P3D 4.1 compatiblility

[Pelium 0]

Is Mindstar compatible with P3D v 4.1?
I am having problems after upgrading to 4.1

[WarpD 824]

None of our products are 64bit at this time.

[Pilot Ike 1]

Are you planning to update your products to make them P3D v4 compatible?

[WarpD 824]

Yes, but we can not offer a timeline as to when this will happen.

I personally look forward to when we are 64bit compliant and move away from supporting 32bit... but that's just me. LOL

[obsoletepower 0]

So it’s been almost a year since P3D v4 was released and still no updates from Mindstar. Nearly all developers for P3D have moved to 64-bit by now including direct competitors......This is more than disappointing to say the least. Not so much the lack of 64-bit versions but more so the lack of updates from the developers at Mindstar.

[WarpD 824]

Unlike those who aren't actually direct competitors at all (they use Garmin's software, we don't)... we have to write everything ourselves, including database access.  So we're actually having to come up with our own proprietary database engine so that the end user doesn't have to deal with setting up MySQL or SQL Server or... well, perhaps you get the picture.

In that regard, there isn't anything we can offer for updates.  As we've already stated, we're working on it.

Edited February 28, 2018 by WarpD

[M20E-TN 0]

Well-stated, Ed (yet again). I suspect you're growing weary of having to repeat yourself!

[WarpD 824]

I am fine with people asking, it's why we have this forum.  I don't even mind if I have to repeat myself.  There are far worse things to deal with in life than answering questions.

[wdseith 0]

I've been a huge supporter of your P3D add-ons for quite awhile. But I have to say, your timeframe for updating them to 64-bit compatibility is very disappointing. It was May 30, 2017, when v4 was released. 13 months ago. That's an eternity in the tech world for updates.

64-bit desktop processors and OS's have been around since 2001. Since 2009, the default configuration for new desktop computers sold has been 64-bit processors with a 64-bit OS. I'm sure I'm missing something obvious here, but this doesn't strike me as anything close to a new challenge at this point.

[WarpD 824]

Our primary customer base isn't using P3D v4.  They are using v3 or older.  They drive our primary business model and response.  We will address v4 when our schedule permits.  It is all we can do.  A v4 compatible version will happen and we are indeed working on it as well.  But it is not our primary set of projects right now.

20 hours ago, wdseith said:

I'm sure I'm missing something obvious here

I agree.

Edited June 22, 2018 by WarpD

[wdseith 0]

Welp, it wasn't obvious before, but now it is--the consumer market that supports your pro market, is no longer a priority. Got it. Thanks for clearing that up.

[WarpD 824]

While I can certainly understand you feeling offended about our business priorities, I also believe that you are being unrealistic in your expectations.

We are not a large corporation with teams working on independent projects that get blended together by coding wizards.  We are a small company with a set resource capacity for development.  We have several products that are used in the aviation training industry, such as our G1000, our 430/530 combination, our Avidyne Entegra, and our KAP140, that we offer to the home user market.  Of those, only the G1000 started out as a home market product.  The rest of them were developed for aviation training first.  All of these products get updates from time to time as we correct issues and/or add features.  At no point do we require a repurchasing of the product to obtain the newest version release or any core features that might get added.

The aviation training industry drives our production schedule, and we've never kept that quiet.  When we first released the 430/530 combo we pointed out that their feature set was based on what flight schools needed for teaching new pilots.  We released the 430/530 combo because someone asked us to allow it for home use.  We did the same with our Avidyne Entegra and our KAP140 autopilot.  It was requested that we provide a home use license by individuals who were familiar with them from having used them in a training environment.

We currently have an easy dozen projects in various stages of development at this time.  All of them are for the aviation training industry.  A few of them, when completed, will most likely show up in one or more of our products that you may already own.  If they do, it would most likely be available for download at no additional cost.  At the same time, we are indeed working to be able to release a 64-bit version of our products.  It may not happen at the speed you insist it should, but it will most certainly happen.

So... while I am disappointed that you are offended by our business priorities... I will not accept that we are wrong in doing what is best for our company.  It is one of the reasons we are still in business today.

[M20E-TN 0]

Ed, are you SURE that you're not tiring yet?

I'm tiring for you!

Jim

[wdseith 0]

Ed, I wouldn't expect, nor would I ask, that you do any work on a 64-bit version without charging users for it. LM charges both their commercial and consumer users full price for their major version upgrades to Prepar3D, and I gladly pay it. MS charges a subscription fee for their Office 365 package, and I pay it with glee because all updates and feature improvements are included. When Ford puts new features on their trucks, no one expects to get them for free--everyone knows if you want them, you have to buy a whole new truck. Your software takes development time and money and you are absolutely entitled to profit from that. If you thought I or anyone else was asking you to do any of this for free, that is absolutely not the case.

I appreciate your continuing explanation of your business priorities, and I'm sorry you're disappointed by my request. I'm disappointed that you find my request so aggravating. The 64-bit version of Prepar3D provides a substantial improvement in graphics quality and performance over the 32-bit version on my system. As a consequence, I have no intention of rolling back to V.3.x. 

Commercial users are constrained by the FAA certification process so the upgrade process is not nearly as easy for them as it is for consumers. And yet the number of consumer flight sim users is likely several orders of magnitude higher than commercial users. The iTunes store sells apps for a buck. Why? Volume. Sure, flight sim consumer users aren't as voluminous as iTunes users are, but there are certainly many more of them than there are RedBirds out there.

[WarpD 824]

In a prior post you said "the consumer market that supports your pro market"... that is not a correct statement, nor are your conclusions in your latest post regarding volume sales.  I will attempt to clarify:  The pro market supports us offering products to the consumer market.  Without it, there would be no products available.  None.