Good day guys, I hope everyone is having a wonderful Tuesday.  :smile:

 

I have been an X-Plane user now for some time and I am extremely delighted to be alive to witness PMDG's ventures with the sim. With the impending release of the DC-6, I am now curious about PMDG's potential future on the platform. Although I have read countless times that the company indeed plans to continue on the platform, I am more interested in feasibility. 

 

What hurdles have the team overcame in their endeavors? Is it a drastically time consuming process to develop for both platforms simultaneously? How different has the development process been for both platforms? 

 

I'm also interested in knowing if the team sees parallel (with regards to time and product type) development for both simulations in the upcoming years, or should we expect more of a branched approach, where porting a product from one sim to another is the more efficient route.

 

These questions are particularly interesting to me since I have spent some time developing my own addons in X-Plane with more efficiency than other sims, such as FSX and its derivatives.  

 

Thank you in advance,

Jamalje-

 

It is too early to tell.

 

The point of the DC-6 Cloudmaster being developed initially in X-Plane is to give us a methodology against which to evaluate the process of developing an airplane in X-Plane and them moving it to FSX and/or Prepar3D.

 

After we finish that movement, we will be able to evaluate the pro/con conditions of developing on X-Plane and moving to a different platform, but then we still have to "go the other way."

 

That will take place on a different project- and then we will compare the two approaches.

 

So...  We have only just begun to explore how we want to approach developing on multiple platforms- it is WAY too early in the game to draw conclusions for the long term.

Ah okay, that is clear - it does make sense. 

 

Thanks for the response Rob. All the best with tomorrow's release.

I think it is safe to say that the future of simming is very bright indeed with support like this!

If memory serves me correct with X-Plane it actually builds an aerodynamic model off of the actual plane mesh. That was one of the main pro's of X-Plane, and I could never figure out why MS didn't just go that route. I would think that would be the biggest hurdle is having to build the flight dynamics from the ground up for FSX as it is completely different. Only people that know for sure though is them as I don't think anyone else is even attempting anything similar. I hope it all pans out well as I would love to add the DC-6 to my FSX hangar. I am very tempted to dig out my X-Plane 10 disc from the depths of my containers though, and give it a whirl.

If memory serves me correct with X-Plane it actually builds an aerodynamic model off of the actual plane mesh. That was one of the main pro's of X-Plane, and I could never figure out why MS didn't just go that route. I would think that would be the biggest hurdle is having to build the flight dynamics from the ground up for FSX as it is completely different. Only people that know for sure though is them as I don't think anyone else is even attempting anything similar. I hope it all pans out well as I would love to add the DC-6 to my FSX hangar. I am very tempted to dig out my X-Plane 10 disc from the depths of my containers though, and give it a whirl.

The X-Plane approach is predominantly CFD. For earlier years running good CFD online isn't an option due to CPU power. The FSX generic model is a parametric pre-computed model, which requires an ordinary differential equation solver to do the simulation, as against to partial differential equations for CFD. Numerical solution of ODEs have been researched to death. However efficient PDE solvers are still a focus of on going research.

I hope I am not the only one who just went to look up CFD, ODE, PDE and so on...

 

My brain hurts

 

Andrew

ah ... I see that FSX only uses an ordinary paralytic equation... XP on the other hand must use an extraordinary paralytic equation...is that what he means by CBS?

Andrew-

 

Don't be overly impressed.  The methods used by both platforms are sufficient tools in the hands of a skilled flight model designer. 

 

They take different techniques and have different weaknesses and limitations- but with enough skill and intelligence you can bend them to your will.  We have been doing it for years.

Andrew-

 

Don't be overly impressed.  The methods used by both platforms are sufficient tools in the hands of a skilled flight model designer. 

 

They take different techniques and have different weaknesses and limitations- but with enough skill and intelligence you can bend them to your will.  We have been doing it for years.

thats why i keep coming back to flightsim. Its because you guys are the only ones who know how to do heavy metsl in fs and do it right.

 

On a side note Robert. I flew with a captain a couple weeks ago who flew the jetstream for ACA and was based out of IAD. I asked if he knew you and he had absolutely no idea who you were hahhaha. I only asked him because I remember you saying you were the IAD chief pilot or something like that.

Every time I see the title of this thread, I think of Stewie:

 

Every time I see the title of this thread, I think of Stewie:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCPgTZgRQHc

hahaha unbelievably funny