Just a little over one month ago, I wrote about the FlightSimStore, their demise and my own personal story regarding an issue I had been experiencing in attempting to upgrade a flight sim add-on aircraft. If you happened to miss this article, I encourage you to read it first as it will provide much of the backstory which I’ll omit from this follow-up and closure article.
One thing I do want to reiterate from the previous article. My decision to write about my struggles with the FlightSimStore was not in any way meant to name & shame the add-on aircraft developer (who I’ll name in just a minute). In addition, my intention was to not an effort to get something for nothing. I simply wanted to alert the flight sim community to be careful about making future purchases from the FlightSimStore and to also protect their investment by downloading their purchases and making copies of their purchase receipts/transactions.
Our Community
The flight sim community is small and I believe we’re a special breed of simulation gamer. While I’ll always argue that flight simulation is NOT just a game, it’s a simulation….but to the outside world it is just a game. But I believe our community which is comprised of those of us who enjoy flight simulation and those who develop the add-ons are a very special breed of gamer. I would wager to guess that nearly each and every developer of flight sim add-ons are also flight simmers. While capitalism and the free enterprise system makes it possible for those developers to operate a business, employee others and market their creations….I believe they also do it because they love and care about the hobby of flight simulation. After all, it shows in their finished product and it shows in the way they support their customers.
Thank you Majestic Software
Yes, the aircraft add-on which all this has been about is the Majestic Bombardier Dash-8 Q400. I originally purchased this aircraft from the FlightSimStore back in May 2016 for Prepar3d v3.x. Again, I direct you to my published article from early July for all the backstory details.
As I explained back in July, I reached out to Majestic for their help. While it took a few weeks for Majestic Software to provide a solution, I certainly don’t fault them for the delay. Majestic Software relies on their online partners/retailers to market and sell their add-ons to the flight sim community. Other than technical support, this partnership handles all the rest. For a small business, this usually a fantastic relationship as it allows the developer to do what they do best, while leaving financial transactions, bookkeeping etc. to someone else. While some developers may sell direct and also market through online retailers, Majestic Software only utilizes online retailers. So naturally Majestic needed a few weeks to work with their other online retailers on a solution.
The Solution
If you are like me and originally purchased your Q400 from the FlightSimStore and either need to download your aircraft again, or wish to upgrade it to the 64 bit version for P3D v4, then just follow the steps below.
+++ATTENTION FLIGHT SIM STORE CUSTOMERS+++
Over the past few months there has been some difficulty for Flight Sim Store Customers who purchased the download versions of the Majestic Software products. We are now making the downloads available to customers who have originally purchased the Q400 from the Flight Sim Store.
1. Acquire the full installers for your originally purchased Q400 Edition:
Since FSS no longer allows users to download products, we now provide the full installers of the MJC Q400 to all customers who purchased the Q400 from Flight Sim Store.
2. Where can Flight Sim Store users gain access to the new installers?
The new installers are accessible via the USER AREA which can be found on the Majestic Software website.
3. The Flight Sim Store customers who would like to upgrade their existing Q400 edition, can write to our Support Department (support (at) majesticsoftware (dot) com). Be sure to include supporting credentials used for the purchase of your original Q400.
a. Order Number
b. Vendor
c. Email address used with purchase
d. Full name used with purchase
e. Indicate which 64 bit version of the Q400 you are interested in upgrading to
Please note:
This announcement is applicable ONLY to owners of the Majestic Software PILOT and PRO Editions of the Q400.
The Majestic Software Team
Final Thoughts
I’m once again a very happy virtual pilot. I once again have the Q400 in my virtual hangar and I can’t wait to install a few liveries and fly it once again. Of course, it’s been well over a year since I’ve flown it and it’ll be a few weeks before I get the chance to start the learning process all over again. I must state for the record, the Q400 is perhaps the most difficult aircraft I have in my virtual hangar. As a reminder I own a lot of add-ons including all PMDG offerings for P3D v4, the QW787, CS757 and many others. The Q400 challenges me in a good way and I look forward to flying this beautiful aircraft and learning even more than I knew before. Thank you Majestic Software!
Until next time…
Happy Flying!
Jerry