PTA update for Prepar3D v4.4

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

Ouch!

[kevinfirth 1,392]

20 minutes ago, jabloomf1230 said:

Ouch!

Tell me Im being unreasonable Jay? ;)

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

Nah. I gave up on PTA a long time ago. 

[GSalden 4,656]

Unfortunately my PM to Matt sent exactly a week ago here at Avsim hasn’t been read yet ...

[cj-ibbotson 77]

9 minutes ago, GSalden said:

Unfortunately my PM to Matt sent exactly a week ago here at Avsim hasn’t been read yet ...

The silence is not looking good. Looks like we may have to change to Tomatoshade etc when v4.5 is released. I've always been reluctant, not just because we bought PTA, but because Tomatoshade comes with its own issues and performance loss if aircraft reflection profiles are used.

Chris

[GSalden 4,656]

16 minutes ago, cj-ibbotson said:

The silence is not looking good. Looks like we may have to change to Tomatoshade etc when v4.5 is released. I've always been reluctant, not just because we bought PTA, but because Tomatoshade comes with its own issues and performance loss if aircraft reflection profiles are used.

Chris

I use TS for the water surface tweak from my PTA preset first and then apply PTA without the water surface tweak. Works like a charm.

 

[MattDavies 320]

"The silence is not looking good"

At this point, silence is the only thing you'll get from me as I spend every day now being essentially harassed and stalked over my every move. I'd rather focus my time and energy trying to resolve this & the other problems that are now introduced because of 4.5 than battle with people on a forum who, well, I actually have no idea what motive they have... I guess everyone needs their punching bag in life - some people clearly found that here. 

Gerard makes a good point regarding using TS for the Water Surface Tweak - if it works in TS then awesome, the guy behind that clearly has an understanding of how shaders work to a larger degree than me. However, the chance of any sort of collaboration of knowledge is highly unlikely as the last time I spoke to him, he lied to my face. I tend not to trust people after they screw me once (sorry, bad experiences in the past).

If anyone has any knowledge of how the HLSL works and would like to help out, i'd be more than grateful - an extra pair of expert hands would at this point be most welcome. 
 
Anyway, as always, when I have more news I will be the first to share it. I can't be bothered spending time reading toxic volatile comments - all they do is demotivate me which right now is something I do not need.

Sorry for being human. 

[cj-ibbotson 77]

Matt I didn't mean any disrespect so please forgive me as it's not in my nature. I love PTA and whilst the missing water tweak hasn't bothered me I was a little concerned about the future of PTA given how P3D is evolving. I appreciate you are a busy man.

Chris

[kevinfirth 1,392]

3 hours ago, MattDavies said:

"The silence is not looking good"

At this point, silence is the only thing you'll get from me as I spend every day now being essentially harassed and stalked over my every move. I'd rather focus my time and energy trying to resolve this & the other problems that are now introduced because of 4.5 than battle with people on a forum who, well, I actually have no idea what motive they have... I guess everyone needs their punching bag in life - some people clearly found that here. 

Gerard makes a good point regarding using TS for the Water Surface Tweak - if it works in TS then awesome, the guy behind that clearly has an understanding of how shaders work to a larger degree than me. However, the chance of any sort of collaboration of knowledge is highly unlikely as the last time I spoke to him, he lied to my face. I tend not to trust people after they screw me once (sorry, bad experiences in the past).

If anyone has any knowledge of how the HLSL works and would like to help out, i'd be more than grateful - an extra pair of expert hands would at this point be most welcome. 
 
Anyway, as always, when I have more news I will be the first to share it. I can't be bothered spending time reading toxic volatile comments - all they do is demotivate me which right now is something I do not need.

Sorry for being human. 

Sorry Matt, but asking for an update you committed to provide months ago is not harrassing you, its a legitimate customer request.

I appreciate that you may not know enough about shaders to fix PTA yourself, but you bought the code, sold a product and said it would be updated.  The undisputed facts are that you havent updated it.  IIRC you confirmed in the past that you bought a new BMW with profits from PTA? If so, and if you cant fix it, how about you sell the car and pay someone to do it for you, then go back to wasting time on Twitch, because unfortunately by your own admission you are NOT concentrating on fixing the problem...

I will now give up on PTA, and by extension you, not because I'm a hater, but because you clearly are incapable of delivering what you promise.

I'm very sorry if that truth hurts, if you feel that way I'd invite you to prove me wrong, and I'll be more than happy to eat my words.

[Neonx95 11]

There is no need to victimize yourself Matt, you are not shy of using harsch language or insults against other Developers and their products yourself.

[MattDavies 320]

On 3/4/2019 at 12:45 PM, kevinfirth said:

Sorry Matt, but asking for an update you committed to provide months ago is not harrassing you, its a legitimate customer request.

I appreciate that you may not know enough about shaders to fix PTA yourself, but you bought the code, sold a product and said it would be updated.  The undisputed facts are that you havent updated it.  IIRC you confirmed in the past that you bought a new BMW with profits from PTA? If so, and if you cant fix it, how about you sell the car and pay someone to do it for you, then go back to wasting time on Twitch, because unfortunately by your own admission you are NOT concentrating on fixing the problem...

I will now give up on PTA, and by extension you, not because I'm a hater, but because you clearly are incapable of delivering what you promise.

I'm very sorry if that truth hurts, if you feel that way I'd invite you to prove me wrong, and I'll be more than happy to eat my words.

Ironic that you're trying to impose "undisputed facts" when everything you've said has zero truth - it's simply you taking a wild guess at how I choose to live my life and spend my money.

I have many flaws - I openly admit that on a daily basis. Actually I find it quite uplifting to be able to see my flaws and work on them instead of burying them deep away and hoping that they will eventually disappear (guess what? they don't).

So let's break down your attempt to call me out.

1) I have NEVER confirmed that I purchased anything with the profits of PTA. Ironically, I just finished up my accounts last week and right now the company is running at a reasonable loss due to investments into developing products.
2) The ONLY time I've ever used PTA profits was to secure a loan for myself so I could have weight loss surgery, which saved my life. I used it as part of the loan application process to prove I could pay things back. 
3) I have offered money (a beyond reasonable amount) to several people to develop PTA. Everyone seems super keen at first but then once they see the source code, they shy away. The industry is too small to have an abundance of shader devs.
4) Twitch is an awesome outlet for people like myself to actually interact with humans for a few hours a week. I live a very lonely life & having some time to chill/chat with fellow simmers is something I absolutely adore. I do not see it as wasting time. 

So there you go, what more can I say? I am doing the best that I can with an unfortunate situation.

You are free to do as you wish in regards to which products you use. I am not here to try and convince you otherwise. Regardless of whether you proclaim to be a hater or not, you take a strangely stalker-like approach to me & my life. You seem to know a hell of a lot about me... well, you think you do.

You're a very toxic person, Kevin. I guess that makes two of us... except I suppose I try to do right by the community now and again.

I will do right by PTA, regardless of how long it takes me.

 

On 3/4/2019 at 2:02 PM, Seven87 said:

There is no need to victimize yourself Matt, you are not shy of using harsch language or insults against other Developers and their products yourself.

Not victimizing, pointing out the facts.

I speak my mind, sure. I've definitely insulted my fair share of people, however there's always a reason behind it. What can I say? I'm overly passionate. 

 

===============================================================

 

I am done discussing this now - I will post further updates as and when I have them. 

Edited March 5, 2019 by MattDavies
Can't spell apparently & removed reference to breakdown in communication with original dev as this has now been resolved.

[fidiyikovo 11]

With all due respects, I believe this response fails to identify many key concerns raised by customers and observers alike.

1. Why was there not a contingency plan to keep the product in development should a project participant leave unexpectedly - as you say occurred with this project. I understand you explained difficulties in finding developers who were willing to undertake the responsibility, but there is an obligation to support the product nonetheless. If you are unable to do so, that sounds to me as if it were a major failure in planning.

2. What is the plan moving forward. Can you offer anything more substantial than "I will do right by PTA?" Is this difficulty in finding a developer going to eventually prove fatal to the project? As it was described, it sounds as though development is permanently frozen until such time as a new developer is found (feel free to correct me if I am wrong.)

3. What is this "lie" that broke your trust in the developer of Tomatoshade. I imagine it not exactly fair to make such an accusation without any proof or justification knowing that the person you have accused does not participate in public debate or discourse.

4. I don't think anyone blames you or cares for how you spent the money you made from PTA. It is rightfully your money, assuming you have legal rights to the IP, and legal rights to sell the program. If anyone criticizes your use of funds made from PTA beyond basic operational expenses, they are just trying to divert a serious conversation. Pay no attention. Your money is your money, and if you choose to use it on surgery or cars or boats or planes, so be it. That is well within your rights to do.

5. You do mention however that the company is running at a (very substantial) loss. Can you elaborate on whether or not this will impact the ability for sim tweaks to update PTA going forward?

As an eager and somewhat concerned customer, I hope you can address some of these concerns so we can gain a clearer picture of the future of PTA.

Thanks!

 

[MattDavies 320]

@fidiyikovo Before I answer your questions, let me be clear that PTA was the very first "business decision" i'd ever made in my life. It actually wasn't initially supposed to be anything close to a business, I just simply wanted to keep a tool alive that I used & enjoyed. I also made some mistakes in that process due to being extremely new to dealing with people & everything which comes with selling products. I have learned a tremendous amount over the last 3 years, all of which I will use to push myself and the rest of the team forward to success. We want to make the best software that is available to you - we're all immensely passionate about Flight Sim & to me, that's all that matters. 

So...

1) I'd never entered into any sort of "deal" like this before - It was a very spare of the moment decision because I didn't want to see a tool that was used by myself & so many die. I assumed (and wrongly so) that there would be people out there that had the knowledge to be able to continue develop it. Lesson learned (although I do feel there are people out there, it's just a case of digging deep for them).

2) Plan is to integrate it with Simstall (our eCommerce/distribution platform that we've been developing) and add a bunch of features that turn it into more of a rounded "tweaking" tool, add a community sharing section & some other cool features that we're yet to finalize completely. 

3) I entered into a conversation with the Tomatoshade guy after I bought PTA. I wanted to work together with him but he declined saying he wouldn't ever have the time nor capacity to take on something like this. He also told me that Tomatoshade was a personal project between him & a few friends which would never make it to the public. It's shady. I don't like shady people. I also don't like being lied to. If he'd of been straight up with me then fair enough. I could go down the avenue of claiming that some of it is PTA's IP but it's really not worth it. I've tried to stop people stealing others work in the past and people find a way to spin it on it's head regardless of who is in the right or wrong. Nowadays I just go by morals & it seems not many people have them.

4) Thanks. I appreciate a sensible point of view - it's refreshing

5) It's running at a loss due to a variety of reasons. The first is that I got screwed over by a Wall Street "investor". Second to that, I had to rebuild the entire company because of what happened and thus we are now running at a loss. Hopefully the foundations we've now laid as a rebuilt team will mean we're only running at a temporary loss. 

In the grand scheme of things, PTA is a very small fish in my very big pond (I know that analogy is terrible). All of this has stemmed from one tweak not working and me perhaps showing my human side. If the tool was genuinely broken to the point of it being unusable I would pull it off the market until it was resolved. 

The sales from PTA has enabled great things - projectFLY being the primary visible one at the moment. We'll have a few within the year which will also showcase exactly where the money went. I know I don't need to justify what I do with my money but I understand that some people do listen to what I have to say and letting them assume I just blow my money on material word not allowed isn't something I want them to assume. I want them to know that it's absolutely worth investing in your future if you have the opportunity to do so.

I'm not here to make enemies. I just want to do right by the community that essentially saved my life - whether people choose to believe/see it that way is up to them. 

Thanks. 

 

[kevinfirth 1,392]

13 minutes ago, MattDavies said:

@fidiyikovo Before I answer your questions, let me be clear that PTA was the very first "business decision" i'd ever made in my life. It actually wasn't initially supposed to be anything close to a business, I just simply wanted to keep a tool alive that I used & enjoyed. I also made some mistakes in that process due to being extremely new to dealing with people & everything which comes with selling products. I have learned a tremendous amount over the last 3 years, all of which I will use to push myself and the rest of the team forward to success. We want to make the best software that is available to you - we're all immensely passionate about Flight Sim & to me, that's all that matters. 

So...

1) I'd never entered into any sort of "deal" like this before - It was a very spare of the moment decision because I didn't want to see a tool that was used by myself & so many die. I assumed (and wrongly so) that there would be people out there that had the knowledge to be able to continue develop it. Lesson learned (although I do feel there are people out there, it's just a case of digging deep for them).

2) Plan is to integrate it with Simstall (our eCommerce/distribution platform that we've been developing) and add a bunch of features that turn it into more of a rounded "tweaking" tool, add a community sharing section & some other cool features that we're yet to finalize completely. 

3) I entered into a conversation with the Tomatoshade guy after I bought PTA. I wanted to work together with him but he declined saying he wouldn't ever have the time nor capacity to take on something like this. He also told me that Tomatoshade was a personal project between him & a few friends which would never make it to the public. It's shady. I don't like shady people. I also don't like being lied to. If he'd of been straight up with me then fair enough. I could go down the avenue of claiming that some of it is PTA's IP but it's really not worth it. I've tried to stop people stealing others work in the past and people find a way to spin it on it's head regardless of who is in the right or wrong. Nowadays I just go by morals & it seems not many people have them.

4) Thanks. I appreciate a sensible point of view - it's refreshing

5) It's running at a loss due to a variety of reasons. The first is that I got screwed over by a Wall Street "investor". Second to that, I had to rebuild the entire company because of what happened and thus we are now running at a loss. Hopefully the foundations we've now laid as a rebuilt team will mean we're only running at a temporary loss. 

In the grand scheme of things, PTA is a very small fish in my very big pond (I know that analogy is terrible). All of this has stemmed from one tweak not working and me perhaps showing my human side. If the tool was genuinely broken to the point of it being unusable I would pull it off the market until it was resolved. 

The sales from PTA has enabled great things - projectFLY being the primary visible one at the moment. We'll have a few within the year which will also showcase exactly where the money went. I know I don't need to justify what I do with my money but I understand that some people do listen to what I have to say and letting them assume I just blow my money on material word not allowed isn't something I want them to assume. I want them to know that it's absolutely worth investing in your future if you have the opportunity to do so.

I'm not here to make enemies. I just want to do right by the community that essentially saved my life - whether people choose to believe/see it that way is up to them. 

Thanks. 

 

Thankyou Matt, I personally dont give a hoot what you do with the money AS LONG AS YOUR PROMISES ARE KEPT.. In fact I'd be over the moon for you to deliver on PTA and buy a ferrari, it might incentivise other people to develop! ;)

You have said previously that you had engaged someone to rewrite PTA, is that still the case? If so what progress has been made? If not why please?

You also referred to v4.5 - I assume you are under NDA - are you testing PTA under v4.5 and are you able to comment on the effects of v4.5 on PTA operation please? :p

I would like to receive honest updates whatever they are rather than a tirade of self indulgent blather :p

Like I said before, my confidence in your ability to deliver is unfortunately now zero, so my expectations are also zero.   But I still wish you success and hope you prove me wrong!

[MattDavies 320]

Calling it self indulgent feels more like your way of justifying your initial "blather". I was asked for an explanation, I gave one, it wasn't good enough, so I went a little deeper. I don't particularly enjoy having to share the intricacies of my life with people just so they'll get off my case.

I paid someone 50% of the agreed figure to convert PTA to a different language and then they took the money and ran. Thankfully they were pretty dumb and it was all done via Escrow so I got it all back. I am still looking for someone. 

Regarding 4.5, yeah NDA. 

I'm pretty good at proving people wrong - that's what I've had to do my entire life.