Discussion: May 6th, 2021 Development Update

Thanks for the quick response! That sounds reasonable and is what I figured, but it is definitely good to hear an official word on it. I think the separate feedback snapshot for VR is also a great idea.

I would just like to say thanks again for the great job you are doing here, and I hope the entire team at MS & Asobo knows that their excellent work is appreciated!

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Hi @Jummivana, the issue of clouds being pixelated and grainy has been changed back to “fixed” after previously being labeled as “under investigation”. I am curious as to how this decision was made, I along with others on the given forum thread have not experienced any resolution of this issue.

So apparently the dev team investigated the documented issue post WU3, and all of the sudden changed the status of the issue to being “fixed” from WU3, and no further solution has been provided to those still experiencing pixelated clouds. I don’t understand the logic in that decision, and I certainly do not want to believe the devs are sweeping the problem under the rug and just ignoring folks like me who who find this bug quite immersion-breaking.

I know there is a plethora of problems that the devs are working hard to resolve, many of which are more core to the sim experience than the eye candy of clouds, but I have been vocal on this forum about the degradation of the clouds in the sim for 7 months now and I’m really feeling demoralized by the apparent apathy from the devs on this subject.

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That’s good news. It means there will be more than 300 testers, if the 300 first come first serve testers are added to the group of pre-selected testers.

that is absolutely fantastic news. Congrats and many thanks.

I would like to suggest that in addition to the full snapshots, you have an abbreviated one that lists only items whose status has changed since the last update.

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Fix the roll oscillation on the Longitude!

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I thought clouds pixelated has been fixed already? :thinking:

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Sign ups are limited to Windows Store sim users only (sorry, Steam!)

That sorry sounds very condescending.

A step forward in beta testing but I’m not overly convinced they’re moving fast enough, again a limited number with a hand picked few extra but only two weeks before SU4 release (not long enough IMO) and no Steam users.

I find it incredible they don’t have a specific Beta Branch that they can open up to select individuals who wish to help to maximise feedback, this works so very well for so many other games/Sims, someone hasn’t done their homework on this I feel.

Still as least it’s something, what the beta testers need to focus on are things that are working in SU3 but broken in SU4Beta and making sure the Update is a progression not a regression as we’ve seen too many times in the past.

How do you knw “few extra”? Could be thousands they are picking based on data they capture on usage, zendesk reports etc

But this is exactly what they are working on building.

The beta testers are being asked to test the various specific aspects noted in the post, i.e. This testing opportunity will target areas of the sim in performance, stability, ATC syntax accuracy, Aircraft (Engine Performance, Roll Stability, Average Yaw Control, and Aerodynamics). as well as regression.

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Very happy with the direction the new beta is heading.

Also, one question. It mentioned “Next Generation Simulations” working on a couple of planes (Saab, Fokker and Embraer). I googled their name but I can’t find them. Do they even have a website?

edit: so they’re on facebook (NextGen Simulations - Home | Facebook) which is annoying because to read any of their posts you need a fb account.

edit 2: they do have a website. https://nextgensim.com.co/

I hardly think it’s going to be thousands hand picked, probably no more than 100.

It’s it? Where have they stated that they are working directly towards an opt-in beta branch for everyone?

Yes i know, but there are other areas to focus on other than what is written in your quote. Hence two weeks to start and then release the updates is nowhere near long enough IMO, perfect example with the last patch and new bugs got through.

I’ve been part of many beta testing programs since the 1990s, I’ve seen how the better ones work and the lesser ones fall short. Again this is a start but it could be better, this beta program or other (better) variant should’ve been in process since before the game was even released.

Maybe some of the bugs were found during the beta but they decided it wasn’t worth postponing the release or misjudged the severity. They’re clearly evaluating past decisions and improving their processes.

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Hi @Jummivana! Any idea why the community gateway system was pushed from ‘Planned’ to ‘Not Started’?

Do they essentially mean the same thing? Or have the producers made a conscious decision to delay it?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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Fine. I guess I just have to accept that some people feel the need to criticise improvement in the right direction rather than encourage it. If that’s your style, job on.

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Finally, the work started on the glider/soaring task! Can’t wait to get a proper glider and thermal simulation working in MSFS!

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Communication and transparency has improved quite a lot! Congrats on that!

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Thank you Jayne for being here to answer several questions!

Jörg said in an older Q&A that the Bing Maps team are preparing an improvement to the appearance of photogrammetry, which should be ready towards the end of the year. That aligns with Sim Update 6 (which may have slipped to 2022 now), so I think “SU4” was a typo in the first place.

It was mostly fixed in World Update 3 but they came back to a degree in Sim Update 3. I think they’re in a fairly good place now, but it would be nice if they were revisited after DirectX 12.

I asked about this several months ago, no official explanation has been added though. We discussed this with another user, and it seems likely that “Not Started” means they’ve laid out their plans on how to fix a problem or implement a feature, and has been prioritised accordingly. So they are probably a step closer to working on it now.

The ESC bug is something that should’ve been hotfixed, on the rest i agree.

What is the esc bug?