Just came over from XPlane to MSFS a week ago. I had good success with the XPlane 737 Zibo Mod from cold and dark to ILS landings. I’m now attempting to familiarize myself with MSFS PMDG 737-900. Initially 737 was loading running, now for some reason it loads cold and dark on runway (yes, I have fuel). How do I default start with engines running again? Also, auto pilot does not couple even though command buttons indicate engaged, eg when I change heading nothing happens, won’t hold altitude. And this one, I taxi up to gate, shut the fuel selectors to off and the engines will not cut off. Is there something in the ‘Assistance Options’ that I’m missing. Appreciate some help, thanks.
Moved to Community Support-Aviation, Navigation, Communication for community help.
You just came over to msfs? Guess you probably have all the AI Asssistance systems online. Just go to the assistance menu and switch them all off and try again. Those are interfering heavily with pay airplanes like the Pmdg.
In the FMC, you should have the Aircraft configuration page. Make sure the “Startup State” is blank. It should then select a startup state based on where you are loading in at.
If it is still loading cold and dark on the runway, double check the documentation in the PMDG install location.
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Hey there, @DawnsAlien, and welcome to the forums.
One thing I would highly recommend is running through the “Introduction” and “Tutorial” PDF files PMDG includes with each aircraft. You can find those files in the <Community/pmdg-aircraft-73x/Documentation> directory. They are very helpful when trying to learn the correct operation of the systems, and especially the FMC and autopilot. Enjoy!
I turned off all AI and all was OK for first flight. Second flight AP failed, and on third flight back to starting cold and dark again. Exiting MSFS doesn’t help either. Did a reset of all Options and got one flight in before failures started again. Looks like I’m heading towards an uninstall/reinstall although I’ll also check out settings in FMC first. Thanks for the suggestions and yes I’ll hit the documentation after my frustrations subside. Also now experiencing an issue mentioned elsewhere … ultra slow speed brake deployment taking about 20 seconds.
Is your yoke turned to one side? In that case it’s a verification problem and you need to completely uninstal the plane from apps and features and then reinstal. If that doesn’t solve it submit a ticket at support.pmdg.com, they get you back flying quickly.
First thing, read the Introduction provided by PMDG about how to setup the plane and get it working withing the confines of this sim.
Various checklist videos from C&D are on YouTube to watch. From them I derived a set of steps I use to get the 700 model up and running. I wrote them all down, the switch/buttons location (overhead, center console, dashboard) do I can find it again. I made couple copies in several places, so it does not get lost. I need to practice it 10 times in a row, so I do not forget what steps to perform. It’s very close to a real live CL found on the internet for the B737.
Be warned, MSFS and the PMDG planes do not play well together all the time, some quirks, although it fly’s very good. I personally think the planes in XP fly better. I used the base 737 (not zibo) and have no trouble flying it, but still RNAV and ILS approaches are for me hit or miss.
Reading the introduction and performing the tutorial flight will teach you much you need to know.
Happy Flying.
Yup, when it does start cold and dark the yoke is at 90 degrees. Performance is so flakey it has to be an install problem. Thanks for your time!
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Thanks for your input and time. Looks like my biggest problem right now is a bad install.
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How did you get bad install. It’s very straightforward. Can I help? There are some changes in the settings you can/need to make, but that again is outlined in the introduction. I choose to not do the mouse as they say to do it since I am used to the MSFS default now. Some things need to be turned off. Let us know.
I don’t know how a person ‘gets’ a bad install but in the real world, even outside of MSFS, a bad install is not unusual but thankfully on the rare side. Anyways, I reinstalled PMDG 737 and all is good in my world now. Appreciate your time, thanks!
Glad you are up and running. Happy Flying.