PMDG 737-700 Broken

[GKELLERMAN 7]

It appears the PMDG 737 in MSFS 2020 after the latest update is causing MCE (and Many other 3rd party dev stuff) to go crazy and just not work correctly.  They have changed some behind the scenes stuff (AND didn't bother to tell anyone in the release notes) So IF you update be aware MCE may not function correctly.  

I spent 5 hours thinking something I might of done was causing the issue.... @70 years old you never can tell if it's you or something else 😉

 

Just a heads up!

Edited June 24, 2022 by GKELLERMAN

[FS++ 708]

1 hour ago, GKELLERMAN said:

It appears the PMDG 737 in MSFS 2020 after the latest update is causing MCE (and Many other 3rd party dev stuff) to go crazy and just not work correctly.  They have changed some behind the scenes stuff (AND didn't bother to tell anyone in the release notes) So IF you update be aware MCE may not function correctly.  

I spent 5 hours thinking something I might of done was causing the issue.... @70 years old you never can tell if it's you or something else 😉

 

Just a heads up!

One thing that comes to mind...

When you update the plane, it's very likely, a vital option in "737NGX_Options.ini" that would instruct the plane to brodcast its data (allowing MCE to read switches and dials states) would have been lost.

Re-install MCE (for automatic editing) or manually edit "737NGX_Options.ini" to add these lines

[SDK]

EnableDataBroadcast=1

 

 

[GKELLERMAN 7]

After complete reinstall of 2.9.7 no joy.

I am unable to find 737NGX_Options.ini on my system. I did a file search of my whole HD.  

FO still has lost his mind.

Edited June 25, 2022 by GKELLERMAN

[severniae 78]

I think PMDG purposely changed the SDK to stop things like MCE from working.. I hope I am wrong.

[Stearmandriver 2,270]

Following this one. Will delay upgrading the aircraft until there's a fix. Thanks for the heads up, and sorry things got broken for you guys! 

[Swe_Richard 1,172]

1 hour ago, severniae said:

I think PMDG purposely changed the SDK to stop things like MCE from working.. I hope I am wrong.

Um.. why would they do that?

[severniae 78]

13 minutes ago, Swe_Richard said:

Um.. why would they do that?

Have you not been following the reports of PMDG lately? I wouldn't put anything past them..

[agutz 13]

6 hours ago, GKELLERMAN said:

After complete reinstall of 2.9.7 no joy.

I am unable to find 737NGX_Options.ini on my system. I did a file search of my whole HD.  

FO still has lost his mind.

Here you find it:

Your Drive:\Users\yourname\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\packages\pmdg-aircraft-737\work\737_options.ini

Insert

[SDK]
EnableDataBroadcast=1

if it isn't already there.

[Swe_Richard 1,172]

22 minutes ago, severniae said:

Have you not been following the reports of PMDG lately? I wouldn't put anything past them..

Well, I have heard lots of hyperbolic nonsense that's for sure.

[FS++ 708]

50 minutes ago, severniae said:

Have you not been following the reports of PMDG lately? I wouldn't put anything past them..

I will be updating today and let you know.

There is a thread here, which suggests they have deliberately disabled the SDK

https://forum.pmdg.com/forum/main-forum/pmdg-737-for-msfs/199774-update-and-goflight-mcp#post199787

See this thread and you will understand who might have been behind this dodgy maneuver. Nobody else has any interest in seeing it disabled.

The guy isn't interested in learning the hard stuff or doing some useful work.

He already has a nice picture showing upcoming product, without even  moving a single switch.

He was caught by surprise because the new line of Fs2crew products are done by a newbie with little experience and coding in C#. There is no PMDG SDK in C# (only C++), therefore desperate for one

His tactic is "forum mind manipulation" to make it look like he is the favorite son of PMDG.

The reality is that without PMDG releasing SDK for 737, 747, 777 for FSX/Prepar3D (and some other guy to help him out and gone since) he would never have had products for those. They litterally give you source code to copy and paste. All he has to do is play some nice audio and "concentrate" on packaging and hype.

We don't pin our hopes on PMDG. They are just another aircraft builder among many. We are present in X-Plane as well

The SDK was right there and if PMDG didn't really want people to use it, they would simply have disabled it initially, just like they did in this update.

Lucky Fenix, Aerosoft and other airplane makers get the simple fact that they produce an add-on that operates within a Microsoft owned flight simulator.

Anyone who thinks otherwise should try to create his own flight sim and then have divine edicts like "thou shall not touch my switches without my blessings".

 

[severniae 78]

Glad to hear you will manage either way Gerald. PMDG's high and mighty opinion of themselves I don't think will aid their survival in this new refreshed community.

The maker of the scripted adventure clearly has a lack of integrity, blatantly lying to me when I asked a simple question, wouldn't surprise me in the least if he has been lobbying PMDG against his more capable competitors.

We are lucky to have devs like you and others around here. Long live MCE!

[Stearmandriver 2,270]

*I* kind of pin my hopes on PMDG, as they're the only 737 in MSFS haha.  Hope it gets sorted soon, and in the meantime I'm awful glad I'm on a trip and haven't done the update yet, so my stuff will still work ;).

[FS++ 708]

6 hours ago, severniae said:

Glad to hear you will manage either way Gerald. PMDG's high and mighty opinion of themselves I don't think will aid their survival in this new refreshed community.

The maker of the scripted adventure clearly has a lack of integrity, blatantly lying to me when I asked a simple question, wouldn't surprise me in the least if he has been lobbying PMDG against his more capable competitors.

We are lucky to have devs like you and others around here. Long live MCE!

Thank you James.

It's definitely a bad move from PMDG. They have already upset everyone with a hardware cockpit.

Luckily, some can always revert to original release or just skip the update.

The funny thing, they disabled switch status reading only, but the clicks are still occurring.

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2022 by FS++

[GKELLERMAN 7]

How bad is all this?  As a non-programmer guy I have no clue.  I have my zip with the original release so I could go back to that I guess?

I know this is not MCE's fault but do you have any advice?

BTW: I hate the PMDG forums with there "expert trolls" swooping in and replying with condescending reply's to honest questions.... The standard read the manual posts... Have you read the manual?  Must of been written by a third-grader in his spare time.  

[JRBarrett 3,070]

5 hours ago, severniae said:

Glad to hear you will manage either way Gerald. PMDG's high and mighty opinion of themselves I don't think will aid their survival in this new refreshed community.

The maker of the scripted adventure clearly has a lack of integrity, blatantly lying to me when I asked a simple question, wouldn't surprise me in the least if he has been lobbying PMDG against his more capable competitors.

We are lucky to have devs like you and others around here. Long live MCE!

I doubt it is anything so nefarious. It is fortunate that the old P3D SDK has worked for external hardware up until now, but as the MSFS version of the 737 continues to evolve, and diverge from the P3D version, the old SDK will no longer be compatible.

I suppose the argument could be made “why don’t they release the new SDK before making any changes”, but that is probably not possible as the aircraft is still a work in progress (as is the SDK).