Hi, does anybody know if the Scenery Gateway system is coming in SU 12? According to this update snapshot, it's supposed to be coming in SU 12.  But when I go to the SU 12 beta forum, I can't find a single thread on the Scenery Gateway system. For something as big and high in demand as the Scenery Gateway system, I would have expected at least one thread in the SU 12 beta forum to be discussing the Scenery Gateway system.

Aside from the SU 12 beta forum, in the rest of the official MSFS forums, I don't see much discussion on the Scenery Gateway system, given that it may come in SU 12, which is odd.  It's a big feature, it's one of the features that the MSFS community has wanted for some time, so I don't know why there isn't much discussion of it in the official MSFS forum either, given that it may come in SU 12.

Regarding to the latest "MARCH 16TH, 2023 DEVELOPMENT UPDATE" there will be a limited alpha next month.
But agree, there is not a lot of info at the moment.

Apart from the info provided by @teletom the only other info we have was in the SDK Q&A stream in November last year. I can't recall all the specifics but it was called the World Hub and only limited changes would be available. It's covered around 36:30 into the stream.

37 minutes ago, teletom said:

Regarding to the latest "MARCH 16TH, 2023 DEVELOPMENT UPDATE" there will be a limited alpha next month.
But agree, there is not a lot of info at the moment.

In think I saw the limited 50 alpha tester "next month" message like a month or two months ago. So if that is an old message, and I did see it back in January of February (I can't remember exactly when I saw this), then they should have been in alpha testing for some time now.

Either way, I am skeptical if the Scenery Gateway system will make it for SU 12. SU 12 is supposed to be going live on Tuesday, March 21. If the Scenery Gateway system is still in alpha testing, there is no way it will be ready by March 21.

Regarding my last request on Microsoft/Asobo, they were still "preparing" the stuff end of February : https://devsupport.flightsimulator.com/questions/13252/world-hub-closed-alpha.html?childToView=14836#comment-14836

2 hours ago, abrams_tank said:

If the Scenery Gateway system is still in alpha testing, there is no way it will be ready by March 21.

Very unlikely ...
 

2 hours ago, vbazillio said:

Regarding my last request on Microsoft/Asobo, they were still "preparing" the stuff end of February : https://devsupport.flightsimulator.com/questions/13252/world-hub-closed-alpha.html?childToView=14836#comment-14836

Thanks for this information!

If the "World Hub" is the same as the Scenery Gateway system, then based on Asobo's reply in this thread, I doubt it will be ready by SU 12. I don't know why they are writing that it will come out in SU 12 in the update snapshot.  Maybe that is a mistake in the snapshot.  But that reply from FlyingRaccoon was on February 23, and they said it hasn't even started yet on February 23. If it hadn't even started by February 23rd, I am skeptical that it will make SU 12.

Deleted

Edited March 17, 20233 yr by Noel

1 minute ago, Noel said:

What is it, the Scenery Gateway System?

It's going to be like a mini flightsim.to built into the MSFS marketplace (or possibly separate) for freeware scenery / airports.

That's my take on it anyway, but information has been sparse.

3 minutes ago, bobcat999 said:

It's going to be like a mini flightsim.to built into the MSFS marketplace (or possibly separate) for freeware scenery / airports.

That's my take on it anyway, but information has been sparse.

Thanks Rob that seems hard to fathom to put freeware in to compete w/ their Marketplace source for income or so it seems.

8 minutes ago, Noel said:

Thanks Rob that seems hard to fathom to put freeware in to compete w/ their Marketplace source for income or so it seems.

True!  Hopefully the vast majority wouldn't be in competition with payware, as it would be high quality versions of the smaller airfields, like what Vincent (vbazillio) does.

I could be completely wrong about this though, so we will have to wait and see.

23 minutes ago, Noel said:

Thanks Rob that seems hard to fathom to put freeware in to compete w/ their Marketplace source for income or so it seems.

My understanding of the Scenery Gateway system is that users can also "crowdsource" and correct taxiway markings, taxiway & runway signs, etc. I think one of the complaints about MSFS is at some of the automatic generated airports, the taxiway signs and taxiway markings are not accurate (although I think the few airports I tried around the Vancouver metro area had accurate taxiways markings and signs). I think the Scenery Gateway system is supposed to fix that, by using "crowdsourcing".

Edited March 17, 20233 yr by abrams_tank

It won't be in the marketplace as far as I can tell.

If it's accepted it'll be ingested into the base sim and streamed to everyone. Which is why there'll never be any custom items. 

1 minute ago, superspud said:

If it's accepted it'll be ingested into the base sim and streamed to everyone. Which is why there'll never be any custom items. 

In X-Plane this is the way it works with one important additional feature: the "enhanced" airports are available for download individually once they are accepted into the gateway, so users can get access to specific airports between  updates. Given the size of the MSFS user base, it seems reasonable to hope that a tidal wave of airport upgrades will become available.

To know more about the World Hub, please review the SDK Developer Q&A Stream (end of November 2022) : 

It will be a limited or light version of the Dev Mode default MSFS Scenery Editor. "You can modify ground surfaces, adjust vegetation and any other generic data available for airports". Updated... or let's say fixed airports made by the community will be (after reviewed) included in upcoming updates of the core sim (World or Sim Updates). Alyzée Arfel & Eric Pellisier explained that it doesn't compete the Market Place, even if no one was mentioning freeware. It's not a tool to design a more detail version whatever freeware or payware, but fix generic airports aviation wize like taxiways or aprons. At first, custom building (object?) won't be able to get integrated.

Nice to hear the community interested in the World Hub. I started months ago a discussion to find friends .. without success 😉

Edited March 17, 20233 yr by vbazillio