How has release of FENIX impacted FBW's future?

[jrw4 653]

The few weeks, I have been struck by how infrequently the FBW A320 add-on is being mentioned here on AVSIM compared to the FENIX. We can assume that our community has turned its attention for the moment to a new, shiny object. Indeed when I did a search for FENIX in the the title and sorted the most recent to the top, the bottom-most post on the first page was June 9th. Doing the same for FBW, the post at the bottom of the first page was dated April 19th.

I'm not Github savvy, so I can't figure out how the release schedule is going on the FBW, but I'm pretty sure the project is active. Perhaps someone who is familiar with the FBW development endeavor could let us know how things are going. No Discord please, after a year of trying I'm still perplexed how anyone gleans useful information out of that system.

Many thanks in advance.

[Bobsk8 13,201]

4 minutes ago, jrw4 said:

The few weeks, I have been struck by how infrequently the FBW A320 add-on is being mentioned here on AVSIM compared to the FENIX. We can assume that our community has turned its attention for the moment to a new, shiny object. Indeed when I did a search for FENIX in the the title and sorted the most recent to the top, the bottom-most post on the first page was June 9th. Doing the same for FBW, the post at the bottom of the first page was dated April 19th.

I'm not Github savvy, so I can't figure out how the release schedule is going on the FBW, but I'm pretty sure the project is active. Perhaps someone who is familiar with the FBW development endeavor could let us know how things are going. No Discord please, after a year of trying I'm still perplexed how anyone gleans useful information out of that system.

Many thanks in advance.

I was flying the Fenix last night and developed a problem in the Packs, right after takeoff. I got on discord, stated my problem, 30 seconds later someone recommended a solution which I tried and it fixed the problem. try that with a forum. 

[Claudius_ 347]

I'm using the FBW A320 Experimental version, it is not not complete yet but it works beautifully, and the bugs are corrected in real time. Try that with Discord and Fenix.

 

[Luis Hernandez 663]

Does anybody else remember that FBW has the A380 in sight? If anything, they could dedicate their resources to that, but that's my unfounded opinion.

[Farlis 2,489]

Why should it impact the FBW at all? FBW is free, simulates a different Airbus Model. There is no competition going on.

[lwt1971 8,077]

46 minutes ago, jrw4 said:

The few weeks, I have been struck by how infrequently the FBW A320 add-on is being mentioned here on AVSIM compared to the FENIX. We can assume that our community has turned its attention for the moment to a new, shiny object. Indeed when I did a search for FENIX in the the title and sorted the most recent to the top, the bottom-most post on the first page was June 9th. Doing the same for FBW, the post at the bottom of the first page was dated April 19th.

I'm not Github savvy, so I can't figure out how the release schedule is going on the FBW, but I'm pretty sure the project is active. Perhaps someone who is familiar with the FBW development endeavor could let us know how things are going. No Discord please, after a year of trying I'm still perplexed how anyone gleans useful information out of that system.

Many thanks in advance.

I don't think the FBW is impacted in any harmful sense at all by the Fenix.. firstly the FBW models the A320 NEO while Fenix the CEO, and secondly there will always be a market for quality freeware birds like the FBW especially one that is also open source. With the dedicated and passionate devs contributing to the project it's only going to keep getting better and better and reach very high fidelity levels. And whatever they learn during the A320 NEO implementation journey is only going to help and feed into other projects like the A380, which I eagerly await :) The project is indeed very active as can be seen on their discord (they just posted a beginner's guide today for example: https://docs.flybywiresim.com/pilots-corner/beginner-guide/overview/, also see here for a FBW dev's response to my question about VNAV recently: https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/620353-fenix-a320-growing-on-me/?do=findComment&comment=4793055)... we'll continue to get updates from them on their "NOTAM" reports too which they also post here on avsim regularly.

It's just reality of software/games development these days that devs use discord as their main method of engagement/communication. Once you get to use all the discord client's (be it website or app) capabilities, especially search, it becomes useful... if the host has set up various multiple channels then all those channels effectively are like long running threads on a forum.  Definitely forums are easier to navigate in some sense, but there is something to be said about the "instant communication" nature of discord too :)
 

Edited June 11, 2022 by lwt1971

[JBDB-MD80 1,605]

These guys have regular jobs and do this for passion not profit and work on their projects in their spare time why should it be much impact. They will continue to improve the A32nx, working on the A380 and helping another developer that's working on a A220 I would say their hands are full right now.. I see developers like Aerosoft and FS Labs as (wasting time) bringing A320's in MSFS at this point.

[tweekz 2,165]

With the level of detail in the Fenix, I demand a 50% discount on the FBW! [/sarcasm]

[gdjak 176]

1 hour ago, jrw4 said:

I'm not Github savvy, so I can't figure out how the release schedule is going on the FBW, but I'm pretty sure the project is active. Perhaps someone who is familiar with the FBW development endeavor could let us know how things are going. No Discord please, after a year of trying I'm still perplexed how anyone gleans useful information out of that system.

A random selection of upcoming/exp stuff from discord/github:

Want literally any screen on your phone/ipad like the MCDU?

Lot's of ground work, to get this running.

Some sweet performance gains.

Not pictured: VNAV update, FWC implementation, huge CPDLC update (now in exp)

 

[jcomm 6,209]

Major impact for me derives from having to add yet another item to the list - the PMDG 737-700.

3 different airliners, 3 great add-ons, lots of good reasons to v-fly either of the three, so, in the limit each one will get used 1/3 of the available time for simming, while just a couple months ago the FBW occupied pretty much 90% with the rest being taken by some soaring tasks ...

No impact from my pov specifically for any one of the three, great impact for us users on the excellent time we can get out of each one 🙂

Edited June 11, 2022 by jcomm

[shamrockflyer 647]

This may or may not be a controversial post...my personal wish is for FBW and Fenix to collaborate and have Fenix bring their expertise to the A20N. Ofcourse that probably isn't realistic since MS own the rights to the NEO?

Me personally - I haven't touched the FBW since the Maddog came out, now that the Fenix 320 is out and I have it and love it, I cant see myself using the FBW again unless some major milestone is set.

[tfm 247]

Since the Fenix launch, I haven’t noticed as many updates to the FBW “experimental” branch (and AGuther seems to have gone completely AWOL) 😞  - so I sure hope they haven’t taken a morale hit  

[james42 270]

Slightly off topic, but how is the VNAV in the FBW A320 coming along now? I last flew it a few weeks ago and found the VNAV very buggy during the decent.

[Azapata87 173]

The FBW A320 is great for being free and it is a NEO which does have some worthwhile differences to the FENIX CEO A320.

For me it comes down to being a parent of two little kids with very little time for simming. When I do have time to do a quick flight I want something that is complete and will work correctly all of the time. I don't have the patience or the time to figure out why something isn't working or if a feature has been implemented in the branch I am using.  

I guess Im willing to “pay" for convenience.

Edited June 11, 2022 by Azapata87
Spelling

[sidnov 186]

44 minutes ago, shamrockflyer said:

probably isn't realistic since MS own the rights to the NEO?

That's not entirely correct. The A32NX is free and open-source. The 3D model is currently the only thing borrowed from the default, though that too has been heavily modified to support things like the printer, EFB, etc. to name a few. Systems-wise, we don't rely on any default code from the Asobo 320Neo. 

A fundamental reason why such a collaboration is nearly impossible is, Fenix is a for-profit company selling aircraft add-ons, whereas FBW is and will remain open-source organization, with the goal of making the most accurate Airbus simulation available till date on desktop platforms, which is simply not viable commercially for a company looking to make profits.