PMDG 747-400 AP Problems

[Soulflight 97]

Hi everyone,I know there is an official support forum from PMDG on this site, but since I do not feel very comfortable stating my real name in a public forum, which is required by their rules. ill post that here. (I still own a legitimate copy of the aircraft.)The Problem is already known to many I think: the 747 autopilot goes berserk in LNAV mode, banking until the bank angle warning goes off, and as soon as I deactivate the AP, the aircraft enters a steep climb and does barely respond to control input. Since I use fspassengers, this can get very frustrating.Now I use ASE with DWC mode and already searched this and variable other forums on that issue and in most places it is stated that FSUIPC wind smoothing should fix this. The reason why I start that topic now is because this hast no noticeable effect on the problem for me.So is it really impossible to use ASE DWC mode with the PMDG 747 even with wind smoothing on?Or are there any other ideas?thanks in advance

[slait 169]

I have this issue as well and no, I don't know if there is a resolution/fix/work-around.

[tf51d 284]

The problem is a bad path in the FS registry, it's missing a backslash. You can correct it by running the Flight1 FS Registry repair utility, found on their free download page.

[Soulflight 97]

The problem is a bad path in the FS registry, it's missing a backslash. You can correct it by running the Flight1 FS Registry repair utility, found on their free download page.

thanks for the suggestion, I forgot to mention that I already did this with no effect. Does anybody know wether the utility works the same way for 32- and 64bit systems, maybe it was pointed to the wrong registry key.

[haskell 307]

I have stopped flying the 747 because of this. Out of nowhere it will bank wildly until crashing. I've tried all the suggestions and it still happens. Makes it impossible to do long flights (if you don't sit at the yoke ready to save it).It is a great plane. Wish they could fix it.

[Guest jahman]

I have stopped flying the 747 because of this. Out of nowhere it will bank wildly until crashing. I've tried all the suggestions and it still happens. Makes it impossible to do long flights (if you don't sit at the yoke ready to save it).It is a great plane. Wish they could fix it.

Most of us don't have this problem. Have you tried uninstalling/reinstalling? Disabling all non-FSX weather like ASE and unchecked all weather smoothing options in FSUIPC?Cheers,- jahman.

[haskell 307]

Hey Jahman,Yeah, it probably is related to ASE or weather smoothing, as the OP mentions. I just don't want to fly with no weather. Since it's the only plane that is a problem I just choose to fly something else so I can fly with real weather.I guess I could take off, climb, kill ASE and fly with no weather, then restart ASE on descent. Not the most realistic but it would work. But so would flying a diiferent plane. :)

[tf51d 284]

thanks for the suggestion, I forgot to mention that I already did this with no effect. Does anybody know wether the utility works the same way for 32- and 64bit systems, maybe it was pointed to the wrong registry key.

There are actually 2 paths in the registry, one in Note: Do not try this if you are not familiar or don't feel comfortable with editing the registry with regedit. You can cause irreparable damage to your system. They key you want to check is belowHkey_Current_User/software/microsoft/microsoft_games/Flight_simulator/10.0 appPath=c:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XThe otherHkey_Local_machine/software/microsoft/microsoft_games/Flight_simulator/10.0 setupPath=c:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator X(Path may not match yours)Make sure both have the trailing backslash.I had to fix this manually on my Vista installation, the registry fix only corrected one of the paths, for some reason. The registry fixed both on my XP Installation.

[Great Ozzie 101]

I do not know about "most people" jahman... and I hate to be the proverbial contrarian... however, I know at least four of us on the AVSIM RTRW Team that have had this issue (besides all those that have posted in the PMDG forum). I posted once on the matter... w/ pics... and got the "the autopilot won't do that". What the autopilot will and won't do idk, but I do know I once suffered the same problem... steep turns (easily 45° to 60°) at various times thruout a flight. Maybe never in a flight... maybe a couple times for some minutes each. Whether it was ASE or FSX weather... didn't matter. Very frustrating and only way to alleviate was to hand fly for a couple minutes then go back to LNAV.However, I felt it somehow related to FSUIPC (good or bad wise)... at least these settings I have found to work for me have totally eliminated the problem. See the below pics. Credit to Steve Bell for saving my sanity.@ Tom:Think I will try the registry edits and remove the FSUIPC checks for the turbulence et al. Hate having those in there but what else to do?Thanks for posting the specifics.

[Soulflight 97]

There are actually 2 paths in the registry, one in Note: Do not try this if you are not familiar or don't feel comfortable with editing the registry with regedit. You can cause irreparable damage to your system. They key you want to check is belowHkey_Current_User/software/microsoft/microsoft_games/Flight_simulator/10.0 appPath=c:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XThe otherHkey_Local_machine/software/microsoft/microsoft_games/Flight_simulator/10.0 setupPath=c:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator X(Path may not match yours)Make sure both have the trailing backslash.I had to fix this manually on my Vista installation, the registry fix only corrected one of the paths, for some reason. The registry fixed both on my XP Installation.

Thanks!I just found out that the "setup path" key you mentioned is missing completely, I will enter it and see what happens.

[cmpbellsjc 2,963]

Most of us don't have this problem. Have you tried uninstalling/reinstalling? Disabling all non-FSX weather like ASE and unchecked all weather smoothing options in FSUIPC?Cheers,- jahman.

I dont have any issues with it either in their 747 or other PMDG planes when using ASE and wind smoothing from FSUIPC, but my wind smoothing settings are more agressive than the ones someone posted a screen shot of using 1 second per 1 kt/degree change, so that could be why mine works fine.

[Guest jahman]

...I guess I could take off, climb, kill ASE and fly with no weather, then restart ASE on descent. Not the most realistic but it would work. ...

You could also temprarily estart ASE to inject new weather whenever you're back at your PC monitoring the flight, noting that AP malfunctions also happen in the RW! Also make sure you have the latest ASE SP3 installed.Cheers,- jahman.

[Great Ozzie 101]

but my wind smoothing settings are more agressive than the ones someone posted a screen shot of using 1 second per 1 kt/degree change, so that could be why mine works fine.

the one's Rob posted (hi btw Jim)

[Soulflight 97]

Ok, just finished another testing flight, ASE DWC mode on, FSUIPC wind smoothing enabled and reg fix verified, it still goes crazy after some time at LNAV. I monitored the wind direction indicator and it only had a variance of about 5 degrees in total with a wind strength of some 15 knots, but it was enough to drive my FMC crazy.This is really starting to get to me, whats the use of being the most realistic aircraft addon designer if you have to completely disable weather to fly their products. Please, PMDG, tell me: is weather disabled when 747's are in the air in the RW???? I know FSX weather has its bugs in terms of wind shifts, but the smoothing out should do it, cant think of another way it is in real life.I spent around 50 $ on a plane which everyone is telling is a must have but it is completely unusuable to me.

[tf51d 284]

Ok, just finished another testing flight, ASE DWC mode on, FSUIPC wind smoothing enabled and reg fix verified, it still goes crazy after some time at LNAV. I monitored the wind direction indicator and it only had a variance of about 5 degrees in total with a wind strength of some 15 knots, but it was enough to drive my FMC crazy.This is really starting to get to me, whats the use of being the most realistic aircraft addon designer if you have to completely disable weather to fly their products. Please, PMDG, tell me: is weather disabled when 747's are in the air in the RW???? I know FSX weather has its bugs in terms of wind shifts, but the smoothing out should do it, cant think of another way it is in real life.I spent around 50 $ on a plane which everyone is telling is a must have but it is completely unusuable to me.

DWC in ASE always caused me trouble, (Although I never remember it causing this) I never use it. I do all my wind smoothing through FSUIPC. Since it set weather globally I could be flying through the jet stream with high winds, say 230@130kts, If I viewed AI at ground level, they were being tossed around the airport like paper dolls. My suggestion at this point if the registry fix didn't work, is ask for support over in the PMDG forum, and also put in a support ticket. There must be something else wrong with your installation that we're not seeing. When I had the problem, I don't remember the plane going out of control like you report. On mine the plane would lose track of the magenta line in LNAV mode after about 5 minutes flight and begin S turning searching for it, which progressively got more severe as time went on, but the plane always remained in control. What you describe is a little different.