Following the removal of the freeware Dash8 Q400 aircraft from Flightsim.to, I will be placing my Dash8 Q400 liveries into an archived state, where no updates or support will be provided.
The removal of the aircraft followed the introduction of Flightsim.to's Sim Update 5 compatibility policy, in which any mods broken by SU5 that had not been fixed by the creator would be disabled. The creator then has a time period of 3 months to submit a fix for their mod, before it is permanently removed in 2022.
Since SU4, the Dash8 Q400 freeware addon has had issues with it's engines, which would no longer start, which meant it was removed in the Flightsim.to policy. However, from its release the aircraft has had a variety of serious issues and concerns surrounding it, such as having a CJ4 cockpit, which provided an unrealistic sim experience, and poor flight dynamics. In addition to this, despite many comments from users asking the creator to repair their addon, no updates or fixes were ever posted, so it can be assumed that the project has been abandoned.
The aircraft was never suitable for flying, however could still be used for model-matching and ai traffic. Because of this, and due to high demand for liveries, I created a collection of real world and fictional liveries for the aircraft.
However, now, after it's removal, I have decided to stop creating Dash8 liveries, and place my current ones into an archived state. This means they will no longer receive any updates or improvements, and no more support will be given. I am continuing to make liveries, mainly for regional airlines, but am shifting my focus to much more detailed and higher quality aircraft like the CRJ 700 and A32NX. My Dash8 liveries will remain online for the meantime, but I will eventually disable them when downloads die down.
Although this Dash8 aircraft is being removed, Majestic have announced they plan to bring the aircraft to MSFS, which will certainly be a high quality and realistic payware item. In the future, when this is hopefully released, I plan to re-create my current Dash8 liveries for the aircraft, along with creating a number of new ones.