Simtweaks site and activation server down

[B777ER 2,475]

8 hours ago, Adamski_NZ said:

I don't think any of the TOGA products give you the flexibility of PTA or TS. I haven't used any TOGA add-ons, but get the impression they're for people who'd rather not spend hours tweaking - and are happy with a quick fix.

Adam.

Simtweaks still down, BTW.

Latest version of the ENVShade allows tweaks.

[B777ER 2,475]

9 minutes ago, GSalden said:

Statement on the Project Fly site :

Hi all, Matt here.

I purposely left it until today to publish an update as yesterday I wasn’t in the right headspace to write something. I would have spent the entire update talking about irrelevant personal stuff, which although has an impact, isn’t something that’s going to “fix” things any time soon.

However, now I’m being “threatened” by various outlets (mainly media), who are quite happy to post (trumpism coming) “fake news” until I say something… so, I’ll keep it straight to the point (and a massive fu…. actually no, not worth it - you know EXACTLY who you are).

V4 is essentially complete. Beyond adding further features (which will forever happen) and perhaps tweaking a few things here and there, it’s good to go. This is pending the “green light” from our dispatcher data partners, AviationCloud. They were away on a business meeting last week which wasn’t communicated in time for me to do anything about.

Yesterday, in a similar situation to October, our Google Cloud Platform account was suspended for lack of a better phrase, not paying the bill. As I learned from October, normally a part payment restores the services. I paid as much as I could physically afford (around 1/4), but sadly, they didn’t restore services. At the time of this message we’ve got around £1950 to clear which is about the same as Octobers bill.

It’s just bad timing - that’s what it boils down to. That and Google’s strange billing setup (they tell you they’ll bill you for example on the 15th, but then apply for it days earlier and if it doesn’t go through, they suspend you).

OK, SO EVERY CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING… RIGHT? KINDA.

Since the October issues, we’ve had so many awesome people reach out to offer their services and as a result of this, our v4 infrastructure is not only faster, but cheaper(!).

We’ve also, as a result of some advice from fellow software developers upgraded our core systems to use either different or more up to date versions of the frameworks we use. That has rapidly improved the speed of the app.

The good stuff aside. As in October, we have outstanding server costs that until cleared, stop us from migrating the data from Google Cloud to our new infrastructure. I did mention there may be some sort of secondary funding drive - I definitely left it too late and for that I apologise (if you follow my Twitch channel you’ll know what’s been going on in my personal life).

So I’m appealing to the side of the community that continues to humble me in the midst of all the idiots.

If you’re willing (and able!) to contribute to projectFLY & it’s costs, you can donate using the link below (or on the website):

 

I will naturally pay the bill off the moment it’s possible to do so. We have kept a record of every projectFLY supporter & their supporting amount. Once v4 is out and settled, we’ll be in touch with a small, but hopefully meaningful way of saying thank you.

Once we have the data back, we will migrate it over to the new infrastructure and then release v4. Between now and then, we’re continuing to push builds out to our internal testing team & eventually the wider Focus Group. This will at least ensure you have the best possible experience from the new app.

I will end this update by saying that once this is resolved, there will be no further issues in terms of downtime or funding (unless something catastrophic happens… never say never, I guess!). As I said in the last update, v4 should continue to keep projectFLY completely self sustained and we can then continue to work on other projects.

Thanks for your continued support & patience, we’re almost there!

Matt

TL:DR - I need more of your money.

[roi1862 589]

Well, i guess we can say goodbye to PTA for now... Anyone can help with transition to Tomatoshade please ? I am terrified to start tweaking all over again now. 😢

Edited December 12, 2019 by roi1862

[Evros 310]

8 minutes ago, roi1862 said:

Well, i guess we can say goodbye to PTA for now... Anyone can help with transition to Tomatoshade please ? I am terrified to start tweaking all over again now. 😢

PTA presets should be able to be directly injected to TomatoShade.

[edpatino 1,959]

24 minutes ago, B777ER said:

Latest version of the ENVShade allows tweaks.

Hi, Eric:

I think ENVSHADE is very good and I plan to install it into the Sim in the following days. I jumped out of the PTA boat already, tired of hearing all those stories.

I have a question regarding ENVSHADE tough: it modifies you default P3D shaders and it's needed to do a backup of them before applying ENVSHADE, or it's like something up to ENVSHADE and we don't need to worry about?. I don't see the option to restore the default shaders in case you want to.

Could you kindly clarify that for me?.

Thanks, Ed

[YoYo 374]

I need the last version of PTA for P3Dv4.5, where I can download it now and do activation ???

 😡

Edited December 12, 2019 by YoYo

[CFIJose 5,485]

I tried to warn users about needing online access for a shader tweaker. Now you see why I was complaining? This dev doesn't pay his bills and then relies on the community to bail him out. He needs to make PTA freeware and get out of the business.

[kevinfirth 1,392]

Just a light-hearted translation for anyone thinking of sticking their hand in their pocket.... 😛

1 hour ago, GSalden said:

I purposely left it until today to publish an update as yesterday I wasn’t in the right headspace to write something. I would have spent the entire update talking about irrelevant personal stuff, which although has an impact, isn’t something that’s going to “fix” things any time soon.

"I've word not allowed it up again, so I'll distract you with tales of woe and despair.  What do you mean you can't use PTA, I'm the victim here, honest..."

1 hour ago, GSalden said:

However, now I’m being “threatened” by various outlets (mainly media), who are quite happy to post (trumpism coming) “fake news” until I say something… so, I’ll keep it straight to the point (and a massive fu…. actually no, not worth it - you know EXACTLY who you are).

"People are criticising me for not being able to run a business properly mummy"

1 hour ago, GSalden said:

Yesterday, in a similar situation to October, our Google Cloud Platform account was suspended for lack of a better phrase, not paying the bill. As I learned from October, normally a part payment restores the services. I paid as much as I could physically afford (around 1/4), but sadly, they didn’t restore services. At the time of this message we’ve got around £1950 to clear which is about the same as Octobers bill.  It’s just bad timing - that’s what it boils down to. That and Google’s strange billing setup (they tell you they’ll bill you for example on the 15th, but then apply for it days earlier and if it doesn’t go through, they suspend you)

"I spent the cash on something gimmicky, because I know some people will always pony up some more cash"

1 hour ago, GSalden said:

OK, SO EVERY CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING… RIGHT? KINDA.

"Wait, for it, here comes the sting....!"

1 hour ago, GSalden said:

Since the October issues, we’ve had so many awesome people reach out to offer their services and as a result of this, our v4 infrastructure is not only faster, but cheaper(!).  We’ve also, as a result of some advice from fellow software developers upgraded our core systems to use either different or more up to date versions of the frameworks we use. That has rapidly improved the speed of the app.

"Bait and switch, jam tomorrow"

1 hour ago, GSalden said:

The good stuff aside. As in October, we have outstanding server costs that until cleared, stop us from migrating the data from Google Cloud to our new infrastructure. I did mention there may be some sort of secondary funding drive - I definitely left it too late and for that I apologise (if you follow my Twitch channel you’ll know what’s been going on in my personal life).  

So I’m appealing to the side of the community that continues to humble me in the midst of all the idiots.

If you’re willing (and able!) to contribute to projectFLY & it’s costs, you can donate using the link below (or on the website):

"Don't complain, I told you earlier there was a sting..."

1 hour ago, GSalden said:

I will naturally pay the bill off the moment it’s possible to do so. We have kept a record of every projectFLY supporter & their supporting amount. Once v4 is out and settled, we’ll be in touch with a small, but hopefully meaningful way of saying thank you.

Once we have the data back, we will migrate it over to the new infrastructure and then release v4. Between now and then, we’re continuing to push builds out to our internal testing team & eventually the wider Focus Group. This will at least ensure you have the best possible experience from the new app.

"It's ever so close - really! (Until the next time)"

1 hour ago, GSalden said:

I will end this update by saying that once this is resolved, there will be no further issues in terms of downtime or funding (unless something catastrophic happens… never say never, I guess!). As I said in the last update, v4 should continue to keep projectFLY completely self sustained and we can then continue to work on other projects.

"I know I said this last time but I'm pretty sure some of you will fall for it again."

1 hour ago, GSalden said:

Thanks for your continued support & patience, we’re almost there!

Matt

"Got to go, my next pizza delivery is here!"

 

CAVEAT EMPTOR

[B777ER 2,475]

1 hour ago, edpatino said:

Hi, Eric:

I think ENVSHADE is very good and I plan to install it into the Sim in the following days. I jumped out of the PTA boat already, tired of hearing all those stories.

I have a question regarding ENVSHADE tough: it modifies you default P3D shaders and it's needed to do a backup of them before applying ENVSHADE, or it's like something up to ENVSHADE and we don't need to worry about?. I don't see the option to restore the default shaders in case you want to.

Could you kindly clarify that for me?.

Thanks, Ed

I am 99% sure it loads the default shader's before applying the ENVShade settings to them. I did not see where they backed them up to but I imagine it is done in the background. I made a copy of the default shader's and out them somewhere I could find them later if needed prior to install if the program. I think you will find ENVShade provides a very realistic view of clouds in the atmosphere.

[roi1862 589]

2 hours ago, Evros said:

PTA presets should be able to be directly injected to TomatoShade.

Thank you ! Completed the transition ! Some tweaks didn't went through but i applied them manually on TS. That's it, new chapter began.

[Twenty6 692]

2 hours ago, kevinfirth said:

Just a light-hearted translation for anyone thinking of sticking their hand in their pocket.... 😛

Could not have said it better. Sucker beware!

[edpatino 1,959]

2 hours ago, B777ER said:

I am 99% sure it loads the default shader's before applying the ENVShade settings to them. I did not see where they backed them up to but I imagine it is done in the background. I made a copy of the default shader's and out them somewhere I could find them later if needed prior to install if the program. I think you will find ENVShade provides a very realistic view of clouds in the atmosphere.

Ok, thanks. I think it would be better to do a backup of the entire ShadersHLSL folder just in case, as you did.

Cheers, Ed

[tymk 105]

Just a heads-up, the simtweaks.com site and the activation server are back up again...

[GSalden 4,651]

So better wait a little then drawing hasty conclusions ...

 

 

Edited December 12, 2019 by GSalden

[somiller 694]

7 hours ago, GSalden said:

So better wait a little then drawing hasty conclusions ...

 

 

No, actually I think the "hasty" conclusion is quite in-order. Every business has problems...only REALLY poorly run businesses repeat the same problem over and over and expect people not to notice. It's kind of like liars...everybody wants to believe them, but after telling the same lie over and over, nobody listens anymore. And this airing of personal issues is just beyond the pale...nobody gives a #%$% anymore, we've heard it over and over. Face it folks, what we have here is a train wreck. It ain't ever going to get better.

Good luck to you poor folks that keep hanging on.

Kind Regards,