Hello everyone,
Hoping you are all very well and safe 🙂
I would like to take a moment here to keep you up to date with our development. Currently, the dev team and I are on vacations now (especially me, since I have been working so hard without breaks for 4 to 5 years in a row, so I think I deserved them in a very long time) but I would like to tell you some details about what’s coming here in NextGen, while the dev team and I get back to office next week.
First of all, on behalf of all the NextGen staff, especially the development team, thank you so much for the feedback you gave us about the Bandeirante for Microsoft Flight Simulator. We are so happy with all of the comments, suggestions, reviews and congratulations about the product itself. We already took note of all the feedback you gave us, and we are preparing both mentally and psychologically for the upcoming lots of work to do with the future updates to the product and of course, the newer projects we will develop (more on that in a sec). So, let’s begin with the Bandeirante first.
Bandeirante for MSFS
First of all, thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! The product is a best seller and it’s so popular now in the MSFS’s marketplace, which for us are good news! Right now, I am taking note of all the suggestions, complaints, congratulations, suggestions and everything what is called feedback from all of you not only customers but reviewers too. We know the aircraft has a long path undergoing in order for it to be very stable and fully enjoyable, so we took note of everything and we will start with the development of the future updates to the product once we come back to office on May 3rd. For now, although I am on vacations, I am attending technical support, since this is a very crucial thing in this business that I don’t allow myself to keep unresponsive even if the whole company is on vacations. We are also getting ready the rest of the things missing since the product was released, such as the tutorial flight PDF and the paintkit. I hope we can get this ready by mid-May as much.
In regards to paintkit, the reason why we are taking so long with it is because we are getting ready the instructions in the PSD files, we are writing the respective manual and of course, the very main reason, a dummy model that can be used for reference only, so that you can see the changes in programs like ModelConverterX (for example), so that you can update the lines or anything that you may have wrong in the textures, without having to recompile the MSFS livery project just to check for the changes you made, hence saving you lots of time when repainting your favorite livery.
Also, we are looking for a way to embed the documentation together with the aircraft files inside the MSFS’s installed packages path, so not only the customers from 3rd party stores but also the customers from the in-game marketplace can access to it by searching on the aircraft’s package folder instead.
For those who are asking for a soundset remaking, we heard your request and we will do that of course for the upcoming Service Pack 1. Although we consider we did our best to get it authentic and realistic, we know that it was a very disappointing side from the product, despite the fact that it’s a turboprop sound and of course it’s the PT6A engine, anyway we took note of it. Also, those who are complaining about the FPS drop in the cockpit, we will review this issue in depth, and look for a way to troubleshoot it; I don’t promise you this will be solved very, very soon, before the release of the Service Pack 1 (which will occur by Q4-2021, God willing), but we will do our best to get it ready before the SP1 in the form of a hotfix. Just I kindly and STRONGLY ask you for patience, since these technical aspects are not so easy to manage.
Also, we are already doing some research about the weather radar implementation, since this is a very necessary feature to this product. Plus, I am aware of the PMS50’s rendition of the GTN 750, so for those asking about an implementation of it, I took note of it and we’ll take it into account. Additionally, we will review some more aspects like VR issues, the “infamous” sound clacking issue we had since day one because of the hardware you use, and the multiplayer issues.
Final Decision about the Bandeirante for FSX & Prepar3D
Now, let’s jump into a very hard topic which I would like to talk about, and that is about the EMB-110 for Prepar3D and FSX.
Many of you have been asking for this aircraft in Prepar3D or even FSX, and we thank you so much for the suggestion, but, unfortunately we finally took the very hard decision of not developing it, nor any other future project for FSX/P3D anymore. Here are the reasons why, and you will understand in the end:
We have been developing the EMB-110 for 3+ years and during that time, we have had many technical issues with the SDK and tools for FSX development, given the incompatibility problems with them, especially on Windows 10, since it is the base operating system for our development work. Unfortunately, we had to uninstall both the FSX’s SDK and FSX itself back on mid-2019, as they caused lots of instability issues with the operating system in our production computers. Then, we chose to develop it for Prepar3D v4 first, and even Prepar3D v5 after its imminent release announcement by Lockheed Martin back on April 2020. We then started testing on P3D ever since, doing thousands of tests and systems coding right there, but it didn’t work for us either, because we couldn’t achieve the level of realism we were expecting for this product. Therefore, we finally chose to develop and release it exclusively for FS2020.
Additionally, it is not feasible to release the EMB-110 for FSX nor P3D either because many of you request us to implement the Garmin instruments developed by Flight One and/or RealityXP, making that feature mandatory for availability since day one of being released, but we unfortunately do not have easy access of them due to licensing costs of those avionics packs. And not only that, but also we would not perceive good returns after releasing this aircraft for those older platforms, provided that nowadays there are more and more users from FS9, FSX, Prepar3D and even X-Plane (both 10 and 11) who are making the switch to MSFS, due to all the technological advances the latter has.
Given the above, we are fully focused on FS2020 from now on, especially because we were able to achieve the level of realism that we have been waiting for years with the Bandeirante, and with which we can demonstrate at its maximum potential for several more years to come with our future projects for this simulator. MSFS helped us to achieve this level of realism in virtually every aspect of the development: texturing (especially PBR), lighting, effects, systems coding, etc. I know this may not be so good for you, but we did our best to make this rendition available for those older platforms, but even most developers (including us) are making the switch to FS2020 right now, despite of the fact that it may still look like an “Early Access” simulator. I fully understand your feeling and we apologize for not being able to release this product for those older platforms, provided their obsolescence (even Prepar3D since it shares the FSX’s codebase). We did our best with this, but we could not achieve that realism we expected.
Development Roadmap
Now, the part you were waiting for… the list of next projects to be developed by us and exclusively for MSFS. To begin with, we wanted to start devleopment of the ATR series aircraft, since we had everything ready to begin it (especially lots of material and resources from this aircraft), but after the announcement recently made by Microsoft and Asobo Studio on their live streams, we finally decided to cancel it, and also we wish MS/Asobo guys the best in that project! (Hoping you guys are reading this, since I support you)
So, I am thrilled to announce that, once we come back to office, we will immediately begin development of the Embraer ERJ family (ERJ-135/140/145/145XR). And also, most of you were right with the guesses, since we will also develop the Saab 340B&2000 afterwards. Also we have plans to develop the Dash 8-Q400, the Fokker 50, the Fokker 70&100 and even the Embraer E-Jets. God willing, they are our next projects! We have some more on the road (including bizjets, classic aircraft and more), anyway, we will let you know on the road once we decide with the other aircraft, and don’t forget that any suggestions you may have are always welcome! We are glad to receive your suggestions and take note of them.
Oh, and I almost forget, we are planning as well to develop the Bandeirulha as a complimentary product to the Bandeirante, although that development would begin once the EMB-110’s SP1 is released, since we would like the Bandeirulha to have the same fixes and improvements its civilian sibling will have.
For now, that’s all what I have to tell you in regards to the stuff here at the company.
As always, thank you very much for your continued support! It means a lot!
May God bless you! And see you in the skies!
Kind regards,
Carlos D. Gonzalez
CEO & Lead Developer
NextGen Simulations