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Alberto Zanot

The lack of useful utilities

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Almost one year passed since the release of MSFS.
And i still do not see any useful utilities addon.

For example:
AI traffic with liveries and schedules (i.e.: UT Live)
"Career-Company like" utility (i.e.: FSPassengers. Please don't tell there are some: nothing available today is acceptable)
Proper camera management (i.e.: Chaseplane)

...and a lot more that have already been developed for FSX or P3D, and work very well.

For this reasons mainly i quitted playing MSFS, hoping something will come out, but at this point i quit my hopes.

Is it really this hard to code addons for MSFS? Bad work from MS and Asobo about SDKing?
Share your opinion please.

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It's not really "hard" to code for MSFS but, several things are still missing in the SDK, like:

- A complete Camera API, like the one in P3D, which makes possible to create custom cameras and control them programmatically. There's some discussion on the developers forum about this and it seems to be a highly requested feature.

- A proper documentation for the HTML/JS framework for custom in-game (not gauges ) UI elements. The new Coherent GT debugger which has been added is a big step in the right direction, but it should be accompanied by a proper documentation in order to create *reliable* add-ons that won't become obsolete with the next update.

About traffic products, the main reason there isn't something like UT Live for MFSF, is that MSFS users are accustomed to a certain kind of graphic quality and, a straight port of UT Live will probably look out of place, considering none of those models were made for PBR, and lots of them were already converted from FSX, if not from FS9. So, I guess those product will take some time to arrive, mostly because there are hundreds of different models that should be updated to current graphic standards, to make the product commercially viable.

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Alberto,

I have to disagree with you by virtue of the fact that there are quite a few useful add-on utilities available and most of them are free.

If you do not need what is available, that does not make a valid reason to "quit" 

What you seek will inevitably come to fruition and to my mind, you are just being somewhat impatient and that, to a certain degree, is understandable.

Your last question indicates that you are not really committed to "quitting" at all, but to answer your last question, there are many debates on this forum about coding, SDK and the "state of the nation" regardinbg MSFS.

Unfortunately, should you really be committed to quitting, there will not be many who will follow your stance.

Whatever your decision in the final analysis, I wish you luck and best wishes with whichever platform you choose to follow. In my humble opinion, there are many reasons to support each and every platform that are being supported today.

Cheers

Tony  

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Tony Chilcott.

 

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Given the "speed" of development of UTLive for Prepar3d, I would expect a MSFS version close to the end of the century.

The most promising approach in this branch seems to be AIG.

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/aig-ai-manager-oci-for-msfs-development-announcement/324219/303

They have a closed beta in testing and are (more or less closely) working together with Asobo. A publicly available version can be expected this year. This one will be free

I wouldn't exclude the possibility that a commercial publisher (Just Flight? or even a new one) will come up with a surprise announcement sometime.

I can't speak about the other two as I don't have a need for them.

Kind regards, Michael

Edited by pmb
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MSFS, Beta tester of Simdocks, SPAD.neXt, and FS-FlightControl

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34 minutes ago, Alberto Zanot said:

Please don't tell there are some: nothing available today is acceptable)

A great way to engage a discussion 🤣

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Dominique

Simming since 1981 -  4770k@3.7 GHz with 16 GB of RAM and a 1080 with 8 GB VRAM running a 27" @ 2560*1440 - Windows 10 - Warthog HOTAS - MFG pedals - MSFS Standard version with Steam

 

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You quit the game, you quit your hopes, you don't want to be told there are some things out there because they aren't acceptable in your opinion, then you question if it is really that hard to code or if it is just bad work from MS or ASobo on SDKing 

Not sure what your post was hoping to accomplish?  What are you looking for here? 

My opinion is everything you wrote is unfounded and I disagree.  We good now? 

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Have a Wonderful Day

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Boeing777_Banner_BetaTeam.jpg

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1 hour ago, Alberto Zanot said:

"Career-Company like" utility (i.e.: FSPassengers. Please don't tell there are some: nothing available today is acceptable)

Something like SelfLoadingCargo is very good and already supports MSFS. 

 

1 hour ago, Alberto Zanot said:

Proper camera management (i.e.: Chaseplane)

Not really missing this if you already used to the default Camera system which is actually not bad once you know your way with it


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Yes, I would like to add, there are numerous (Freeware plus Payware) utilities available, much more than I expected within a year. Take Hendrik Nielsen's AI ship traffic, several GTN750 flavors, SkyElite, FreeAirmap, Sim Innovations Airmanager, and many more. Unfortunately, just the ones you are looking for are missing (yet).

Kind regards, Michael

Edited by pmb
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MSFS, Beta tester of Simdocks, SPAD.neXt, and FS-FlightControl

Intel i7-13700K / AsRock Z790 / Crucial 32 GB DDR 5 / ASUS RTX 4080OC 16GB / BeQuiet ATX 1000W / WD m.2 NVMe 2TB (System) / WD m.2 NVMe 4 TB (MSFS) / WD HDD 10 TB / XTOP+Saitek hardware panel /  LG 34UM95 3440 x 1440  / HP Reverb 1 (2160x2160 per eye) / Win 11

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1 hour ago, Alberto Zanot said:

Almost one year passed since the release of MSFS and there are plenty of useful utilities addons.
But i still do not see any useful utilities addon that I like and that appeal to me.

Fixed it for ya!😀

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In some ways the addon scene is better than previous sims. FSPassengers costs money, and hasn't been updated in a very long time. So did Air Hauler (which is available in MSFS now). FSEconomy is still free, but they won't stop using navdata from 2002, so modern simmers have to jump through a bunch of hoops to make sure the airport they're supposed to fly to or from even exists. 

Meanwhile MSFS has Neofly which uses whatever nav data you're using in your sim (updatable by you), lets you fly anything that's in your sim if you can afford to "buy" it, and the base game, which is most of it, is free.

I don't see the cause for complaint when free options in active development exist. FSPassengers is abandonware at this point, so I don't know why OP would consider that acceptable while actively-developed, free alternatives are not.

 

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Hmm, seems to me the addon scene is progressing quite rapidly.  Perhaps I don't understand that there would be more addons for a 15+ year old sim than one that is still a baby.  (yep, that is sarcasm).  😉

 

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2 hours ago, virtuali said:

- A complete Camera API, like the one in P3D,/.../  to be a highly requested feature.

Genuine interrogation why ? the default camera system might be a little buggy but is pretty convenient as it is. It mostly needs a cleanup.  Making a priority of a Camera API sounds strange. What could it bring to me, the user ?


Dominique

Simming since 1981 -  4770k@3.7 GHz with 16 GB of RAM and a 1080 with 8 GB VRAM running a 27" @ 2560*1440 - Windows 10 - Warthog HOTAS - MFG pedals - MSFS Standard version with Steam

 

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2 hours ago, himmelhorse said:

If you do not need what is available, that does not make a valid reason to "quit" 

 

We are each in a very different place about what we have experienced in the past vs what is not yet available in MSFS and global asssessments like the one immediately above only incite tribalism.  I am very much with the OP and for reasons/lacking features different from his.  We are not all in the same place,
Enough!

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Frank Patton
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Passenger simulation

1. Self Loading Cargo

2. PACX

Career mode 

1. OnAir

2. NeoFly

3. Air Hauler 2

4. A pilot's Life

5. FSEconomy

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https://fsprocedures.com Your home for all flight simulator related checklist.

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38 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

Genuine interrogation why ? the default camera system might be a little buggy but is pretty convenient as it is. It mostly needs a cleanup.  Making a priority of a Camera API sounds strange. What could it bring to me, the user ?

The default camera don't have camera shake and head movement something that is missing and is available in X-Plane and FSX/P3D offered by 3pd's it makes the planes look more realistic when taking off or on touchdown. The other stuff the OP is complaining about is a Meh? imo.

Edited by jbdbow1970

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