Author Topic: O'Hare for MSFS release notes and clarifications  (Read 10546 times)

virtuali

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O'Hare for MSFS release notes and clarifications
« on: September 10, 2020, 11:06:06 pm »
Hello,

We have been very busy the past weeks, and we are happy to finally bring our biggest and best airport to date on the new MS Flight Simulator platform. This will be the first of a long series of new products, and we think we started with the right one.

Since MSFS is new for all of us, the purchase and installation method might sound a bit unusual, so here's a series if FAQ that we hope should clarify some of the questions you might have:

- The scenery doesn't use or require the Addon Manager or the Couatl engine. It's possible it will in the future, but right now the MSFS SDK doesn't allow yet for that kind of software to work, which is also the reason why we cannot bring GSX *yet*

- The lack of Addon Manager, Couatl, GSX and also SODE, means the scenery lacks some features of the P3D version, such as double jetways, docking system, active info panels on gate, or walking passengers in jetways and in the terminal interior.  We expect these feature to come back with GSX for MSFS.

- The lack of Addon Manager and Couatl, also means the scenery doesn't have a Trial, so the installer is not always freely available as it is with all our other products. You'll get a download link in your purchase receipt from Digital River, and this link won't last forever. You *can* purchase an "Extended Download" service, which means Digital River will keep your download link for up to 2 years, but after that, it's your responsibility to keep the installer safe. We don't really recommend purchasing this service, it's best if you make a backup of the installer, maybe using some cloud service like OneDrive, Dropbox, GDrive, etc.

-  Does it mean the scenery doesn't have DRM ? Not exactly. It still use online activation, using the same QLM/Soraco system we have been using since last year, but there's no software anywhere in the sim that acts as a DRM, it's just a scenery. What the "DRM" does in this case, is to check your license to download updates with the FSDT Live Update. If there's no license, the scenery cannot be updated. Also, files of the scenery are digitally signed with your activation key.

Installation location

- We understand it might be easy to be confused by this. Even if the scenery doesn't use or require the Addon Manager + Couatl, the default installation folder the installer defaults to, is still in the same "Addon Manager" folder, like all the other FSDT products. This is all fine, and the reason for this, is to allow us to update the MSFS products more easily with the FSDT Live Update.

- The installer will create an "MSFS" folder under the Addon Manager folder, and this is were all your FSDT sceneries for MSFS will stay, together with the other products.

- We don't install ANYTHING in the MSFS "Community" folder, we just create a symbolic link back to the Addon Manager\MSFS folder, so the sim will see the scenery, but it's not really "there", and the FSDT Live Update can update everything in one go.

- Another advantage of this method, is that you won't be forced to install the scenery in the same drive as MSFS.

- Same as with FSX and P3D, the first time you install an FSDT product, it will let you choose the folder for the Addon Manager, but from the 2nd product on, the installer will defaults to that folder you chose the first time. This means, if you already installed something from FSDT for FSX or P3D, installing a new MSFS product will just add its folder to the existing "Addon Manager" folder without being able to change it, and this is perfectly normal.

The MS Marketplace version

- As of today, KORD V2 for MSFS is identical, regardless if you purchase it from FSDT, Simmarket or the MS Marketplace.

The installation might be easier on the MS Marketplace version but, because the scenery is protected by the MS Markeplace DRM, we cannot update it with our software, which means if there's an update, the FSDT or Simmarket version ( both use the FSDT installer ) will likely get it first, because we must first submit the update to Microsoft, and they'll release it as soon as they can. Note that, we are legally bound by our contract with Microsoft to supply with updates as soon as we have them, so there's no worry about not getting updates, because updates will be the same, but of course we can be faster to release them on our site.

- Also, people purchasing from the MS Marketplace won't be able to get a discount as previous owners of the P3D version, while FSDT and Simmarket customers can.

If you have MSFS Premium versions

- Since both the Premium and Premium Deluxe versions come with a scenery for Chicago O'Hare, we want to be sure there are no possible conflicts so, our installer automatically removes the asobo-airport-chicago-ohare package from the sim. However, uninstalling FSDT O'Hare won't "restore" it, since there's an easier way to restore it from the sim, just to into the Content Manager and search for KORD, you'll see the Asobo O'Hare will be in Library, ready to download.

- If you bought FSDT KORD from the MS Marketplace, the Asobo version will not be removed automatically. We don't expect huge issues but, to be more lean and not slow down startup with an unused scenery, we strongly suggest to delete the Asobo version using the Content Manager, so you can be sure no conflicts will happen.

The manual

- You'll find the manual in the main "Addon Manager", named KORDV2_manual_MSFS.pdf
« Last Edit: September 11, 2020, 01:23:11 am by virtuali »

fredleiser

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Re: O'Hare for MSFS release notes and clarifications
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2021, 01:21:58 am »
FSDREAMTEAM KORD keeps crushing on startup could you please tell me a solution? I have deleted re-downloaded to no effect?
Fred Leiser
fredleiser@yahoo.com

virtuali

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Re: O'Hare for MSFS release notes and clarifications
« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2021, 10:44:00 am »
FSDREAMTEAM KORD keeps crushing on startup could you please tell me a solution? I have deleted re-downloaded to no effect?

The problem doesn't have anything to do with our scenery, which has been worked fine for about a year, with every update until SU5.

With SU5, all changes came with several bugs, one of them is sceneries randomly freezing on loading. There's just nothing we can do to fix it, because it's a bug in the sim, and it will be fixed in SU6.

JEP795

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Re: O'Hare for MSFS release notes and clarifications
« Reply #3 on: October 26, 2021, 05:10:16 pm »
Hi Umberto,

I saw v1.3 pop up on the marketplace, but couldn’t find any release notes. Did notice some performance improvements though.

Is that what the update consisted of?


Thanks!

virtuali

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Re: O'Hare for MSFS release notes and clarifications
« Reply #4 on: October 27, 2021, 09:46:20 am »
The latest version is 1.3 indeed, which we released on our site when SU5 came out, July 25th, and submitted to Microsoft the same day.

It doesn't do anything for the crash that used to happen with SU5 because, as I've said in my previous post, the crash was a bug in SU5 we couldn't do anything about, which has been fixed in SU6. The update only improved Jetways LODs to better comply with SU5 and Xbox reccomendations.