Another stupid question, please? Reading through the manual, (I think) it syas that any set-up I do on the CDU is particular to THAT tail number and model. Hence, if I set up the 737-900 Winglet model for a cold & dark cockpit, it will ONLY affect that model. Is this right, or am I in error? This is how I set up that model, at my home field in KSFB.

 

I started the tutorial (#1), and picked the 737-800 Winglet model, per the tutorial, picked Gatwick, picked runway 8R, picked clear weather and 9am on the clock, and clicked on "Fly Now". And there I was at Gatwick, runway 8R, in a cold & dark cockpit. Went immediately to the CDU, changed everything back to restore the original set-up, and ended the flight. And closed FSX. I am now going back to the sim to see if the model in the tutorial is now working as it was supposed to.

 

Why does my set-up with the 900 Winglet carry over to another model? I'm getting confused the more I use this thing.

I suggest you re-read the manuals.  I have FSX set up to open with the PMDG 737NGX at an EDDF Gate, C&D.  How you get to this is to open FSX, choose the aircraft, airfield and gate, and time of day, set up the FMC for whatever panel state you want, save the panel state, load the panel state, then save the flight as ????? and also save it as the default aircraft.  Next time you start FSX, you should have the 737, airport etc show on the opening screen and you just select Fly Now.  This saves a lot of messing around.  You can also set up various flights the same way except you only have one default.  If you want to load a different flight you use the Load selection and select the flight you want and click Fly Now. You can also customixe the panel states and have several different versions and when you load aflight, go into the FMC and select whatever panel state you want to use for that particular flight.  For example I have a cold and dark cockpit that is different than the default cold and dark, I also have a panel state that has everything running and all I have to do is set the flaps which is the one I use just for circuits.  Hope this helps.

 

Rob

Another stupid question, please? Reading through the manual, (I think) it syas that any set-up I do on the CDU is particular to THAT tail number and model. Hence, if I set up the 737-900 Winglet model for a cold & dark cockpit, it will ONLY affect that model. Is this right, or am I in error?

 

That applies to the equipment set-up, and is specific to livery. Default state setting applies globally.

And I quote from the 737NGX Intro manual, pages 21 to 22:

 

A few notes to keep you from running into trouble:

• There is a common misconception that when loading a complex
simulation like the PMDG 737NGX that you should first load the
default Cessna into the simulator, then load the PMDG 737NGX.
This is not a factual conception and in fact we do not recommend
the practice at all. What is required however is for the default
Ultralight at Friday Harbor to be your default startup state in FSX.

• One shortcoming of all PMDG products for FSX is that our
products do not like to be “re-loaded” on top of themselves. This
means that if you have one livery or variant of the airplane
selected and running within the simulation world (say, a 737-800
with winglets) and you wish to change liveries to a different 737-
800 with winglets, you will need to shut down the simulator and
then select the new variant or livery you wish to switch to from
scratch. If you load an NGX livery or variant on top of itself you
will see strange issues in the cockpit, FSX may CTD or otherwise
crash etc.

• Setting the PMDG 737NGX as your default flight can cause the
same behavior described above from reloading it on top of itself.
The default flight is loaded in the background as you start FSX
and thus if the NGX is your default flight and you then select
another variant, it loads on top of itself even though you may not
actually see it happen. Keep the default flight as the ultralight at
Friday Harbor and you won’t have any issues with this.

 

So what part of the manuals should I re-read? I'm all for setting up a default flight, as I always have for my other aircraft. When I do something wrong, people rightfully tell me to RTFM. And now I'm RTFM, and being told it's wrong. Again, I'm getting confused here.

That applies to the equipment set-up, and is specific to livery. Default state setting applies globally.

Thank you. I shall remember that. At least it is easy to correct. I like the programming through the CDU. But it does seem that when most changes are made, the flight has to be ended and re-loaded for the changes to take place.

 

When I went and started the first tutorial, I started with a c&d plane, went and changed it to the default, reloaded it, and it was still c&d...or it appeared to be. I sat there patiently on the runway at EGKK, and sure enough, the cockpit started to come alive.

 

Great aircraft! This is going to be fun, once I get all of the nuances learned. It may take awhile.

 

 

But it does seem that when most changes are made, the flight has to be ended and re-loaded for the changes to take place.

 

Actually, just the opposite.  Everything is instantaneous.  What changes are you finding require flights to be ended?  Are you perhaps not pressing the EXEC key when it lights up for certain confirmations (like panel state loads)?

I changed the set-up to "Cold & Dark" and am fairly sure I clicked on the "Execute" button, but the cockpit stayed the same. However, when I saved the "C&D" state, ended the flight and re-loaded it, it came up C&D. And on the runway in tutorial 1, when it came up C&D, I changed it to the default, clicked "Execute" and nothing happened. After I saved that state, ended the flight and re-loaded it, it appeared to come up C&D, but as I sat there and waited, slowly the cockpit started lighting up. It took about 2 minutes to fully come up.

 

I will go back and try the changes again. Perhaps I am not waiting long enough. With my Coolsky MD-80, when I start it up in default mode, go to the set-up menu and choose C&D, the plane starts shutting down almost immediately. Guess I'm spoiled.

 

See my profile picture? That's really me!

See my profile picture? That's really me!

 

Haha - if nothing is happening when you hit EXEC, make sure you're running FSX as an administrator (right click the icon when you want to run it - select Run As Administrator).  That feature is meant for immediate panel state changes.  Don't get it confused with the default panel load setting.  They're both on the same screen, but if you followed the first tutorial, you were dealing directly with the instantaneous feature.

 

Windows is stepping in, in the background, not allowing it to make certain changes.

I start FSX one of two ways: When I run REX, I start it "As admin" and after it loads, I choose "Fly Now" from there. Or I will launch FSX directly, and always, "as admin." In the FSX properties, I even have checked off "Run as admin".

 

I also have turned off Windows UAC, always boot Windows in the "plain Jane" state, and turn off my A/V, spyware detector, and any other software not needed for flight. FSX is installed on drive D, as are all of the FSX-related apps. I'm running as clean as possible, because I only have 8Gb of RAM and 1Gb on my GTX650 video card.

 

Believe me, I have done everything I can find to fine-tune FSX and make it work as smoothly as possible. I am going to re-load the 737 in the default mode shortly, and try to switch it over to a C&D mode again, and I will report my findings. I'm really trying hard to follow the manuals and instructions, but as you can see from the posts in this thread, I'm getting mixed results. Don't worry - I'll figure all of this out shortly...just in time to download the new 777, and start all over again! :wacko:

Weird.  With UAC off, you shouldn't be having these issues...

 

However, just as a CYA, you might want to try going in and giving yourself Full Control for your entire FSX directory.  With UAC off, it shouldn't matter, but if you turned UAC off after installing FSX, it could alleviate issues.  Computers are odd...

As I said, when I re-loaded the tutorial with the default 737-800 Winglet (on the runway at EGKK), the cockpit started as a cold & dark panel, but within about 30 seconds, things started to turn on. So it just might be that "instantaneous" means the activation is instant, but the system comes up slowly. I'll find out.

 

And I DID turn off UAC after FSX had been installed. Hmmmmm...

Gary

 

When you select the 737NGX, enter the airport, select the weather and time and click on Fly Now from Free Flight screen once the NGX has initialised go to the CDU and click PMDG Setup>LSR4. The next screen should be named PMDG SETUP. What is below the SARTUP STATE on Line 4?

 

Michael Cubine

When you first start up the 737 there is an initialization period that show in a green line at the top of your screen.  MIne takes about 20 seconds to load the panel state.  If I change the panel state through the CDU, then it is almost instantaneous.  As for setting up the PMDG to be the default aircraft I have never had any problems opening or changing flights or changing panel configurations.  Opening with the trike seems to be a redundant extra steps 

 

Rob

My FSX set up opens the PMDG at EDDF which is the main airport I use for flights.  If I want to fly from another airport, I select LOAD and choose another flight that I have set up.  I haven't had any problems loading flights or changing them by setting up the PMDG to open instead of the trike.  I have several saved flights - each one at a different airport.  If I want to change the panel state when I load a flight I go into the FMC and select the panel state I want to have, and then load it.  If you don't load the panel state then just selecting the another panel configuration will not change anything.  You can set up the panel switches such as the Overhead however you want, then save the panel and make sure you name it and execute it.  That way you can have many different panel configurations and set the primary one up as the default in the FMC, but change it when you want.  This way you can set the panels to be the same as the ones that have the airline livery you are using.  Not all 737's have the same panel set up, hence all the choices you have in the CDU.

 

Rob