Fenix with Self loading cargo, Thinking of buying

[shadow133 23]

People who pay and then complain when a developer is over a year behind, and cut all communications with them. Absurd!

[DarrianCZE 6]

On 6/29/2022 at 12:26 PM, FPVSteve said:

Hello everyone - I am the developer of SLC and normally I do not comment on this type of thread because ... well, it tends to open up a can of worms. But I feel like I probably should in this case.

I want to draw attention to alanj44 in this case as a prime example of the issues that I, as a developer, face. This is not a sympathy-seeking post - I know I'm at fault in terms of the deadline but I'm also genuinely working on releasing SLC as quickly as I can. Believe me, no-one wants this update out more than me at this point.

The simple fact is that the v1.6 update is due for release and is a significant upgrade to the v1.55 release that is currently available. I have been working constantly on it for months now - not only in building functionality, scrapping things that didn't work and redoing them, but also managing support for customers and running the company in terms of taxes and similar responsibilities. This is why I also, as Alan semi-correctly pointed out, recently brought my wife onboard - to manage the accounts and paperwork that I do not have the time to deal with on top of development responsibilities.

My failing with this update release has been one of miscommunication and over-optimism in terms of the timescale. I should not have announced a release date I wasn't 100% sure I could meet, because I have hung myself out to dry when the deadlines were not met - all the while working my backside off to try to get the application updated and released. There is no worse feeling then being accused of being a fraud when you're trying your best to push a new release. It's demotivating, sucks your energy out and...  unfortunately there are a very vocal minority who seem to take great delight in not only pulling developers such as myself to pieces when they do not meet such a "deadline", but then extrapolate their thoughts into false narrative that serves their opinions further - look at the huge post Alan made above. None of it fact, yet all of it down on "paper" and being "liked" by people who take it as gospel. It is a lose, lose situation here - all I can do is work and prove otherwise by releasing the application. 

It is for this reason that I temporarily closed the Discord server - not because I thought it was a brilliant idea or that I wanted to hide from anyone or "kill the community", but because it was impossible to continually deal with things like the above while still working on development - it was not a good use of time at all. I would spend an hour talking to a single user only to have someone else start another thread 15 minutes later making weird accusations based on their misunderstandings and then the same thing would happen on random obscure forums. Sometimes the best course of action is to say "you know what, I know the software needs to be released - I'm going to simply work on it and not argue with anyone any more". Otherwise that arguing becomes your entire life - and then there's YouTube comments start, other Discord servers kick off etc ... it's a pointless exercise. So I chose, rightly or wrongly, to shut it off for the time being. 

Unfortunately that has an unintended consequence with that as well ... "he's disappeared!" "he's ripped us off!" "it'll never come out!".

Look - I could make excuses all day but I'm not going to - I screwed up. And for months now I have been working to put it right by sitting writing code - which is why I'm excited for the release of v1.6 not only for it to come out but for people to realise I wasn't actually pulling a fast one on them and am 100% committed to the project. In fact, it is my full-time job at the moment - I just cannot release it broken and I cannot spend my time arguing about missed release dates when there is still work to be done.

It is my intention to release SLC v1.6 as soon as possible. I have a couple of remaining bugs to fix in the new pilot scoring system, some write-ups to do in the user manual explaining the new features, some website updates and some tutorial videos showing how new features work - oh, and a compatibility issue with the Fenix A320 (it reports 20 degrees pitch and 29 degrees roll at all times via FSUIPC, which isn't exactly ideal).  Once v1.6 releases I will be publishing an updated roadmap on the website for the continued development. And it will be being continued as there is much more to be done.

All the best and I hope this post is received the way it is intended. I profusely apologise for the delay to anyone who reads this post and is waiting on the software to release - it's coming, and I hope you like it when it arrives.

Steve

 

 

 

Hi Steve, 

I have found this post while searching what exactly happened with Self Loading Cargo.

And I must say, I find this completely absurd. Why do we, your customers, have to search AVSIM forum in order to know what exactly happened / is happening? Is it really that hard to post something like this on your Discord, or SLC website news section? The last update is from the early 2022, and since then, nothing. 

You say that you screwed up, and all that, yet made zero effort to remedy that. This post is from June, and now it's August. ZERO change.

So I say that your post is full of bullsh*t.

And yes, I am your customer, who was really enjoying your product and had nothing else than praise for it.

[Fiorentoni 4,157]

2 minutes ago, DarrianCZE said:

Hi Steve, 

I have found this post while searching what exactly happened with Self Loading Cargo.

And I must say, I find this completely absurd. Why do we, your customers, have to search AVSIM forum in order to know what exactly happened / is happening? Is it really that hard to post something like this on your Discord, or SLC website news section? The last update is from the early 2022, and since then, nothing. 

You say that you screwed up, and all that, yet made zero effort to remedy that. This post is from June, and now it's August. ZERO change.

So I say that your post is full of bullsh*t.

And yes, I am your customer, who was really enjoying your product and had nothing else than praise for it.

"There is no worse feeling then being accused of being a fraud when you're trying your best to push a new release"
Oh boy there's nothing worse than dev victimising himself.

[garlicbread11 335]

Just use LukeAirTool on flightsim.to. It’s free

[Th3Scop3DJ 5]

On 6/29/2022 at 11:26 AM, FPVSteve said:

Hello everyone - I am the developer of SLC and normally I do not comment on this type of thread because ... well, it tends to open up a can of worms. But I feel like I probably should in this case.

I want to draw attention to alanj44 in this case as a prime example of the issues that I, as a developer, face. This is not a sympathy-seeking post - I know I'm at fault in terms of the deadline but I'm also genuinely working on releasing SLC as quickly as I can. Believe me, no-one wants this update out more than me at this point.

The simple fact is that the v1.6 update is due for release and is a significant upgrade to the v1.55 release that is currently available. I have been working constantly on it for months now - not only in building functionality, scrapping things that didn't work and redoing them, but also managing support for customers and running the company in terms of taxes and similar responsibilities. This is why I also, as Alan semi-correctly pointed out, recently brought my wife onboard - to manage the accounts and paperwork that I do not have the time to deal with on top of development responsibilities................................

Wow. I don't really know what to say. I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. I'm one of your customers since October 2019 and yet I have to search the internet for updates which I finally found in this thread. 

The update from 1,4 to 1,5 took already quite a while but still, everyone was happy as we received communication about it. We then gave feedback as deadline after deadline was missed. If it happens once, ok Happens twice, coincident. But after the third time it's a pattern. You promised (your customers) that you would release smaller updates and fixes rather than a big update which takes a year or longer. That worked after 1.5 as smaller updates were released. After that - nothing. 1.6 was pushed back and back, blaming bugs and compatibility issues in MSFS which we all know by now are nonsense. 

"It's important that Self-Loading Cargo v1.6 has full compatibility with the new simulator so that the boarding/deboarding workarounds are no longer required (amongst other things!). To ensure that is the case, we need to spend some time doing extended flights in MSFS without the simulator crashing to desktop due to the SimConnect bug. Of course, we can only do such testing once MSFS actually provide the update."

And that was in February 2021, over half a year after the last hotfix. Fast forward and July approached:

"Now the part I really need to say - I am acutely aware that the v1.6 update is delayed more than I ever thought it would be. Please be assured that SLC will be updating very soon, is much improved over v1.55 and I very much hope you enjoy using it when it does come out. I will be making a full statement shortly after it releases explaining why it was so delayed and how I will be taking steps to improve this going forward."

That was in July 2021. Empty promises as nothing happend. Still blaming bugs in MSFS while P3D, FSX & x-Plane users were ignored. 

"This is still work in progress and is about 95% complete..."

That was in October 2021, more than 1 year after the last hotfix was released. No wonder people were asking, what the problem was, why it was taking so long. Since then we haven't received any updates, nothing. No promised statement, no explanation, nothing. You told us that there was so much work, writing the manuel, test flights etc. So many people offered their help - for free. SLC has users from around the globe, a lot of them would've be happy to translate the manual or write it from scratch. So many people offered to be beta testers. But you ignored all that, you didn't want any help, any feedback or any input not only from the community but from your customers. I understand there were some users asking every time about an update. But can you really judge them? After literally years of false promises and excuses? It's hard to see that you wrote a post like this in the backdoors of AVSIM. Seeing you on Twitter posting this and that but can't be bothered to release a proper, official statement to your customers or update the website so potentially new customers would know what's going on is another story. And you really wonder why people think that SLC is dead or why rumors going around in all sorts of different FlightSim groups?

I was a huge fan of SLC and I used it since October 2019. Now, nearly 3 years later I'm so disappointed and despite your post believe, we will never see 1.6. Although I hope deep inside of me that you prove us wrong. I created so many different aircraft layouts and even created y own soundpack which would be a massive improvement over the default sounds, especially those from your little daughter. There was just that bug in SLC which prevented me from finally release it and you told me in a private chat that it's a simple fix and it would be fixed in the next update. I'm still waiting for that. All your customers are still waiting for it. Yet your blaming your customers for all and playing the victim card.

It's just a very sad story but I still hope that some day we will have a finished product. The product you promised us, the product you're still promising people on your website. 

[Japo32 52]

End of November and from that wise words of the last msg in August, the SLC 1.6 update is right now at 95.00000000000000000001% The developer, what a cheek.

Edited November 26, 2022 by Japo32

[KL Oo 695]

Yeah, at this point I think its safe to consider the software abandoned. 

Does anybody know if a list of what the 'triggers' for each sound/cabin announcement are? Some are easy to figure out but some seem to happen at different occasions each flight. 

 

[environmental_ice 238]

On 12/3/2022 at 9:21 PM, KL Oo said:

Yeah, at this point I think its safe to consider the software abandoned. 

Does anybody know if a list of what the 'triggers' for each sound/cabin announcement are? Some are easy to figure out but some seem to happen at different occasions each flight. 

 

🤣Its been abandoned for over a year. He couldnt even have the nerve to post his fake update in his own discord and the reason why is because he has no control here at in the forums. hes a scammer end of story

[Snuffleupagus 327]

Scammer or not, he is pretty horrible at communicating. Of course it’s dead, but why not just tell his customers that? Too bad there’s not a way to tag a website as a buyer beware. 

[WestAir 2,522]

On 5/28/2022 at 7:40 PM, WestAir said:

I do think we will eventually see 1.6 of the program.

Someone should've slapped me for saying this. Man was I wrong. 😂

[Fiorentoni 4,157]

3 hours ago, Hatch76 said:

Scammer or not, he is pretty horrible at communicating. Of course it’s dead, but why not just tell his customers that? Too bad there’s not a way to tag a website as a buyer beware. 

Because no one would buy a officially dead product? It‘s still up for sale and thanks to MSFS he probably earned quite a lot without having to work for it at all during the last 2 years.

[Japo32 52]

What a difference between this software and Vaicom for DCS. Same situation, but in Vaicom he released all the source code for free in Github and the community made the changes to have it working again. Would be an exit for him if he don't want to work in his product with a donation adress for him.

[environmental_ice 238]

On 12/15/2022 at 1:50 AM, Japo32 said:

What a difference between this software and Vaicom for DCS. Same situation, but in Vaicom he released all the source code for free in Github and the community made the changes to have it working again. Would be an exit for him if he don't want to work in his product with a donation adress for him.

Id pay more for someone to get FSPassengers working instead. Crazy how that product still is better than anything today. And yet still developers rather deliver half baked products with bits and pieces of what FSPassengers was instead of releasing an even better product with a modern sim

[WestAir 2,522]

11 hours ago, environmental_ice said:

Id pay more for someone to get FSPassengers working instead. Crazy how that product still is better than anything today. And yet still developers rather deliver half baked products with bits and pieces of what FSPassengers was instead of releasing an even better product with a modern sim

I'm surprised that Dan, the developer of FSPax X, didn't jump on the MSFS bandwagon. He stopped developing FSPax so he could make mods for Orbiter Space Sim, which AFAIK he still does to this day. (Source: http://orbiter.dansteph.com/ )

He'd make an easy $million by porting his own product over.

Edited December 17, 2022 by WestAir

[Alberto Zanot 53]

On 12/17/2022 at 6:29 AM, WestAir said:

I'm surprised that Dan, the developer of FSPax X, didn't jump on the MSFS bandwagon. He stopped developing FSPax so he could make mods for Orbiter Space Sim, which AFAIK he still does to this day. (Source: http://orbiter.dansteph.com/ )

He'd make an easy $million by porting his own product over.

I don't think so.

From Orbiter forum, Dan's last login:

Last Active: 11 June 2021