F-4E Phantom II Development Update and Release Delay Announcement

[Phantom88]

6 hours ago, ThorBrasil said:

 

https://discord.com/channels/1071433028045377637/1108849721566576671/1232836757905735701

Awesome News they were able to get through the"Show Stopper" Bugs and Glitches...Thanks for Sharing This.

[giullep]

 

it's no longer simple without having to apologize to update those who paid to have the form...every time weeks or months go by without having any news...then they apologize and say there are problems, just give some updates...positive or negative ..but at least one knows something...instead every time, for years and for all the modules, you have to pray for some update on the state of things... but I will never share this type of communication

[Horns]

4 hours ago, MAXsenna said:

I guess it's probably a matter of testing, as small updates to DLC campaigns can't be released outside patches, for some reason. Even if they're just updated files, and won't affect the sim in any other way. It's just the same as installing a user made campaign, and copying it into the core. That said, I have no idea how intricate the file submission system ED has employed for third parties and DLC creators. We do know sometimes schedules are missed though.

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk
 

Cheers for the info, nice to have some insight 

2 hours ago, giullep said:

 

it's no longer simple without having to apologize to update those who paid to have the form...every time weeks or months go by without having any news...then they apologize and say there are problems, just give some updates...positive or negative ..but at least one knows something...instead every time, for years and for all the modules, you have to pray for some update on the state of things... but I will never share this type of communication

I doubt there's much more that they could tell us about the state of the module other than what @IronMike's comment said. ETA was by the end of May, now that we're into a revised release window, I think they'll let us know as soon as they're aware if they won't make that, otherwise 'By End of May' is probably as precise as they can be. It would be nice if ED clarified  whether they might release a module (along with the required patch) outside of their planned update schedule though.

Edited April 25, 2024 by Horns
Corrected 'patch' to 'update'

[draconus]

15 hours ago, Horns said:

Would be great if you can, but either way ED has the choice to alter the schedule.

@Silver_Dragon Would you know if it be a lot more work for ED to release the patch for a new module and the regular planned update separately?

They have a choice but it doesn't make sense to break a schedule now. The module has to come with a patch to add it to DCS, together with new functionality, AI, weapons and textures/models in coremods, database files and whatnot to function properly. HB isn't even ready since they're still tweaking it. After all is ready and sent, ED has to test it on their dev version. If all is fine we can get the patch.

[Horns]

1 hour ago, draconus said:

They have a choice but it doesn't make sense to break a schedule now. The module has to come with a patch to add it to DCS, together with new functionality, AI, weapons and textures/models in coremods, database files and whatnot to function properly. HB isn't even ready since they're still tweaking it. After all is ready and sent, ED has to test it on their dev version. If all is fine we can get the patch.

Oh yeah, they clearly aren’t ready now. The next planned update would be May 22 by my count, so if the F-4E i won’t make that date but is likely to make the end of the window I guess it might make more sense for ED to delay the planned update to the 29th, or even the 31st, to give HB (and ED’s testers) the chance to make the window than add a patch out of phase. All just conjecture though.

[mondo]

6 hours ago, draconus said:

They have a choice but it doesn't make sense to break a schedule now. The module has to come with a patch to add it to DCS, together with new functionality, AI, weapons and textures/models in coremods, database files and whatnot to function properly. HB isn't even ready since they're still tweaking it. After all is ready and sent, ED has to test it on their dev version. If all is fine we can get the patch.

Speaking from experience, I'd be genuinely surprised if HB and ED didn't have shared repositories and the Phantom hasn't been tested as a module within internal versions of DCS for some months, possibly as soon as they had code available to integrate over a year back. ED obviously have a way of putting in placeholder aircraft and an SDK that allows functionality of modules to be mixed and matched as we've seen that in other modules under development. We haven't lived in a world of alpha, beta and gold versions of software for literally decades at this point. We just have incrementally higher version numbers with flags to denote what works and to what level.

[Stackup]

Earlier today, Cobra said they have an actual release date that is currently pending.  

[Nuckerball]

2 hours ago, Stackup said:

Earlier today, Cobra said they have an actual release date that is currently pending.  

So mid june 

[Stackup]

47 minutes ago, Nuckerball said:

So mid june 

Sure, you can wait till then.  I'll buy it and fly it when they release it.

[Jacknemo]

Based on track record, May 31 is highly optimistic.  They'll find another show stopper bug and back the release off another couple of months.  This may be an endless loop. 

[NineLine]

On 4/24/2024 at 1:04 PM, Horns said:

Would be great if you can, but either way ED has the choice to alter the schedule.

@Silver_Dragon Would you know if it be a lot more work for ED to release the patch for a new module and the regular planned update separately?

For what it's worth, module releases do not need to wait till patch day. So the schedule could be altered in that sense. And to be clear I am not saying its releasing before, at or after the next patch, just stating that we are not forced to wait for a patch. Thanks.

[Horns]

1 minute ago, NineLine said:

For what it's worth, module releases do not need to wait till patch day. So the schedule could be altered in that sense. And to be clear I am not saying its releasing before, at or after the next patch, just stating that we are not forced to wait for a patch. Thanks.

Thanks for clarifying this, appreciate it 

[Fromthedeep]

1 hour ago, Jacknemo said:

Based on track record, May 31 is highly optimistic.  They'll find another show stopper bug and back the release off another couple of months.  This may be an endless loop. 

This all could have been avoided if they haven't committed to any release period in public. Maybe it won't be ready for another 3-4 months, which would be perfectly okay but there's no use in stating a release window in the first place. Just say that it will come out when it's done and that's about it.

[MAXsenna]

For what it's worth, module releases do not need to wait till patch day. So the schedule could be altered in that sense. And to be clear I am not saying its releasing before, at or after the next patch, just stating that we are not forced to wait for a patch. Thanks.

Thanks! That's great info!

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[Hawke81]

1 hour ago, NineLine said:

For what it's worth, module releases do not need to wait till patch day. So the schedule could be altered in that sense. And to be clear I am not saying its releasing before, at or after the next patch, just stating that we are not forced to wait for a patch. Thanks.

Thanks for the info, thought I'd read that somewhere before.

[felixx75]

6 hours ago, Nuckerball said:

So mid june 

In other words, you're basically accusing Heatblur of deliberately telling us untruths...?

[Art-J]

Maybe not "telling untruths", but underestimating last minute bugs that can push module or feature release beyond "hoped for" timeline window. Which happened with HB's products multiple times in the past so why would F-4 be exception now? Maybe they'll release in May, maybe they won't - it comes when it comes. In either case we're getting it anyway.

[freehand]

The on going release date is like reading war & peace.  

[Horns]

32 minutes ago, freehand said:

The on going release date is like reading war & peace.  

That's one way to pass the time...

[ivo]

damn the time I made the purchase, it was supposed to come out last winter, then it was postponed to April, then to May, now hearing from some in June, if it doesn't come out in May via PayPal I ask for a refund, for a matter of respect owed to its customers

[tempusmurphy]

If something does happen and they do hold the f4 until June … that is going to be one hell of a patch, with Afghanistan, the ch47 and whatever else  we are getting .. that could be two day download

[Q3ark]

The only people talking about a June release are forum users who don’t know any more than anyone else. They’re just pulling dates out of their butt.

[Gunfreak]

3 hours ago, ivo said:

damn the time I made the purchase, it was supposed to come out last winter, then it was postponed to April, then to May, now hearing from some in June, if it doesn't come out in May via PayPal I ask for a refund, for a matter of respect owed to its customers

It was never postponed to april. Just said they couldn't make the  winter date. 

Then later someone from Heatblur said May 31 as absolute latest.

That's it.

 

[ivo]

1 hour ago, Gunfreak said:

It was never postponed to april. Just said they couldn't make the  winter date. 

Then later someone from Heatblur said May 31 as absolute latest.

That's it.

 

DCS: F-4 Phantom Pre-Order

How long after the pre-order will it take for the DCS F-4E Phantom II to release? Do you have a release date yet?

 

The DCS F-4E Phantom II is slated to release in May / April 2024.

https://store.heatblur.com/pages/avada-faqs

[MiG21bisFishbedL]

Mountains out of molehills.