Addons that ruined my day

[simmerhead 885]

Frankly, you are better off with default airports.

 

Trying to put a blame on a developer because of your incorrect assumptions is simply ridiculous. You are simply blaming the whole world for your FSX CTD misery. Why dont you sit down, grab a beer and think carefully before writing such stuff.

 

Firstly, uianimationcore.dll CTD is infamous and a little search on google will bring you results. The CTD is generated when using the menu with mouse clicks of more than 20 times~ (+/- 1) Personally, every time I install Windows 7/Vista, I just simply delete all traces of uianimationcore.dll instead of replacing it from an earlier windows etc. It does wonders for me and I have been using this method for almost 2+ years now. Try it and you will no longer see uianimationcore.dll CTD errors.

 

I put the blame where it belongs. The problem started immediatly after installing the addons and it didn't go away after a reboot or a reinstall. As I said, I've been using a clean FSX for a very long time with no errors. Others do fine, so I'm guessing it's a cocktail effect caused by my mix of addons. My point is that I don't like developers to mess with my FSX - it should be optional. There are many developers who manages just fine without adding crap into FSX itself.

 

As for the CTD after using the menus, it never happened before so I see no reason to delete the uiautomationcore.dll. Before yesterday it has never caused any problems, and I've been using Win 7 sice it was released on three different computers.

[JoshuaC 61]

I put the blame where it belongs. The problem started immediatly after installing the addons and it didn't go away after a reboot or a reinstall. As I said, I've been using a clean FSX for a very long time with no errors. Others do fine, so I'm guessing it's a cocktail effect caused by my mix of addons. My point is that I don't like developers to mess with my FSX - it should be optional. There are many developers who manages just fine without adding crap into FSX itself.

 

As stubborn as you are, I have got this uianimationcore since day 1 with a clean FSX when I reinstalled Win 7. Many people also have that.

 

Chances are, you installing the addon lead to increased usage of menus. (Bear in mind I am not saying that the addon is NOT the cause of it). However, insisting that its because of the addon but not trying to fix it is just wasting your money.

 

 

As for the CTD after using the menus, it never happened before so I see no reason to delete the uiautomationcore.dll. Before yesterday it has never caused any problems, and I've been using Win 7 sice it was released on three different computers.

 

If you are so insistent that you don't want to change anything, then go ahead. Then really, I see that you are just ranting here (nothings going to change even if you do so) if you are not looking for a solution.

[simmerhead 885]

 

As stubborn as you are, I have got this uianimationcore since day 1 with a clean FSX when I reinstalled Win 7. Many people also have that.

 

Chances are, you installing the addon lead to increased usage of menus. (Bear in mind I am not saying that the addon is NOT the cause of it). However, insisting that its because of the addon but not trying to fix it is just wasting your money.

 

If you are so insistent that you don't want to change anything, then go ahead. Then really, I see that you are just ranting here (nothings going to change even if you do so) if you are not looking for a solution.

 

I have got a clean FSX on a second computer, so I fired it up and messed around in the menus for 10 minutes. Guess what? No CTD.

 

Still, my point is make things optional - I wanted an airport and got all sorts of addon managers. Leave my FSX alone! There are plenty developers in the business who don't feel the need to add crap to my FSX menus.

 

As for my original post, it is a rant - pure and simple. It is not claiming to have the answer, it just tells the story of the day in the life of a casual simmer.

[guidos 2]

I agree with simmerhead on this one. I do not use FSDT products anymore. Not that they are bad, it is quite the opposite. But their couatl addon manager thingy does not like my FSX or vice versa. FSDT airport installed FSX ctd. Once uninstalled everything is fine. So certainly something there. But again that is one of the mysteries in the FSX world........

[JoshuaC 61]

I have got a clean FSX on a second computer, so I fired it up and messed around in the menus for 10 minutes. Guess what? No CTD.

 

Still, my point is make things optional - I wanted an airport and got all sorts of addon managers. Leave my FSX alone! There are plenty developers in the business who don't feel the need to add crap to my FSX menus.

 

You seem to forget that this errors don't ever appear on Windows XP. So does that mean that Windows 7 is at fault? Based on your principal, that if you have no problem before installing it and after installing there's a problem, Windows 7 is at fault. So I should I blame Windows 7?

 

(PS. I am biased to developers as I am a developer myself, so pardon me here)

 

Hmm about leaving the menus alone, I would agree that cluttering the menus with activation stuff is not a good idea. However, if the menus alone allow on the fly changes to settings, I would gladly accept them. BUT, the matter of fact is many developers like FSDT use those programs for advanced animation and effects.

 

To sum it up, why do you even choose to buy that scenery? The answer is most probably because its visually attractive and surpass the default by miles. However, the fact is that FSX has limitations Users are demanding more and more as time pass by so developers have to come up with advanced graphics and techniques, overcoming FSX limitations by using an external module to control things. Would you have bought that airport, if that airport does not have that external module AND also WAY less visually attractive?

 

If your answer is yes, the end of story is that you probably wont need to spend another penny on addons anymore.

[simmerhead 885]

Instead of blaming scenery developers, you should be pointing your finger at Microsoft and the ACES team that left FSX such a mess when it released.

I would say over 90% of the issues FSX has it because of poor coding, code missing, and general nonsense like DX10 not truly supported.

 

Companies like FSDreamteam and the like try to work around FSX's obstacles as best they can, and for the most part they do a great job at it.

If you want to ignore the fact that the way FSX was designed is the problem, go ahead. You're sorely misinformed.

 

Btw...I have products that use both Addon Manager and Coutl and I have zero issues with CTD. As explained above, the fix to uiautomationcore has nothing to do with 3rd party scenery but rather it's a UI problem with FSX itself.

Do some research next time before you slam reputable developers.

 

Still there is nothing better than FSX, so until there is I don't see how bashing a laid off development team is going to be constructive. Many addon developers however are still in business, and some of them create amazing airports without adding stuff into FSX. While a single addon might not be the problem, having 10, 20 or 50 of them installed can be problematic since many of them insist on being more clever than the next.

 

If every addon developer creates their own activation system, installation system, addon manager system, configuration system, well then the result is alienation of a lot of customers. I've seen more than a fare share of people give up on this hobby because all they wanted was to learn how to fly aircraft, but ended up tweaking, tuning, installing, reinstalling, uninstalling, googeling uiautomationcore.dll...instead.

 

KISS: Keep it simple stupids - that's my message!

 

To sum it up, why do you even choose to buy that scenery? The answer is most probably because its visually attractive and surpass the default by miles. However, the fact is that FSX has limitations Users are demanding more and more as time pass by so developers have to come up with advanced graphics and techniques, overcoming FSX limitations by using an external module to control things. Would you have bought that airport, if that airport does not have that external module AND also WAY less visually attractive?

 

If your answer is yes, the end of story is that you probably wont need to spend another penny on addons anymore.

 

You are so right. I bought these airports based on how amazing they looked. They are truly works of art. And yes, I'd buy many more of them if the exteral modules were optional. After all, I have many great looking airports that don't install stuff into FSX itself without my approval. You don't need external modules or addon managers to make a nice collection of 3D buildings.

[JoshuaC 61]

After all, I have many great looking airports that don't install stuff into FSX itself without my approval. You don't need external modules or addon managers to make a nice collection of 3D buildings.

 

Although I would agree that activation stuff should not be in the menus, but advanced animation DEFINETELY come from those external modules (moving jetways, for FSDT dynamic shadow, vehicle traffic and even HD textures needs an external module to force the HD setting to on). If you want just pretty 3D models, chances are you wont find any anymore.

 

Just bear in mind that there are tons of others willing to accept those external modules for those advance animations.(and also there will never be separate options to disable those external modules as having separate options increases cost of support) Keeping it simple is quite the contrary for most of the people. (I speak from experience that people dont want too dumbed down airbus systems.)

[simmerhead 885]

 

 

Although I would agree that activation stuff should not be in the menus, but advanced animation DEFINETELY come from those external modules (moving jetways, for FSDT dynamic shadow, vehicle traffic and even HD textures needs an external module to force the HD setting to on).

 

Just bear in mind that there are tons of others willing to accept those external modules for those advance animations.(and also there will never be separate options to disable those external modules as having separate options increases cost of support) Keeping it simple is quite the contrary for most of the people. (I speak from experience that people dont want too dumbed down airbus systems.)

 

Still, make it optional in the installer and you'd make both camps happy, either by simple checkboxes or a custom installation option.

[JoshuaC 61]

Still, make it optional in the installer and you'd make both camps happy, either by simple checkboxes or a custom installation option.

 

lol, you can never make both sides happy. If you dont have the external modules, and theres nothing to fight piracy, the developer will not be the happy one and wont develop any more addons at a lost.

[Richbro 3]

I entirely agree that the whole object of FSX is to fly, and the cost of that has been just too many hours tweaking and generally pratting about trying to find solutions in order that we find the sweet spot in our simming.

 

My philosophy of late after a succession of CTD's and chasing around trying to resolve things has been to limit the scenery and aircraft to a minimum, along with my time flying them, and get on with the rest of my life.

 

That's not defeatism, it's common sense.

[simmerhead 885]

 

 

lol, you can never make both sides happy. If you dont have the external modules, and theres nothing to fight piracy, the developer will not be the happy one and wont develop any more addons at a lost.

 

Well, ORBX to name one, does just fine with no activation system. But I see the dilemma of the developer. Still, no need to put that activation into FSX itself.

 

I entirely agree that the whole object of FSX is to fly, and the cost of that has been just too many hours tweaking and generally pratting about trying to find solutions in order that we find the sweet spot in our simming.

 

My philosophy of late after a succession of CTD's and chasing around trying to resolve things has been to limit the scenery and aircraft to a minimum, along with my time flying them, and get on with the rest of my life.

 

That's not defeatism, it's common sense.

 

I hear you! And people wonder why this is a niche hobby...

[JoshuaC 61]

And people wonder why this is a niche hobby...

 

At the end of the day, I will be honest here, that its the users that kills the developers drive to do a good addon. (too demanding people, demands for options, customization, no offense, this is just another one that kills any drive)

[aentwis 61]

Joshua, you are not being honest, you are stating your opinion...

 

As you are a payware developer, you should refer to your customers and not users... they are the ones paying for the licences to use the software you produce. Annoy them too much and they go elsewhere... And you must listen to your customers. Of course not all customers' wishes are plausible, but some are. If you feel the customers' demands for options, customization and so on kills drive, you are definitely in the wrong business.

 

You just need to step back and decide what should be done, what can be done, what cannot be done... then you make it clear to the potential customers what the features are, and stick to it. Of course, adding features is always going to be accepted by customers, but removing announced features is going to hit...

 

At the end of the day, as a payware developer, you want to sell as many of the product you can, you want to maximize the market. There are many different ideas as to how to do this.

 

A

[JoshuaC 61]

Joshua, you are not being honest, you are stating your opinion...

 

As you are a payware developer, you should refer to your customers and not users... they are the ones paying for the licences to use the software you produce. Annoy them too much and they go elsewhere... And you must listen to your customers. Of course not all customers' wishes are plausible, but some are. If you feel the customers' demands for options, customization and so on kills drive, you are definitely in the wrong business.

 

You just need to step back and decide what should be done, what can be done, what cannot be done... then you make it clear to the potential customers what the features are, and stick to it. Of course, adding features is always going to be accepted by customers, but removing announced features is going to hit...

 

At the end of the day, as a payware developer, you want to sell as many of the product you can, you want to maximize the market. There are many different ideas as to how to do this.

 

 

Firstly, I dont know why you are saying I am not honest but,

 

I say users for two reason.

 

1) There are people using pirated copies visiting our support forum

2) Customers are still users. They should never demand.

 

You seem to have that same consumer mindset that customer is King. In this industry, developers are not very well respected to say the least. Just because your are a customer dont entitle you to being disrespectful or demand. Sure, you can feedback, you can enforce your opinion, but dont overdo it. We are all humans.

 

You also seem to think that developing is very worth while. Why do you think I only mention drive and motivation? Because Money don't do enough to motivate. Theres not alot to be earned in this industry as developers. Selling more than a 100 000 copies is a dream come true.

 

Lastly, I am not in this business just for money. This is certainly not my day job and developing is just my hobby. My lifeline don't depends on it. That's why I don't think the sacrifice as developers are worth it and hence you will only see a downward trend in the addon market if this goes on. With that said, the Airbus Extended is certainly one of my last few commercial projects. Since now I am in, I cant get out. So once I am done with this, I am done developing.

[simmerhead 885]

At the end of the day, I will be honest here, that its the users that kills the developers drive to do a good addon. (too demanding people, demands for options, customization, no offense, this is just another one that kills any drive)

 

Maybe the developers listen too much to the wrong people and work towards the wrong segments of the market? It's not the loudness of the voice that determines the degree of truth being told.

 

You have a very good point though. Peoples expectations aren't always in synch with real world limitations, both technical and economical. After 25 years in this hobby I see the rising level of fidelity and complexity as both good and evil. I do however believe that the simming community would be much larger if a new sim came along that took usability and playability more seriously, but I understand that it is hard to see this if you are knee deep into the nerdy stuff.

 

In the end a developer need to follow his/her own heart. If you don't have a passion and drive for what you are doing it will show in the product. The transission from doing art as a hobby to a business is not easy and a balancing act I've seen very few master.