Just Bought the PMDG 737-800/900

[kjjj11223344 48]

Enfin! I managed to start the engine, taxi out and fly a few circuits but I cannot say I am over impressed with the NGX. Having got the engines running, one wondered for some time why the brakes wouldn't release and eventually found the answer deep inside the FMC. (Which could have been made clear somewhere in the printed manual).

 

As for the flight, I cannot see that the VC is any improvement over the 2D and I suspect it is an innovation made for the sake of innovating. What is important in a simulator is not what is actually around but what you see in your mind's eye and I think 2D reflects this the best. Still, I shall experiment with WC and see if I change my mind. Who knows.

 

I am not sure that the engine noise is any more real in the NGX than it was in the NG but is that strange noise like a steam engine letting off steam? If it is supposed to be slipstream, it is a very noisy one - i thought for a minute the navigator was frying bacon behind me,

 

Finally, did someone say that PDMG are producing a DC6? That is a type I well remember.

I hate to disagree with you, but for one thing, the NGX has one, if not the most, in my opinion, of the most realistic sound sets ever made for an FSX addon. I don't have the old NG, but I've seen videos of it, and the NGX's sound blows the old NG's out of the water in terms of fidelity and realism. As for the VC, that is personal preference (I for one find it gives a more realistic feel as to the location of all the switches, etc.). Finally, I still don't see what you're saying in regards to the 2D vs the VC. You do know that the NGX has a complete set of 2D panels right? You can literally do your whole flight in the 2D world (the only thing that doesn't have a 2D panel is the throttle quadrant, so you will need to go to the VC to bring in the fuel for engine start). Hope this helps.

[ajpongress 467]

<p>

one wondered for some time why the brakes wouldn't release and eventually found the answer deep inside the FMC. (Which could have been made clear somewhere in the printed manual)....I am not sure that the engine noise is any more real in the NGX than it was in the NG but is that strange noise like a steam engine letting off steam? If it is supposed to be slipstream, it is a very noisy one - i thought for a minute the navigator was frying bacon behind me

 

 

The parking brake feature is covered in the introduction pdf and also the tutorial pdfs if I remember right.

Reading the introduction pdf is the most basic requirement of flying the NGX and understanding what unique features it has. It's made crystal clear.

 

The soundset was taken from actual sound recordings inside a real 737 NG with the engines on. It couldn't be any more real. Your comments on what's clear/what's not clear what's real/what's not real in this entire thread have been completely bizarre.

 

You're entitled to your own opinion of course, but just keep in mind the NGX includes some of the most pioneering and innovative methods in the history of FSX. Comparing the NGX to the FS9 NG and saying there's no difference...well there is. You're definitely in the minority there.

[IFR7700 228]

Some people simply convince themselves into failure before they even start a task. When you find those people, it's best to move on.

[Gazzareth 828]

You should do something about that cough. I have not yet found much in the tutorials that helps but perhaps you could quote the page numbers. In order to wind the 737NGX up I had to try and remember what we did in 1957 and adapt.

 

Had it for weeks and it shows no sign of going. Stick with the VC, once you get used to it there really is no going back to 2d.

 

After doing the first tutorial I downloaded this checklist which pretty much got me going. From memory it is a bit easier reading than the Boeing version.

 

G

[joolsd 10]

The soundset was taken from actual sound recordings inside a real 737 NG with the engines on. It couldn't be any more real. Your comments on what's clear/what's not clear what's real/what's not real in this entire thread have been completely bizarre.

 

 

Joking aside, the PMDG sounds are the best I have ever known.

 

Flap sounds that create whining sound (externally on the wing views). Just like the real one. I always wished PMDG would do this and they did.

When booting the APU have a listen to it powering up externally. A jet engine sound.

Hydrulic pumps sound real, because you can hear them from the cabin on a real 747-800.

And of course the engines, sound real.

 

So having travelled on the most of the real 737 variants I can honestly say, considering there are some restrictions in FSX, that the sound set on the PMDG is the best.

[SilvioSilva 4]

Do you ahve any tips for me???

Do you ahve any tips for me???

 

Well, I have flow 737 PMDG for a long time. Beside follow the tutorial, watch videos on youtube, I recomend:

 

Softwares:

FS2Crew

EZCA Cam

 

Hardware:

Get the best Video card that you can

 

Looking in this forum all topics regarding....

FSX.cfg

If your video card is a NividiaCard: NvidiaInspector

 

have a nce flights and Welcome at PMDG Family!

 

Merry Xmas!

[ailchim 216]

The fact of the matter is that this plane is hard because it's as accurate as flight sim has got yet. That's why some buy it but there are easier options on the market.

 

Can I suggest that you get Fs2Crew? That way you'll only have to do what the Pilot Flying would do rather than trying to do 2 jobs. Some like to do both PF and PNF roles but in that case you do need to learn the manuals!

 

I have hacked together the FS2Crew Pilot Flying flows with the relevant checklists to make one document to guide each stage of the flight. That runs to 11 pages rather than thousands but it will get you through a routine flight.....

 

I'd persevere - it's worth it.

[ailchim 216]

Google PMDG DC6 and you'll find some images.

 

I guess this will be one they issue partly for their own pleasure, a bit like the JS41, which I think Bob Randazzo flew early in his career and was a technology proving project for the NGX and 777 within PMDG.

 

Therefore it may be offered on a bit of a "take it or leave it" basis without a huge commitment to an endless series of service packs and enhancements etc. Still, a throwaway product from PMDG is worth more most pukka payware offerings if the JS41 is anything to go by........

[Chris Willits 0]

Do you ahve any tips for me???

 

I watched some youtube videos of this plane before ever flying it on my own. Had it for little over a month now...make a mistake, research, try again. Repeat. Still having fun.

 

As for my "tip", tutorial videos are a godsend...

[M. Kent 0]

I hate to disagree with you, but for one thing, the NGX has one, if not the most, in my opinion, of the most realistic sound sets ever made for an FSX addon. I don't have the old NG, but I've seen videos of it, and the NGX's sound blows the old NG's out of the water in terms of fidelity and realism. As for the VC, that is personal preference (I for one find it gives a more realistic feel as to the location of all the switches, etc.). Finally, I still don't see what you're saying in regards to the 2D vs the VC. You do know that the NGX has a complete set of 2D panels right? You can literally do your whole flight in the 2D world (the only thing that doesn't have a 2D panel is the throttle quadrant, so you will need to go to the VC to bring in the fuel for engine start). Hope this helps.

 

Have no fears about disagreeing with me! I know that the 737NGX has a 2D panel but my first flight was made with the VC just to give it a fair trial. I am not sure that three dimensions is always the answer. Sixty years ago an attempt was made to launch it into the cinema - and there have been several subsequent attempts - yet the two dimensional remains the standard with no complaints about the lack of realism. (No one ever claimed that B&W lacked realism). Thus it is with simulations because when you look at, say, the upper panel, you do so in isolation of everything else. When not looking at anything in particular you scan a variety of indications, not so much to read them as to be altered to the odd one out. This, to me, seems to be more readily accomplished in 2D with VC.

 

As to the noise, the slipstream - I imagine that is what the noise is - seems greatly exaggerated to me although I will concede that accurate recordings of high intensity sound are difficult to make. When filming a take off, I have often noticed that as the throttles are advanced, the noise simply goes off the dial. Next time I fly,. I will take more notice of the slip stream. (It would be interesting to know whether the simulations of the Comet airliner - which I have never tried - give an accurate rendering of the noise from inside. Today's jets sounds pretty well as you would expect a jet to sound but this was far from being the case with the Comet).

[zmak 331]

yes she is a beast, and took me months of being vectored by atc and hand flying until i had a go at the FMC.

Now I have it mastered but I miss the hand flying

[M. Kent 0]

<p>

 

 

The parking brake feature is covered in the introduction pdf and also the tutorial pdfs if I remember right.

Reading the introduction pdf is the most basic requirement of flying the NGX and understanding what unique features it has. It's made crystal clear.

 

The soundset was taken from actual sound recordings inside a real 737 NG with the engines on. It couldn't be any more real. Your comments on what's clear/what's not clear what's real/what's not real in this entire thread have been completely bizarre.

 

You're entitled to your own opinion of course, but just keep in mind the NGX includes some of the most pioneering and innovative methods in the history of FSX. Comparing the NGX to the FS9 NG and saying there's no difference...well there is. You're definitely in the minority there.

 

Where did I say that there was no difference?

[M. Kent 0]

Were someone top come on this group next week and ask the question that I put (ie a little straightforward guidance), the answer I would give would be along these lines.

 

1, Go to FMC : to FS action and disconnect Ground Cables.

2. To Upper Panel. Both IRS switches to Off and then NAV

3. To Lower Panel.

3a. (Panel Left Lower) All 6 pumps on.

3b (Panel Centre Left). APU to On. Watch EGT steady at 300. APU Generators (both) to ON

4. Air Con: (Panel Right). Upper diagram: LP to Off, Iso to Auto, RP to Off Lower Diagram : On, Auto, On.

Start engine 1 and 2.

 

When ready to move:

To FMC. Remove chocks. Release brakes.

 

The immediate object is to get the 737 running, moving and in the air. The refinements, which are contained within the thousand or so pages, can be read at leisure.

 

It is (in my view) important to remember that Flight Simulators are a game and not the real thing. If fate had intended you to fly the real thing, you would be doing so.

[zmak 331]

hard to argue with that really.

[M. Kent 0]

Well gentlemen. I have just completed a instrument flight with the 737NGX and I have come to the conclusion that it is a joke. PMDG are really scraping the bottom of the simulation barrel here. The instructions, as we have seen, are a disgrace (if PMDG seriously expect me to read through several hundred/thousand pages of instructions before getting onto the first rung of the ladder, then they should be paying me) whilst only someone who has never sat in the front of an airliner, much less flown one, would ever accept that the 737NGX has an especially high degree of realism.

 

This is not a judgement quickly reached, in fact I enjoy using these simulators since they enable me to keep up to date with an activity from which I retired many years ago. Occasionally I am asked by the History Channel (etc) to contribute to their aviation documentaries and arising from that, I am sometimes asked to review books and simulators which is how I come to be grappling with the 737 NGX. I have, I think, given it a reasonable trial, spending three or four days (much of which was due to the inadequacy of the documentation and I think it fair to say that the product will get a drubbing,