Crowdfunding! :grin:

It already works in the music business, well - somewhat.

I can see this crowdfunding work here as well, we'll have to set clear standards to which the plane has to live up to and then the modeller can accept the terms/pay.
The modeller then presents his work to an independent 'referee' who decides if the aircraft lives up to the agreed standards/quality, and then makes the amount of money available for the modeller.
Everyone happy right? :grin:

How was it organised with Pe-8 model? Are players happy with the result?

man, you must be really desperate to fly a Defiant..

The A2A paid add on for MS FSX has brilliant cockpits. Heck, the morse code unit in the Spitifre is clickable. Plus, they have the different cockpit revisions for the Mk I and II. Hell, you need to manage your oxygen if you don't want to pass out at various altitiudes.

It's the best cockpit I've ever seen in a game. I would say it's as much a step above the CloD ones as the CloD ones are a step above the 1946 ones.

Thanks Zorin, that could be it. I remember it added up to several thousand dollars US.

Speaking more generally, as others have said, the money side of it isn't the biggest hurdle.

After researching and gathering all the required real-life data for the model to be based on, you'd have to find someone, or a group of people, who are skilled enough to make the 3D models and surface textures (to the standard we've come to expect), and who aren't too busy getting paid to use those skills on 'real' jobs.

Then they or someone else would have to research and work out some kind of flight model for the plane, even if you've just added cockpits to a previously non-player-flyable plane, as the AI uses a more simplified flight model if I understand it correctly.

And after all that, you'd either have to submit it to Luthier/Ilya in order to actually get it in the game, or wait for the SDK and include it as an unofficial add-on plane.

None of that's impossible, but it's a lot of work, requiring a lot of organization, communication and co-operation. If it were just a money matter, we'd probably already have seen a lot more content being added to the game that way.

It actually has parallels in some ways to the restoration of real-life aircraft. It takes a lot of time and money and dedication.

The idea of contracting third parties to make extra content for the sim also ties in with the subject of paid-for add-ons and DLC in general. Because of the economy of scale (or whatever that term is) it's actually easier for the official game developers to make additional content and then spread the cost of that over the larger market that's willing to pay for it when it's included with traditional add-ons or expansion packs. We all pay less when the content is bought by everyone. But we pay more for it (or the developers lose money) when people are free to not buy it at all and do without it, as the cost is then spread over a smaller market. Anyway, don't want to get into that subject.

I think what it adds up to is, like anything, if you want a custom made product, you'd better be prepared to spend more for it than the off-the-shelf stuff, and be willing to wait longer for it, and maybe even put in more than money . Which is sort of what we're all doing anyway to a lesser extent, with combat flight sims already being a niche, not mass-produced cookie-cutter-ed, product.

Hmmm, rambled on a bit there...

Sorry... where can you purchase a house or a car with $1000 ?? Just thinking to move there XD

I did not mean functionality I meant quality. When I compare these to CloD I do not want to buy this.
http://www.shockwaveproductions.com/...s/image005.jpg

http://www.fspilotshop.com/images/a2mkimage001.jpg

Maybe I searched for wrong images.

Same is with DCS P-51 WIP. I would love to buy it but looking at cockpit WIP I will not be able to force myself flying it after CloD. But this may be just me.

-Almost all- COD cockpits are truly master artwork not yet surpassed in any sim or game. This is true even with the actual downgrade lighting from the original version, that give they more 3D look than the photorealistic original sensation. I don´t know only one cockpit in MFS -not even third party- that look so good and detailed even from close look as COD ones, and this is not only about having every gauge ( working or not, as we are talking about how it looks, not how it behaves ) or every screw in its place, but also the way this items are modeled and integrated in the whole image. The tricks they use to achieve this not only works, also works very well.
COD modelers can feel proud of his master artwork, and if I would be them I would be every day asking coders to fix the light again, so the amazing work can be enjoyed in all his glory XD

I hope they can maintain the actual level in all the new planes they are working on but I doubt there are a lot of third party outside capable of doing it.

well if anyone is interested in trying the second half of this film might be of some use?

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bf4_1320784890


(and the first half could be useful for a Welli;) )