[13JAN15] Updated - FSX:SE Compatibility Update

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Captains,

 

Since returning to work on 05JAN15, my priority has been to get you updated installers for those who wish to use our products with the FSX:SE edition that Dovetail Games dropped in the middle of the Christmas holiday season.

 

First: The Bad News:

Unfortunately- this has proven to be a much more difficult process than we anticipated due largely to the fact that NOBODY ever conceived of a circumstance in which we might have a user with two different versions of the same simulator on the same machine, with different structural arrangements and registry handling.

 

The end result is that we are having to do what is essentially a total rebuild of our installation system, and a near-total-rewrite of certain processes within the Operations Center in order to handle the fact that some users are going to want to have more than one platform installed.

 

I'd like to lay the blame entirely at the feet of Dovetail, but I don't think that would be fair.  While they made some design decisions that PMDG certainly could have done without, they were striving for the greatest amount of flexibility for the end user- and unfortunately this flexibility is something that nobody here at PMDG imagined might be required 18 months ago when we coded the Operations Center.

 

 

But Wait!  There is some Good News!:

As of this afternoon, we have a fully functional installer for the 777-200LR/F.  This was a big hurdle- but we now have an installation package that will automatically sense the presence of FSX or FSX:SE (if you only have one of them installed) and it will also sense the presence of FSX and FSX:SE if you have both of them installed.  In the case of having both platforms present, the installer will give you the option to install the 777 to either simulator, or both simulators at the same time...

 

We are well along with the update to the Operations Center, which we THOUGHT was all set for FSX:SE use this time last week.  Unfortunately we learned some things about the installation process for FSX:SE that created issues with the Operations Center and need to be resolved with (as I already mentioned) a nearly ground up rewrite of some functionality within the OC.

 

I managed to get through a good portion of it today, but the OC is still not behaving as intended and requires quite a bit more work to complete.

 

At this point, pushing the 777 out to our testers is more-or-less on a rolling maintenance delay... and they will need it for 24-72hrs before we then turn around and kick it to you guys for general use.

 

 

And now for the even better news:

Once we have the 777 completed, I expect we will be able to push another product update each 24-36 hours until we have the 777s, NGXs and the J41 updated.

 

Again, we have done no testing on the legacy products (400X and MD-11X) but we will accomplish that once we have the modern products updated.  I don't anticipate this level of difficulty- but then again- there might be some hurdles related to the installation locations for liveries etc...  I just do not know at this time.

 

Okay- I think this covers pretty much everything we know as of this moment....

 

Stay tuned- I'll keep you posted as to progress by adding updates within this thread....   The moment I have a working OC, you'll know... and the moment we kick the 777 to the testers... you will know that too....

[leesanghun 0]

Great Job! I respect you and PMDG.

[steelblackface 0]

thank you

[anden145 2,285]

Thanks alot, Robert! (and the rest of the team!)

[77west 139]

I hope Dovetail don't keep doing this in future, dropping updates with no notice or time to test things. Will make it very hard for PMDG and other devs.

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Wes-

 

I doubt it will be an ongoing problem.  They had to make some decisions about the initial rollout- and they did what was best for their viewpoint of the platform.

 

We will make it work...  somehow we always do...

[tomshill007 0]

Any news on the CD:DVD box installer issuse?

But still sounds great!!!

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Tom-

 

None.  It will be decided after the products themselves are updated- as I stated earlier.

 

I don't anticipate this issue being addressed for some time yet.

[jfriz 27]

Hi Robert,

Good news! Take your time, we will be here when it is ready.

 

Regards,

Jerry Friz

[HerzogKraut 3]

Great news, thank you PMDG and all the testers.

[jcomm 5,929]

Great News RR! Big Thumbs UP  to the PMDG Team !!!

 

I have my original NGX and 777200LR installers waiting for the opportunity to start them. Only FSX-SE here.

[ahbock 0]

Great news, just waiting for the new installer to pull the trigger to purchase 777-200LR.

 

Kelvin Wan

[sebihepp 1]

Great news PMDG!

 

Does the new installer include the SPs?

[Marcel11 0]

Good morning

 

One stupid question:

Any action requiered for MS FSX user, only?

Thanks for your answer.

 

Best regards

Marcel Ambord

[Gerardius 20]

 

 

We will make it work...  somehow we always do...

I feel like hearing Cooper from Interstellar. Great news as usual, keep the great work guys.

 

Cheers from Spain