by toprob » Fri Jul 27, 2018 4:59 pm
I hadn't heard this podcast before, although it does cover similar questions to the FSElite interview at Vegas. Some interesting points for a developer like me, but also one relevant point relating to the general malaise which seems to surround simming, especially here in NZ in mid winter. He's asked if LM intend to scrap the Academic license, now that FSW is dead, which seems to be a wide-spread community concern. I assume because people would prefer to see a good old entertainment license, which MS always supplied, and would carry on if FSW hadn't been killed off prematurely. People have always been inordinately confused and wary of LM licensing, which would be a major concern to any sim maker except LM, as I think it really affects the takeup of Prepar3d. Personally I don't see the problem, if LM are happy to sell a cheap version without having to 'prove' your validity, then I'm all for it. However a lot of people seem to baulk* at this.
I do wonder what I'd do if I didn't have the developer license -- would I pay NZ$300 for a simulator? Sure, but if I was made of money, otherwise I'd be happy to be a 'learner' for the rest of my life.
Some freely given mention of PBR (physically based rendering) as an option in v5 -- this is the sort of thing which we see in games using Unreal Engine and Unity, and would certainly give a real boost to graphics in Prepar3d. On the other hand, I'd certainly like to see work in other areas, such as a brand-new autogen system, a 'smart' AI, and a more reality-based 'AFCAD' system. And not to forget that FSW used PBR, plus TruSKY, and the community reacted with a huge... ho hum.
*as always, I'll stick with my spelling for words which my current spell checker insist are wrong -- like 'baulk' instead of 'balk'.
, here's a recent interview with project leader Adam Breed
