This round of updates is again mainly focused on backend updates and migrating certain key components to the AirwaySim 2.0 system.
New features
Added a new "Delete Alliance" functionality to the Alliance Control Panel. This function is visible / available if you are the last remaining member in an alliance. (n.b. the alliance is still automatically closed if the last managing member closes his airline - each alliance must have at least one managing member at all times!)
Alliance closure related features upgraded to v.2.0 standard (completely new code). No visible changes to users.
Added real-world alliance name list to the blocked airline/alliance names database.
The game subscription billing module is upgraded to v.2.0 with a new code and new look for the e-mail notifications. The billing happens now every day at 12.00 UTC.
Improvements
Some technical streamlining to the new alliance features. No visible changes to users.
More technical tuning to the new backend processes. No visible changes to users.
Technical upgrade to the database structure of the airports infrastructure expansion system. No visible changes to users.
Fully migrated all remaining parts of handling logos, liveries and icons of airlines and alliances to the new system also in the old UI pages. No visible changes to users.
Fixes
Tooltip popups were too eager to open if there were many on the same page and mouse was moved rapidly over many of them.
Tooltip popup at scheduling page on mobile did not respect display boundaries.
Further updates to backend backup processes, migrating this system fully to the new backend also for the game databases.
Updated the real-world airline name list (i.e. blocked airline names) from current IATA airline members list.
Route minumum length limitations removed from route editor.
Fixes
Used aircraft generation was called too often.
Alliance creation did not assign private forum permissions if the third founding member joined after the alliance was already formed.
Fixed a server configuration issue that rarely could cause error 500 at some of the site's pages.
Achievement icons were not displaying at game's final results page.
Daily airline status e-mails were not moving out.
Time converter for pop-ups (e.g. aircraft delivery time estimate) did not take into account the user's time zone (after switch to the new website).
News of new alliance foundation did not always post to Dashboard.
Fixed a couple of incorrect page redirects after accepting/declining an alliance invitation (depending on the status of the alliance).
Alliance Control Panel's application decline reason textbox changed to normal text input (without rows) to prevent submitting the form when pressing 'enter'.
A new backend calculation system of AirwaySim v.2.0 has been taken into use.
This is a complete technical refresh of the server-side calculation system of the simulation, and is using the same & latest technology that is used in our new website and new game pages, also allowing more flexible management and monitoring of the server-side calculations, and enabling us to build new features with more ease.
At first the new backend calculation will handle:
- The AI brokers' used aircraft market refreshes (posting of the planes to the market, managing their listing prices, and removing them if they are not selling).
- Some other AI brokers' stored aircraft management (making cargo conversions, and scrapping very old planes).
- The airport slot generation (random slot increases at the starting phase of the game, and later the slot changes after airport infrastructure expansions).
There are no visible changes to the users / simulation with this update since the basic functionality remains the same with some small improvements / tweaks.
Improvements
Removed Google Analytics.
Improvements to the site's backend maintenance / cleanup processes.
Improvements to error reporting / alerting systems at the site backend.
Fixes
Removing aircraft from sale on used market did not work on Apple's devices.
French airlines could not open bases in some of the French territories (French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna).
The entire process of creating a new Alliance and all related functions have been fully renewed.
The user interface and code is 100%, with mobile-compatible layout of AirwaySim v.2.0.
The Create Alliance page is divided into three sub "control panels", based on the step you are in the process. First is the actual alliance creation, second is managing the invitations, and third step is the listing the alliance in public (which actually creates the alliance forums).
The alliance can now be formed with only two founder airlines, with the option to invite a third one too.
There is a possibility to cancel the sent founder invitations.
Also a new possibility to cancel the entire alliance creation process.
The invited members have the chance to give a reason why they decline the alliance application.
There are no longer any fees or costs or other rules/limits (such as airline age or fleet size) related to alliance creation, they can always be set up directly when the game starts without a setup fee.
Compared to previous, the new third step in alliance creation is that the alliance creation must be confirmed by one of the founding members from the "control panel" of the Create Alliance page. The alliance founders can track on the status of the invitations they send out for founding members, and when at least two founding members have accepted the invite (the original creator + one other), the alliance is eligible for founding.
The alliance creation process now sends better invitation messages, and also in-game news, appropriate for each step of the process.
Improvements
The airline status bar "slider" icons in mobile view are made a bit larger (the airline status bar can be scrolled with slide gesture, or by clicking either of the three dots below it).
Technical improvements on some shared game functions of v.2.0 game core.
Fixes
Aircraft "ramp check" feature incorrectly took into account routes without slots, when determining if the plane was actually flying or not.
The Alliance Control Panel and all related functions have been fully renewed.
The user interface and code is 100%, with mobile-compatible layout of AirwaySim v.2.0. The Control Panel is divided into three sub-sections, Alliance Applications, Alliance Settings and Member Management.
You can now promote members to Alliance Managers directly (and to demote them as regular members).
Alliance applications and invitations, as well as the application rejections, can now have a short text describing the response's reasons.
In-game news are now posted every time a member leaves or joins an alliance.
Alliance Settings now support the new and bigger alliance logo and livery, similar to airline logo/livery.
Member Management section includes an expandable overview of all member airlines, as well as the total alliance membership counts.
Alliance joining / forming limits permanently removed (previously was a game-specific setting, and default required an airline age of 6 months or older, with fleet of 10 planes or more - these limits no longer apply).
Alliance max member count is now always fixed at 40 members, instead of dynamic based on the game capacity.
PLEASE NOTE: All pending alliance invitations / applications have been reset due to the system change, and you should submit them again.
Improvements
Activated some additional security filters in core website systems.
Added the Matomo user analytics, for testing purposes, as a proposed alternative for Google Analytics.
Internal improvements to form data handling.
The mobile sub-menu icon is now dynamic, and better represents the menu status of being a search/filters menu, or a 2nd level navigation menu.
Fixes
AI's pax-to-cargo conversion of aircraft in storage was too fast for game starts. The functionality is disabled at the game start, until the game has run for 4 years.
Rebrand Airline did not post the in-game news correctly in all cases, causing an error 500 to the user.
Fixed a minor issue with search engine XML sitemap.
User profile's viewing page gave out a database error if user had joined a game but had no existing airlines.
Fixed minor display issues with alliance icons and former airline names on Statistics page.
Airline Status Bar dropdown menu showed behind the main content on some tablet devices.
Enter keypress to save route editor did not always work.
AI brokers did not always order new aircraft.
Airline Information page's "Route timetables" section did not display techstop airports correctly.
My Account page now lists your active airlines in each game world.
User Profile pages now list the active airlines of this user.
Updates
"Game Selection" menu button moved from first to last in the main navigation when inside a game world.
Improved styling of the Airline Status Bar on narrow desktop displays.
Improved styling of the left-hand Search/Filters menu on narrow desktop displays.
For mobile/touchscreen devices, the Search/Filters menu's dropdown selectors no longer use the special searchable dropdown menu, and the menu is reverted to the mobile device native behaviour for better usability. The special menu is still present in desktop environments.
Internal updates to Credits store administration systems.
Improvements to backend handling of pre-built styles and scripts.
Fixes
iOS / iPadOS devices on Safari had issues with the pages, causing a "Problem Repeatedly Occurred" error. This was caused by the old UI's "tabs" navigation system and their page history module. This is now disabled, but this causes the inability to navigate to sub-tabs with the browser back button (will be improved within the new UI's pages).
The search filters were not retained in the search menu when moving back/forward between pages.
Filters menu search button was not visible on all mobile devices.
Airline Status Bar menu dropdowns did not close properly with iPad (when display in landscape mode).
Improved display of data on Manage Routes and My Aircraft listing pages with iPad (when display in landscape mode).
Forum did not follow the time zone selected from main website's user profile.
News items of country's geopolitical changes had an outdated link to the country info page.
Based on your feedback the mobile device navigation menu has been updated.
If the menu has sub-navigation (such as the Game Area button in the picture), you can click either the arrow on right-hand corner, or the link title (e.g. "Game Area") itself to open/close the submenu.
This helps navigating the game with mobile phone and one hand more easily.
On mobile devices clicking the airline status bar's globe/airplane/money icon on the left-hand size of the status bar will now also open the status bar sub-menu, as well as the arrow icon on the right-hand side, also improving the mobile usability,
On mobile devices improved the sub-tabs navigation on new pages, e.g. on Statistics or Settings page. Clicking the entire tab selector button will now open the selection of sub-tabs (compared to only clicking the arrow on the right-hand side).
Updates
AirwaySim news added back to the game Dashboard (was temporarily disabled during the site migration).
Alliance Forum link added to main navigation (Dashboard -> Alliances).
Added link to this feedback site to the website footer area.
The main navigation should now work better on tablet-sized touchscreen devices: The main navigation is set to detect the presence of a touchscreen, and work differently the dropdown menu opening compared to a desktop environment.
Improved the styling of tables in certain tabled data on new UI.
Improved how the main navigation menu handles when mobile device viewport is changed from landscape to portrait.
Changed pop-up window handling to support the base code from new UI already also on old UI pages.
Embraer 175-E2 / 190-E2 / 195-E2 ICAO code designator updated to E275/E290/E295. [ effective only in any new games ]
Fixes
Clicking to mark PMs read from the top-right notification balloon also marked in-game messages as read.
Aircraft Information page did not show the aircraft production history listing.
Some pop-up links to new window did not work.
Move Schedule dialog did not always load the list of aircraft.
Route Planning details page was too wide for mobile devices.
Fixed legacy UI content scaling issue on iPad devices.
Unread in-game messages and Unread alliance forum messages are now displayed at the Airline Status Bar with red notification balloon.
Updates
Improved the display of Statistics on wide screens.
Adjusted the sidebar Filters/Search menu's layout for smaller screens (but will be improved still further soon!).
Credits store order history is now migrated from the old site to the new (you can see your old orders and credits transaction history).
Reactivated the rule of not being able to join a game world that is about to end soon. The game must have at least 10 days of real time left to be able to join it.
Made some changes to the Credits store's backend process for faster administrative processes.
The Amazon Cloudfront CDN delivery of static content (images etc.) is re-activated (was temporarily disabled during the site migration).
Enabled the auto-logout timer, a modal window appearing to prompt to resume login session if you have been idle for a long time and the "always keep me checked in" was not checked when you logged in.
Fixes
Certain ultra-long routes did not have cargo demand.
Selecting airline name from Airline Information search's autocomplete-list did not direct to the proper sub-page.
Select All checkbox was not visible on Manage Routes page in all cases.
Fixed missing background styling color for certain data listing tables on old game pages.
Game Credits Transaction History page's event sorting did not work.
Credits store incorrectly counted the VAT amount for Swiss purchases, while we actually sell VAT 0% to there.
Cancelling a game subscription/membership did not always work on all devices.
