[01JAN16] New Year... New Updates for the 777 product line!

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Captains,

 

As you are no doubt aware, we are wrapping up development on the PMDG 747-400 Queen of the Skies II for beta testing.  One of the normal routines that we go through during product wrap up is to take a good solid look at optimization and efficiency improvements that we can make once the entire product is in place. 

 

This process started a few months ago, and continues today- but something happened along the way that caused a bit of a stir internally at PMDG:  We made some discoveries that allow us to exert a much greater control over how much memory our products use within FSX than was previously possible.

 

As we explored this potential, we were continually comparing the 747-400 to the 777, which is our most memory intensive product- and we were able to drive the 747's memory footprint down quite far below the 777.  We drove 747 memory use so low in fact, that we began to target getting the 747 into the same memory footprint as the much lighter NGX product line that was released back in 2011.

 

We were so pleased with our success in this arena, that we decided to take a bit of a detour out of the 747 hangar and back over to the 777 hangar, where we made a number of changes to the product using the same processes that we had developed to aid the 747-400 in minimizing memory use.

 

The results were somewhat astounding:  When we finally recompiled the entire 777 product line, we found that in both FSX, FSX-SE and Prepar3D, we were consuming about 250MB less memory than we had been in the version currently on user machines.

 

While we are generally quite protective of developer time this late in the development cycle of a new product, we felt that taking the time to build/test/release this updated version of the 777 would provide a tremendous benefit to all users of the PMDG 777-200LR/F and PMDG 777-300ER.

 

As of a few moments ago, this new version was made available to you via your download accounts in our ecommerce system

 

How To Get The Update:  Download from PMDG eCommerce if you are a PMDG download customer.  If you obtained your version from Aerosoft or on DVD, you will need to wait until Aerosoft returns from Christmas vacation and has a chance to enact their usual customer update process.  (They don't have this update as of right now- as it wasn't finished in time to get it to them earlier...)

 

How to Install the Update:  We recommend that you uninstall your previous version of the 777 and then run the new installer downloaded from your account.  You can just run the new installer if you wish and it will evaluate whether it can update your installation or not...  Follow the instructions that it gives you.

 

What You Should See:  The 777 runs much more efficiently now than the previous version, and we are able to release significantly more memory to all of those massively memory hungry scenery packages/cloud textures/traffic programs that you all love.

 

What Else Will You See?:  There are a bunch of minor changes in the product, mostly related to efficiency and functional memory improvements.  For users of Prepar3D, we have added the GMCS functionality to the Virtual Cockpit for users of v3.x or later.  (For v2.x the GMCS cannot be made functional, sorry!)  We also updated the models so that you can walk underneath them in the P3D avatar mode if you desire.

 

 

OOMs ARE CURED FOREVER!!!!!   

No.

 

No.

 

No.

 

We have given you back about 38% of the memory previously used by the 777, but that amount of memory pales in comparison to the amount of memory used by many other packages users are trying.  Let me make this as clear as I can: 

 

An OOM in FSX/FSX-SE/P3D is the computing equivalent of inviting 4 friends to the beach when you only have 3 other seats available in your car.  The last one to arrive is going to get let behind.

 

At PMDG we are alarmed by the massive growth in memory consumption being driven by high resolution texture packages and poorly optimized scenery packages- and we are doing everything we can to remain within our already small memory footprint...  but you as the user have to make smart decisions about what you want your sim to accomplish.  It cannot do everything- but it can do almost everything...  You gotta use your noggin', however!

 

Okay- so grab this update and go enjoy the addition 250MB of available memory space....  We think you will find it runs better overall.

 

Alright- now back to the 747!

 

Oh yes- I nearly forgot:  Happy New Year, everybody!

[John_Tavendale 453]

Wonderful work. Thanks PMDG!

[CaptKornDog 281]

Thank you, PMDG for your continued effort on the 777 simultaneously with the 747.  It is a very pleasant New Years surprise!

[WotanUK 289]

Hello PMDG

 

Are these same memory benefits seen in P3D v3?

[Avantime 81]

Thanks for the update PMDG, now 777-200ER anyone?

[aceridgey 330]

Thanks for continued updates to the 777!

 

Thanks for the update PMDG, now 777-200ER anyone?

Oh yes a 200er info update would be lovely ;-)

[biokemisten 3]

amazing

[AstonNWoods 1]

Omg that's brill. Thanks PMDG. Happy New Year to you all too.

[p3peach 0]

Thanks and Happy new year

[Roman 47]

Thank you for the update! Looking forward to a -200ER update

[Patrick1246 5]

nice, waiting for the taxicam in P3D.

 

best regards

Patrick Tinner

[PinkPony 171]

Were any fixes implemented? specifically with regards to the (potential) missed approach memory leak in P3D and the corrected VNO speed which was on the last updates change list, but never actually made it into the update itself.

Does anyone have the change list for this update?

 

Editors note:  Post edited because user incorrectly states that he has knowledge of something he does not.

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

nice, waiting for the taxicam in P3D.

 

best regards

Patrick Tinner

 

Patrick-

 

If you are using v3.x the taxi camera works in the VC.

 

f you are in v2.x and you want the taxi cam...  ahahahahhahahahahahahhaha...   Oh...sorry...  You need to upgrade to x3.x 

[Hammerheadmike 6]

That's a fine update right there.

 

And I share your concerns about VAS. The two issues are Developer discipline, and user knowledge. Both are lacking, but hopefully improving.

 

64bit is not an answer to either of these issues - it's merely papering over the cracks.

 

P3D v3 at least - manages the VAS reclaim better.

 

All in all great news and thank you.

 

In our country, if we were taking 4 people to beach and only had 3 seats - the last one to the car would be piled in the boot (or trunk), and the driver would career around like a maniac to ensure max discomfort.

 

I know - as I've been the 4th man a few times :(

 

Happy new year.

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Were any fixes implemented? specifically with regards to the (potential) missed approach memory leak in P3D and the corrected VNO speed which was on the last updates change list, but never actually made it into the update itself.

 

Does anyone have the change list for this update?

 

Editors note:  Post edited because user incorrectly states that he has knowledge of something he does not.

 

Leo-

 

Edit:  Taking a second swipe that this answer since Kyle just gave me a lecture for brushing you off.  (Yes- even **I** get behavioral feedback from Kyle for posts in this forum...)

 

This was not a global product update to bring in lots of fixes- it was an update that we felt was worth pushing to customers because it so significantly enhanced the operation of the simulator and would immediately benefit all users.

 

We have continued to evaluate the rare individual report of "memory leaks" but we have yet to find any that lead to an actual result that can be debugged and corrected.  Our primary mission focus is on the 747 at the moment, and will continue to be so- and it is unlikely that we would assert the entire development team to chase individual customer reports of problems not seen in wide circulation.