SP1 Beta Preview - Weather Radar into ATL

[scandinavian13 5,192]

So, I know a bunch of you have been looking for an update on the progress of SP1.  While this isn't an official update, and more work is still being done (as I say in my videos whenever I'm using a beta version: "this is BETA SOFTWARE - it may or may not represent the final version"), I figured some of you might appreciate seeing a few more pictures.  To that end, there is still work being done on the weather radar to tweak it to look more representative of what crews would see, so if it doesn't look quite "perfect" yet don't get your knickers in a twist  :wink:

 

Disclaimer: I ran these through a batch Photoshop conversion to get them from BMP to JPG so it wouldn't murder slower connections (despite it being 2014, people still use dial-up - AOL still exists down the street from my house in a still relatively nice building, so it's a testament to that fact...plus, phones not on wireless don't handle those things very well either).  As such, the image quality in coloration and sharpness is slightly compromised.  Get over it.

 

This morning, when I was doing a flight from LAX to ATL to test the latest build, I was watching a line of storms approach the airport from very early in the flight.  As I got closer, I noticed that the storms would directly conflict with my flight path.  That in mind, I broke off of my flight planned route to thread the needle between two cells:

 

[HI-Res]

 

 

 

In the turn, I realized that I'd ended up boxing myself in on three sides, so I made a 180 to hold away from the storm's direction.  In maneuvering for the hold, though, I noticed that the clusters over the airport had moved beyond the airport, so I upselected the Runway 9R ILS approach and headed back towards ATL (the shortcut put me a little high, but that's nothing a little drag can't fix):

 

[HI-Res]

 

 

 

Once I'd coerced the plane down using a little speedbrake, along with tactical gear and flap deployment, I was nicely set up to follow the ILS to get closer to the airport in the haze.  The traffic target you see actually cut in front of me, so I actually stepped over to 9L visually, in an effort to not go around and deal with the stuff you can clearly see on the far side of the airport.  Quite the lovely tactical aid:

 

[HI-Res]

 

 

I know a few of you probably think I'm enjoying torturing you with pictures and videos of this thing, but I think we're all excited to get this into your hands.  If nobody else is, I am, if only because I just spent a few hours getting my hat back into the virtual ATC realm (shoutout to Jimmy Reistad, who I pestered a bit after departing IAD).  Having people requesting non-standard stuff like weather deviations really breaks the monotony of controlling, and I think this will greatly add to that ability.  I have a feeling a lot of the controllers out there would agree with me.

 

Once all of the polishing is done on this (and various other items), I think you all are really going to fall in love with the plane all over again.  Even if you love it already, you're going to love it even more.

 

[GEORGE ZIMMER] I guarantee it! [/GEORGE ZIMMER]

[AAfan 49]

Great update, thanks for taking the time to post it :wub:

[Lashrathius 49]

Nice looking screenshots and thanks for the update!

And nice disclaimer BTW... dial up, AOL...

[Aamir 2,906]

Hnnnnngggggg...

 

I love how this will break the monotony of cruise as well!

[Datalink 26]

Thanks for the little update Just out of interest how is performance with both the weather radar and terrain display on?

[NGXfanatic 85]

Thanks for the pics.  I've been on FSX burnout for a few months, but oddly enough, you flew a route I have picked out as a great way to re-acclimate myself in the 777 when SP2 arrives!   And of course, I like the LAX-ATL route because Delta flys it with an -LR, I'm obsessed with flying real routes with the LR (or 300ER if applicable) as you are.

[DarrenLiewWY 2]

At this rate.....Its no longer "and the work goes on"...It should be "any work going on at all???".... Are they aiming for the 1st anniversary of the B777X release before SP1 is released?

[Ken Dolbey 0]

Thanks for the update!

[Zuendholz 50]

It's looking awesome. Can't wait for it.

[Alaaar 34]

That looks amazing thank you Kyle

[pinlifter 502]

Are they aiming for the 1st anniversary of the B777X release before SP1 is released?

 

 

Ladies and gentlemen we could have a winner!  Just 3 months away from that date now Darren....hard to believe it.

 

Great work Kyle, appreciate the update.

[SKEWR 364]

Thanks for the update and a little narrative of what was happening. Very nice.

[oskiatl 27]

Disclaimer: I ran these through a batch Photoshop conversion to get them from BMP to JPG so it wouldn't murder slower connections (despite it being 2014, people still use dial-up - AOL still exists down the street from my house in a still relatively nice building

 

Lol

[scandinavian13 5,192]

You're welcome guys...well...most of you anyway.

 

 

 

Just out of interest how is performance with both the weather radar and terrain display on?

 

This has been answered several times, but the impact is negligible on my machine.  Specs in my profile (there's a link under my avatar).

 

 

At this rate.....Its no longer "and the work goes on"...It should be "any work going on at all???".... Are they aiming for the 1st anniversary of the B777X release before SP1 is released?

 

I promised myself that I wouldn't respond to you if you posted, but what you said is so incredibly insensitive and downright ignorant that I felt that you needed to be called out.

 

Just because it doesn't come across as abundantly clear that work is actually happening doesn't mean work isn't happening.  This isn't the constructions industry that you seemingly drop into every conversation.  This is coding.  You can't look at it like you can look at construction and see progress being made.  And, sadly, people can work for hours and days on end, and not a single piece of the result is visible.  In fact, when it comes to certain code aspects, it should be completely transparent so the end user hasn't a clue in the slightest that it's working in the background.  Sometimes, that takes weeks to perfect, and I'm speaking from experience.  Not even a week ago, I went in and fixed a bunch of code in the GUI that interacts with a database and had the client ask "you worked on this for a week and nothing changed?"  I then asked if he saw any of the old error messages, and the empty records in the data and then it clicked.  Sometimes it's the fact that you can't see the code or bad results from it that tells you that work has been done.

 

I'm not going to stand here, half way around the world and disparage your work because I can't see it.  I know your projects act differently, and I know it's clearly not meeting your schedule, but life is about more than just you, and the project here isn't the industry you're used to.  This is a different ballgame.  I'm not going to go to a cricket game and complain that it's not like football, or following the rules thereof.

[DarrenLiewWY 2]

Thank you for your long and nice answer. So where are we now on the SP1?

 

 

Was bombarded with "target dates" which PMDG doesn't seem to have and I told them "it will be ready once its ready" taking a page out of the standard PMDG answers here on the forum. No guesses of what their reply was. So without any target dates, PMDG`s SP1 release might well be at the 1st anniversary or even later at the rate things are going. I told my boss I will finish by September this year and he told me July. So I told him it will be ready when its ready and I had a 2 hours lecture from him.

 

I think that it is the lack of transparency and targets to be set by PMDG that is frustrating not just me but many on the forum. I guess I am just more vocal than most as I have tried some of the tactics employed by PMDG in real life and was told off for it.