Captains,
PMDG 737 for MSFS Updated to 3.00.0053:
A few hours ago we launched a series of updates that cover the entire PMDG 737-600, PMDG 737-700 and PMDG 737-800 product line for Microsoft Flight Simulator.
These updates are available via the PMDG Operations Center, and once installed will bring you up to version 3.00.0053.
Our goal with this update cycle is continue bringing increased quality and performance to the product, while also continuing the correction of small issues.
Some of the general improvements that are included in these builds:
0011892: [General - Flight Model] Extensively revised stall speed/low speed buffet model for clean and flaps (emvaos)
0012163: [External Model - Liveries] Fuse Details (jbrown)
0012164: [External Model - Liveries] Fuse Details (jbrown)
0012140: [External Model - Geometry] Snow is falling inside the cabin (jbrown)
0012158: [External Model - Geometry] Hole in aft cargo compartment (jbrown)
0012139: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] VC small adkustments are needed. (vscimone)
0012157: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] Hole in cockpit (vscimone)
0012149: [External Model - Geometry] Jetway docking point alignment needs to be adjusted (jbrown)
0012128: [External Model - Geometry] 737-600 Right Aileron issue (jbrown)
0012068: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] Capt Glareshield gap (vscimone)
0012104: [External Model - Geometry] Cabin light leak (jbrown)
0012120: [External Model - Liveries] Mirrored nose cone texture glitch (jbrown)
0012093: [External Model - Geometry] Artifact on wing when in air. (jbrown)
0012090: [External Model - Geometry] Passenger windows on the 600 tinted when in the cabin (jbrown)
There are still a number of areas where continued improvement is taking place, but we wanted to bring you this update series now, before the Christmas/New Year holiday week so as to give you the very latest changes to the stability model based upon our continued and ongoing discussions with Asobo.
PMDG 737-900 Testing Progressing Well:
Testing for the PMDG 737-900 is progressing mostly well. We still have a few areas we want to get cleaned up before it is released to you. These have to do with equipment that is uniquely original to the 900ER and it is taking us a bit longer to complete than originally planned. (see discussion on complexity and degrees of freedom, below.) We feel that the 900 is *very* close, but will likely need a few more rounds with the testing team before we sign off on initial deliveries to customers.
PMDG Universal Flight Tablet (737):
Work continues on this device although we keep stealing development resources from the tablet team in order to deal with other issues scattered around a few product lines- so it is going much more slowly than we thought. Some functionality is now finished and ready for operation, but other functionality isn't- so we are considering installing it into the airplane with some of the unfinished bits only active for our beta teams who are testing this functionality on our behalf. The build-out of the tablet is made a bit more complicated by the fact that we are working forward to ensure it is day-one compatible with all iterations on the 737NG/MAX series, the 777 and 747 product lines. Functions that may be perfectly good in the 737 need to be expanded and vetted against functions that are similar but slightly different for the other fleet types- and all of it simply takes a bit of time.
The nice piece of this is that we are building a single, universal technology framework that will support the entire fleet of PMDG aircraft going forward.
I recognize that some users are quite frustrated by the fact that we are taking our time with this device, and for that I am sorry. There have been a few moments where I wish we'd left the clunky old Boeing EFB in place as it was functional in spite of being very basic and clunky- but when using the tablet in our testing environment right now I actually quite happy we decided to make the change. It offers far greater capability than the Boeing Brick and will be well worth the wait once finished.
We so rarely offer timeline guidance on development cycles- and you can see why. Sometimes it is necessary to shuffle priorities around in a pinch, and when you are a small development house- that can slow down some projects as you keep others moving.
We are nearly to letting you at it. We'll roll it into an update for you soon enough, and then it'll be day one in the 777 for certain!
PMDG DC-6 Cloudmaster Update Pending:
A few weeks back we released an update to the PMDG DC-6 that dramatically improved the airplane for some users, and dramatically unimproved the airplane for others. The DC-6 team has been hard at work researching/evaluating/developing through these teething issues and a new update is pending soon. We are unfortunately a bit tied to the avionics update that Asobo has pending for the simulation platform. Some of the improvements/changes to the DC-6 require an update that is not yet available to customers flying MSFS- so we are waiting for that update to drop before we release the next round of improvements for the DC-6. WIth this update you will have a greater range of GPS options available to you in the cockpit, as well as an improved trim and flight characteristic model and updates to make the autopilot more (possibly unrealistically) stable when tracking a course or an approach.)
Other PMDG Aircraft:
We have quite a bit going on behind the scenes right now- but we aren't planning to show it to you until the 900 and the UFT are in your hands... just a bit longer and we can start talking about what is coming.
Complexity and Degrees of Freedom:
Some folks have expressed degrees of concern about the slower than planned delivery of the 900 and the UFT. We are aware of the concerns and certainly can appreciate your eagerness to have the 900 product and the enhancement that is provided by the Universal Flight Tablet. We currently have four products on-market, one in final testing and another in internal testing. In addition to these six products, we have UFT as a seventh "project" and then an additional degree of freedom in that half of our team is always working on the current retail version of MSFS and the other half is working on the Asobo beta channel so that we can keep up with platform changes that are pending in order to ensure minimum disruption to our customers as core changes are implemented in the simulation platform. This means we are effectively working with 14 different projects simultaneously at times- and things can get hectic quickly because we have to keep "beta-only changes and improvements in their own lane until the platform updates, making it safe to roll those changes to you. Likewise, we have to be sure we don't break something due to pending changes that weren't thought through on our end. It can get frighteningly complex at times.
On a few occasions since late summer, we have had to halt progress on new releases in order to update already released products so that they remain in sync with the changes being made to the core MSFS platform. Over the past few months this has meant lengthy dev cycles into autoflight improvements, stability, etc- all of which take a significant amount of manpower and time.
This occasional distraction is not a bad thing, because it indicates that the platform itself is dynamic and changing. It simply means we have to pay attention and keep products updated with changes to ensure their long term viability on the platform. This will happen occasionally as MSFS continues to grow and mature- and ultimately it isn't terribly disruptive so long as we have a plan and procedures in place to keep your products flying well in concert with changes and improvements to the platform. It takes work- but we think you will agree that it is worthwhile.
Okay- enough from me tonight- i'm going to get back to work on the 900 before someone steals my crew-meal from the test airplane.
Thank you for your support and on behalf of all of us at PMDG we wish you a Happy Christmas season.
PMDG 737 for MSFS Updated to 3.00.0053:
A few hours ago we launched a series of updates that cover the entire PMDG 737-600, PMDG 737-700 and PMDG 737-800 product line for Microsoft Flight Simulator.
These updates are available via the PMDG Operations Center, and once installed will bring you up to version 3.00.0053.
Our goal with this update cycle is continue bringing increased quality and performance to the product, while also continuing the correction of small issues.
Some of the general improvements that are included in these builds:
- Continued improvements in native aircraft stability and prevention of disturbance from flight by the simulator's overly exaggerated gust/vertical sheer model.
- Added computationally derived stall AOA models for all wing configuration conditions to all three body types. This is an enormous workflow that has been underway for many months and involves advanced computational methods to move beyond the simulation platform's "one wing model" model in favor of a more realistic and dynamic model that accounts for changes in the shape and capabilities of the wing brought about by slat/flap position changes. The model also accounts for condition/operation of the wing and nacelle anti-ice systems, including partial operation and sub-component failure modes that affect AOA computation and display.
- Rebuilt the cockpit/cabin collision models so as to unlock the ability to transition from cockpit to cabin using view position changing native to the simulator. Note: Cockpit door functionality will come in a future update that brings broader changes and improvements to the cabin area. For now simply walk right through it to move between the cabin and cockpit.
- Expanded and improved soundscape in the cabin area. Note: this is a work-in-progress and that will continue to grow and change during future update cycles.
- Re-enablement of the EFIS/MAP display configuration that was initially used by carriers such as Continental and Southwest, but later discontinued in favor of the more common PFD/ND. (We had disabled this feature due to drawing problems at the simulator's core rendering layer for glass displays. This was fixed with SU10 but we forgot to re-enable EFIS/MAP until this update.)
0011892: [General - Flight Model] Extensively revised stall speed/low speed buffet model for clean and flaps (emvaos)
0012163: [External Model - Liveries] Fuse Details (jbrown)
0012164: [External Model - Liveries] Fuse Details (jbrown)
0012140: [External Model - Geometry] Snow is falling inside the cabin (jbrown)
0012158: [External Model - Geometry] Hole in aft cargo compartment (jbrown)
0012139: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] VC small adkustments are needed. (vscimone)
0012157: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] Hole in cockpit (vscimone)
0012149: [External Model - Geometry] Jetway docking point alignment needs to be adjusted (jbrown)
0012128: [External Model - Geometry] 737-600 Right Aileron issue (jbrown)
0012068: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] Capt Glareshield gap (vscimone)
0012104: [External Model - Geometry] Cabin light leak (jbrown)
0012120: [External Model - Liveries] Mirrored nose cone texture glitch (jbrown)
0012093: [External Model - Geometry] Artifact on wing when in air. (jbrown)
0012090: [External Model - Geometry] Passenger windows on the 600 tinted when in the cabin (jbrown)
There are still a number of areas where continued improvement is taking place, but we wanted to bring you this update series now, before the Christmas/New Year holiday week so as to give you the very latest changes to the stability model based upon our continued and ongoing discussions with Asobo.
PMDG 737-900 Testing Progressing Well:
Testing for the PMDG 737-900 is progressing mostly well. We still have a few areas we want to get cleaned up before it is released to you. These have to do with equipment that is uniquely original to the 900ER and it is taking us a bit longer to complete than originally planned. (see discussion on complexity and degrees of freedom, below.) We feel that the 900 is *very* close, but will likely need a few more rounds with the testing team before we sign off on initial deliveries to customers.
PMDG Universal Flight Tablet (737):
Work continues on this device although we keep stealing development resources from the tablet team in order to deal with other issues scattered around a few product lines- so it is going much more slowly than we thought. Some functionality is now finished and ready for operation, but other functionality isn't- so we are considering installing it into the airplane with some of the unfinished bits only active for our beta teams who are testing this functionality on our behalf. The build-out of the tablet is made a bit more complicated by the fact that we are working forward to ensure it is day-one compatible with all iterations on the 737NG/MAX series, the 777 and 747 product lines. Functions that may be perfectly good in the 737 need to be expanded and vetted against functions that are similar but slightly different for the other fleet types- and all of it simply takes a bit of time.
The nice piece of this is that we are building a single, universal technology framework that will support the entire fleet of PMDG aircraft going forward.
I recognize that some users are quite frustrated by the fact that we are taking our time with this device, and for that I am sorry. There have been a few moments where I wish we'd left the clunky old Boeing EFB in place as it was functional in spite of being very basic and clunky- but when using the tablet in our testing environment right now I actually quite happy we decided to make the change. It offers far greater capability than the Boeing Brick and will be well worth the wait once finished.
We so rarely offer timeline guidance on development cycles- and you can see why. Sometimes it is necessary to shuffle priorities around in a pinch, and when you are a small development house- that can slow down some projects as you keep others moving.
We are nearly to letting you at it. We'll roll it into an update for you soon enough, and then it'll be day one in the 777 for certain!
PMDG DC-6 Cloudmaster Update Pending:
A few weeks back we released an update to the PMDG DC-6 that dramatically improved the airplane for some users, and dramatically unimproved the airplane for others. The DC-6 team has been hard at work researching/evaluating/developing through these teething issues and a new update is pending soon. We are unfortunately a bit tied to the avionics update that Asobo has pending for the simulation platform. Some of the improvements/changes to the DC-6 require an update that is not yet available to customers flying MSFS- so we are waiting for that update to drop before we release the next round of improvements for the DC-6. WIth this update you will have a greater range of GPS options available to you in the cockpit, as well as an improved trim and flight characteristic model and updates to make the autopilot more (possibly unrealistically) stable when tracking a course or an approach.)
Other PMDG Aircraft:
We have quite a bit going on behind the scenes right now- but we aren't planning to show it to you until the 900 and the UFT are in your hands... just a bit longer and we can start talking about what is coming.
Complexity and Degrees of Freedom:
Some folks have expressed degrees of concern about the slower than planned delivery of the 900 and the UFT. We are aware of the concerns and certainly can appreciate your eagerness to have the 900 product and the enhancement that is provided by the Universal Flight Tablet. We currently have four products on-market, one in final testing and another in internal testing. In addition to these six products, we have UFT as a seventh "project" and then an additional degree of freedom in that half of our team is always working on the current retail version of MSFS and the other half is working on the Asobo beta channel so that we can keep up with platform changes that are pending in order to ensure minimum disruption to our customers as core changes are implemented in the simulation platform. This means we are effectively working with 14 different projects simultaneously at times- and things can get hectic quickly because we have to keep "beta-only changes and improvements in their own lane until the platform updates, making it safe to roll those changes to you. Likewise, we have to be sure we don't break something due to pending changes that weren't thought through on our end. It can get frighteningly complex at times.
On a few occasions since late summer, we have had to halt progress on new releases in order to update already released products so that they remain in sync with the changes being made to the core MSFS platform. Over the past few months this has meant lengthy dev cycles into autoflight improvements, stability, etc- all of which take a significant amount of manpower and time.
This occasional distraction is not a bad thing, because it indicates that the platform itself is dynamic and changing. It simply means we have to pay attention and keep products updated with changes to ensure their long term viability on the platform. This will happen occasionally as MSFS continues to grow and mature- and ultimately it isn't terribly disruptive so long as we have a plan and procedures in place to keep your products flying well in concert with changes and improvements to the platform. It takes work- but we think you will agree that it is worthwhile.
Okay- enough from me tonight- i'm going to get back to work on the 900 before someone steals my crew-meal from the test airplane.
Thank you for your support and on behalf of all of us at PMDG we wish you a Happy Christmas season.
We had some really premium whiskeys that night, far beyond my usual budget, but now I'm fallen for them lol. Lucky you the pond seperates us quite a bit :P
Derek Cheesbrough
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