PMDG 737NGX Post Release Debrief Items!

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Captains- I thought I would give you all a quick update on where we are now that so many of you are out enjoying the NGX! Last night was a bit more exciting than we had hoped for, what with the nefarious intentions of some. In the end, we have seen a return to pretty normal stability levels and continue to work with our server techs, security vendor and others to see what can be learned from this event to prevent it from happening again. By early morning Friday we were more-or-less back to normal operations although we had a number of folks impacted by lost or missing download links we were able to work through most all of those issues during the course of the day. So where are we now? We are now in the normal post release phase where we are collecting data on things that are being reported around the simsphere. We are finding that the VAST majority of users who are running into trouble can be resolved by simply pointing them into the INTRODUCTION document that was included in the product. We have a small cadre of users who are having problems getting activated, and we are working to resolve those issues as quickly as we can. We have tasked one member of the team to start collecting all of the items reported in order to start cateogirizing them into categories that will help us to run down any items that might require an emergency update. (Currently we are looking at one such item- more on this once we have a bit more data) but for the most part we are collecting data on things that might not be operating as we wish so that we can do a general cleanup with the update that will come in time for the PMDG 737-600/700 Expansion Pack. We have been flattered by the response to this product being released- and it has been truly enjoyable to see it described as "ground breaking" and "unlike any other." That is what we have been striving for all of these years - and it gives you an idea where we are headed with future products such as the 777. (Don't ask.. I won't tell you anyway! ) Okay- so on this one issue that we are tracking as a potential reason for a "Hot--Fix": We have seen some users report some conditions where the airplane freezes and ceases updating. There are a couple of reasons why this might be happening and we need more data to sort out a way to prevent it. I don't want to get too technical in describing what we suspect may be happening, but we are looking pretty carefully at areas such as resources and the like. We are also going to be trying to find some cases that can be replicated in-house as this is always the fastest way to resolve something. Ryan and Paul are going to be managing the collection of all data for forwarding to our tracking suite, and we will be paying very close attention to trends... Once we have more information to share we will! (I thin Ryan may also host a thread in which we keep you up to speed on the items that we have identified and resolved- just so you can see what we are up to... It might be a few days before that starts however.) In the mean time- get out and FLY! We are thrilled to have this airplane in your hands and we are certain that you will be enjoying the depth and completeness of this simulation! Thanks again for all of the support you have shown us over the years. We hope the NGX brings you many years of great simming ahead!

[flyerboy 114]

Gday Rob Thanks for everything Played with it non stop today and had great fun, but at the end I did something to the FMC which froze the whole computer.. anyway this will give me plenty of time until the 777

[Ioan92 63]

Awesome, we are day two and PMDG already declares a hotfix/patch to fix the little nuisances! THAT'S WHAT I CALL PROFESSIONALISM! ;)

[Wizz84 4]

thank you robert, i hope you enjoyed your birthday with all these troubels! i love this plane

[Cai Zicheng 171]

Thanks PMDG!

[wijnand 11]

Hello from Holland, Congratulations on a magnificent product! Ok, I am not original, but it is the thought that counts, right?? I agree that the intoduction document should be read before you try to even move the plane. (weel chocks for example!! Did you guys at PMDG take a betat how many people would fall for that???? ) I also did not understand why I had to perform my take off without the use of TO/GA, so here comes the next "trap" for allof us who fly this plane like the earlier add-ons: both FD's have to be on!So, read before you fly is advisable!!!!!!!!!!!! At the end of the document there are a number of "quirks" mentioned, some of them I had to read a few times, which shows thelevel of in-depth of this simulation. I always flew 2D in airliners, because I found the navigating in 3D very cumbersome.Now I have ezdok, which I would recommend to everyone who flies 3D.But even without EZDOK, the 3D cockpit is very impressive and in combination with the 2D-popups, navigating (I mean the panel,not the route!!) is easy. I really hope that you, the developers and the rest of the team, are as happy with this releaseas we simmers are! It was definitely worth the wait!! Thanks a lot for a great addition to our fine hobby, Wijnand Lindelauf (25 KM east of EHBK)

[Ioan92 63]

Now I have ezdok, which I would recommend to everyone who flies 3D.But even without EZDOK, the 3D cockpit is very impressive and in combination with the 2D-popups, navigating (I mean the panel,

For some reason my Joystick shakes very much when I taxi the NGX, as opposed to the 747. It shakes the whole desk with it and along the bass beneath from the incredible sounds - You don't even need EZCA

[NGXfanatic 85]

The sounds are the icing on the cake. Everything else about the NGX really is best of breed, like the Mercedes advertising nowadays, it's the "Best or Nothing". I was expecting the systems and visuals to raise the bar, and in that PMDG has succeeded, but I thought maybe the soundset will be really good, but nothing exceptional, that's why there's a addon soundset market right? Not the case here, the sounds are so real I actually feel I'm getting the headache I normally get IRL from the loud bass and ear piercing ancillary sounds. How did you guys manage to get that high pitched, but low volume, APU ringing sound down? Its a good headache, I just need to tone down my master speaker volume down a bit. My favorite sound? That slow bass rumble when the engines are retarded at the top of descent, it is a 100% match for the sound I heard on a real Delta 737-800 on descent to KPHL a few weeks ago. I'm telling ya, all these sounds in the NGX, I feel like I am back on my vacation trip again! This is a new paradigm for flight sim addons, where you don't need to trick out the base product with sounds or liveries from other payware vendors. With the NGX, attempting such work would be like putting "DUBS" rims on a Lamborghini. You cannot improve perfection!

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

AJ- Armen does an absolutely magnificent job in preparing sounds for the airplane. If you want to see how difficult his job was- take a cruise through the FSX/SOUND/PMDG/PMDG 737NGX directory. You will find hundreds of sound files in there- all of which had to be coded by the development team as Armen produced them and spent months tweaking and tuning them to match the audio environment of the airplane... He does great work!

[penta_a 428]

even though I could not order the plane till now due to credit card problem (expired 31jul very bad timing) and my new one not received yet, I really enjoy reading about this great product and this professional handling (before and after sale) and looking FWD to hear positive news about B777 development progress. Thank you all.

[easyworldairlines 0]

Excellent news Robert ! Thank you for all your hard work :)

[bmcl26 15]

I have to say that the Introduction document not onlypointed me in the right direction regarding what I may have thought were bugs, by also following the advice given my FSX is now working much faster with all other add-ons (not that I will be using many of them now!!!!) Again congratulations on a fantastic product. Bill McLauchlan

[DylanC 181]

Thanks for the update Robert. Truly an amazing work of art.

[RudiJG1 172]

AJ- Armen does an absolutely magnificent job in preparing sounds for the airplane. If you want to see how difficult his job was- take a cruise through the FSX/SOUND/PMDG/PMDG 737NGX directory. You will find hundreds of sound files in there- all of which had to be coded by the development team as Armen produced them and spent months tweaking and tuning them to match the audio environment of the airplane... He does great work!

And Armen was very attentive to my download and activation issues from the beginning, using AVSIM's personal messaging system to check in with me as to the status of my issues. Great service indeed.

[Movieman162 0]

Hello robert and team. I posted the following in another topic that has since been buried in the forums. So for your benefit i will post it here. I believe it relates to the "Freezing" problem.

I have seen this problem too, it appears that the 2D panel can only function in anything but the VC. The first time you load the NGX the panel will always be like this (corrupted, stretched) however if you then go into the external view, it loads correctly and functions 100%. If you then go into the VC it will freeze at the last state before entering the VC. Only the main panel is affected by this. The panel only functions in anything but 2D view.

And if i can just use this opportunity to say... well done.No seriously, we as the community thought this was going to be the end all add on when we didn't have it. Imagine the 999/991 calls when we loaded it up for the first time. The resemblance to the real thing is amazing and im going on holiday in a couple of weeks on the 800WL and im still going to miss the PMDG version. And on that note, im going to get ready for another day with the NGX.