Its really wonderful and exciting to see the enthusiasm and excitement by developers for V4. Its like a huge weight has been lifted from all the restrictions of the 4gb VAS limit and its strict managment requirements.  Although they will have some work cut out for them in moving over to 64bit, this new SDK provides all kinds of tools and features that can be newly incorporated into V4 translating into new opportunities for them to market.  Im excited for them too and really urges in a new era. Below is an example from 'Virtuali' from FSDT. Similar sentiments are from others.  LM has really made an effort to listen to them and incorporate their wishes which goes against what many say that LM doesnt really care about our hobby flight sim learning section. They do , and must be so refreshing from Microsoft who didnt do much listening at all. In the end we all win, to what is turning out to be a turning point year in fight simulation from all kinds of platforms. 

Quote

We think Prepar3D V4 is the most important release of the past years but, the most exiting things are those you cannot see, yet. The P3D SDK always was much better than the FSX one but, with 32 bit, there wasn't much we could do to exploit these features, because there wasn't much space to put what was already possible. And, the V4 SDK has been vastly upgraded, allowing things that could really push forward realism and immersion. 

Some of them were already available in our software, but we haven't used so far, but will surely plan to, once the community at large will realize how much better V4 is.

Lastly, I wanted to thank Lockheed Martin for the terrific support they gave us during the Beta. Remembering the old flight sim Betas (I think the first one I got involved with was FS95, the first Windows version), they were mostly bug hunting and finding installation issues. Microsoft always said that, once a product hits Beta, it's too late to add new features.

This one was different, and LM really did their best to LISTEN to us and our ramblings, and added things, even to the last minute, because we asked for it. Some of these suggestions, will open the door for exiting new product features, which weren't planned or even possible before.

 

I don't know why this thread doesn't get attentions.

It is important for the third party developers to maintain a healthy cooperative relationship with LM because flight sim community relies on the third party add-ons development. If the third party developers are encouraged and having enthusiasm on developing for the sim. The community will also be benefited and grow lively and sustainably.     

I am very happy to see how LM listened to the third party developers and cooperative with them, it is also important for us. I already have seen many developers said how they loved the new toolkit for P3D V4, that is always great news! If the developers are optimistic regarding the future of P3D V4, as a consumer, so do I!

 

Cheers,

Gordon 

 

The tools and documentation plays a big part. Xplane has next to no sdk which might explain the lack of support 

There has been little to no information provided about the updated sdk.  It would be great if LM released the sdk documentation prior to v4 release next week, but it wont happen..and its only a few days to go :)

2 hours ago, Return7 said:

I don't know why this thread doesn't get attentions.

It is important for the third party developers to maintain a healthy cooperative relationship with LM because flight sim community relies on the third party add-ons development. If the third party developers are encouraged and having enthusiasm on developing for the sim. The community will also be benefited and grow lively and sustainably.     

Cheers,

Gordon 

 

Exactly that. If they are really this pleased about it, then we can hopefully see what world it opens up in terms of new addons and present ones that are enhanced. Supporting and encouraging can only be a positive wave.

Perhaps that we havnt seen V4 ourselves leads to lack of support for now. Or maybe the fear of upgrade fees, but I dont know many hobbies that are cheap. There will always be expenses whether its to fix an antique up, or that RC plane you crashed or to get new aircraft or scenery. 

4 hours ago, NZ255 said:

The tools and documentation plays a big part. Xplane has next to no sdk which might explain the lack of support 

I think you might be incorrect for this point. I saw some updates on SDK for XP11 in the developer blog. However, I also have checked this post:

http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/109063-x-plane-11-sdk/

So I don't know if they will develop SDK or not for XP11.

Cheers,

Gordon

With 2 major announcements/releases within the past few weeks, it's nice to see the dev community's excitement compared to the general mood of the previous announcement. 

This excitement and level of certainty gives me hope and helps me decide which 64bit platform I will be moving to in the near future. Exciting times ahead.

5 hours ago, NZ255 said:

Xplane has next to no sdk which might explain the lack of support 

 

From the developer's one mouth:

11.02 is a small maintenance patch. Our main focuses were:

• Performance tuning we could do without too much technical risk. (We'll do the more adventurous stuff in 11.10.)
• Fine tuning the various SDKs.
• Bug Fixes.

I am encouraged to see the positive reception so far by the third party community. Seems that LM has done a good job engaging with some major third party partners and we consumers will benefit. Also, I really think that removing the 32-bit limitation will open up many new horizons for our developers to create much enhanced products.

This is the time when I see P3D really separating from FSX in quite noticeable ways that will compel many, many more FSX users to join the P3D community. Wouldn't it be great to see a unified buying force ready for truly next gen third party content.

To have Lockeed Martin interested in flight Simulation is a big blessing !!!

15 hours ago, HighTowers said:

Exactly that. If they are really this pleased about it, then we can hopefully see what world it opens up in terms of new addons and present ones that are enhanced. Supporting and encouraging can only be a positive wave.

Perhaps that we havnt seen V4 ourselves leads to lack of support for now. Or maybe the fear of upgrade fees, but I dont know many hobbies that are cheap. There will always be expenses whether its to fix an antique up, or that RC plane you crashed or to get new aircraft or scenery. 

Exactly. Speaking of myself, I would upgrade to V4 without a hesitation. I have already flown triple sim (Flight Gear, X-Plane 11 and Prepar3D) They all have merits. I enjoy all of them. V4 is a huge leap from V3, if your favourite paid add-ons are supported at free of charge upgrade. It's now 64bit, With things still improving and innovating. Why not embrace the improvement? You throw tons of money into the hobby, and now you can have much better experiences with small amount of investment to enjoy it. I wouldn't say no to it. So Let;s get flying and don't ruin it ;)