[23FEB19] Some News for your Saturday

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Captains,

Happy Saturday, everyone.

Over the past year, we have been very quiet about our development status and our development agenda.  This was a decision made with purpose because we have been adapting to having multiple, concurrent project development teams sharing development resources- and it requires a complete change in the way we approach project development and project management.  To put it a bit more candidly, we opted not to set any expectations with you publicly because that reduces our flexibility to decide when and how to shift projects forward or backward in the agenda in order to meet our own worfklow needs.

I know, I know..  Simmers are so understanding, patient and accepting of change that it was probably completely unnecessary, ( !!) but we simply felt it was best to play our cards close to the vest in order to give ourselves a bit of running room.

We are starting to feel a bit more comfortable with the pace of things and our own timelines are becoming a bit more clear- so we will very gently begin drawing back the curtain so that you can see what we are up to.  It will happen a bit at a time... (HA! Software jokes!  🤣)

So lets begin with a bit of "so what ARE they up to?"

A lot.

In fact, I don't think we have ever been this swamped with work in the 21 years of PMDG.  Without getting TOO specific, here is what we have:

• New Shopping Cart system being prepared to be brought on-line.
• New Forum System being brought online (today! See below!)
• Migrating all internal systems from precisionmanuals.com to pmdg.com domain.
• Adding PBR capabilities to the P3D v4.4 products (747 & 777)
• Upgrading navdata handling to make it compliant with latest navdata technology from Navigraph and Aerosoft. (Will affect all product lines)
• Rewriting flight director logic to improve aircraft handling. (will affect all product lines)
• Rebuilding LNAV and Magenta Line drawing to use modern navdata and improved F/D logic in order to improve magenta line drawing routines, allow RNP, etc. (will affect all product lines)
• Preparing PMDG Global Flight Operations for broader scale testing with PMDG products.
• Preparing PMDG Global Flight Operations to bring in announced Tier 1 products from developers such as TFDi and Aerosoft.
• Continued development of NG3 product line (at a furious pace!) so that we can transition to beta testing.
• Preparing to take the PMDG DC-3 on a European Tour during the May-July period.
• Prepping another update for the 747 product line.

So- if you wonder why we have been quiet, it is because we are too bloody busy to chat.  😎

From my perspective, looking over the workflow for the entire team- we have hit a confluence of work that I would categorize as "un-glamorous-Just-Grind-It-Out" stuff, like the long overdue shopping cart upgrade and the forum system and the navdata/FD/LNAV changes.  These aren't fun.  They don't bring new products to the table.  But we have been using the same shopping cart system for more than a decade and it is time to get on-board with a modern cart that has modern features and is better able to support what we do.

Unfortunately that soaks up about 14hrs a week of my time... which means someone else has to cover my development work, which means someone has to add to their workflow- and it just slows us all down.  We started this process back in November- so with some luck we will be telling you about a new system cutover here in the weeks ahead.

New PMDG Forum System:

During the summer, we launched a new PMDG forum system and we have had our beta and technical advisory teams operating within that forum system in order to help us prepare it for all of you.  It has received waxing and waning attention as we have faded in and out of the workflow- but last night we decided that what it really needs now are all of you!

We want to make the transition a smooth and easy one for everyone involved- so we will still be here and we will also be there.  At some point in the future we will announce that the entire PMDG team has migrated to our private forum and we will hand the keys here back to AVSim after 20+ years of use.

So if you would like to join the early adopters- head on over to http://forum.pmdg.com and get signed up. 

We are expecting a few knee-knockers and a some adjusting as we all get used to the new system.  We have made an effort to keep the general feel of things familiar to you- but we will begin to make subtle changes to adapt the system to our long term needs as we grow accustomed to managing all of it.

As an inducement to get you to try the new system out:  I am going to post an announcement regarding our development plans over there...  So come on over and check it out!

 

 

Edited February 23, 2019 by rsrandazzo

[Ops Normal 57]

Thanks for the Update. Always Appreciated

[simaddict 46]

Hello. I was going to buy the 777, for P3Dv4. Should I wait until PBR is available, or would it just be an update when it's available?

Thanks,

Mike

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Mike,

No reason to wait.  The update will not cost you anything when we are done in any case.

 

[Swapnil Kapadia 0]

Will NG3 be a stand alone product or an expansion to NGX just like it was done to 747-8? 

[threexgreen 3,135]

2 minutes ago, Swapnil Kapadia said:

Will NG3 be a stand alone product or an expansion to NGX just like it was done to 747-8? 

Whole new product.

[Samany69 41]

I can't activate my forum account, neither of the ways mentioned in the email are not working for me 😢 please help me 😢 

[Ephedrin 418]

OH MY GOSH... PMDG, I love you... 

[threexgreen 3,135]

Is this all the information about the NG3 at this point?

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Niklas,

Patience, young padowan.  Patience.  😁

 

[Jack_Sawyer 4,600]

Do we need to create an entirely new login?

Also, love all this news, count me in on a day one buy with the NG3!

[Olympic260 415]

45 minutes ago, Jack_Sawyer said:

Do we need to create an entirely new login?

Also, love all this news, count me in on a day one buy with the NG3!

Jack, yes new login is needed 

[VHOJT 162]

This LNAV, magenta line, FD, navdata and handling has me pretty word not allowed excited 😄

Will make your products 110%!

[Tim-HH 570]

3 hours ago, rsrandazzo said:

 

• Adding PBR capabilities to the P3D v4.4 products (747 & 777)

 

What about the DC-6? Will it get PBR as well at some point in the future?

[simaddict 46]

Awesome! Reaching for my wallet !!!