pbenoit

Back in the day, When I was working from a home office, I could get up early, prep a flight, and get airborne before "going to work" I was flying for Singapore V A in those fun days, and would fly long routes, WSSS to KLAX, EGLL, EDDF, PANC, FAJS, FACP. Sometimes passengers and sometimes cargo using the PSS 777 and PMDG 744. I could work on one PC while flying on another.... watching the weather, responding to ATC, managing the flight, balancing fuel. It was a total blast, at least I thought at the time!!!!! Usually by the end of my work day, I'd be in a descent and prepping an approach. Those were the days!!!! Best to everyone Paul Benoit (Kbos)

Ah, but ain't life just grand. It's nice to see an intelligently handled conversation. There is no right or wrong here, just personal choice and preferences. IMHO, developers, manufacturers, other folks who mnake or produce things for people to buy need to pay attention to what people want. People "vote" with their hard earned money.Agreed, this discussion will never end because people have likes and dislikes, preferences. I do sincerely wish that someone from PMDG would make an official statement about whether there WILL or WILL NOT a 2D cockpit in the 777. Easy enough to do, a simple binary yes or no, no trade secrets or promises to divulge, dates "not" to discuss, but a simple YES or NO would be just great. If the issue is not yet settled, then that would be nice to know. INFORMATION is all I believe people would like to know, no biggie, 2D or not.Please, Capt Randazo, Ryan, Dr Vaos, just a word or two; a minute to help those of us who are intertested level set our expectations and get on with it. Like Control said in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, "just one word, Jim, just one word....." 2D 3D or Both. 8-)=Thanks so much for listeningbest regards,Paul BenoitKBOS/KOWD

Hello Pmdg, and all of you other forum lurkers,if this "no 2d" thing is true, then i'll have to think hard and long about it. My trusty old P$$ Triple 7 has served me quite well for years and hundreds of great flights, but I'm sure will not it hold a remote candle to a PMDG offering, but I can't stand the 3D cockpits, have never figured out how to smoothly use them to fly. With literally thousands of hours of FS flying, I have avoided the 3d stuff like the plague. I am an old dog, and I don't really want new tricks.o well, call me silly, but i would really appreciate the option, like I have with the awesome NGX, MD11, 747 and everything else I "fly"Thanks for listeningPaul BenoitKBOS/KOWD

Thanks Gents, appreciate your quick responses. I will sniff around for some piper docs. And I guess I'll go into BF Skinner pigeon pecking mode and try things and see what I break., hahahahahahaha, o me of little faith. I guess if I can handle the Maddog I can handle this little guy.Thanks again,Paul BenoitKowd/Kbos

Hello,I just bought this beauty. While there are ;lots of .PDFs, there does not seem to be a general user manual to acquaint one with the software, panel switching, features, all the stuff, which for example, ESDG, Flight One and PMDG usually provide to acquaint you with the product and their implementation.The normal prcedures are great, if you are already familiar with the aircraft. Is there a "quick start", "tutorial first flight" or anything like these available, planned? I feel like a whiner here, have been simming for ever, mostly big complex iron.... and this "little" one is very complex and needs a bit of generic "this is how it all works" instruction. I remember the "Meridian" long long ago, was the same complexity, but it did have some good introductory user stuff, in addition to all the complex component doc.Thanks for any guidance here, and again, sorry for being a wimpy old dude, this is my first carenado product, and I want to learn all the features and how-tos. I prefer the written words with illustrations, rather than the Pavlovian try and fail, try and learn, been there done that for 60+ years.Cheers to all and tnanks,Paul BenoitKOWD/KBOS

all very nice, thanks to you all for sharing!!! paul benoitkbos

Simon, I'll be the nth pereon to add my grateful appreciation for your time and experience. In my 30 + years of simming, I too, have never encountered such a useful and intresting thread!!!! Thanks so much for your time and effort!!!! Happy landings!!! and best Regards, Paul BenoitKBOS

2nd hot fix and tweaking assistance from Pan Lalas, this issue is now solved for me. Best to everyone, hope you ALL have success with this great aircraft.Regards,Paul BenoitKBOS

Holy moly, just did the secure checklist, parked at the gate at DFW after a great flight from LAX, using RC4 and a great little iPad App called iGMAPHD which is a moving map on Sectionals, Terminals, HI Alt Charts and basic google map ... very awesome, and it works flawlessly, my addiction to FSNAV now is terminated. NO FREEZES THANKS VERY MUCH!!! to my new friend Pan Lalas in Hong Kong who helped me do the needed SIM and graphics card tuning and other tweaking and to PMDG for their latest fix!!!! I feel like a little kid, and at 62, that's quite a thing!!!! This is indeed a wonderful piece of software!!! I can't wait to dive into more details!!! and to fly more!!!! I also wish those of you out there with issues good luck with the new hotfix, and to say that all good things come to those who wait, AND have some wonderful people to help and a company which really stands behind their product!!!! Onward and upward!!!! Best Regards to ALL and THANKS AGAIN to Pan, and to the fine folks at PMDG!!!! Paul BenoitKBOS

Ryan, thanks very much for your response!!! I have been communicating with Pan Lalas who very graciously alked me through many tweaks to graphics settings, fsx config and other settings. What a great, helpful individual. my next window of flight opportunity is Monday, (tomorrow is for my granddaughter, lucky guy that I am). I'll give KLAX to KDFW with RC4 another try and see what happens. Hoping for the best of course. I do understand the memory issues, and with Pan's help, applied tweaks, oo many to remember, to try and limit the "drag" on memory. I have two support items open which have all my config details If you can't see those, I'll take screen caps and post here Thanks again for your concern. I'll post with my results on Monday, Best regards, Paul BenoitKBOS

In my 30+ years of simming, I have bought every aircraft addon (with a few exceptions) and "listened" in on the forums about some people's issues with their newly acquired addon. Miraculously or very fortunately I never had an issue with ANY addon. They ALWAYS worked right out of the setup.exe. O my, I now have compassion for all of those disappointed simmers with their issues, which I never had. So here I am, with one of the most detailed, wonderful versions of a simulated aircraft I could ever dream about, after waiting years, only to be in a situation where I cannot complete a flight, not even one measly little hop from LA to Dallas. I have submitted two freeze reports to support, installed the hotfix, tried the suggestions.... Highmem, etc, offered by the fine folks here in the forum, but again today, and YES I am a glutton for punishment, who lives in false hope, on my way from LA to KDFW at 36000 feet, on J74 between Saint John (SJN) and DRYHT when all stopped again. I went to tune the next vor station CMX and OY, could not change the freq. Could not update the course or heading on the MCP ... o well, still flying over the ground, changing to the skeleton aircraft view (yes I have a lowly ( i guess) Win XP 32 bit OS) but actually dead in the water. Today my hopeful flight was with RC4 and a cute little app for my iPad2 ... FX Follow, a cool little moving map. I'm addicted to moving maps to try to keep myself oriented in time and space, I miss FSNAV so much it's painful, my addiction to moving maps is indeed terrible. On my laptop I'm following the flight using a Navigraph NDAC Hi Alt chart to see where I am on J4. Cool Stuff. Ok, maybe there is a hitch with FXfollow or RC4. But how can that be???? Yesterday with ONLY RC4 I got as far as overshooting DFW on approach to RW17C, was lost, and hit ALT, and the FSW map to see where I was. I was SE of the airport, so was going to turn north then West, and then try an localizer intercept coming in from the northeast. O well, How many times have I done this ... lots, well switching back to the main screen I see all white, with the text in the little RC4 window all scrambled. Nothing I could do would bring me to a panel screen, virtual or 2d. AGAIN, DOA so to speak. Why do I keep doing this I say to myself, feeling stupider by the minute, just like spending my $79 on an AOA membership which so far has nothing but developer's comments to offer, not what I bought!!! Paul, you are an IDIOT (notice I restrained myself from using the F adjective). So I guess, I'm done for now. This wonderful piece of software simply will not work for me, with or without addons. Let's face it RC4 is really not an ADDON, but a key part of FSX ... how can you fly without ATC? So what am I to do? I have been "away" from FS for over 2 years, and this wonderful NGX was to be my reentry back into the hobby. But I am so disgusted at this point, and angry with myself, that I just want to scream. I suppose I can go back to the other 737 and my favorite MD-80 (while SAS, Delta and AAL are still flying them) and be satisfied with them, and of course a 747 filght or an MD-11 or ATR-72 flight. I feel very sad writing this, because, having been at one time a programmer, I understand the level of effort put into this software. I can't blame anyone and will not blame anyone. Perhaps the PC world has become SO COMPLEX that it's impossible to "write" software for all possible environments, specs, and configurations. With my WIN/XP 32 bit setup on my Dell XPS630i, I feel like a third world country... not having the resources to even "be in the game" or so it seems. Sad. I am now retired, and don't envision a new machine in my remaining lifetime unless we hit the mega million something. I have looked to upgrading to Win 7 64bit, but it appears really daunting, and beyone me at the moment. So I wish you all at PMDG well, and hope you have success with this wonderful software, and perhaps find the niggling little teeny snippet of bad code somewhere which is causing the freezes and memory difficulties. If it appears that a lowly 4GB 32bit PC is not able to run the NGX, please say so so my expectations can be set. I'd appreciate knowing that. I know you are all working very hard on problem soplving and I wish you bon chance in your efforts. In the spirit of ex-programmer-like cooperation, I would be very happy to test any potential future fixes. ou can find my email addr in your support system. Very respectfully, Paul BenoitKBOS

Thanks Mike, did as you suggested!!! I'll register up for support as you noted. Best, Paul BenoitKBOS

I am lost in something.... I tried to login to the support page on your website. I can login to my account and see my purchases and all my previous procedures, trying to login to support, my user name (email?) and password do not work... I did ask for and received a password from your retrieval service.. but when trying to retrieve my login info using FORGOT LOGIN, I provide the email I used to login to my account and it does not know me. So I am lost in Space. I have a bunch of data from my latest FREEZE, but I since i can't log in to the support page, I can send the information in I am VERY Frustrated. I'm sure it's just me and am not blaming anyone. is my username and password and Account signin and password the same thing? There is no place in the account area to review my information and maybe change it. What am I missing? I really don't want to put my email here but you can find me in your system by my order number I would very much appreciate someone from PMDG helping me get this sorted, preferably by email. I would like to be able to login to the support system and provide you all with the details of my latest very frustrating freeze. I have yet to complete a flight since something always freezes, the Altitude Setting dial, the speed dial,, silly but the aircraft is hurtling along at 36000 feet but I can no longer interact with it. I really would like to use this fine aircraft... really, but something's amiss somewhere, either me, again and again or something in the software (perish the thought!!!) Respectfully, Paul BenoitKBOS

Thanks Dr Vaos and others who responded . Want to close the loop on this. Before I went to bed last night I fired up the PC and slowly, methodically went through to engine start from cold and dark. All worked as it was supposed to! Very happy about this, but I swear I had those problems on three previous attempts.Off to try the tutorial ! Thanks again for the responses.Best regardsPaul Benoit

First, this is really some piece of software, my hat is off to you all!!! ok, frustration. Start cold and dark. "shift a" a a few times to get to overhead. battery on. start apu, egt indicates it is running. move the apu gen switches to on, they seem to be momentary switches, but the meter says that the APU is generating power. "shift A" back to main 2d panel, mfd and pfd are off (is this correct?), I am running down the first few items in the normal procedures and expect that the mfd and pfd should be powered, see no instruction in Normal proc to turn the brightness up. shift 3 to get FMS. press FMC ... then press INIT REF to set PPOS, nothing happens. hit menu again again, Look at FS Actions. back to memu, FMC choice is now gone, missing, not there. thought to perhaps start an engine and use it's generator. opened the isol valve switch opened the apu air switch, duct pressure should increase, correct? There is APU EGT so I'm pretty sure it is running ..so without duct pressure there is no starting an engine, packs are off. Hmmm, i am saying, where Have I gone off the cliff. APU should start and provide power and air duct pressure. FMC should work, I should be able to use the basic keys, initref, etc???? I have read the introduction and set things as suggested. Have not tweaked any PMDG Setup items, they are as installed. What am I doing wrong here?? please help me with a clue. I'm not saying anything is wrong, but it sure dosen't feel right, especually the duct pressure, lack of PFD and MFD being on, and FMC choice going missing, an oh did I mention, choosing doors returns a blank page, Good Grief. Thanks for any help!! Best regards Paul BenoitKBOS

Thanks for the reply and kind words Rick, not a fun time, but until something presents itself, i'll be flying the old 737, which I have not done in years. I'm a lucky man to have rertirement, social security and possibly even unemployment. Very lucky, very very lucky!!!regards,Paul BenoitKOWD

Hello Team, Thanks very much for the updates!!!. I'm looking forward to the completion of this project!!! as I'm sure you all are!!! I have recently lost my job at IBM from a layoff (UGH YUK) after 24 years and have time on my hands starting tomorrow. Would you consider making the documentation available for download in advance of the acrtual software publication?I have some older 737 AOMs and of course the previous 737 doc, but having the new doc would be great and help fill the void while I figure out retirement and social security, etc. Best wishes to you all and thanks!Paul BenoitDedham, MA

Call me old, call me old fashioned, call me silly but I don't use the VC ... tried and hated it, simply hated all of them ... 747, md-11, md-80s, 737s, Bonanzas etcI've been flight simming since SubLogic days on the Apple IIe ... I understand and appreciate all the work involved ... but I don't get the mystique, honestly. I hope PMDG continues developing for both tastes.Cheers!!!Paul BenoitKOWD

Here's my $.05. I have all of the software you are asking about .. and consider all of them to be simply excellent ... especially if you like all the bells whistles and details. It's when I looked at my flight log for the past 4 years, that I have flown the Maddog 2006 and now 2008 the most, many many times more than the next contender.I was in a great VA and flwe only real routes, on real schedules ... but I could choose what. For times when I wanted to fly from Singapore to London, I'd choose the 747. But long distance flying obviously is very time consuming, even on "2x" speed. If you want lots of flying ... say around Europe and the US, then Maddog is for you ... LA to Dallas is 3.5 hours or so. Boston to LaGuardia is an hour. You can look at American's and Delta's schedules and find literally thousands of city pairs. In Europe, I think SAS still has a few MDs left .. Have lost track of Alitalia, Spanair and Finnair ... but their city pair schedules were very plentiful.As I said ... all the aircraft ... the PMDGs, Level D and the CS C130 are really wonderful ... but for sheer challenge and detail, there is really nothing like the Maddog.Complex ... yes ... well documented ...VERY MUCH SO ... tutorials ... somewhere, there's even a Maddog Training Package on DVD with the same level of detail as the AOA training material for the PMDG 747 and LevelD 767.I'm sure that the Maddog will be the "underdog" in your thought process ... but if you really like flying and a great challenge, and the ability to fly thousands of realistic city-pairs ... in under three hours, many under two hours including planning/prep etc ... then MADDOG is an excellent choice.I'm sure you have enjoyed the ATR ... I have lots of hours on that baby also ... flying short and longer routes in French Polynesia ... Air Tahiti!!!! Wish you the best in your choice ... I'd buy them all ... hahahahaha, but you would spend the rest of your life trying to read all the many pages!!!Give the Maddog a try ... I'm sure you won;t ever be disappointed!!Best RegardsPaul Benoit,KOWD

Yes, thanks very much David for the link and for the DirectX refresh requirement ... did that and YAY it works!!Best Regards,Paul BenoitKAPVAppe Valley, CA

Remembering the old days of "tower simulator" I went ahead and bought the new "tower" from Wilco.1. Has anyone had success installing and running this s/w?2. Has anyone started a support forum ... there is not one at Feelthere (yet??)I have tried SAFE MODE administrator installs, uninstalls, reinstalls, and upon executing, simply executing the program results in the "don't send" to Microsoft screen, with the failure in tower.exe.I note that there is never an icon on the desktop for tower, not an entry in the START menus.This on a new Dell XPS 630i, Pentium Quad, 4GB ram, 2.4ghz, Nvidia 8800 with 512k memory, XP2 w/sp2HELP

PMDG Team,I really appreciate your decision to maintain a dual platform approach. Bravo I say!!!I wish I had the resources to buy a new platform, but my current 4 yo p42.6 runs everything I have very well ... Thanks!!!Best regards,Paul BenoitKAPV

Andreas,I have been looking for years ... have an AOM for the MD-80(DC-9-80) they always say ... but not with FMC. ONS like on the Espen Super-80. But everything else is the same as the Maddog documentation, and the documentation from MD-Max ... if you have all 3 of the MD's then you have more documentation than seems to be available otherwise.In the US with American and Delta having large fleets of MDs you would think that someone would sell a AOM to ESSCO or someone like that .. would be specially great if someone from Delta would sell one because all the Delta MD's are MD-88's with FMS ... o well, maybe some day!!!Cheers and Happy Flying!!!Paul BenoitKAPV

I'll add my $.02Maddog 2006 is an amazing upgrade. Here on day 1:1. Tutorial ... detailed, well done, what everyone always yells for2. Liveries ... available, no waiting3. many many new features, weather radar, the whole procedural reality of an MD-80 ... at least from a "not a real pilot ... but has read all the AOMS I can find" perspective ... and if Stellan Hillmerby has tested it ... than what else can I say.4. Excellent flight model ... imho ... I love Espen's MD-80 but really don't like the nose down issues. These are two different aircraft .. different avionics, etc. Hard to compare.5. Thorough documentationPrice ... who cares ... not me ... I want the BEST MD80 I can get, loved the first Maddog 2004 and trusted Leonardo to do an excellent job ... which imho, they really did.For an MD-80 SIM ... I can't think of what's missing compared to the depth of LDS and PMDG (767, and 737-747 respectively). I think this package is on par with and ahead of both noted above in some respects .. of course it's NEW today (ex. weather and terrain radar, loading sequences (LDS has some of course) Virtual Cockpits ... well I don't like and don't use, so if you want one you're simply SOL. To NOT buy this because it has no VC is really over the edge I think, but every one has their likes and dislikes.Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I certainly agree with Brian D ... you can't really talk about this unless you own it ... if you don't like the price .. well don't buy it, but don't grouse about the price either ... this is a major major upgrade and these guys deserve whatever they can get. I hate the prices of new automobiles .. and the price of gasoline .. but when you need and want you pay.I believe everyone who develops this stuff for me ... Espen, LDS, Feelthere, PMDG, DF just to name a few, deserve a great round of applause from all of us!!!! I'm at FL340 in the middle of a flight from LGA to DFW in the new Maddog ... have to admit I needed the UG and tutorial to understand the new stuff. Absolutely great!!!!Bottom line, if you want an MD-80, FMS based avionics, with ALL the BELLS and WHISTLES, relative to the "gold standards" of PNDG and LDS, then this is it.Cheers to all. Paul BenoitKAPV

Thanks guys! no matter what I do, I can't access the site. Odd, but appreciate your both trying!!