PMDG Boing 747-8 release

[b52bob]

Title says it all. Must have original 747 for the -8 to work.

747-400 price $139.95
-8 addon price $69.95

total $209.90

No matter how nice, it’s getting out of control.

my $.02 worth.

[Naismith]

Wow! No fear of it troubling my credit cards then.

[jeansy]

worth every cent imho

[thunderstreak]

I have their DC-6 and find it very good, definitely worth the investment.
I imagine the newly released 747-8 is an outstanding simulation.
That said, that’s a lot of $$$$!
Glad I’m not into jet airliners! ✈️

[jankees]

so am I! that's a lot of money for something I don't care about..
DC-6 is nice though

[jeansy]

[b52bob]

It is a beautiful aircraft no doubt. PMDG produces the most accurate aircraft for sure, but there are many of us that can not afford $200 plus for an addon.

those that can and want will enjoy it. Me, there are more affordable aircraft that I can enjoy. To those developers who keep their addons in the affordable range, a big thank you from me.

[Navy Chief]

Am sure it is a quality product. I don't own any of their releases. Only commercial liner I own is the DC-9 (from Flight 1 AND the SkySimulations), soley for the C-9 version of both.

But I rarely fly tubeliners, except for those models.

But that IS a lot of cash for a model. I have spent a LOT of money on addons (never want to add it all up, as I would get depressed!), but have never spent that much on just one addon. NC

[cavaricooper]

See below... repeat, sorry.

C

[wombat666]

$210.00 USD = $289.09 AUD.........................
Not bloody likely!

[cavaricooper]

Averaged over the hundreds of hours that a dedicated jet transport simmer will use it, the ROI is superb. For those interested in other simulations, thankfully they have a choice.

In the end, in this and everything else, we all buy and use what we can afford. Often it’s a matter of priorities. Each must decide what works, for themselves.

Thanks for the announcement, I look forward to the feedback from those who do decide to purchase. She’s fantastic, in my opinion- but then I’m aware what they say about opinions.

Best- C

[blanston12]

200 USD is way beyond what I am willing to spend. Maybe if it was the only aircraft I wanted to fly and wanted the most accurate possible but I don't have that kind of attention span.

I worked for a guy once who thought his software was so valuable that he charged a much higher price that I thought was justified, the company was surviving but was small and not growing very fast. I always argued that if they charged less they would sell more copies and more $ in the end.

So while I do not say anything negative about PMDG aircraft I suspect that if they sold it for 50 instead of 200 the increased sales would more than make up the revenue, but that's there business decision.

[DennyA]

The PMDG planes are hardcore system simulations. I have one (the 737NG) and have just started delving into it.

If you're like me and you casually fly a dozen-plus different plane types every month in sims, these planes don't make sense and don't have good ROI.

But if you like to fly P3D/FSX as a full-on system simulator, learning all of the switchology, setting up flight plans in the FMS, etc. the authenticity and detail in the PDMG 747 duo is probably worth every penny. If you're going to fly a plane for maybe 5 hours tops, $200 is stupid. If you're going to spend all of your sim time becoming a master of one plane type, and want it as realistic as possible, that $200 isn't as crazy if you're going to spend 200+ hours flying it over the course of a year. I mean, the darn thing even swaps cockpit systems realistically depending on the airline you're flying for.

So yeah, I have their 737, and the Aerosoft A321 so I'm good for deep-dive fully simulated tubeliners for now. But for some, it's probably worth the investment. They'd probably make more money at a lower price, but that depends on whether the support costs per user are high.

The only thing I'd criticize here is making the 800 only available as an add-on. If I ever did want to buy another hardcore tubeliner model, I wouldn't need both the 400 and 800, and I'd never spend $200.

[Sundog]

The Majestic Q400 is in depth enough for me. If I had money and time to burn, I would probably get their B747, as I've always liked it. I'm sure it's worth every penny, but I would rather have a bunch of other releases for that kind of cash. However, if this is your dream plane and you want the best, I completely get it if you get it.

[b52bob]

Reminds me years back someone was selling a dot matrix printer for $25,000 that did 20 characters per minute.

someone told him he was crazy and he said “but I only have to sell one”

[Spikehughes]

Like many of the comments above - I will pass on this.
I enjoyed PMDG in FSX with their MD11, JS4100, 737 but to migrate across to P3Dv4 I figured their pricing strategies became corporatized.
Since I only use P3D V4.x now I have purchased iFly 737 and 747.
The NZ Dollar price of the PMDG 747 and 737 for P3Dv4.x just blew me out of the water. As I have already experienced their jets in FSX I figured give the other guy a try.
While the 737 is a little dated texturally, iFly have promised to update the VC. The 747 after a couple of updates is beautiful and they have promised the 747 8 as a free update. Even if this doesn't eventuate I am perfectly happy with their aircraft. Just my two cents.

[kiki]

It is a great product, no doubt about that. But it will be a slow seller for obvious reasons. They prefer to sell just few of them for that price rather than other way round.

I am happy it is an 747. It is not my kind of aircraft, no matter what the price would have been.

How high the prices can go with GA and historical aircrafts, that worries me. I can live with an DC-3, one regional prop liner (this time an Fokker), a Beaver and one modern light aircraft.

[Javis]

my $.02 worth.

Uhmm... that doesn't cut it anymore, Bob... It's "my $2.00 worth" now.

[Javis]

What i wonder about is why does the PMDG 747-8 blurb say : compatible with P3Dv3.4 (and up) and not P3Dv4.x. Isn't it like P3Dv4.x is a totally different animal compared to P3Dv3.x ?.... ( i mean, 64bit versus 32bit for one thing...) I don't understand why there is no mention of P3Dv4.x specifically...

@ Jeansy or anyone else who purchased the -8 extension : do you indeed get the option to install for P3Dv3 or P3Dv4 during purchase or during installation ??.... ( just curious, i *do* have the PMDG 747.... We're all just milkcows, aren't we..)

Is there any significant difference to notice regarding FPS between the -4 and -8 versions ? ( preferably from the VC taxiing at a major airport)

Btw, did anyone care to zoom in on the external cockpit of the PMDG 747-4 ?... That's about the most comprehensive and detailed pilot figures animations ever seen in FS. Amongst many other figure anims the Captain moves around in his seat and the CP even wipes his nose every now and then. You'd say a bit over the top regarding the biggest commercial aircraft in FS ( there's no A-380, is there ?) i mean it particularly remains to be seen IF anyone ever bothered to look up there... But still says a lot about the PMDG devs, doesn't it. I love 'em

[Javis]

I can live with an DC-3

Are you the same Kiki who thought that the wheels of the Maam-Sim DC-3 (R4D) were too small, waaaaay back then ??....

Just curious and if afirm, i'm the guy responsible for that and you might've been right there too.. Hehe.. Just to tell you i remember....

cheers,
Jan

[cavaricooper]

What i wonder about is why does the PMDG 747-8 blurb say : compatible with P3Dv3.4 (and up) and not P3Dv4.x. Isn't it like P3Dv4.x is a totally different animal compared to P3Dv3.x ?.... ( i mean, 64bit versus 32bit for one thing...) I don't understand why there is no mention of P3Dv4.x specifically...

@ Jeansy or anyone else who purchased the -8 extension : do you indeed get the option to install for P3Dv3 or P3Dv4 during purchase or during installation ??.... ( just curious, i *do* have the PMDG 747.... We're all just milkcows, aren't we..)

Is there any significant difference to notice regarding FPS between the -4 and -8 versions ? ( preferably from the VC taxiing at a major airport)

Btw, did anyone care to zoom in on the external cockpit of the PMDG 747-4 ?... That's about the most comprehensive and detailed pilot figures animations ever seen in FS. Amongst many other figure anims the Captain moves around in his seat and the CP even wipes his nose every now and then. You'd say a bit over the top regarding the biggest commercial aircraft in FS ( there's no A-380, is there ?) i mean it particularly remains to be seen IF anyone ever bothered to look up there... But still says a lot about the PMDG devs, doesn't it. I love 'em

Jan-

Yes, you can select WHICH version of Prepar3d you are installing for.

The taxying around on the ground (perhaps, IMHO the worst sticking point for stutters etc.) is superb. I have my frames locked at 24 and other than the occasional scenery loading pause (which I cannot eliminate) the frames are very much a non-issue. You say you have the 744... in that case you will be very happy with the performance.

Yes, I have zoomed in to the VC and everywhere else... (https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/5...-8-beta-pirep/ ) their modeling is indeed superb (and I am aware to WHOM I address this observation ).

Should you decide to take the plunge- you won't be sorry (I promise I don't receive a cent).

Best- C

[jeansy]

What i wonder about is why does the PMDG 747-8 blurb say : compatible with P3Dv3.4 (and up) and not P3Dv4.x. Isn't it like P3Dv4.x is a totally different animal compared to P3Dv3.x ?.... ( i mean, 64bit versus 32bit for one thing...) I don't understand why there is no mention of P3Dv4.x specifically...

@ Jeansy or anyone else who purchased the -8 extension : do you indeed get the option to install for P3Dv3 or P3Dv4 during purchase or during installation ??.... ( just curious, i *do* have the PMDG 747.... We're all just milkcows, aren't we..)

Is there any significant difference to notice regarding FPS between the -4 and -8 versions ? ( preferably from the VC taxiing at a major airport)

https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/5...he-pmdg-747-8/

With the -8 expansion there has been an increase of smoothness in both -4 and -8

Looking that the PMDG and P3Dv4 facebook groups just about every second second man and his dog has bought, so the argument it wont sell, i tend to disagree as theres easy a few hundred people who bought it on the first day causing a bottle neck in downloading

while it may not popular here with some fanboys of other devs the PMDG forums and P3D facebook groups that on average have 25k plus members are chockers with posts from people who paid for it

you get what you pay for with devs like PMDG, A2A, and others unlike releases from others here that are still getting requests to fix things to only get told thats what the book or data says which clearly isnt the fact, I can think of 2 well known devs here that ive purchased several downloads hoping that they will get better, to must disappoint, there has been little improvement or more bugs than the previous release, I could easily count how many of these i wish i never bought

anyway some of these posts are the same for the 747 base, 777 and 737 release posts, some people need to get over the pricing of some of the higher quality releases

whine, dev bash whatever however its already exceed the initial expectations in sales and has far more paints than some of the more favourable dated or bugged filed cheaper devs here

no one is forcing anyone to buy it, you could always port the stock fsx 747 if you object to the price or use the cheaper and more limited Ifly version

anyway some devs on these forums are protected species and its clearly the others arent

[Javis]

Thanks Carl. Thanks Jeansy.

It's the Queen of the Skies build by the King of flightsim Designers. I don't think i can resist...

And thanks for the Avsim links, gentlemen. I have always thought that both the PMDG 737NG and 747 were the pinacle of jet airliner simulation and thoroughly enjoyed them in FS9 and FSX. I do think it's just a little bit sour i'll have to buy them again a third time for P3D. But i'm not too worried about it neither because i know what i'll get. Heck, i have a 1:18 Exoto model of a 1951 F1 Alfa Romeo Alfetta 159M here that costs 650 euro a few years ago ( i see it goes for $ 998.00 these days !) and you can only *look* at it....



Certainly good to know that -8 version has been optimized performancewise. I just reinstalled the 774 (i keep just about all my aircraft in hangars outside P3D) - it's still gorgeous too, isn't it - and during taxiing i did worry a bit about the fps.

Anyway, thanks again for the info, guys, i'm looking forward to bite the bullet ( i still haven't got the 737NG for P3Dv4 neither, thinking of getting that first maybe.... )

cheers,
Jan

[cavaricooper]

Jan-

The 744 v3 and the 747-8 are where I would spend $$ now. The NGX is my absolute favorite PMDG FDE, but it is going to be refreshed, and so I would suggest waiting on that airframe.

You illustrated my point precisely. We all buy what we can afford, and what we prioritize. I am aware that is different for everyone- not better or worse- different.

Should you decide to plunge into these waters- they are refreshing and restorative, much like a VVC in a Dakota I love

Best- C

[manfredc3]

Definitely not within my budget. I do have the latest 747 for FSX, and have been struggling spending the money again for the 64bit version at $140. and then add the expansion pack?

I know it's top notch, but not for that price.