Author Topic: GSX 3 for FSX/P3D  (Read 196 times)

TheCaptain3618

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GSX 3 for FSX/P3D
« on: June 14, 2024, 08:04:04 pm »
Can you port all MSFS-Exclusive features to FSX/P3D? Tired of waiting too long.
TheCaptain3618

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Re: GSX 3 for FSX/P3D
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2024, 01:02:46 am »
Really depends on if the aforementioned features can even be supported by FSX and P3D. Generally, they try to implement it whenever possible.
Captain Kevin

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Re: GSX 3 for FSX/P3D
« Reply #2 on: June 16, 2024, 10:03:29 pm »
The pure GSX *code* is 95% shared between FSX/P3D and MSFS so, for example, during the two years after GSX for MSFS came out, you already got A LOT of improvements, which you can easily check in the update notes:

https://www.fsdreamteam.com/couatl_liveupdate_notes.html

Just search when it says (all versions) or (FSX/P3D) and that's how many new features has been added to the FSX/P3D version AFTER we released the MSFS version, and that is of course the main advantage of having all the GSX code running in our custom script engine, which allows us to minimize the differences between various simulators as much as possible.

This is about the GSX *code*, the program logic, features, menus, settings and also sounds. You'll also get new operators 100% in synch with the MSFS version.

When it comes to GRAPHIC instead, like models, animations, textures, then no, we can't continue supporting older simulators, because the difference is too high, and the way the MSFS SDK works in the way models are built, makes just too complex to port things made for MSFS back to P3D (FSX is out of the question), and it's not as if we haven't tried: I made a test, with a lot of work re-tagging the animations, re-configuring all LODs, re-exporting the textures, with just one Pushback guy from MSFS, trying to port it back to P3D, it just didn't work, the animation are all messed up, we probably used too many bones or too many polygons or a combination of both, it doesn't really matter: it's just not feasible to back-port something made from scratch for MSFS back into P3D, because the cost to maintain completely separate versions of models is not sustainable, for a user base that is basically now less than 5% of what it USED to be.

Note that, exactly the SAME thing happened when P3D came out, especially P3D V4, the first version supporting PBR. We updated or remade most of the objects to PBR, and we stopped updating models/textures for FSX, and yet even the FSX version is still getting the non-graphical updates.

An obvious example: in the very latest version, we added Seated Passengers to MSFS, and lots of new Crew models with hundreds of airline-specific uniforms. But we ALSO updated all the Boarding sounds, with multiple accents and morning/afternoon/evening variations, and these came to FSX/P3D as well, because they are all part of our custom environment that is not dedicated to a specific simulator.

Or the other major example, the Reverse Pushback, which came to FSX/P3D as well, since it's mostly a code-based feature. Sure, it uses the existing models, but it WORKS.

This is the most support we can offer to FSX/P3D, and I think it's already much more than what is being offered by other developers.