PMDG Update

[V1ROTA7E]

“Captains,

During the afternoon today we have been pushing a series of updates to the entire PMDG 737 for Microsoft Flight Simulator product line. These updates affect the 737-600/700/800 airplanes.

It is a bit unusual to release two updates on the same day, but last week's update got subsumed by my travel schedule, so we felt it was best to get you both of them today, in order to ensure you had the very latest updates and fixes available for the PMDG 737 product line.

These updates are a bit more "foundational" than some others, which makes the change list is a bit meager because I have stripped out many items that relate to internal fixes/changes that are coming about due to preparations for future equipment additions to the product line. Some items you know about (the Universal Flight Tablet) and others we are working on in the background and will turn them on when they are ready.

You will also notice that we have brought in the Multi-Mode radios and a few other minor features and changes just to keep advancing the state of the airplane.

The most obvious change made in this round of updates involves changes to the ground handling qualities of the airplane: Over the summer, some additional capabilities were added to MSFS related to tiller steering and ground handling- so we switched from our own internal handling algorithms to using the Asobo ones and this has required some effort to continue tuning since many of the new features remain undocumented. While still not perfect- we think this iteration is significantly better and we continue to push on our communication channels to seek further improvements so that we can bring a truly realistic Boeing steering experience to the airplane.

Other changes of note are as follows:

0012223: [Pedestal - Radios/Comms/Navs]introduction of MMRs (GLS functionality pending) (abashkatov)
0012251: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] Black texture on all VC's (vscimone)
0012210: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] Captain Footrest adjustment (vscimone)
0012253: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] Texture clipping on NAV 2 panel (vscimone)
0012228: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] Comm 2 strange texture (abashkatov)
0012173: [Virtual Cockpit - Functionality/Click-Spots] F/O PREV PAGE button not animating (vscimone)
0012211: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] Right Air outlet needs adjustment (vscimone)
0012198: [External Model - Geometry] Light bleeding through front cabin walls (jbrown)
0012199: [External Model - Geometry] Hole in front of passenger cabin (jbrown)
0012150: [FMS - Performance Pages] Consistent use of custom payload ZFW value (emvaos)
0012190: [General - Ground Operations] Stairs 1L Arrive Even if JTWY INH (hvanrensburg)
0012175: [FMS - Setup/Options Pages] EFIS/MAP Options still greyed out (hvanrensburg)
0012180: [External Model - Liveries] Texture Alignment Between Fuse2 - Fuse3 Left Side (jbrown)
0012176: [Virtual Cockpit - Geometry/Textures] Black texture on top of glareshield (vscimone)
0012226: [Virtual Cockpit - Functionality/Click-Spots] Switches with PMDG Mouse option (hvanrensburg)

In related news the PMDG 737-900 series is effectively finished with testing and we are working to clean up a few last minute details for impending release. 

Additionally, work on the Universal Flight Tablet continues. We are still working to refine the communication methods between the airplane (c++/wasm) and the tablet itself (jscript)- which has been a much larger and more difficult task than imagined due to restrictions placed on C++/WASM projects freedom to use common communications protocols at the platform level. Further we have discovered (through trial and error) that the secure communication channel allowed has a bad habit of turning itself off- and we are waiting on some input from Asobo to see if there is something we are doing that causes this or if the underlying technology needs a bit of tweaking on the platform side.

All of this has required some creativity to work around- such as the creation of an entire communications and language parsing construct to pass text and data across a restricted communication stream only capable of taking numeric data. Not a fun way to spend time, but we are into functionality testing on parts of it and if the current process works it should finally unlock forward progress on the features that need tablet-to-airplane communication. This hasn't been a fun process by any stretch- but it is what it is- and we fortunately only have to invent the wheel the first time.

We have our finger on the "push" button for a DC-6 update as well- but we are waiting for a specific update at the platform level to drop, as it is required for the changes we have made to DC-6. I'll detail those changes for you once we push that update... but we think you will be pleased to see how we are continuing to keep the DC-6 in sync with improvements on the platform!

In case anyone wonders: I have intentionally mentioned nothing of the 777 in this announcement. That was not accidental- we are hard at work on the 777 in the back of the house, but at the front we are focused on the 737 and DC-6! ”

 

https://forum.pmdg.com/forum/main-forum/general-discussion-news-and-announcements/236389-26jan23-new-updates-ploural-for-pmdg-737-msfs-product-line-released-today-updates-whole-line-to-3-00-0060

[NZ255]

Will be keen to see the ground handling improvements 

[DAD]

Nice, almost buried under the FS Traffic release but happy to see PMDG are creeping forward towards -900 and EFB release. Re the EFB communication channel turning off it is nice they try to get some feedback from Asobo but wonder why they don‘t ask some of the other devs with working EFB since RSR mentioned in his recent interview that it would not be the first time devs are helping each other… but well, may be for a reason beyond my limited imagination

[btacon]

17 minutes ago, DAD said:

but well, may be for a reason beyond my limited imagination

Hubris perhaps?

[Greazer]

Well Zibo Mod has had the MMR for a few years now at least. Good to see Pmdg is catching up to that. Will give it shot later today.

[MikeH99]

Good update no whaffle just telling us what's happening.

[captain420]

What is the MMR for and how does that make the experience better?

[LRBS]

53 minutes ago, captain420 said:

What is the MMR for and how does that make the experience better?

Just an upgrade to the multi-mode receiver (MMR), instead of dials there is a keypad interface to change the frequencies. 

[captain420]

1 minute ago, LRBS said:

Just an upgrade to the multi-mode receiver (MMR), instead of dials there is a keypad interface to change the frequencies. 

Nice! Thanks for explaining!

[LRBS]

I just found this information before going crazy with a long explanation.

 

[captain420]

Thanks again for that! That shows and explains things very well!

[miguel370]

i dont think they are focusing on the DC6. it has been a long time since they have paid the slightest attention. and it is a pity because as a customer who paid my 60 euros I can not enjoy it. 

[captain420]

I really can't wait until all the 737's are done. Tbh, I'm so tired of 737's. I really want the 777 and 747. The only 737 I would be interested is the MAX.

[Victors Valiant]

Somehow PMDG is still struggling with the tablet and waiting on Asobo, while other developers have had a working tablet for multiple years now

[Flightsky]

I had originally thought the EFB would be completed in 2022, and that PMDG would be mostly done with the 737 by the end of 2022, so that PMDG would have no problems releasing the 777 in 2023.  I had even thought the 900 was supposed to be released within 2 to 3 months of the 800's release but that never happened.  I wonder whether some of the developers working on the EFB and still working on the 737, are slowing down the progress of the 777 because they are not working on the 777.

Now I am not so certain the 777 will be released in 2023, seeing how things have taken so long for the 737 in 2022.