nigelgrant

I have long missed the ability to save in-flight situations in MSFS 2020 for payware aircraft. This would be such a useful function for many things –interrupting long trips; practicing ILS landings at a specific airport; recovery from a CTD etc. I could never get it to work However, I think I have found a way by utilising a freeware program called FlightRecorder (FR) (flightsim.to) which creates videos. My test case used the JustFlight BAE146 on a flight from CYLW (Kelowna) to CYVR (Vancouver) for my test. I created a flight plan in LittleNavMap including both a SID and STAR with approaches. I have a shortcut to FR in my Task Bar. Phase 1 - I start the sim and load the 146 at RWY34 with the engines running. I load all the avionics and the flight plan into the FMC. I then load FR and start recording the video. Next, I take-off, and when airborne, select autopilot on the runway heading, then connect the flight plan via LNAV and climb until I reach selected altitude. Once in stable flight I then decide when I want my in-flight saving to occur, stop the recording in FR and save the *fltrec” file in FR for this recording (In setting up the FR program you have to identify a folder for saving these files). The aircraft will continue flying with the settings I originally chose. Then exit flightsimulator. Phase2 - next reload the same aircraft at the original take-off airport with engines started, and reload the flight plan data in the on-board FMC – both of these steps are important to carry forward to the reactivation of the desired in-flight, (at this time you could also load the other original avionics data, but this can wait until your saved flight is under way). Load FR and open the *fltrec” file you had saved – now the video will start to play from take-off. In the FR window you will see a sub-window with the recorded flight profile and the actual position of the aircraft at any time. Click the pause in FR and drag the aircraft icon to near the end of the flight profile where you want to reactivate the flight. Click “stop replay” in FR and the aircraft is immediately flyable and in your control; quickly turn on the autopilot, switch on the altitude hold, switch on LNAV to bring in the flight plan, configure the “direct to" command in the FMC to the next waypoint, adjust the throttles to suit, and enter the avionics you need for the future landing at the destination airport. Now you should be flying where you left off and can continue with your flight. I think it vital that you note that when you exit the video in Phase 2, the aircraft assumes the parameters in place at the Phase 2 start position, ie if you don’t enter the flight plan at that time it will not be there for the reactivated flight, ditto avionics, etc. Not much more hassle really than the old FSX/P3D saved flight startups. Caveats - I suspect in Phase 1 you could start the video closer to the in-flight location you want to save, but I have not tried this. I also tried this in the payware FlightControl Replay program without success but did not pursue this further since I had it working in the Flight Recorder program. Whether it will work in other 3rd party aircraft I don’t know, maybe someone could provide feed-back on their experience. I hope some of the principles identified here will allow simmers to experiment with their own situations. Nigel Vancouver

Eureka – I think I may have done it, saved an in-flight situation for a payware aircraft (sort of). But not with FlightControlReplay (FCR). But with another similar freeware program called FlightRecorder (FR) (flightsim.to), in many ways similar to FCR. I used the JustFlight BAE146 on a flight from CYLW (Kelowna) to CYVR (Vancouver) for my test. I have created a flight plan in LittleNavMap including both a SID and STAR with approaches. I have a shortcut to FR in my Task Bar. Phase 1 - I start the sim and load the 146 at RWY34 with the engines running. I load all the avionics and the flight plan into the FMC. I then load FR and start recording the video. Next, I take-off, and when airborne, select autopilot on the runway heading, then connect the flight plan via LNAV and climb until I reach selected altitude. Once in stable flight I then decide when I want my in-flight saving to occur, stop the recording in FR and save the *fltrec” file for this recording (In setting up the FR program you have to identify a folder for saving these files). The aircraft would continue flying with the settings I originally chose but I exit flightsimulator. Phase2 - next reload the same aircraft at the original take-off airport in engines-started situation and reload the flight plan data in the on-board FMC – both of these are important, (at this time you could also load the original avionics data, but this can wait until your saved flight is under way). Load FR and open the file you had saved – now the video will start to play from take-off. In the FR window you will see a sub-window with the recorded flight profile and the actual position of the aircraft at the time. Click the pause in FR and drag the aircraft icon to near the end of the flight profile where you want to resurrect the flight. Now the truth! Click “stop replay” in FR and the aircraft is immediately flyable and in your control; quickly turn on the autopilot, switch on the altitude hold, switch on LNAV to bring in the flight plan, configure the “direct to" command in the FMC to the next waypoint, adjust the throttles to suit, and enter the avionics you need for the future landing at the destination airport. Now you should be flying where you left off and can continue with your flight. I think it vital that you note that when you exit the video, the aircraft assumes the parameters in place at the new start position of Phase2, ie if you don’t enter the flight plan at that time it will not be there for the resurrected flight, ditto avionics, etc. Not much more hassle really than the old FSX/P3D saved flight startups. I could not get this process to work in FCR but I have it working in FR which is good enough for me. Nigel

Sorry for the delay in replying and thx for the responses. Vonmar - I am aware of this function in MSFS 2020 and it works on the default aircraft (some?) but not on the payware aircraft I use. I want all the parameters saved, ie avionics, flight plan entries, etc so that I can continue my interrupted flight uninterrupted. You could do this in FSX and P3D. I have been told that FCR will do this but I have been unable to install it to try. Tom_L - point of clarification what is "main program" - FCR or MSFS 2020? regards Nigel

Sorry, cannot get image to load - will have to keep trying Nigel

I have long missed the ability to save flights in MSFS 2020 in flight. This would be such a useful function for many things – recovery from a CTD; interrupting long trips; practicing ILS landings at a specific airport, etc. It looked as though the FlightControlReplay program would provide the answer. So, I purchased and downloaded the program but unfortunately have not been able to install it to work properly. I can get it to load into the MSFSF 2020 on-screen tool bar but when I click on its icon, it opens a black window and not the program. The attached screen shot shows this situation. I have consulted with the author to no avail. Has anyone experienced this problem and found a solution? Your help would be greatly appreciated. Regards Nigel Vancouver

Hi Albar Eureka! Success! Decided to uninstall the 146 then re-install in the hope the path mightchange. The path didn’t change nor did the path text, but when I copied it into the export path for the 146 in LNM, it was accepted and LNM now saves the RTE file into the correct 146 light plan folder. So, all is well. Thank you for the update to the RTE file conversion. Nigel

Hi Albar Having waited for the RTE file loading for my JF Bae146 with eager anticipation, I regret to report I am having great difficulty! Maybe you can give me some guidance? I have located the folder where the RTE files must reside for the FMS in the Just Flight Bae 146 to locate them. Its path is as follows: “F:\WpSystem\S-1-5-21-1927959994-3213287941-2470612801-1000\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\packages\justflight-aircraft-146\work\JustFlight\FlightPlans” However, when I go to the Multiexport Flight Plan Options and after pasting the above path into the JF BAE146 row, I get the following message when I try to save the LNMPLN file in RTE format: “The following export formats have an invalid path or filename pattern: JustFlight BAE-146 Export stopped.” I do have a workaround, I save the RTE file to the LNM suggested default location, then have to move this file to the correct location so that the FMS can find it, but this is a cumbersome process. Any suggestions? Nigel Vancouver

Captain Pero - good news! Does the Aerosoft site have an English translation, and how is my previous donation incorporated into the purchase? Nigel Vancouver

Hi Captain Pero and Michael I have still been having a few problems but think that I have solved most of them, but I would appreciate your comments. As before, the JumpStart window is higher than the screen height and initially I could scroll down and find the FlyAway button. But as before, with use, the window becomes bigger and I can no longer scroll down as far as the FlyAway Button, it is hidden below the screen edge. This is not a problem since I don’t see me using JumpStart top start FSX, but it could be a problem for others. However, I did have some minor problems with modifying my “Test” scenery.cfg. When I loaded the “Test” profile, the “Test” scenery.cfg file in FSX was as planned; but later when I wanted to de-activate or activate a scenery layer within this “Test” scenery.cfg (using Scenery Manager, under the third tab “Modify Scenery Sets”), I could only retain this action if I highlighted another scenery layer when clicking the “Apply” button? If I clicked the “Apply” button when the changed layer was highlighted, it undid my change(s). This is very convoluted and I hope you can understand what I am saying; it is quite complicated and difficult to simplify! Regards Nigel

Hi Captain Pero and Michael Thx for all your help which has me up and running, and I think I now have a reasonable understanding of what is happening. However I have some presumptions that I would like to have confirmed and a basic question for you. · Firstly, one cannot edit the scenery.cfg file directly since it automatically feeds back into the scenery.cfg used by SIMstarter? When investigating a problem, I often delete blocks of the scenery.cfg file to try and isolate the scenery causing the problem. I tried that and all my entries in SIMstarter were likewise screwed up!! · Consequently, I have created a profile called TEST and associated it with a scenery.cfg file that I also call test. Is there any way I can de-activate a block of scenery files at one time, rather than de-activating the files one at a time? I tried using the shift key to highlight a block of sceneries but it only allows de-activation of the first scenery I click. · It appears I have to use FTXCentral each time I change a region and the reminder comes up each time I start another profile? Incidentally, I have five regions, ie scenery sets – global, North and Central America, Europe and Asia, Oceania, Africa, plus my test set. · I notice that when I start a profile, the boot stops at the Settings page, and when I go the Free Flights page, it is showing the selected default flight – no problem for me as I can load the flight I want from the Load selection menu on the Free Flight page. · My big question is how do I install new scenery – does my scenery.cfg have to be set at the global set, which would mean the new scenery would be picked up by SIMstarter; then within SIMstarter would that new scenery be automatically picked up by the other scenery sets? Your help is much appreciated Regards Nigel

I downloaded SIMstarter 2.7.4 yesterday, and I am having problems getting started. I have configured the program as suggested but some anomalies are showing up. I initially installed it through the zip file, eventually deleted it and I have now installed it with the executable file from the web site. The JumpStart window is higher than the screen height and initially I can scroll down and find the FlyAway button. But after a while with the zip installation, the window became bigger and I could no longer scroll down to the FlyAway Button, it is hidden below the screen edge – that was when I uninstalled the zip version. I have made a North American scenery set and when I open JumpStart and click the flyaway button with the North America scenery set (using “use SIMStarter Scenery.cfg”), an unaltered Profile 1, and one of my saved flights, FSX starts up but retains the Master scenery set. As the flash screen comes up, a configuration table flashes in the background and the entry to change the scenery.cfg file is greyed out. So FSX is still using the Master scenery set. When I click the icon to the right on the Profile Bar, I get an error message shown in the attached screen shot. (Sorry but I am unable to post the screen shot, I have even been having difficulties in copying/pasting my text into this message, I am a very experienced computer user and cannot figure this latter one out!). The error message starts: "unhandled exception has occurred...............conversion from string xxx to type "Double" is not valid" Any idea what is going on? Any help to resolve it would be greatly appreciated. Regards Nigel Vancouver ps I am using DirectX10 and upgrade Windows10 64bit

One of the earlier messages (too many to do a search for) referred to the white earth when zooming out in top-down view. You can eliminate the white by entering world/map and exiting! Nigel Vancouver

Thx Francois, it worked like a charm. I had tried this before and only received a very small (few kb) file but that was with my download manager. This time I used the Windows download and it worked fine Thx again Nigel

I don't know where to post this - is the AVSIM.SU site related to our AVSIM site? It looks somewhat similar. I am trying to download an FSX file of Sheremetyevo International Airport www.avsimrus.com/files.phtml?action=download&id=39031 I have found its web page and if I click its download button, the web page just renews itself. I have tried a variety of tricks and I have registered, but I am not getting it to download. I cannot go on their forum because I do not speak Russian! :wub: In fact I have tried a variety of files on their site but I am getting the same lack of response. Anyone tried this site? I found it through the "freeware scenery" site http://walhalla.mine.nu/fsx.php Nigel Vancouver

The Flightsim Club at the West Vancouver Seniors Activity Centre is open to all ages. For non-members of the Centre there is a drop-in charge of $3.50. The Club meets the second and fourth Fridays of the month (unless a Stat holiday but usually an alternative Friday will replace), at 10am in the Learning Centre until noon. We are well equipped with a powerful PC (i5 chip over-clocked to 4.4MHZ), a 1920x1080 projector with a ten foot wide screen, yoke and pedals. We have all the ORBX North American sceneries from Juneau to the Oregon-California border and east to Edmonton and Calgary, as well as some of their add-on airports, Vancouver+ version3 and FSGenesis terrain. What do we do? We have some professional retired pilots who put most of our other flyers to shame. We discuss tweaks, hardware requirements, new software. The funnest times are flying FSX Missions either after practice or even more entertaining for the spectators, when flown spontaneously. We are in our tenth year of operation and have a hard-core of 10-15 who turn out for each meeting. The next meeting is April 27 and you are welcome to join us at the West Vancouver Seniors Activity Centre located at: 695 - 21st Street, West Vancouver, B.C. V7V 4A7 Nigel Grant

The Flightsim Club at the West Vancouver Seniors Activity Centre is open to all ages. For non-members of the Centre there is a drop-in charge of $3.50. The Club meets the second and fourth Fridays of the month (unless a Stat holiday but usually an alternative Friday will replace), at 10am in the Learning Centre until noon. We are well equipped with a powerful PC (i5 chip over-clocked to 4.4MHZ), a 1920x1080 projector with a ten foot wide screen, yoke and pedals. We have all the ORBX North American sceneries from Juneau to the Oregon-California border and east to Edmonton and Calgary, as well as some of their add-on airports, Vancouver+ version3 and FSGenesis terrain. What do we do? We have some professional retired pilots who put most of our other flyers to shame. We discuss tweaks, hardware requirements, new software. The funnest times are flying FSX Missions either after practice or even more entertaining for the spectators, when flown spontaneously. We are in our tenth year of operation and have a hard-core of 10-15 who turn out for each meeting. The next meeting is April 27 and you are welcome to join us at the West Vancouver Seniors Activity Centre located at: 695 - 21st Street, West Vancouver, B.C. V7V 4A7 Nigel Grant

Thx to both of you, particularly you Pete for all you have done for flight simming over the decades; I will pursue all your suggestions Jahman Nigel

Thx Jahman I have 4.72 b. Nigel

I purchased WideFSMap a few days ago but have been unable to get it to work. There are no instructions, I have e-mailed the designer who tells me I only need a registered copy of FSUIPC which I have in its most recent version. On my iPod touch, it connects to the FSUIPC server but the coordinates all show zeros and that is where the aircraft shows up when I change to map view. It is not showing its location at the airport it is located at. Anyone have any ideas, it seems a neat little addon? NigelVancouver

ckukmaI created a patch to allow this scenery to work in FSX - you will find it in the FSX scsnery library at FlightSim.comNigelVancouver

Hi PeteThx for this info, I have a registered version and I followed your instructions, and it worked! I should use your module a lot more than I do, I find the mouse wheel trim very good and appropriate.I was at Bellevue for the AVSIM Conference where you were given the award - well deserved for your contributions to flightsimmingthx and regardsNigel

In FS2004 I had a variety of sub-folders in my main Flights folder, these sub-folders being for different countries or regions – very convenient.But in FSX I do not appear to be able to do this, within the active FSX the subfolders do not show in the “load” menu.I want to be able to fly Dougherty’s Dangerous airports and, within active FSX, I would like to have a separate folder to house them – but as noted above this does not show in the Flights folder nor will it show in the Missions folder.Any ideas how to circumvent this?NigelVancouver

I have found the offending scenery is the Indira Ghandi Airport by "ashish singh" and I will e-mail him to ask him to identify the errant file. That was a bit loopy!!Nigel

I hope the picture shows, it is a screen shot of a weird building that has appeared at the start of 34R at KSEA; I have deactivated many recent scenery addons but cannot find where it is located! Anyone else had this problem?NigelVancouver

I had the opposite problem, ie every time I started a saved flight it was cold and dark, notwithstanding that I saved the flight with engines running. My solution - I have a CH Yoke with a mixture lever which in effect meant on start-up the fuel was turned off. I went into the assignments page within FSX and reversed the mixture axis and all works fine. Maybe you have the opposite effect.NigelVancouver