Does Zendesk ever get anything fixed?

I have opened several (like maybe 20) tickets with Zendesk. As far as I can tell the first one, which was filed over a year ago, has been addressed, by adding a really stupid looking version of the new international airport in Panama City, Panama. And that may have just happened by introducing a map update, for all I know.
I have filed some tickets on really annoying issues like unexpected, invisible motocross jumps on taxiways and runways that will destroy an aircraft … these have been open for several months. I went and tested the conditions this morning and they still prevail. So who is supposed to be providing support and repairing these “undocumented features”? As far as I can tell, filing tickets with this outfit is an exercise in futility and a waste of time.

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This was directly addressed in the last livestream. The tickets in Zendesk feed directly into the Asobo bug tracking. That doesn’t mean your particular bugs will get addressed as it’s all about prioritisation. It’s not first come first served, and we all know that at the moment they have a big bug backlog to deal with. But Zendesk is the best way to log bugs.

With regards changes to scenery and terrain I think it’s most likely these get fixed when that area gets a world update.

It’s always a question of priority and one off scenery glitches just aren’t it unless it’s a major location like Kennedy or Heathrow. I am still waiting for the Isle of Man to be fixed, it’s annoying but I know it will be sorted eventually and luckily for Zendesk I have the patience of a saint.

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One word…

Triage.

In more words…

There have been uncountable numbers of users that have said the same as you. This leads to a belief that no-one actually reads the reports or cares about your bug(s). I believe that to be untrue.

The critical bug list started growing the day the sim was released. CTD bugs obviously are the most important and likely most frustrating bugs, not only to users, but also to developers. The sheer number of possible causes and unrelated failures is overwhelming. Bug fixes require the developer to be able to replicate the failure before they can fix it. Given the number of variables, it is clear, from reports from the developer, that a good number of the CTDs have not been duplicated in their tests, even though they have made those bugs their number one priority.

While they continue to struggle with those CTDs, they have indicated that the Zendesk reports are part of morning meeting routine. While I can only guess at the methods they use to prioritize the fixes, I would assume that game breaking bugs and bugs that cannot be avoided would have to take a much higher priority than bugs that we users can avoid by either flying a different plane or avoid flying to a specific airport. While that may mean you can’t land at your favorite airport or fly your favorite plane, it does not mean you can’t use the sim.

Keep doing what you are doing. Ask the users here for assistance. Maybe some of the bugs you have encountered aren’t bugs at all. Maybe they are settings or even just a misunderstanding of how something really works.

Can we use the forum to solve our problems with the sim?

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This speaks volumes concerning the efficacy of Zendesk tickets! That the bug list continues to grow is scary because it means it is not shrinking – that bugs are not getting fixed. I personally have submitted tickets via Zendesk that are approaching a year old that are yet to be fixed (i.e. missing runway at RKSI, et. al.). Then there are all of the ATC bugs that are over a year old that still have not been fixed. The failure that is named Zendesk is indefensible; and that some would dare to try defies logic.

Except for the hundreds that have been fixed.

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I am very sad how customer support work from MS/Asobo and 3rd party developers side.
Any party is responsible for errors in software they sold to us.
We are not getting what we paid for - working software.

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It may take a while… also with exactly pinpointed issues in the scenery… I reported a defect in the scenery around Adolphe Bridge POI in Luxemburg last May, it was solved recently with a WU update in Content manager that came with WU-6

I am very much getting what I paid for (originally 70 swiss francs I think it was, which is really not a lot). And have no problems investing more in this project by buying add-ons, and recently even upgraded to the premium deluxe (thanks to zendesk for adding the entitlement to my account after I filed a ticket for failed purchase). For me software is working really well.

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ZenDesk does not fix game bugs. They only relegate the bug reports to the Asobo team, who in turn will then work on them based on their priority.

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Yep, Zendesk is just an intermediary, Zendesk is actually the customer support software used by MS/Asobo for Flight Simulator. There are a lot of other companies involved too. I think multiple participants in the MSFS project have (or should have) access to the Zendesk complaints lists. Asobo will not be able to solve scenery issues everywhere on the planet, the authors should do that.

When you had these spikes, most of them were solved, when a proper complaint was put, with coords. But the spikes were DEM-errors, only to be solved by folks who can change local terrain maps and upload them to Bing. Maybe Asobo is the only one with first hand access, but I think Asobo will pass a lot of the Zendesk issues to other participants in the project. Privileged users can do that inside Zendesk software.

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So that means that the elevation issues at any US airport are going to sit there for a few more years while the rest of the world gets updated?

And as for “Triage,” part of any good IT prioritizing system is raising a ticket’s priority as it ages. I sent in a request to repair KGSO on 11 April. There have been several chances to include an fix with the updates that have been released since then, but it still hasn’t been touched.

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In the last Dev conference with MS and Asobo, they reiterated that Zendesk was the vehicle for communicating issues to the Asobo team and that they take all reports of issues with the importance they deserve. So 1) keep reporting any issues to Zendesk and 2) be as detailed as possible, help the devs understand the issue you are having. If they can’t replicate it, It’s difficult to address.

On a different note though, It would be nice to have some feedback from Zendesk regarding the progress our our issue, or give us the ability to see what the status of the issue is.

I personally have added many (what I feel are important) issues or improvements that I’ve never seen in any of the wishlist or bug reports. Mainly due to the voting system of listing the details.

VERY FRUSTRATING …

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No, I zendesked the devil’s tower issues where it shoots your plane up to 30000 feet when you get close to devils tower. On my zen desk ticket it shows solved. Yeah, I checked last night. Not solved.

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Actually, I reported it also and it’s 60,000’. I used various aircraft and flew in from different angles - same result.

I suspect it is on purpose. However, I actually wanted to fly around and inspect the tower. Very disappointing to not be able to get near it and depending on the aircraft you select, completely ruins your flight.

I would disagree with that triage system. If we used a FIFO prioritization we would still have a lot of game breaking bugs that haven’t even been started.

My first flight upon release, after flying over my house, was a flight from CYDQ to CYXS. I needed full power to turn off the active and onto an intersecting runway. Had I not been carrying a fair amount of speed there is no way I would have been able to taxi up the 40-50 foot rise. Needless to say that does not belong. I Zendesked it. Aug 21, 2020 I believe. Took a swing in there a couple months back, no change.

Really has no effect on my enjoyment of the sim but double the lift from flaps would have been a problem.

There have been a LOT of bug fixes over the last 20 months that were absolute must fixes. CTD elimination has been number one for some time now. I don’t have an issue but if I did, I would be livid if they fixed the hill in the runway before they got my CTD issues sorted.

There are hundreds of missing runways, incorrect taxiways, annoying graphics anomalies, trees or lamp posts in the wrong place. I would bet thousands of tickets for niggly little things that really have no effect on the overall usability. Pretty sure I could list a few recent major bug fixes that could NOT be superseded by a missing runway at Iwo Jima. (Another Zendesk report from over a year ago.)

I agree that major bugs need to have an age factor built into their priority but no way airport repairs should ever rise above the usability issues. Airport has an issue? Stop flying there. Pretty sure there is an alternate.

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Read the FAQ. “Solved” simply means added to the queue. A shortfall in the Zendesk tagging.

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Maybe for you it was 60,000. For me it was 30,000 last night.

It’s definitely a glitch. As I’ve had it happen randomly at a couple different places I’ve flown around.

Well that’s disappointing …

I was under the impression that there were different staff members for different aspects of the sim. If that’s true, then there should be one group working on core code to prevent CTD issues, while another team works on scenery. If that’s the case, then it would be perfectly normal to find fixes issued for runway/ramp problems before the cause of a CTD is found and fixed - as long as they’re transparent about what’s happening behind the scenes. But none of that seems to be happening lately. I guess all of the scenery people are busy making more “hand-crafted” airports for the next World Update…