Captains!
Happy Friday, everybody and welcome to another weekend of fun PMDG flying.
Navigraph Community Survey:
Navigraph has opened their annual survey for users to participate and provide feedback. All of us at PMDG have taken the survey, and we hope all of you will do so as well. You can take the Navigraph Survey here and it only takes about 10 minutes. The data is always interesting and gives an snapshot of the current state of simming and what is on the minds of your fellow simmers. Please do take the survey!
PMDG 737 for Microsoft Flight Simulator: Updates Galore!
Today we have a triplet of updates for you covering the 737 product series. This update series is intended to bring the 737 product line up to date with the MSFS SU11 standard, and using the latest build of the MSFS 20.4 SDK. (Previous builds ran in SU11, but were built with 19.x series SDKs yielding the potential for some inefficiencies.)
The *main* focus has been continued tuning of the control law for the automated flight control system in pitch, roll, yaw and thrust. The previous update had a few scenarios which were still problematic for under-thrust and over-thrust conditions. These conditions come about because the atmospheric stability in MSFS is significantly unrealistic, and we have had to build additional logic into the control law for these channels that is capable of dealing with situations that are thoroughly inconceivable in the real world. We hope that the changes made to the MSFS atmospherics will continue to improve over time, but the good news is that the work that has gone into the 737 control logic thus far is capable of handling a trend toward greater realism in the atmospheric stability without any changes required. Let us hope it doesn't go in the other direction, however.
The SU11 atmospherics have been addressed with this update and should yield greater stability all around on the thrust channel.
We have done a significant amount of work in the background to bring forward some new features that were unlocked in the MSF SU11 updates- but many of these were found to either not work properly (pause behaviors) or remain insufficient to provide accurate results (wx radar, par example) and remain in development.
A number of other updates have been accomplished throughout the 737 series, as well as a few items out of fault tracking as listed below:
0012072: [General - Documentation] Amend Introduction document to remove Wifi Antenna FWD/AFT option (hvanrensburg)
0012051: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] Capt Stab trim clipping (vscimone)
0012052: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] MIssing pixel on Electrical Panel when using New pressurization panel option (vscimone)
0011821: [External Model - Geometry] Negative pressure relief valve text & push panel mis-aligned (jbrown)
0011614: [External Model - Geometry] Paintkit Model Texture Distortion (jbrown)
You can download these updates via the PMDG Operations Center, which was installed with your PMDG 737. Simply run the OC, then select Aircraft/Liveries and Product Updates. The rest is just the click of a button!
NG3_micro.jpg
PMDG 737-900 Beta Testing Update:
We have been a bit swamped by background work created in the transition to SU11 and the 20.x series SDK updates. Specifically, the need to stabilize the 737 series in response to continued atmospheric changes in MSFS has had us focused on areas other than the 737-900 beta testing process because the atmospheric changes being made in MSFS were disruptive to the proper operation of the 737 and thus made them a higher priority. As I have said in my last few updates, we are hoping to have the 900 series in testing "by next friday." Standard disclaimer still applies- but my confidence in achieving this next week is higher than it has been in some time.
PMDG Universal Flight Tablet Update:
The tablet is well into testing and is progressing well. Our team has provided a robust round of feedback and many changes have been implemented, with a beta update going out to them shortly. We are looking to add more functions to their testing process in the week ahead- and as soon as I can convince the tablet dev team to let me show it to you, I shall!
PMDG 737 for Microsoft Flight Simulator: Marketplace At Last!
Today we are handing off the 737 to marketplace for intake into the MS Marketplace store. We had planned to do this well prior to the arrival of SU11 in the MSFS universe- but those plans got steamrolled by some instability in the SU11 beta/SDK process. In the end the builds going to Marketplace will be more stable so all is well that ends well, as they say. We do not know how long it will take to complete the intake process. The DC-6 a year ago took 6-8 weeks, but the intake process has gotten quite a bit of attention and improvement since then so we expect it to be far faster.
For those interested in seeing the 737 on XBox: We do not yet have the "all-clear!" on creating C++/WASM projects for Xbox compatibility. Once we get that, we will update you on those plans. We don't expect any blockers for Xbox use but there may be some functionality loss in peripheral compatibility such as loss of tablet functions due to the fact that the xbox environment is far more locked-down than PCs. We'll keep you informed as we learn more on this topic, probably after release of SU12?
PMDG DC-6 Cloudmaster Update Coming:
In DC-6 news, we are preparing a new update to hand off to the testing team once a few more corners are tucked in. This pending update will bring the DC-6 up to SU11 standard., include a sweep up of some open items that we have in fault tracking and (we hope) will eliminate some VOR tracking problems reported by some users.
PMDG 777, MAX and 747:
Yup. Hard at work. Nope. Possibly. Of course. Later. When we are ready. Yes. Very much so.
Happy Friday, everybody and welcome to another weekend of fun PMDG flying.
Navigraph Community Survey:
Navigraph has opened their annual survey for users to participate and provide feedback. All of us at PMDG have taken the survey, and we hope all of you will do so as well. You can take the Navigraph Survey here and it only takes about 10 minutes. The data is always interesting and gives an snapshot of the current state of simming and what is on the minds of your fellow simmers. Please do take the survey!
PMDG 737 for Microsoft Flight Simulator: Updates Galore!
Today we have a triplet of updates for you covering the 737 product series. This update series is intended to bring the 737 product line up to date with the MSFS SU11 standard, and using the latest build of the MSFS 20.4 SDK. (Previous builds ran in SU11, but were built with 19.x series SDKs yielding the potential for some inefficiencies.)
The *main* focus has been continued tuning of the control law for the automated flight control system in pitch, roll, yaw and thrust. The previous update had a few scenarios which were still problematic for under-thrust and over-thrust conditions. These conditions come about because the atmospheric stability in MSFS is significantly unrealistic, and we have had to build additional logic into the control law for these channels that is capable of dealing with situations that are thoroughly inconceivable in the real world. We hope that the changes made to the MSFS atmospherics will continue to improve over time, but the good news is that the work that has gone into the 737 control logic thus far is capable of handling a trend toward greater realism in the atmospheric stability without any changes required. Let us hope it doesn't go in the other direction, however.
The SU11 atmospherics have been addressed with this update and should yield greater stability all around on the thrust channel.We have done a significant amount of work in the background to bring forward some new features that were unlocked in the MSF SU11 updates- but many of these were found to either not work properly (pause behaviors) or remain insufficient to provide accurate results (wx radar, par example) and remain in development.
A number of other updates have been accomplished throughout the 737 series, as well as a few items out of fault tracking as listed below:
0012072: [General - Documentation] Amend Introduction document to remove Wifi Antenna FWD/AFT option (hvanrensburg)
0012051: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] Capt Stab trim clipping (vscimone)
0012052: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] MIssing pixel on Electrical Panel when using New pressurization panel option (vscimone)
0011821: [External Model - Geometry] Negative pressure relief valve text & push panel mis-aligned (jbrown)
0011614: [External Model - Geometry] Paintkit Model Texture Distortion (jbrown)
You can download these updates via the PMDG Operations Center, which was installed with your PMDG 737. Simply run the OC, then select Aircraft/Liveries and Product Updates. The rest is just the click of a button!
NG3_micro.jpg
PMDG 737-900 Beta Testing Update:
We have been a bit swamped by background work created in the transition to SU11 and the 20.x series SDK updates. Specifically, the need to stabilize the 737 series in response to continued atmospheric changes in MSFS has had us focused on areas other than the 737-900 beta testing process because the atmospheric changes being made in MSFS were disruptive to the proper operation of the 737 and thus made them a higher priority. As I have said in my last few updates, we are hoping to have the 900 series in testing "by next friday." Standard disclaimer still applies- but my confidence in achieving this next week is higher than it has been in some time.
PMDG Universal Flight Tablet Update:
The tablet is well into testing and is progressing well. Our team has provided a robust round of feedback and many changes have been implemented, with a beta update going out to them shortly. We are looking to add more functions to their testing process in the week ahead- and as soon as I can convince the tablet dev team to let me show it to you, I shall!
PMDG 737 for Microsoft Flight Simulator: Marketplace At Last!
Today we are handing off the 737 to marketplace for intake into the MS Marketplace store. We had planned to do this well prior to the arrival of SU11 in the MSFS universe- but those plans got steamrolled by some instability in the SU11 beta/SDK process. In the end the builds going to Marketplace will be more stable so all is well that ends well, as they say. We do not know how long it will take to complete the intake process. The DC-6 a year ago took 6-8 weeks, but the intake process has gotten quite a bit of attention and improvement since then so we expect it to be far faster.
For those interested in seeing the 737 on XBox: We do not yet have the "all-clear!" on creating C++/WASM projects for Xbox compatibility. Once we get that, we will update you on those plans. We don't expect any blockers for Xbox use but there may be some functionality loss in peripheral compatibility such as loss of tablet functions due to the fact that the xbox environment is far more locked-down than PCs. We'll keep you informed as we learn more on this topic, probably after release of SU12?
PMDG DC-6 Cloudmaster Update Coming:
In DC-6 news, we are preparing a new update to hand off to the testing team once a few more corners are tucked in. This pending update will bring the DC-6 up to SU11 standard., include a sweep up of some open items that we have in fault tracking and (we hope) will eliminate some VOR tracking problems reported by some users.
PMDG 777, MAX and 747:
Yup. Hard at work. Nope. Possibly. Of course. Later. When we are ready. Yes. Very much so.
Danny Z.Cebis
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