After much patience with my issues and many emails, I'm finally sort of getting the hang of MCE in the Captain Sim L1011 II in P3Dv5.1 HF1 and I'm pleased. There are still issues, but I think the best thing to do is run MCE without Active Sky or even GSX a few flights and see how many things are actually MCE issues (or user error). All I can say at the moment is that the potential is definitely there, and the support has been unequaled. I'll see which of the odd problems remain as I get used to it before being more specific.

14 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

After much patience with my issues and many emails, I'm finally sort of getting the hang of MCE in the Captain Sim L1011 II in P3Dv5.1 HF1 and I'm pleased. There are still issues, but I think the best thing to do is run MCE without Active Sky or even GSX a few flights and see how many things are actually MCE issues (or user error). All I can say at the moment is that the potential is definitely there, and the support has been unequaled. I'll see which of the odd problems remain as I get used to it before being more specific.

Back in the day two PC's ago, I had the CS TriStar, 727 and 707. All use a Flight Engineer and the MCE engineer is a great feature. Unfortunately I don't have any CS aircraft current. But your welcome to take a peek at one of my previous videos.

Most of the MCE flows are up on Avsim Libs, along with my sound files.

Cheers.

Edited December 7, 20205 yr by charlie130
Avsim lib mention

Dave, your video sold me on it ;-)  I have your AVSIM goodies. In fact, as far as I know, the only flows are available from there. I'm happy to say that the L1011 II is fully supported in MCE now, with a few exception due to Captain Sim's own way of doing things. I notice they've started releasing SDKs. Maybe MCE can get hold of the L1011 II SDK and clean up a few remaining issues.

Super work, Dave. Thanks. Can't wait to attain the level of confidence you exhibit. So far it's more "MCE sim" than "flight sim," but as you know, there's a lot to wrap your head around. Alas, I doubt we'll ever see the 707 and 727 in P3Dv5. Glass sells. Not airplanes as old as I am.

Ahhh! Tim, a man after my own heart! Bless you sir!

If I had nirvana it would be a 707 or TriStar, in MSFS with full gauges, full glass cockpits. With MCE running all switches and gauges complete with flight engineer. My God where's father Christmas?

I am thinking, for the remainder of my life span, I may have to go back to P3DV4.5 and re buy CS aircraft. I don't have 10 years of sim life left to go along with all this "beta" nonesense!

You see, MSFS 2020 is incomplete. It's a " beta" project. The SDK is incomplete! Frankly it's a completed experiment to make money.

FsLabs, PMDG etc,  are staying well clear! Only MCE are good enough to tackle it. They are the only voice controlled add on available....That tell you something? No one else has the skill! But it's so much a beta project that changes every week, only committed experts like MCE are capable of keeping up!

I will await the release of the Aerosoft CRJ. If it's not accessable to MCE, I will abandon MSFS completely and return to P3d in its entirety.

MSFs looks so pretty, but it doesn't represent a simulation. It's a game! It's a fancy pants pooh look at me sim!

Horses for courses. If they like it as is,fine! But it's very unsatisfying for older types who have flown aircraft with systems that function.

The latest MSFS has serious flaws in the flight plan and autopilot. I sincerely doubt they will fix these, ever!

Meanwhile, we can switch it off. Go back to P3d and re fly proper simulations.

Best regards David.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, charlie130 said:

I don't have 10 years of sim life left to go along with all this "beta" nonesense!

Yup. I've begun to think along those very same lines at 63. Not quite as sharp as I was even five years ago, and time--for everything--takes on a more valuable quality. I've got a grandchild on the way... I'm a bit more careful with my time. (Cue "September Song" with Willy Nelson.) I'm thinking maybe ten more good years in the hobby if I'm lucky. I gotta say, though, P3Dv5.1 HF1 now that we have Active Sky breathes new life into the old TriStar. And an Orbx-ized world doesn't look bad at all. I've pestered CS to port their other classics for now. Heck, all I want is what I had in FSX (which is what you get with the L1011 II pretty much, whether you consider that a plus or a negative). So, I've spent quite a bit to re-buy stuff. Still cheaper than a bass boat. Right now, for P3Dv5.1 HF1, I can't think of a single other classic jetliner. Just Flight has its L1011 for v5, but what works in v5 and v5.1 is anyone's guess, as I've already learned. And, even I don't need two L1011s.

I had pretty low expectations for MSFS. Sometimes after beating my head against the same old walls in P3D I had to in FSX (and FS9...) it is nice to just have a pretty little flight or challenge served up on a sliver platter.

You don't happen to have a "flow sheet" for the L1011 do you? There's a nice colored table for the 757, for example, that says "you do this, say this, then your co-pilot does the following..." but I couldn't find one for the L1011. I'm a bit lost on the flows without one, although I supposed I could piece one together for myself. Can't believe no one has done that.

And to correct an earlier statement, there are flows for both the L1011 and L1011 II included. Maybe I just missed the attractive PDF flow sheet, too.

Edited December 8, 20205 yr by Tim_Capps

7 hours ago, Tim_Capps said:

You don't happen to have a "flow sheet" for the L1011 do you? There's a nice colored table for the 757, for example, that says "you do this, say this, then your co-pilot does the following..." but I couldn't find one for the L1011. I'm a bit lost on the flows without one, although I supposed I could piece one together for myself. Can't believe no one has done that.

 

With so many complex planes supportd in one package, we stopped making these a while ago *very few people bother to read them). At least for less used aircraft.

Since MCE isn't a  "scripted" adventure" with rigid instructions,  but rather a "fully interactive crew simulation", the moment you change anything in a flow, the correspondiong document would be out of synch.

Rather than memorize the trigger sentences, here is how you can proceed.

In <Command> tab of the UI click <Voxscript>

Select each flow, click Edit, then click <Edit script commands".

All actions as part of the flow would be shown in plain English. Could even test them individually.

Initially, leave the flow with "Verbose" option so you can hear everything they do. Once you trust them, make the flow silent if you wish.

Knowing what the flow does, then decide which trigger sentence is most appealing to you (comes to your head immediately).

Rename the flow by typing your preferred trigger sentence. Example "before start flow" could become "time to leave folks"

Do the same for each flow.

And remember, you don't have to go through all of them. You could still do things like you're used to pre-MCE.

There are real world pilots who do advanced things like have flows where co-pilot is made to read Quick Reference Handbook advisories when handling emergencies while they do the flying bit.

Talk about affordable recurrent training in these mean times 😛

I dare say, the best move for real world pilots on furlough to keep themselves sharp while waiting for recovery, since you can train on ANY airline SOPs and checklist.