Time for another weekly update!
First of all, the Kodiak is being tested by MS for marketplace ingestion. Still no date for it but we hope it won't take much longer.
The Kodiak's update is ready and we expect to release it next week. On Tuesday we will complete our server change, so we expect the site to be down for 12-24h. Once we verify correct operation, we will upload the update and you will receive an e-mail to download it.
Regarding the amphibian, we can't get around the physics of bouncing water. We asked Asobo about the bouncing problem that all seaplanes seem to have and were told that there is no short-term fix planned for this. Therefore we decided to finish the rest of the features and FM and move on.
Last but not least the Kodiak was the subject of an extensive review on cruiselevel.de,  scoring a remarkable 9.4/10! If you want to know more about Kodiak's features, head over to https://cruiselevel.de/2022/02/28/review-sws-kodiak-ii/ to read the review!

14 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

Therefore we decided to finish the rest of the features and FM and move on.

Hm... I like the plane as it is already but it seems they are abandoning it after the next update. Slightly disappointing.

How can you like the plane already considering it hasn't been released yet? And how does what they wrote make it sound like they are abandoning it? Again, it hasn't even been released.

4 minutes ago, Mojave said:

How can you like the plane already considering it hasn't been released yet? And how does what they wrote make it sound like they are abandoning it? Again, it hasn't even been released.

I don't understand your statement.  The Kodiak has been out for a long time.  We are just waiting for an update, and the addition of the amphibian version.

These guys could release the amphibian but are not wanting to be paid for a product that they know will not work properly in the current state of the sim. I don’t think it is abandoning and rather the right approach. 

Edited March 5, 20224 yr by MarkW

4 hours ago, tup61 said:

Hm... I like the plane as it is already but it seems they are abandoning it after the next update. Slightly disappointing.

Where did you get that impression?

5 hours ago, tup61 said:

Hm... I like the plane as it is already but it seems they are abandoning it after the next update. Slightly disappointing.

Abandoning?  It is about the best aircraft currently in MSFS and is about to be updated.  

39 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

Where did you get that impression?

This part of the release was somewhat ambiguous "We asked Asobo about the bouncing problem that all seaplanes seem to have and were told that there is no short-term fix planned for this. Therefore we decided to finish the rest of the features and FM and move on". I took it to mean that the developer had shelved trying to cure "the bouncing problem" as it was down to Asobo to come up with a fix but I suppose it could also be interpreted that the developer was abandoning the project (moving on)  after finishing the rest of the features. Understanding of the English language can be very flexible if it is not written in a very precise manner.

Edited March 5, 20224 yr by Espana Pete

19 minutes ago, Espana Pete said:

I took it to mean that the developer had shelved trying to cure "the bouncing problem" as it was down to Asobo to come up with a fix but I suppose it could also be interpreted that the developer was abandoning the project (moving on)  after finishing the rest of the features.

I interpreted it the first way as well -- they were going to move past the issue and continue their work.   The other meaning could easily be derived from the same sentence, though, so a bit of clarification would be useful.   Whatever the meaning, SWS have continued to update their CH701 which (I think, could be wrong) didn't sell very well.  I know I hardly see anyone using or talking about it anyway, and it's a fairly nice plane.  Regardless, given their history I doubt that even if they finish primary development on the Kodiak it will be "abandoned".

And even if it is, it's a dang nice plane, except for that unfortunate legacy XML-based standby gauge that costs you 10 FPS when running.  But there are workarounds for that, and it could eventually be replaced by an up-to-date first- or third-party JS implementation if someone was ambitious enough.  😁

EDIT:  FWIW, from SWS's discord:

Quote

bdshort — Yesterday at 12:49 PM

Regarding todays Facebook update about the Floatiak - does that mean you’re finishing it up as best you can, and we’ll just have to live with the bouncyness on water until Asobo gets around to fixing that?

Alex Vletsas — Yesterday at 1:03 PM

Yes

So it seems like, if nothing else, we'll get a float version.  Just a less than ideal one.

Edited March 5, 20224 yr by DeepestRed

Once the second patch fixes the issues, I don't see much that's left to do and happy for the developers to move on to other addons. Hoping that the Kodiak will stay current with subsequent  G 1000 NXi updates. 

I'm just glad Aerosoft or Carenado didn't release the Kodiak, because it would mean a thoroughly mediocre addon. 

3 hours ago, Espana Pete said:

This part of the release was somewhat ambiguous "We asked Asobo about the bouncing problem that all seaplanes seem to have and were told that there is no short-term fix planned for this. Therefore we decided to finish the rest of the features and FM and move on". I took it to mean that the developer had shelved trying to cure "the bouncing problem" as it was down to Asobo to come up with a fix but I suppose it could also be interpreted that the developer was abandoning the project (moving on)  after finishing the rest of the features. Understanding of the English language can be very flexible if it is not written in a very precise manner.

It was pretty precise if you read the paragraph carefully. 

On 3/4/2022 at 12:22 PM, Bobsk8 said:

to finish the rest of the features and FM and move on.

FM=flight model ??

4 hours ago, Eclex said:

FM=flight model ??

Indeed.

The quote seems to be specifically about the float version.  They have decided to move on and work on the FM and other features of the float version and given up trying to perfect the landing with floats issue as the bouncing is unavoidable in the current sim.

Does that mean they will release the float version broken and bouncy once the rest is done? Maybe but probably not.

It is worth noting that the sim has serious issues with all float planes. They all pretty much take-off and land like on a runway.  Among other things real life float planes "step up" and hydroplane for a while before rotating. MSFS aircraft just rotate.

 

19 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

Where did you get that impression?

Discord. I might give it a try to find the post but somewhere Alex posted that they won't add functons anymore after the next update: they are happy with the current state and intend to leave things as they are and move on to other projects. I do suppose (and hope) that whenever MSFS screws things up SWS may update the plane anyway but that's it. They won't for instance apply the new prop model to this plane.

My English is good enough to understand the quote you posted 😉 but it isn't about this quote alone: it's about what has been said elsewhere and this quote confirms that.

EDIT
For instance (copied from Discord):

Kilo Alpha
 —
01-03-2022
are you going to implement the new prop simulation on the kodiak and the other coming planes?

Alex Vletsas
 —
01-03-2022
No, we are very happy with the amount of control we have in the Kodiak as it stands.

So they won't add this probably and supposedly nice new feature to the Kodiak. They may add it to new planes but not to existing ones.

  

15 hours ago, Ricardo41 said:

I don't see much that's left to do and happy for the developers to move on to other addons.

There isn't much to do indeed and I absolutely love the plane, it's the only GA I fly, but there are a few inop functions and it's a pity they will stay inop forever. But well, SWS never said they were aiming for A2A quality so... maybe I expected too much.

Edited March 6, 20224 yr by tup61

2 hours ago, tup61 said:

 

There isn't much to do indeed and I absolutely love the plane, it's the only GA I fly, but there are a few inop functions and it's a pity they will stay inop forever. But well, SWS never said they were aiming for A2A quality so... maybe I expected too much.

What is inop functions that won't be fixed with the upcoming update?