April 27th Dev Q&A

[JBDB-MD80 1,473]

35 minutes ago, lzamm said:

Don't get me wrong (I've got the premium version) but if the files aren't encrypted - and in fact distributed in mods - what's stopping this?

Probably the aircraft cfg. file will not be encrypted but some files will be and locked into the version of the sim you are using. You will not be able to download these planes like for instance FBW 320nx or the WT CJ4 off the internet and easily install into the sim without knowing, they know what version you are using.

Edit Just imagine the chaos the Premium users would cause if they found out standard users were using their premium planes.

Edited April 28, 2022 by jbdbow1970

[robert young 2,897]

2 hours ago, lzamm said:

Does this mean that owners of the standard version will be able to use the premium edition aircraft (modded or not)?

No. Because unencrypting config files doesn't mean you can download a complete or even partially complete aircraft. Unencrypting config files does not mean Microsoft is unprotected from illegal downloads of premium aircraft by standard MSFS customers. So there is absolutely no harm whatever in unencrypting the config files.

[Matchstick 1,886]

49 minutes ago, jbdbow1970 said:

Edit Just imagine the chaos the Premium users would cause if they found out standard users were using their premium planes.

As a Premium owner I really don't care if some standard users end up using the premium planes if the trade off for that is we get properly moddable premium planes.

[RW1 615]

1 hour ago, peloto said:

maybe it is already implemented DLSS?, time to join to the beta again?

It would need Nvidia to add MSFS DLSS/Ray tracing to the driver first for it to function for us. We do not have the SDK which developers get when making their game ready. Which is provided by Nvidia for ray tracing etc. So no it's not enabled yet.

[micstatic 4,319]

Hoping one of these days Caribbean is the world update 

[Tuskin38 6,520]

2 hours ago, peloto said:

So we are a few days for the beta, right?, maybe it is already implemented DLSS?, time to join to the beta again?

SU10 comes out in July, so I wouldn’t expect a beta for that until late June/early July.

Edited April 28, 2022 by Tuskin38

[Tuskin38 6,520]

4 hours ago, robert young said:

which are the subject of its inexplicable policy of encryption.

It prevents piracy, that’s the only reason.

If you were to go buy an addon off another source without DRM. It can be shared with other people with nothing to stop it from working on their copy of the sim. 
You can’t do that with anything bought off the marketplace. The encryption is tied to your account. If you were to give someone the folder with the marketplace addon it wouldn’t work for them.

Which has me curious, how can they decrypt the config files while also preventing piracy.

Edited April 28, 2022 by Tuskin38

[ckyliu 1,749]

5 hours ago, robert young said:

There is no plausible explanation as to why Asobo has encrypted these files as none of them contain particularly proprietry information.

Perhaps I'm being a bit thick, but surely the encryption is to stop people "copy and pasting" premium content into the standard edition. Same reason for encrypting market place purchases. Stops sharing and piracy. Aircraft won't work without their config files.

Edited April 28, 2022 by ckyliu

[robert young 2,897]

Answering both the above. Configuration files do not contain any aircraft 3d models or textures. They literally just "configure" how powerful an engine is, how the autopilot behaves, the size and placements of lights, and how it flies, broadly speaking. None of these files contain any proprietry information. 

So why (which is a reasonable question) are there requests to unencrypt them?  Because they are easier (much easier) to edit and improve as without them any tweaker would have a lot more trouble getting the contact point positions, chosen notional model centre, chosen model C of G and other items as a basis upon which to improve aircraft behaviour. There is no piracy in editing config files. If that was so Asobo and Microsoft would have already banned many of the hundreds of "improvement" mods already available on many flightsim portals, both freeware and payware.

The config files are just numbers in a text file format. They do not contain any gauges, 3d models, textures, animations etc, so there is nothing in them that represents an opportunity to copy and paste a complete or even quarter complete copy aircraft. You cannot use config files to make a pirate copy of a premium aircraft if you are a standard MSFS customer. Conversely Asobo HAS allowed the copying of actual elements of aircraft in "improvement" mods and even whole 3rd party aircraft which are sold as addons.

And this is why the encrypting of just config files is inexplicable.

During FSX's entire history Microsoft realised that the path to sustained sales was to not only turn a blind eye, but to actually encourage 3rd party tweaking and the development of addons which necessitated a quite comprehensive list of core files in order that those addons could be constructed, and that included anything from scenery, to mapping apps, addon textures, weather apps and of course new aircraft. That is why they developed an SDK - to encourage these things in pursuit of keeping the core sim attractive to new buyers.

It was a symbiotic relationship.

Encrypting config files, which I repeat are just text files, makes it much more difficult for a modder or aircraft addon developer to develop and or improve things or to innovate. Their encryption doesn't make it impossible but it certainly makes things much more awkward and time consuming. None of this has anything whatever to do with copying and pasting a premium aircraft so it works with a standard MSFS copy. That is virtually impossible unless someone literally pirates the whole aircraft and attempts to sell it. But no sim portal has or would allow that to happen, and the only way to do that is to offer "cracked" illegal copies of existing whole aircraft on torrent or crack sites.

That is completely unrelated to making mods or releasing improvement projects of which there are many already on the various flightsim websites like flightsim.to.

Let me give an example. Many generous modders have already offered improvement to existing aircraft through tweaking panel configurations, sometimes to correct an Asobo mistake or bug, or to offer better functionality in existing aircraft. Bert Pieke is one such modder and there are many, many others. Nothing they do is anything connected to enabling "piracy". They are simply improving aircraft from standard content. Their work does not enable anyone to commit piracy as the tweaks are only relevant if you have an existing/legal copy of the aircraft in question. If you do not have the premium content then those tweaks are not of any use to you as they cannot magically enable you to have the whole premium aircraft if you only have a standard edition of MSFS. That is why the "piracy" argument is not relevant.

Edited April 28, 2022 by robert young

[peloto 213]

6 hours ago, RW1 said:

It would need Nvidia to add MSFS DLSS/Ray tracing to the driver first for it to function for us. We do not have the SDK which developers get when making their game ready. Which is provided by Nvidia for ray tracing etc. So no it's not enabled yet.

So in the beta if NVIDIA does not release the driver, nothing, ok.

[Baber20 1,438]

What was Martial trying to say on the Ash clouds issue? Like he has absolutely no reason idea on how to respond to that question...

[Waldo Pepper 1,953]

22 hours ago, lwt1971 said:

WU Italy is looking great

I think I'll buy one of those MSFS boats just to ride through the canals of Venice.

[Waldo Pepper 1,953]

 

Quote

With the legacy FSX, all things relating to an aircraft SimObject were stored in a single file. However, this made finding what you needed somewhat of a chore, as these files contained a lot of information. So, in Microsoft Flight Simulator the aircraft configuration has been split into multiple files, with each one dedicated to a specific task. The sections below explain the structure of each of these files:

aircraft.cfg

ai.cfg

cameras.cfg

cockpit.cfg

engines.cfg

flight_model.cfg

gameplay.cfg

systems.cfg

target_performances.cfg

Additional Config Information

Note that none of the above files except aircraft.cfg are required for an aircraft, and you can add the sections for each thing - cameras, flight model, etc... - directly into the aircraft.cfg if you prefer. However, we recommend that you keep everything in separate files for ease of use and forward compatibility. 

Source: https://docs.flightsimulator.com/html/Content_Configuration/SimObjects/Aircraft_SimO/Aircraft.htm

[ryanbatc 12,857]

8 hours ago, micstatic said:

Hoping one of these days Caribbean is the world update 

Yes would love to see some better Caribbean love.

[Tuskin38 6,520]

WU10 will probably be announced June 12th, as that's when the X-Box games showcase is. Jorg said they have to wait for a Keynote before announcing it, well this is technically a Keynote.