One of the problems of getting older is the inability to remember things, or should I say, the ability to forget things  I have been having a lot of issues with the PMDG 738 in relation to VC freezes etc, so I decided to do a full reinstall of the aircraft. I also removed all the panel state files too. In doing so, I removed whatever I did years ago that allowed me to start the aircraft in a true cold & dark state. By true state, I mean when I start the flight, the cockpit has no electrical power on and is truly cold and dark.

I have created a cold and dark scenario, given it a name and saved the panel state, however, when I then start the flight and arrive in the cockpit, it has the electrics on, because of course I had to have the FMC on initially to create a panel state! Can anyone remind me how I go about creating a state where the cockpit is in a proper cold and dark state with all electrics off at the start. Thanks.

Edited June 7, 20251 yr by Rocky_53

11 minutes ago, Rocky_53 said:

One of the problems of getting older is the inability to remember things, or should I say, the ability to forget things  I have been having a lot of issues with the PMDG 738 in relation to VC freezes etc, so I decided to do a full reinstall of the aircraft. I also removed all the panel state files too. In doing so, I removed whatever I did years ago that allowed me to start the aircraft in a true cold & dark state. By true state, I mean when I start the flight, the cockpit has no electrical power on and is truly cold and dark.

I have created a cold and dark scenario, given it a name and saved the panel state, however, when I then start the flight and arrive in the cockpit, it has the electrics on, because of course I had to have the FMC on initially to create a panel state! Can anyone remind me how I go about creating a state where the cockpit is in a proper cold and dark state with all electrics off at the start. Thanks.

From memory i think you can hold down the menu button in cold and dark and then save a New state for your liking and also as a startup state 

Michael Moe

Edited June 7, 20251 yr by Michael Moe

15 minutes ago, Michael Moe said:

From memory i think you can hold down the menu button in cold and dark and then save a New state for your liking and also as a startup state 

Michael Moe

Hi Michael, that sounds familiar... at what point do I hold down the menu button... can you remember?

Edited June 7, 20251 yr by Rocky_53

11 minutes ago, Rocky_53 said:

Hi Michael, that sounds familiar... at what point do i hold down the menu button... can you remember?

I don't think it's possible because you have to leave the FMC on to save the panel state, therein lie the catch 22.  That being said it's going to behave as C&D anyway i.e. you still have to turn on the battery and ground power etc.

1 minute ago, Noel said:

I don't think it's possible because you have to leave the FMC on to save the panel state, therein lie the catch 22.  That being said it's going to behave as C&D anyway i.e. you still have to turn on the battery and ground power etc.

Hi Noel, it must be possible, because I've started all my flights like that in the 738. I 'arrive' in the VC with all electrics off and no power anywhere.

If you set cold and dark as a startup state and then load the 737 from this i think you then can use the menu button to activate the fmc alone and then save a New state based on this

Michael Moe

30 minutes ago, Rocky_53 said:

Hi Noel, it must be possible, because I've started all my flights like that in the 738. I 'arrive' in the VC with all electrics off and no power anywhere.

What I always noticed was the MCP was always lit up despite being C&D and that has nothing to do w/ the menu button on the FMC.  When I was using default ATC in 2020 it would annoy me because default ATC saw that as the plane was powered up so started its instructions and never found a way around that so I just had to make sure I had ATC off when I launched the plane.  Did you actually find the MCP cold and dark from initial launch of the plane, never saw MCP characters lit up initially?   They do turn themselves off but I never found away for that to not happen despite asking/trying.

36 minutes ago, Michael Moe said:

If you set cold and dark as a startup state and then load the 737 from this i think you then can use the menu button to activate the fmc alone and then save a New state based on this

Michael Moe

Hmm, OK. Thanks Michael, I'll try and sort it and get back to you, cheers.

36 minutes ago, Michael Moe said:

If you set cold and dark as a startup state and then load the 737 from this i think you then can use the menu button to activate the fmc alone and then save a New state based on this

Michael Moe

I think you're right because I think the MENU on/off for the FMC is not part of a saved panel state, it's independent of panel state saves.

20 hours ago, Noel said:

I think you're right because I think the MENU on/off for the FMC is not part of a saved panel state, it's independent of panel state saves.

Yup, that did it! Thanks Noel, much appreciated.

20 hours ago, Michael Moe said:

If you set cold and dark as a startup state and then load the 737 from this i think you then can use the menu button to activate the fmc alone and then save a New state based on this

Michael Moe

Thanks Michael, all sorted! Much appreciated.

Navigate to the following folder:
%AppData%\Microsoft Flight Simulator\Packages\pmdg-aircraft-738\work\PanelState

Edit the ‘.sav’ file in Notepad for your saved panel state.

Change the setting for the variable ‘MenuVirtualPower’ from ‘1’ to ‘0’

[CDU.0]
MenuVirtualPower=0

[CDU.1]
MenuVirtualPower=0

The  CDU's will be off when you load the panel.

Edited June 8, 20251 yr by flyingscampi

No one has ever resolved this one:  the MCP is always lit up initially no matter what panel state is saved!  Any way to lose that?

9 minutes ago, Noel said:

No one has ever resolved this one:  the MCP is always lit up initially no matter what panel state is saved!  Any way to 

Deleted

Edited June 8, 20251 yr by flyingscampi