Newbie GSX Pro Questions

[chickster25 153]

Hi all,

Ive jumped in and purchased GSX Pro but have a few questions. I know FSDT have a forum but I am waiting to be approved so hoped someone may be able to help here with a few basic questions:

1. Does GSX clash with any other pushback modules or can I still have the FS2crew one or one from flightsim.to for quickness?

2. I have found that if you select deboard without setting the jetway first, I get people walking through thin air. Is there no way for GSX to insist you have a jetway connected first?

3. If I deboard without a jetway, when I need to get back to the GSX window, it is stuck "loading" so I am unable to do anything else?

4. If I connect a jetway, I get large letters appear above the VDGS unit saying something like 040.0MT ?

5. I read that it is possible to change the default keys to open the GSX window from CTRL+SHIFT+F12 to something else. Any idea where I can set that?

[Fiorentoni 4,253]

18 hours ago, chickster25 said:

Hi all,

Ive jumped in and purchased GSX Pro but have a few questions. I know FSDT have a forum but I am waiting to be approved so hoped someone may be able to help here with a few basic questions:

1. Does GSX clash with any other pushback modules or can I still have the FS2crew one or one from flightsim.to for quickness?

2. I have found that if you select deboard without setting the jetway first, I get people walking through thin air. Is there no way for GSX to insist you have a jetway connected first?

3. If I deboard without a jetway, when I need to get back to the GSX window, it is stuck "loading" so I am unable to do anything else?

4. If I connect a jetway, I get large letters appear above the VDGS unit saying something like 040.0MT ?

5. I read that it is possible to change the default keys to open the GSX window from CTRL+SHIFT+F12 to something else. Any idea where I can set that?

1. It should work with others, but not sure why you consider them "quicker". On GSX you literally do two clicks "pushback -> nose right" or "pushback -> nose left" and the rest goes automatically. Anyway it shouldn't interfere with other pushback tools (avoid Toolbar pushback, it has a memory leak and is abandoned)

2. It should automatically call the jetway if it's not connected. However jetways are hard-coded controlled by MSFS and they are bugged as hell. This might improve in the future when Asobo fixes their jetway systems or if SODE arrives for MSFS. Until then you'll see those glitches every once in a while. Keep in mind though you can always recall the jetways with MSFS "methods" (or via the PMDG/Fenix menus) in such cases and they will reconnect and the pax will be walking in it again, no interruption or interference with GSX.

3. Whenever GSX gets stuck "loading" just look for couatl in your system tray -> right click -> restart. After about 3-5s you can open the toolbar menu again.

4. This is probably the marshaller info which is used for directing the aircraft coming into the gate. It's purely designed as a help for users, you can disable it somewhere in the menu. Obviously it should not appear when you start a flight, only when you come into a gate... I haven't seen that yet, so no idea what's going on. Could also be a parking/gate issue with the scenery, that makes GSX think you are not at the parking stand. You could "reset position at current gate" to make sure you are at the right spot if that reappears.

5. Yes, in the "fsdt installer" application -> config (righthanded side to the GSX installation).

[chickster25 153]

Thank you very much for your help.

Just to answer your first question, I thought it might be useful to keep a pushback backup option should it get stuck loading and I’m doing a quick flight where I just want to get going…

[WestAir 2,522]

I didn't want to make a new thread so I'm going to add a question to Chicksters list here:

Is anyone having issues with gates not spawning at their destination? I flew LAX-HNL and upon landing there were no gates, no AIG traffic, and during deboarding GSX didn't spawn any vehicles. It's like I hit a limit on items and the sim just stopped showing any gates/planes/trucks.

This happened to me at KJAX and KIAD. It's always the airport I'm landing at. If I restart the sim everything works fine, I have gates and AIG and airport vehicles. I also never have problems landing at payware airports.

[Fiorentoni 4,253]

2 hours ago, WestAir said:

I didn't want to make a new thread so I'm going to add a question to Chicksters list here:

Is anyone having issues with gates not spawning at their destination? I flew LAX-HNL and upon landing there were no gates, no AIG traffic, and during deboarding GSX didn't spawn any vehicles. It's like I hit a limit on items and the sim just stopped showing any gates/planes/trucks.

This happened to me at KJAX and KIAD. It's always the airport I'm landing at. If I restart the sim everything works fine, I have gates and AIG and airport vehicles. I also never have problems landing at payware airports.

Never had that despite using GSX and 100% AIG almost every time (except when flying on Vatsim). But then again I only fly at payware airports, so you might have a clue there.

[PapaRomeo 40]

Thinking about getting this.

What are the overall thoughts about GSX Pro?

[chickster25 153]

I think the potential for this is fantastic, but Im still experiencing a few issues to be honest. 

I had a strange one yesterday where I connected a jetway and then used the drone camera to look around. When I returned to the aircraft, the jetway had moved back to its default position and people were walking through the air. The baggage people also look like they really hate their jobs! 😆

With so many changes and bugs still within MSFS, it is difficult to know if the problems are with GSX or with MSFS. I think it will come good and when it does work, it looks great. 

[Stearmandriver 2,304]

On 10/8/2022 at 4:20 AM, Fiorentoni said:

but not sure why you consider them "quicker".

Getting pushed back by GSX is kind of a process. From the time you request it until the time you're actually moving has to be 2 - 3 minutes.  I'll use it if I remember to request the departure process before running my checklists with MCE, but if I don't I just use the built in PMDG push, it's much faster. 

It caught me by surprise that literally the first thing your GSX ramper tells you is "ready to push," even though they then have to do everything else before actually being ready to push.  That's the LAST thing a ramper should be telling you, not the first.   ;)

[virtuali 4,421]

1 hour ago, Stearmandriver said:

Getting pushed back by GSX is kind of a process. From the time you request it until the time you're actually moving has to be 2 - 3 minutes.  I'll use it if I remember to request the departure process before running my checklists with MCE, but if I don't I just use the built in PMDG push, it's much faster. 

If the PMDG startup flight has its own Passengers Stairs and its own Baggage Loaders, GSX will first need to operate the PMDG FMC to send away those, and wait until they are gone, which takes about 40 seconds.

You can speed up that by first sending them away once, then create a custom Setup with those vehicles gone, save it as "GSX" ( maybe do several versions, one with the GPU running, another with the APU, etc. ) and Load that setup, so you won't lose 35-40 seconds each time.

[Fiorentoni 4,253]

1 hour ago, virtuali said:

If the PMDG startup flight has its own Passengers Stairs and its own Baggage Loaders, GSX will first need to operate the PMDG FMC to send away those, and wait until they are gone, which takes about 40 seconds.

You can speed up that by first sending them away once, then create a custom Setup with those vehicles gone, save it as "GSX" ( maybe do several versions, one with the GPU running, another with the APU, etc. ) and Load that setup, so you won't lose 35-40 seconds each time.

I'm quite sure he's talking about the process starting with the person walking up to the nosegear, ending with "release parking brakes". This does take much longer than in real life, which has already been mentioned multiple times.

[virtuali 4,421]

42 minutes ago, Fiorentoni said:

I'm quite sure he's talking about the process starting with the person walking up to the nosegear, ending with "release parking brakes". This does take much longer than in real life, which has already been mentioned multiple times.

It takes the time it takes to play the bypass pin animations.

While it's likely a real person might work faster and, there are reasons why such animations are usually slower than real life, and it's because those animations are not generated in real time ( the performance impact will be huge if we tried doing that ), they are pre-calculated so, in order to play smooth, additional "transitions" from various pieces of the animated timeline must be played as well, adding to the overall animation length. Without those, the animation would be faster, but there would be jumps between the various parts.

As usual, there's always a reason why things are made in a certain way, and why things are not 100% identical to real life. 

Edited October 10, 2022 by virtuali

[regis9 4,021]

I’m not sure why someone would use GSX if they find 2-3 minutes to get pushback started too long?  Doesn’t that defeat the point of using something like GSX?

[virtuali 4,421]

12 minutes ago, regis9 said:

I’m not sure why someone would use GSX if they find 2-3 minutes to get pushback started too long?  Doesn’t that defeat the point of using something like GSX?

They say when you are in a hurry, time seems to pass slower.

I just timed how much time it takes from the moment you call Pushback from the GSX menu, to the moment it says "Release Parking Brakes", using a tow truck with a Towbar, and it took exact 1 minute and 40 seconds.

Edited October 10, 2022 by virtuali

[regis9 4,021]

That was my thought too.  Just bought this last night and didn’t seem like it took an unexpected amount of time to get the pushback going.

[Stearmandriver 2,304]

My start state is doors closed, APU running, no ground equipment attached. 

What I'm talking about is the insertion of the pin and connection of the tug/towbar, yes.  In reality, these things are done while pax and bags are being loaded... a ramp crew that waits to do them until establishing comm with the flight deck has waited far too long and is going to get remediated ;).  In reality, the first thing you hear from the ramper after a comms check is "walkaround complete, bypass pin inserted, ready to push."  You don't establish comm and then have to wait.  

Like I said, I'll use the GSX pushback if I remember to initiate the process early enough.  But if not, when I'm ready to push I'm ready to push, not ready to wait for the ground crew to do something that would have been done a half hour ago ;).