Project Magenta: An Open Letter to the Sim Community

[mattford1]

Hi Guys-

I'm sure all of you were as shocked as I was to hear Microsoft closed ACES studios and shut the doors (at least for the foreseeable future) on the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise. According to a blog from Phil Taylor, FSX's programming lead, everyone was given pink slips yesterday, their computer access revoked and given 24 hours to pack up, with the exception of 6 tech support people to close out the ESP platform, the commercial version of FSX. The remaining 6 will only be around for 6 months to close out the current contracts and archive the FSX code.

Luckily for us FSX was a pretty good product. As a member of the beta team for FSX, I was certainly proud of the sim. Sure it has its share of minor bugs, but overall it was a very stable release, but those of us that are cockpit builders should be asking ourselves "what's next". Most of us, especially in the commercial flight deck arena use Project Magenta with a recent version of Microsoft Flight Simulator. My Boeing 737-700 simulator (www.737sim.com) uses FSX and Project Magenta. I've often thought of changing over to X-Plane but what has kept me with the FS product is Project Magenta.

Currently Project Magenta only supports MSFS via the FSUIPC interface. With X-Plane being the only simulator being developed out there we need to encourage Enrico Schiratti to support X-Plane and I believe this will only happen with your help.

There is a perception out there that Project Magenta and X-Plane cannot be compatible because X-Plane changes its data structure from release to release. This is simply not true. A plugin was developed by Ben Supnik that is very similar to Pete's FSUIPC. This eliminates all together the data issue much as the same way Pete keeps the 3rd party apps running even though things change from release to release of MSFS.

Austin Meyer, the developer of X-Plane is a friend of mine, and I can tell you he has for a long time been interested in having Project Magenta work with X-Plane. I would encourage all of you to email Enrico at support@projectmagenta.com, and ask that he support X-Plane. The reality is that even if Microsoft decides to resurrect FS, a new release would be a minimum of 5 years off. X-Plane is the only simulator that is going to be in development for the foreseeable future. I feel the only way Enrico will change his mind about X-Plane is to hear from his customers. Please join me in this effort!

Regards
Matt Ford
www.737sim.com

[Jackpilot]

Matt
With all due respect for the wonderful work you did for the community..
Sorry to desagree...

FS9 and FSX + PM allowed us to build our sims and everyone did contribute to improve over the MSFS base.
As far as I know Microsoft does not ask us to send back our copies.
MSFS 9orX are NOT DEAD.
Todays computers still run FS3 , tomorrow's computer will run FS9 and FSX for years.
The pressure imposed by MS to reinvent ourselves every few years is gone...GOOD.

I DO NOT WANT TO HAVE TO SWITCH TO XPLANE AND START EVERYTHING ALL OVER AGAIN.

We have a wonderful platform with MSMF. We have talented people who work hard to improve it and most innovations CAME FROM THEM and NOT from Microsoft.
P.Dawson and Project Magenta are among those.

ON THE OPPOSITE I would urge Pete, Enrico and the other developpers to continue to put all their efforts to support FS9 and FSX and allow us to enjoy their products.


JACK

[mattford1]

Jack-

Hi there. I don't disagree with you, I hope Enrico and Pete continue to support the FS products. I dont' see any reason why they can't and know tons of folks who still use FS9.

In 6 months all support will cease from Microsoft, so my hope is that Enrico will support the only flight sim left. At least then we would have another option.

Cheers,
Matt

[AndyT]

Actually, I see this as an answer to the problems FS has been having with trying to remain backward compatible for so long on an old code base.

This will give FSX an extended life span which is a good thing. People complained about FS9 life span being too short. This will handle those objections.
Until every house on the planet is modeled and ready to load, there will always be more projects for the developers to work on. Think about how long that will take. And how long to get all our favorite planes re-modeled under FSX? Think about the hardware in 5 years. Try and look at the good side and toss the negative ideas out the window because they only slow you down.

A new team coming in will bring new ideas and a fresh approach to the problems FS has had. Multi-core will be a given by then. 64 bit apps will likely be common as well.

I see lots of people wailing that this is a horrible thing to have happened. I can see only good coming from it with the single exception of people losing their jobs.

If X-Plane becomes more popular then great, but I'm not holding my breath for it to replace MSFS.

[dnoize]

I've been flying an x-plane based heli sim 2 days ago.....and i was VERY impressed !!

I have used x-plane in the past, but never changed platforms. But after seeing the latest release in this sim i am very tempted.

The stock x-plane version had SOOOOOO many possibilities not seen in microsoft products.

sure...scenery in fsx is much better....but a. i dont care about ground scenery at fl 350, i dont care about buildings in amsterdam when i land at schiphol and b. add on developers might look more at x-plane now.

When it comes to characteristics and features in x-plane i was very surprised. FSX has birds.....but x-plane has BIRDSTRIKES as a failures....i dont care for birds as eyecandy, but they are great if they are functional as a failure.

The interface for controlling all kinds of parameters like failures is great. I have seen posibilities i have never seen in other instructor station software.

Also setting up the software for multi screen operations was very easy, much better than in any MS product. it worked perfectly together with the SOL7 software.

i will order my copy and i will certainly investigate the use in my sim.

btw: there are NO FAA approved FS based sims, there are SEVERAL FAA approved x-plane based sims. Alsim uses x-plane for some of their FAA approoved trainers.

Does this mean i will abandon FS9 and FSX ? no, I love both....but i will certainly not turn my back to x-plane


Stef

[737NUT]

I too have been flying X-Plane 9 lately. I have a pretty realistic 737 i downloaded and like it quite abit. Its nice having no stutters and and seeing the taxi way lights and realistic runway lights when i come in to land at an airport. 3rd party software is getting better with x-plane so i think i might make the permanent switch! I have been flying MSFS since the first release! I think X-Plane deserves a serious look!

[oal331]

I agree 100% with Stef.

For me, still flying with Fs9, the Microsoft's recent news are bad for the people lost their jobs, but not bad for our hobby (for the next 5-7 years).

Freezing the Fs project, i can remain for the next 2 years with my FS9, having there all the sceneries i want and running perfect with my PC. The weather is very realist and smooth.

FSX is not for today. It demands high end CPUs and VGAs and many add-ons are missing or having problems, giving at the end low fps. After 2 years, it will be very nice to upgrade to FSX with the PCs of 2011

X-Plane for me, must be another solution, another option. Yes i would like PM to support X-Plane and use it in our cockpits.
Another approach will be to have a program like X-Fsuipc, which will be the tranlator between PM and X-Plane, translating the PM offsets to X-Plane's commands and readings.

regards

Eddie

[oal331]

It's not a good idea to use Enrico's email with everyone's opinion and personal story.


So i made an open poll in the same Forum.
You can vote there !!!


I'm sure, Enrico will be aware of the results of this poll and maybe will help him to make a decision for the feature of PM

Best regards

[Michael Carter]

It is very unfortunate that those in that group lost their livelyhood. I've been in that boat before and it's stressful situation for the entire family.

However, MS closing the studio has no effect either now or down the road for my sim. It's irrelavent. I'm sure the same situation applies to many builders.

I'm running FS9 and will continue to do so for at least the next three years, probably five.

[dnoize]

Another approach will be to have a program like X-Fsuipc, which will be the tranlator between PM and X-Plane, translating the PM offsets to X-Plane's commands and readings.

Now there's a thought. I dont have a clue if this is possible, but it would be a great solution if it is. A plug in, that can translate x-plane variables to FSUIPC variables.

This would eliminate the need of new glass cockpit software, so we dont have to fork out thousands of dollars again.

Once again, i dont have a clue if this is possible, Maybe Pete Dowson and/or Austin Meyer can tell us more about the possibilities for this.



Stef



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