Payware Companies

[Fozzer]

That list would be way too long and take weeks to compile!  :)

What are your interests and we can name a few...

Some of the big players are:

Real Air Simulations (the RealAir Spitfire may be the greatest add-on for FS ever...)
Carenado
IRIS
Shockwave
Lago
Alphasim
Skyunlimited
Aeroplane Heaven

Two companies I would not recommend:
Abacus (not great quality planes, though FSDS is indespensible)
Ariane (because it is owned by Peter Tishma and that is a VERY old story)

The history of Abacus...>>>>

About Abacus:
"Abacus is a publisher of quality software and computer books. We've been developing and publishing software for the home consumer since 1978  making us one of the pioneers in the personal computer industry........".

http://www.abacuspub.com/default.html

I can remember them back in the old 8-bit Computer days, (Apple 2e, Spectrum 48K, Commodore 64, Atari, etc.), and one of the few companies remaining, and still going strong... ...!

...and isn't our Felix associated with them in some way?... ..?

Paul...8-bit nostalgia... ...and EZ-Scenery enthusiast!...!

[Wing Nut]

Just remember, for every payware plane out there, there is also a freeware plane that is almost as good, if not better!

I.E.  Kirk Olsson's F-16 tops Lago's by far...

Meljet...

[born_2_fly]

Just remember, for every payware plane out there, there is also a freeware plane that is almost as good, if not better!

I.E.  Kirk Olsson's F-16 tops Lago's by far...

Meljet...

What about the Airbus Beluga?

Or the A340-500/600?  :P

[fighter25]

There really isn't a good freeware, F-22, B-2 out there. :-/ Wish there was, but Alphasim is going to update all of there models to FSX standard. Bump mapping, glass bloom, the FSX works! Can't what!

[Wing Nut]

There really isn't a good freeware, F-22, B-2 out there. :-/ Wish there was, but Alphasim is going to update all of there models to FSX standard. Bump mapping, glass bloom, the FSX works! Can't what!  8-)
Also what about Aerosofts F-16, that looks good.

Try the IRIS F-22, available here...

It's a former payware gone free now.  I've flown it several times and it's not a bad model at all.

[fighter25]

I like the IRIS YF-22 it is a nice model. But there is no animations like the ALPHASIM one. (The thrust vectoring nozzles) Plus they are going to update the flight dynamics so it will to do more slow speed, post and deep stall manuvers. Cobras, powerflips.

[beaky]

Here we go again...  ;)

Back in the early days FS2000, there was a company named Papa Tango software, headed up by Peter Tishma (get it? PT).  Tishma decided he was going to corner the market on copyrights for airline liveries and kill all freeware while he was at it, so hewent into negotiations with American Airlines for the sole use of their logos.  Mind you, this was not just payware, but freeware use as well.  Letters of Cease and Desist were sent out to all major sites telling them to remove all freeware models with the AA livery on them, and a panic set in.  Sites sprang up overnight dedicated to distributing AA planes, the forums were buzzing with rumors of where to get AA planes before they were all gone for good.  The rumors spread that United was next and that soon every airline would be under the control of some payware guru.  The AA flap was not his only scam, which included ripping off other developers, but I fail to remember the others right now.

The whole fight coalesced around Avsim (taking the side of the freeware community) and Flightsim (who took the side of Peter Tishma).  Avsim fought the good fight and pretty much won the day; they weren't the buttheads they are now, back then.  The only place you can find Ariane products anymore is through Flightsim.  The whole incident was probably the darkest hour ever for the entire FS community and even today, you don't find near as many American Airlines liveries around.  Tishma tried several companies which went out of business when people discovered who was running them before enough people forgot about him and Arianne was able to succeed.  Flightsim got a big black eye out of the thing, and except for their continued support for Arianne, is back in the FS world's good graces.  I have spoken to Nels Anderson several times and he really is an all right sort..

So stay away from Arianne...

Wow- I didn't know this.
You know what? "P.T" also stands for Petty Twit.

[born_2_fly]

Wow- I didn't know this.
You know what? "P.T" also stands for Petty Twit.

Wow it also stands for Petty, and a word that sounds like twit but with an a  :)

[Wing Nut]

It's also Tom Petty backwards!  

[C]

Don't forget Plane-Design either. Very high quality Lancaster and Lancastrian, and the awesome Spitfire XVI (and maybe another couple of Mks on the way). Not many payware products are beta tested by people with such vast and unique experience.

[fighter25]

Ah! What about Vertical Reality Simulations? The developers that are making that amazing F-18E!

[C]

Addictive Simulations are probably not worth spending money on either. Both their VC10 and Trident have VCs (and cost