Updating GSX Pro

[glc100o]

Virtuali,

Just some customer feedback. I have been using FSDT products including GSX since FSX and on into P3D. This issue with desynchronized Cloudfare nodes, whatever that is has been present since P3D days and causing your customers problems with the program not functioning properly.

Other add ons I use do not have problems with updating their programs. For example the PMDG updater indicates  the current version, the newest version, and then updates it and says you now have the most updated version when you press update. Same for Flightbeam.

 The new Universal Installer interface is a great step forward for customers, as was consolidating all FSDT products in one location.

But I am not a computer expert and I think its asking too much of customers to have to download  an online installer, then run Live Update on the Universal Installer (or is it the other way around) and try to figure out what files are always being downloaded and which are not and decide whether we have the latest updates and then decide if the problem one has is due to unsynchronized and out of date program. All these file types are obvious to you but not obvious to the run of the mill customer. And as others have commented these file downloads fly by at the speed of light making it even harder to figure out what is happening. And on top of that the original post never elucidates whether this process is perpetual for every update you will ever issue for GSX Pro or not. All of this just adds to customer inconvenience and confusion and frustration.

I would issue a plea to resolve this problem to make updates seamless for the customer. Maybe you need to issue and update and wait a week before notifying customers. Or like apparently other companies have the update from only one site.

I do appreciate the fact that FSDT provides outstanding support for its customers, and this post is meant only as positive feedback for a great product.

[lancealotg]

What he said +1   

[virtuali]

Other add ons I use do not have problems with updating their programs. For example the PMDG updater indicates  the current version, the newest version, and then updates it and says you now have the most updated version when you press update.

By mentioning the PMDG updater, you just made the point I always try to make about how useless a version number is, without a method that checks each and every file for being correct, like our updater does.

Try this:

- Open the PMDG install folder in the Community:

pmdg-aircraft-738\SimObjects\Airplanes\PMDG 737-800

- Remove some files or edit some files at random. For example, change parameters at random in the aircraft.cfg, or even remove files.

- Start the PMDG Operation center, and check for Updates. What is telling you ?

Is telling you have the "latest version", even if you obviously don't, because you either edited (an edited file is exactly like an outdated file) or removed files, so the integrity of the product is now compromised.  But since the updater is telling you have the latest version, and is not providing any information that would let you suspect of a problem, you can't possibly know if a problem might be caused by an outdated file, which can be caused by anything, from download issues to local file corruption due to hardware failures but also antivirus or firewall interference.

Now try doing the same with any FSDT product and then start the updater. What will happen ? It will RESTORE all the files you modified or removed to their latest version.

So, did it matter for the product reliability seeing a version number, when any file could be altered or missing, without the updater being able to detect any problem ?

Do you think the FSDT Updater would works "better" if we just HIDE all messages about redownloading something, and displaying a version number for the sake of it, which will only tell you that *some* files might be the latest version ( using few or even one crucial files it's a way to speed up version checking making it appear "immediate" ), instead of doing a complete and accurate check of each and every file, with the ability to update/repair/restore everything without ever requiring a reinstall ?

[glc100o]

Umberto,
Thanks for the technical explanation regarding how the FSDT installer updates files and the version number is not a good marker for an up to date program.
Still hope there will be a way where we don't need to worry about offline installers etc as I mentioned above.

[muratokay]

I totally agree with glc100o. I find the update process too confusing.

Since I don't know whether or not I have the latest files in my system, I run the updater, but it takes too much time while the updater checks for all the files in my system. I would be happier if there was an easier (or quicker) way to do this.

[virtuali]

I totally agree with glc100o. I find the update process too confusing.

Please re-ready my last post, and see glc100o reply, who understood how the updater works.

[quoteSince I don't know whether or not I have the latest files in my system, I run the updater, but it takes too much time while the updater checks for all the files in my system. I would be happier if there was an easier (or quicker) way to do this.[/quote]

As I clearly explained in my previous post, if the updater didn't check ALL files, it wouldn't be fully reliable so, it takes what it takes.

Since GSX is updated way often than other products, if you run the updater from the "FSDT Installer" icon ( is the SAME program, just with a different interface ), you can at least choose to check just GSX, which is faster than checking all FSDT products.