Welcome to Microsoft Flight Simulator’s SDK Q&A Platform!

You have questions regarding the SDK? DevMode Tools? SimConnect? You would like to submit an idea for future improvements, seek help or exchange knowledge? You’re in the right place.

Please take a moment to read the platform’s guidelines before you get started!

Idea

Simbol suggested Aug 18, '21 runshotgun commented Apr 4, '22

Developer Beta Program

Dear Asobo,

I think it would be a good idea to implement a formal developing beta testing program.

Although you guys are doing an excellent job and are also putting all your best efforts in order to help us everyday with questions and issues we find. It is quiet clear your plate is full given the extent and complexity of MSFS, and unfortunately this is a situation that will remain for a very, very long time.

Given the results of what happened after SU5 and how this disrupted many parts of the SDK workflow with issues that went under the radar, I think it is crucial to implement a formal Beta program so 3rd party developers can actually test changes to the SDK and changes to the development workflow implemented by your team. We all work in different ways, therefore we will always be able to find problems you guys are unable to see.

If we are able to catch such issues before they become really BIG PROBLEMS, it would help your team to identify and take care of big obstacles for any big release, it will also increase your efficiency and avoid down the line having to fight for resources to get things fixed vs being able to continue with your current road map.

At the end of the day it is not only 3rd party developers suffering due to these issues, it is MSFS customers who are now forced to wait for several fixes in order to allow 3rd party developers to update our products or release pending products, alongside of course with your own team who simply put, will be unable to fix everything at the same time after any big update is available for general public.

As a software engineer I totally understand the pressure you guys are under and all the challenges you are facing, so what I am proposing is to find ways to help your resources to avoid being overrun after each mayor update applied to the product.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to express my most sincere gratitude to the entire Asobo team for trying to address all the problems we find and report despite your current resource limitations and required deadlines due to contractual obligations.

Kind Regards,
Simbol

default devmode devs

10 |10000

Attachments: Up to 5 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 4.8 MiB each and 23.8 MiB total.

TDM_SceneryDesign commented Aug 18, '21 TDM_SceneryDesign published Aug 18, '21

totally agree with this petition.

10 |10000

Attachments: Up to 5 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 4.8 MiB each and 23.8 MiB total.

runshotgun commented Aug 18, '21

We would love to see a dev beta channel be put in place. Our experience with beta channels on other platforms has been great so far and resulted in a better experience for everyone involved.

I hope the people in charge at Microsoft have a desire for smoother update processes and will bring those channels to life.

10 |10000

Attachments: Up to 5 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 4.8 MiB each and 23.8 MiB total.

Krazycolin commented Aug 18, '21

Totally agree as well. Please do this...

10 |10000

Attachments: Up to 5 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 4.8 MiB each and 23.8 MiB total.

SonantAlpaca commented Aug 19, '21

Hello Simbol,

Thanks a lot for such a kind message. The question of creating a developer beta program is on Microsoft's hands and at the moment I won't be able to give more details. Maybe you can directly discuss that matter with them?

But indeed, being able to collect your feedbacks and fix any issues before the release of an update would benefit everyone. :)

Have a good day!

10 |10000

Attachments: Up to 5 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 4.8 MiB each and 23.8 MiB total.

DrzewieckiDesign commented Aug 23, '21 DrzewieckiDesign published Aug 23, '21

Please note, that during SU5 beta testing many reports were sent to a given email, and only some elements were fixed (LODs, animations, pink textures). Everything else was left "as is" so the problem is obviously not in the communication but the workflow priorities.

If such a basic topic as Jetways is left "broken" for weeks, the team is obviously overloaded with time-constrained tasks. In the case of SU5, it was the Xbox release. I would assume that the next update might actually be related to fixing things rather than making the sim compatible with Xbox.

Don't take this as a criticism - this is probably just how their agreement with MS works. In any case, we are grateful for their amazing work as well as for the possibility of talking to the actual Team members and receiving responses (especially when things do not go as planned).

10 |10000

Attachments: Up to 5 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 4.8 MiB each and 23.8 MiB total.

SonantAlpaca commented Apr 4, '22

Hello,

I'm closing this one (status "complete") since it's a matter that must be handled publisher-side, outside of this platform.

Thanks for your understanding!

1

10 |10000

Attachments: Up to 5 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 4.8 MiB each and 23.8 MiB total.

runshotgun commented · Apr 04, 2022 at 07:51 PM

Can we get a link to where we can submit such request?

0 ·

3dsmax

aircraft

animation

beta

blender

bug

c++

ctd

dds

default

devmode

devs

documentation

ergonomy

flightmodel

fx

gauges

gdi+

gimp

gltf

guidelines

help

html

light

materials

mission

modeling

nanovg

packagetool

photoshop

samples

scenery

sdk

silence

simconnect

sound

texturing

tutorial

wasm

xbox

default