I am the first to criticise and see little point in not voicing my opinion even (maybe especially)if it is negative as I hope that this will result in improvements for the good of all.
By the same token it is important to state the good where this is found.
Downloading the latest patch was relative painless albeit longer than I would have preferred (about two hours, 1 crash and one weird internet disconnection caused by the installer).
I was pleased to find that my HOTAS/ keyboard bindings had not been deleted as they had been after the previous patch. Hopped into the a320 for a quick night time spin from Bristol to Nice this evening and I have to say it went pretty well.
I’m a simple beast and it doesn’t take much to please me. Just a working default (not necessarily study level) airliner will do me fine and just knowing that I can load the sim for a 90 minute flight sometimes after work to relax is all I ask. Level of complexity is important but not essential personally, just to have a bit of fun without any bug related stress is just fine.
Cold and dark worked without any issues and no problems with avionics screens or display going black. I encountered some suspicious lightening above southern France (live weather) and ATC failed to descend me from 16,000 feet to approach altitude so I had to do this manually. However, AP for the most part worked well (very steep descent rate in managed mode from cruise to 16,000) localiser captured perfectly, approach mode worked and manual descent to the runway was smooth with responsive controls. Frame rates were acceptable and for the first time ever Live Traffic worked. I was no longer alone in the dark skies!
I also used the excellent Self Loading Cargo for the first time which added to the experience. I thoroughly recommend this inexpensive addon to all airline simmers. It also gave me feedback on the landing confirming that it was “Nice” in Nice
So although I have seen enough of this Sim to not be 100% confident that the next flight will be as smooth and bug free as this one, I would like to convey my thanks to Asobo for the work they have done so far and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that the next patch continues to improve user experience for my (pretty basic level of) needs as a casual simmer.