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I know a lot of you have been posting questions, requests, demands and even threats (!) about updates on our A320 development status, both here in the forum as well as via email to our support@ and info@ email accounts.
I wanted to take a little time to give you a small heads-up of where we stand, in a (futile) attempt to feed your hunger for information - in fact, I am simply buying a bit of time before Smiffy has to come knocking on my door again (banging, is more like it), pulling his hair out and saying that "you REALLY need to give an update - I can't take it any longer!!!"
You already know that we've been neck-deep in development for the past months, working on what we think is the most advanced simulation of an A320 aircraft that will have ever hit the desktop sim market.
Here's some details on stuff you might not have heard up to now:
- We have implemented an entirely new code library to allow our aircraft systems to communicate with each other via ARINC 429 protocol variables. The advantage of this implementation is two-fold: 1) We can very closely simulate the real aircraft's functionality, as in most cases, it means we read schematics and diagrams of the actual aircraft and plug the 'wiring' directly into our code without any code logic translation, and 2) we can potentially share these variables (as in the real aircraft) over a networked environment. Our aim (although we will not promise this until we are certain it's feasible) is to allow you to not only fully share the cockpit with another pilot, but also allow for multi-PC expansion of the panels, systems and gauges.
- We have invested hundreds of hours in various A320 Class D simulators, as well as tremendous amounts of time in the real aircraft (via our extraordinarily helpful technical advisors) to collect a huge amount of engine data. This allows us to achieve very accurate numbers in our engine simulation - which we've moved entirely away from the default FSX engine structure (and limitations).
- The flight model is being worked to match the behavior and patterns based on our observations and data from the Class D sims - our engine and flight model developer has been spending hours and hours refining and honing the system, which is an ongoing process throughout development and will continue into our beta testing period.
- Our aircraft FMGS is done entirely from scratch, based on the complete specs and schematics we have been so fortunate to be allowed access to. As such, we have been modeling the FMGS database using the full ARINC 424-19 protocol specifications, allowing ourselves flexibility to convert (and load) the exact monthly AIRAC database cycle that real aircraft load into their systems. This also allows our A320 to load and provide all possible leg types in our flight plan (yes, that means procedure turns and accurate holds - but also the complete sets of SIDs and STARs that are published with the monthly cycle).
- External and internal sound sets have been recorded in amazing accuracy with very modern equipment in the Class D sims, but also in various airports world-wide, blended with the latest 3-D audio technology we've inserted into our code.
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I could go on with details (and I am sure some of you would really love me to) but I won't, as I am sure you all would love to be surprised with the end result as well! Instead, I will put up a first picture of where we are at the moment. (It's a nice opportunity for you all to bring out your magnifying glass and go through each pixel to berate us on "this, that and the other!") Before you do that. let me just say that we know there are several items that you might want to see (or you might find are not completed) at the moment, but I humbly ask for your patience on this - we're still in development, remember?
Cheers all and thank you for some fantastic support of our products until now! You all are the reason we are doing this! Thanks for being here!
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Bravo-Zulu to you all, and keep up the great work (to be!)
