Author Topic: GSX Website  (Read 2777 times)

pracines

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GSX Website
« on: February 27, 2018, 08:26:47 am »
For months (almost a year!) the GSX webpage http://www.fsdreamteam.com/products_gsx.html has shown NO updates in the download link:

Full GSX installer
Download for FSX/P3D
Compatible with P3D V4
Last updated 31-mag-17

And what is MAG?  ???

It should not be difficult to find out when the full GSX installer was last updated.

I know the forum may have the information that 2.2.0.4 is out somewhere, BURIED in a post somewhere, it is NOT announced plainly. I know the live update is supposed to keep us up to date, but is it such a difficult thing to keep the current product version or at least the correct date the product version was updated on the product page?

Live update gives no confirmation of anything when it is complete, it abruptly and quietly quits. It would be nice if it could tell us what version (of what) we have been updated to.

I appreciate any consideration. :)

virtuali

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Re: GSX Website
« Reply #1 on: February 28, 2018, 08:29:35 am »
Mag it's the shortcut for May in italian, it's something that does automatically the italian version of Dreamweaver (which is used to create that page) when set a "date" field on a web page. Never noticed it before...

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It should not be difficult to find out when the full GSX installer was last updated.

It's not difficult, because it's not required.

Since June 2016, when we released the new Live Update, you don't really need the full installer anymore, since all full installers run Live Update at the end (so they will always get the latest files automatically when they are run), and you can run Live Update manually, and Live Update WILL notify you of updates, when they come.

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but is it such a difficult thing to keep the current product version or at least the correct date the product version was updated on the product page?

It would be wrong to do that. That's only the date when the *full* installer was updated and it IS correct, and it's not really useful to know since, as I've said, whenever you run it, it will download something which is already newer than date. The only users that might be interested in that date are those that either:

1) Have a very old version of the full installer, one that doesn't use the new Live Update

OR

2) Need to install without an internet connection, so the Live Update which is run at the end will not do anything, so it might be useful for them knowing what they are going to get.

If we followed your suggestion, and updated that date to show when the *product* was last updated, even with a small file that came with Live Update, users would be mislead into needlessly downloading the full installer again, just to get the same files they would get anyway, because the installer runs the Live Update  at the end. So, the date is correct as it is, because it tells when the full installer was updated last, which might be useful to know for someone installing offline, so he will know that he won't get the very latest fixes.

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Live update gives no confirmation of anything when it is complete, it abruptly and quietly quits. It would be nice if it could tell us what version (of what) we have been updated to.

It always update the latest version of EVERY file of EVERY product. So, a version "number", would be meaningless, because individual files of all our products might have been updated way past their installer release version. Not that this matters, as long as you install with a working internet connection.

So no, what you REALLY need to read, are the Live Update RELEASE NOTES, which can be read from the Live Update menu inside the sim. This will tell you exactly the dates where things were updated last, and you can be sure that, by running the Live Update, you'll get all these additions, regardless of the version you installed, provided it's a rather recent installer, one that comes with the new Live Update, which means something release after June 2016.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2018, 08:33:22 am by virtuali »

pracines

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Re: GSX Website
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2018, 11:42:24 pm »
So, the date is correct as it is, because it tells when the full installer was updated last, which might be useful to know for someone installing offline, so he will know that he won't get the very latest fixes.

There is no way that your installer information from the web is correct. If I download it today from the said "mag 2017" date, it downloads a very recent .exe version NOT an old version from 2016 or 2017. The latest version I just downloaded on 2/28/2018 was version 2.2.0.4 - this version is much newer than 2016 or May or even August 2017! 

I know that the live update runs afterward but I have the gsx_fsx_setup.exe that clearly is a recent version that is NOT indicated on the website. I knew all about your point of the live update and files but then WHY is the exe updated on the web page at all if that live update system is in place? When I ran the 2.2.0.4 exe, it did not need any updates (skipping) that I could see, maybe 1 small file but that live update was over in a flash because the latest download was the most recent version.

So the full installer IS updated on the website - I'm just asking that the date and version number correctly correlates to what we are downloading.

The reasons I would even be bringing this up is:

first, I have had issues with GSX when updating the P3Dv4 client and there is NO sticky information or sticky announcement about the latest version of GSX. I never know WHEN GSX is updated and ready for whatever version unless I dig and sort thru forum posts. The last announced version is 1.9.9.11!

The second reason I bring this up is we have new comers to this community and they have a hard enough time just learning the basics of what is out there and available. If FSDT would simplify the communication process and not assume that everybody knows everything you do about what the most recent version is. If a new customer 2 or 10 years from now sees GSX latest version is from May 2017 they will get the wrong impression and likely go away. When we refer people to GSX, we are going to refer them to the GSX product page, but if we have to spell out every thing you just did to me, forget that. In other words its better for everybody if correct information is correct....currently it is not correct, or it is correct only as seen thru an obscure policy or idea that not everybody knows except those who work at FSDT.

Yes the FSDT method is simple, but ONLY to those who know this already, make it simple for anybody and everybody.

virtuali

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Re: GSX Website
« Reply #3 on: March 05, 2018, 11:24:14 am »
There is no way that your installer information from the web is correct. If I download it today from the said "mag 2017" date, it downloads a very recent .exe version NOT an old version from 2016 or 2017. The latest version I just downloaded on 2/28/2018 was version 2.2.0.4 - this version is much newer than 2016 or May or even August 2017!  

The information is correct, because it tells you the date the actual files *contained* in the installer were last updated. The installer file date might be newer, but that's just because we might have made small changes to the actual installer code, but not necessarily the GSX files. Again, this is done to prevent users from downloading something they don't really need, since none of the actual *GSX* files in the installer changed but, perhaps, we made irrelevant changes to the installation routine, sometimes even as trivial as fixing typos in the installation dialogs. Even doing that would require an installer recompile.

Not that this ever matters to users, since (as I've said, several times), ANY installer released after June 2017, will run the FSDT Live Update so, regardless of its version, it will always get the very latest version of every file.

As I've said, the May 2017 date is only interesting for those requiring to install offline, because they don't have an internet connection, so they might have some idea of which files they'll get.

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first, I have had issues with GSX when updating the P3Dv4 client and there is NO sticky information or sticky announcement about the latest version of GSX. I never know WHEN GSX is updated and ready for whatever version unless I dig and sort thru forum posts. The last announced version is 1.9.9.11!

As I've said, this is an entirely moot point, since the Live Update has a NOTIFICATION system in the SIM itself! If there's a new version, you'll be told in the sim, automatically, without having to check either the website or the forum.

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Yes the FSDT method is simple, but ONLY to those who know this already, make it simple for anybody and everybody.

It's not possible not to know about a notification system that checks for updates every 24 hours, and nags you about the eventual existence of it, while inside the sim.
« Last Edit: March 05, 2018, 11:26:39 am by virtuali »

pracines

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Re: GSX Website
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2018, 04:59:37 pm »
Oh well, I tried.