I freely admit that this game has me stunned from the start. After years of absence it brought me back to flight simulation for good. Having been an unconditional supporter right from release (all while acknowledging that it still had lots of bugs and missing features – but what a start!), I now begin feeling very uncomfortable about the way things evolve.

The program was work in progress at release, but that was is NOT the problem and was widely accepted.

The problem was rather that MS probably forced release too hastily, not allowing for stabilizing the initial version. It is depressing to find bugs (like the wind bug) within the first hour, while thousands of in-house or external testers certainly reported them and you obviously accepted them in the game at that time.

Now the couple of updates we have seen so far have again been handled exactly the same way: Trying to achieve a lot in a short time, issueing a long list of improvements, but then failing in testing and assuring a stable version.

Please, Asobo, take a step back and do not bite off too big chunks at a time. Provide us with a hotfix for the map CTD (and only that!) when you have determined what is causing it. Another one with the tall buildings appearing everywhere they do not fit. Maybe a hotfix fixing the logbook not registering entries. Hopefully the avionics blackout bug.. But properly, stable, and ONE at a time.

And then, take your time to complete and fix the complex autopilot issues, or the ATC issues. Promise, we will not be rushing you on these – we know very well how challenging and time-consuming those tasks are.

As it is, many of us are losing their enthusiasm and hope over a game that frankly deserves to be a winner for many years to come.

yeah, it baffles me that they really dont do hotfixes.

btw i dont have the map crash.

Yeah I feel like there is a some master plan in place that they don't want o deviate but I think if a hotfix just came out for these issues that are big it would go a long way to helping sooth the issues.  Hotfixes should be for anything broken as a result of a patch that causes software crashes.  Then the monthly or twice a month patches should be the longer term sim and core sim fixes.

This seems like a golden opportunity for representitives from Asobo, be they developers, management or whomever, step in and speak to some of the concerns being raised here.  A little transparancy would go along way.  Did the changelog state anything along the lines of "we are reducing LOD to improve performance (or some other reason)", as seems to be the case with update 3.

LM staff don't address every P3D topic ever raised, but they do have a track record of actively participating in their forums for example.

You want hotfixes when some are up in arms over patches that break other things? Are you sure you know what you're asking for?

I believe hotfixes are not in Asobo's vocabulary or in their SOP's...

37 minutes ago, Slides said:

You want hotfixes when some are up in arms over patches that break other things? Are you sure you know what you're asking for?

Exactly! Slowing it down is what I'm asking for. Before compiling just another comprehensive list of enhancements left and right, step on the brakes. Stabilize what we have now - that alone is a gargantuan task. Only when there is a stable and reliable foundation does it make sense to start building and expanding the sim further.

As much as I dislike the blatant new bugs not being corrected in a Hotfix or even fixed before patch release, the fact they're releasing a patch every two weeks (so far) is pretty decent. It's not like they released the Sim and ran a mile, they obviously have their plan going forward and only they know what it is.

The thing is it's always easier to point fingers from the outside, but we're not the ones creating this potential masterpiece, we're not the ones who know the Code inside out and how to go forward from Patch to Patch. So whilst it will be a frustrating experience at times, we'll just have to deal with it as best we can and continue to look forward to what the future brings.

Anyone in the Simulation world knows that these sorts of "games" take a long time to mature, they will get better over time, we're just gonna need patience and faith in Asobo in the meantime.

The way i see this is Asobo had a plan and then a Pencil pusher came along and said , yet that looks good but CASH 💰 IN HAND is what we need so serve the pie 🥧 even if is not ready . And now asobo is trying to fix a million things in a rush . 

Asobo are not helping themselves right now. The community are identifying issues within hours of the patch release. Surely it would make sense to set up a community testing team not even a lot, a couple of 100 reliable testers which am sure they can identify from the alpha an spend 24 hours before release to identify an fix these issues the patch has caused. Would save them a lot of unnecessary bad press.

44 minutes ago, Carts85 said:

Asobo are not helping themselves right now. The community are identifying issues within hours of the patch release. Surely it would make sense to set up a community testing team not even a lot, a couple of 100 reliable testers which am sure they can identify from the alpha an spend 24 hours before release to identify an fix these issues the patch has caused. Would save them a lot of unnecessary bad press.

Not a bad idea as it certainly seems the internal QA is lacking for each sprint release.

The biggest one for me, that I dont see much about, is the 'ghost' switching in the cockpit.  This was introduced with the second patch.  This was a well known issue and can be fully replicated by anyone, yet it ruins cockpit operations anytime that the 'AI Aircraft' setting is greater than zero (ie. slider not at the far left).  To test, sit in the cockpit of any aircraft at an airport, turn on the battery, and just sit.  As the surrounding AI aircraft come to life, those actions will also be repeated in your aircraft.  This will happen any time there are AI aircraft operating in your 'bubble', so you can be on the ground or in flight. 

I fully suspect this is what many are seeing with the infamous 'screens turning off' or 'going black', they are overflying airports with AI aircraft that are 'shutting down'.  This effects anyone with AI, and I have not confirmed if this happens in a multiplayer environment, but would be an interesting test to see if cockpit actions by one player effects the other.

What non-developers don't get is that little fixes still need lots of testing.  You try and package a bunch of smaller fixes and consolidate the testing as much as possible.  

For example, the fix for the VFR map might be a quick little thing, but it might break something completely unrelated (some unrelated fix probably broke this in the first place, as this thing has never been changed to my knowledge and has worked fine).  

They also didn't miss the VFR map bug, they documented it.  They could have halted the release of the patch, fixed it and re-tested, and that would have taken another week or two.  Instead they roll it into the next update, which is probably well underway internally.  That's just how things work now.  

Edited September 30, 20205 yr by kerosene31

5 hours ago, SimFx said:

As it is, many of us are losing their enthusiasm and hope over a game that frankly deserves to be a winner for many years to come.

This needs to be posted in the official FS forums.