06MAY14 - PMDG 777 SP1/300ER Updates

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Captains-

 

We continue to make progress with the various items we still feel are "show stoppers" on the SP1 side.

 

I'm going to paste a (huge) change list for items that are already cleared for inclusion into SP1- as I think it is mostly complete.  There are a few items left that we are still tuning, and these have to do with certain control logic inside the FBW system during speed transitions, etc.

 

This particular area of the airplane is not well documented, I would suspect because it is highly proprietary- and as such we have had to corroborate experimentation in the full sim and FTD with feedback from the flight crew on our tech team, some Flight Test folks, and a couple of engineers who have a rather extraordinary amount of knowledge on the topic.

 

I wish I could tell you that it was easy to sort out the differences of opinion on the topic- but it isn't...  Needless to say it is fairly obvious that we gave too much sway to the engineering descriptions of behavior in the release build- and it has been a b**tch (Sorry, Tom!) working backward toward where we are now.

 

It is working nicely- but still has some rough edges to sand down- and it is taking time...

 

One area that is getting quite a bit of attention right now is teaching the autopilot how to handle turbulence more gracefully.  FSX turbulence is... well...  a joke...  but we know that some users of various weather engines like to have this feature turned on- and we also know that we push the FSX flight modeling well beyond what it was designed for- so our airplanes don't always play well with the make-believe FSX turbulence....  So we are trying some things to allow better interaction here.  No promises - but we are trying...

 

Normally at this point I would cut free all other members of the development team to work on the 400v2.0- but instead we are doing an all-hands effort to look for optimizations, error check save-state conditions and that sort of thing- just to make sure we don't prolong any problems that aren't glamorous enough to get full attention during other phases of development.

 

We sent another build out to the test team over the weekend, and another will go out later this week.  (Tomorrow or Wednesday) but I *still* think we have a few more builds to go before we hit one that we will like.  This is tough because it is a "feel" thing, and sometimes you make progress and other times you don't....  (It isn't fun...)

 

The good news?  Oh my is it coming along nicely.  B)

 

We are prepping the 300ER to go out to the beta team with the next SP1 update now as well.  Some folks have expressed some concerns that the 300ER was being held up by the SP1 and this really hasn't been true in one sense since we never intended to release the 300ER without the SP1.  To us they are essentially one large update because the functionality changes that we add to allow the 300ER to operate are part of the development cycle that brings in all the changes for SP1... 

 

(Confused yet?)

 

What this means is that you need the SP1 version to run the 300ER, but you don't need the 300ER to get SP1...  We do this intentionally...

 

OKAY... 

 

So- with the 400v2.0, you can bet your peanuts and beer that we are going to push micro-updates via the Operations Center.  This elongated SP1 development cycle has taken a bite out of everyone's enthusiasm.  We really didn't expect it to take this long- but unfortunately when we realized we had to make some core changes to the flight control logic- it did really start a layering problem that was very hard to overcome.

 

We are almost there- and your patience is appreciated.  (And with all the extra functionality the other devs on the team have packed in- it is going to be rewarded as well!)

[FDX706 8]

Great news....I actually thought it was about be released... :lol:  Thanks for the update.  Keep up the good work. Nothing else to really say... I can feel that its in the home stretch now. 

[leo97 2]

Thanks for the update Sir

 

 

 

Daniel Schneider

[DANEQ99 2]

Thanks for the post. Anyway about the micro updates. I have a problem with updating my Ops Centre to a version I know not of. When I attempt to update it says 'This app cannot run on your P.C' I am running windows 8.1 and I understand you do not fully support it. However, I have updates successfully before and I wonder rif they is a way to re install the Ops Centre. Correct me if I am wrong but the Ops Centre is ran alongside the 777 meaning I have to install the 777 in order to get the Ops Centre or is it it's own program I know not off. Some clarifying I just request. 

[CaptKornDog 281]

So- with the 400v2.0, you can bet your peanuts and beer that we are going to push micro-updates via the Operations Center.

 

This is excellent news.

[AirborneZed 168]

A hearty thanks, Rob! I love that you guys are securing all remaing loose parts. As always attention to quality.

 

 

About the 300ER, is it okay if can we get a few screens of her?

[max2770 74]

Thanks for the update!  Can't wait to get my hands on that huge 300ER!

[FDX706 8]

A hearty thanks, Rob! I love that you guys are securing all remaing loose parts. As always attention to quality.

 

 

About the 300ER, is it okay if can we get a few screens of her?

 

I second that... I would love to see her in the AAL livery.

[jetsflier 87]

Thanks so much, it makes me glad to see notifications concerning the update on this product. It really is a shame though that it has been close to eight months (has it really been THAT long?!) since release without a single update. I don't believe I will be purchasing the -300ER, but who knows, maybe!

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Dane,

 

Thanks for the post. Anyway about the micro updates. I have a problem with updating my Ops Centre to a version I know not of. When I attempt to update it says 'This app cannot run on your P.C' I am running windows 8.1 and I understand you do not fully support it. However, I have updates successfully before and I wonder rif they is a way to re install the Ops Centre. Correct me if I am wrong but the Ops Centre is ran alongside the 777 meaning I have to install the 777 in order to get the Ops Centre or is it it's own program I know not off. Some clarifying I just request. 

 

I checked with Ryan on this.  He asked me to have you submit a ticket with this information.  He will get you the correct version and get you up and running....

[RomeoMike 10]

Looking forward to the releases of SP1 and 300ER, but am very patient as I am still enjoying the 200LR and NGX as they are now. Keep up the good work.

[troyboy66 66]

Thanks for the update Captain. Looking forward to release day.

 

Troy

[waleed 26]

Reminder to the super enthusiastic among us:

Since Captain R is unable to communicate clearly with anyone aside from Air Traffic Controllers (and win lol), I decided to enlighten everyone so there is no doubt :Silly:

 

1-SP1 being worked on and getting closer.

2-300ER being worked on and getting closer.

3- SP1 and 300ER are separate entities.

4- SP1 not affected by 300ER development.

5-The Queen will be worked on soon.

6-737 SP will come in good time, and will include Weather Radar.

7-MD-11 ( :( ) and J41 will not be updated further.

 

Please feel free to visit www. :Cry: for any of the following:

 

1-I want it now.

2-Why is the SP not released yet?

3-Stop everything and release it now.

4-Where is the SP for 737?

5-I want the Queen now.

6-Stop hiding secrets and release the info. provided by Mr. Snowden in regards to the delay in SP1 release.

7- The rest.

 

Sorry, had to do this for the better good even though I am as anxious as everyone else.

*Please insert hate, discontent, disagreement comments, ........ below: :Black Eye:

 

P.S. Try flying for a change, it might just be fun.

[dravid kenyala 6]

Thanks RSR. Another update by you guys in 10 days." Instead we are doing on all hands efforts to look for optimisation " the sentence itself shows how deep the problem is regarding the fbw logic and rewriting it.

But 300er livery images on Facebook one a day just like you guys did for lr plz.

Nothing more. Thankyou.

[EGLL77W 1,508]

77W77W77W77W77W77W77W77W77W  :biggrin:

 

Guess who's excited...  :Whistle: