Is Simplify3D on the edge of the abyss?

Hi all,
according to some threads on the official S3D forum it seems that the S3D team missed the promise to release the version 5 within late 2019.
This fact, in conjunction with the lack of communication and the censorship operated by the S3D team on the forum, caused much discontent in the user base.

So I'm here to ask you for your opinion on the matter, because in the event of Simplify3D death it will be important to find a truly valid substitute.


https://forum.simplify3d.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=14169
https://forum.simplify3d.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12743

Thank you!

to be honest I was not going to cough up more money for version 5 anyway.

version 4 does everything I need while 4.1 just freezes and crashes all the time.
So I'm not looking for or need any updates anyway.

I've never been able to get s3d to work with my dual extruder machines so I'm already using flashprint for that.

I suspect the problem has a few parts.

1) they keep putting the cost up
2) pirate copies at least up to 4.1 are easily available online.
3) Once you have bought a copy (which I did) no matter how many other printers you add - you never need to buy it again .
4) There is only so much that can be changed in updates - at the end of the day once you have a working profile for your printer, you no longer need the updates.
I cans ee why they would want to charge for a major update - but I honestly cannot see what they could add that would make the salightest difference to me any way. Most users would be in the same situation.

On top of this the free slicers - except cura - continue to improve. Flashprint and s3d aside I suspect if I was a new 3d printer owner today I would leap straight to the prusaslicer and not even consider paying for a slicer.

So - like many of us - they are facing an ever decreasing income and ever increasing outgoings.

Every thing has it's time to shine and I think the time for 'paid for slicers' may have come and gone.

I agree with CA, the business model that S3D choose was not some that would be sustainable without major improvements that would cause people to want to spend more money. 4.01 is what I use which was purchased in 2018. I have tried out Prusaslicer and it works as well as S3d apples to apples. I did not take the time to figure out how the supports work in the prusaslicer as I am very familiar with S3d so I stick with S3d. If starting fresh to would go for the Prusaslicer to start and probably a Prusa machine. My personal opinion is the person or persons who initial developed S3d sold it to someone and left. They new owners (business people) who don't know anything about 3d printing hired developers to do a new version and update 4.01 to 4.10. These developers were not 3d printing experts and make a big mess of 4.1. No idea what is going on with the completely new V5, I would guess it is a cloud version and they can't get it to work well.. if they are even still working on it.. Good developers that know 3d printing can't be too easy to find and they need to get paid.. So yes I think this software will linger for years without any changes.

Since changing my main workshop machine to windows 10 pro.
I discovered that simplify3d stores all the rpofiles in the system refistry.
WHY ??????
lol
you can export them as fff files - and that's a really good idea to create your own library of profile files.
The weird thing was that when i first installed 4.1 - it worked perfectly. profiles could be updated without the program crashing - mas it was always doing on winodw s7.
But a few months down the line - it's started crashing again.

So to update an existing profile I either have to save it with a new name, or export as fff file.
I'm seriously considering going back to 4.01.
Assuming nI can find a 64 bit version of it.

And nope - haven't run any windows updates since setting the computer up. So I know it's not that.

Actually - thinking about it, it's started crashing since I plugged the sapphire pro into the computer and updated the usb drivers. Hmm.
Okay time for an experiment lol
Plus now the sapphire is fully working. I don't need it connected to s3d any more.

nah still crashes.
maybe it's the ch1s (or whatever) usb drivers ?
Have to try uninstalling them.

I have been monitoring the s3d forum on a daily bases for years now.. 4.10 is a mess and from what I could see, there is nothing good about it. Things that worked logically in 4.01 are now non functional or work the wrong way. They say the fix stuff but there are no patches, or updates.. not sure if they actually fixed any of the bugs.. Reinstall 4.01 and get you print sliced and printed !

honestly I have noticed absolutely no negatives with 4.12.
I'm pretty much convinced that my only problem with s3d - ie:it crashing when you click the 'update profile' button - is something endemic to simplify 3d and the way it uses the system registry to store profiles.

I rolled back to version 4.0 - and had exactly the same problem.

Short of wiping the s3d registry storage and starting again - can't see any way to clear it.
They need to shift from profiles mstored in registry to being stored in normal external files.

But that's my only issue.
Other than that it works as it always has.

I will say that 4.1 did crash a lot on windows 7 - and apart from the profile update - all of that has stopped now my new machine is running 10 pro.
Which given that they will have been aiming at 10 for a few years - makes sense.