We Need 3rd Party Developers to Rescue Us!

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Many of the 3rd party developers like Fenix, IniBuilds, FSDreamTeam, FSHud, Axis & Ohs, FSIPanel, etc. have quickly mobilized and produced viable Fs2024 versions of their products. Not perfect but good enough. Some have charged us and some have made their upgrades available for free. They have scrambled and made sure FS2024 had their support.

Others (we know who they are) have sat back, explained/complained about how much work MS/Asobo has created for them, provided dramatic hand waving excuses about product roadmap decisions, and said things like “It will take time and we will be ready when we are ready” or “This is hard, please be patient”. One VERY popular/high-end airport developer has still not made a statement about their 2024 compatibility plans. Seriously?

This scenario may permanently compromise the adoption/engagement of FS2024 and negatively impact the future revenues of the developers dependent on FS2020/2024 for their livelihoods. Folks are running from FS2024 because of the bugs AND because of the compatibility issues. They are turning to other games and other hobbies. They are getting frustrated, angry, and losing interest in Flight Simulator. This could be temporary but could also permanently diminish interest in MSFS 202X.

Waiting for Asobe to magically fix compatibility is not the answer. The 3rd party developers must seize the moment and get some of their key products working–we know this is possible from the work some have done. In the same way the FlyByWire A320 helped save FS2020 early on, FS2024 needs major investment and support from the developer community to take root. Charge us if you must but please move ahead with great speed. Time is not your friend.

Let’s all support the developers (yes, financially) who quickly embrace FS2024. And, perhaps more importantly, let the others know we need them to lean in now. MS/Asobo may have made this mess but the community of developers and their customer’s support need to help fix it.

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Personal Comments and Observations - my other hat in the flight sim industry is working for one of the Partner Devs

It’s not that easy. Yes, the state and maturity of the SDK is part of the challenge. You also have to consider that FS2020 is still and will remain a viable, profitable market for several years to come. Many of the Partner Devs (some who you named) have Roadmaps that were developed before FS24 had a launch date. So you have commitments that you need to fill as an independent studio - and not all of those are FS’24.

Building an FS’24 plane is indeed hard. SDK maturity and development is one factor, but not all encompassing. Learning the new SDK, both net-new features (some mentioned prominently in Dev Q&As leading up to launch), as well as how a previous code or function that worked one way in '20 now works this way in '24, and put on top of that all of the other design and feature practices and aspirations of the individual studio/developer. This stuff takes time. It’s not overnight, it’s not next week, it may not even be next quarter. I’m just saying - everyone needs to have patience and temper expectations - greatly in some cases.

Beyond the above, which applies to nearly everyone, the story will vary once you get to individual studio budgets, timelines, resource availability. Some folks may move faster, some slower.

And many of those mentioned partners, in fact, everyone on the Marquee Splash Screen that the sim displays - still has ongoing commitments to support the sim products they contributed or were commissioned to build at launch. Our commitments did not end on 19-November. They will continue for the lifetime of the sim.

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Then the Marketplace for FS24 needs to open. Not all of us are lucky to have a PC. For some of us, the Marketplace is all we have

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Given the poor LOD on Xbox for default airliners, I’m in no hurry to purchase detailed 3rd party airliners. It’s ground hog day again this happened between 2020 and 2022 until SU15 I think when the airliner LOD finally improved
Fix the LOD and the console players will part with their cash on content.

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I’ve checked out their 2024 versions for LOWI and KPSP and was less than impressed. Seemed like a rush job. Walk-around not supported, no animated passengers even though I thought 2024 supposedly solved the associated performance penalties.

I think we’re just in a “hang-over” phase from this badly managed release where devs are faced with delays from an incomplete, late SDK release and an unexpected level of compatibility issues for their existing portfolios despite Asobo’s promises.

I will take time for everything to settle but then we should see significant improvements in the sim as well as an increased stream of addons for it.

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Whilst I agree about devs that have so far failed to provide some communication on the matter it’s easy from the outside to suggest everyone could be just rolling out 2024 products now. As so well explained by @CasualClick there are many considerations for each developer. Some products will be easier to port so that has a factor as does the fact several of the Devs had advanced information and access. This situation has been created by one entity and that is Microsoft. It’s on them for no MP and the time it will take for the third parties to recover to where they were pre MSFS 2024.

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Third party devs have been taken on board by asobo for 2024 but the results are not great.

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You don’t need to be lucky to have a PC, you can build far better PC’s for the same price as a console :))

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[We Need 3rd Party Developers to Rescue Us!

And who’s gonna rescue 3d party dev ?

You are comparing compatibility moves (that were supposed to be part of msfs2024) with annoucing a new strategy with native planes.

And when you say “ones made it, other should be able to”, you’re assuming that’s a lack of will… I invite you to visit the devsupport forums. You’ll see everything that’s on the way of getting it done. (That’s not because ones made their screens work, that it will work for anybody else)

Remember the product was made available a few weeks only before launch. The dev alpha was so short and restricted that it was only possible to test compatibility and not native development. Confusion was the only conclusion.

Look at the compared charts between 2020 & 2024 : 2024 keeps falling down while 2020 grows again. This was not what 3rd party devs were counting on when they were announcing their statements.

Building a native plane for 2024 will get it unavailable for 2020 (without extra work, duplicate build process, dual blender setups, etc). Building a native plane was probably the focus for everyone in october and part of their plan.
Doing it today is completely different, with the split community, when we have no idea when the store will open, what the backlog will look like and how many weeks/months it will take to resorb for 3rd parties to be able to publish something again.

Seeing revisions of the early strategies to adapt to a current situation which is likely to last several months would not be a surprise now…
Probably not in the way you expect it to be

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It’s a cliché, but let’s just be patient. The sim has been out for less than 2 months at this point. Asobo are currently on their Christmas break, but I’m certain, when they are back, it’ll be all hands on deck.

I’m not trying to brush all the problems under the rug either, there are MANY issues, and I experience them everytime I fly!

Back in the day, 2020 was a never before done feat, they did it again with 2024. You could blame Asobo for too much experimentation, but you can’t blame them for trying to push the sim in new directions, that overall, helps keep it alive for all of us to enjoy.

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Completely agreed! Asobo needs to get the marketplace open and developers must work to make sure products purchased for 2020 are available in FS2024. I recognize some of the planes may take some effort but based on what is already compatible, it seems like airports can be made to work as least as well as they did in FS2020. Similarly, Orbx, Contrail, etc. need to make sure “compatible” versions, if they exist, are available for download. I’m already noticing many airports available for download in the FS Library are not yet available on the other stores. Only 13 of my almost 70 purchases from Orbx are showing as available–many of those are airports and would be available had I purchased them from the marketplace. In the long run, I’m glad I got them from Orbx but not sure why they are available in the marketplace first.

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They need to rescue themselves… If they don’t invest in this new platform quickly, the market for their products will end up being smaller for them down the road.

I have looked at the charts which is what I’m concerned about and why I’m writing this. Lack of broad developer support / enthusiasm is part of the issue. Yes, some devs are all over this–just more need to be.

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All true.

If I were a 3rd party dev running a business, I highly doubt I’d invest men hours into a platform which is (also from a dev point) buggy as hell, overly complicated and in wide parts inconsistent…the more: in a platform, which has - 6 weeks after launch - a declining userbase and minimal 1st hand support (for devs and end-users alike).

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Do you hear yourselves? I knew it sounded familiar…

MSFS 2024’s launch was with about as much class as Windows Millennium. The mass of hollow excuses will not change or repair how your customers feel about the mess you’ll have for years to come. Just that MSFS 2024 is the least of the junk that is out there, but it is newer junk. I paid for it reluctantly…lesson learned for certain.
For now…I’ll see you in MSFS 2020 as long as they can keep it supported. :wink:

"Overview of Windows ME

Windows ME, which stands for “Millennium Edition,” was Microsoft’s last operating system in the Windows 9x family. It was designed as a home-oriented version of Windows 2000, with a focus on multimedia features and internet connectivity. Microsoft intended for Windows ME to cater to the growing number of home users engaging in digital media and internet activities. It introduced several new features like the System Restore tool, Windows Movie Maker, and improved multimedia support. But despite its ambition, Windows ME quickly became infamous for its instability and unreliability…"

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I cannot see how third parties can get enthusiastic and want to pour their resources into uncertainty. That seems like mighty foolish business practice.

Honestly, I’m not sure what they are meant to do. I’m not buying anything right now — 2020 or 2024. The entire situation is totally tenuous.

MS has done a horrible job of communicating their clear intention here to right this ship, so I’ve got one foot in the lifeboat and I’m certainly not alone given all these other feet in here, too.

What needs to happen is MS needs to stop playing possum and get in here and tell us precisely what their roadmap to success is going to be.

Promises of free aircraft and pending WUs/CUs and quarterly SUs is not going to fix this situation and bring stability and confidence to the third party developers and user base so they will open their wallets.

What is their plan? I haven’t heard anything concrete, at all.

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oh wow… trip down memory lane
i was one of those, Windows Me made me go back to 98 and I didn’t let it go until they pried it from my clenched hands
real shot in the foot for Ms

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The problem is that realising builds that are more like a pre-alpha is becoming a trend nowadays. And this pre-alpha is quite expensive.

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Yes, but they can’t annouce they postpone WU & SU for a year or two and replace them with initial fixes so 2024 is at least at the level of 2020

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Can’t agree with this comment more. Asobo needs to work on communication in 2025.

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I’m not saying they shouldn’t try to stick to their original roadmap. (I’m not sure if you thought that was what I meant.)

What many of us are looking for is the plan of attack to address the dwindling user numbers (if Steam is any indication of a platform-wide decline. We obviously don’t see the Xbox and/or MS Store numbers, but we can extrapolate.)

Take me, for example, why would I buy an expensive 2020 aircraft right now with all the uncertainty? Compatibility issues abound that look to be Asobo’s to fix. How long will that take? What is their progress? Why do I have to hunt the dev forum to try and find that information when it ought to be clear what the course of action is here in this user forum?

Some devs have promised free upgrades to full 2024 functionality. I feel they may have spoken in haste given what we are now learning of the effort involved. Others have stated there will be a charge. I have not seen any consistent numbers. What am I going to be asked to pay? Is it going to cost me more to buy a 2020 version and then pay for the 2024 update or would it make more sense to just sit and wait to buy a 2024 version when it is actually done and available? Who is making promises they can’t keep? We haven’t seen which devs have said they will do 2024 upgrades, but then decide it is too much effort and abandon plans.

All of this is way too much uncertainty, for me. Right now everyone seems to have the best of intentions, but I’m not the same consumer I was with 2020. I bought products I wish I hadn’t and I’ve figured out which developers are solid and which are questionable.

I cannot see how I am going to be alone in my thinking.

What would help is assurances from MS that they aren’t going “pull a Redfall” with MSFS 2024.

Are they really going to make good on this thing? What is the immediate roadmap to addressing this ever-growing bug list I read here everyday?

I’m totally frustrated, as a Marketplace purchaser, that I can’t even get the updated versions of my products that have had 2024 compatibility fixes done to them. Even the included aircraft have received fixes (well, I know the Albatross has) and we don’t have access to those. We have heard nothing about when we will see those fixes and how they will be delivered to us.

I’m no economist, but isn’t uncertainty what halts markets? I’m dumbfounded that we haven’t heard anything. What, “it’s the holidays” is the excuse?

You’re telling me, that in the middle of this holiday season with this stressful mess of a project release, that Jörg isn’t awake at 03:30 dwelling on this project he leads? I’m not even a part of this project and I’m awake at 03:30 dwelling on it and thinking about it.

I don’t understand why he hasn’t come and given us his plan of attack.

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