Let me be the first to say thank you, Robert, for providing such an informative post on the progress of this project. I am very excited about it!

Who ever said: "No news is good news"?, but I'll say this news is good news. I for one will keep my creditcard primed and be ready, so I once again fly the Queen (been running FSX for some time) - and I'm sure you made a fine job as usual (Robert don't forget to pad every developer, beta tester and others on their shoulders for all their hard work).[link:fs2crew.com]http://fs2crew.com/betateam.jpgPelle F. S. Liljendal

Fantastic. I can't really understand what all the fuss is about. This team seems to give as much information as they can, which is much appreciated. Waiting patiently (sort of). :)

Great news!!!Everyone here know it has worth the wait!!!Thanks PMDG!!!NickQuestion: On releasing date will be available the CD-boxed version too?

great news, so which day will it be released then and how much will it cost ?just a joke :D Kav

I gotta admit...I am INTRIGUED as to how this add-on will perform in FSX and whether we'll have a whole new rash of posts about single digit frame rates...:-lol Cheers!Tony

Thanks Robert:It is always good to hear from you. Even better to hear that my prior postings about FSX performance optimization neccessitation, and release prior to FANCON were right on the money.Yes, FSX is not FS9 or anything like it- and yes, optimizing texture loading and polygon counts and level of detail are even more important that they ever were, so I applaud your decision to "get it right". It can be done, just requires re-learning graphics optimization. There's so much more that bloating is enormously easy to get to!I am very happy to learn of you decision to post preformance results prior to release- highly honorable and will assist many in making the right decision- great idea PMDG!Looking forward to that crew call!Best-Carl F. Avari-Cooper BAW0225http://online.vatsimindicators.net/980091/523.png

Thanks for the update and thanks to PMDG + betatesters for your continous efforts for a smooth landing. :)Best RegardsThomas

Great News!Thank you for the update. I guess I will take my wife for drive this weekend afterall!!!Nick

A release to co-incide with Acceleration is what I suspected. It looks like it'll be close to that.I suspect the Queen will necessitate quite a few upgrades. I wonder if even my Core 2 X6800 is going to sufficient.Jeff

Captains!I have a bit of news to share with you on the 400X, which I'm happy to say is rapidly nearing release!Over the past few months, we have issued a few release candidates to our beta testers- and the feedback we are getting is generally very good right now- but we have a few minor issues that we are still working- so I expect we'll have one or possibly two more release candidate builds before we're finished with your new 400X.Before I give you too much detail, I want to apologize for some of the drama we've seen in this forum over the past month. The drama seems to circulate from an expectation that we might/could/should issue regular information updates here in the forum to tell you how we are doing. As many of you know- PMDG has had a long standing policy that we simply don't provide release information. This policy came about based on the fact that we do not want anyone on the development team making decisions based upon the pressure that comes from setting customer expectations. We remain committed to releasing our products when they are ready- and when every developer on the project agrees that we are "release ready."We've varied from this policy on a few occasions- and based on the rash of really regrettable behavior that we've seen- we decided two years ago to stick to this policy hard and fast.For those who have spent time around his forum- you will no doubt recognize the "usual symptoms" of a pending release: Liveries appear on the website... Developers disappear from the forum... Ryan and I get very intolerant of rants, diatribes and other misbehavior..... Yep... smells like release time to me. ;-)If it helps you understand why we believe so firmly in this policy: We are fully 14 months behind our original release projection, we have thought we were within days of release five times in the past month, and even just today we ran across something that we absolutely don't feel we can live with in the final product.... So- since we don't have an ETA to "live up to" it was very easy for us to sit back and say, "let's get this done correctly- and they'll appreciate the extra time when we don't have to fix it after release..."Now- all of that being said- the liveries for the 400X have been posted for some days now. That's a good sign that we think we are close!NOTAM TO LIVERY DOWNLOADERS: Take a look at that page- as we had to replace a few that we discovered had problems. The replaced liveries are marked V1.10... Sorry for the hiccup- but you'll be happier with the new versions!So- we have a few things coming for you that you will certainly appreciate:FSX & PMDG 747-400X PERFORMANCE MATRIX:=======================================FSX is a MUCH more processor intensive simulation than FS9. We all know this- and from OUR standpoint- we want to help all of you make an informed decision as to whether your hardware will run the PMDG 747-400X effectively. To this end, we have given all of our beta testers a series of scenarios to run in FSX with the 400X. At the conclusion of these scenarios, we are compiling their hardware specifications and resultant FSX performance- and we will make that information available to you so that you can get a rough idea how you can expect to see FSX/400X run on your own hardware.This is rather unprecedented for a developer- but we feel that we have a better handle on what FSX is capable of than any other developer in the field- and we want you benefit from this knowledge- even if it means that a few of you might decide you have to upgrade your hardware before you can buy our airplane!We'd rather have you happy when you arrive on the flight deck of the 400X!Look for this during the next few days (or so...)HARDWARE/OPERATING SYSTEM RECOMMENDATIONS:==========================================Another item we are going to publish for you- involves some very realistic hardware expectations for FSX/400X users, along with explanations behind the hardware recommendations.Again, we feel that PMDG has dug deeper into FSX than any developer short of Microsoft, and from this experience we feel that there are certainly some limitations that you should know about- to ensure you get the best performance possible from this new sim!CHANGE LISTS:=============Our goal with the 400X is that you should install the simulation, load it up- and feel perfectly at home on the 400X flight deck. If you taxi out, take off and remain COMPLETELY oblivious to the 15+ months of re-programming that was required to make the Queen of the Skies fly in FSX- then we will have done our jobs well! (How's that for counter-intuitive?) Along the way- we have made numerous optimizations, changes and fixes to improve upon what is already a great 747-400 simulation! To give you some idea of what we have done- we are going to give you a "change list" that will give you an idea of what we have changed, fixed and added for FSX. It is sometimes hard for us to remember that we are "still working on a 747" because so much of what happens behind the screen is VASTLY different in this version. At the end, however, you are still flying a 747-400, so it would be easy for the uninitiated to think, "hey- they just ported it to FSX." This is similar to equating a fresh paint job on the golden gate bridge to a "few touchups." (and painting that bridge wouldn't take nearly as long, either!)PRICING:========Ah, yes... This is always the interesting point of the discussion with every product release, isn't it? We have finalized pricing, and we will be announcing details at release time, or possibly a day or two prior... Suffice it to say that we are putting together a bundle of value that we feel very suitably rewards those of you who have been so faithful and supportive of PMDG during the past ten years! We have a few details that we are still working out- so I can't give you too much information in this post- but we think you will be very pleased (And astounded- given that we've never REALLY offered a bonus program, or a customer loyalty program in the past!)Stay tuned for more on this topic over the next week...RELEASE ETA?:=============Ahhhh.... No. Not gonna happen. :-p I will tell you that the PMDG 747-400X is NOT going to release this coming weekend. So please take a few days to dote on your wife/kids/girlfriends (or all three for some of you...) and get your overnight kit packed and your uniform packed for a call from crew scheduling sometime after next weekend. ;-)

>Question: On releasing date will be available the CD-boxed>version too?That will come something like a month or two later, as with all the previous products...

>>That will come something like a month or two later, as with>all the previous products...>From Aerosoft I presume ?? Will it (CD) have the FS9 versions Pax and Freighter also, like many developers did in the FS8-FS9 transition period?? If you say it is up to them(Aerosoft), then I would like you guys to urge them to make that happen. You guys must hold some weight and respect there ;-) Thanks PMDG for fighting this one out and doing her justice }( Golli.

I am really happy to hear things are progressing. Even though it will be awhile before I move to 400X I will be purchasing it as soon as you release it. It appears I will need to look into updating my hardware. I am especially looking forward to the information on the hardward needed to run FSX and PMDG. I will be very interested to see if it breaks it out by operating system XP/VISTA.

Thanks a bunch, looking forward to the release. Ken