Is ProFlightSimulator.com a SCAM??

I've received a bunch of info from ProFlightSimulator.com saying they're a new 64 bit program. Then I go to the review pages on the internet and several people are saying it's a scam and old old software. Does anyone have a definitive answer??:confused::confused:

As Nels pointed out less than a month ago, definitely a scam !

 

Please read this https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/content.php?12915-Op-Ed-Buyer-Beware

As Nels pointed out less than a month ago, definitely a scam !

 

Please read this https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/content.php?12915-Op-Ed-Buyer-Beware

 

THANKS SO MUCH!!! I was sure if I asked people I trust I'd get an honest and correct answer!!;)

This is probably a scam which involves a free flight simulator called Flightgear. In 2011 I bought something for around the GBP £70.00 mark with a similar title to this which turned out to be Flightgear. I tried to get my money back but ended up losing out due to some loophole or another. Being nearly five years ago my memory of exactly what happened is sketchy with the exception of names and this all definitely turning out to be a ROYAL rip-off. Suggest you avoid on that basis. Best Regards :)

I've received a bunch of info from ProFlightSimulator.com saying they're a new 64 bit program. Then I go to the review pages on the internet and several people are saying it's a scam and old old software. Does anyone have a definitive answer??:confused::confused:

 

This "new" flight simulator has been marketed under different names, including ProFlightSimulator 2017, Virtual Pilot 3D, Flight Simulator 2017, and even Microsoft Flight Simulator 2017 (it has no affiliation with Microsoft).

 

The "creators" of these simulators shown on the different websites are just stock photos. I cannot post an image on here, but I here are the links to each site and its "creator's" stock photo.

 

proflightsimulator.com or proflightsimulatorx.com (Dan Freeman) https://www.tineye.com/search/68c77b267b061a0a76e0cc139daf6d90030ed867/ (I couldn't find the photo on the stock website because they have so many, so that's the reverse image search link)

 

virtualpilot3d.com (Ozil Aguirre) http://men-dating.letsbond.com/media/articles/412/dont-be-a-wuss_medium.jpg

 

The other two are no longer available.

 

There are also many fake (or uneducated) reviews online saying that it's an awesome simulator, which is not exactly a lie but is misleading. FlightGear is a good game, and being a copy of it, PFS is also a decent game. But it's NOT worth $97! You can get it for FREE at flightgear.org. Also, it is quite obvious with video titles like "this is proflightsimulator review from real user" that they are fake.

 

The following paragraphs are about my experience with PFS, as I was tricked into believing the software was worth the money.

 

I bought PFS and it is just a copy of an old FlightGear version. The only difference is the launcher is different and some of the places the program would usually say "FlightGear," it says "ProFlightSimulator." However, most of the time it still says "FlightGear," especially if you get into the more advanced menus of the program.

 

Technically it is legal for them to sell this copy of FG because FG is an open-source program, which means that anyone can get it for free and anyone can download the program's code, redistribute it, etc. They basically just ran the FG code through find-and-replace software to replace "FlightGear" with "ProFlightSimulator."

 

PFS's website says it comes with "120+ aircraft" - but the only ones that are even DECENT are the default ones (Cessna 172P and B777-200ER). Many of the planes are nothing but hollow shells that you can only fly with the shortcut keys, as there is no cockpit and thus no learning experience. Another chunk of them aren't even the same planes as advertised. (Example: the Antonov An-225 is replaced by the An-22, if I remember correctly). The "+" means that after the 120 aircraft they have, they added miscellaneous garbage that they found on the FlightGear forum, like this dumb car thing). There are even some aircraft that are just a GRAPHIC of themselves that do not even fly. It is very laggy on a computer that exceeds the software requirements.

 

In addition to all this, the site says it offers tutorials "for every aircraft." This is BLATANTLY false, it only comes with tutorials for the planes that had them originally in FlightGear. It says it has video tutorials, and I will have to look into that, but as far as in-game goes, good luck finding any help.

 

Now, considering PFS is a copy of FlightGear, you must be thinking, "well, at least if you bought it, you could use any aircraft for FlightGear," but NO. Most well-developed airplanes from FG (such as the B777s) are downloaded in a single .zip file that contains multiple aircraft (like a pack). The PFS launcher isn't able to handle installs of multiple aircraft from a single file. Even some that do NOT come in packs will crash the game before it loads.

 

The graphics are worse than FG because, so far as I've seen, PFS is based on a previous version of FG. The default aircraft are different as well, making it hard to find tutorials on them. The default aircraft for FG are very well-covered on YouTube as far as tutorials go.

 

I don't know about others, but for me, my computer REFUSES to download scenery files (which have to be installed individually, in chunks of the world) in .tgz format, which is a compressed .tar file. It will only download the file as .tar, which will not install to PFS. (This is another difference between PFS and FG - FG scenery is in .zip files, not .tgz files.) The files are almost all over 100MB, which is the maximum limit for essentially all online file converters, after which you have to pay to convert files. The files that are small enough to be converted don't work even after you convert them.

 

The support team is of no help. They say, "We are referring this to level 2 support, please wait for 2-3 days for a reply" but never answer after that, especially if it is a question based on the similarity between their program and FG).

 

Here is a copy of my email to them, before I had purchased the program and when I was wondering if it was the same as FG, as many people had said but had yet to be confirmed:

 

"Hello guys. I was checking out your site and I would definitely be willing to pay for a simulator that lives up to these expectations. However, I go to YouTube for some reviews and most of the stuff that comes up is people saying you guys just copied the code of FlightGear (a free simulator) and added slightly better graphics. I would like a straight answer, because it's not right for you to be hustling people (many say you are). I'm worried that my $97 could be wasted on a ripoff, but please prove me wrong!

Thanks."

 

And their reply:

 

"FlightGear is a great game in its own right but ProFlightSimulator is better in several aspects.

 

- We have over 120+ aircrafts to choose from and our database is growing. ( we add planes on a regular basis and you can get them for free as a member)

 

- We have the entire world scenery to explore. Our monthly updates includes updated real-life objects and landscapes to fully enhance realism.

 

- Members have lifetime access to all updates. There is no hidden or recurring costs.

 

- We are constantly developing the game to make it better with new features all the time. Microsoft is much slower in producing updates as they are a large company. As a smaller outfit and a tighter development unit, we are much more responsive and committed to make this the BEST flight simulator."

 

This is almost a direct copy of an answer from the FAQ, where they were saying "Why we [they] are better than Microsoft FSX or any other flight sims!" - they just substituted "FlightGear" for "FSX, "shown below:

 

"Microsoft Flight Sim X is a great game in its own right but ProFlightSimulator is better in several aspects.

 

- We have currently over 150+ aircrafts to choose from and our database is growing. (we add planes on a monthly basis and you can get them for free as a member)

 

- We have the entire world scenery to explore. Our monthly updates includes updated real-life objects and landscapes to fully enhance realism. No other flight sim in the market provide updates as fast or as accurate as we do.

 

We have a paid team of full-time scenery developers working 24/7 to model real landscapes and objects based on Google Maps.

 

- Also, unlike other flight sim games, there are no add-on costs or hidden costs. Members have lifetime access to all new aircraft and new scenery packs. There is also FREE program updates for 5 years. Unlike our competitors who "force" you to purchase new software every year, you'll get 5 years of main program upgrades for free.

 

- We are constantly developing the game to make it better with new features all the time. Microsoft is much slower in producing updates as they are a large company. As a smaller outfit and a tighter development unit, we are much more responsive and committed to make this the BEST flight simulator."

 

In conclusion, DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT even THINK for ONE SECOND about paying $97 for a crappy version of a game yoh can get in much better quality for FREE.

 

And trust me, I am not trying to just hate on the program because I don't like it. It's because it truly IS a scam and nobody deserves to be tricked like this.

 

I am going to make a video of myself using PFS to show how it is a copy of FG, because there are currently no user-made (not company-made) gameplay videos of PFS on YouTube. When it is uploaded it can be found here: https://m.youtube.com/c/lordmaliscence

 

I am also planning to file a case against them with the Better Business Bureau, because though the selling of open-source software is legal, much of their false advertising is not.

 

Thanks.

 

-Lord Maliscence

Those images are not of creators of software.

 

Flightgear is a program that is created Open Source. Free. Not only free to

 

download and play, but also to improve upon or even to share.

 

What a scam like proflightsimulator does is take (steal) Flightgears hard work, and go and sell it.

Technically it's not stealing perhaps, as the GNU public licence 3 open source

 

licence allows sharing. even for a small fee if needed.

For example if you give it to somone on a CD, you can ask for the money you paid

 

for that cd. (Or at least that's how I understanfd it was intended.)

Making a (small) profit from selling it is I think even allowed technically. Which is

 

probably why Flightgear.org doesn't stop proflightsimulator from doing what

 

they are doing.

The only requirement is that the original

 

But to the customers of proflightsimulator it's a different matter.

To them it is proflightsimulator is certainly a scam.

First of all it costs them a load of money, while the same prgram cam be

 

downloaded for free.

Second: it's a very old version of Flightgear. not the latst one.

 

 

Flightgear is a great program. Especially the scenery. It was originally made for

 

the Linux OS but now works on Windows and Apple computers as well.

And you can install it on as many pc's as you like.

 

It undoubtedly looks and works much better then then whatever you have.

I would uninstall what you have now, and try flightgear instead.

 

You can download it for free at Flightgear.org.

There's also a Forum full of nice, serious people to help with questions.