1 hour ago, chapstick said:

Just free for compatibility. Improvements are $$$.

Killjoy! 😆 🤣 😂  Of course, you're correct. 

1 hour ago, Sonosusto said:

Anyone have this and the Bae146 or Avro RJ from Just Flight and care to share their thoughts? I love the older planes (DC6 would be great if it wasn't so buggy all the time).

Fantastic planes, both of them. BUT they are heavy of frames. From Textures to sounds, its one of the most realistic, immersive planes. 

Edited December 5, 20241 yr by Aviator_2024

1 hour ago, Sonosusto said:

Anyone have this and the Bae146 or Avro RJ from Just Flight and care to share their thoughts? I love the older planes (DC6 would be great if it wasn't so buggy all the time).

Found the RJ to be incomplete cockpit wise. Wasnt what i was looking for. Nice external modelling. Maddog uses somewhat p3d like level textures however its the best of them. If the updates free then ill jump back into it.

Edited December 5, 20241 yr by 40track

This is amazing news! from one my favorite planes!!  I'm fine with paying for the improvements they need to make money they have done updates over the years and never asked us for anything so I'm ok with it the more cash they have the more things they can make.

The Maddog is no doubt a great addon system-wise.

But they port that Zombie now over since 20 years and I was really upset they sold it with these FSX textures and model for 2020.

It is still the most expensive addon for 2020, isn't it?

 

Hope, the upgrade does not cost more then 10€, but doubt it.
 

Edited December 5, 20241 yr by guenseli

Honestly I'm a bit puzzled atm with this announcement as its at least for me totally unclear what exactly Leonardo is meaning with "native upgrade". No way Leonardo has rebuild the old fsx to p3d to msfs ported model into full native 2024 model as that would have meant a rebuild from scratch model and texturewise to get 2024 native and that just in a few weeks as Leonardo had no access to the SDK before. So do they actually speak only about a 2020 compatibility upgrade? In addition that would make absolutely no sense taking into account the next: "oh we finally got the idea" that a basically fsx model is not up to date both model and texture wise anymore? Sorry that late idea combined with a not matching price model anymore was the fact many P3D owners of the plane refused to pay a whopping 90 bucks including VAT for a ported model in the beginning of 2020 four years ago. Just to make it clear, I loved the Maddog in P3D and have flown every nut and bolt out of her and she is a hidden beauty with its systems modelling and performance. But if Leonardo is not doing a big step up in overall package quality and set a decent price point they will stay in their small niche forever. Just thinking I would have get 90 bucks plus a rough estimated around 30 bucks (less would not make any sense) for an updated model and graphics is catapulting the Maddog to a pricepoint that is on FSL P3D level (not including a test.exe). I hope me will be proven wrong but I've lost the picture behind what Leonardo is doing.

Very subjective I know but my 2 cents. Blue Skies! Cheers T.

Wonder if the MSFS2020 version will get the update as well? It was not mentioned

1 hour ago, Torsen said:

Honestly I'm a bit puzzled atm with this announcement as its at least for me totally unclear what exactly Leonardo is meaning with "native upgrade".

I think I can shed some light. Having worked with the MSFS 2020 SDK (though only for scenery) and the FS9 gauge SDK way back in the day, I think I'm a bit more attuned to the "developer lingo" in this regard.

When they talk about a "native upgrade", what I believe they mean is compiling the addon with the MSFS 2024 SDK (as opposed to simply running an addon compiled with the MSFS 2020 SDK in MSFS 2024). This will certainly involve making some fixes for things that work a bit differently in 2024, but it sounds as if the addon already mostly works in 2024 - hence their expectation that this will only take a few weeks.

I'd expect this addon to look, sound, and behave just the same as it does in 2020 (though you'll obviously get 2024's improved lighting, raytraced shadows, and the like).

The "optional expansion", on the other hand, sounds like it will be a completely redone 3D model with new sounds. This is obviously a lot more work, so they're not giving an ETA right now, as they presumably haven't completed enough of the work to have a good idea of how long it will take.

This is just my interpretation of what they've announced, but I'm fairly confident I've understood what they're doing. Hope this gives some clarity!

Fantastics news😀 

Michael Moe 

2 hours ago, martinboehme said:

I think I can shed some light. Having worked with the MSFS 2020 SDK (though only for scenery) and the FS9 gauge SDK way back in the day, I think I'm a bit more attuned to the "developer lingo" in this regard.

When they talk about a "native upgrade", what I believe they mean is compiling the addon with the MSFS 2024 SDK (as opposed to simply running an addon compiled with the MSFS 2020 SDK in MSFS 2024). This will certainly involve making some fixes for things that work a bit differently in 2024, but it sounds as if the addon already mostly works in 2024 - hence their expectation that this will only take a few weeks.

I'd expect this addon to look, sound, and behave just the same as it does in 2020 (though you'll obviously get 2024's improved lighting, raytraced shadows, and the like).

The "optional expansion", on the other hand, sounds like it will be a completely redone 3D model with new sounds. This is obviously a lot more work, so they're not giving an ETA right now, as they presumably haven't completed enough of the work to have a good idea of how long it will take.

This is just my interpretation of what they've announced, but I'm fairly confident I've understood what they're doing. Hope this gives some clarity!

Yeah and that is where I exactly ask myself what Leonardo is achieving, or trying to. Afaik a native 2024 will not be only a compile on 2024 sdk, it will have to follow the new approach, splitted model, texture lods etc. So a whole lotta work that would only make sense with the model and graphics update. And not to speak even about flight model changes needed. A compatible plane will be compiled with 2020 sdk but with fixes to ensure it works in 2024. Time will tell...

Cheers T.

Edited December 5, 20241 yr by Torsen

1 hour ago, Torsen said:

Afaik a native 2024 will not be only a compile on 2024 sdk, it will have to follow the new approach, splitted model, texture lods etc.

This is true for scenery (where the new LOD rules require developers to create appropriate LODs if they haven't yet done so for their 2020 sceneries), but I don't believe it applies to aircraft.

The player aircraft is always rendered at LOD0, and this hasn't changed in 2024. (By "split model", are you referring to SimPropContainers? Again, those are relevant to scenery, not aircraft. Edit: I've now realized you probably mean Modular SimObjects. These aren't mandatory in 2024 -- you can still use 2020-style "monolithic" SimObjects.)

So I don't see what would prevent Leonardo from compiling the Maddog with the 2024 SDK, which is why I assume this is what they mean by a "native upgrade".

So to summarize their approach (which makes sense to me):

• Initially, make the Maddog work in MSFS 2024, which can be done with low effort (within a few weeks). This allows people to run the Maddog in MSFS 2024 with the same visuals and sounds as in MSFS 2020.
• Longer-term, provide a 3D model and sound update that brings the Maddog to modern standards in these areas. This will take a lot more time, so it makes sense not to delay releasing an MSFS 2024 version until this work is complete.

Edited December 5, 20241 yr by martinboehme

11 minutes ago, martinboehme said:

This is true for scenery (where the new LOD rules require developers to create appropriate LODs if they haven't yet done so for their 2020 sceneries), but I don't believe it applies to aircraft.

The player aircraft is always rendered at LOD0, and this hasn't changed in 2024. (By "split model", are you referring to SimPropContainers? Again, those are relevant to scenery, not aircraft.)

So I don't see what would prevent Leonardo from compiling the Maddog with the 2024 SDK, which is why I assume this is what they mean by a "native upgrade".

So to summarize their approach (which makes sense to me):

• Initially, make the Maddog work in MSFS 2024, which can be done with low effort (within a few weeks). This allows people to run the Maddog in MSFS 2024 with the same visuals and sounds as in MSFS 2020.
• Longer-term, provide a 3D model and sound update that brings the Maddog to modern standards in these areas. This will take a lot more time, so it makes sense not to delay releasing an MSFS 2024 version until this work is complete.

I'm not really sure. But me not dev, me tester with some insights. As far as I understood the general principles of planes changed also and you actually have to split the model and do the lods as even inside the plane it will not usually load the complete aircraft at lod0 depending on what you actually see 😉. I don't know if you are forced to but not doing so would have a serious impact on performance both of own simulation and in multiplayer for others for sure. Anyhow we'll learn with time. Afaik only ini released one single native 2024 plane and that is indeed following the complete approach up to now.  ( https://docs.flightsimulator.com/msfs2024/html/3_Models_And_Textures/Modeling/Aircraft/Aircraft_Modeling_General_Principles.htm .)

Cheers T.

6 minutes ago, Torsen said:

I'm not really sure. But me not dev, me tester with some insights. As far as I understood the general principles of planes changed also and you actually have to split the model and do the lods as even inside the plane it will not usually load the complete aircraft at lod0 depending on what you actually see 😉.

That's possible - I haven't tried any of this myself, I'm just going off of what the documentation says, but of course that often isn't 100% accurate or complete.

8 minutes ago, Torsen said:

I don't know if you are forced to but not doing so would have a serious impact on performance both of own simulation and in multiplayer for others for sure.

That performance impact shouldn't be any different from how the same model was performing in 2020 though?

Anyhow, as you say - we'll see!

If the upgrade fee is something reasonable (like the v4 to v5 upgrade fee), I may get in.... if the sounds are worth it. Right now I prefer the Maddog 2010 (for FS9) sounds. It's strange, but I can perfectly hear the A/T doing their stuff. Not so in MSFS or even P3D (yep, I have it for all sims 😂)

29 minutes ago, Luis Hernandez said:

If the upgrade fee is something reasonable (like the v4 to v5 upgrade fee), I may get in.... if the sounds are worth it. Right now I prefer the Maddog 2010 (for FS9) sounds. It's strange, but I can perfectly hear the A/T doing their stuff. Not so in MSFS or even P3D (yep, I have it for all sims 😂)

In their page:

"We’re excited to confirm that the Maddog X will be coming to FS2024 as a native upgrade and it's just behind the corner.

Best of all, this upgrade will be provided free of charge to FS2020 Maddog customers".

 

No fees them.

cheers