PMDG 737 for MSFS: Developer Update - A bit of depth for today... Depth of field, that is.

Today, 09:16

Captains,

This week has brought us a bit closer to release, but we are still being pretty cautious about setting a date-certain because of a few things that add some ambiguity. The biggest issue we are evaluating is the potential for Asobo's pending MSFS SU9 to create unanticipated issues with the 737. As you can imagine, consistency in the platform is important for testing purposes, so pushing a release out the door right at the pivot point when a major bug-fix change is coming to the platform requires some pretty careful calculus in order to avoid disrupting the testing process, but also being cautious about not creating a negative initial user experience when SU9 drops.

We have not yet finalized a decision and there is an entire evaluative process taking place. As I said in my 08APR22 update: When we make the date certain, we will let you know.

One other way to make this point so that it is clear: This product is not going to drop unannounced. You will know the day in advance. We may even give you an approximate time of day. So until you see us post this information, the date/time has not been set with certainty.

If we haven't told you the date/time yet- it means we have not finalized it.

We just want to make it a bit easy on everyone to understand. 

Between now and the release, we anticipate it will be quite a bit of fun. We are preparing to release the testing team from embargo so that they can begin telling you what they think of the airplane. Along with this release, we will release some streamers from their embargo hold as well. This should give them some interesting opportunities to show you the airplane from their own perspective and we think you will be excited by what you see.

We are also going to begin giving you far greater insight into the product beginning today, Sunday 17APR22 with the opening of a dedicated PMDG 737 for MSFS video series on our official youtube channel. Look for that a bit later in the day, Sunday. The release of new video content will be relatively steady, provided we don't hit any major surprises late in testing that pull me out of video production and back into code work. (It happens, sometimes...)

The video series will be introduced tomorrow officially, along with the first couple of productions. The deeper we get into the week, the more in depth we will get into the airplane, so it should be fun.

For tonight, I want to share a few images that Jason prepared for me earlier this evening. I rely heavily upon Jason and Vin having a good eye for the sorts of details that really make this product shine- and when Jason sent me a few images to choose from, I was so taken by these two shots that I thought you should see both:

 

 

MORE ON https://forum.pmdg.com/forum/main-forum/general-discussion-news-and-announcements/168683-17aug22-pmdg-737-for-msfs-developer-update-a-bit-of-depth-for-today-depth-of-field-that-is

Edited April 17, 20224 yr by rutra

17 AUG 22? Maybe that is the expected release date?

The day this releases will be a new era for msfs. Only been waiting two years! 

It'll be the same ol 737 just prettier.

1 hour ago, rocketlaunch said:

The day this releases will be a new era for msfs. Only been waiting two years! 

I presume you have been flying another plane as well.

Sorry, just joking its just these pre-release reports tick me off a bit. Sure it will be a great product when finally comes out will def be getting myself. They are certainly building up the anticipation! Thankyou in advance PMDG

Edited April 17, 20224 yr by icewater5

How often are PMDG going to tell us that it's not coming out yet?

PMDG is like an overture - you sit listening and listening....and listening, wondering when the opera is going to start. 

I am a bit surprised at this news. I thought the whole idea of these Beta versions was also to allow developers to test their projects so they don't have any issues? or am i missing something?

Personally with this news i am thinking they are now waiting on SU10, possibly for the weather data etc....

2 hours ago, rutra said:

The biggest issue we are evaluating is the potential for Asobo's pending MSFS SU9 to create unanticipated issues with the 737. As you can imagine, consistency in the platform is important for testing purposes, so pushing a release out the door right at the pivot point when a major bug-fix change is coming to the platform requires some pretty careful calculus in order to avoid disrupting the testing process, but also being cautious about not creating a negative initial user experience when SU9 drops.

This is why we pushed Microsoft/Asobo so hard to do a public opt-in beta.  PMDG have had 2 weeks to see how the 737 performs in the SU9 beta.  Also, some 3rd party developers said they were not invited to the closed beta last year.  Well, everyone has access to the public opt-in beta now so that issue is fixed as well.

I recall some people were against a public opt-in beta last year. I was like, whyyyyyyyyyyyyy??  Why would anybody oppose a public opt-in beta?  Public opt-in betas are great, and it was the one key feature missing from MSFS to help provide MSFS stability and less bugs, when we finally get the Sim Update!

Anyways, back to what Randazzo mentioned about the Youtube videos and lifting the NDA for streamers so that they can stream the PMDG 737, if all this happens this coming week, I will estimate that the PMDG 737 is released probably in May.  I doubt PMDG will release it before SU9 since SU9 is coming up for release on April 26.  

Over this last week, I thought the PMDG 737 would be released in June or even later, because Chewwy was supposed to stream the PMDG 737 but that never happened, so that was a sign that PMDG hit some roadblock.  But if the Youtube videos all happen tomorrow, and the streamers get to stream the PMDG 737 this coming week, I am revising my release estimate to sometime in May.

It's coming close boys!  We're almost there!

Edited April 17, 20224 yr by abrams_tank

30 minutes ago, abrams_tank said:

This is why we pushed Microsoft/Asobo so hard to do a public opt-in beta.  PMDG have had 2 weeks to see how the 737 performs in the SU9 beta.  Also, some 3rd party developers said they were not invited to the closed beta last year.  Well, everyone has access to the public opt-in beta now so that issue is fixed as well.

The public beta was invaluable, as it revealed two serious bugs that affected aircraft built using WASM. (1) Extremely long compilation times for the WASM files on first load of an aircraft, and (2) very sluggish turn behavior when flying under autopilot control using LNAV. This affected the existing Aerosoft CRJ, and would have undoubtedly affected the PMDG test builds, as I assume the 737 is written exclusively in WASM (as is the CRJ).

Both bugs were fixed in the 1.25.7.0 version of SU9 that released late last week. That initial SU9 bug might well have been the reason that streamers had to postpone showcasing the 737 on YouTube and Twitch, but “all is well” now, so hopefully we will see 737 demo streams this coming week.

Edited April 17, 20224 yr by JRBarrett

24 minutes ago, abrams_tank said:

It's coming close boys!  We're almost there!

Judging by the ratio of announcements about announcements, something indeed must be happening....

1 hour ago, Car147 said:

I am a bit surprised at this news. I thought the whole idea of these Beta versions was also to allow developers to test their projects so they don't have any issues? or am i missing something?

Personally with this news i am thinking they are now waiting on SU10, possibly for the weather data etc....

If PMDG waited until the sim was potentially more stable, we could be waiting for months/years because the Sim Updates are going to continue for a while yet. Personally I think the delay is only because SU9 is around the corner (9 days) it would be a bit foolish to release such a complex aircraft at this time (I think the same applies for all the complex airliners about to release). It's better to wait for the release of SU9 and see how things are with the sim and complex aircraft, then fix any issues and then release the 737.

1 hour ago, Ricardo41 said:

PMDG is like an overture

overtures last normally only some 5 minutes, and are sometimes the best part of the whole opera (Beethoven's Fidelio or Wagner's Lohengrin).

15 minutes ago, Amon1973 said:

It's better to wait for the release of SU9 and see how things are with the sim and complex aircraft,

isn't that exactly what the Captain just said?

🌼thought best be thorough though 😉

Edited April 17, 20224 yr by icewater5
grammar

Can understand the caution, people online can shoot down a new aircraft faster than Erich Hartmann… We’ve waited this long, what’s a little longer.