5 minutes ago, threegreen said:

It's very sturdy, yes. 🙂

Stronger than you could even imagine!

While all the gnashing of teeth goes on about the pricing and release timeline PMDG have chosen, I'm most excited about this bit blow that deserves a lot of attention. 
 

Quote

What is missing?:
One question that gets asked a lot (and ignored, sorry!) is "so what did you have to take out of the PMDG 737 to make it work in MSFS?

The answer, quite simply, is "almost nothing."

Sure, there are some features that we opted not to bring over to MSFS because we felt that they weren't necessary. For example, it was not necessary for us to retain a good portion of the process we used to control ground steering in P3D as MSFS has a far better system when it comes to such things. We have also made a late decision to remove the old-style Boeing EFB and replace it with a newer, tablet style that will give us greater freedom for such things as displaying navigraph charts, flight planning data, graphically based cockpit options (which are currently controlled through FMS-based menus) and that sort of thing.

At the end of the day, the PMDG 737-700 for MSFS is a far more feature-rich simulation of the 737 series airplane than we have been able to produce in previous platforms and that has us very excited. We have shared the airplane with a few non-PMDG/non-PMDG beta individuals and their feedback has been highly enthusiastic. We think yours will be as well once you have your hands on her!

It was already obvious MSFS was shaping up to be a great platform for *both* a realistic world environment and aircraft simulation, and this bird is just going to ramp up the proof for that in spades.. and in addition to all the great aircraft about to be released or already out in beta (i.e. C414, C310, JF Bae-146, Maddog MD80, Fenix A320, Inibuilds A310, FBW A320, Boeing 247D, and on and on). A banner year for MSFS and I for one can't wait to see what comes in the future!

Edited April 8, 20224 yr by lwt1971

55 minutes ago, pstrub said:

In the latest update, Rob wrote: "At approximately six week intervals we will be adding a new 737 package to the product line, to include the PMDG 737-600 for MSFS, PMDG 737-800 for MSFS and PMDG 737-900 for MSFS each as a stand-alone package that will include real world variations of the airframe type and it's various unique flying, handling and options qualities."

To me that seems like they intend to tweak the flight model for each variant individually.

You mean, like they did with the P3D version?

3 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

You mean, like they did with the P3D version?

Well yes, but still good to see it confirmed specifically for the MSFS version 😉 

1 hour ago, pstrub said:

.....So it seems like the -700 will have the most variants available, the -800 only passenger and cargo, and the 600/900 just the passenger variant......

Why would the 800 be released without a BBJ option? Has that been stated by PMDG?

Edited April 8, 20224 yr by Christopher Low

Just now, Christopher Low said:

Why would the 800 not come with a BBJ option?

I was speculating a bit here... the 700 was announced to have a BBJ version, and as far as I can see from PMDG's P3d BBJ site, they don't mention different fuselage lengths there. I haven't really flown in P3d, just returned to flight simulation with MSFS, so I don't have first-hand experience with the 737 for P3d...

Just now, pstrub said:

I was speculating a bit here... the 700 was announced to have a BBJ version, and as far as I can see from PMDG's P3d BBJ site, they don't mention different fuselage lengths there. I haven't really flown in P3d, just returned to flight simulation with MSFS, so I don't have first-hand experience with the 737 for P3d...

Yes, the BBJ2 and 3 came with the expansion so it can be surmised that they’ll come with the NG3 variants 

20 minutes ago, Chapstick said:

Yes, the BBJ2 and 3 came with the expansion so it can be surmised that they’ll come with the NG3 variants 

ahhh ok ok, this wasn't so clear to me from a quick glance at the website. Then again, I'm not really familiar with the BBJ and all its variants. Neither in flight simulation, nor in real life.

Edited April 8, 20224 yr by pstrub

One nice thing about the B737-800 BBJ is it's long range - 5,644 NM/10,453 km. I'd get one of those for sure.

Not really interested in the -700 at all. Very curious choice to release that one first. 

21 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Not really interested in the -700 at all. Very curious choice to release that one first. 

$$$  so they can make money on that one before the more popular options. 

Edited April 8, 20224 yr by Ridvan Celik

This is quite excellent news regarding this new 737 for MSFS2020.

Unfortunately, I'm not so sure about their standing behind the product and fixing certain issues, one of them is a well-known issue of the LNAV since before 2019 when they advertised that a fix is on the way or even in testing. 

Just as a reminder, in

 [29MAY21] A short update on non-MSFS agenda items 

Development Focus in P3D Universe:
Since the release of the PMDG 777-200ER, we have shifted our Prepar3D development focus to the next agenda item, which is the re-implementation of our LNAV mode, along with requisite behavior changes to the Flight Director Roll Logic and the manner in which we interact with Navdata that underpins all of it. Currently we are working with an internal alpha of the PMDG 747 Queen of the Skies that has the new LNAV and Flight Director Roll Logic. This project has been underway for some time and we are really quite happy with the results.

 

So, I was wondering if this is what we should expect from them with their future products.

2 minutes ago, LRBS said:

This is quite excellent news regarding this new 737 for MSFS2020.

Unfortunately, I'm not so sure about their standing behind the product and fixing certain issues, one of them is a well-known issue of the LNAV since before 2019 when they advertised that a fix is on the way or even in testing. 

Just as a reminder, in

 [29MAY21] A short update on non-MSFS agenda items 

Development Focus in P3D Universe:
Since the release of the PMDG 777-200ER, we have shifted our Prepar3D development focus to the next agenda item, which is the re-implementation of our LNAV mode, along with requisite behavior changes to the Flight Director Roll Logic and the manner in which we interact with Navdata that underpins all of it. Currently we are working with an internal alpha of the PMDG 747 Queen of the Skies that has the new LNAV and Flight Director Roll Logic. This project has been underway for some time and we are really quite happy with the results.

 

So, I was wondering if this is what we should expect from them with their future products.

I think what you should expect is what they are doing with the DC6. You buy  it, and if something breaks, it will never get fixed. 

22 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

I think what you should expect is what they are doing with the DC6. You buy  it, and if something breaks, it will never get fixed. 

To be fair to PMDG, they expected this product to be released in Aug 2020. There's almost 2 years of extended dev time on this project, and that's an expensive setback. Personally I like to think PMDG will be giving us a lot of very overdue fixes and cutting edge features once the cashflow from the NG3 starts to roll in.

I'll be holding my breath Bob. Wish me luck.

47 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

I think what you should expect is what they are doing with the DC6. You buy  it, and if something breaks, it will never get fixed. 

What's broken?  Not having advanced tutorial videos is very different than the plane being broken.  To be fair I've had multiple updates to my DC6 via the Operations Center, are you checking the Operations center for updates?  Not even sure what the latest release is but just an example:

Quote

Captains,

Just in time for your weekend flying, we have issued a new update for the PMDG DC-6 for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This update, like the previous updates, is available to you via the PMDG Operations Center.

This update is focused on some improvements to performance and enhancements in usability based upon feedback from users now that the product is in such wide operation.

The Highlights:

• MSFS Time Acceleration Rate Awareness and Control: The sim's acceleration rate is now displayed on the tablet's Options page. This is really useful since MSFS doesn't display that information for you anyplace that is actually useful. You can immediately go to 1:1 time with the tablet button, too, which is very useful.

• Tablet click spot tweaks: We did some cleanup to help make the tablet click-spots a bit easier to find with the mouse.
• Added hardware controls for beacon/strobes/nav (see notes below)
• Performance improvements when realistic engine damage mode is selected ON.
• Automated Flight Engineer tablet page completely overhauled to make it easier to use and easier to read in flight.
• More LOD model refinements
• Cabin model refinements

Change Log Items for this build:
0010048: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures/Appearance] Removal of Small Polygon artifact on glareshield in VC (vscimone)
0010049: [Virtual Cockpit - Animation/Functionality/Click-Spots] Layout on AFE page needs to be less cramped. (hvanrensburg)
0009992: [Sounds] Allow hardware control of position and beacon lights (cbpowell)
0010036: [External Model - Geometry] LOD behavior using Drone camera (jbrown)
0010032: [External Model - Geometry] Shorten texture path names to help get under the 260 character limit on paths for users with abusively long path-names (jbrown)
0010043: [Virtual Cockpit - Animation/Functionality/Click-Spots] Add Simulation Rate indicator and reset button to Options page in tablet. (hvanrensburg)
0010044: [Systems Behavior/Functionality] Display sim rate and allow user to immediately trigger 1:1 time (cbpowell)
0009962: [Documentation] Addition to Introduction document. (hvanrensburg)
0010038: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures/Appearance] Sections of cockpit ceiling look flat in VR. (vscimone)
0010039: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures/Appearance] Entry light housing in back room looks flat in VR (vscimone)
0010037: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures/Appearance] Padding on walls and ceiling still looks flat (vscimone)


DANGER DANGER: Moving MSFS Can Cause You Major Headaches:
We have been chasing our tails the past few weeks trying to determine why a handful of users are having problems running our installer, and problems installing liveries. We nailed this problem down after a tremendous amount of research and coordination with affected customers and discovered that some users have moved the installation location of MSFS using guidance provided by Microsoft themselves, along with an application moving tool. This tool does HORRIFIC things to the path names, and cause the total pathname for the installation to bump up on 200+ characters in length, which when combined with the pathing information for the DC-6 causes the entire path to exceed the 260 character limit which is native to Windows 10.

To try and improve customer experience, we found some places where we could shorten the path names in the DC-6 slightly, and that is reflected in this build, however: The process of using the MS guidance and tool to change the installation location of MSFS will push the user right up to the brink of the 260 character limit and there is very little else we can do to pare down the path names since most of them are taken up by the combination of the windows reposition tool and MSFS combined. For this reason, we strongly encourage users NOT to use the move-tool, but instead if you find it necessary to move the location of your MSFS install- we hope you will consider uninstalling and reinstalling the simulator, as this will lead to a better, more consistent outcome for your expansion products.

This problem is not unique to PMDG as it affects all developers in both aircraft and scenery. Short of coming up with single letter path names or using 8bit paths like us (really) old time computer users remember- there is just not much that can be done. If you have run into this problem and you need guidance, our support team is happy to help you resolve it the right way in order to ensure you have the most problem-free user experience possible- as that is our primary goal in this recommendation.
 

Or this one:

Quote

A few moments ago, we issued a new update for the PMDG DC-6 for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This update, like the previous updates, is available to you via the PMDG Operations Center.

This update is focused on some improvements to performance and enhancements in usability based upon feedback from users now that the product is in such wide operation.


The Highlights:
- Automated Flight Engineer's audio now has his own volume channel tied to the Aircraft Miscellaneous slider
- A/C inverter logic and certain A/C powered instruments reworked/remodeled/corrected
- Improved hardware support
- Fit-and-finish items around the virtual cockpit
- Visual tidying of the cabin and exterior models


Change Log Items for this build:

0009963: [Suggested/Missing Features] AFE needs sound slider to increase volume (hvanrensburg)
0009967: [Virtual Cockpit - Animation/Functionality/Click-Spots] RTM- Inverter and Generator Click Spots need position indicators (hvanrensburg)
0009970: [Suggested/Missing Features] Additional External Camera views (jbrown)
0009975: [Systems Behavior/Functionality] Bendix King ADF timer won't switch to hours (hvanrensburg)
0010050: [Systems Behavior/Functionality] AFE Before Start flow does not close doors (hvanrensburg)
0010051: [External Model - Lighting] Landing Lights and wing light glass cover is solid white. (jbrown)
0010052: [Systems Behavior/Functionality] Throttle speed movement with gamepad controller very slow (cbpowell)
0010053: [External Model - Geometry] Front cabin seats strange texture (jbrown)
0010054: [Unsure] Default view for Tablet view (control 0) is off center (jbrown)
0010059: [Documentation] Incorrect schematics of fuel system management in POH (hvanrensburg)
0010061: [External Model - Geometry] Cargo boxes in DC-6A main cargo deck appear/disappear on LOD1 (jbrown)
0010062: [Documentation] Tutorials 1 and 2 Tablet and other info needs to be updated (hvanrensburg)
0010063: [External Model - Geometry] Strange Ice Artifact around captain and FO window frame in VC view. (jbrown)
0010064: [Systems Behavior/Functionality] Inverters and A/C electrical system are mis-modeled (with associated instrument power errors) (cbpowell)
0010068: [Systems Behavior/Functionality] Battery overcharges without boundary (cbpowell)
0010070: [Systems Behavior/Functionality] Click-spots randomly activating (hvanrensburg)
0010071: [Systems Behavior/Functionality] Cowl flap selector doesn't line up with the numbers around the dial. (hvanrensburg)
0010072: [Virtual Cockpit - Animation/Functionality/Click-Spots] AC Voltmeter tool tip should be "AC Voltmeter" not "AC Voltmeter Eng Inst" (hvanrensburg)
0010073: [Virtual Cockpit - Animation/Functionality/Click-Spots] Add dynamic tool tips to Inverter switches "No. X/NORMAL", "OFF", "STBY" (hvanrensburg)
0010074: [Systems Behavior/Functionality] Engine instruments should not be operational on emergency inverter (cbpowell)
0010075: [Systems Behavior/Functionality] Emergency inverter does not obey its circuit breaker (cbpowell)
0010076: [Sounds] Emergency inverter sound does not cease if its CB is tripped (hvanrensburg)
0010077: [Systems Behavior/Functionality] F1-F4 keys are hard-bound to throttle movement and cannot be reassigned (cbpowell)
0010078: [Systems Behavior/Functionality] Shutdown- Props still moving (hvanrensburg)


We have more changes that we are prepping to hand off to our testers, and we'll pass those along to you once they are tested. We are also beginning to map out unveiling our next release for MSFS...

Exciting times ahead!

Thank you for the overwhelming support of our DC-6. We really hope you are enjoying yourselves!
 

But sure, they never fix anything...  

Edited April 8, 20224 yr by psolk