Captains,
For this weekends update, we have something a bit different for you, in the form of a hybrid post/youtube forum announcement for you!
Earlier tonight I was wrapping up a long-range test flight of the BBJ2 while simultaneously working on a description of some new features we have added to the cockpit lighting. Describing something dynamic is hardly exciting, so I decided it was probably easier to just shoot some video and toss that up on our youtube channel.
PMDG_738_21AUG22_001.jpg
To cover the brief details:
PMDG Throws a Bit of Shade:
Effective with the next update cycle, the PMDG 737 range of products for Microsoft Flight Simulator will finally have both the Rosen track-mounted sun visors, and the optional L3/R3 and L2/R2 sunshades. Many of you have been asking for these and we finally got them installed for you.
What is really neat about this implementation is that we were able to get ultra-high resolution scans of both features, which means that the surface texture quality of the Rosen visors and the sunshades show signs of wear and abuse that fits naturally with the cockpit environment. We think you will find their inclusion to make the cockpit lighting environment a bit more interesting, and it will give you something new to fiddle with on long flights.
In the video, I give you a quick rundown on the strategies we use to manage them in the real world, and we hope you will find them useful!
PMDG Shines a Light on Things:
Also new with the next update cycle is the ability to swivel and move the cockpit Grimes lights and the overhead map lights. In the real world, the adjustability of these lights is a major feature in allowing each crewmember to implement a lighting environment that is suitable to his/her own use without disrupting the vision of their fellow pilot. In the simming world we have always had these items fixed in place because the lighting model in FSX/P3D wouldn't work well with a motion controlled light source- but thanks to Asobo, the Microsoft Flight Simulator platform gives us the ability to put motion to these lights so that they can be used realistically.
I also demonstrate this for you in tonight's brief video. These are but two small, but fun features that we have added to the 737 product line since it was introduced back in May- and there are many more things still to come.
One Tablet To Rule Them All (PMDG airplanes, that is...):
The PMDG Universal Flight Tablet is anticipated to go into beta testing in the second half of September, and with some luck we'll be adding that into the airplane for you in an update shortly afterward. We don't anticipate the tablet requiring a long beta process, as it was designed from the outset to be easily expandable and scalable much like a real tablet device. We are looking forward to showing you this new feature!
Where we have been and where we are going:
Since releasing the PMDG 737-700 back in May, we have pushed a half dozen major updates, with hundreds of fixes, adjustments, new features, expanded implementations and bug fixes. We are still working our way forward with more major updates planned and a few major features such as the PMDG Universal Flight Tablet, change-over to a modern navdata format, addition of full RNP features, and much, much more. (This is a very partial list... so if your favorite feature is not listed- it simply means I didn't mention it for brevity!)
Up next of course, is the release of the most anticipated airframe in the 737 lineup: The PMDG 737-800 for MSFS!
Lets Talk About The 737-800!:
Later in the day on 21AUG22, we will be handing off our testing team a build that we think may be the conforming release build for the 737-800 series airplane. This build includes four new airframes, the 737-800 passenger airliner, the BBJ2, the 737-800 BCF and the 737-800 BDSF! Each airframe comes in either the blended winglet or the split scimitar winglet format, along with a fully customized 737-800 sound-set, customized flight models for each airframe, and the plethora of options, features and failure models that make a PMDG product the deepest and most feature rich product you can get for MSFS.
We **might** have one or two minor tweaks we want to make to this build before it goes out to you, but the plan currently is to release the PMDG 737-800 between 23AUG22 and 31AUG22.
We will let you know once we have set the release date- but currently we aren't anticipating any technical obstructions to a release.
PMDG_738_21AUG22_002.jpg
Should You Upgrade to MSFS SU10 Beta?:
A number of you have asked for our opinion on upgrading to the MSFS SU10 beta. The entire PMDG team and a large portion of our beta team have upgraded to this beta version of MSFS and all of us have found that it improves the stability of the MSFS platform generally and PMDG products specifically. You may recall that when SU9 was released, it broke part of the Nano-GDI drawing layer, which caused an annoying flickering experienced by some users. We reported this to Asobo immeidately afterward, and they were able to find and fix the problem in Mid-May, and that fix is included in the SU10 beta, so that provides instant relief for anyone affected by that issue.
A second benefit (which I was testing earlier tonight) is that commensurate with SU9, many users found that the sim platform's performance would implode on longer flights of around 4-5hrs. That problem has gone away with the SU10 beta as well, which shows how hard the folks at Asobo are working to keep the platform moving in the right direction, in our opinion.
One Warning Tho: For anyone hoping to take advantage of DLSS: There are issues with screen drawing of EFIS type/LED type displays currently in the SU10 beta. There is nothing to be done about it at this time and Asobo has been pretty clear that they are aware of it and are working with nVidia on a fix. So we recommend our 737 users steer clear of that rendering mode for now until MSFS gives the all clear.
The great thing about the MSFS platform is that it continues to grow and improve- so occasionally there will be a few bumps along the way. It is not a big deal when we can all work around them by selecting rendering modes appropriate to our simming goals, however!
Now On With the Video!:
As promised, here is tonight's short video feature. It was put together on the fly as a bit of an afterthought, but I think it gives you a good view of fun new features rolling out to all of the 737s.
**Note: Had to re-upload the video... messed up the sound channels... oops.
Okay- that is all for this morning. I wish you all a pleasant remainder to your weekend, and we are looking forward to handing you the keys to your new 737-800s very shortly!
(And how many of you are going to nerd-out like we do and fly your first 737-800 flight out of Dzerwieki Design's KRNT? Come on, you know you want to!)
For this weekends update, we have something a bit different for you, in the form of a hybrid post/youtube forum announcement for you!
Earlier tonight I was wrapping up a long-range test flight of the BBJ2 while simultaneously working on a description of some new features we have added to the cockpit lighting. Describing something dynamic is hardly exciting, so I decided it was probably easier to just shoot some video and toss that up on our youtube channel.
PMDG_738_21AUG22_001.jpg
To cover the brief details:
PMDG Throws a Bit of Shade:
Effective with the next update cycle, the PMDG 737 range of products for Microsoft Flight Simulator will finally have both the Rosen track-mounted sun visors, and the optional L3/R3 and L2/R2 sunshades. Many of you have been asking for these and we finally got them installed for you.
What is really neat about this implementation is that we were able to get ultra-high resolution scans of both features, which means that the surface texture quality of the Rosen visors and the sunshades show signs of wear and abuse that fits naturally with the cockpit environment. We think you will find their inclusion to make the cockpit lighting environment a bit more interesting, and it will give you something new to fiddle with on long flights.
In the video, I give you a quick rundown on the strategies we use to manage them in the real world, and we hope you will find them useful!
PMDG Shines a Light on Things:
Also new with the next update cycle is the ability to swivel and move the cockpit Grimes lights and the overhead map lights. In the real world, the adjustability of these lights is a major feature in allowing each crewmember to implement a lighting environment that is suitable to his/her own use without disrupting the vision of their fellow pilot. In the simming world we have always had these items fixed in place because the lighting model in FSX/P3D wouldn't work well with a motion controlled light source- but thanks to Asobo, the Microsoft Flight Simulator platform gives us the ability to put motion to these lights so that they can be used realistically.
I also demonstrate this for you in tonight's brief video. These are but two small, but fun features that we have added to the 737 product line since it was introduced back in May- and there are many more things still to come.
One Tablet To Rule Them All (PMDG airplanes, that is...):
The PMDG Universal Flight Tablet is anticipated to go into beta testing in the second half of September, and with some luck we'll be adding that into the airplane for you in an update shortly afterward. We don't anticipate the tablet requiring a long beta process, as it was designed from the outset to be easily expandable and scalable much like a real tablet device. We are looking forward to showing you this new feature!
Where we have been and where we are going:
Since releasing the PMDG 737-700 back in May, we have pushed a half dozen major updates, with hundreds of fixes, adjustments, new features, expanded implementations and bug fixes. We are still working our way forward with more major updates planned and a few major features such as the PMDG Universal Flight Tablet, change-over to a modern navdata format, addition of full RNP features, and much, much more. (This is a very partial list... so if your favorite feature is not listed- it simply means I didn't mention it for brevity!)
Up next of course, is the release of the most anticipated airframe in the 737 lineup: The PMDG 737-800 for MSFS!
Lets Talk About The 737-800!:
Later in the day on 21AUG22, we will be handing off our testing team a build that we think may be the conforming release build for the 737-800 series airplane. This build includes four new airframes, the 737-800 passenger airliner, the BBJ2, the 737-800 BCF and the 737-800 BDSF! Each airframe comes in either the blended winglet or the split scimitar winglet format, along with a fully customized 737-800 sound-set, customized flight models for each airframe, and the plethora of options, features and failure models that make a PMDG product the deepest and most feature rich product you can get for MSFS.
We **might** have one or two minor tweaks we want to make to this build before it goes out to you, but the plan currently is to release the PMDG 737-800 between 23AUG22 and 31AUG22.
We will let you know once we have set the release date- but currently we aren't anticipating any technical obstructions to a release.
PMDG_738_21AUG22_002.jpg
Should You Upgrade to MSFS SU10 Beta?:
A number of you have asked for our opinion on upgrading to the MSFS SU10 beta. The entire PMDG team and a large portion of our beta team have upgraded to this beta version of MSFS and all of us have found that it improves the stability of the MSFS platform generally and PMDG products specifically. You may recall that when SU9 was released, it broke part of the Nano-GDI drawing layer, which caused an annoying flickering experienced by some users. We reported this to Asobo immeidately afterward, and they were able to find and fix the problem in Mid-May, and that fix is included in the SU10 beta, so that provides instant relief for anyone affected by that issue.
A second benefit (which I was testing earlier tonight) is that commensurate with SU9, many users found that the sim platform's performance would implode on longer flights of around 4-5hrs. That problem has gone away with the SU10 beta as well, which shows how hard the folks at Asobo are working to keep the platform moving in the right direction, in our opinion.
One Warning Tho: For anyone hoping to take advantage of DLSS: There are issues with screen drawing of EFIS type/LED type displays currently in the SU10 beta. There is nothing to be done about it at this time and Asobo has been pretty clear that they are aware of it and are working with nVidia on a fix. So we recommend our 737 users steer clear of that rendering mode for now until MSFS gives the all clear.
The great thing about the MSFS platform is that it continues to grow and improve- so occasionally there will be a few bumps along the way. It is not a big deal when we can all work around them by selecting rendering modes appropriate to our simming goals, however!
Now On With the Video!:
As promised, here is tonight's short video feature. It was put together on the fly as a bit of an afterthought, but I think it gives you a good view of fun new features rolling out to all of the 737s.
**Note: Had to re-upload the video... messed up the sound channels... oops.
Okay- that is all for this morning. I wish you all a pleasant remainder to your weekend, and we are looking forward to handing you the keys to your new 737-800s very shortly!
(And how many of you are going to nerd-out like we do and fly your first 737-800 flight out of Dzerwieki Design's KRNT? Come on, you know you want to!)
Thank you for the good news Robert!
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