Ok hear me out on this one it's either a great idea or a stupid idea you let me know.

 

According to the unofficial road map for PMDG Products the MD-11 will never be revisited again, which is a great shame for a small number of us die hard fans of this plane.

 

Could they sell the model, SDK, licence and code ( which I know is full of magical PMDG secrets but afer all these years is probably common knowledge among coders) to a developer they could trust and also have pockets deep enough to purchase this pre made legend. Maybe aerosoft? They could come to some arrangement to on a % of sales as well. It basically only needs a few more detailed textures and maybe revisit the VC to bring it to 2014 standards

 

In other words Microsoft was tired with FSX on an entertainment level, so they sold Dovetail the rights to rebrand it an push it to a new market.Can PMDG do this with the MD-11

 

Thanks all

Any thoughts?

Ok hear me out on this one it's either a great idea or a stupid idea you let me know.

 

According to the unofficial road map for PMDG Products the MD-11 will never be revisited again, which is a great shame for a small number of us die hard fans of this plane.

 

Could they sell the model, SDK, licence and code ( which I know is full of magical PMDG secrets but afer all these years is probably common knowledge among coders) to a developer they could trust and also have pockets deep enough to purchase this pre made legend. Maybe aerosoft? They could come to some arrangement to on a % of sales as well. It basically only needs a few more detailed textures and maybe revisit the VC to bring it to 2014 standards

 

In other words Microsoft was tired with FSX on an entertainment level, so they sold Dovetail the rights to rebrand it an push it to a new market.Can PMDG do this with the MD-11

 

Thanks all

Any thoughts?

If PMDG would release an HD VC texture pack for the plane and charge $20 for it not only would almost every user upgrade their MD-11, but it would also spur new sales. I want the MD-11 but the VC is to dated for me. Some people made free HD VC texture upgrades and PMDG forced them to not release them as they broke EULA (Not sure how some freeware textures hurt PMDG's bottom line?). To me this was very short sighted of PMDG as it would have only made more people buy the plane myself included. I'm about to graduate with a bachelors in business management and to me selling an HD texture pack would be a quick and easy way to make some extra cash on a product that is clearly in the decline stage of its life cycle. If PMDG doesn't have time they should outsource to a company like Carenado to have the textures made.

If PMDG would release an HD VC texture pack for the plane and charge $20 for it not only would almost every user upgrade their MD-11, but it would also spur new sales. I want the MD-11 but the VC is to dated for me. Some people made free HD VC texture upgrades and PMDG forced them to not release them as they broke EULA (STUPID). To me this was very short sighted of PMDG as it would have only made more people buy the plane myself included.

I agree, that is the simple route, I wish they went that route but they said time and time again it won't be revisited anytime soon if ever.

 

I think the way I mentioned above is a ideal situation for all concerned .

I agree, that is the simple route, I wish they went that route but they said time and time again it won't be revisited anytime soon if ever.

 

I think the way I mentioned above is a ideal situation for all concerned .

 

I'd buy that too without a second thought....just a cosmetic upgrade....

A thought-provoking suggestion, Stephen, as I, like you, am a big MD-11 fan................but feel we're just treading water with this aircraft moving forward.

Could?  Maybe, but I'm pretty sure they collaborated with someone else on part of the project, so that would require his blessing as well, which could make things difficult.  In the game of human efforts, difficult is usually not overcome when it isn't much of an incentive to overcome it.

 

To take that point further:

If you've coded before, then you know that looking at other people's code is like trying to understand how their brain works.  Some people are very good at writing understandable code, while most just heap it together.  There are hundreds of different ways to get code to do the same thing (when the 'thing' is complex, anyway).

 

I you haven't coded before, perhaps you've used Excel.  I know many of you have had exposure to the Excel fuel planners out there.  I've looked at my own fuel planners before and thought to myself "what the [heck] was I thinking?!?"  Trying to understand other people's work in Excel could be a substitute for understanding people's code.  Again, with a program like Excel, there are multiple avenues to a solution.  Understanding a person's path to that solution could be extremely challenging, especially with complex solutions.

 

Why all of this?

Well, picking up someone else's project can be a bear.  It's not like you can pick up where they left off.  You have to re-review everything they've done up to that point to understand how to move forward with it.  In many cases, you might as well start fresh and move from there.  That's not to speak ill of anyone out there, honestly.  I can't even tell you how many times I've picked up code, an Excel file, or a database that I've worked with and just deleted the whole thing to start all over (though, with the databases, I usually imported the data into the new table structure).

 

I think those two issues are the main reason they won't revisit it, and why it probably won't be continued in some way, shape, or form.

Could?  Maybe, but I'm pretty sure they collaborated with someone else on part of the project, so that would require his blessing as well, which could make things difficult.  In the game of human efforts, difficult is usually not overcome when it isn't much of an incentive to overcome it.

 

To take that point further:

If you've coded before, then you know that looking at other people's code is like trying to understand how their brain works.  Some people are very good at writing understandable code, while most just heap it together.  There are hundreds of different ways to get code to do the same thing (when the 'thing' is complex, anyway).

 

I you haven't coded before, perhaps you've used Excel.  I know many of you have had exposure to the Excel fuel planners out there.  I've looked at my own fuel planners before and thought to myself "what the [heck] was I thinking?!?"  Trying to understand other people's work in Excel could be a substitute for understanding people's code.  Again, with a program like Excel, there are multiple avenues to a solution.  Understanding a person's path to that solution could be extremely challenging, especially with complex solutions.

 

Why all of this?

Well, picking up someone else's project can be a bear.  It's not like you can pick up where they left off.  You have to re-review everything they've done up to that point to understand how to move forward with it.  In many cases, you might as well start fresh and move from there.  That's not to speak ill of anyone out there, honestly.  I can't even tell you how many times I've picked up code, an Excel file, or a database that I've worked with and just deleted the whole thing to start all over (though, with the databases, I usually imported the data into the new table structure).

 

I think those two issues are the main reason they won't revisit it, and why it probably won't be continued in some way, shape, or form.

There have been people who made upgraded VC textures for the MD-11 and were going to release them as freeware and PMDG wouldn't let them be released. To me that makes no sense, if the VC of the MD-11 looked better I would buy it. So there is one sale lost and who knows how many others. Why block a freeware mod? Its not like it would hurt PMDG's bottom line in fact it would help it.

There have been people who made upgraded VC textures for the MD-11 and were going to release them as freeware and PMDG wouldn't let them be released. To me that makes no sense, if the VC of the MD-11 looked better I would buy it. So there is one sale lost and who knows how many others. Why block a freeware mod? Its not like it would hurt PMDG's bottom line in fact it would help it.

 

Without knowing the full details of what goes on behind the scenes with them, I'm not going to speak any further about it here, but things are often not as simple as they seem.

You are correct Kyle, it was none other than Lefteris Kalamaras who worked on the MD11.

You can see this on the "about" on the FMC. (handy for a pub quiz!)

You are correct Kyle, it was none other than Lefteris Kalamaras who worked on the MD11.

You can see this on the "about" on the FMC. (handy for a pub quiz!)

 

He's referring to Bill Grabowski - the MD-11 was largely his and Michael Frantzekakis's project.

He's referring to Bill Grabowski - the MD-11 was largely his and Michael Frantzekakis's project.

 

That's the one - couldn't remember the name...

Shame.

I too would be one of the people to pay $20 for just a simple VC upgrade.

Maybe in the future, the person who made the freeware update would get the blessing of PMDG. That alone would make me reinstall FSX lol.

With just a VC texture upgrade I wiould buy it also. I just don't understand PMDG's opposition to this.

 

Ted

 

 

would get the blessing of PMDG.

 

 

 

I just don't understand PMDG's opposition to this.

 

This really isn't a difficult concept guys:

It's not only PMDG's blessing that needs to be obtained.  If you read the above posts, this should be abundantly clear.  It's truly not as simple as you're making it.

Ok does anyone know Bill Grabowski or Michael Frantzekakis? if it was their project maybe they can approve it. I know there are legal issues at hand. But re-texuring an old VC shouldn't take an act of congress, especially if its a freeware upgrade that an end user made.