Why is saving so unreliable?

[craig_read 43]

Hi,Before we start this is constructive criticism of the product. BUT.. in fairness I don't think this is entirely PMDG, as I never found saving within MSFS all that reliable either.What do I mean? Well there are a lot of posts here regarding saving flights in PMDG and MSFS.. I have a whole LOAD of problems when trying to load a flight that's in cruise and here are some of them.1 - LNAV disengages with NOT ON INTERCEPT HEADING.2 - Plane banks right uncontrollably, and never recovers.. have a save somewhere where this happens to me.. I'll try to dig it out.3 - Fuel is re-distributed by PMDG fuel management system.4 - APU if on is now off.5 - Stupid climb rate just after save.. example.. I saved a game cruising at FL320 and when loaded my climb rate went to something like 7000 fpm and I shot up to FL360 before eventually returning to my normal height after getting control.6 - FMC loses fixes7 - Sometimes FMC loses most of the data within it, think this could be MSFS.8 - Loss of power (not PMDG but MSFS saving issue I am sure) as engines are ramped up rather than their thrust setting stored. Bit of a nightmare on low slow approaches.. I actually have one save somewhere where it is impossible to recover the aircraft.. If you load it.. it drops like a brick while the panels are loaded and MSFS lazily restores the thrust setting, by which time it's too late.. you get control and it's already in a dive and about to hit the ground.. THAT.. was so annoying you wouldn't believe!! I saved that one to practice approaches!My saving procedure is fairly straight forward with PMDG. I save the flight, AND save the panel state in a separate file. I load the flight, and then load the panel state on top of this, I usually reduce the speed of the sim too while I do this to 1/2 so I can correct things fairly quickly.. as I find leaving it at 1 speed it's a bit of a difficult task. It's NEVER smooth and always requires some intervention on my part to get it back to normal. I almost always have to intercept the next waypoint as LNAV is messing about and refuses to engage without doing this. I'm posting this for others to put their issues up and potentially some solutions to some of them.. I'm just getting so tired of unreliable saving. Most of the time I don't save now, and just leave the sim running.. it works beautifully then..PMDG team.. Please don't take this a dig at the product.. I happen to thinkg PMDG 744 is the best addon for MSFS out right now.. and will be buying the new MD11 when it's released.. I also think a lot of these problems are MSFS related and nothing to do with you at all.. But I think some comments and advice from the technical team might be good.. and all in ONE post rather than all over the forum.. Perhaps title the replies.. SOLUTION.. if you have a solution to a saving issue.. or PROBLEM if you have identified a problem with saving.ThanksCraig

[ukflight 11]

LNAV disengages with NOT ON INTERCEPT HEADINGThat has happened to me on a couple of occasions and I never figured out why. I got out of it by opening the FMC and clicking the LSK beside the next approaching waypoint then clicking the top LSK to make a direct course. May not be the proper way to do it (still working my way through the manual again) but it worked.

[andyw 0]

Hi Craig,I'm really glad that you've posted this and I agree wholeheartedly with what you've said. I did post a message a few days ago in similar vein but had no reply.The problem is that for me and I guess some others, I can't for various reasons often set enough time aside to do a whole flight so ideally I want to save my current position and come back to it later to carry on. I then have the same problems you've described - APU not running, messed up FMC etc. It's geting to the stage now where I think twice about using the queen - and I've just shelled out on the freighter also!!Just for info - and no criticism intended of PMDG - I have no trouble saving the Lvl-D 767 at any stage of a flight.So I guess my question is this - are the people who can't save the queen successfully few and far between or is it that most only do complete flight and don't need to - hope that makes sense.I hope someone can help because it does seem from all the searching on the forum and reading of the manual that I've done that we should be able to save the flight at any stage and return to it successfully - and it's a real shame because these 2 planes aren't cheap and I'm getting to the stage that I don't want to use them for fear of wasting my time. Fingers crossed.........Andy

[Guest andi_edds]

Hmm, i have to say: I am very pleased with saving PMDG flights. It never has let me down. The only thing is the "LNAV not on intercept course" issue, but it easily resolved with what has been mentioned above.It's very important for me to be able to save a flight with a complex aircraft such as the PMDG and i see no dealbraker in the way PMDG handles it with the queen.

[Marcel11 0]

Hi Craig and BillFirst of all I think PMDG did a wunderful work with the Queen (PAX and F). I'm very satisfied with this product.I've the same problems, too. To complete the list the loss of the forecast datas on FMC and the change of autobrakes set after reload a saved flight. Currently I'm not shure, if also one of the lights goes off after a reload.Best reagardsMarcel

[Guest woottsbj25]

Hmmm, must be a user-based thing. I never have any problems.

[craig_read 43]

Well could you guys tell us exactly how you save a flight and recover from it? Today I loaded a flight.. left cruising at FL320.. with LNAV.. VNAV engaged.. autopilot managing the cruise nicely.. perfectly fine.. when I loaded itLNAV wouldn't engage..Autothrottle not engaged.. (had to press vnav again)Altitude shot up to FL360 for some reason and speed dropped to nearly stall..Had to mess about to get it back to normal.. I'll take some screen shots for you tomorrow so you can see what I mean..Fuel config was not the same...FMC lost information on the FIX page.I've had the queen for a while and it's always been this way.. Last save I had the queen turned to the right and kept turning till it stalled and I could do nothing about it! This is either my saving technique.. or something else..Like I said.. I save the flight in MSFS.. and THEN save the panel right after.. in PMDG.. When I load.. I load the flight.. then load the panel right after..Is there a better way?Craig

[Guest wfr]

hi,I also have troubles to save a flight. I like to practise landings and save the flight when the plane is established on ILS in landing configuration.After reloading the FMC flap/speeds are gone, sometimes the autopilot is off, autobrakes are off (this is a known issue) and the flaps are up (although they deploy again but this takes time).I've followed the procedure described in the manual but no success so far.This is the only problem I have with the Queen.Walter

[mfrantz 45]

A clarification on how panel state and flights saving/loading works:If you save a flight from the MSFS menu there is no need to also save the panel state from the PMDG menu. Saving the flight automatically creates and saves a PMDG panel state file. Same when loading, just load the flight, no need to load the panel state as well. Panel state saving/loading is useful to save preflight states, e.g. cold and dark, before engine start, etc. to be able to apply them later in any filght regardless of location. In flight, loading a panel state alone (without a corresponding flight) will give you problems as the panel state might not be compatible with the current flight situation. This is why panel state is automatically saved/restored when saving/loading flights from the MSFS menu. Besides that, the main cause of problems with loading flights is MSFS related. When a flight is loaded MSFS will start with engines at idle and then, as you mentioned, will laziliy restore the thrust setting, so speed will drop etc.The 747 is not my area, so I can't help with the other issues. But it happens that I am currently working on these issues for the MD-11, and I can at least assure you that the flight loading functionality will be largely improved in the MD-11.

[craig_read 43]

Yeah, as I thought... I'll load up without loading panel states in future.. although some of the problems persist I must admit I did think MSFS was the culprit on the majority of cases..I can't wait for the MD-11... surely an annoucement should be coming soon.. :( .. the last one was in July.. Just joking! lolCraig

[Tabs 2,790]

Yeah with the 744 it's a combination of MSFS and FSUIPC limitations that cause most of that stuff. Just recycle your flight director and A/T switches, reengage the modes and everything should be fine.