Hello to you all!!! I recently bought this game and have been waiting anxiously for the CD to arrive!!! The lady in salesdepartment e-mailed me and said that the game would be available a week ago, but so far nothing has been updated on their website. Does anyone know when will they finally set a release date????


Best Regards,

Felipe.

Well, there have been some problems and they won't release the game until its ready (obviously). The CDs won't be made until after these errors, and then sent a few days after. From past experience it took 10 days for the CD to reach Auckland from Melbourne, I'd expect something like 3 weeks for it to get Brazil. Meanwhile, a good alternative would be to watch the soccer world cup  

Expect the CD anytime between now and infinity.
They are working on 6.2 however found bugs with scheduling so they are working on fixing it.
It took about a week for my CD to ship to PIT

Airline has now showed just how unorganised and unprofessional they could possibly be. How could they act as they have in the past few days. Delay after delay and now this-unascusable delay. Not to mention a horrendous excuse. Not enough bandwidth as they stated is the single worst excuse I have heard from them yet. After they promoted a release date then with a count down. How could they not have expected this?

Shame on EFZED. I feel really ripped off.

DA

With all the drooling that has been going on, I am not surprised they have found their current bandwidth inadequate for the loads they will need to accommodate when they release 6.2. Their latest trick, however, has been to shut down their forum temporarily. This probably makes it a lot easier on them while upgrading their servers and the stress of dealing with some of the forum members who are a little too vocal on their criticisms. While I myself am frustrated about their not making release dates (thankfully they will no longer publish release dates), I have had excellent support and customer service from Efzed when I have needed it and currently have no reason to discontinue being a customer.

The web page said there are people offering mirror sites so that people can still download it does anyone now of any of these sites?

They have now pulled to forums.

I must say, im not too impressed with Efzed here what so ever, especially considering they should have well known there would be high demand for the game, and have had more than enough time to sort this out.

Efzed are yet again pushing the boundries.

Then again, I suppose this is more realistic, Airlines often have 'delays'  

Hoping to see 6.2 before New Year.

Kev.

Quoting FlyKev (Reply 6): Hoping to see 6.2 before New Year.

Haha me too, and I'm sure it will. The game is probably ready.. Just need them to buy some extra servers or something..

Quoting Frugalqxnwa (Reply 4): currently have no reason to discontinue being a customer.

Have to agree. But it is a unique product. Compare it to FS2006 then.. I reckon most of these airline games have problems. I still need a better computer for Airline to run on!

Yes it is a unique product. I go back to version 4. I just think that the last few months have been a mess. I know there is no comparable product out there but that does not excuse poor performance on their part. Then to shut down the form to keep people quiet. Their moderators could not control the discontent so off the air they go.

DA

Hopefully Efzed can clean up their act here, because if they don't it won't be too long before they do have compitition who does have their act together.

Their behaviour is unacceptable.

Their weird dates were bad.

Then yesterday we had the big green counter that got us all excited.

And now they have closed down the forum. Furthermore, apparently threads which are too critical are not answered but are instead shot down and closed by an arrogant middle aged man in Australia.

It seems like a disorganised and unprofessional company with a lot to learn. They should cut their losses, dump the game on a mirror and work in another industry.

Wonder when we'll hear anything... now that they seem to have severed the lines of communication...

Members login section says the server issue is resolved and downloads will begin tomorrow (June 19). As I write this, however, it is already 11:30pm MDT, (3:30pm in Melbourne) and I have just checked the site. Time will tell if this is the real thing or if our date stood us up again.

BTW, the forum is still offline.

Edited to correct time & time zone.

[Edited 2006-06-19 07:40:13]

Looks like we have been stood up again. It must be near Tuesday over there in Austrailia. Oh i know they must have meant June 17th some other year.
DA

It's now Tuesday over there. Now I can't play till Sunday as I'm in Paris all week.

I have been quiet till now...I have not posted on the forum anywhere but at this point I too believe it has become a joke....
If this game is released and with tons of bugs I will never again purchase a product from them....for them to take 3-6 extra months and then release a highly problematic game would be rediculous.

All i'm saying is when it comes out it better be good.

Quoting Deltadude8 (Reply 15): I have been quiet till now...I have not posted on the forum anywhere but at this point I too believe it has become a joke.... If this game is released and with tons of bugs I will never again purchase a product from them....for them to take 3-6 extra months and then release a highly problematic game would be rediculous. All i'm saying is when it comes out it better be good.

They did the same with 6.1, what makes you think 6.2 will be any different?

So far the release schedule has been exactly the same as 6.1. Delay after delay after delay, followed by technical issues with the server.

Expect 6.2 to be released on Monday. Everyone will then find the installer doesnt work. A patch will be released to fix that by the end of next week, only for everyone to experience runtime errors as soon as they launch the game.

You may as well just wait until the end of August by which time patch 15 will be out, and the game will be semi playable, as long as you autsave and resume frequently....

Just imagine what a little competition would do to the market. Yea sure there are some similar programs out there but they are rather elementary compared to Airline, even dispite my many objections with some aspects of the game. In a competitive market Ezfed would not last with all these delays and poor communication with consumers.

They state yet another release date of Monday the 19th, well down in AU its already midday on the 20th and still nothing

Quoting Usairways85 (Reply 17): They state yet another release date of Monday the 19th, well down in AU its already midday on the 20th and still nothing

Shoddy Shoddy service.

How many delayed release dates is that now, and when was it first scheduled for us?

Kev.

Creating a similar simulation program to AIRLINE would not be difficult. However, the difficult part comes in adding the "bells and whistles"... being able to custom configure aircraft, add amenities, etc..

Also, the critical part is the vast amount of data that AIRLINE has. Airport data, demand data, and vital performance data for the various aircraft.

So, once you overcome these obstacles, you have a competitor to AIRLINE.

Oh wait. We don't have that data, and the "bells and whistles" make things excessively complex. No wonder Efzed is taking so long.  

Keep up the good wort Efzed! I can wait patiently.

If you want to gripe about the forums being shut down, blame me. Frank sent our an email about everything how we were obviously heading for a melt down if everyone would attempt to hit the server at once. The counter was a bad idea...yes. Live and learn. Frank asked my opinion...my response was - no more dates, no more counters, and shut the forum down sometime before the release date and leave it closed until just after. This way there was no build up and that would hopefully keep a lot of stress off the servers.

Yes there were a lot of bad decisions made on timing. Thankfully we'll never have to worry about release dates again - they are gone. The new features in 6.2 are definitely very complex and the reason why the game has taken so long. Game development is done. The installer was the last part and that was done a week ago. Will there be bugs? I would expect it. You can't possibly test the game on every possible combination of OS (with various patches from Microsoft), processor, ram, video capabilities, etc. One of the other good things right now is that AO is delayed...and hopefully will remain that way until the 6.2 release is well established. They don't need to waste time with AO until any upcoming support questions are taken care of.

Either way. Opinions on both sides were getting too heated. If you want to complain about threads getting closed - email me. Don't go after Bwob. I've been doing online moderation for too many years. I attempted to find a fair balance to people with legitimate first time complaints and those just trying to stir the pot to get flame wars going. When things got personal and just down right immature - thats when I pulled the plug.

Again complain all you want about anything. Just make it constructive. I've led two companies so far in my short life and during that time I've always led with the simple philosophy... Not everyone is going to like what you do and some people will bitch and complain. However, when those people bitch and complain you better have a solution to fix the problem or you are just spouting off to inflame it.

Quoting Ouboy79 (Reply 20): If you want to gripe about the forums being shut down, blame me. Frank sent our an email about everything how we were obviously heading for a melt down if everyone would attempt to hit the server at once. The counter was a bad idea...yes. Live and learn. Frank asked my opinion...my response was - no more dates, no more counters, and shut the forum down sometime before the release date and leave it closed until just after. This way there was no build up and that would hopefully keep a lot of stress off the servers. Yes there were a lot of bad decisions made on timing. Thankfully we'll never have to worry about release dates again - they are gone. The new features in 6.2 are definitely very complex and the reason why the game has taken so long. Game development is done. The installer was the last part and that was done a week ago. Will there be bugs? I would expect it. You can't possibly test the game on every possible combination of OS (with various patches from Microsoft), processor, ram, video capabilities, etc. One of the other good things right now is that AO is delayed...and hopefully will remain that way until the 6.2 release is well established. They don't need to waste time with AO until any upcoming support questions are taken care of. Either way. Opinions on both sides were getting too heated. If you want to complain about threads getting closed - email me. Don't go after Bwob. I've been doing online moderation for too many years. I attempted to find a fair balance to people with legitimate first time complaints and those just trying to stir the pot to get flame wars going. When things got personal and just down right immature - thats when I pulled the plug. Again complain all you want about anything. Just make it constructive. I've led two companies so far in my short life and during that time I've always led with the simple philosophy... Not everyone is going to like what you do and some people will bitch and complain. However, when those people bitch and complain you better have a solution to fix the problem or you are just spouting off to inflame it.

Thanks for the explanation about the forum being shut down, I can definately see your point.

A friendly FYI: My complaint has always been about the release dates being announced and not met, and the solution I proposed in one of my posts (and I believe I was the one responsible for the change in release date policy) was that I want EFZED to take as much time as they need. I would much prefer to have a game that is as bug-free as possible and wait a little longer. However, I, and many others, do not appreciate being told a definate date only to find out the game isn''t ready and needs more time. That is why I suggested that release dates no longer should be published. However, EFZED did post on the member login site that the server fix would be implemented on June 19th and thus implied a definate release date of June 19th and in so doing has blown another release date. This is getting real old real fast. The member's login should have read, "The server issue is fixed and the fix will be implemented and downloads will begin shortly." This way, if something came up and EFZED needed more time, EFZED could have easily taken the time without the customers getting too upset about another release date not being met.

I agree that the message could have been taken that way, and that was my fear. I took it to mean whatever first...more bandwidth, a new server or two, whatever...would be installed on that date and downloads would begin soon after (not specifically on the 19th). We can't satisfy everyone, and I think that has been an issue here. However, going forward we can hopefully look to no more dates at all and releases coming out when they are ready - as a suprise. I would be even more favorable of a public beta program for future releases before taking them gold.

I guess I misread the message then (I guess I'm human after all). Thanks for the clarification.

Quoting Ouboy79 (Reply 20): Thankfully we'll never have to worry about release dates again - they are gone.

Although I may be mistaken, im sure a similar decision was made after the fiasco of the 6.1 release, it was promised then that no release dates would be given in future. It seems this policy change has been forgotten.

As far as I am concerned, the two things that have really annoyed me are the fact that they have continually missed the deadlines they have announced, but also the fact that it is the exact same fiasco as the 6.1 release was. They have not learned from the previous release.

My only concern is that we will see the same bugs as we saw last time which will make the game unplayable once it is actually released.

Back in 6.1 we had the same repeated delays, and the same last minute server issues. Sure its hard to predict delays, but the server issue was blindingly odvious to everyone except Efzed it seems.

Hopefully they will learn from their mistakes this time and avoid the same disaster when 6.3 or 7 is released.

Personally Ouboy79 I am sick of the apologies. I want a program that I paid for delivered on time and on target. It has been a disgraceful display on the companies part. I understand what you moderators had to put up with on the forum that is one thing, shutting it down I understand. This is one of the reasons that I dont post on the forum. Not to mention being berated by bwob for my spelling isn't my idea of a constructive forum. All these things are a product of poor customer service on the part of the company. Frank started out with a good idea and a good product. It continues to be a this. However the latest fiasco has really upset me. Nighthawk is correct we were promised no new release date way back and yet we get release dates with a counter!
I also do not have a problem with the product. Just the crap that comes along with a release.

Look, I too have run a company and I continue to do so today. If I did what EFZED has done with the release of this product and there was another company offering a comparable one, my customers would have jumped ship back at V6.1 release.

DA

It's online!   

Jan

And so they are. Thank goodness. Now looking forward to downloading and playing after work.
DA

the download seems to be available

anyone else getting the "runtime 339" error when you try to "link aircraft to schedules". I'm hoping this is only happening to me, because the game is unplayable in its current form otherwise.

Quoting SJC>SFO (Reply 29): anyone else getting the "runtime 339" error

I "played" the game for about 30 minutes and had at least 4 different runtime errors. So I guess we'll have to wait for patch after patch after patch......

Quoting Interpaul (Reply 30): I "played" the game for about 30 minutes and had at least 4 different runtime errors. So I guess we'll have to wait for patch after patch after patch......

Unnnnnnnnnnnnngh. Craptastic. I've got a lot sympathy for the fellows over at efzed but the *game is not playable*, and it shouldn't have been released.

Yeh, i just downloaded the game and i get runtime errors here, their and everywhere.

They really shouldn't released it with those errors, and surely Alpha and Beta testing would have been able to show these errors.

Although, i do know the amount of coding that is involved and beleive me it isn't easy trying to end all of the code. The reason you get Runtime errors is more than likely when some 'End If' statements have not been entered.

Thanks
Mike

Quoting Dogfighter2111 (Reply 32): Although, i do know the amount of coding that is involved and beleive me it isn't easy trying to end all of the code. The reason you get Runtime errors is more than likely when some 'End If' statements have not been entered.

Actually runtime errors ar every easy to avoid, and are a sign of poor coding. A runtime error can occur in lots of places, but mainly it is a result of trying to access a resource that does not exist, whether that is a file or a variable etc.

Any time you try to access a file / memory location etc you should first check it exists, also put a try {} catch {} around the code block, that way as soon as an error occurs you can catch it, handle it, then either display a warning to the user that the file was not found, or stop what you were trying to do and return to the main menu.

A program should **never** crash to the desktop, you should always be handling the errors yourself and allowing the user to continue. I was told this in my very first programming lesson back in 2nd year of high school! It is such a basic principle of programming, it never ceases to amaze me that Efzed have yet to learn this!

Anyway, like everyone else, I have tried to play 2 games so far, and both have crashed with a runtime error after the first quarter.

So far from what I have seen, nothing much has changed in airline 6.2. Certainly nothing to warrant 1+ years of development! They have added a rotating globe, which is extremely clumsy to use... you need to click the mouse about 100 times to obtain a decent level of zoom...... why cant i just hold the mouse down? We have a new scheduling system, which is a great idea and is exactly what Airline needed, but again its very clumsy.

Still a lot of work to be done Efzed....

Nighthawk - did you actually get to the point of being able to process the first quarter?

Quoting SJC>SFO (Reply 34): Nighthawk - did you actually get to the point of being able to process the first quarter?

Yes, I have processed the first quarter in two games now, however the "extend lease" popup is screwed, it shows 4 aircraft when I only have one (thankfully only extends one) plus has some note on it about aircraft data presumably for the developers.

On my third try I managed to process 4 quarters, however at the end of Q4 when the popup appears about shares, no matter how many times you click continue, it simply wont go away,. I had to kill Airline.

Also, of all the 3 times ive started airline, once I was offered 7m in startup funding, all other times ive been offered just 300,000!!! Not much you can do with that!!

same here crashed to desktop after trying to schedule just one flight. Damn I am disappointed. If I here one more time that they cant test it on every system out there I think I will puke. But everyone should send their RTE # and the situation you were in when it happened to Tech support so that we can get a stable game after some time. Welcome beta testers!
DA

Aside RTEs, there are a number of glaring errors in the game. Just some I've noticed:

- Even if I pick "N. America" as my region for the game, I can sometimes still pick the Russian Federation as a location list for my headquarters.
- The maintenence contractor thing is all screwed up. Sometimes there's one option, sometimes there's six, and the cost/turnaround rating and company name never carries over into the game itself.
- Boston is missing. Oops.
- Lease screen doesn't show any a/c unless you choose a specific a/c type (maybe this isn't an error, but it's certainly poor design).

In any event, the game is a mess. Most unfortunate.

I like the user interface on scheduling.
Dont like the globe. (can't see northen canada)
And it takes 30 minutes to load a new game on my pc (512mb ram, AMD64 Athlon 3000+).

I never kept my hopes up, but i am aware it should be more stable. I remember 6.1 crashing from load previously.

Kev.

Quoting SJC>SFO (Reply 34): did you actually get to the point of being able to process the first quarter?

      

Jan

Wow, this sounds like a bummer. I was going to download and play for myself but maybe i'll wait a few days

I knew the globe would be counter productive. I honestly didn't have much of a problem with the 6.1 map, it just needed a little more zoom.

Quoting Warreng24 (Reply 19): Creating a similar simulation program to AIRLINE would not be difficult. However, the difficult part comes in adding the "bells and whistles"... being able to custom configure aircraft, add amenities, etc.. Also, the critical part is the vast amount of data that AIRLINE has. Airport data, demand data, and vital performance data for the various aircraft. So, once you overcome these obstacles, you have a competitor to AIRLINE. Oh wait. We don't have that data, and the "bells and whistles" make things excessively complex. No wonder Efzed is taking so long. Keep up the good wort Efzed! I can wait patiently.

The data is readily available and I can think of several online games (Airline Empires, Clearskies, Airline Mogul) that make the have the same information. Sure these games dont have the "bells and whistles" of Airline - but from what I can see (I own both 5 and 6.1) a majority of the much flaunted "bells and whistels" either dont work, or dont have a direct bearing on the game, but they do have two distinct advantages - their free and you can play against other people in relative real time.

While I understand the complexitites of such games and the time involved in programming them to realise (sorry sell - which makes it worse) a program that does be so buggy for the out set is diplorable.

Some people will come on here and start ranting about how good a job EFZED are doing etc. and while I respect their overall idea I thnk the implementation of it is quite bad - this coming from somebody whop has spent > EUR 100 on their products and someone who programs for a living.

Well, i have managed to process Q1!

Although, it processes the data so much slower. Well, the progress bars are going fast but it is taking ages. In V6.1 it only ever took me a maximum of 2 mins to process the 1st Qurter but here i have been sitting waiting for about 4 minutes.

Also, at the end of Q1 it is Multiplying the amount of aircraft i have leased by 4! ARGH!!! V6.2 Is sooooooooo screwed up!

Thanks
Mike

Be sure you are reporting every issue to [email protected] INCLUDING your system config specs with OS, etc. If you can get a quarter processed or a game saved before an error, get that to them as well.

As far as anything else, my personal opinions will remain to myself.  

Sorry, Ouboy79, but that's ridiculous. There are literally dozens of errors that we're all encountering, and every time I send efzed one they send me a quick fix - and making the customer do half the grunt work just isn't right. This product is terrible.

Just tried my fouth game, and after processing the first quarter, I get a popup saying my staff have gone on strike.... once again, no matter how much I click continue, the message will not go away. I have no choice but to kill airline6.2

Have they done any testing at all? Every time I play it I find a bug, and it seems everyone else is having the same problem!!!

Very poor show Efzed....

Quoting Nighthawk (Reply 45): I click continue, the message will not go away.

I'm Getting the same here... Going to try once more.

Quoting Nighthawk (Reply 45):

This is the worst release they have had. I have never seen a release this bad.

Thanks
Mike

Any guesses as to how many customers EFZED is losing to the delay after delay only to release an unusable product? I have yet to process more than one quarter. I am sorry I updated so soon on my desktop and wish I had waited about 6 months so the bugs would be ironed out. Fortunately, my laptop still has 6.1.

Quoting Frugalqxnwa (Reply 48): Any guesses as to how many customers EFZED is losing to the delay after delay only to release an unusable product? I have yet to process more than one quarter. I am sorry I updated so soon on my desktop and wish I had waited about 6 months so the bugs would be ironed out. Fortunately, my laptop still has 6.1.

They have lost me, thats for sure. The upgrade to 6.2 was my last upgrade credit, and I sure as hell wont be buying another! I also feel quite cheated, there is very little in 6.2 that has actually changed to justify the use of an upgrade!