As a developer… Just a general question. This is a big leap for Asobo from previous small indy titles. The biggest challenge with software development is the initial release. The second biggest challenge is reliable updates. Hope it’s just growing pains… If they released this as an open-beta I think it would have stopped a lot of the rants.
18 Likes
I almost think we have to come up a unit test list for them or they should open up beta again for new patch releases
15 Likes
Voting No.
I’m in the software industry too and the level of effort and quality standards for this is quite baffling.
6 Likes
This would be a FANTASTIC solution.
8 Likes
MMOs have shown that this works. They have the infrastructure in place. Get the community to test every patch before deployment. Everyone who has dabbled in flight sims know that it wont be gold from day 1 and most of us are happy to test and provide feedback
1 Like
Looking back I find the past four weeks quite interesting. I still believe in the Sim but i´m also asking myself how this could happen.
Then again, given their track record, Asobo is a fabulous yet still inexperienced dev team, especially given the type of software they chose to tackle. And I don´t think that working for MS on a project like THIS, as a company small as THEM is a particularly pleasuring and calming experience.
Also, having the “main stream” jump on the bandwagon has not only broadenend the possible user base but also risen the expectations since “they” are used to playing games at 4k@60 fps.
And while probably none of us “simmers” really expected this one to blow our hats off, performance wise, i know quite a few gamers who really thought it would…until release.
In all honesty: I think it´s more a question of what kind of software we are talking about, not so much who´s developing it. Even Laminar still struggle to deliver a decent performance. Vulkan was the first big leap that really made it possible for me to reach almost consistent 60fps while almost on full details (1080ti, 7700k @ 5.0) and I would definitely call them experienced! I mean how many X-Plane iterations are there?
But of course it´s not only performance, there´s also lots bugs to be zapped. And that takes a lot of time.
Given those facts I also think that reverting to a BETA state would be an improvement and mitigate a lot of stress from the devs. I just don´t think that this is their call to make.
.
5 Likes
Yes I believe this was over their heads. Whoever is working on this and releasing this stuff is not doing it well.
As long as an Open Beta approach doesn’t turn into the farce that is DCS, where everyone and their dog treats the Open Beta version as the stable release because it gets all the goodies first. Of course everyone simultaneously complains about the bugs too.
2 Likes
I think its more an error of appealing to streamers/bloggers for an initial “wow” factor (free advertising) that the scenery would do. Uninformed gamers loving the graphics but knowing nothing about avionics or weather. So the avionics and weather and scores of other things were omitted, put on back burners, or full of major bugs. Yes a serious error.
The feature presentations were presented extremely well and I believe Microsoft has the budget for the long term. Now if there was an early release or public beta at a reduced cost, I think all this could have been avoided. Flight simmers as a whole are NOT unreasonable. We know it is a BIG project, but that is NO excuse for releasing a major flight sim full of major blunders. Actually there is ZERO excuse for releasing MSFS in this fashion, flight simmers know this and the voices will likely get louder.
The other problem I see is the MSFS development team needed to be in contact with 3rd party developers years ago about MSFS. All the excessive secrecy has essentially destroyed any chance of us getting a flight SIMULATOR this or the next year. Flight sim 3rd parties know what to do and how to do it. A most valuable and available resource that came to the party WAY TOO LATE. The SDK is still late for the party!
So we have fixes galore for years to come, at this rate…post Patch #2.
Eventually the anger at the (alpha test) snail pace of fixes and development will boil over. Not to mention the countless announcements, about announcements, for announcements, in light of announcements, or in lieu of announcements, having to do with an announcement.
We just want to fly!
Everybody that truly/deeply cares about MSFS has something (more likely many things) they want either fixed or added. Just give it a little more time and even the most gentle and mild mannered person here will be complaining loudly, the rest will be gone.
Something has to be done. Phil Taylor did wonders in helping to rescue FSX - MSFS needs a Phil Taylor like immediately if not sooner.
16 Likes
and yet look at the world they created.
likewise you MUST do the board brush strokes first before you get out the fine detail brush.
there have been plenty of AAA game released in a far worse state than MSFS with a mere fraction of the scope of MSFS.
6 Likes
I think the question / title shows a pretty big lack of respect for what Asobo has achieved.
■■■■■■■ the whole freaking world is so glass half empty these days. It makes me sad.
19 Likes
A flight simulator is incredibly complicated on a code level, which invites lots of opportunity for things to break or not work correctly.
I actually agree with the person who said that this should’ve just been released as an open-beta, or even paid “early access” product, as that would calibrate expectations for something that clearly came in pretty hot on August 18th.
I have every confidence that Asobo can and will iron out the problems… but it’ll take time to get there. Just accept that you’re basically a paid beta tester (and consider whether you would’ve paid for an “early access” Flight Simulator anyway - my guess is yes), and give feedback.
Also suspect it’s wise to keep in mind that it may not necessarily have been Asobo who enthusiastically chose August for the release of MSFS in the first place.
2 Likes
I used to agree with this but after being in Alpha, after the release and now after two updates, where things have mostly been made worse and more things have been broken, I am seriously thinking I might have been wrong.
3 Likes
Have you looked at the NEW bugs that were created today?
4 Likes
Issues encoutered for me post-update:
787
Won’t taxi even at 60% throttle
APPR button won’t work (hence ILS failed)
A320
Won’t start up manually
With the automatic startup (Ctrl + E), the engines shut down during taxi and on second attempt, all the electronics and engines shut down by themselves
What a complete joke this is. A320 is now unplayable. Best thing is, we are probably going to have to wait another few weeks for a fix.
Slow clap to Asobo. Clueless and way over their heads on this.
Shock Horror. New bugs introduced in massive patch for complex simulation.
This has been a common occurrence in gaming for at least 23 years now.
Outside of gaming, I have worked with very important software in the past that actually affected peoples lives in a significant way. The team working on this piece of software was backed by huge government funds. Guess what. Every single update bought as many new issues as it solved. Welcome to modern software development.
Maybe I’m just at that age where I roll with the punches and just enjoy things for what they are.
(PS I’m not saying it’s good. Just that it’s a fact of life)
11 Likes
I’ve reconciled myself to the fact that this flight sim is probably never really going to be ‘done’. It’ll just go on receiving patches, updates, fixes, improvements for as long as Microsoft chooses to keep bankrolling Asobo and their associates (such as Blackshark A.I.) to tinker with, and maintain, the platform.
Maybe we’re looking at the full 10-year service, maybe not. Either way, it won’t be done by the time the cash finally stops flowing. I think Asobo knows that. It’s business, isn’t it? At some point, the sim stops being financially viable to its principle backer (MS) and tough decisions have to be made.
I’m hopeful there are at least 3-5 years of reasonably regular (and perhaps even substantial) patches and updates to come before MSFS enters a more uncertain future. Let’s see how it goes.
Also I’d like to give a small insight into professional QA testing.
I was a professional (ie paid) QA tester for the original Burnout game. which as great as it was, was nowhere near as complex as MSFS is. One of the bugs I found was a complete system crash. This crash only happened when you were driving a specifc car on a specific track with specific control setup, and specific volume levels with a specific music track playing at the precise time on the track it would crash.
It took me 2 weeks of 14 hour days to be able to reproduce it, the devs then were able to fix it pretty quickly.
Oh and yes, I was SERIOUSLY good at that game. 
5 Likes
As a simmer since FS98 i didnt expect that MSFS would be final at release day. Especially since i was in Alpha/Beta. When they made the release-date public i tought “oh no, this isnt going well”.
To my surprise the release-version was better than expected in comparison to the Beta.
I was defending Asobo and the new sim, i still am. But this Patch is an awful mess and i have to ask myself HOW could this happen, how could they release a patch that seems to brake more things than it fixed, for me atleast. Right now, i would prefer the pre-patch version with no doubt.
I hope they can Hotfix this mess as soon as possible otherwise im quite feared.
Not that Asobo isnt making an awesome job, but i could imagine that MS isnt really happy with the situation but propably has to take the responsibility as they pushed the release-date WAY too early and now we are in this situation.
I hope that history doesnt repeat and MS just pulls the plug one day because this project didnt turn out as they expected, or not as fast as they expected…
Still have high respect for the Dev-Team, im still behind them and trust in them, but i dont trust MS too much to have the patience and give Asobo the support they need to finish this project in the long term.
Fingers crossed.
1 Like