UserInterface Similarities, PMDG MD-11 and Concorde-X

[Buzz313th 0]

The "FSX Addon" menus, the failure generator and the 2d popops for both of these FSX aircraft look remarkably similar, almost exact.Is this because Lefteris Kalamaras did the coding on the MD-11 and obviously did it for Concorde-X?JB

[tcas_climb 45]

Hey, im a RARE FSX user, currently i only use it to fly the Simcheck A302. But ive been thinking about purchasing it and was wondering what they mean by "easier to fly"? How does it handle compared to the SSTSIM concorde if you used to use that.

[Buzz313th 0]

Hey, im a RARE FSX user, currently i only use it to fly the Simcheck A302. But ive been thinking about purchasing it and was wondering what they mean by "easier to fly"? How does it handle compared to the SSTSIM concorde if you used to use that.

Never used the 2004 SSTSIM and I have ZERO time in a concorde seat ;) but it sure feels right. When you get slow in it, it gets really slugish and inertia seems to dominate the aircrafts roll and pitch trends. Opposite aileron is required to stop any roll tendency and handflying it deep into the approach on the slow side of VREF is very challenging, as it approaches critical angle of attack you need to use your feet more for directional control then the yoke. It feels as though the engines are vertically offset from the CG as any input of throttle requires an adjustment of trim.System simulation is awsome. You can sit on the ramp while bringing everything online... flip a few switches here and there and watch the systems gauges give you accurate feedback and effect the rest of the simulation as a whole. It really gives you the feeling that the developers are intent on giving the end user a complete systems simulation. Since everything is manually controlled, it apears as though this might be the most complex addon around for FSX.All in all, it's a blast and will keep you busy from pre-flight through shutdown. If your looking for a chalenging simulation, this might be the ticket.JB

[tcas_climb 45]

great thanks! will look into it

[Buzz313th 0]

Anyone from PMDG gotta second to comment? Still curious as to why the configuration options (Menus, popups and the failure generator) on the MD-11 and Concorde-X look exactly the same? JB

[FLEX1978 373]

It probably is due to Lefteris being on the team, he was the main guy behind the 744.I was going to wait till the PMDG 777 came out before moving completely over to FSX but this aircraft is really tempting me especially after finding out Lefteris was behind the coding.

[aentwis 61]

It sounds like the ConcordeX is as complicated to operate as the A2A B377... :(Give me my MD any day...I used to love watching Concorde fly over London on approach into Heathrow... there was a flight that arrived at around 5pm, I believe from New York...Graceful in the spring and autumn, with the sun setting...Andrew

[Buzz313th 0]

It sounds like the ConcordeX is as complicated to operate as the A2A B377... :( Give me my MD any day...I used to love watching Concorde fly over London on approach into Heathrow... there was a flight that arrived at around 5pm, I believe from New York...Graceful in the spring and autumn, with the sun setting...Andrew

With the Concorde's Virtual Flight Engineer keeping tabs on everything, I would say it is just a hair less involved than the A2A 377. But if you remove the VFE's responsabilities than the Concorde-X is roughly about 20% more complex durring a typical flight than the 377.JB

It probably is due to Lefteris being on the team, he was the main guy behind the 744.I was going to wait till the PMDG 777 came out before moving completely over to FSX but this aircraft is really tempting me especially after finding out Lefteris was behind the coding.

Not only was Lefteris behind the code, but I do believe he founded the company...I just recently learned that Lefty was one of the people to help PMDG build thier strong reputation as a company capable of developing the indepth study simulations for the PC sim market.It's interesting to me how the FS developer base is sucha small world. There is really just a handfull of developers/coders that are really responsible for the complex code going into these addons.Hats off to em.JB

[Tabs 2,790]

Time to put this mythology we've seen in recent days to rest. (it's going on at FSL's forum too and we're sick of it)Lefteris Kalamaras is NOT "the founder" of PMDG. Robert Randazzo founded the company and is its CEO and President, period. Lefteris wasn't even our first employee, Marc Harrington was.Nor was Lefteris "behind the code" that makes PMDG planes what they are. The flight management computer and its associated performance libraries, autopilot flight director system, the engine control software and the ND's magenta line prediction and drawing code (easily the most complicated parts of the 747 and MD-11) were nearly entirely programed by Vangelis Vaos, not Lefteris. Nearly everything else on the MD-11 - the real time panel lighting system, panel switching, major framerate optimization stuff and so on were done by Michael Frantzaskakis. The original NG's FMC was done by a man named Anthony Merton, who left PMDG during the 747's initial development. The mechanical stuff like the 747's complicated fuel system were coded by Robert himself. Lefteris has apparently been telling people that he is responsible for these things and would like people to believe that he played a much larger role in PMDG's success than he actually did. These are complete fabrications on his part. Lefteris was responsible for the PMDGOptions.dll system, the sound and events gauges, the glass graphics programming (the actual displaying of them, not the calculations behind the images) the load manager app, and the SimConnect bridge between the plane's code and FS.Lefteris was replaced here by a man whose work you will soon see on the NGX. It is no exaggeration when I say that his work blows anything Lefteris ever did here straight out of the water. The idea that we are worse off without Lefteris couldn't be further from the truth. (just look at the J41, which he had zero involvement with)

[TheDanger 182]

Looks like there is some bad feeling between certain people here :(

[Buzz313th 0]

Time to put this mythology we've seen in recent days to rest. (it's going on at FSL's forum too and we're sick of it)Lefteris Kalamaras is NOT "the founder" of PMDG. Robert Randazzo founded the company and is its CEO and President, period. Lefteris wasn't even our first employee, Marc Harrington was.Nor was Lefteris "behind the code" that makes PMDG planes what they are. The flight management computer and its associated performance libraries, autopilot flight director system, the engine control software and the ND's magenta line prediction and drawing code (easily the most complicated parts of the 747 and MD-11) were nearly entirely programed by Vangelis Vaos, not Lefteris. Nearly everything else on the MD-11 - the real time panel lighting system, panel switching, major framerate optimization stuff and so on were done by Michael Frantzaskakis. The original NG's FMC was done by a man named Anthony Merton, who left PMDG during the 747's initial development. The mechanical stuff like the 747's complicated fuel system were coded by Robert himself. Lefteris has apparently been telling people that he is responsible for these things and would like people to believe that he played a much larger role in PMDG's success than he actually did. These are complete fabrications on his part. Lefteris was responsible for the PMDGOptions.dll system, the sound and events gauges, the glass graphics programming (the actual displaying of them, not the calculations behind the images) the load manager app, and the SimConnect bridge between the plane's code and FS.Lefteris was replaced here by a man whose work you will soon see on the NGX. It is no exaggeration when I say that his work blows anything Lefteris ever did here straight out of the water. The idea that we are worse off without Lefteris couldn't be further from the truth. (just look at the J41, which he had zero involvement with)

Nothing in my posts indicated that Lefty claimed more responsability than what I stated and what you just confirmed. I was curious about nothing more than what I asked.But, your seemingly defensive reply hints that their might be some interesting history.Ryan, who cares about the politics, but thanks for clarifying PMDG's side of, "As the world turns".Oh, and about the J41. IMHO, I wouldn't call it a masterpiece of systems simulation, but more a masterpiece of 3d modeling and texturing. Remember, it's still missing a key part that PMDG promised would be there, even if it didn't make it in the final release.Over the past couple months since the J41 has been released, I have sensed that PMDG has lost alot of it's humility, or maybe it's just the tone of your posts.I personally believe that there are a handfull of tallented developers producing addons for FS and PMDG is definately ONE OF THEM, but DEFINATELY not the only one.JB

[znypan 0]

Nothing in my posts indicated that Lefty claimed more responsability than what I stated and what you just confirmed. I was curious about nothing more than what I asked.But, your seemingly defensive reply hints that their might be some interesting history.Ryan, who cares about the politics, but thanks for clarifying PMDG's side of, "As the world turns".Oh, and about the J41. IMHO, I wouldn't call it a masterpiece of systems simulation, but more a masterpiece of 3d modeling and texturing. Remember, it's still missing a key part that PMDG promised would be there, even if it didn't make it in the final release.Over the past couple months since the J41 has been released, I have sensed that PMDG has lost alot of it's humility, or maybe it's just the tone of your posts.I personally believe that there are a handfull of tallented developers producing addons for FS and PMDG is definately ONE OF THEM, but DEFINATELY not the only one.JB

Out of curiosity. What exactly led you to ask a question like that? I fail to see how a simmer would be interested in what each developer did for a product. It sounds like you try to advertise a certain developer. Are you working with that developer? Is he a friend of yours? Are you his representative? Are you simply worshiping him? The nickname you used (Lefty) shows some familiarity with that person. If that's the case, I'm sorry but that's ridiculous unless you're in someone's payroll. Even if none of the above is true I still think it's childish to come in a forum of a commercial product just to "ask/point out" about what this ex-developer has done for some of the previous PMDG products. Really, who gives a damn?Anoiwthos Doublouxos Darlas

[Buzz313th 0]

<br />Out of curiosity. What exactly led you to ask a question like that? I fail to see how a simmer would be interested in what each developer did for a product. It sounds like you try to advertise a certain developer. Are you working with that developer? Is he a friend of yours? Are you his representative? Are you simply worshiping him? The nickname you used (Lefty) shows some familiarity with that person. If that's the case, I'm sorry but that's ridiculous unless you're in someone's payroll. Even if none of the above is true I still think it's childish to come in a forum of a commercial product just to "ask/point out" about what this ex-developer has done for some of the previous PMDG products. Really, who gives a damn?<br /><br />Anoiwthos Doublouxos Darlas<br />

<br /><br /><br />Man, are you sharp.Dont try and read too deep into it. I was really just curious as to why certain parts of the addons have such similarities, thats all. But dont let me stop you from your paranoid conspiracy theory as that seems like more fun to talk about. What was really surprising to me, was how keyed up Ryan got.JB

[Turbine777 13]

I honestly don't think Ryan got "Keyed up" at all, but rather answered to a topic that I too read as trying to call someone out rather than just a friendly discussion, but that's just my opinion.

[znypan 0]

<br /><br /><br />Man, are you sharp.Dont try and read too deep into it. I was really just curious as to why certain parts of the addons have such similarities, thats all. But dont let me stop you from your paranoid conspiracy theory as that seems like more fun to talk about. What was really surprising to me, was how keyed up Ryan got.JB

I apologize if I was offensive JB. It's obvious that I missed your post in the Concorde forum where you asked the developers if they have used similar DLLs/techniques to the MD11. It's like you buy a cake from the new patisserie in your area and you go to the old shop to ask if one of their ex-employees is using the same old material for the garnish. I'm all ears to hear the answer that the Concorde developers and "Lefty" gave you in the Concorde forum. I also take it for granted that you're not in any way affiliated with FSLabs or "Lefty" and your question was completely rhetorical. Because if you already are connected to "Lefty" (you seem to know so much about him, his coding skills etc) you should ask him directly and not his ex-employers. And finally yes, I'm too sharp and no, I won't read too deep into your posts from now on. Your last post answered my questions. Cheap advertisement with a small dose of provocation is a boring mixture anyways. I'm sure you can do better than that. Anoiwthos Darlas