PMDG 737 Update is out.

[RW1 615]

https://forum.pmdg.com/forum/main-forum/general-discussion-news-and-announcements/221046-13oct22-updates-published-to-update-pmdg-737-for-msfs-product-line

Captains!

During the course of Wednesday, we have pushed two updates for each of the PMDG 737-600, PMDG 737-700 and PMDG 737-800 product lines. The first update went late afternoon UTC, and while we were mid-way through that update series, Alex popped up to report that the SDK for the entire product line was now stable, so we opted to run a second updates series for the entire product line to get that released to for those who need it.

These two updates (3.00.0041 and 3.00.0042) mean that since releasing the 737-700 in May, we have published:
Eight product-wide udpates.
389 logged changes/fixes/improvements
All of us at PMDG very much appreciate the enthusiasm so many of you have shown for our products and our work, and we hope these numbers demonstrate our unwavering support of our products and your enjoyment when using them.

Currently we are at work on a broad range of continued improvements for the entire product line to includes, the much discussed PMDG Universal Flight Tablet, enhancements to vertical, lateral and thrust control law to improve aircraft handling during "unusual" MSFS atmospheric events as well as improvements to normal handling characteristics, updated navdata, updated FMS capabilities and much much more.

The two major items on our agenda right now are the 737-900 series, and the PMDG Universal Fllight Tablet- both of which we had thought would be in testing last month- but both of which are still being held for internal testing only. The 900 is taking longer than we anticipated because of some unusual characteristics in the airplane that have to be accounted for- and we want to get them dialed in properly before it is handed off to you guys.

The tablet is just taking longer than we would like due to a number of platform-side challenges- but each day brings progress in that battle. In some corners of the internet, some users have been commenting that our tablet was expected in September. I think in fairness, they are confusing my comments bout expecting the tablet to enter testing in September. We missed our September guidance on testing, and it will be a while longer before the tablet enters testing prior to release. Either way, testing does not equal release so i wanted to make sure that was clear.

It will release once we are happy that we have it in the condition we want it- and not before.

Once we have a clear idea when it will release- we'll let you know. I have chosen not to preview the tablet because we are making changes to the graphical layout and capabilities and I prefer not to show something that is clearly still in motion.

[edit - forgot this piece in the original post]
Another area upon which we are putting a lot of focus lately is pitch/roll/yaw/thrust channel stability and smoothness. In the the simulated environment in which the 737 lives in MSFS, there is a tremendous amount of atmospheric violence that the real airplane doesn't often deal with. Since the F/D and the A/P control law are very dependent upon PIDs, the rate of change data being violently oscillatory is problematic from a mathematical point of view. This is just the nature of the beast in a simulated world and we are in the process of teaching the math how to work with the reality of it's environments in such a way that it will look/feel/act properly to the pilot flying the airplane. We are starting to make great strides in this arena currently- and we anticipate a few more updates the continue calming over-reactive processes in order to smooth out the piloting experience and make it more realistic. Stay tuned for more on this topic later.

Change list for 3.00.0042 is as follows:
===========================
0011989: [General - SDK] SDK to be added when stable for all 737 variants (rsrandazzo)

Change list for 3.00.0041 is as follows:
============================
0011941: [External Model - Geometry] Bad topology on tail (jbrown)
0011939: [Virtual Cockpit - Functionality/Click-Spots] Displays to dim during day time (vscimone)
0011910: [General - Unsure] The SPD BRK steps do not match the mouse click spots (vscimone)
0011217: [AFDS - Pitch Modes] New pitch channel : ALT ACQ model at low altitudes and ALT HLD during turns (emvaos)
0011885: [AFDS - Pitch Modes] New pitch channel : Level change and VNAV SPD (emvaos)
0011546: [FMS/AFDS - VNAV] New pitch mode : VNAV PTH DES mode (emvaos)
0011935: [General - SDK] MCP Altitude output (abashkatov)
0011936: [General - Ground Operations] Request for Loading via stairs without the use of Buses (hvanrensburg)
0011928: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] VC textures fixes (vscimone)
0011933: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] Texture Clipping Pilot Glareshield and Transponder panel (vscimone)
0011855: [Main Panel - ND] X track error should start appearing from 0.01 and not from 0.04 as we have it (abashkatov)
0011930: [External Model - Liveries] 738 BDSF Structure Protruding Out Behind L2 Door (jbrown)
0011931: [General - Unsure] Duplicate entries in CFG files (hvanrensburg)
0011913: [Pedestal - Radios/Comms/Navs] TCAS ON ND (abashkatov)
0011919: [Pedestal - Radios/Comms/Navs] ADF Radio behaviour (abashkatov)
0011926: [External Model - Geometry] Nose gear tire passing through gear doors (jbrown)
0011909: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] Sunshades clip through HGS (hvanrensburg)
0011912: [Systems - Pressurization] PASSENGER OXYGEN SWITCH (hvanrensburg)
0011918: [Pedestal - Radios/Comms/Navs] 2ND ADF (hvanrensburg)
0011907: [External Model - Geometry] Hole in the floor of the 737-700BBJ (jbrown)
0011905: [Virtual Cockpit - Functionality/Click-Spots] Visors Disappear when clicked when cockpit interactions are set to LOCK (vscimone)
0011818: [External Model - Geometry] Shadow issue on left hand fuselage (jbrown)
0011858: [External Model - Geometry] Cabin Divider is Black with no textures (jbrown)
0011232: [External Model - Geometry] PIP options incorrectly connected to selection of LED lights option. (jbrown)
0011850: [External Model - Geometry] Decals on both cargo doors are not attached to the cargo door (jbrown)
0011882: [External Model - Geometry] Frames drops when plane looked from outside (jbrown)
0011824: [External Model - Geometry] Bottom left corner window flicker (jbrown)
0011815: [External Model - Geometry] Small gap at 800 aft cabin (jbrown)
0011851: [External Model - Geometry] 737-800 winglet gap (jbrown)
0011868: [External Model - Liveries] PMDG House livery N738BA BB2 has the wrong title name (jbrown)
0011884: [External Model - Geometry] Airstairs Hatch UV Map Error in 738 Paint kit (jbrown)
0011900: [External Model - Geometry] Wrong Type of Cargo Containers used in the Cargo Variant (jbrown)
0011839: [Main Panel - PFD] Round Rad Alt "Alive" box offset (abashkatov)
0011881: [General - Flight Model] Left and Right trim wheel "White Band/Handle" offset (vscimone)
0011877: [General - Unsure] External view instruments are those of a prop and not a jet (hvanrensburg)
0011897: [General - Unsure] Time Compression button on Clock does not work with PMDG mouse clicks (hvanrensburg)
0011870: [FMS - Performance Pages] Distance to various vertical path markers now showing decimals if within 10nm (emvaos)
0011863: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] Small VC anomalies (vscimone)
0011861: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] 737 VC floating labels and screw (vscimone)
0011857: [General - Documentation] Intro documentation needs updating (hvanrensburg)
0011848: [General - Unsure] Aircraft.cfg entries for the 800 should be B738 and not B737 (cbpowell)
0011843: [General - Unsure] Escape slides should not always be armed when a door is closed (hvanrensburg)
0011846: [Virtual Cockpit - Functionality/Click-Spots] Small Gaps Aft of cockpit windows (vscimone)

Work continues on all fronts- and the 777 team continues to report exceptionally good progress.
Robert S. Randazzo 

[40track 80]

3.00.0042 standalone installer is up for the -800 too for those with slow net.

Edited October 13, 2022 by 40track

[rka 916]

1 hour ago, RW1 said:

The tablet is just taking longer than we would like due to a number of platform-side challenges

Other developers seem less challenged. Just saying...

[JRBarrett 3,080]

55 minutes ago, rka said:

Other developers seem less challenged. Just saying...

The EFB would have to be programmed in JavaScript/HTML to support direct Simbrief and Navigraph access via the internet in the MSFS environment. There is no other way to do it.

Internet access will eventually come to WASM, but is not available yet. JS/HTML is not a programming environment that PMDG has used before. Perhaps they have recently brought on a JS/HTML guru to the team, but if not, their developers (who have always used C++) probably face a bit of a learning curve.

 

[rka 916]

8 minutes ago, JRBarrett said:

The EFB would have to be programmed in JavaScript/HTML to support direct Simbrief and Navigraph access via the internet in the MSFS environment. There is no other way to do it.

Internet access will eventually come to WASM, but is not available yet. JS/HTML is not a programming environment that PMDG has used before. Perhaps they have recently brought on a JS/HTML guru to the team, but if not, their developers (who have always used C++) probably face a bit of a learning curve.

 

It's not rocket science either. But he's talking about platform side challenges, my point being it's likely more a PMDG side challenge which I suppose you will agree 😁

[VBHB 298]

"The tablet is just taking longer than we would like due to a number of platform-side challenges"

Fenix is just an email away....

[David Roch 1,982]

Usual comments about PMDG...
Fortunately, the caravan keeps going while dogs bark.

Kudos to RSR and team for making the 737 better and better with this eighth update.
Love this bird.

[pmplayer 9,497]

They still did not update the pop up 2D panels so they work from the outside view of the plane,  is that realy the true - if yes thats to me unbelivibel !!!

What a waste of time using PMDG products. 

At least for me..🤨

cheers 🤔

[YouDontKnow 93]

No mention about weather radar.

 

What's going on?

[WestAir 2,522]

28 minutes ago, YouDontKnow said:

No mention about weather radar.

 

What's going on?

As far as we the public have been led to believe, Microsoft has no plans to let Asobo create an API capable of realistic WXR depictions. It's very possible we will not see this feature for the lifetime of MSFS. 😕

[VBHB 298]

20 minutes ago, WestAir said:

As far as we the public have been led to believe, Microsoft has no plans to let Asobo create an API capable of realistic WXR depictions. It's very possible we will not see this feature for the lifetime of MSFS. 😕

Source for this?

[DAD 2,653]

Any results with SU11 beta compatibility? Fenix seems to stall for some. Currently off my rig and unable to test myself for some days 

[alepro21 154]

Just did my first flight with the new update and the aircraft froze completely on approach, though MSFS continued without issue. All displays were frozen, none of the buttons moved, and the aircraft surfaces didn't move anymore, even though I managed to still land. 

Fenix broke the A320 with their last update for me (ND freezes), so I went back to flying the 737. Hope this was an isolated issue, but has anyone else experienced this?

[pstrub 998]

2 minutes ago, DAD said:

Any results with SU11 beta compatibility? Fenix seems to stall for some. Currently off my rig and unable to test myself for some days 

PMDG advises against it, there seem to be problems with completing the compilation process of the WASM packages... at least for some users:

[13OCT22] URGENT SERVICE BULLETIN FOR ALL 737 CREW

Today, 07:51

 

Captains,

SUMMARY: Late in the afternoon of 12OCT22, Asobo pushed a new beta SU11 build for Microsoft Flight Simulator. This update provides unstable performance with the 737, with users reporting cockpit display freezes and other problems that cannot be resolved in order to ensure the continuation of flight.

BACKGROUND: PMDG have confirmed through our support monitoring and communication with members of the community that these failures begin taking place immediately upon upgrading to SU11 BETA version of MSFS. We have also found that the SU11 Developer Mode appears to be incompatible with the 737 as it reports errors and problems before failing to complete the product build process in a normal fashion.

RESOLUTION: At this juncture there is no known resolution, but we have reported the build failures to Asobo and requested their input. We are also monitoring customer reports of the failure modes to Asobo.


Reminder that SU11 is a beta build, and these sorts of hiccups in an initial beta release are to be anticipated. PMDG do not get access to these beta builds so we are learning of the problems in real time with customers, and thus we recommend as always that if you have critical flying to accomplish, or do not wish to accept the risk of such failures in your simming experience, we recommend remaining with the SU10 build for now.

Source: https://forum.pmdg.com/forum/main-forum/general-discussion-news-and-announcements/221091-13oct22-urgent-service-bulletin-for-all-737-crew

Solution hasn't been identified yet, won't jump on the SU11 beta before this is clarified.

 

Edited October 13, 2022 by pstrub

[AnkH 2,268]

22 minutes ago, pstrub said:

Solution hasn't been identified yet, won't jump on the SU11 beta before this is clarified.

Jeez, I can only guess how this SU galore of MSFS is a pain in the * for all devs. They all have my true pity...