October 22nd, 2020 - Development Update

[NightOfDreams 370]

4 hours ago, ShawnG said:

As for that issue, should it really be on the top of the list?  It's not correct certainly, but it's a slight visual distraction at worst.  wouldn't we like weather improvements, autopilot glitches resolved, atc and ai fully functional before we take on the overabundant lightning?  I mean, they could just turn lightning off again in the meantime, would that be better?

I find flashing light every 15 seconds on a 2 hour flight to be very annoying and kills the immersion. It's so annoying I'd rather just not use Live Weather until it's fixed.... hopefully by next year.

Yes, if they could turn lightning off or provide an option to turn it off, that would be much better until they straighten out that ridiculous bug.

Edited October 23, 2020 by NightOfDreams

[Shack95 2,674]

5 hours ago, fakeflyer737 said:

Thats what I thought...everything looks how it does in the Sim right now...aren't we suppose to get an update like we did for Japan, was that the preview video for it? 

I don‘t think that this was a preview video, just another around the world episode. They said the update would contain a high-def DEM. No trace of this in the video.

[Isaiah53six 134]

Bodies of water surely look better and more realistic in that NA video than it does now.

[Shack95 2,674]

24 minutes ago, Isaiah53six said:

Bodies of water surely look better and more realistic in that NA video than it does now.

True, but that was the case in every around the world video (eg the first one showed loads of beautiful beaches we still don’t have in our version). Apparently they use a slightly different version for these videos, but the DEM, of which a dev said will be „crazy good“, is obviously no better than what we have today. So it can‘t be the updated version.

Edited October 23, 2020 by Shack95

[Dominique_K 10,152]

Let sum it up. Besides the manipulative (and tiresome for a normal adult) language of the community manager who writes the update, this is what the tables clinically tell us : 

They work on or have recently worked on  :

1/ Three major WIP : 

- the Garmin/auto pilot, a A1 priority for a simmer. This is, all in all, the best piece of news. 

- DX12, a more problematic priority IMHO as the P3dv5 release makes me worry for a MSF which is not yet totally stable.

- VR, a niche in the niche, which caters to a minority of simmers.

2/Besides that, a minor visual issues (Light emitting terrain) and four triffles (Press Any key, Metric units, Reflection graininess and disabling tooltips).

3/ The SDK, I am not proficient enough in the matter to assess whether the progress is significant or not to advance the work on complex aircraft which is what we want to know, more than bears and windsocks . I am honestly not too thrilled to see that the only example they give is the CRJ.

Nothing on the  core issues : flight dynamics (inertia etc.), nothing on engine management, nothing on default aircraft performances, nothing on weather.

[tweekz 2,165]

@Dominique_K

Although you tend to view it from the pessimistic side, I gotta agree with the outline of your statement! 😉

I want to point out that in my opinion the flight model is technically based on a solid foundation. But some inaccuracies in adjustment and especially the bad specific flight models of default planes make the sim look more arcady than it actually is. That's sad, as it would not have to be that way if they would've spent a few more months in polishing the planes and fine tuning the aerodynamics!

That should be a top priority!

[spacedyemeerkat 421]

35 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

...normal adult...

Whassat then?

[Ianrivaldosmith 5,317]

36 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

Let sum it up. Besides the manipulative (and tiresome for a normal adult) language of the community manager who writes the update, this is what the tables clinically tell us : 

They work on or have recently worked on  :

1/ Three major WIP : 

- the Garmin/auto pilot, a A1 priority for a simmer. This is, all in all, the best piece of news. 

- DX12, a more problematic priority IMHO as the P3dv5 release makes me worry for a MSF which is not yet totally stable.

- VR, a niche in the niche, which caters to a minority of simmers.

2/Besides that, a minor visual issues (Light emitting terrain) and four triffles (Press Any key, Metric units, Reflection graininess and disabling tooltips).

3/ The SDK, I am not proficient enough in the matter to assess whether the progress is significant or not to advance the work on complex aircraft which is what we want to know, more than bears and windsocks . I am honestly not too thrilled to see that the only example they give is the CRJ.

Nothing on the  core issues : flight dynamics (inertia etc.), nothing on engine management, nothing on default aircraft performances, nothing on weather.

This is without the use of rose tinted glasses. I like it 🙂

[Dominique_K 10,152]

2 minutes ago, tweekz said:

@Dominique_K

Although you tend to view it from the pessimistic side, I gotta agree with the outline of your statement! 😉

 

Pessimistic ? I’d rather say agnostic with a touch of concern. I tried to be as clinical as I could, sorting out the wheat from the PR chaff. MSF is already an interesting and lovely sim as it is but this update does not speak volume of a developer having serious simmers in mind, as Neuman keeps on pretending. At that time, at least. 

I can’t say whether the flight architecture is based on solid foundations. Not an expert. Robert Young or Bernt Stolle could. The Young’s Bonanza mod seems to show that one can do something convincing out of it.  I just observe that the transparency tables tell us that there is no work on the issue anymore at Asobo for what should be indeed a top priority.

[sanh 823]

I think its worth mentioning that Asobo is doing a lot of other work that may resolve some of these community issues. People seem to think only 3-4 fixes are in this update but it is the Sim Update release so it should be quite a beefy update with lots of goodies.

[loge 42]

2 hours ago, Shack95 said:

I don‘t think that this was a preview video, just another around the world episode. They said the update would contain a high-def DEM. No trace of this in the video.

Yes, in a previous update (possibly a Q&A session, don't remember) they said they are aiming to release World Updates every two months, alternating with Sim Updates (i.e. more significant changes to the sim, rather than just bug fix patches) every other two months.  So if they are on track, the upcoming releases should be as follows:
- Update 5 (next week): Sim Update
- Update 6 (early Nov): patch
- Update 7 (late Nov): World Update (USA)
- Update 8 (early Dec): patch
- Update 9 (late Dec): Sim Update

This would explain why the latest Round the World video doesn't include the upgraded USA scenery, just as the the Asia RTW video in late Aug didn't include the upgraded Japan scenery; I assume there will be a separate promotional video for the USA upgrade closer to its release.  This also explains why the Garmin upgrade is scheduled for update 9, but there is nothing listed for 6-8.

The schedule above hasn't been confirmed by Asobo, but it would be consistent with everything they've said so far.

[Dominique_K 10,152]

9 minutes ago, sanh said:

I think its worth mentioning that Asobo is doing a lot of other work that may resolve some of these community issues. People seem to think only 3-4 fixes are in this update but it is the Sim Update release so it should be quite a beefy update with lots of goodies.

Microsoft has set up a transparency procedure to tell us what they consider a priority and what is on the backburner. I would therefore consider anything else as wishful thinking.  

[pstrub 998]

10 hours ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

 

“I’m more than happy they’re making an effort to keep the development process open, and to give us updates about the progress. I’d say keep publishing updates on a weekly basis.”     – Avsim user

That was me 😅 Never would've imagined to get quoted on the MSFS website 😆😂😂😂

[pstrub 998]

10 hours ago, 109Sqn said:

4) Hope that removing Press Any Key will actually speed things up. Not sure if that's been promised. I'd like to think it will, but it may only just avoid the potential delay if you don't click it immediately.

At least we'll be able to launch it and just walk away, without having to return before the menu is loaded.

[pstrub 998]

33 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

Microsoft has set up a transparency procedure to tell us what they consider a priority and what is on the backburner. I would therefore consider anything else as wishful thinking.  

But only with respect to the stuff that got upvoted on their forums. They don't mention much at all about their progress in other issues, unless it's in the release notes of an update or in a Q&A video.