March 19th, 2020 – Development Update

[goates 576]

3 hours ago, RazorBlade said:

This is what I don't understand either: "With guidance from our leadership, we have taken steps to establish remote work spaces that will minimize impact on our development efforts." I mean, we are talking about Microsoft. This company is literally building remote work-spaces for the entire world. How is it possible that Microsoft has so much trouble with working at home that they are forced to postpone their marketing video's twice without being able to give any release date. 

Just because Microsoft can and has been doing remote work elsewhere doesn't mean that they had everything ready to go for all 200 of the team at Asobo when this pandemic hit. Speaking from experience with my company and shifting everyone to remote or home working full time, it can take a few days for everyone to make the change and get back into working at the same level. For those with families it could even take a bit longer for everyone to adjust.

[GlideBy 324]

3 hours ago, in2tech said:

We’ve added Live Events which are time-limited activities that we plan to switch out with different events frequently.

They said before that they were going to add events to help testers test areas they wanted tested.  

When the game goes live, those can be fly in events, landing challenges, etc.

 

[Alan_A 1,650]

2 hours ago, goates said:

Just because Microsoft can and has been doing remote work elsewhere doesn't mean that they had everything ready to go for all 200 of the team at Asobo when this pandemic hit. Speaking from experience with my company and shifting everyone to remote or home working full time, it can take a few days for everyone to make the change and get back into working at the same level. For those with families it could even take a bit longer for everyone to adjust.

This.  In the course of the week, many of us that are working remotely have had to deal with infrastructure - server capacity, conference call services, etc. - that's groaning under the strain.  It's one thing to support telework.  It's another entirely to throw your entire workforce into the telework pool.  And while there are some tasks can easily be done remotely, not all of them can, so it's necessary to invent new practices and workarounds on the fly.  And yes, there are issues for people with children at home... or with spouses/partners that are also now working at home. Lots of friction.  It'll take time to work itself out.

Edited March 20, 2020 by Alan_A

[soloraj 38]

"Live Events" could potentially be a huge draw giving simmers a reason to com back periodically.  I can imagine something like a virtual Oshkosh, fly-in to Vandenburg AFB to see a rocket launch, July 4th fireworks, etc.

[RazorBlade 22]

6 hours ago, goates said:

Just because Microsoft can and has been doing remote work elsewhere doesn't mean that they had everything ready to go for all 200 of the team at Asobo when this pandemic hit. Speaking from experience with my company and shifting everyone to remote or home working full time, it can take a few days for everyone to make the change and get back into working at the same level. For those with families it could even take a bit longer for everyone to adjust.

That your compagny has to do some research to make it work for your compagny is logical. some decisions have to be made what you want and how to do it. Perhaps some people have to be trained or do some research. This is however Microsoft. They have VDI in their Azure datacenters already up and running. It takes literely just a few mintutes for them to spin up 200 VM's. They have the people in house that do this on a daily basis for big compagnies all over the world. If they can't do this quickly and efforless then nobody can. 

I think you can even call it strange if Microsoft does not already have the infrastructure for all their developpers to work from any place on the planet. 

 

[Baber20 1,438]

If anyone has played forza horizon 4, they'll know what devs mean by live events.

[tweekz 2,165]

19 minutes ago, RazorBlade said:

I think you can even call it strange if Microsoft does not already have the infrastructure for all their developpers to work from any place on the planet.

There is just so much difference between working in office or at home. While theoretically it sounds easy, there is a lot you don't think about in first place. In office you usually have everything you need in one place. Proper workstations with licensed software and teammates.

Micorosft sure did not develope every design software they use. They are probably not allowed to copy and use it as they wish. There are license agreements to be met. Then not everyone has adequate hardware at home, at least compared to the high tech at work.

Interaction with the teammates is also different. Instead of just going into the meeting room, discussing changes, you have to connect with them via messengers. While in real life, someone else could coincidently pass by on his way to the coffee machine and join the conversation, this rarely happens online.

Those are just a few thoughts - there are many more.

People should expect a release 2021 imo.

Edited March 20, 2020 by tweekz

[frila 13]

I think there is still the need to correct nearly every bigger bridge in the world, where something can be seen or drive under it and there is no automatic process to do so.

In SulfonicCarp982 screenshot there is a second river showing only green color.

What I see in tomiaut1980 is that baked shadows cannot easily be removed, but covered with autogen trees.

[KERNEL32 500]

11 hours ago, andyjohnston.net said:

That shot with the 747, either that means that aircraft is available, or there is AI traffic.  Great news either way.

Thanks for the update, do anything/everything to keep yourselves safe and healthy.

Great shot and LOOK at the clouds in that one - WOW!

[Krakin 5,748]

14 hours ago, GlideBy said:

The screenshot by Virtual Flights makes me think they don't have wake turbulence modeled. 

How can you tell that from a screen shot? You could be right but you're not going to know from a screen shot

[badderjet 181]

40 minutes ago, Krakin said:

How can you tell that from a screen shot? You could be right but you're not going to know from a screen shot

Erhm yes. Now you were first, I was just gonna ask the exact same thing. What’s even more irritating, how would you judge that from a screenshot showing aircraft on a taxiway…?! I don’t get it.

Edited March 20, 2020 by badderjet

[Dominique_K 10,138]

2 hours ago, Krakin said:

How can you tell that from a screen shot? You could be right but you're not going to know from a screen shot

He means wake turbulence I guess ‘cause the small aircraft is close behind the jet.

[Krakin 5,748]

19 minutes ago, domkle said:

He means wake turbulence I guess ‘cause the small aircraft is close behind the jet.

I know that's what he meant but you can't speculate based on a screen shot, especially when the planes are just taxiing as the poster above you pointed out.

Edited March 20, 2020 by Krakin

[stewartforgie 44]

15 hours ago, ca_metal said:

I signed up on the first day too, but I had to update my dxdiag because it gone missing some time ago (I think it happened to everybody), do you think updating the Dxdiag changes the day of my subscription?  

P.S: I know you don't have an official answer to that, but I'm just wondering about that and wanted to know what others think.

I had to do the same with regards to my dxdiag. and was added to the alpha in the last intake which was about 3 days later so I don't think you updating your dxdiag. will delay your acceptance.

[goates 576]

5 hours ago, RazorBlade said:

That your compagny has to do some research to make it work for your compagny is logical. some decisions have to be made what you want and how to do it. Perhaps some people have to be trained or do some research. This is however Microsoft. They have VDI in their Azure datacenters already up and running. It takes literely just a few mintutes for them to spin up 200 VM's. They have the people in house that do this on a daily basis for big compagnies all over the world. If they can't do this quickly and efforless then nobody can. 

I think you can even call it strange if Microsoft does not already have the infrastructure for all their developpers to work from any place on the planet. 

 

You misunderstand what I was saying.

First, my company didn't have to research anything as we have had people working from home or offsite across the continent for years. And I'm sure Microsoft is great at spinning up VMs or setting up VPNs for their teams. However, this isn't where the issues will be. Does everyone have a decent place to work at home? Or do some just have a laptop and couch? Working temporarily on a laptop isn't bad, but for weeks or months it likely won't be the same as being in the office. My company was gracious enough to let us take home whatever we needed, such as monitors and chairs, so we could be set up for weeks or months working at home. What about internet connection and bandwidth? Software to go in those VMs or install at home? Other hardware? Tablets for the graphics guys? Microphones for the audio team?

And most importantly, how many have families? If both husband and wife are now working at home, do they have room for both? What about kids? Who has to go check when one hurts themselves?

There is far more to what's going on right now than simply spinning up some VMs.