Random Gear Failure / Crash During Taxi in P3Dv4

[DAL1850 51]

I've been flying the NGX for years and very comfortable operating this aircraft. Since migrating to P3Dv4, I've been experiencing an unusually high number of spurious (what I can only describe as) "gear collapses" while taxiing around airports (typically between 5 and 15 kts). Sometimes during the takeoff roll, the sim will just randomly pop to the external camera with a "CRASH" with smoke coming pouring off the nose gear for no apparent reason - as if I just drove off a cliff. I don't recall having this issue under FSX and wonder if this is some strangeness introduced by the scenery engine in P3D or if there is something structurally in the aircraft config that could artificially be tweaked to "shore up the gear" so it's less prone to spurious sim-related death. Perhaps a scenery configuration setting I should set or disable? I've experienced this phenomenon with both stock and third-party airports. In taxiing about using the P3D stock aircraft, there does seem to be some sporadic "undulation" in the terrain though none of the aircraft seem to suffer catastrophic gear trauma because of it..

The only other option I can think of would be to disable all crash detection entirely, but then wonder if the nose of the aircraft would just drop to the ground. I'd prefer not to do that since crash detection seems like a major aspect of the simulation and is the only feedback one gets if you genuinely pancake it into the runway, over-rotate on takeoff and tali-strike, or legitimately exceed the structural integrity of the aircraft, etc. Could this intermittent nose-gear failure be attributable to dynamic changes in the terrain scenery mesh (via lod=changes or tessellation)?

 

Cheers,

 

Jason Barlow

Edited March 23, 2018 by DAL1850

[JoeFackel 760]

Most common cause is an faulty Airport-BGL therefore most user deactivate the crash detection.

 

[Peter Webber 339]

I had the same issue with all PMDG aircraft at FALE...would issue a crash detection and external view would show gear sunken into the runway surface...problem resolved itself without further intervention...so I'm unsure as to the direct cause..

[scandinavian13 5,192]

Step one is to disable crash detection. The crash function in the program is pretty weak, not fully understanding what, exactly, would cause an issue with an aircraft. Moreover, it generates more false positives than what I'd argue would be true "crashes" commonly because of scenery issues, and other sim oddities.

[Bobsk8 12,680]

Never use crash detection, ever....

[DAL1850 51]

4 hours ago, scandinavian13 said:

Step one is to disable crash detection. The crash function in the program is pretty weak, not fully understanding what, exactly, would cause an issue with an aircraft. Moreover, it generates more false positives than what I'd argue would be true "crashes" commonly because of scenery issues, and other sim oddities.

OK. I'll do this then. Seems to be the prevailing opinion (some more strongly offered than others :)

Just curious, did this functionality just go from fair to bad to worse during the progression from FSX to P3D. While it's always been a little temperamental (esp. where custom scenery and dynamic vehicles are concerned) I can't remember a time in 20+ years of simming that I've *had* to disable crash detection. 

Anyway, tick...OFF it goes. Thanks for the replies!

Cheers,

J

[Peter Webber 339]

4 hours ago, scandinavian13 said:

Step one is to disable crash detection. The crash function in the program is pretty weak, not fully understanding what, exactly, would cause an issue with an aircraft. Moreover, it generates more false positives than what I'd argue would be true "crashes" commonly because of scenery issues, and other sim oddities.

Hi Kyle, does PMDG have its own collision detection code outside of the main simulator?  Meaning if I disable the sim crash detection, the PMDG software will still detect hard landings, etc?

[Ephedrin 418]

1 hour ago, Peter Webber said:

Hi Kyle, does PMDG have its own collision detection code outside of the main simulator?  Meaning if I disable the sim crash detection, the PMDG software will still detect hard landings, etc?

Well... as PMDG develop highly realistic addons you are more or less supposed to know when you messed up your landing ;). As far as I am aware there is no further feedback. But when your airplane starts to jump around instead of showing the crash screen you know you have failed pretty much :D

[Bobsk8 12,680]

2 hours ago, Peter Webber said:

Hi Kyle, does PMDG have its own collision detection code outside of the main simulator?  Meaning if I disable the sim crash detection, the PMDG software will still detect hard landings, etc?

Want to see how well you are landing, install this free app. It also keeps a log of all your flights on their website. https://client.lrmlive.com/

[Peter Webber 339]

11 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

Want to see how well you are landing, install this free app. It also keeps a log of all your flights on their website. https://client.lrmlive.com/

Thanks..will give it a go!

[blaird22 35]

On 3/23/2018 at 10:31 AM, Peter Webber said:

On 3/23/2018 at 5:35 AM, scandinavian13 said:

Step one is to disable crash detection. The crash function in the program is pretty weak, not fully understanding what, exactly, would cause an issue with an aircraft. Moreover, it generates more false positives than what I'd argue would be true "crashes" commonly because of scenery issues, and other sim oddities.

Hi Kyle, does PMDG have its own collision detection code outside of the main simulator?  Meaning if I disable the sim crash detection, the PMDG software will still detect hard landings, etc?

This thread has made me curious about this as well.  How accurate are crashes in P3D exactly? I like to keep crashes on, but have always though it would be nice to know why I crashed.  Always figured I messed up somehow, even if I wasn't sure why.  Unfortunately, the 'crash' screen gives you almost no information

I know this probably doesn't exist, but it would be nice to have some sort of idea (aircraft overstressed; why... did a wing snap off?  I crashed on landing, but the still image shows my main landing gear evenly on the runway, did I come in too fast?  <- just a couple of many examples)

Also, it would be cool to see what would actually happen in the crash, and how extensive the damage would be.  Ooooh, and replays of the crash itself would be fun.  I think it's time to watch an episode of Air Crash Investigation after writing this!

[mtrainer 136]

I wrote a bit of a "wish-list" quite some time ago for LM regarding crash physics, indicating that in this day and age we're certainly past an "all or nothing" approach to crashes.  It's either "bounce and survive" or "everything stops and resets".  There should be a way of pulling off something that retains some tastefulness to it while providing more feedback.

Mark Trainer