What's going on with FSW?

[theohall65 64]

Flawed conclusion without verifying information from more than one source.  Seeing as one group I chat with has a DTG dev who regularly talks with us and hasn't even mentioned EA ending, I highly doubt the veracity of the .nl source.

So what is the state of FSW?

1) It is NOT P3D, never will be, and was never intended to be, so making P3D comparisons is pointless.

2) It is still EA and is 99% likely it still will be after the date the .nl link stated.

[DTG_Cryss 244]

Since trueSKY has come up a lot in this thread (particularly those "snow" effects when you're at the bottom of the cloud layer. That is an issue that needs to be fixed, but we also described trueSKY as a foundation for what we want to implement into the simulator. 

With the foundation set, we can focus on clearing up those bugs (altitude is another that comes to my mind) and taking trueSKY to the next level within the simulator. Since we're working with Simul on trueSKY, it can make things take time. So when the next update to trueSKY comes, we'd rather go big than release small incremental updates. 

That's just my example ^_^

[Torg Smith 31]

20 hours ago, pracines said:

http://www.simflight.nl/2018/01/13/dtg-fsw-bijna-gereed/

If FSW version 1 gets released from early access before February or even November (at this rate), it will die faster than MS Flight and Flight School. A flight sim world record of failure and a huge waste of time would be on the books.

The 100 or so die hard fans of FSW are basing their loyalty on: "its early access"....talk about...well.... a kick in the teeth.

I will remain in belief of Steven Hood that he will make sure that this is the "go to" sim before it gets out of early access. 

I suppose there is a slight chance that there will be a 1 terabyte update to totally transform FSW by the end of January.lol

That is not SimFlight's URL. Here is SimFlight's URL.

http://www.simflight.com/

notice the .com at the end of the true URL. Notice the .nl at the Fake URL. That is Fake News.

EDIT: It was pointed out to me that the .nl was part of the SimFlight network. I have verified that the menu bar of links across the top of the page has a drop down list call SIMFLIGHT NETWORK. In that list there is a link SIMFLIGHT BENELUX. I was able to get to the link http://www.simflight.nl/2018/01/13/dtg-fsw-bijna-gereed/ from the SimFlight page.

Edited January 17, 2018 by Torg Smith
Correction to my Fake News.

[Holdit 551]

12 hours ago, pracines said:

It is good to see people holding onto hope for FSW. I do too, but I will not defend FSW as it is presently; DTG needs to show me some more evidence that this has a chance to be a go to sim first. There is some good aspects of FSW, but the bad outweigh the good for me

This is sort of where I'm at. I like the potential it shows so far, but not enough to fly it regularly. FSX:SE and all I have invested in it takes my time at the moment and it will take something quite compelling for me to switch. That applies to P3D too, of course; I'd rather not make the switch and incur all that extra expense while FSW is still an unknown quantity.

I'm not even close to switching to it yet, but I'm definitely watching this space with interest.

[Rimshot 1,135]

27 minutes ago, Torg Smith said:

That is not SimFlight's URL. Here is SimFlight's URL.

http://www.simflight.com/

notice the .com at the end of the true URL. Notice the .nl at the Fake URL. That is Fake News.

Simflight.nl is part of simflight.com. Just check the links under 'simflight network'. The url is perfectly valid. However I doubt if this news is true.

[Torg Smith 31]

DTG has said that they are planning an update later this month. I can't read the language, but put it through the translator. The current version is 1.3. Version 1.0 would be going backwards.

[torium 207]

54 minutes ago, Torg Smith said:

The current version is 1.3. Version 1.0 would be going backwards.

Maybe Dovetail is going to remove something? 

[switch686 50]

For those that aren't on it, why don't you you join the FSW Break discord server. https://discord.gg/2nWM57R  Devs are there, though we don't bombard them with questions...they have work to do.  The DTG Forums are for bugs and reports. The Discord server offers a way to interact with them in a community way within our guidelines...

[FlyBaby 659]

22 hours ago, pracines said:

none of this proves me wrong....

Yes it does.

However, your quest to constantly bash FSW hinders you from accepting the facts that disqualify your statements.

[TheFlightSimGuy 514]

2 hours ago, FlyBaby said:

Yes it does.

However, your quest to constantly bash FSW hinders you from accepting the facts that disqualify your statements.

He or she is the most uniquely and consistently pessimistic and belligerent voice in this community. For someone to say that FSW is destined to fail because they haven't improved the sim enough, while advocating a bi-annual $200 "upgrade" path with p3d, which is nothing but bug fixes and sim director updates, is very telling. It's just rambling to me at this point, which is why I don't waste time or energy debating with such an incoherent logic. 

[flyforever 267]

It's too bad that, in a forum, anything can be said irrespective of one's age, maturity, or common sense. I find many forums filled with "shoot from the hip" statements and counter statements that simply go no where . They don't add to the pleasure, nor the advancement of a sim-- any sim. In my opinion, it's another form of road rage, where some lose all sense of reality.

[arsenal82 120]

51 minutes ago, TheFlightSimGuy said:

He or she is the most uniquely and consistently pessimistic and belligerent voice in this community. For someone to say that FSW is destined to fail because they haven't improved the sim enough, while advocating a bi-annual $200 "upgrade" path with p3d, which is nothing but bug fixes and sim director updates, is very telling. It's just rambling to me at this point, which is why I don't waste time or energy debating with such an incoherent logic. 

 

well i do not agree with the 'which is nothing but bug fixes and sim director updates in p3dv4

here is the list of the changes from v3 to v4

64-bit simulation architecture

Unicode compatible

Modernized User Interface (UI) design for quick navigation and customization

Updated native virtual reality (VR) support for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive

Updated vector data (coastlines, lakes, rivers, roads, rails, parks, streams and utility lines) for:

Africa

Middle East (Israel, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and more)

Southeast Europe (Greece, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Black Sea, and more)

Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and more)

Updated custom 3D model placement in Athens, Egypt, Israel, Dubai and Hong Kong

Hundreds of new updated generic 3D model buildings in Tel Aviv and Hong Kong

Updated Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 90m digital elevation for Southeast Asia and Middle East regions

Updated native mission gauges to Scaleform

Views and panels can now be docked into any undocked view

Updated multiplayer voice chat codec – higher quality chat audio

Expanded ribbon drawing capabilities in the Navigation Visuals screen including drawing based on vehicle type and the ability to change color per category

Added video recording capability. Can be assigned to a key event in the UI.

Control Tower can now be selected in the Select Airport screen

Custom cameras can now be saved on a scenario or global level

Material temperatures – IR sensor views now react accordingly

3D trees (SpeedTree) integrated into autogen system. This feature can be toggled on and off in the UI under Options – World (Dynamic 3D Autogen Vegetation).

New 3D rain/snow system. This feature can be toggled on and off in the UI under Options – Weather (Detailed Precipitation).

Dynamic lighting support

Support for local SpeedTree wind effects

Support for higher resolution ground textures

Autogen visibility range can now be configured

Updated various textures including runways, taxiways, hangars, and terminals

Added SceneryLodOrigin and TerrainLodOrigin fields to camera definitions preventing terrain paging issues when switching between certain views.

New and updated default vehicles:

F-22 Raptor (Updated)

F-35A Lightning II (Updated)

F-16A

F-16AM

F-16C

Lockheed Electra 10A

Milviz P-38L

Sikorsky MH-60K (Updated)

Sikorsky S-70A (Updated)

Sikorsky UH-60A (Updated)

Sikorsky UH-60L (Updated)

Sikorsky UH-60M (Updated)

Sikorsky UH-60Q (Updated)

New default avatars:

Army Infantry

Navy Male Blue Camouflage

Rebel Male (1/2)

Soldier Desert

Soldier Jungle

Soldier Spec Ops

Soldier Swat

Soldier Winter

Arab Male Casual (1/2/3)

Steering Set controls can now be set in the UI

Added new white smoke marker particle effect

Professional Plus Only

F-16 aircraft has weapons and countermeasures

Specific avatars have weapons

New defensive flare countermeasure

Additional advanced graphics features for low latency training devices

SDK and SimConnect

Compiler and SDK updated to Visual Studio 2015

Scripting capabilities (Scenery/Model/Material)

Added PDK functions to draw primitive objects

Reorganized and updated SDK Documentation and samples

Support for loading managed dll add-ons

Avatar object collision can now be configured

Added temperature value and scripting to materials

Specific cameras can be configured to not output sound when active

Custom materials now supported for runways, taxiways, and aprons

Added PDK service for reporting plugin errors

Added IsSelectableVehicle override to Aircraft and Sim configs allowing vehicle to bypass the category based selection filter

Precipitation rate now exposed through ISimObject, Simulation, and Object variables

Added rope visual effect support to SDK

Added detail texture material scripting support including offset, rotation, blend weight, blend mode, and alpha channel support

The PDK is now accessible through the Panels SDK

Panel API now available through the PDK

Added Environment Force Service to PDK

Added IgnorePostProcess entry to camera definition to disable HDR or FXAA on a per camera basis

Added interfaces to play sounds in xml gauges using Lua

Added second UV channel in model exports and files

Exposed Final Alpha Blend material property to material scripts

Weather information now available through RPN and Lua scripts

Added UV offset property to material scripts and shaders

Update materials to support additional Detail Alpha Flags

Updated Material Scripting to support second UV Channel and new Detail Properties

Friendly names can now be added to control events

 

[TheFlightSimGuy 514]

1 hour ago, arsenal82 said:

 

well i do not agree with the 'which is nothing but bug fixes and sim director updates in p3dv4

 

That's fine, so which of those "next gen" features would you put up against something like Truesky, PBR, image based lighting, ssao, a physics overhaul, a modern simconnect without FSUIPC, 3d gauges, global 3d rain, etc? Because the majority of that list that you provided, are exactly what I said: sim director updates and bug fixes.

Improved vector data for Africa, in a sim that has largely the same ground textures as FSX isn't exactly worth $200 for me. P3d was the last to the 64 bit party and the only discernible feature I can see and feel when using that sim are the dynamic lights, which aren't global like XP11, and are a bit of a performance hog. Dynamic reflections could have also been a nice one, but that is another compromise that isn't worth it in terms of frame rate loss with 0 performance improvement in over a year.

If I'm mistaken, let me know. But from v2.5 to v4.1, the only improvements to the experience of using p3d, is cloud shadows, dynamic lights, and finally going 64 bit for a whopping $600 in licenses BEFORE addons. That's not next gen, that's just silly. 

[scotchegg 4,170]

"That's not next gen, that's just silly."

That's a very quotable bit of feedback.

[arsenal82 120]

1 hour ago, TheFlightSimGuy said:

That's fine, so which of those "next gen" features would you put up against something like Truesky, PBR, image based lighting, ssao, a physics overhaul, a modern simconnect without FSUIPC, 3d gauges, global 3d rain, etc? Because the majority of that list that you provided, are exactly what I said: sim director updates and bug fixes.

Improved vector data for Africa, in a sim that has largely the same ground textures as FSX isn't exactly worth $200 for me. P3d was the last to the 64 bit party and the only discernible feature I can see and feel when using that sim are the dynamic lights, which aren't global like XP11, and are a bit of a performance hog. Dynamic reflections could have also been a nice one, but that is another compromise that isn't worth it in terms of frame rate loss with 0 performance improvement in over a year.

If I'm mistaken, let me know. But from v2.5 to v4.1, the only improvements to the experience of using p3d, is cloud shadows, dynamic lights, and finally going 64 bit for a whopping $600 in licenses BEFORE addons. That's not next gen, that's just silly. 

Yes i agree; p3d price tag is costly; but the sim is reasonable  fully functioning sim; to me there is no preference; Fsw is what is and P3d is what it is; i use all sime available out there really. Some simmer rather avoid the pain of Early access stages; and prefer to splash the $$$ to be up and running straight away because of hobby time limitations etc etc. Yes Fsw have nice ideas but still have a long way to go at the moment.