PMDG Releases New 737NGXu Update [Build 9961]

Although a little later than planned, the new update for the PMDG NGXu is now available to download for Prepar3D V4. The new update focuses primarily on performance after hearing community feedback. In total, 43 issues were addressed including elements of the geometry, texture work and a variety of small fixes to various systems.

As mentioned at the start, this update sees changes to the aircraft to improve overall performance. According to the post from Robert on the PMDG forums, he said that the team had been looking at the feedback to better optimise the NGXu in “order to reduce the lead we have on the processor.” The team will continue to look at data if there are further optimisations to be made going forward.

Further to the optimisations made, the team went on to also say that there is now a new option in the FMS OPTIONS menu to use a new experimental way to change the draw rate on the EFB moving map. Here is what Robert said on the subject:

“This is an experiment, because we know that drawing the EFB, then subjecting that screen to HDR correction, then having cockpit lighting interact with those results, which then have to be recomputed and rendered once more, can have an impact on FPS. We thought it might be interesting to see if, instead of drawing that screen each tick we skip a few frames in the middle and see if that alleviates a burden from some with mid-range hardware. We played around with it and thought it was interesting, so we figured we would pass it along as an experiment to see if it helps…”

To get the update, you will need to open up the PMDG Operations Center v2 and download and apply the update. This will then change the required files on your system rather than having to download a whole new update.

Full Changelog:

PMDG 737 NGX Lifecycle Maintenance – BUILD 9961 (Released 2019-11-19) [ View Issues ]
================================================== =========================
– 0008188: [External Model – Geometry] Inboard Leading Edge flaps animation missing a piece. (jbrown) – resolved.
– 0008142: [Systems – Hydraulic] Alt steering switch does not adjust position when switch guard is closed. (hvanrensburg) – resolved.
– 0008179: [EFB – General] Extraneous word that is not needed in EFB title (hvanrensburg) – resolved.
– 0008176: [Virtual Cockpit – Functionality/Click-Spots] EFB brigntess button positions are swapped. (hvanrensburg) – resolved.
– 0008166: [External Model – Geometry] 900SSW wing flex animation breaks and becomes disjointed. (jbrown) – resolved.
– 0008155: [Virtual Cockpit – Functionality/Click-Spots] Start switches animation needs tweaking to correctly show motion in/out as appropriate. (vscimone) – resolved.
– 0008127: [Virtual Cockpit – Geometry/Textures] Parking Brake light illuminates during parking brake set. (abashkatov) – resolved.
– 0008216: [External Model – Geometry] Nose wheel buries itself upon max braking use (jbrown) – resolved.
– 0008199: [Virtual Cockpit – Geometry/Textures] SELCAL placard should always be displayed (vscimone) – resolved.
– 0008174: [Systems – General/Not Sure] NW Steering Tiller moves in flight (hvanrensburg) – resolved.
– 0008211: [Systems – Electrical] External Power breaker closes erroneously if switch is moved prior to battery-on. (rsrandazzo) – resolved.
– 0008204: [External Model – Geometry] Gear door texture mirrored (jbrown) – resolved.
– 0008205: [External Model – Geometry] Nose radome mesh issue (jbrown) – resolved.
– 0008206: [External Model – Geometry] Paint kit issue (jbrown) – resolved.
– 0008200: [Virtual Cockpit – Geometry/Textures] Blue on artificial horizon too bright so it’s hard to read white markings (vscimone) – resolved.
– 0008180: [External Model – Geometry] Paint kit issue (jbrown) – resolved.
– 0008187: [External Model – Geometry] PCA hose does not connect into the correct spot. (hvanrensburg) – resolved.
– 0008126: [General – Engines] Flight Idle Not Decreasing with TAI Switched Off above 15500 (emvaos) – resolved.
– 0008186: [External Model – Geometry] Touch down smoke missing from NGXu (jbrown) – resolved.
– 0008175: [Virtual Cockpit – Geometry/Textures] Light bleed at windows (vscimone) – resolved.
– 0008171: [External Model – Liveries] Paint Kit texture issue (jbrown) – resolved.
– 0008183: [Virtual Cockpit – Geometry/Textures] Cargo fire test two FWD cargo (vscimone) – resolved.
– 0008124: [Systems – Wheels & Brakes] Landing Gear control valve needs tuning. (rsrandazzo) – resolved.
– 0008158: [EFB – General] North Up EFB Airport Map extremely high range with add on airports protection (emvaos) – resolved.
– 0008132: [Systems – Hydraulic] EMDP A overheat, overheats Both (rsrandazzo) – resolved.
– 0008165: [External Model – Geometry] Flap geometry adjustment (jbrown) – resolved.
– 0008156: [Virtual Cockpit – Geometry/Textures] Honeywell Altitude digits (vscimone) – resolved.
– 0007842: [Virtual Cockpit – Geometry/Textures] Display unit reflectivity can cause excessive sun glare at particular angles (vscimone) – resolved.
– 0008164: [Virtual Cockpit – Geometry/Textures] ELectrical Panel small errors (vscimone) – resolved.
– 0008154: [Systems – Fire Protection] Cargo Compartment Fire Protection fault with AFT detection (vscimone) – resolved.
– 0007906: [General – Ground Operations] Auto Ground OPS disconnetcts GPU (hvanrensburg) – resolved.
– 0008152: [Virtual Cockpit – Geometry/Textures] COMM3 missing dzu fasteners (vscimone) – resolved.
– 0008150: [Virtual Cockpit – Geometry/Textures] Text missing from overhead: “GEN” is missing from “GEN 1” on upper overhead (vscimone) – resolved.
– 0008137: [External Model – Geometry] Descriptions Performance Fields in aircraft.cfg (jbrown) – resolved.
– 0008147: [Virtual Cockpit – Geometry/Textures] Switch cushions on overhead should flare out at the tip (vscimone) – resolved.
– 0008148: [Virtual Cockpit – Geometry/Textures] Some of the overhead switch bases are the wrong style (vscimone) – resolved.
– 0008149: [Virtual Cockpit – Geometry/Textures] Overhead textures are dark (vscimone) – resolved.
– 0008146: [Virtual Cockpit – Geometry/Textures] Blue annunciators on overhead need to be color corrected (vscimone) – resolved.
– 0008143: [Virtual Cockpit – Functionality/Click-Spots] The Fuel Cuttoff’s should only illuminate on a fire test. Not on a normal Light Test. (hvanrensburg) – resolved.
– 0008057: [Systems – Pneumatic] Bleed and Packs on TO and GA N1 limit dependency [only checks switches not system operation] (emvaos) – resolved.
– 0008141: [Virtual Cockpit – Geometry/Textures] RMI guage glass not correctly lined up with bezel (vscimone) – resolved.
– 0008093: [Main Panel – Standby Gauges] Analogue speed backup shows TAS (abashkatov) – resolved.
– 0007881: [FMS – Performance Pages] Lateral RNP manual entry in FMS can only accept tenths (emvaos) – closed.
– OTHER00: numerous rendering changes, model updates to reduce draw calls and improve performance.
[43 issues