I can just fly. With Zibo, I feel like I spend more time updating or waiting for patches to fix bugs, I can't fly as much. Payware updates are less frequent, but far better tested before release, so you don't get 10 patches of bug fixes before something new is added.

[TransylScania V8]

I have over 400 hours in the 777 and its a quality plane. It's actually my favorite. Watch the xplane store for sales. The 767 is also nice and the 747-8 is ok

[Loco]

Leaning towards the FFa320 at the moment. Good reviews plus would be nice to get a change from Boeing.

[TransylScania V8]

Flight Factor, JustFlight and Carrenado are the only payware planes I mess with. they all do a nice job

[HoboCop]

Originally posted by Loco:

I think all X- Plane users can agree that the Zibo mod is one of the best things to ever happen to X-Plane 11.

I'm keen to try another aircraft, particularly Airbus. However, I think the only good airbus aircrafts are payware. Are these payware aircraft on the same level as the zibo mod or higher?

I'm also pretty keen on the 777 payware.

But I don't want to pay between $50-100 for an aircraft that will be lower in value than Zibo.

Thank you.

Just be careful what you pick. There is at least one [EDIT: make that 2] 3rd party developer for XPlane11 that has announced they have dropped support and also the development of planned future modules in favour of focusing on FS2020 modules.

There were also rumours of another 2 companies doing the same, but only the one so far has confirmed it that I can name- "Airworthy Designs". But there are talks of many more who are "switching back" to what they know.
EDIT: PMDG is another I can name who have announced dropping XP for FS2020.

Basically, a lot of developers that used to only make MSFS content, who then moved to offer both P3D and XP, and now ditching XP again to go back to what they know best (Microsoft have confirmed that they will support some of the legacy ways of producing 3rd party aircraft with ways to bring them up to date, showing that the development procedure can't be a million miles away to the older way of doing things.).

[Loco]

Originally posted by HoboCop:

Originally posted by Loco:

I think all X- Plane users can agree that the Zibo mod is one of the best things to ever happen to X-Plane 11.

I'm keen to try another aircraft, particularly Airbus. However, I think the only good airbus aircrafts are payware. Are these payware aircraft on the same level as the zibo mod or higher?

I'm also pretty keen on the 777 payware.

But I don't want to pay between $50-100 for an aircraft that will be lower in value than Zibo.

Thank you.

Just be careful what you pick. There is at least one [EDIT: make that 2] 3rd party developer for XPlane11 that has announced they have dropped support and also the development of planned future modules in favour of focusing on FS2020 modules.

There were also rumours of another 2 companies doing the same, but only the one so far has confirmed it that I can name- "Airworthy Designs". But there are talks of many more who are "switching back" to what they know.
EDIT: PMDG is another I can name who have announced dropping XP for FS2020.

Basically, a lot of developers that used to only make MSFS content, who then moved to offer both P3D and XP, and now ditching XP again to go back to what they know best (Microsoft have confirmed that they will support some of the legacy ways of producing 3rd party aircraft with ways to bring them up to date, showing that the development procedure can't be a million miles away to the older way of doing things.).

Cheers for your comment. This thought did cross my mind about developer commitment to a mod. I've also heard the developers of X-Plane 11 will be releasing a final patch sometime soon... Is this true?

[HoboCop]

Originally posted by Loco:

Originally posted by HoboCop:

Just be careful what you pick. There is at least one [EDIT: make that 2] 3rd party developer for XPlane11 that has announced they have dropped support and also the development of planned future modules in favour of focusing on FS2020 modules.

There were also rumours of another 2 companies doing the same, but only the one so far has confirmed it that I can name- "Airworthy Designs". But there are talks of many more who are "switching back" to what they know.
EDIT: PMDG is another I can name who have announced dropping XP for FS2020.

Basically, a lot of developers that used to only make MSFS content, who then moved to offer both P3D and XP, and now ditching XP again to go back to what they know best (Microsoft have confirmed that they will support some of the legacy ways of producing 3rd party aircraft with ways to bring them up to date, showing that the development procedure can't be a million miles away to the older way of doing things.).

Cheers for your comment. This thought did cross my mind about developer commitment to a mod. I've also heard the developers of X-Plane 11 will be releasing a final patch sometime soon... Is this true?

I've not heard, nor can I find any evidence of them ceasing development or support for XPlane 11. I very much doubt this would happen.

The only thing I can surmise is that you misunderstood a talk of some "final" update to perhaps a certain feature / certain beta??

[Loco]

Originally posted by HoboCop:

Originally posted by Loco:

Cheers for your comment. This thought did cross my mind about developer commitment to a mod. I've also heard the developers of X-Plane 11 will be releasing a final patch sometime soon... Is this true?

I've not heard, nor can I find any evidence of them ceasing development or support for XPlane 11. I very much doubt this would happen.

The only thing I can surmise is that you misunderstood a talk of some "final" update to perhaps a certain feature / certain beta??

That might have been it.

I also would have thought that with 2020 coming out, they would wrap up their support for XP11 and begin development for XP12??

Do you know if FF A320 if one of those developers that will cease support and jump ship to 2020?

[HoboCop]

Originally posted by Loco:

Originally posted by HoboCop:

I've not heard, nor can I find any evidence of them ceasing development or support for XPlane 11. I very much doubt this would happen.

The only thing I can surmise is that you misunderstood a talk of some "final" update to perhaps a certain feature / certain beta??

That might have been it.

I also would have thought that with 2020 coming out, they would wrap up their support for XP11 and begin development for XP12??

Do you know if FF A320 if one of those developers that will cease support and jump ship to 2020?

FF (Flight Factor) are made up of FF and ToLiss, both of which appear to be pure XPlane developers, so I doubt that jumping ship would be likely for them. If they did decide to start also developing for FS2020 tt, then it would probably take considerable time to get into full swing to then "ditch" xplane, but I cannot imagine why they would do this being a small business.

Yes, it won't be too much longer before they hit version 12. They are already somewhere around 11.5.

[BigKangaroo3]

Just make sure before you purchase the Flight Factor A320, it has/will be updated to work with the new VULKAN API implementation. One of the Laminar developers (Sidney Just) stated on the 26th December 2019 in the comments section (Link below) that the FF A320 wasn't currently working with the VULKAN API.


https://developer.x-plane.com/2019/12/vulkan-and-metal-testing-and-bug-fighting/

Sidney Just says:
December 26, 2019 at 1:07 am

Most add-ons should hopefully just work. X-Plane creates a bridge OpenGL context, which is used for 2D plugin drawing, and takes care of synchronizing it with the Vulkan/Metal world. This means that plugins drawing in 2D, ie UI and panels, will work as they are. 3D drawing isn’t supported, because we are limited by what we can share with OpenGL and there’s also a bit of overhead involved with switching between the worlds.

I have tested a couple of third party aircraft. FlyWithLUA based plugins tend to work quite well, the ToLiss A319, FF 757 and 767 as well as all FlyJSim planes. The one plugin that didn’t work was the FF A320.

[HoboCop]

Originally posted by BigKangaroo3:

Just make sure before you purchase the Flight Factor A320, it has/will be updated to work with the new VULKAN API implementation. One of the Laminar developers (Sidney Just) stated on the 26th December 2019 in the comments section (Link below) that the FF A320 wasn't currently working with the VULKAN API.


https://developer.x-plane.com/2019/12/vulkan-and-metal-testing-and-bug-fighting/

Sidney Just says:
December 26, 2019 at 1:07 am

Most add-ons should hopefully just work. X-Plane creates a bridge OpenGL context, which is used for 2D plugin drawing, and takes care of synchronizing it with the Vulkan/Metal world. This means that plugins drawing in 2D, ie UI and panels, will work as they are. 3D drawing isn’t supported, because we are limited by what we can share with OpenGL and there’s also a bit of overhead involved with switching between the worlds.

I have tested a couple of third party aircraft. FlyWithLUA based plugins tend to work quite well, the ToLiss A319, FF 757 and 767 as well as all FlyJSim planes. The one plugin that didn’t work was the FF A320.

Yes, this update should be out any time soon! They were hoping to have it released before the new year (as public beta?), but problems with texture streaming causing blurry textures on some lower end GPU's has made them look into a bit of a rework.

[Loco]

Originally posted by HoboCop:

Originally posted by BigKangaroo3:

Just make sure before you purchase the Flight Factor A320, it has/will be updated to work with the new VULKAN API implementation. One of the Laminar developers (Sidney Just) stated on the 26th December 2019 in the comments section (Link below) that the FF A320 wasn't currently working with the VULKAN API.


https://developer.x-plane.com/2019/12/vulkan-and-metal-testing-and-bug-fighting/

Sidney Just says:
December 26, 2019 at 1:07 am

Most add-ons should hopefully just work. X-Plane creates a bridge OpenGL context, which is used for 2D plugin drawing, and takes care of synchronizing it with the Vulkan/Metal world. This means that plugins drawing in 2D, ie UI and panels, will work as they are. 3D drawing isn’t supported, because we are limited by what we can share with OpenGL and there’s also a bit of overhead involved with switching between the worlds.

I have tested a couple of third party aircraft. FlyWithLUA based plugins tend to work quite well, the ToLiss A319, FF 757 and 767 as well as all FlyJSim planes. The one plugin that didn’t work was the FF A320.

Yes, this update should be out any time soon! They were hoping to have it released before the new year (as public beta?), but problems with texture streaming causing blurry textures on some lower end GPU's has made them look into a bit of a rework.

I think I'll hold back until the update is related. Hopefully X Plane Store will have a sale after than too.

[tweek✪]

The FFA320 certainly exceeds Zibo quality. Toliss A319 is a bit less sophisticated but still great.