1 hour ago, HiFlyer said:

Hmmmm.... My post was hidden. Reading it again, and don't see anything controversial.....

Possibly a trigger word was used. We've had loads of spam and had to adjust settings to block them. Unlocked now. 👍

34 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

Has work/profitability really dried up that much on the other sims?

Without going into details, I'll just say it's been at least a couple years since we've seen any profits.  As nearly all my developer friends and associates tell me, it's stupid to not give up and just do something else, but I just can't, not yet.  I can't leave our existing customers hanging and give up on 2.5 decades of amazingly hard work and sacrifice.  Maybe give up soon, but not yet.

Edited April 2, 20242 yr by Damian Clark

On 3/31/2024 at 1:12 PM, eslader said:

Are they?

When I was a kid, Pitfall was the ultimate graphical adventure game. Now we have The Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, Horizon, etc. There are so many genuinely good games out there that I don't have time to play them all, not to mention four top-tier flight simulators to choose from. From an innovation perspective, I suppose if you don't count graphics improvements you could make the claim that all the 3d open world games are similar to each other in mechanics, but you could also make the argument that Star Wars and Citizen Kane are similar to each other in mechanics because they both involve actors saying and doing things on a flat screen. In other words, we don't necessarily need "innovation" as much as we need good storytelling in non-sim games.

The human race got along for 500 years with little to no innovation in distributed media entertainment, from the time the printing press came out in 1440 up until the invention of the radio. Innovation is great, but not always necessary to make entertainment enjoyable.

Plus, if you look at MSFS it's so innovative that it's revolutionary. It's taking a bunch of 2d photos shot from outer space and making a reasonably credible 3d depiction of an entire planet to fly around in. Compared even to its current competition which has had 4 years to catch up, that's revolutionary innovation.

 

It's fair to say that there is less innovation in most things these days. It's a sign of the times and all part of the decline of the West. 

I see reduced innovation in nearly everything........in the shops, in fashion, in the arts and in PC games. Most businesses do not want to go out on a limb for fear of making a mistake. The more they have to lose the more caution.

There is still some innovation, just not as much as us us 60 somethings were used to.

30 minutes ago, Damian Clark said:

Without going into details, I'll just say it's been at least a couple years since we've seen any profits.  As nearly all my developer friends and associates tell me, it's stupid to not give up and just do something else, but I just can't, not yet.  I can't leave our existing customers hanging and give up on 2.5 decades of amazingly hard work and sacrifice.  Maybe give up soon, but not yet.

Perhaps in the meantime you could do like //42 and create new things while MS sorts things out on their end. The MSFS ecosystem is big enough that even Captain Scam is able to make a killing so it could be something to consider. I do hope things are very different for you guys with the advent of 2024.

1 hour ago, Damian Clark said:

From my understanding, it was taken off the table, then a few months ago was indicated that it is being discussed again, then very recently taken off the table again due to data licensing issues preventing "read" access (as mentioned, that doesn't apply to us, we write not read).

I think what they took off the table is the requests from aircraft developers -- PMDG, FENIX, etc.-- to read the weather data in order to implement what they consider a realistic weather radar. That is not going to happen because of licensing issues. The matter of whether they open up the weather to write access seems to remain open,  but I would hazard to say not being pursued vigorously. Why, we really don't know, and I don't think it is so helpful to speculate or go down a road that leads to what sounds too similar to popular conspiracy theories. 

1 hour ago, MarcG said:

Are you 100% sure on that? I don't recall any mention of the weather system being "completely rewritten" of course I may of forgotten(!), source please, thanks

 

1 hour ago, HiFlyer said:

Too hard and it might become nearly impossible to import to Xbox? For my part I expect and accept such compromises 

PC already has graphical features X-Box doesn't, like DLSS. So I don't X-Box not being able to run it would be an issue.

Heck even X-Box has something PC doesn't, variable graphics settings to keep a constant framerate.

X-Box series S runs on a mix of Low and Medium settings, and the Series-X runs on a mix of high and ultra.

Edited April 2, 20242 yr by Tuskin38

3 minutes ago, Krakin said:

 

I didn't hear him say at an point that the weather system was "completely rewritten", can you link to that point please, thanks

I think in the first MSFS2020 developer Q&A 3rd parties were adressed and Sebastian mentioned Aircrafts, maybe Airports, and that’s it.

It would have been great see the best 3rd parties onboarded for some core elements such as ATC, Traffic, Weather, Camera systems, etc. But if they did not until now I cannot see why they should in future.

And I expect their ‚always online‘ ‚digital twin’ will be extended in 2024. They have to control the weather globally, both on Xbox and PC to assign jobs and missions. 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Damian Clark said:

Without going into details, I'll just say it's been at least a couple years since we've seen any profits.  As nearly all my developer friends and associates tell me, it's stupid to not give up and just do something else, but I just can't, not yet.  I can't leave our existing customers hanging and give up on 2.5 decades of amazingly hard work and sacrifice.  Maybe give up soon, but not yet.

Damian, I would be happy to pay a subscription for ASP3D should you deem it necessary for the business to survive. I’m sure I wouldn’t be alone.

It’s too horrible to consider P3D without ASP3D. That would force me to consider another sim. Given Microsoft / Asobo would be responsible for Hi-Fi’s demise how could I choose the sim that caused your downfall? Oh the irony. 😠

 

1 hour ago, Damian Clark said:

Without going into details, I'll just say it's been at least a couple years since we've seen any profits.  As nearly all my developer friends and associates tell me, it's stupid to not give up and just do something else, but I just can't, not yet.  I can't leave our existing customers hanging and give up on 2.5 decades of amazingly hard work and sacrifice.  Maybe give up soon, but not yet.

I have heard a lot of other developers struggling to make money with the other civilian simulators.  At the same time, it appears that Aerosoft, PMDG, iniBuilds, and A2A have made very good money with MSFS, but that's because their products sold very well for MSFS.  Despite MSFS being a platform that has made the aforementioned companies a lot of money, you still need a product that the market in MSFS finds attractive and that they want to buy.

Anyways, that's unfortunate that there is not a weather API available for MSFS, but at the same time, I believe there are restrictions with what can be done because of Meteo Blue. If it does not conflict with Meteo Blue, then it's probably just priorities that the MSFS team has set.

30 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Damian, I would be happy to pay a subscription for ASP3D should you deem it necessary for the business to survive. I’m sure I wouldn’t be alone.

No matter what happens, don't worry about losing access to ASP3D or any of our recent-generation products.  I've worked very hard over the past year to provide a secondary client-direct download system from NOAA that bypasses our very comprehensive and expensive data network, and at the worst case, if we have to shut that down, things will continue to operate, even with historical weather.  Downloads take a little longer but work great and the same as before.  We've already rolled this out to ASP6 and ASXP12, and our upcoming product, to be announced soon.  ASP3D and ASXP(11) will also get this soon.

Quote

Given Microsoft / Asobo would be responsible for Hi-Fi’s demise how could I choose the sim that caused your downfall? Oh the irony.

Well, we started with MSFS in 2000.  We are very grateful to have ever had an opportunity over all these years.  They giveth, they taketh away.  But I'm hoping it's not the final chapter.... Regardless, they make a wonderful sim, especially if you love visuals and scenery.  Hard core simmers and real pilots have a hard time liking MSFS2020 because of its focus on eye candy, but the realism seems to be catching up incrementally in each update an devs are figuring out how to improve things further.  Worth another try regardless of HiFi's participation.

Edited April 2, 20242 yr by Damian Clark

32 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Given Microsoft / Asobo would be responsible for Hi-Fi’s demise how could I choose the sim that caused your downfall? Oh the irony. 

Ray that's just an absurd statement. Think about it.

26 minutes ago, DD_Arthur said:

Ray that's just an absurd statement. Think about it.

No it’s not. I’m perfectly happy with P3D and given most of my flights are IFR and above 20,000ft why would MSFS be a better choice? I can fly Concorde anywhere in the world in daylight using historical weather. Until MSFS has that feature it’s not under consideration.

45 minutes ago, Damian Clark said:

No matter what happens, don't worry about losing access to ASP3D or any of our recent-generation products.

That’s very reassuring to hear, thanks Damian.

When you’re 11 miles up at Mach 2 over ocean none of the three major sims will show any meaningful difference.