HiFi Sim's Active Sky P3D V6 is coming as Early Access Beta

[Ray Proudfoot 9,050]

15 minutes ago, dave2013 said:

Do you use Active Sky P3Dv6?  How do you know it is a "stable" product?

Here's the quote from HiFiSim's website: "ASP6 is available via an EARLY ACCESS BETA program"

They publicly state that it is a Beta program.

Dave

Whether I have it or not is irrelevant. I was responding to your comment about beta testing it. Are you actively testing to find issues?

I have had four or more different versions of AS over the years and they rarely have serious issues.

[fnav77 56]

7 hours ago, dave2013 said:

Yes, we all appreciate HiFiSim's Active Sky weather product and we're very glad they are updating it to work with P3Dv6.  Does this mean that they are sanctified and can do no wrong now?  Of course not.

It seems like nearly every time someone in this forum criticizes a *payware*, *for profit* developer, they get attacked by some supporters of said developer.  We have a right to be critical, especially those customers who have purchased the developer's products for years.

The issue for me is having to effectively pay a substantial sum to Beta test a payware developer's product.  I just have a fundamental opposition to this idea.  For a number of years I've watched other payware developers engage in this "buy the Beta" version 0.80 nonsense and frankly I'm tired of it.

I will not pay someone to Beta test their product, and at this point I am questioning whether I will even purchase the final, actually completed product 

Dave

You get the product at a cheaper price (because it is not finished) and help iron out any potential issues.I think it is a nice compromise.

Of course you can wait for the product to be "completed" and pay the full price then. This is entirely up to you. I think the dev. is trying to attract a few customers by kindly offering a discount, and give them what they want/need. We can be confident the product is already functional and will work flawlessly soon as the past versions of AS have always been good.

I don't believe he is using us as beta testers and will never release a finished version...

 

[Damian Clark 1,273]

1 hour ago, fnav77 said:

I don't believe he is using us as beta testers and will never release a finished version...

Since this thread is dominated by "criticism" by the same extremely vocal and extremely small minority (untrue and misrepresented as their arguments may be), I grow too tired and discouraged to continue participating, and this will likely be my last post.  THIS is why P3D developers are not sticking it out.  We'll keep trying for now but it's really not very fun anymore and gets more painful by the minute.  Ya'll have absolutely no idea how much sacrifice has gone into this effort and what has transpired in the community, and the challenges we have faced.  I'd ask you "critics" who have nothing constructive to say, to consider showing a little grace and humility, or at least to stop and think before you post further disparaging falsehoods..... but I know that's too much to ask for.

To set the record straight, we were overwhelmed with requests for optional early access to ASP6 during the beta phase, and we did what we always do, we gave our customers and supporters what they asked for.  The narrative that we are forcing people to pay to beta test a bug-ridden product is incredibly egregious, short-sighted and unfounded.

The official release of ASP6 is very near.  Thanks to the overwhelming majority of folks who have engaged in very meaningful and respectful communications. I'll continue further respectful discussion on other threads/forums.

Edited July 19, 2023 by Damian Clark

[turbomax 3,313]

2 hours ago, Damian Clark said:

The narrative that we are forcing people to beta test a bug-ridden product for free is incredibly egregious, short-sighted and unfounded.

I think you are doing yourself a disservice by selling the unfinished beta version only instead of also offering a time limited trial version. everybody could test and determine for themselves if it delivers what "we gave our customers and supporters what they asked for." the only AS6 youtube that I saw had comments disabled. how can prospective customers of a complex unfinished weather tool for a platform with an uncertain future otherwise make a reasonable purchase decision? if you are convinced you have a high quality product what reason is there not to let the user try if first? that would have stopped a lot of negative speculation right from the beginning. as a long term ActiveSky user for P3Dv4v5 I for one would have tried a free AS6 trial asap and would most likely have purchased the final version instead of looking for other alternatives, which until recently I never knew they even existed.

Edited July 20, 2023 by turbomax

[jlohrenz 133]

@Damian Clark I for one appreciate what you are doing and understand the challenges small developers deal with.  I'll also say unfortunately the majority that appreciate what you are doing are also the ones that only post if there are issues or use proper means to present them to your team.

 

Thanks for your continued support of p3d.

[jimcarrel 688]

I'll gladly jump in and give thanks for all the time that HI-Fi has given us any reasonable request made of them through all these years. A lot of P3D users have found that their continued support helped to make P3D even more enjoyable.

[fnav77 56]

@Damian Clark Don't let the haters get to you. Active Sky is a great product the P3D community is grateful for...😊

[BerndB 349]

10 hours ago, Damian Clark said:

Since this thread is dominated by "criticism" by the same extremely vocal and extremely small minority (untrue and misrepresented as their arguments may be), I grow too tired and discouraged to continue participating, and this will likely be my last post.  THIS is why P3D developers are not sticking it out.  We'll keep trying for now but it's really not very fun anymore and gets more painful by the minute.  Ya'll have absolutely no idea how much sacrifice has gone into this effort and what has transpired in the community, and the challenges we have faced.  I'd ask you "critics" who have nothing constructive to say, to consider showing a little grace and humility, or at least to stop and think before you post further disparaging falsehoods..... but I know that's too much to ask for.

To set the record straight, we were overwhelmed with requests for optional early access to ASP6 during the beta phase, and we did what we always do, we gave our customers and supporters what they asked for.  The narrative that we are forcing people to pay to beta test a bug-ridden product is incredibly egregious, short-sighted and unfounded.

The official release of ASP6 is very near.  Thanks to the overwhelming majority of folks who have engaged in very meaningful and respectful communications. I'll continue further respectful discussion on other threads/forums.

Damian, me personally really understand your frustration, but keep in mind that it´s really the small minority who have just to stick out their personal dislikes and let everyone know about instead of constructive criticism.

BUT, threads like this are far away from beeing "representative" and i´am also very unhappy what complete wrong light those are putting onto our community. As you know, for everyone who has the feeling he must let everyone know about his personal frustration or bad attitude, there are hundreds of others who see everything in the real light but just don´t mention about it. Don´t judge the community of thousands satisfied users by just a handfull of such unsocial people who need to blame everything and everbody else for their personal discomfort, but never see the truth by themselve. 

We all have to cope with this sideeffect since the so called "social media" raised. Honestly it should be called "nonsocial media" instead, as it gives so many individuals the platform on what they can act and misbehave in a non-social way they would never show in reallife talking to people face to face.

Continue doing your efforts for all the many of us who are able to see the worth in your great work.

[Ebertr 50]

This debate about the beta version and pricing should finally come to an end. With the beta version HiFiSim has made an offer and it is up to everyone to use this offer or not. I personally have gladly accepted the offer and get along well with the beta version. Not everything is perfect yet, but I am confident that HiFiSim will release a very good product in the end.

Suggestion: All negative people should maybe have their own thread where they can hype each other up.

I won't get many likes for this statement, but the discussion here just annoying.

 

Ruediger
 

[Damian Clark 1,273]

New update posted, adding backwards compatibility for radar API and v5-based aircraft add-ons.  Radar in your PMDG and other V5 aircraft should now work when using legacy clouds.  https://hifisimtech.com/asp6-update-posted/

If there is enough demand, we will be looking at adding volumetric radar support in the future.

Thanks again for all the support and encouragement.  We hope that those participating in early access have enjoyed their experience thus far, and based on the actual user feedback we are getting, things look extremely stable and positive, with official release coming very soon.  If you have any pending feedback, please make sure to get it to us ASAP.

Changelog

Update 071923

• Added backwards P3D v5 compatibility for detailed radar API, so that third party aircraft radar displays with ASP3D (v5) radar compatibility will work with ASP6 (in legacy non-volumetric clouds mode)
• Documentation updated

Note: The module name has changed from as_connect.dll to as_connect_v5.dll to establish backwards compatibility. When installing then running this update for the first time, the module/addon configuration will may be updated and a simulator restart required message may be shown. Restart your simulator to enable the configuration change if you see this message.

Update 071723

• Added P3D v6 6.0.28 (patch 2) support
• Added additional messages/proper handling when P3D version mismatch exists and ASP6 needs update
• Reduced upper CDD maximum (for minimum and maximum cloud draw distance options) to 110 instead of 180 due to flicker and other issues found at higher CDD settings with P3Dv6
• Reduced default CDD min/max to 100 (was 110) for better default performance with P3D v6 – Higher CDD settings have higher performance penalties
• Documentation updated

Note: If you have previously changed cloud draw distance settings, it is recommended to check your minimum and maximum cloud draw distance settings after updating to confirm they are as expected given the new defaults and maximums.

Edited July 20, 2023 by Damian Clark

[anzac1977 140]

2 hours ago, Damian Clark said:

New update posted, adding backwards compatibility for radar API and v5-based aircraft add-ons.  Radar in your PMDG and other V5 aircraft should now work when using legacy clouds.  https://hifisimtech.com/asp6-update-posted/

If there is enough demand, we will be looking at adding volumetric radar support in the future.

Thanks again for all the support and encouragement.  We hope that those participating in early access have enjoyed their experience thus far, and based on the actual user feedback we are getting, things look extremely stable and positive, with official release coming very soon.  If you have any pending feedback, please make sure to get it to us ASAP.

I for one would like it if you could please add weather radar support for volumetric clouds.

Thanks for the new update Damian.

[jlohrenz 133]

3 hours ago, anzac1977 said:

I for one would like it if you could please add weather radar support for volumetric clouds.

Thanks for the new update Damian.

I second that.  with the improvements in v6 atmospherics, the volumetric clouds weather radar support would be awesome.

[fadde 5]

Thank you Hifi!!

 

 

[d.tsakiris 421]

5 hours ago, anzac1977 said:

I for one would like it if you could please add weather radar support for volumetric clouds.

Yes, I would love to see this also!

[djbully 210]

Amazing!!! Thank you 🙏