Real development status of BO-105

[phant]

@The_Fragger @Zeus67 @Prowler111 @myHelljumper

Brief historical summary

1. July 2015: Polychop-Simulations officially obtains the Third Party license for the development of SA-342M Gazelle and BO-105 PAH1A1.
2. April 2017: Polychop Simulations and The_Fragger announce that their development path separates: MilTech-5 is born and will independently develop the BO-105 PAH1A1.
3. January 2020: MilTech-5 and RAZBAM announce an agreement to advance the development of the BO-105 PAH1A1.
4. January 2023: In response to a comment on the official MilTech-5 FB page, The_Fragger replies "We are waiting for the coder -> last contact was June. He applied for a new job...since then -> no response".

• Is the agreement with RAZBAM still in place (a recent podcast with RAZBAM mentioned three helicopters in development but it's not clear if the BO-105 is included)?
• Is the recruitment of the new developer in June 2022 part of the collaboration with RAZBAM?
• Many screenshots are posted that highlight the development and updating of the graphic assets (and this is good) but considering that we have entered the eighth year of development since the original announcement, it is possible to officially know the current and concrete state of development of the module BO-105 PAH1A1 at present?
• Will there be an official report dedicated to the BO-105 PAH1A1 in the upcoming Eagle Dynamics NL dedicated to Third Parties?

Thanks in advance for any response you may have!

 

Bye
Phant

Edited January 14 by phant

[The_Fragger]

The collaboration with RAZBAM ist still active. The Coder has a new MAINJOB (!). 
One cannot assume that everyone has 98% of the time to take care of a module.
The long lasting time has nothing to do with me or RAZBAM.

These are a chain of negative events over which I and RAZBAM have no influence (!)
We need to face that and make the best out of it

That's life.

Thanks

Edited January 17 by The_Fragger

[MrDieing]

This taking a while to get out of the door is probably frustrating for all parties involved. Especially for The_Fragger, this is his baby and I am sure nobody wants to see this getting released more then he does. Stuff out of your control can be super frustrating, respect for all the people that still want to make this happen after all this time. Good things come to those that wait. In the mean time we have plenty of stuff to enjoy in DCS and one day the Bo-105 will be there, Im sure!

[GKOver]

I am also desperately waiting for this module….. I had the opportunity to spent one day in a German airbase of this helicopter in 1989……

 

To be honest: I have bought the Gazelle because I thought that this would help for developing the BO-105.

[Lasstmichdurch]

A good question...

What can we do, to help development?

[ebabil]

 

[WinterH]

1 hour ago, ebabil said:

 

Please, don't quote any videos from that channel for information.

From what I see, he just takes scraps of publicly available information, adds lots of sensationalism and conjecture into it to collect clicks out of low effort content. He quotes no sources for the claims either.

Fragger himself denied it being on hold on Miltech-5 discord after seeing that video.

Are things rosy for Bo-105? No. Looks like coder who was supposed to work on it isn't available anymore, and they're looking for a new one together with razbam, and Fragger is continuing the 3d work. So the project is in a difficult spot alright, but it is ongoing anyway. But that channel ain't the place to look for reliable information, at all.

[The_Fragger]

[YoYo]

On 1/14/2023 at 1:27 AM, phant said:

"We are waiting for the coder -> last contact was June.

 June? What are you waiting for? 

10 hours ago, The_Fragger said:

....

Cant wait, but looks like 2024, not before I suppose.

Edited January 28 by YoYo

[Gierasimov]

On 1/17/2023 at 10:43 AM, The_Fragger said:

The collaboration with RAZBAM ist still active. The Coder has a new MAINJOB (!). 
One cannot assume that everyone has 98% of the time to take care of a module.
The long lasting time has nothing to do with me or RAZBAM.

These are a chain of negative events over which I and RAZBAM have no influence (!)
We need to face that and make the best out of it

That's life.

Thanks

 

The Coder has a new MAINJOB (!). Frankly, no module announcement should be made if the people involved are employees somewhere else.

Working in 'spare' time on a module is good for unofficial mods. 

Development itself takes time, what if a next coder is able to bring it to early access and then leaves the for 'other' job? Early access will be ONLY access. 

Good luck with finding a solid replacement! 

 

[WinterH]

26 minutes ago, Gierasimov said:

Frankly, no module announcement should be made if the people involved are employees somewhere else.

Working in 'spare' time on a module is good for unofficial mods. 

Well too bad then, you can kiss goodbye possibly all modules other than ED's.

Me meanwhile, will enjoy them

The gall people have am I right?! How dare they think of making a living, or you know, what if a new 3rd party dev is only able to afford a part time/contractor kind of deal!

[Gierasimov]

Module announcement not module, right? 

I am waiting for Mudhen,my first third party aircraft module ...

[WinterH]

4 minutes ago, Gierasimov said:

Module announcement not module, right? 

I am waiting for Mudhen,my first third party aircraft module ...

No, very much module, as great majority of existing DCS modules were made with teams consisting of mostly part timers and contractors, including programming side. I think even ED works with contractors sometimes, but I believe in their case it's more often on the art or other less critical sides. Working part time, or working with non-permanent contractors is pretty much an industry standard.

Yes, it may come with a greater risk of burnout for devs, yes it may take longer overall, but it also makes things even possible at all in the first place.

Well careful with that purchase! As far as I know, Razbam's flight model coder isn't a full time DCS dev either, it may damage your DCS meticulousness! 

[Gierasimov]

I know about RAZBAM, I know about third parties and their time to work on a module. 

What I said though, is that modules should not be really announced in situations if you have just one person coding /doing it the critical task.

Remember what happened to Hornet's A/G radar? It was one person job and that person left. ED had to find another person and that took time. So, yeah it can happen even to a big shots like ED, relatively speaking, IF there is no backup / contingency planned. 

Every asset should be doubled at least. That way if one person goes the other person picks up and continues. 

Businesses often think of disaster recovery / backup / high availability of the hardware, systems and data, but unfortunately often forget about their workforce, in this case a critical piece of the puzzle. 

Let's also not forget that it isn't just any programmer that's needed. It's specifically programmer who understands the concept and has the knowhow and skills required for the particular type of development plus there is a learning curve for ED specifics. 

Wasn't that one of the third parties that said that it took them a year to get their heads around DCS development tools and methods? 

[Devil 505]

On 1/27/2023 at 5:14 PM, The_Fragger said:

Keep up the out standing work and do not let a few irritated people distract you.  My old man worked for Aerospatiale (Air Bus Helicopters) and I remember when MBB became a part of Eurocopter.  They had the one they used in Mission Impossible out at the Grand Prairie plant.  I remember as a kid going out there and watching them fly.  Also went up a few times (back then you could).  I am very much looking forward to this Helo and very excited with all the hard work you have done.  We have plenty coming and plenty to keep us busy with DCS until you finish her.  This will be a day 1 for me.  Brings back very fond memories of growing up around the flight deck with my Dad.