MSFS A330 - Update when?

[TomReborn 429]

Hello,

 

I thought I would start this topic as I'd like to address a few things, and I'm sure others are also curious about the development on the A330 project for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.

 

1. Are we expecting a release to be soon? Yes, I understand you don't give release dates in case something causes a delay which makes the date get pushed back, but at this point it's turning into another QualityWings scenario where we've seen a few previews and then it's gone dark - how long for? Are we to even expect it this year?
2. What's happened with the regular updates we were told we would have on the A330 portal? The last update was on the 12th October, two and a half weeks ago, and it wasn't even an update on the aircraft. It was just telling us about checklists and how they are helpful. The last proper update before this, like an actual development update was the 1st September!!! I thought this is why the forum part was removed and was taken to a new website for regular updates on the A330, but we're not getting much?
3. Is there anything that has caused a delay that you can talk to us about? Please, be transparent with us, there has been so much hype build-up with this project over the past two years and now it has all been killed off due to the lack of information being provided. Bring the hype back!
4. The teaser video that was shown a while ago now (here for reference) looked like the product was not far from launch - just a few tweaks were needed and then it'll be in our hangars. What has changed since then? This links back to the first question, is it close for release?

 

This wait is killing me, and I'm sure it's killing others too, please just give us some news. Even if it's good news or if it's bad news, transparency is the best way forward here.

 

 

Regards,

[Trystan Dupre 68]

Let’s see how much time it will take before they lock this discussion

[TomReborn 429]

Just now, Trystan Dupre said:

Let’s see how much time it will take before they lock this discussion

That's unfortunately what I'm thinking too

[simtom 36]

Yeah, ever since the preview forum thread was locked I feel like the hype has died down. I miss the teasers Matthijs gave us, though now he's giving them somewhere else

[francsal 8]

On the original forum, the 2nd reply posted on January 29, 2021 says "See ya in 3 years. with the normal A3X devteam atleast" (By Salyut_). How prophetic... That poster is just 3 months away of being absolutely right... Funny thing is that Mathijs replied "Okidoki, so I am sure you won't mind if we remove you from this topic for 36 months. "  I guess the only thing that poster would have missed is the drama and the excuses... I mean, explanations for why it isn't ready yet. At this stage, I smell vaporware....

[flieger1978 33]

Best question but I swear - and now the will delete this post and block me again - it will never come I think. And the biggest question is- what have they done the last two years with this project. 

[IwanTottle 10]

Agree with this completely. Feels like Aerosoft has completely missed the mark with marketing for this aircraft. PMDG made the same mistake at the start of the 737 development; show detailed images and info and get the fan base excited then disappear for months at a time. However it seems aerosoft have taken it one step further, full panel at a convention, full separate website. All that had us all so excited that it was releasing soon. And now months later it still feels like we are no closer to a launch. If I’m being honest it’s sapped any excitement I had for this add on, that is if it does ever launch. 

[ahmed2003 110]

On 10/29/2023 at 6:27 PM, TomReborn said:

That's unfortunately what I'm thinking too

Can you mention Tom or anyone in Aerosoft to see this forum? I'm also getting frustrated since they closed the a330 forum, we didn't hear anything regarding to development and what they are working on. In fact, we can consider this happened since Mathijs left Aerosoft. Now, if they posted one new picture on their dedicated a330 website that would be amazing, we used to see plenty of pictures and moreover, the list of the green, yellow and red items that's needed to be fixed. Now, we literally know nothing. 

[ahmed2003 110]

On 10/30/2023 at 5:50 PM, IwanTottle said:

Agree with this completely. Feels like Aerosoft has completely missed the mark with marketing for this aircraft. PMDG made the same mistake at the start of the 737 development; show detailed images and info and get the fan base excited then disappear for months at a time. However it seems aerosoft have taken it one step further, full panel at a convention, full separate website. All that had us all so excited that it was releasing soon. And now months later it still feels like we are no closer to a launch. If I’m being honest it’s sapped any excitement I had for this add on, that is if it does ever launch. 

In fact, I wasn't excited when they closed the a330 forum and made a separate website for the a330. I felt that they wanted to get away from the community because lots of people kept asking about the release date and the questions kept repeated. They don't want much noise hence; they did a dedicated website to release what's ready away from people' noise.

[TomReborn 429]

1 hour ago, ahmed2003 said:

In fact, I wasn't excited when they closed the a330 forum and made a separate website for the a330. I felt that they wanted to get away from the community because lots of people kept asking about the release date and the questions kept repeated. They don't want much noise hence; they did a dedicated website to release what's ready away from people' noise.

I totally get your point, however, the new site was created to show regular updates on the progress of the A330 project - there is nothing showing progress and this project has already been pushed back multiple times already. The last update was 3 weeks ago, and the update wasn’t even a progress update, it was a description of what checklists are.

 

All we want is a clear answer, we don’t want to have to decipher messages for clarity on what’s happening. If there’s an update on the progress, tell us about the progress. That’s what everyone is asking for but it’s being hidden away

[Tom 392]

Hello all,

 

I wanted to reply to this post sooner, but unfortunately have been unavailable due to illness for most of the week, so please excuse the somewhat late reply. To address some of the things in this thread:

 

Expected Release/Any release related questions:

TL:DR: We are not going to be providing an estimate yet.

Longer version: For something as complex as an aircraft, it's really hard to put a date or even a "within X" time, since you could find an issue that takes either 2 days or 2 weeks to solve. Aamir from Fenix recently posted a message in their Discord, which he hopefully won't mind me quoting (For context, this was regarding their latest pending update - it's pinned in their Discord if you'd like the full chain) - "[I mean, it more or less is - if I told you anything else I'd be lying. Ultimately, there are issues to resolve - it may be resolved in 2 days, it may be resolved in 15 days. I don't really know.] It's like asking someone to solve a heinously difficult math problem, but before you do - tell me down to the second how long it's going to take to solve it." and I think that's a perfect way of putting it. The same applies to the Aerosoft A330, and really any complex development in general. No matter if we said soon, or a more exact date, a small issue could change that. The best answer we can give to this question is one that you've all probably heard before, and that we're working to get it out as soon as possible. The A330 has multiple developers working on it daily who want to get the product in your hands. As soon as we do have a time for release, you'll see marketing ramp up and the date posted in various locations.

 

Regarding Progress Updates:

The answer to the previous post also sums this up too. A lot of the development progress, especially as you move further into development, is things that aren't really too interesting or aren't possible to show publicly, like lots of math, or issues/features which we might have said we're working on in the past or that we've fixed that we've had to go back to. With that said, when there is more solid news that's ready to go public, you can definitely expect to see this on the portal.

[TomReborn 429]

2 hours ago, Tom said:

Expected Release/Any release related questions:

TL:DR: We are not going to be providing an estimate yet.

Longer version: For something as complex as an aircraft, it's really hard to put a date or even a "within X" time, since you could find an issue that takes either 2 days or 2 weeks to solve. Aamir from Fenix recently posted a message in their Discord, which he hopefully won't mind me quoting (For context, this was regarding their latest pending update - it's pinned in their Discord if you'd like the full chain) - "[I mean, it more or less is - if I told you anything else I'd be lying. Ultimately, there are issues to resolve - it may be resolved in 2 days, it may be resolved in 15 days. I don't really know.] It's like asking someone to solve a heinously difficult math problem, but before you do - tell me down to the second how long it's going to take to solve it." and I think that's a perfect way of putting it. The same applies to the Aerosoft A330, and really any complex development in general. No matter if we said soon, or a more exact date, a small issue could change that. The best answer we can give to this question is one that you've all probably heard before, and that we're working to get it out as soon as possible.

So, as we're using Fenix as an example here, one of the chat commands for their A319+A321 expansion expects a release by the end of the year. Is this the case for the Aerosoft A330 then, can you give us at least that much? Are you aiming to get it out by the end of the year?

 

2 hours ago, Tom said:

The A330 has multiple developers working on it daily who want to get the product in your hands. As soon as we do have a time for release, you'll see marketing ramp up and the date posted in various locations.

Can we get an update soon in regards to issues and testing, I'm referring to the Dev Update from 10.08.2023 - here it shows what issues you are currently working through, current issue pipeline etc, this would be great to see the progress being made here!

 

//////////

 

Thanks for replying back to this post by the way, I know how infuriating it probably is for you and the team. The announcement before the website said "...which will contain exciting information, media and development updates about the A330 project" - we've not had the "exciting information" part yet, by this I'm assuming this is the Dev Snapshots from 05.10.2023 and 14.09.2023 being deemed as exciting information? I don't want this to sound horribly so please forgive me if it does, but I don't think anything has brought excitement just yet, which is what most people are hanging onto.

 

I hope more clarity and information can be passed to us soon, I'm dying to fly your aircraft.

[Sergio Marro 0]

Yes

[Tom 392]

9 hours ago, TomReborn said:

So, as we're using Fenix as an example here, one of the chat commands for their A319+A321 expansion expects a release by the end of the year. Is this the case for the Aerosoft A330 then, can you give us at least that much? Are you aiming to get it out by the end of the year?

 

Can we get an update soon in regards to issues and testing, I'm referring to the Dev Update from 10.08.2023 - here it shows what issues you are currently working through, current issue pipeline etc, this would be great to see the progress being made here!

Not so much using the Fenix as an example, just quoting something from them which I think does a good job at explaining why release estimates can be hard (not relating to the Fenix in particular here, just in general), and is a good explanation of one of the challenges when it comes to providing an estimate and why we (Aerosoft) haven't posted one yet. At this time, there is no further news to share regarding any potential release targets. Developer updates and their contents are up to the project manager, and will be posted when there's some news to share - I'm not personally sure when the next will be at the moment. 

 

9 hours ago, TomReborn said:

Thanks for replying back to this post by the way, I know how infuriating it probably is for you and the team. The announcement before the website said "...which will contain exciting information, media and development updates about the A330 project" - we've not had the "exciting information" part yet, by this I'm assuming this is the Dev Snapshots from 05.10.2023 and 14.09.2023 being deemed as exciting information? I don't want this to sound horribly so please forgive me if it does, but I don't think anything has brought excitement just yet, which is what most people are hanging onto.

 

I hope more clarity and information can be passed to us soon, I'm dying to fly your aircraft.

Don't worry, we understand. Lots of us follow other products by other developers which we're eager for as flight simmers ourselves, so we all know what it's like to be waiting. Just keep in mind marketing will ramp up nearer the release. 

[Yaenne_1896 0]

A new update is out!

[swan1100 45]

On 11/2/2023 at 7:44 PM, Tom said:

things that aren't really too interesting or aren't possible to show publicly

 

The job of the marketing department is to take these things and make them seem more interesting than they are.

But you think flight simmers will be put off by technical details and minor insights? I have news; aviation fans love the tiny technical details.

 

If you still think the content would be too dull to be appreciated, then throw some other content from earlier in development, screenshots we have not seen yet, little details which have not yet been shown.

 

Why are you even paying a marketing department if you're not keen on showing anything regularly?

Why did you pay for the design of the 330's website if it is not going to contain any real progress report?

Why have you still not finished the external model?

How much more money do you plan to waste?