PMDG 777 gets the Collins WXR2100 weather radar

[Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142]

Yup, in spite of the April 1st release gag, it's official.        SP1 *will* bring with it an elegant way for WX to be shown on a simulated Collins WXR2100 unit. There's a "but...", of course...... The twee snagette is that it will only work with ASN: Hi-Fi apparently also did a "ton" of work (quote from Ryan of PMDG) to make it happen, i.e. so that the ASN precipitation is accurately depicted in the 777 cockpit.

 

Ryan again:

 

The 777 was not sold advertising a weather radar - this is a free gift if you will that comes with the service pack. Our position on not being able to do this with the default FSX weather has not changed, regardless of the claims of any other developer. When you see the 777's radar it will be immediately apparent that it's doing something different than the others that are out there.

 

And —

 

All of the controls of the real radar unit are present - tilt, gain, the different mode switches etc. The auto tilt function can be switched off and you can tilt the radar beam to whatever angle you'd like. (and yes it works - if you tilt the beam out of the path of where the precipitation actually is in 3D space, you're not going to see anything on the ND. Real radars do not show you a single altitude across the entire display as you've described here - radar is always an expanding cone shape that shows a particular volume of 3D space. This is just the physics of electromagnetic radiation. (inverse square law etc)

 

So as an existing ASN user I'm wearing a rather broad grin, right now.        Although, to be fair, the only precipitation occurring on my parade (maybe) is that apparently it isn't yet confirmed whether it will work for those of us who have ASN running over a LAN — but I can't see why not, so I'm staying hopeful. Failing that, ASN will be running on my main machine PDQ!    

 

If you want to read all about it for yourself, the rather long thread starts here: http://forum.avsim.net/topic/438427-01apr14-pmdg-777-200lrf-feature-preview-wx-radar/#entry2957041

 

Cheers,

 

Bruce

 

a.k.a. brian747

 

 

P.S. There's no news about retrofitting the WX radar into the NGX, at least not yet, but it seems hopeful — "No guarantees but I suspect this will happen.", according to Ryan.

 

P.P.S. If you'd like to have a look at the manual for the Collins unit, an Internet search for something like "Collins WXR-2100 MultiScan™ Radar Fully Automatic Weather Radar operator’s guide" should quickly give you the wherewithal to do so.    

 

 

B.

 

 

[jaydor 345]

As a German Army Officer might say "Ferry interesting"

Thanks for the heads up Brian.. 

[brett 2,283]

Does this mean that the weather radar on Majestic's Q400 is not true?

[britfrog 180]

I wonder if this will exarcerbate the oom issues that so many are suffering with the T7? I am awaiting the public feedback of Sp1 before dipping my hand into the wall safe

[Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142]

@Brett

 

Define "true"?       What PMDG have always said was that it isn't possible to do weather radar properly using default FSX weather, so they aren't going to try. But now (as I understand it, so caveat emptor) they have the advantage of knowing precisely where the precipitation that ASN will inject is going to be, so finally they *can* do it properly. So they have.

 

@britfrog

 

OOM issues? You mean you're still not running in DX10 mode using Steve's Fixer???       Dear me. But if the wounds are self-inflicted, there's no sympathy, I'm afraid.      

 

Cheers,

 

B.

 

[britfrog 180]

@Brett

 

Define "true"?       What PMDG have always said was that it isn't possible to do weather radar properly using default FSX weather, so they aren't going to try. But now (as I understand it, so caveat emptor) they have the advantage of knowing precisely where the precipitation that ASN will inject is going to be, so finally they *can* do it properly. So they have.

 

@britfrog

 

OOM issues? You mean you're still not running in DX10 mode using Steve's Fixer???       Dear me. But if the wounds are self-inflicted, there's no sympathy, I'm afraid.      

 

Cheers,

 

B.

 

if you had read the other threads here you will know i am a great advocate of dx10 having used it now for 3 years probably longer than anyone else here

the oom's of the pmdg t7 are extremely well known , and very common if combined with ftx scenery, try flying brisbane to melbourne with the regions activated as well .

 

[Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142]

It seems that you are failing to distinguish between "DX10" (raw, or with free fixes) and "DX10 using Steve's Fixer", which is a very different proposition (as dealt with at some length in my review of it).

 

I don't vly in Oz, but I can and do regularly vly the PMDG T7 long haul between very demanding European airports with no problems with VAS exhaustion whatsoever — when using the Fixer.

 

YMMV.....   

 

Cheers,

 

B.

 

[britfrog 180]

been using steve's stuff since he began over 2 years ago also,  dx10 aint worth a light without it, sort of like p3d with dx11 ---pointless

 

[brett 2,283]

@Brett

 

Define "true"?       What PMDG have always said was that it isn't possible to do weather radar properly using default FSX weather, so they aren't going to try. But now (as I understand it, so caveat emptor) they have the advantage of knowing precisely where the precipitation that ASN will inject is going to be, so finally they *can* do it properly. So they have.

 

@britfrog

 

OOM issues? You mean you're still not running in DX10 mode using Steve's Fixer???       Dear me. But if the wounds are self-inflicted, there's no sympathy, I'm afraid.      

 

Cheers,

 

B.

 

What I meant was, are you saying that the radar in the Q400 does not work properly with default or other weather addons. So far it looks pretty good to me. CaptSim did it awhile ago with an addon(don't have it), the Q400 has it but you made it sound like only PMDG can do it correctly working with ASN. So in a way you are saying that the other companies can't do it right. Is this because you know something that I don't as far as existing radars or because PMDG said theirs are better. I am not trying to be facetious here, I really just want understand your statements better. Note that I understand how PMDG can use the ASN system to find precipitation but don't know what the other companies are using to show their weather.

 

As to Nigels question about OOM's with the 777, the requirements for it are,

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Minimum

OS: Windows 7 64-bit (older OSes such as Windows XP, 32-bit OSes, and Windows 8 may work, but we cannot guarantee compatibility or support)

Processor: Core 2 Duo or greater

RAM: 4GB

Video Card: 1GB DirectX 9 compatible Nvidia or ATI card. Onboard motherboard or CPU video is not supported. Some of the newer Intel designs may work but we cannot guarantee compatibility.

Monitor: Widescreen 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio highly recommended

Recommended

OS: Windows 7 64-bit

Processor: Intel Core i5/i7 Sandy Bridge/IvyBridge/Haswell series

RAM: 8GB+

Video Card: 2GB+ latest generation Nvidia. (example: GeForce GTX 760, 770, 780)

Monitor: Widescreen with 16:10 aspect ratio

PMDG *highly* recommends that you choose a 64-bit operating system to avoid problems with FSX running out of memory due to a 32-bit environment.

 

Doesn't say anything about using Steve's Fixer. So I consider his question a valid one. Both this issues could use better explanations when statements are brought up.  I'm a slow leaner so please bear with me and thanks for any help you can send my way.     

[Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142]

Hey guys — don't shoot the messenger, huh?  

 

@britfrog

 

That's great, so the question has to be: if you're using Steve's Fixer and you're still getting OOMs at complex airports, what are you doing differently to the vast majority of people who (like me) have found that the problem no longer exists in that scenario? I'm guessing it has to be a configuration thing???

 

@brett

 

> "...are you saying that..."

> "...you made it sound..."

 

Look, I wasn't saying anything: I was merely quoting the release announcement and in particular the words of Ryan, from PMDG, who has seen and tested the new weather radar, and who presumably knows how it works (if you read through the thread, you'll also find that he refuses to go into any details about that, though). When SP1 is finally released then I'll install it — and then I'll give you my own opinion.  

 

As to the requirements for the 777, you'll also find them quoted in my review of that aircraft, so yes, I'm well aware of them. Towards the end of that review you'll also find a brief discussion of the OOM problem (which I had to induce by changing my fsx settings to suicidal values), which also gives a link to an external article by Mark Russinovich of the Microsoft kernel design team explaining how Windows uses memory which may be helpful to you. In fact I installed the DX10 Fixer not long after writing the 777 review, and was then able to push my fsx settings to new heights, as I explain in my review of The Fixer — which contains a great deal of background information about the topic and hence might perhaps also be of assistance?

 

What I have said on the subject is mostly contained in those two reviews, in fact.   

 

Cheers,

 

B.

 

[jaydor 345]

Brian, Your new avatar so you can shoot back.. 
 

[Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142]

   Many thanks, James — I love it! (And it's beginning to look as though I may need it).

Do you also do one with hellfire missiles?       
 

And getting back to the weather radar news: apparently it's now confirmed that it *will* work with ASN running on a networked PC.       See http://forum.avsim.net/topic/438569-pmdg-weather-radar-with-networked-asn/

 

Cheers,

B.

 

[brett 2,283]

Thanks Brian, no offense intended or defense's needed. I'm an inquisitive hack and was only trying to understand things better, who better to seek consul than people I believe know a heck of a lot more than me. Appreciate the replies and please do not take my crappy writing skills to task.   

 

I will reread your impressive in-depth review for the particulars about OOM's on the b777 and chalk up PMDG's somewhat insulting statements about past developers radars to chest beating and commercial advertising until I learn more.

 

I again apologise for any unintentional insulting remarks that were in my post, as I tried to get across my questions, now or in the future. (as I doubt I will ever get better at this.  )    

 

 

[Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142]

Hi Brett!

 

That's big of you — but no problem at all, my friend: after all, "no one said this stuff was going to be easy".       (And with fsx, they were dead right!).

 

I honestly don't think PMDG were having a go at other developers (they've never done that, and always warned others not to do so on their forums), just robustly defending their stated (and restated on many many occasions when repeatedly asked about weather radar) position: they genuinely don't think that the way in which weather radar has been done so far gives an accurate simulation of what you'd see IRL — whereas knowing the exact precipitation that ASN will generate enables them to do it properly. So they have. It's just that they have become a bit over-sensitive on the subject of weather radar in view of the number of times that some.... let's say "well-meaning person who had never heard of the Search function" would start a whole new thread about it on the forum, in spite of the number of times that PMDG had patiently explained why they weren't doing it (then).

 

But until we've all seen the result, of course, the matter remains open. All I'd say is that they tend to push what can be done in fsx right to the limit, so with any luck we won't be disappointed.   

 

Concerning OOMs etc, I devoted a *lot* (about six weeks or more) of time on research and experimentation into the matter following the introduction of the T7, having read about the problems that others were having. Although high, my VAS remained stubbornly within limits until I deliberately messed up my settings, but nonetheless I wanted to see whether "DX10 using The Fixer" made a significant difference. That also meant finding out more than I ever wanted to know about the Nvidia Inspector and VAS-sensitive fsx settings, as well as all those settings and sliders in The Fixer itself, but for me (caveat emptor, E & OE, YMMV, just my 2ȼ, etc.) the Fixer gave me significantly more VAS headroom — which I promptly spent by increasing my original settings, so I'm now a fan. I shared the results of that research in my Fixer review in the hope that for others it might shorten the long learning curve that I followed, but each to their own.....     

 

I guess, as the old saying goes, "there's no gain without pain". It was certainly that way for me.

 

Best wishes,

 

B.