Insofar as all of everything regarding availability of high-fidelity addons for MSFS is concerned, my view is largely: I'll believe it when I see it [for sale & working].

The gist one gets from this thread is that devs, including PMDG are struggling with the SDK and other aspects of developing for MSFS. Regrettably in the case of PMDG they appear to be allowing support for their existing P3D products fall by the wayside as a result, a shame as I do hold their 747 very dear to my heart and would love to see more improvements to it in P3D. Hopefully the LNav update allegedly still in development will sove some of my current gripes.

To a certain extent I'm not particularly interested in the debate as to what time frame is 'acceptable' for these things to be out and working be it 16 Months, 5 years, day one etc. If I've learned one thing as a software consumer it's that timelines are rarely accurate!

The real judgement will come when (or indeed if) these things come out for MSFS and comparisons can be made to their P3D equivalents. For the sake of PMDG and other consumers I certainly hope it will be at least equivalent in systems-depth; ideally even better. If in a few years MSFS is the sim to get my study-level 747/MD80 fix then I imagine it will be my next sim, but I will wait for the groundwork to be present first.

One PMDG update that would be useful to me would be a fix for the "bounce" that happens with the 747-400. When the plane is approaching an altitude restriction and the thrust drops, the nose pitches up and down several times until it stabilises. It kinda breaks the immersion when I am flying a very large and very heavy aircraft. This issue does not affect the 777 or the 737. Does anyone else see this? I have the very latest version of the 747 installed in P3Dv4.5.

Edited December 22, 20214 yr by Christopher Low

1 minute ago, Christopher Low said:

One PMDG update that would be useful to me would be a fix for the "bounce" that happens with the 747-400 whenever the thrust reduces. What I mean by this is......when my 747 is approaching an altitude restriction and the thrust drops, the nose of the plane pitches up and down several times until it stabilises. It kinda breaks the immersion when I am flying a very large and very heavy aircraft. This issue does not affect the 777 or the 737. Does anyone else see this? I have the very latest version of the 747 installed in P3Dv4.5.

I have the exact same problem. I find that its a lot worse on the -8. For me when flying the -8 especially with a light payload, it always busts straight through any altitude then it constantly pitches up and down until it finally settles. One thing you can do is press ALT HOLD on the MCP which settles it a little quicker. Cant see PMDG fixing this anytime soon unfortunately. 

1 hour ago, Christopher Low said:

One PMDG update that would be useful to me would be a fix for the "bounce" that happens with the 747-400. When the plane is approaching an altitude restriction and the thrust drops, the nose pitches up and down several times until it stabilises. It kinda breaks the immersion when I am flying a very large and very heavy aircraft. This issue does not affect the 777 or the 737. Does anyone else see this? I have the very latest version of the 747 installed in P3Dv4.5.

Seems I remember on their forum this has been acknowledged as a bug scheduled to be fixed but we know the story there. Believe it if and when you see it.

As soon as I see that "bouncing", my mind switches from "realistic simulation" to "arcade toy" mode......and that has solidified my decision to uninstall the 747, and reinstall the 777. That may sound slightly OCD, but there is nothing worse than an immersion breaking bug in an otherwise impressive simulation. A bit like looking out of the window and seeing bland and generic terrain textures

On a serious note, that bug should really have been fixed a long time ago.

Edited December 22, 20214 yr by Christopher Low

Well I saw the new update by PMDG - no mention of P3D updates at all.

 

One user said it nice - P3D users are getting lump of coal for this holiday season lol.

 

I am still waiting on a simple P3Dv5 Installer for DC-6 by the time it comes out - P3DV6 will be out by May-June 2022 lol 

 

But I get a strange feeling that V6 Will have whole new lighting upgrades in P3D and everyone will be in for a surprise....something tells me that.  Maybe Rob A or Simbol know something as they are beta testers but just can't say anything....

P3Dv5.3 has PBR materials etc - maybe LM is doing it small steps

Edited December 25, 20214 yr by Skywolf

I feel your pain, Skywolf. I have been waiting for updates to the P3D TrueEarth GB and ORBx UK airports packages for a long time, but nothing ever happens. None of the developers ever respond on the ORBx forum. Poor Nick has to constantly pass on any messages, but it feels like a waste of time.

On 12/22/2021 at 2:54 PM, Christopher Low said:

One PMDG update that would be useful to me would be a fix for the "bounce" that happens with the 747-400. When the plane is approaching an altitude restriction and the thrust drops, the nose pitches up and down several times until it stabilises. It kinda breaks the immersion when I am flying a very large and very heavy aircraft. This issue does not affect the 777 or the 737. Does anyone else see this? I have the very latest version of the 747 installed in P3Dv4.5.

I fly the QOTSII exclusively and have not noticed what you mention. You mean that when it  arrives at its set altitude on Auto pilot, climbing or descending, it takes a while to "settle".  I will look out for it next time.

It is entirely possible that this is an "empty aircraft" issue with the 747. I fly it with no passengers or cargo, so it is very light. However, I have not noticed the same issue with the 777.