Majestic 2020 Roadmap

Samen met de Fokker F50 is de Dash-8 Q400 toch wel mijn favorite turboprop. Ontwikkelaar Majestic is hierin toch wel de grote winnaar als het gaat om het nabootsen van de Dash 8 serie. Ondanks een groot persoonlijk verlies van collega kroswynd hebben ze hun plannen bekend gemaakt voor 2020 en later en ”JA!” de Q400 komt naar de nieuwe Microsoft Flightsimulator.  U vind de gehele roadmap hieronder:

Fellow MJC Captains & First Officers,

Last year we announced that an update would have been given about mid-January, and now its about mid-March. I sincerely apologize for the delay but having to juggle multiple aspects of life (work, family-life) I became somewhat consumed with taking care of my ill parents which required quite a bit of traveling to another country. My mother recently passed in January which really put things at a stand-still especially since I now have an ill grieving father, anyway not trying to bore you all, so moving on. Since I have been MIA our sole developer has still been deep in code amidst his busy schedule as well. Anyway, on to the what’s been happening behind the scenes.

Q400 TRAINING Edition:

A few months ago we pushed a small update which addressed a few issues that needed to be fixed and it allowed for the implementation of the FlightsimApps FMS for the PRO Edition. Work on the Q400 Training Edition has been steadily on-going although at a slower pace due to a few set backs, but still progressing. The FDR functionality is still in work, however the TRAINING Edition is going to be split into two Editions: The TRAINING Edition & The Cockpit Edition.

This was done specifically to allow users who wanted to have the full feature set of the TRAINING package (systems/component failures) minus the split touch screen functionality. Users intending to purchase the TRAINING Edition if interested can purchase a separate network client for individual non-touch EFIS screens which can be assigned to several monitors. The 125 Hz flight control system will still be available and the input devices are still assigned the way they are in the PRO Edition.

All of the features available in the PRO Edition are native to the upcoming TRAINING Edition plus the following:

Already available in the PRO Edition:
CUSTOM FLIGHT DYNAMICS ENGINE
WEATHER RADAR
TCAS
FMS NAVIGATION, FUEL MANAGEMENT AND BASIC PERFORMANCE
USER DOCUMENTATION
VIRTUAL COCKPIT AND EXTERNAL MODELS
ADDITIONAL LIVERIES AND PAINT-KIT
PASSENGER ANNOUNCEMENTS
FMS FPL WINDS
SAVING AND LOADING PANEL STATE
CUSTOM SOUND SYSTEM
ADD-ON CONTROL PANEL APPLICATION (CPAN)
SHARED COCKPIT FEATURE
COMPLETELY CUSTOMIZABLE FAILURE SYSTEM via the SYSTEM PANEL (SYSPAN)
RANDOM FAILURES
HEADS-UP GUIDANCE SYSTEM
4x SMOOTHER CONTROLS
SOUND SYSTEM ADVANCED MODE
AUTOPILOT TCS MODE
FMS ETP/PNR FUNCTIONALITY
2D PANELS
WORKING CIRCUIT BREAKERS SIMULATION
ALTERNATE GEAR EXTENSION

Specific to the TRAINING Edition:
SYSTEM CONTROL APPLICATION OF ALL SYSTEMS
FMS ARINC WEATHER
FLIGHT CONTROLS DISCONNECT SIMULATION
SIMULATOR TRAINING MANUAL
CUSTOM FLIGHT DATA RECORDER
FMS RAIM SIMULATION
ARCDU MAINTENANCE FUNCTIONS

SYS PANEL (SYSPAN) IMAGES:
Electrics:-

Hydraulics:-

Avionics:-

Power Plant:-

Flight Controls:-

Q400 COCKPIT Edition:
The COCKPIT Edition will be comprised of everything in the TRAINING Edition plus the individual touch screen functionality which will allow for multiple interface configurations. This platform is currently being tested by a few cockpit builders. Pricing for this additional platform is still to be determined.

All features included with TRAINING Edition plus the following:
COCKPIT HARDWARE INTERFACE – Cockpit Edition ONLY
MULTI-MONITOR COCKPIT 2D PANELS – Cockpit Edition ONLY
MULTI-MONITOR TOUCH SCREEN FUNCTIONALITY – Cockpit Edition ONLY
MJC4EFIS APPLICATION – Cockpit Edition ONLY

EFIS CLIENT IMAGES: (Optional for TRAINING Edition for additional cost – pricing TBD)

TOUCH-SCREEN PANELS

Other items of interest:
What about PBR?
PBR implementation may have to be put on the back burner for the time being due to the on-going life issues that took priority, but we do hope to add it at some point and time.

What about TrueGlass?
We are looking at the implementation of TrueGlass functionality, and more info regarding this will be provided when it’s implementation is deemed to be satisfactory to the development and test teams.

Q300 Editions:
With the recent rave of the re-invented simulation platform on the horizon, we have decided to halt development to a certain degree until we can get more info from a developmental aspect of the new Microsoft Flight Simulator to be released later this year. I think it would be fair to say that ALL further development for the FSX platform will come to an end for the upcoming Q300 and Q400 projects moving forward (after MFS is released). It may very well require going back to the drawing board to revamp the Q300 and Q400 based on what the new platform has to offer. I know that this may not be what most of you want to hear about the Q300 v2 project, but from a business perspective it would be the best approach moving forward.

There are still a few bugs that remain unfixed and will be looked at on a case-by-case basis to determine if they will be fixed. We would encourage users to post any bugs that they encounter or have questions about on the forum.

We hope that everyone is doing their best to follow the guidelines of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we wish everyone safe travels, especially for those working in the airline industry or businesses that require one to still work among crowds.

Cheers

The Majestic Software Team
-kroswynd