Can PMDG enable FMC control via Internet IP address?

[avhpilot 156]

although jumping to conclusions is one of my hobbies i will decide not to do so in this case.

 

For all we know the only reason coud be a temporary absence to prepare an update or perhaps an additional app that will work with the airbus extended or MD11, now wouldn't that be nice ?!

 

Damn, did it again anyway, can't help myself sorry.

[DAD 2,666]

 

 

temporary absence to prepare an update

unfortunately that is not how it works in the app store. previous versions are always available until the update is made available and replaces the former version ....

[fwerff 70]

This is so utterly dissapointing!  :(

It feels like the McPhat NGX paints al over again! A great product gets pulled because PMDG had made an uber-strict EULA and seems to refuse to allow any deviation from it, no matter how big or small it might be.

Most frustrating part is PMDG remains totally silent about the nature of the problem, which contributes to speculating, rumor making and in the end frustration at the customers-end.

 

I am glad I bought VirtualCDU before it was pulled and I will continu to use it regardless if it is or is not in compliance with the EULA. In fact, I will not install SP2 once released until someone confirms VirtualCDU still works.

 

A formal, non-political, statement of PMDG explaining the problem and what actions are being taken to solve it, would be highly appreciated but I doubt we will ever get it (as we also never got such a statement with regards to the McPhat NGX debacle....  :ph34r: )

 

Edit: When did things get so wrong EULA's drafted by army's of lawyers are even needed for FSX addons? If PMDG or any addon company for that matter start getting close to MS or Apple mentality we as a flightsim community are doomed.....

[kreyszig 0]

 

 

every one of those can be sent to the sim via SDK

 

Sending buttons is a "writing", so your friend is at least confirming that writes are available and a statement saying that "reading or writing is not supported" is not accurate

[Anxu00 176]

 

 

It's so nice not to have to involve the undocking of sub-windows within FSX and the accompanying frames hit.

Hi Robert,

 

I always click on the CDU in the NGX cockpit and then move it to my second monitor.  I did not have any frame rate hit but I gather this is not what you meant?

 

Thanks

[Fabo 213]

 

 

Sending buttons is a "writing", so your friend is at least confirming that writes are available and a statement saying that "reading or writing is not supported" is not accurate

 

I would not say "sending a button press" constitutes a "read or write to the CDU", but if you want to call it that way - then I guess yes, writing to CDU is possible...

 

 

 

I always click on the CDU in the NGX cockpit and then move it to my second monitor.  I did not have any frame rate hit but I gather this is not what you meant?

 

Some people take frame hits from having a separate undocked window on second monitor, some people take frame hits from the very act of having FSX open in a window (which is needed for moving a window to second monitor AFAIK)

[Anxu00 176]

Very disappointed in the news that the APP has been pulled.  I was looking forward to using it.  I hope PMDG will have a clarifying statement soon.

 

 

Some people take frame hits from having a separate undocked window on second monitor, some people take frame hits from the very act of having FSX open in a window (which is needed for moving a window to second monitor AFAIK)

Interesting, I will verify if I in fact have a framerate hit when I moved my CDU to the second monitor.

 

Thanks

[Fabo 213]

Me, personally, I don't take hit either, but I understand every computer works a bit different...

[Meese 5]

.. Pulled? Works fine for me: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.virtualavionics.virtualcdu&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS52aXJ0dWFsYXZpb25pY3MudmlydHVhbGNkdSJd

[Robert McDonald 167]

.. Pulled? Works fine for me: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.virtualavionics.virtualcdu&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS52aXJ0dWFsYXZpb25pY3MudmlydHVhbGNkdSJd

 

There is hope.  The link above DOES work.  But the paid version appears to be missing?  I did a search in the app store (Android) for Virtual CDU - no hits.  Searching only for "CDU" it doesn't show either.  I do know that intellectual rights require vigorous defense for copyright reasons, so PMDG may have come down hard on the app developer.  I would be sad if that is what happened.  Someone pointed out that this fine app will still work with the iFly variant.  Food for thought.  I still own (but never fly) the iFly plane.

[FlyingT 0]

.. Pulled? Works fine for me: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.virtualavionics.virtualcdu&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS52aXJ0dWFsYXZpb25pY3MudmlydHVhbGNkdSJd

 

The above link does not work for me. In fact if you Google 'virtual CDU' none of the links that come up work for me.  :(

 

I also really hope that we will get a statement, although whether or not they give one is still their decision, as they are not obligated to tell us anything about it.

[B777ER 2,513]

Most frustrating part is PMDG remains totally silent about the nature of the problem, which contributes to speculating, rumor making and in the end frustration at the customers-end.

 

A formal, non-political, statement of PMDG explaining the problem and what actions are being taken to solve it, would be highly appreciated but I doubt we will ever get it (as we also never got such a statement with regards to the McPhat NGX debacle.

You can bet that they will be here with news of the 777 release info. After all, talking about that is what will make them money when it is released. And it will make end users happy, this they will talk about it.

 

If they talk about virtual CDU, it will make end users mad and shine a light on how heavy handed they as a company have become with the help of their lawyers. The other side of PMDG that they don't want the general public to see. Kinda like the Disney Co. All sunshine and lollipops until they perceive some malevolent behavior against them and they have lawyers swoop in and hammer you for everything you have.

 

Sent from Samsung Galaxy Note 2

 

 

[Robert McDonald 167]

You can bet that they will be here with news of the 777 release info. After all, talking about that is what will make them money when it is released. And it will make end users happy, this they will talk about it.

 

If they talk about virtual CDU, it will make end users mad and shine a light on how heavy handed they as a company have become with the help of their lawyers. The other side of PMDG that they don't want the general public to see. Kinda like the Disney Co. All sunshine and lollipops until they perceive some malevolent behavior against them and they have lawyers swoop in and hammer you for everything you have.

 

Sent from Samsung Galaxy Note 2

 

I would hesitate before saying anything negative about PMDG.  I understand their legal reasons why they may feel compelled to crush any perceived violations by other programmer/developers.  We as pilots applaud products that bring outstanding value and increased immersion. You have to admire the NGX, it's clearly the plane-to-beat in FSX, and if PMDG were to release a product for X-Plane, I have no reason to doubt the same will be true again.  

 

That said, the truth is it's difficult to understand why such a wonderful and inexpensive add-on disappeared, or why it 'had to disappear'.  I would wish, (if I had a vote) that some kind of accommodation could be reached and the little guy could persevere.  If nothing else, I would love it if he sold his code to PMDG and THEY released it, either as a payware add-on utility or as a standard feature for the NGX -and- the 777.  

 

When you have your hands full during a flight, it's really helpful to be able to tap on your tablet to move waypoints around, or to insert new altitude or speed restrictions for upcoming waypoints.

 

No one can say this little utility is anything less than amazing and rewarding - and thus it is extremely troubling that it may have died an untimely death.  Also disturbing is that even iFly pilots are now (apparently) unable to purchase the app.  Possibly it is being reworked by the dev to drop the NGX support, and may re-appear as an iFly only variant.

 

Ultimately, we hope something 'good' will come out the other end... miracles CAN happen, yeah?

[Tabs 2,790]

Sorry guys, I forgot to follow this thread - we have a rather time consuming beta test going on that has my full attention right now in case you didn't notice.

 

I want to make a few things clear.

 

1. We nor "our lawyers" did anything to get this product pulled from any app stores. The author of the app did this on his own accord (which we appreciate) in order to get clarification from us. We are in contact with him right now and are inquiring as to how he accomplished what his app does. Some of you in this thread are very quick to accuse us of such things without having any actual facts or evidence - you should probably not make such assumptions on a whim like that.

 

2. Some of you are vastly misunderstanding how EULAs and restrictions work. We do not give people a blanket authorization to produce any addon they wish using any method they wish for use with our products. It clearly states that they need to approve them with us first and that they have to abide by certain very clear restrictions present in the SDK.

 

A huge part of the reasoning behind this is making sure that these addons aren't causing us support headaches at PMDG directly - if some addon comes out doing unauthorized things to our product through unauthorized methods and then someone writes into us and fails to mention that they're using such an addon with the product (trust me, this happens all the time even with the authorized ones), then we're stuck scratching our heads about bizarre issues that we have no idea how to troubleshoot or solve. Reading/writing to the CDU/FMC has the potential to cause really big problems with the airplane - CTDs, impossible logic issues etc depending on what is written and where. It is a whole different ballgame compared to controlling the MCP knobs, the overhead switches etc. There is no legitimate way to directly read or write to the CDU/FMC, the other displays, etc right now in the SDK - this is why this particular app got our attention in this manner. It may be the case that he found some highly inventive way to do all of this that doesn't break the EULA - I personally do hope that's what it is actually. If you guys think we actually like seeing the community upset or disappointed over issues like this, you're wrong.

 

3. If someone does decide to violate our EULA and their product gets modified or discontinued as a result, this is not our fault. It is the fault of the person who took those actions and sold you such a product in the first place. It is on him to make sure that his product is legal and not infringing on our rights and restrictions. I'm not saying that will happen here, but if it does, I just want people to be aware of this and preempt any complaints to that effect.

[fwerff 70]

Ryan, first of all my thanks for this thorough statement.

I didn't realize that support issues are among the reasons why the EULA is strict in these ways.

 

I hope PMDG and the VirtualCDU dev get everything worked out. It is an app that adds a lot to the experience of flying the NGX.