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Vistamare compatibility for FSX-SE (Steam Edition)


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Hi there
Any news on when Vistamare will be made compatible with FSX-SE ? Are you able to put some pressure on the developer (or yourselves) to update the dll's ? This is, as far as I know, the only addon that is still not compatible with FSX-SE. It is so frustrating at the moment.
If you think that Vistamare is going nowhere, do you have any plans for the airports that have been developed requiring it ? Airports are just not the same without animated traffic and jetways.
Looking forward to some good news on this front !
PS. I am aware that you have never made any promises regarding compatibility of your previously released airports with FSX-SE. However, new airports are being sold now that are stated to be fully compatible with FSX-SE - like Kilimanjaro etc. However, I read on one of the forum preview threads that it is actually still not truly compatible as AES / AESLite (can't remember which one) will still not work. This I assume is because Vistamare is still not compatible with FSX-SE.
Kind regards,
Rhett
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Updating the Vistamare module does not make much sense at this time.
Due to the way it is designed it will immediatly become incompatible again the next time Dovetail updates FSX:SE and we would have to restart from the beginning again.

With the Microsoft FSX this was no problem since they didn't do many updates, but with "moving" plattforms like FSX:SE and P3Dv2 this really is an issue.

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Thanks for the reply.

Interesting .... one could argue that based on this response, you don't therefore see much market value in the future of FSX Steam (very surprising given the potential new market it opens up).

The problem I have is not that I want AES (or Vistamare) or want it to remain, it is that 'default' airport functionality at your payware addon mega airports is removed (disabled) so that people are then required to purchase AES credits to re enable amimated jetways using Ctrl+J. You then have to configure all your aircraft using a time consuming process to ensure doors, pushback vehicles etc are all correctly aligned. It's cumbersome and frustrating to say the least. AES might have been great in its time when there were no other ground services addons available - but it is in my opinion now outdated.

So are you going to continue using Vistamare for your new airports which are claimed to be FSX-SE compatible by continuing to design them around the use of AESLite and/or AES?

Why don't you abandon AES / AESLite and thus Vistamare altogether for new airports like other developers are doing (eg FlyTampa)?

... and if not, then please be kind enough to offer / provide patches so that users can operate Jetways using the standard Cntrl+J option.

Regards,

Rhett.

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  • Aerosoft

You are jumping to a lot of conclusions that we absolutely do not share and we are pretty sure in the foreseeable future there will be a good solution.

A patch to make the default gates usable is up to the developers, for our own products we do not plan to do that.

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Hi Mathijs,

The 1st response to my question indicated that it does not make sense updating Vistamare for FSX-SE. Are you now saying that this is not true or do you not share EMI's opinion? Or ... maybe you are getting rid of Vistamare? These are not conclusions but questions. I assumed EMI was speaking on behalf of Aerosoft? I apologise if I was wrong. Please would you be so kind as to indicate what kind of a good solution Aerosoft is envisaging? Without AES it is not possible to operate jetways and you say you will not provide any patches. So how do you expect FSX-SE users to operate jetways? And how will you provide airport ground traffic for FSX-SE users who cannot run Vistamare? It would be appreciated if you could answer these questions instead of accusing me of jumping to conclusions based on the (lack of) information provided. As an owner of many Aerosoft payware add on airports, I think these are not unfair or unreasonable questions. I have been honest with you in my questions and opinion about AES and I simply expect the same from Aerosoft. I am not asking you to agree with me but for you to provide guidance and information. Looking forward to your response.

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It does not make sense to update Vistamare for FSX:SE now because Dovetail is still doing changes. Once they stop to continue updating FSX:SE and only work on their new sim it may very well make sense to make Vistamare compatible.

Just at this moment where any change from Dovetail will immediatly make it incompatible again we see no sense making it compatible.

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Thanks for the reply.

Interesting .... one could argue that based on this response, you don't therefore see much market value in the future of FSX Steam (very surprising given the potential new market it opens up).

The problem I have is not that I want AES (or Vistamare) or want it to remain, it is that 'default' airport functionality at your payware addon mega airports is removed (disabled) so that people are then required to purchase AES credits to re enable amimated jetways using Ctrl+J. You then have to configure all your aircraft using a time consuming process to ensure doors, pushback vehicles etc are all correctly aligned. It's cumbersome and frustrating to say the least. AES might have been great in its time when there were no other ground services addons available - but it is in my opinion now outdated.

So are you going to continue using Vistamare for your new airports which are claimed to be FSX-SE compatible by continuing to design them around the use of AESLite and/or AES?

Why don't you abandon AES / AESLite and thus Vistamare altogether for new airports like other developers are doing (eg FlyTampa)?

... and if not, then please be kind enough to offer / provide patches so that users can operate Jetways using the standard Cntrl+J option.

Regards,

Rhett.

I agree with a couple things said here, I myself do not enjoy using AES much at all, it takes an otherwise easy process as shown by GSX and makes it long, tiring, and hard work to get all your planes to line up correct with the stuff.

My main gripe about AES and one that I've seen asked a lot, and sadly the responses that Aerosoft gave to those people were just downright disgusting. But I guess it's their addon so they can say/do what they like even if their paying customers don't like it.

I'm of course referring to the fact that even though someone will pay a full price for an airport by Aerosoft such as Mega Heathrow or others, they are essentially being scammed, because they cannot use the full functionality of the product they have bought. Not having use of jetways in a payware airport you buy seems downright stupid, yes I get that you wanna bring in more money as a company, but selling a product that in the then requires another purchase just to use fully is shady business style in any part of the world in my eyes.

I fully understand that AES makes the airport side of FSX a whole lot nicer looking and immersive, but I think if someone has bought a full priced airport, and some can be expensive, you shouldn't "lock" out features forcing them to essentially give you more money, just to use the product they have already previously purchased. Your case to this may be "they arent't spending more money to use the airport, they are spending money to use AES". Yes but no is my answer to that, because they ARE spending money on credits, JUST to be able to use the airport fully, I honestly care not for AES vehicles, besides they don't even do anything, you don't see cargo being loaded so whats the point.

A jetway is something that comes with the airport, we should not be expected to have to pay an extra fee to aerosoft just to USE that jetway as it essentially makes their whole airport useless.

I have looked over tons of threads about this and I've seen the same response from Aerosoft which just shocked me. To their own paying customers they would respond with things that just give the impression that they just simply do not care for actually providing a good service, or even care what their customers think, it seems to all be "we wanna do this cus we do, we don't really care what your opinions are or how we treat you."

Now don't "ban" me or anything I'm stating completely legit points. And many have thought this over the past. I love aerosoft, I bought my OMSI from here, the Airbus X and such. But for airports I've been forced to stay away, Aerosoft don't realise some people cannot afford to even by airports, I've only bought a total of 5 over the years, I don't get enough money to spend so much on FSX. So having to buy an airport, THEN buy credits over and over to USE the airports is a thing I just cannot do. I feel as if aerosoft is in a way asking us for a "bribe" or something, like "here I have a box with a cool thing inside you can have it for £20, but you can't open it unless you give me £5 for the handle." it just seems plain strange.

My point is, I would glady pay for AES if I wanted the features of AES, like the traffic and such, but the thing is, some people do not want that, I am sure a lot of people who bought AES from you, simply did so just to get the damn jetways usable at the airports they wanted, they most likely did not care for traffic, I have seen tons of videos of people using AES jetways but using GSX for all ground traffic, since they simply do more with animations and such.

I think it would be fair if all Aerosoft airports came with AES jetway functionality, but nothing else, if people want the rest of AES then make them buy credits, give them a taste of what AES can do by simply letting them use a product they have already paid you for fully. For other makers airports like flytampa, yes I agree make them have to pay for AES, as it's up to the developers of those to lock jetways to AES or not, flytampa for example can turn AES jetways on or off.

But for you own products, if someone buys an Aerosoft airport, but cannot actually USE the airport, because lets face it a Jetway is a necessity for using an airport. Well it's just bad morals.

I may be sounding harsh here but I'm simply trying to get my point across, that I think (and know) that many people have actually been driven away from AES for this very reason, hell I don't need an FSX:SE version of AES, if I could use the airports I buy without having to pay extra fee's to use them in FSX then I'd stick with old FSX. I feel as if every Aerosoft airport isn't actually a product of it's own, since it isn't complete or offering you what is described. I don't think anyone would buy your airports if you included in the description "Extra cost needed to actually use the airport jetways after buying this." you have to admit reading it like that seems idiotic.

I guess I'll leave it with this, it's built up frustration in me over the years, as I've so wanted to buy Aerosoft airports, the UK2000 Heathrow is bad on FPS and I heard the Aerosoft one is great.

I will expect backlash from this I suppose but I mean a customers opinions, and their fair treatment should be put above making a buck though.

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  • Aerosoft

Lewis, keep in mind that most of the time it is not OUR decision but that of the developer.

I do not see how fair treatment is at stake here, we have always been open and honest about this. If you feel offended I apologize though not know for what. If we sell a product that you find unacceptable I suggest you do not buy it. That's the power of the customer after all.

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  • 8 months later...

Dear Mathijs and Emi, it has been a while now since DTG has released updates to FSX:SE. Since FSX runs very stable now and there are ongoing developments to Launch 2 new F-Sims this year, I don't think they will Launch any other updates to FSX:SE.

Why am I taking this again up? You see, I ran into the same Problem as the Topic owner and I'm not the only one having this issues. I have opened a new Topic in the Mega Airport section regarding EDDM.

 

I purchased MAM (Mega Airport München) when I owned the Boxed Version of FSX and I was amazed of the Details of the Airport. Recently I switched to FSX:SE due to the bugs of the original FSX Edition, and more recently (1 week), I purchased the Airbus A320/321. While giving the A320 the first spin, on EDDM off course, I was missing all the ground animation (cars, buses, trains,..) on the airport. I desperately tried to fix it by new installs, internet searches, forums, etc. After very intense research, I came upon the VistaMare module issue and I think that this is causing the missing traffic.

 

Well guys, I do not recall reading some informations that MAM was not fully compatible with FSX SE when I purchased it and now it is somewhat crippled. Since all Mega Airports rely on VistaMare (and don't come cheap), I would be glad if the Dev-Team could update the module to make it compatible again.

 

I apologize if any of above is not correct regarding VistaMare and the MA-Line missing animation, but I just run into this problem and I'm still looking for a fix.

 

Thank you / Besten Dank

 

Gerald

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Hello Gerald,

 

please make sure the FSX:SE was a Free-Update, to offer user to run the airport in FSX.

 

There are currently no plans to add feature/workarounds for groudntraffic/jetways to these.

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Hello Fabian,

 

thanks for the quick reply! 

 

I'm very sad and sorry to see that Aerosoft thinks that FSX:SE is a completely new release of a Simulation SW when in fact it is a transition to a new multiplayer platform and some bug fixing (DTG also states that there is no "major" change in the coding itself...). Would understand if I was talking about P3D or something else, but no, it is just FSX:SE. Your statement can be read as: be glad that you can use the airport with the new release of "SP3" from MS FSX...

 

At this point I would also like to mention that some 3rd party Add On developers DO also offer either a free compatibility to P3D or a upgrade for a very small fee.

 

In my opinion, FSX will be in use for many years from now because of the majority of the Add-ons on the market and the perfect integration to online ATC flights (VATSIM / IVAO / etc.) which would make me (if I was a SW Dev.) eager to make my Add-Ons compatible.

 

I think Aerosoft is one of the big players on the Sim Market. They have brilliant developers and deliver great Add-Ons. Would have bought also other scenery Add-ons but not if they are crippled.

 

 

Regards / Grüße vom Bodensee

Gerald

 

PS: I hope MS doesn't come with the idea to disable every piece of App with every NEW Windows development ;).

 

 

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  • Aerosoft

Gerald we do not consider FSX:STEAM a different simulator and all our own recent products come with installers that cover FSX:SP2, FSX:STEAM and P3d V3. So you can install them in all sims without any additional license. Some other developers feel different and of course we have to sell them preoduct they way they want to.

 

We would love to offer AES for FSX:STEAM and P3d but the simple fact is that it is not available and as this is not an internal development we are depending on the developer to update it when he wants. 

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Dear Mathijs,

 

thank you for your feedback!

 

I got only 2 things:

1. You see, the products can be installed also on FSX Steam which is great. The system req for Mega Airport München has also FSX:SE listed. Unfortunately there is nowhere the mention that the Airport will have only limited functionality in FSX:SE due to an incompatibility of VistaMare module.

I think the end user must somehow be aware what he's paying for. When I watched the presentation video of the Airport (which I fly the most) I saw all the details and ground movement around the airport and went WOWWWWW. I even dragged my wife in front of the computer to show her the S-Bahn.

Well all of these are gone with FSX:SE....

 

2. Searching for information, there is nowhere mentioned IF VistaMare will be made compatible or if it's a lost cause. And this is something that really matters and can put all discussions to an end.

 

Is there any chance to talk to the developers and get a final verdict if there's any developing regarding the incompatible module? For myself speaking, I will also be willing to pay a small update fee to get it working :).

 

Thank you for your understanding and time.

Gerald

 

 

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  • 10 months later...

Yes, I'm going to open this old chestnut again, having just bought the extraordinarily good Mega Heathrow Airport Xtended. Like many others, I downloaded AES only to discover that it won't run on FSX Steam Edition, which detracts enormously from the enjoyment of using the airport. Now while I agree with only certain comments made on this thread, what it boils down to is this. Unless my tired eyes missed something, I didn't see a disclaimer on the product page stating that, for FSX Steam users, software from a third party developer would be needed for animated traffic and jetways (the latter being a small but in my view essential requirement, given the many hours of development), and that it was incompatible. What gets me is that the Steam Edition is well established now, yet no solution has been found years after its release to address the problem. It's clear that Vistamare has essentially given up on the long-standing compatibility issue (playing a waiting game because of Steam updates doesn't wash with me), putting Aerosoft at a disadvantage, upsetting its customers, and leaving it with egg on its face. Aerosoft is a household name to simmers around the world, with world class products which in this case are tarnishing its reputation. As a devotee of Aerosoft products, I strongly suggest that it disassociates itself from Vistamare and finds both a fresh partner and a solution to the problem. Other developers have managed it (like those offering full compatibility with OrbX products, for example), and if it means that I need to pay for third party software that offers enhancements and full compatibility to your excellent Mega Airports, I will. It's common in the flightsim world. No-one likes to feel disappointment and frustration after seeing a class-leading airport like Heathrow Xtended flawed because a company like Vistamare won't support it, so please speak to other developers who may be able to integrate your products that will keep the wow! factor going.

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  • Deputy Sheriffs

The problem with Vistamare is (as being told many times here in the forums), that there simply is no one around anymore to fix it. 

 

The solution is, that there will be a complete new development of AES (which is already in the making) to be future-proof again. Here you will find the latest notes on that:

 

 

For the time being until the new version will become available (not too soon actually as it is a heavy undertaking) AES is only available for FSX+FS2004, which is stated quite clearly on it's product page:

 

Please login to display this image.

 

Please login to display this image.

 

Please login to display this image.

 

 

If you were referring to AES-Light (which comes with Heathrow) instead of AES:

 

Please login to display this image.

 

 

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