Completely revamped and recreated from essentially the ground-up, X-Crafts has released their long awaited E-Jets Family for X-Plane 11 and 12. Four jets plus a bonus fifth one coming are part of a package deal while each individual aircraft is available too. Features, pricing, and plenty of videos head.
A family of jets
Embraer have found some success with their E-Jets regional airliners over the last 20-years and flight sim developers and fans have picked up on the success of the series. X-Plane 11’s tenure featured two developers both working on iterations of the jet family. Now, X-Crafts have released what amounts to a nearly complete rebuild of their original project with the E170, 175, 190 and 195 all released today on the X-Plane.org Store.
X-Crafts are touting completely new 3D model works including a new cockpit, new cabin, and new exterior model as well as optimized performance, support for both X-Plane 11 and 12, as well as advanced avionics modeling. That modeling includes all autopilot modes including VNAV as well as an authentically modeled FMS. The flight model has been developed by well known flight model developer X-Aerodynamics and there’s a “next generation” FMOD sound package present. The jet series has also been configured for VR support as well as popular free plugins such as Terrain Radar, BetterPushback and AviTab.
Videos to watch
X-Crafts have released a batch of videos today with your traditional trailer as well as a sound only trailer that lets you focus in on the various sounds and visuals of the jet.
In addition to trailers, tutorials have begun to come out from the team starting with this quick GPU & APU start-up. There’s a lighting overview, a tablet introduction, and more. Keep tabs on this playlist as it looks like they intend to add more videos.
A known crash problem
Marko Mamula from X-Crafts also released a video today talking about one problem that the team was unable to fix. The crash is apparently specific to the E175 and X-Plane 12 with the crash happening during the loading screen. Loading into a Cessna 172 first and then loading the E175 is apparently a workaround until a fix is released.
The fix itself is not for X-Crafts to solve but rather Laminar Research’s to fix. It’s an oddly specific bug but hopefully a future X-Plane 12 update will resolve the problem.
Pricing to consider
Like many airliner products for X-Plane in particular, this one comes with a steeper price tag than some will be used to. Each individual jet is available for sale on the X-Plane.org Store for $74.95 USD. Alternatively, you can purchase the whole bundle for $134.95.
Anyone who previously bought the E175 v2.5 or E195 v2.5 will have the opportunity (for the next year) to get a 15% discount towards buying the full E-Jets Family product. From what we know, this 15% discount does not apply to the individual jets.
One additional item, the E-Jets Family package is going to eventually bundle in five jets as the Embraer Lineage 1000 is also planned to be released as part of this package. The Lineage is a private jet variant of the E190 with longer range and a luxury interior. It will be added at a later date and is included in the pricing.
Here are the links to each of the products on the the X-Plane.org Store.
Stormbirds 
I know this is a quality addon, but I just can’t help but feel that these XP devs still think they’re competing against P3D – because that’s what the prices look like.
Here we have a twin engine modern airliner for $75. And it’s a crowded market, especially in this price range.
Being “cheaper than Toliss” isn’t exactly a compelling Value Prop, IMHO.
If I spend big bucks, I want a special aircraft, like the Felis 747, Tolis A340, or Colimata Concorde. Or something with a real hook, like the Challenger 650.
Otherwise I can just fly the Zibo or A330 for free. Or the wonderful Aerobask Phenom.
Or hop in the stunningly well done PMDG 737-600 for $35 (which is more than an Apples to Apples comparo)
Pass on this until there’s a BIG sale that brings it in line with industry standards.
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After spending $12 on the ATR, $35 as you say on the PMDG 737-600 and about $40ish on the FSS e170/175 this does feel quite a bit more expensive. I know the market is smaller but I do wonder if the cost will hurt more than it helps? I’m not sure.
It does sound like X-Crafts have done a top notch job on the project so I hope this works out well for them.
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Yep – I really do wish them well. 🙂 I have one of their older ERJs and it’s a nice addon.
I’m sure pricing an addon is an extremely fraught process, but I think this is definitely a case where the devs should’ve taken a very broad, cross simulator view of the addon market.
If I were XC, I’d be looking to be the “no brainer” purchase for anyone seeking a high quality airliner in any sim. Especially since XP is, once again, in the Challenger Brand category.
I think PMDGs 737 family pricing was/is a brilliant move. If XC had followed that pricing (the super cheap least popular -600 and the more expensive multi-variant -700, etc.), r if they had gone the Fenix route, I’d be a lot more receptive.
In any case, I’m glad to see a High Fidelity airliner re-born for XP v12, but it looks like they’re stuck in the old margin vs volume rut.
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