PMDG update 6 Jan 24

[JBDB-MD80 1,485]

PMDG 777 Beta Progress:
Our upcoming flagship of the fleet, the PMDG 777 continues to make solid progress through the beta testing period. We aren't yet to a point where we are projecting a release date, as we still have a number of features that are being baked into the airplane and many new items that are being tested, tweaked and improved in order to bring you the most feature rich 777 simulation yet created for desktop simulation. We will begin talking more openly about many of these features as the airplane nears release- and we are also planning to spend a number of weeks doing feature previews and the like- mostly to give you some insight into just how incredibly the 777 will scratch the "big airliner" itch when she rolls out in the near future!

I know many of you are interested in what goes on behind the scenes with our testing program- and it really isn't all that glamourous- I promise. We have just handed BETA 5 to our testing team and they are still testing her heavily in the battery-on to battery-off on short-haul segments in order to give all of the systems and capabilities as many cycle workouts as posisble.

The team is about as active as we have ever seen them- and the rate at which they are reporting items to us remains pretty much right on the slope that we expect to see at this phase of testing.

We have many tracking metrics- and those metrics point to a mostly-healthy test program but we know we still have quite a few features that aren't fully working or still need to be added- so even being on-slope, we still have some items to deliver to the testers.

Since commencing beta testing, the beta team has opened 359 issue reports, and the development team has resolved 263 of them as of 1800Z/06JAN. Things have been a bit slower on the developer side during the Christmas-New Year period, but the second half of this week saw an increase in pace on the dev team side.

The next two weeks will be telling in terms of how many of the open agenda items we are able to square up, while also driving down the number of issue reports. (those are two different sets of items...)

I had hoped we would be doing flight deck previews last week (or this week) but Vin asked that I hold off just a bit longer, as he is still working on some key components' fit and finish- so I'll be back with some flight deck detail for you once he gives the all-clear.


PMDG 737 Marketplace - PC Updates:
This week we saw the marketplace team release new builds for the PMDG 737 series of airplanes in Marketplace-PC. These updates bring PC users up to date with the very latest that is also currently available to our PMDG-direct customers.

PMDG 737 Marketplace - XBox
This week we finally saw the Marketplace team insert our latest test build into the Marketplace-Xbox test environment. We have been trying to get this test build into that test environment since early December and it finally arrived for testing this week. This build was a special one that was instrumented with specific capabilities that would allow us to prove with supporting data that the communications layers on Xbox do operate as they do on the PC. These communication layers within the simulator or critical to the operation of the Universal Flight Tablet- and with those channels blocked, the tablet is effectively useless in the Xbox environment. Ten minutes after we were notified that our specially instrumented build was live- we launched it in the test environment and had all of the data we need to prove our argument that MSFS is behaving differently on Xbox than it is on PC.

It took 4 full months to collect that ten minutes of data- but we have forwarded it to Asobo in hopes that it will allow them to give the Xbox sie the attention it needs to unbock the communication channels- thus freeing up the tablet to work and operate in that environment.

We will keep you posted as to progress.

PMDG 737 Marketplace - Livery Updates
There are a number of livery updates that should start arriving for Marketplace users as well. These were held up due to a production-side flaw in the Marketplace distribution system. I'm not sure how it is that we keep finding these unusual problems in their distribution system- but they reported to us that the problem was on their end- and that it got immediate resources to have it fixed. Last update was that the problem was resolved- but it wasn't clear to us if that meant the livery updates made it out globally- or if they will take through next week to be fully released.

 

 

 

Flame on.

[Jeff Nielsen 1,402]

LOL.  Well, Robert is the forever optimist, I'll give him that.

The post timelines seem a bit strange.  On one hand they're still adding features and on another he says it's close to release.  Then he also says they're going to do "weeks" of pre-release.  Not so sure I'd want to do that.  Too much marketing gets boring.  A couple of days is fine, but weeks is way too much.  That's just my opinion.

Really hoping they'll release with the new navdata format.  I think that's really important (if not critical) across the product lines now.

Anyways, I can read through the post.  Sounds like they're doing good.  That's all that matters.  Can't wait to have the Triple Donkie in the sim 🙂 

 

Edited January 6 by Jeff Nielsen

[Fiorentoni 4,358]

23 minutes ago, Jeff Nielsen said:

On one hand they're still adding features and on another he says it's close to release.

Where did he say "it's close to release"? I think you misread that. It will likely take 2-3 more months.

[Jeff Nielsen 1,402]

3 minutes ago, Fiorentoni said:

Where did he say "it's close to release"? I think you misread that. It will likely take 2-3 more months.

Here's the link to the full post:  [06JAN24] Update on 777 Beta testing- and a few other small items... - PMDG Simulations 

"Hope you all are having a nice weekend- keep looking forward to 777 release! It is almost here!"

It's the very last line.  I paraphrased that last bit, which I think is fair in this instance.

Edited January 6 by Jeff Nielsen

[james42 260]

I hope they can do something with the COMM pages on the 777's lower display with this release. Importing Simbrief flight plans, getting METAR info and receiving loadsheets would all be great features to add.

Edited January 7 by james42

[thepilot 591]

737 MAX where?

[EGLD 439]

5 minutes ago, thepilot said:

737 MAX where?

you've got enough 737's to play with already

[FrankSalo 272]

23 minutes ago, EGLD said:

you've got enough 737's to play with already

Yea but they don't have the LEAP1 engines, new cockpit dispays etc. We want the newest variant. . Especially since one of my favorite airlines retired all their -800's and are now fully MAX 8's. 

[Bobsk8 12,853]

42 minutes ago, FrankSalo said:

Yea but they don't have the LEAP1 engines, new cockpit dispays etc. We want the newest variant. . Especially since one of my favorite airlines retired all their -800's and are now fully MAX 8's. 

disregard

 

 

Edited January 7 by Bobsk8

[carlanthony24 578]

A Max would be nice. Some good flights to do with them.

Edited January 7 by carlanthony24

[Christopher Low 5,390]

4 hours ago, FrankSalo said:

Yea but they don't have the LEAP1 engines, new cockpit displays etc. We want the newest variant. . Especially since one of my favorite airlines retired all their -800's and are now fully MAX 8's. 

I have a radical solution. Continue flying the -800 on these routes until a MAX eventually appears. Go on, you can do it!!

[ThomseN_inc 1,128]

6 hours ago, EGLD said:

you've got enough 737's to play with already

No we don't. Everybody is whining about the T7 and so are "we" about the MAX. I would also prefer a MAX over the T7.

[JBDB-MD80 1,485]

2 hours ago, ThomseN_inc said:

No we don't. Everybody is whining about the T7 and so are "we" about the MAX. I would also prefer a MAX over the T7.

There is no I in we. MAX can wait until they deliver the most ultimate long hauler in flight sim history and that is the PMDG 777 and beyond that there is no other high fidelity long range heavy in the sim after 3 and a half years is ridiculous.

 

Edited January 7 by JBDB-MD80

[Tierborn 191]

12 hours ago, Jeff Nielsen said:

LOL.  Well, Robert is the forever optimist, I'll give him that.

The post timelines seem a bit strange.  On one hand they're still adding features and on another he says it's close to release.  Then he also says they're going to do "weeks" of pre-release.  Not so sure I'd want to do that.  Too much marketing gets boring.  A couple of days is fine, but weeks is way too much.  That's just my opinion.

Really hoping they'll release with the new navdata format.  I think that's really important (if not critical) across the product lines now.

Anyways, I can read through the post.  Sounds like they're doing good.  That's all that matters.  Can't wait to have the Triple Donkie in the sim 🙂 

 

I also conclude that since these are your words, they are your opinions. 😁

[MikeH99 157]

10 hours ago, thepilot said:

737 MAX where?

Grounded remember?