ual1819

Is there any update in the works for compatibility with the new CaptainSim updates? Some of the controls/offsets are no longer working with the latest versions. I've noticed fuel on/off, PFD mode and zoom all not working since the CaptainSim updates. Most of the MCP controls (CRS/HDG/SPD/ALT) still work, however.

Bad weather data (air temps in particular) will always wreak havoc with climb performance. This problem is not limited to the NGX, but because of the accuracy of the simulation, the NGX is more susceptible to this problem than other add-ons. You need to see a negative value for TAT at cruise flight levels in the 300s (-10c or lower) if you don't want your aircraft to fall out of the sky. I've also noticed that even with a reliable source of weather data (REX), if FSUIPC has "weather smoothing" turned on (dampening the rate of temp, pressure, and wind changes) similar climb performance problems can happen until the pressure/temps catch up.

After doing this, I reassigned the throttle axes again in FSUIPC. Things proceeded fine until around FL250 or so, then climb performance became pretty anemic, fluctuating between +0 and +400 fpm. In this case, changing A/T Manual Override to "Never" immediately made the plane happy and it started climbing at 1000+ FPM. So I'm suspecting the thrust problems/conflicts with FSUIPC (at least in my case) are primarily caused by having A/T Manual Override set to "In hold/arm mode only". I haven't seen any of these problems when it's set to "Never". Unfortunately in the "Never" mode I can't really use A/T with a coupled ILS approach all the way to touchdown, which is supported by the NGX and is Boeing recommended procedure for the best speed protection from gusts/wind shear. So I'll summarize what I've found. The symptoms in the NGX are: - Lack of acceleration above acceleration height: N1% indicates normal, but IAS is stuck around V2, VNAV commands 5 degrees nose down pitch, but still no acceleration.- Anemic climb performance: N1% indicating normal, but struggling to maintain CLB speed, vertical speed bouncing between 0 and +400 FPM- Problems slowing down on approach: flaps full, thrust idle, on glideslope, but unable to decelerate down to VREF. In all these cases I've confirmed that weather is normal ISA, reasonable winds, typical fuel & passenger load, proper cost index, etc. This all seems to happen when FSUIPC assigns the throttle axes, and A/T Manual Override is set to "In hold/arm mode only". (It may even happen without FSUIPC: a friend of mine reported at least one of these problems with throttle axes assigned in FSX.) Turning off the FSUIPC assignments and/or changing the A/T Manual Override to "Never" will immediately clear up the misbehavior.

Ok, I think I figured this out. It seems to be some bad juju with FSUIPC and throttle override "In hold/arm mode only", but nothing to do with calibration, since I'm not calibrating throttles in FSUIPC. Throttle axes for my Saitek Pro Flight Throttle Panel are assigned in FSUPIC. The assignment is "Send to FS as normal axis" as "Axis Throttle1 Set" and "Axis Throttle2 Set". Note: no calibration here, just straight assignment. My last flight that was set up this way went just fine. However, on this flight I changed the "A/T Manual Override" setting from "Never" to "In hold/arm mode only". As I originally reported, in LNAV/VNAV above acceleration height, thrust gets sluggish. By 3000 feet AGL I am stuck at 97% N1 but only moving 160 knots IAS, and not accelerating, with a 5 degrees nose down attitude. Gear is up, but flaps can't be retracted yet because of the low speed. I open up FSUIPC and un-assign the throttle axes, close the FSUIPC window. Boom ... everything instantly works as it should: the aircraft rapidly accelerates, nose up 10 degrees or so, accelerates through flap retraction speeds, and proceeds on CLB as normal. So ... now what?

This is not completely true. Sure, PMDG can -- and should -- mention that there are *possible* issues with the NGX and some configurations of FSUIPC. But me (and at least 3 other virtual pilots I know) have the NGX working just fine with FSUIPC and our add-on hardware. So it's unfair to make a blanket statement that NGX is always incompatible with FSUIPC or that your add-on hardware won't work. Hopefully we'll be able to isolate the specific problem soon.

Sure, for many of us, disabling FSUIPC is simply not an option. However, completely disabling it is not necessarily required. I am currently using FSUIPC just fine with the NGX after doing a clean install and generating a new default fsuipc.ini file. I am using FSUIPC with LINDA to map the knobs and switches of my VRInsight MCP and it's working beautifully. I am also continuing the process of trying to figure out exactly which FSUIPC features/settings are the ones that are tripping up the NGX thrust management. Once we can isolate the exact cause, then nobody will have to use the "big stick" approach of completely diasabling FSUIPC to get the NGX to behave.

I was having these thrust problems without doing any calibration through FSUIPC, only axis assignment. There was some other bad juju between the NGX and FSUIPC that was not related to calibration.

I second this, Gunter has made a great LINDA module for NGX, all that's missing is the ability for the VRInsight MCP's display values to match those in the sim.

Well now with a clean install of FSUIPC, this thrust problem hasn't come back, and I can use LINDA to connect my VRInsight MCP to the NGX (super sweet). This is great for my enjoyment of the NGX, but bad for troubleshooting. One thing I also realized is that I was using too high of a Cost Index (90) which might account for some of the high altitude thrust problems: the CLB mach speed was probably set too high to get much climbing done. I think I remembered this CI value from the Airbus, which uses a totally different numbering scheme.

I figured out the NGX, it was RTFM... just needed to rename the lua file as instructed. Still no joy with CaptainSim, though. :-(

I'm having the same problem with the new PMDG 737NGX, everything loads and looks right, but the controls do nothing in the sim. The only LINDA modules that work on my system are the FSX default aircraft and the iFly 737, and these work perfectly. Does the iFly module use a different mechanism to set values than CaptainSim and PMDG? What could be wrong here?

It's hard to say which of my FSUIPC settings were messing things up, since I've used it for so many things for so long. I don't think any of the axes were being calibrated for this aircraft. (And the thrust problem occurred with autothrust/autoflight, with no throttle axes in use...) I'm restoring with a clean FSUIPC install and INI, then going to carefully add back settings from the old INI to try to isolate the source of the conflict.

Yes. In my case, the trouble appears to be FSUIPC. Uninstalling it has cleared up all my thrust problems.

Well, sure enough, disabling FSUIPC cleaned up all the thrust problems. A short flight KIAH-KAUS went pretty much exactly by the numbers. No problems with insufficient climb power, and no overspeed on approach either. Now I have to figure out what to do, I can't really live without FSUIPC...

Here's the landing thrust problem. A/T is off (was commanding around 60% N1 when on), throttles are at idle but still showing 40% N1. Full flaps on the glideslope, airspeed won't go below 165. I am beginning to suspect FSUIPC on this one. Not doing any calibration with FSUIPC, but it is assigning the axes. Managed to get the speed down to 145 for touchdown, about 10 knots hot, but at least I didn't bend the plane.