In the past few months, we have been working hard across our different teams to bring updates to our products, we have been working on the MD-11, PACX and smartCARS as well as a few general updates.
MD-11 Status
We've been working on a few significant areas of the MD-11, albeit a little more behind the scenes than usual. First up, we've been working with Echo 19 to overhaul the sound packages. There have been numerous improvements, including:
That update has just been made available to everyone, so we're happy to hear everyone's feedback over the coming days! Please note, most of these sound updates are MSFS-specific.
Behind the scenes, art has still been hard at work on overhauling the exterior. The update is taking longer than expected because Ozzy has been going over the model itself with a fine-toothed comb. We've included a few pictures that show new enhanced physical detail on the models. Various improperly shaped parts have been improved, missing ports and smaller objects have been added, and the overall detail and mapping has been improved. It'll soon be off to Cameron and Miguel for the updated paint and texture work to round out the update.
While we've been focusing on getting the sound updates out, the code has been changing too. The current changes mainly revolve around a deep review and improvement of the ILS system. Pedro has done a fantastic job of deep-diving into the ILS, LOC/GS capture and tracking, and overall autoland performance. He's resolved more than 10 separate issues and the experience is much smoother and more reliable now. Whether it's weird edge-case behaviour like slow intercepts locking out certain bits of logic or unpredictable FPA tracking behaviour, he's got it under control. There is also a slew of other fixes already pending testing, as well.
Finally, Giorgio has been working on re-tuning the GE (and soon, PW) FADEC. The oscillation and slow throttle response time are both symptoms of the current FADEC tuning and are the main goals of Giorgio's work. So far, he's knee-deep in graphing tools and control logic formulae trying to determine how to best gain better control of the engines.
"Both graphs show how the N1 reacts to an instant command of thrust" - Giorgio, Engineering Consultant.
Next week, Pedro and Collin will be returning to the bugs list to start knocking out other critical items. "I plan on addressing the lack of SimBrief import in P3D and a few other quality-of-life items right out of the gate; I'm sure the list will expand to include more items once we get started."- Collin, CEO and MD-11 Lead.
smartCARS
On the other side of the team, Thien has been continuing support and development of smartCARS 3. We've got some exciting new updates planned that we don't want to spoil just yet, but we will discuss a few of the changes here. First off, the flight centre is getting some enhancements such as aircraft search and a better overall layout, meaning more flights are visible without scrolling. Pro users are also getting suggested flights in schedule search results!
The flight-tracking code has also been reworked to improve reliability and expand its capabilities. We can't go into too much detail yet there, but We believe everyone will enjoy the changes.
We'll discuss smartCARS throughout the rest of this year as it progresses.
PACX
We just released an update today that addressed some general housekeeping items to keep PACX working right for everyone. Changes included fixes for the IFE, record loading system, a crash fix, and updated libraries to ensure the best performance and experience. The changes also included official X-Plane 12 and Prepar3D v6 support.
There will be a larger update for PACX with some new features and enhancements coming, though we cannot promise exactly when. There are currently 36 suggestions and ideas in our PACX project board that we can use to work toward a meaningful update in the relatively near future. These suggestions include minor items like automating ending a flight if your sim is closed at the end of a flight or changing up certain UI elements, but there are also a few big-ticket items that will change the experience.
General Updates
In addition to the above, we've also recently updated the 717's Addon Manager as well as TrueGlass and RealLight to officially support Prepar3D v6. We've also got some other general development work happening around the company, courtesy of Fabio and Joe, but more on that when it's finished.
