Is it finally abandoned?

[hreich]

Is it finally abandoned?

[dawgie79]

Sincerely hope not, but it looks like it yeah.

 

[fabio.dangelo]

When a developer leaves a free project I am sorry but I can only thank him for what he has done.

But when the product is commercial, and still sold, I find this very unfair.

I hope this is just a hiatus due to some personal problem that I obviously don't want to know about, but if it was really abandoned he should stop marketing it immediately.

[dburne]

9 hours ago, fabio.dangelo said:

When a developer leaves a free project I am sorry but I can only thank him for what he has done.

But when the product is commercial, and still sold, I find this very unfair.

I hope this is just a hiatus due to some personal problem that I obviously don't want to know about, but if it was really abandoned he should stop marketing it immediately.

Fully agreed, something really needs to be communicated to the public here especially as it is still being offered for sale and we have not heard from the guy since Jan. Granted a small update did get through right after the Apache dropped but no communication from him on it at all.

I sincerely hope all is well for him but it would be really nice for us to know it's future at this point.

[MAXsenna]

The immediate problem I see, is that if the server that verifies the codes goes down. One cannot install on a new machine. 

[Str][ker]

Well this sucks.. I guess that explains why I never heard back with a support request.

[Dragon1-1]

Worse, when the new ATC system drops, it'll likely become completely unusable, increasingly more so as new comms are phased in. That's even without considering all the new aircraft that we're getting at some point. I considered buying it at one point, glad I never got around to it.

[Japo32]

I think @Hollywood_315of course should give explanations about the future of Vaicom. And if he cannot continue with the development, maybe he could consider share the source code for free so anyone that knows about it make free updates to people. Because as said, when the new ATC model comes, Vaicom is going to be totally useles and specially the VR people need some kind of voice commanding, that can be done some way with Voice Attack, but Vaicom was a really nice solution, that we will loose "soon" (2 or 3 weeks) if not updated.

[MAXsenna]

1 hour ago, Japo32 said:

Attack, but Vaicom was a really nice solution, that we will loose "soon" (2 or 3 weeks) if not updated.

New ATC is coming in 2-3 weeks?  

1 hour ago, Dragon1-1 said:

That's even without considering all the new aircraft that we're getting at some point.

Well, the Mirage F1 pretty much proves you wrong on that one.  

[Dragon1-1]

You mean, it somehow got all the fancy VAICOM features, or does it just talk to the AI? TBH, if someone focused on, instead of trying to make it do everything, just making a plugin for talking with AI, it could probably be free. 

Either way, it seems that VAICOM is abandoned now. That's another reason I prefer freeware projects, handing one of those to someone else is not always painless, but it can be done if the thing's popular enough. No such luck with a payware one, if the creator burns out, abandonment typically ensues, and code releases in such cases are rare. Rights to less niche software can be sold, but good luck finding a buyer for something like this (although if one could be found, and the creator convinced to sell, that could work out).

[MAXsenna]

58 minutes ago, Dragon1-1 said:

You mean, it somehow got all the fancy VAICOM features, or does it just talk to the AI? TBH, if someone focused on, instead of trying to make it do everything, just making a plugin for talking with AI, it could probably be free. 

 Not sure what you mean. Yes, you can talk to AI in the F1. The kneeboard extension doesn't work. But that's on Aerges as it doesn't work in the C-101 too.

Plugin for what? VoiceAttack? Or Microsoft Speech Recognition and then send the commands without keybinds like VAICOM, so you get extra stuff not featured in the comms menu? 

I believe the reason we don't have it as included in DCS yet, is the speech to text done by Windows.

Cheers! 

[dburne]

My only beef in this whole thing is if the darn program is not going to be supported any longer, take the link down from the Vaicom Website to purchase the program. I purchased it quite some time ago and more than got my money's worth out of it so I don't feel jipped out of anything so to speak. I do hope Hollywood is well and nothing unfortunate has happened. 

As things stand now I could not in good conscience recommend purchasing this program to anyone. At the same time I don't see any good alternatives in the same class as Vaicom Pro. I will however continue to use mine as long as I possibly can.

Edited September 8, 2022 by dburne

[nessuno0505]

@Hollywood_315 last time online 15th of april, so at least he's alive.

I hope something is happening behind the stage (an official module maybe? an integration in DCS core?), otherwise sooner or later I'll have to go back and say "F one... F five" with my voiceattack. I sincerely hope not.

Edited September 14, 2022 by nessuno0505

[sirrah]

On 9/13/2022 at 5:37 PM, nessuno0505 said:

@Hollywood_315 last time online 15th of april, so at least he's alive.

That is 5 months ago... Certainly not reassuring for someone to suddenly disappear without a trace, while still advertising/selling a product online that is not fully functional.

If it was a planned absence, you'd expect some sort of notification about possible (temporary) lack of customer support. Perhaps I sound a bit harsh, especially when considering we don't know if something serious has happened, but VAICOM is not a freeware mod, it's payware.

I started using VAICOM about a year ago and purchased a few products. I know it's not that expensive at all, but if at that time I'd have known that about a year later all support would vanish (and the Apache, my favorite module, wouldn't work with VAICOM) I might not have purchased to begin with.


I still hope that maybe somehow ED can get in touch with Hollywood_315 and let us know he's ok. As that for sure is the most important question here.

[Hoirtel]

Its entirely possible that there is a new ATC/radio engine on the way, they have basically said this. Even if vaicom still has a place it would likely need re-writing entirely, so makes any effort to update now not really worth it.

I made the move away from vaicom back to just VA a few months ago and I am actually much happier, yes it  lacks a bit of the immersion but full customisable control and integration with whatever the severs add to F10 is really nice. Its also good that the rearm menu and ready precontract have their own key binds so I can still use these as I did with VA. I was never one for flying with AI much and VA on its own is easier with SRS in multiplayer.

[HILOK]

one can only hope @Hollywood_315 is doing ok, and nothing too serious happened. to me he always seemed like a fine person in the past, and i am sure there must be good reasons for his absence.

for me the added value of VAICOM is about on the same level as track-ir. being able to pass a message by pressing a PTT and speaking as it's supposed to be is just fantastic, and without it an important part of the experience is missing. as we dont know if or when the new ATC system will be implemented, i just hope that in the meantime the code could be picked up by someone else, or he is considering making it opensource. personally i wouldn't mind the few $ i "invested" -he definitely earned it !

[VirusAM]

My latest experiences with Vaicomm Pro are subpar...things that worked are not working anymore, and this is after a lot of training and care on my side.

For example...very big issues for me is that the multiple take x commands (for radio menu) are not working, and I don't understand why as in the voice attack dialog if I pronounce take 1 (or the others) the voice is recognized. But in game if I say show options, the menu appears...but then any other take 'x' is not recognized.

Tried everything, switched to VSPX, resetted database, lua etc....but it just does not work anymore.

It's a shame but I am thinking of ditching Vaicom pro and use Baileys profiles.

 

[dburne]

2 hours ago, VirusAM said:

My latest experiences with Vaicomm Pro are subpar...things that worked are not working anymore, and this is after a lot of training and care on my side.

For example...very big issues for me is that the multiple take x commands (for radio menu) are not working, and I don't understand why as in the voice attack dialog if I pronounce take 1 (or the others) the voice is recognized. But in game if I say show options, the menu appears...but then any other take 'x' is not recognized.

Tried everything, switched to VSPX, resetted database, lua etc....but it just does not work anymore.

It's a shame but I am thinking of ditching Vaicom pro and use Baileys profiles.

 

 

My take x commands seem to be working for the most part, at least of late. Sometimes can be hit or miss.

[VirusAM]

1 hour ago, dburne said:

 

My take x commands seem to be working for the most part, at least of late. Sometimes can be hit or miss.

The problem for me is in SIM, with the Communication (or Jester) menu opened.

If I am just testing (or training) voice commands, I see all the take 'X' commands correctly recognized.

During use in SIM, it does not work. 

 

Edited September 19, 2022 by VirusAM