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jcalder

PMDG airplanes crooked to flight path

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Hey all,

 

It's been a long time!

I haven't really been into FSX for quite some time, since early 2013 due to my frustrations with FSX crashing all the time and spending more time messing with .cfg files than actually flying.

Decided to give it a go again, since I really did miss flying.

Around Christmas I bought FSX:SE for $5, figured couldn't go wrong with that.

So now I've installed it, got Active Sky Next going and installed the NGX.  Helpful people on AVSIM pointed me towards Simbrief which is a great website, since I like to fly planes, not plan routes and loads and stuff, I want to be told what I'm doing and go do it.

Anyway, so I'm all excited for a simulator that doesn't always crash on me and last night I fly from KMSP to KLAX.  Along the way I noticed that the plane was "dog-tracking" or flying crooked alongside the purple line on the ND.  Kind of like this |\

So naturally when I got to KLAX, the airplane wanted to land beside the runway.  Because I was annoyed I landed on the grass and during roll-out it went directly to the middle of the runway.  This is confusing.  The route line was exactly where it should be, the indicators on the display showed the localizer and glideslope exactly where they should be, but the airplane wasn't following them.

I apologize in advance if this has been discussed to death somewhere.  I have spent some time searching and see the odd reference to magnetic headings and AIRAC cycles but those always seemed to have the airplane flying parallel to the proposed flight path.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.  I want to buy the 777 and REALLY looking forward to the 747 since that's my favorite plane, but if I can't get it to fly straight I don't want to spend any money.

Thanks,

Jeff Calder


Jeff Calder

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Under FSX boxed version, this problem was usually solved by fixing registry errors. There is a free tool from Flight1 that does this for FSX and FS9 called their registry repair tool. However, Dovetail has done some odd things with registry entries and I'm not at all sure the tool would work with FSXSE. I am mentioning it to give you something to investigate.

 

I've not seen this type of error posted here since PMDG released FSXSE compatible installers, either someone else might chime in with an idea or you can open a trouble ticket at PMDG Product Support.

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Dan Downs KCRP

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Try flying without active sky next and clear weather and report back.

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I tried a couple of flights today.

First one I tried without Active Sky like the poster above me suggested and it didn't dog-track, but it was a much shorter flight.  Just KSEA to CYVR.  So I tried a longer one, KSEA to KLAX and it started to dog-track again and I ended the flight.

I had an old AIRAC cycle from back when I quit simming, I believe it's 1213 so I rebooted my computer and installed that.  I tried KSEA to KLAX again and it held the line, (no Active Sky) but I got a fire call (volunteer firefighter) so I ended the flight and went to that. (It was a false alarm, no big deal)

So encouraged from the previous flight holding the line I started a much longer flight, KMSP to KLAX and it worked fine.  Everything stayed where it should and worked properly.  I did use Active Sky Next on this flight as well since it was working fine on the KSEA -> KLAX flight so I wanted to try it with the weather.

I'll do a few more over the next few days and see if it continues to behave.  Then I'll be able to make an easier decision on purchasing new AIRAC cycles and possibly the 777, which opens up a whole bunch of new learning.  I am still not very good with the NGX though, I always enjoyed the 747 but I'm not going to bother trying to get the old 747-400X working win FSX Steam when that gorgeous new one is almost ready.

Even though I'm running a 6 year old i7 920 and a GTX 480 I've never had FSX work as smooth as it has since I got the Steam edition.  Even on approach to KORD on my crooked flight everything seemed very smooth.

I'm sure the 777 or new 747 will be a reality check for this old box though and I'll have to go buy some nicer hardware.
 


Jeff Calder

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Buy P3D v3. Don't even bother with FSX boxed or SE edition.


Pete Richards

Aussie born, Sydney (YSSY) living in Whitehorse, Yukon (CYXY)

Windows 11 Pro loaded on a Sabrent 1TB Rocket Nvme PCIe 4.0, Ryzen 9 7950x3d, MSI X670-Pro Wifi Motherboard, MSI RTX 4070 Ti Ventus 3X 12G OC, 64GB DDR5-6000 C30 Corsair Vengeance, 2x 1TB Samsung 960 Pro NVMe for MSFS2020, 4TB Seagate BarraCuda HD, Corsair RMx 1000W PSU, NZXT Kraken X63 280mm AIO, Phanteks P600S Case.

 

 

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So I ran into this with the PMDG MD-11X, and I ran the Flight1 Registry Tool, and it solved it. It was a truly easy fix.

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I read the Flight1 registry tool doesn't work with the Steam Edition of FSX because Dovetail changed some registry entries.  Are you using the MD-11X in SE?  I own that as well but was told it wasn't compatible and PMDG is not supporting it, etc.

As for the comment to buy P3D...  No.  I think I'll be stretching FSX as long as I can and see what comes of the Dovetail Flight Simulator in the future.  I don't see the point of going to P3D if FSX is working well.


Jeff Calder

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I read the Flight1 registry tool doesn't work with the Steam Edition of FSX because Dovetail changed some registry entries.  Are you using the MD-11X in SE?  I own that as well but was told it wasn't compatible and PMDG is not supporting it, etc.

 

As for the comment to buy P3D...  No.  I think I'll be stretching FSX as long as I can and see what comes of the Dovetail Flight Simulator in the future.  I don't see the point of going to P3D if FSX is working well.

 

 

I've only used it for FSX:SE and yes the Flight1 registry tool works fine.

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I had an old AIRAC cycle from back when I quit simming, I believe it's 1213 so I rebooted my computer and installed that.

 

I cannot wrap my mind around navdata causing tracking errors and landing aside the runway, maybe but I'm not convinced yet you don't have a registry error.  If you are familiar with regedit, try looking at the values for FSX EXE_Path and Install_Path located somewhere like HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\DovetailGames\FSX.  Make sure the values do not end with a \ character or extra end of line/new line.  For example, a good value for install path is F:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\FSX but yours will vary, just make sure there is nothing after the FSX.

 

If not familiar with regedit, please open a ticket at PMDG Product Support as already suggested.

 

 

 

I don't see the point of going to P3D if FSX is working well.

The best that FSX can do is pale in comparison to P3D, in my opinion.

 

EDIT:  Daniel reports a good thing. Give it a try.


Dan Downs KCRP

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I'll run the flight1 registry tool.  I know how to use regedit, just not a big fan of manually changing stuff in the registry.

I'm not doubting P3D is good.  I just have an old computer and I don't want to re-purchase anything and we all likely have different goals of what we're trying to accomplish with flight simulation. As long as the plane is doing what it's supposed to and it looks half decent, I'm pretty happy.

I just flew CYWG - KMSP and everything worked fine.  Whatever was ailing my installation seems to have cured itself.


Jeff Calder

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As for the comment to buy P3D...  No.  I think I'll be stretching FSX as long as I can and see what comes of the Dovetail Flight Simulator in the future.  I don't see the point of going to P3D if FSX is working well.

I too paid 5 bucks on Xmas day and it's the best purchase I ever made. SE is awesome IMO. Very stable, no blurries, CTD errors, etc. I won't be changing to P3D anytime soon.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

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Keith Sandford.

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The heading was wrong to the track of the airplane.

But it's been working fine for awhile now, I don't think it's a problem anymore.  I flew three short flights today and they all worked fine.

I'm thrilled with FSX: SE.


Jeff Calder

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Are you sure its not the wind causing the aircraft to crab into it, a crosswind will cause the plane to turn into the wind to maintain its track.

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