[Polls] Aircraft & Avionics Update II (1.33.8.0) Discussion

[NeoKingRthur]

I know that this update improved the Avionics on the 787… But does anyone feel any different in handling? I mean I assumed the 787 controls are FlyByWire, so I was kinda expect it to handle just like an A330. Disengaging AP on short final and the aircraft suddenly kites like a 737 and I had to make multiple correction and holding my control position just to stabilise it.

But for some reason on my flights yesterday, it feels like I’m flying on a mechanical cable instead of FlyByWire electronic controls. I’m not sure if that’s just how it suppose to feel like or if the update doesn’t really touch on the handling?

[Microdude62]

No wind indicator on the CJ4, I noticed it after 1.33.8.0 update

[MeridianSquid71]

Tried another one this evening KCHA to KMGE, either I do not get FP Sim brief makes, MSFS don’t understand the SB FP. or something. According to the BUKHD ARRIVAL, my plan for approach should have started at RIZZ, but FMS took me to that point then turned the plane around and flew something different. Then ATC changed my approach, and I was lost after that. Just cancled the flight and exited sim.
I can do this in PMDG, I can do it in XP-737-800. I cannot get this plane or almost any plan to work in the 747. I am going to try again tomorrow leaving ATC out of the mix, and see what happens.
FWIW-If you import XP11-747 into 12-it works, but it has a bug in the FMC where the NAV/CRS input is inop, so no chance of getting that entered to fly it. There is another 747 for sale for XP, but many folks are having trouble with it too. I am stubborn, and going to keep working on this one to see why I cannot make it work, other have success. It sure aint my setup. Thank you all for trying my routes. The best one for plane size would be KATL to KBNA, might just have to do one like that. but last time, sim froze at KATL.

[TakingPanda3059]

Ah! Discovered the problem. The particular livery I installed is one created prior to AU2 and it contains door animations. When I chose the default livery as a test, everything worked normally. The animated livery was a nice touch, but it now is incompatible with the upgraded 787. So my problem is solved. Thanks for your help and suggestions.

[MeridianSquid71]

All - Just tested again the 747-Just created FP using world map feature. Magenta line was present after traveling about 50 miles, but plane would NEVER follow it. The FP clearly has 336 KIAS and altitude in it, but again plane would not fly it, no errors in plan.

Putting in the ILS freq/crs the way mentioned above by Pacificset above is the way it’s entered, but, that is foreign to every other FMS I have ever used. Did Collins/Boeing make a change and not let the world know? I did NOT test the ILS landing because the FP was not followed by the plane anyway, so it follows the ILS landing would be assumed to fail.

Asobo-More Work. I use the exact procedure in PMDG 737 and it WORKS. I use the exact procedures in X-Plane 12 737 with very old FMS and it works. Your plane however fails to work like it’s assumed every other tube liner works from Boeing.

I am going to try this plane one more time tonight/pm today (bad WX here turning off PC), a brand-new FP-KATL to KBNA, and if it does not work like it should/my assumptions. I am done. The PMDG 737 Works fine now.

You can clearly see from picture, attached, the CRS line looks like a Line Select Key position, but using that assumed button, does not work. You have to input ILS/CRS in this format: 111.95/315 as example and put that into the LSK ILS position. This is FOREIGN to every other FMS used. And again, NO MANUAL, NO DOCUMENTATION on this unit/plane, it’s just assumed all us simmers get it from the start. That is main reason I hate the sim, no documentation nada, none. We are expected to fly from the seat of our pants. UNPROFESSIONAL. It sure aint “as real as it gets”.

Qualifier-I personally know many retired Airline pilots and have a few friends who still have own plane and fly. My Naval Training when I was assigned into aviation units also qualifies as learning. NATOPS=Naval Aviation Training and Operations Manuals - are issued for every plane the USN flies, and believe still in this day and age, printed material is still issued. Aviators have physical and mental tests they MUST pass. That means some form of printed documentation, to read and study to learn how that system in that plane works. Adage “if it not written down it NEVER happened”. To this day, my pilot friends keep current charts and procedures up to date and keep printed things close to hand when flying plane. Why, simply a quick reference to make sure they have everything in “hand” so if bad things start to happen they do not have to rely on memory, it’s printed out. We need and want printed manuals for everything contained in this sim, ok, at least make them available for downloading from the sim, so I can read it. Videos are ok, but in 90% of all of them, the person doing the explaining goes to fast, click here, click there for this, what was that thing. My example is this way too fast to follow along: AAU2 RELEASED - Let’s check out the “finished” 747 | Las Vegas - Miami | Real Airline Pilot - YouTube

Pilots=real world pilots have things called proficiency training, in a room, reading and studying printed manuals, following along with Check Pilot who teach or reviews things they need to know, new this system, updated FMS, it’s gone over in class, and a printed manual showing the updated stuff is given to each pilot in that room, so why???-so they have a reference to look back on, study, so they get it. And not having manuals, is the largest failing of this simulator, and the reason why it and 2024 will NEVER be FAA certified. X-Plane comes with link to manual in it. You can copy it off the web, and if you purchase the 10,000+ FAA Certified version, you can bet it comes with a whole bunch of printed or links to downloadable and printable stuff so you have a reference to all the new things learning.

[ccrbc]

[quote=“MeridianSquid71, post:222, topic:597646”]
And again, NO MANUAL, NO DOCUMENTATION on this unit/plane[/quote]

You sure about that statement?

[RELEASE] Aircraft & Avionics Update 02 (1.33.8.0) Now Available - Microsoft Flight Simulator / News & Announcements - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums

Aircraft Manuals - Microsoft Flight Simulator

B747-8i-Tutorial-Flight-v1.pdf (azureedge.net)

You could ask over here also:
• Discord | #747-8i | Working Title Simulations

[Vibstronium]

Sure would be cool to have links to the plane manuals in Content Manager or My Hangar or somewhere else in the user interface

Link included documentation (manual or POH) for Marketplace aircraft

(My apologies if there’s already a wishlist item for this; I did search and couldn’t find one. Feel free to merge this with another topic if there is a more suitable one already!) I now have bought several aircraft in the Marketplace, including two (the Jabiru J-160/J-170 and the MB-339) that were previously available through third-party sellers and have since appeared in the MSFS Marketplace as well. While I appreciate the central management of updates and find that a selling point for using t…

[MeridianSquid71]

All - TEST FLIGHT BA 747 MSFS Version - KATL Ramp - KBNA-IFR RWY31-ILS
DEP KATL - PENCL 2 DEP-FP as follows:
KATL/09L - PENCL2 - PENCL - DCT JAGIR - SWFFT2 KBNA/31

Plan as MSFS DISPLAYS from loading into sim from Simbrief: Same as above.

1. load into sim - I selected South Cargo Ramp 8 - sim changed that to active runway 9L, assumed because I loaded in my simbrief plan and it took 9L literally.

2. Canceled flight, back to main menu - Reset up by loading plan from simbrief first, then selecting CR-8 as Cold and Dark Start. Issues, if you select your departure location prior to loading plan, MSFS overrides any selections made.

Load minimum amount of World Map stuff, then load simbrief plan, then MODIFY World Map for your specific starting location. I want cold and dark, to make sure my checklist is working like it should. Be aware, sim will change any WM selections, if you do not check first. WX At KATL it’s raining hard but has cleared out of north central GA hopefully by time I takeoff.

Checklist and taxi/Takeoff uneventful. Route shows in PFD, range rings do not however. Plane flew route to the foot just fine. My altitude was 21000, then!!!

True to form, 10 miles from TOC, ATC increased my altitude by 3K feet, however, immediately told me to descend to 13K feet, so I hit my descent right on the money.

They did not change my RWY for landing, once lined up engaged APP mode, plane flew right on in and landed. Could not get assigned parking provision to work in ATC window, tried several times, so found empty space and parked and shut down. I think I got credit for the flight in logbook.

True to form, lost ATC sound on their end my talking to them worked. This happened at 5 miles out, could still get written communication, so was able to follow guidance.

This is only the second 747 Flight I have successfully completed, and the first one was after SU05. That was about two years ago. It should be noted, have not spent lots of time in 747, concentrated on PMDG-737 for last year.

This one is better. Still believe the ILS Freq/RWY entry is bogus, but it works. I enjoyed this one lots. *Asobo my earlier criticism might have been in error. *

Now need to do one from KPDX to KSEA and see how I fair through the cascades and Mt. St Helens/Mt Ranier. Real pretty country there.

Then, maybe, KSEA to Detroit or Chicago, Omaha, to get plane back to center of country. It was the second best flight of all my Boeings. Good Job Asobo, still think a little more work needed on Parking and Ground operations hopefully before MSFS2024.

MS71

[MeridianSquid71]

All - Find the link above for the Manual on this plane. To me, this is most likely the best manual I have ever read on a plane, aside form the “Tutorial Flight in the PMDG-737” which is equally as good. That 737 manual is contained in the root folder of the aircraft.
Speaking on 747 manual, I read it cover to cover, EXCELLENT, and the added bonus of fuel management is also excellent. The person who wrote it deserves a promotion to head technical writer, and a huge raise in pay. They also should be put in charge of all technical manuals concerning this sim. Complex things explained easily and clearly. I did miss where the ILS/CRS info is put into the FMC/CDU but I’m sure it there, as was interrupted several times. Cannot speak highly enough about this manual. Thank all who pointed out to us this read. And, for a flight to be successful, much of the data has to be input to the FMC/CDU unit or it cannot find anything. That is also why it takes two pilots to fly big iron, very complex machines, and one person cannot do it by themselves.

[xjay12347406]

Yes but if you have planned your flight on the WORLD MAP all that data automatically goes into the FMC so you don’t have to programme into it.

[MeridianSquid71]

Errors in the flight plan even if programed in the WM, need to be fixed. And the World Map feature, to me throws in a whole bunch of waypoints which are not needed if you create plan using simbrief. Compare the two differences you will see. You can use the date in simbrief to make WM plan do exactly the same thing. I found early on, lots of circles were created in Wm plan.

[PacificSet90456]

I tried to recreate your flight plan using the World Map, Navigraph, and SimBrief and imported the last two in MSFS. All three are different. Differences available upon request.

This is a fairly short flight for a 747 which I think you mentioned. The three flight plans all had different cruising altitudes but since both the World Map and Navigraph are aircraft agnostic, SimBrief might have the best cruise altitude. I found one anomaly not evident in the flight plans. There is one waypoint crossing restriction of FL240 pretty close to one of the arrival entries. ATC issued the climb instruction to FL240 as it should even though the cruising altitude was 9,000 ft. The climb made the 747 very high and very fast entering the arrival.

I had trouble with the VNAV during descents probably because I don’t know how to configure it. The speed would go up and down and the vertical speed would go up and down. I could never get a stable VNAV descent. At one point the VNAV speed went below stall speed and the 747 fell out of the sky.

ATC quit talking towards the end of most flights if I let the copilot handle the communications. Taxi parking directions were also missing. I’m going to try other aircraft to see if these are specific to the 747.

Just like any other complex aircraft, I need more time flying it to get comfortable.

[MeridianSquid71]

PS90456-Yes experienced many of the speed things. Was not expecting FL240 increase, but must have missed that in plan. I read the tutorial, and if you push the alt knob one time, it will start descent, I used VS, and then VNAV took over when I clicked the button again. Some of my problems minor though might be cause by missing wind/wx data in the plan. I have read tutorial*, and now modifying my CL and trying to figure out how to input that info into plan, which more than likely will clear up some of the issues.

When using Simbrief Plan, download a pdf, if I choose to print out, 30+ pages. So I try to keep it open and read the parts I need and input into FMS. I also as mentioned figured out, load in the FP into MSFS, then configure your starting location/ramp/gate??? and it will keep that choice. Wish if importing plan, MSFS read it, and just filled in the data for me, and assume you can start FP at gate in Sim Brief, not sure how. As PIA it is, bet their is video on it on YT, gosh, getting tired of videos to learn things, give me a written thing.

*Tutorial is the top one I have read/studied/read and as good as PMDG’s one for 737. Download it and print as reference, excellent. In the description, is the button for checklist for plane as well. It’s in a place I would have never looked as before did not have clue on those buttons. Once we read and understand, this plane will fly much better.

FWIW-X-Plane 12 has aftermarket 747 for purchase. I have NOT purchased it, because I read in the forum some people having issues. Suspect, but have not verified, some of those are because have not read documentation provided by developer, it’s $45, and still kicking it around, as porting over 11 version did not work. FMS has bugs in it which preclude ILS and course entry. Sent support question on it, awaiting answer, it will be Monday or Wednesday before answer, they are usually quick within 24 hours.

My Conclusions-still testing-but think the AAU2 update has fixed most of the problems in 747, it also may have fixed 787, but just do not like that plane, so won’t fly it. In release of 2020, both had so many issues, they were unflyable IMHO. NOW, think we are getting close. However, not near “study level” and if PMDG releases their 747 Queen model, will buy it, because it’s going to be SL.

Suggestion to Asobo/PMDG-Asobo, give PMDG the code you have now, give them free hand on development on 747, work with them and together a study level 747 can be released. Hopefully by giving them the present code, the price on development will be less, the price will be less, and more folks will buy it. Then work out a marketing agreement with them for 2024 as for extra price that plane (actually-for 2024, let me pick my planes for my hanger at price per each) could be in the hanger, and they get 60% of the cut on increase. Both of you get something, but users get a study level plane out of the gate and would not have to wait 3 years for bugs to be fixed. Their QOTSs version won’t be out till 2024 anyway based on development cycle everyone now is on. Several vendors have announced delays in products as of 2024 announcement.

[PacificSet90456]

@BlackSanta512

I can use the same routes because I create, save, and export the plan to be used in several formats using Simbrief and Navigraph. That’s how. Why would they be any different because they’re a different file format?

The plans themselves are exactly the same.

No they are not. The MSFS World Map flight planner, SimBrief, Navigraph, Little Nav Map, SkyVector, and others will create different routes using the same departure/destination combination because they all use different software to create routes. As far as I can recall, SimBrief and SkyVector do not calculate routes to create them. Rather they use a database of the popular routes flown recently. MSFS only exports and imports PLN files. The others except for SkyVector export multiple file formats including the PLN format used by different flight simulators. The differences between the flight planners is that they each have different information for the same departure/destination inside their PLN files. Only the World Map flight planner contains the necessary information inside the PLN file needed by MSFS ATC.

Let’s say you’re traveling a long distance in what is essentially a straight line(Hawaii pic). There are several points along that line that can be deleted and you’d still get there.

But not safely. There are reasons for multiple waypoints in a flight plan.

The only way I’ve gotten the 78X to behave since this update is to delete most of those points. It limits the deviations as they tend to occur at waypoints.

Look at the Hawaii flight. …

Explain that one. Every deviation is at a WP.

…and I had a real pilot watch it. Someone who gets paid well to fly these things. She agreed it’s bugged.

There are two types of waypoints. The different types of waypoints make a difference in how a flight plan is displayed on the flight display and how the aircraft flies. I recently had an aircraft fly (unintentionally) an almost perfect figure 8 around three waypoints that weren’t in a straight line.

Ask your pilot friend about the different types of waypoints, why they are different, how each type displays on the flight display, and how an airplane flies based on the different types of waypoints (or specifically an autopilot guides the aircraft).

Since I don’t have your actual flight plans, only departure/destination), I suspect the curves and bends in your photos are due to how your aircraft is flying between the waypoints, not because there is a problem with the 787.

[MeridianSquid71]

Ok, tonight 747 - KPDX-KSEA, plane flew route fine until “vector point” then all went to heck. Finally had to go around, “no missed approach that far out” made atc mad, and had to finally catch ILS/LOC and then land it manually as at last minute, it wanted to increase altitude. ■■■■ landing, but did not crash. I am going to assume, ATC had other options for me, but it was late and did not want to wait around.

Did input the various winds/brng and put those in VNAV part of plan. Need to read tutorial again, and may even do that suggested flight since this one bombed.

I did IMPORT Simbrief Plan into MSFS, then (did setup dep/arr first) and it had some issues with it, took out those, maybe should have taken out the “vector”, but was told not to. Regardless, more learning on this plane/FMC and how it works.

[ZILLNIAZI17]

Since the CU Texas, specifically since June 29, 2023, I have experienced two things quite weird:

1. The screenshots have washed-out colours - as if taken in RAW format. The colours on the screen while flying are perfect, but the screenshots are totally washed-out, devoid of colour and contrast. Please take a look these…

Papua New Guinea with rich blues and greens, but the resulting screenshot…

This photo was taken for the weekly challenge “Yellow”. Deep contrast of red and yellow on screen while flying but the resulting screenshot…

2. The Rolling Cache cannot be set up!
I always delete the existing rolling cache after an update and reassign 8 GB of space for rolling cache, but since the latest Texas City Update, I have not been able to set the rolling cache to 8 GB, or 10 GB or any value. It just displays 100% straightaway and the screen gets stuck. I have to restart the simulator. Previously, it would display values like 36% - 78% - 99% and the dialogue box would close in 2-3 seconds, setting up the rolling cache perfectly. But now, there is no rolling cache file folder where it is meant to be.

Not to mention the washed-out colours here as well in the menus! I see perfect colours on the screen, but the screenshot come out like this!

Please assist. Thank you.

[MODERATOR EDIT: Removed pings to team members.]

[ccrbc]

Have you turned HDR on ?

[Vibstronium]

@ZILLNIAZI17

1. The screenshots have washed-out colours - as if taken in RAW format. The colours on the screen while flying are perfect, but the screenshots are totally washed-out, devoid of colour and contrast.

These look like HDR screenshots that are being interpreted as standard dynamic range sRGB colorspace. Could something also have recently changed in your display configuration to enable HDR, or was your screenshot program recently updated?

I have a utility I made for my own usage that may help process these screenshots back into something usable; it’s a bit primitive (command line program) but it functions:

Release 1.0.5 · brion/hdrfix

Nowadays I do most of my captures through OBS, which handles HDR video captures natively, and then do conversions via a custom ffmpeg script. It’s a bit of a production alas.

[ZILLNIAZI17]

Where is the HDR option? I never turned it on but I can double-check. It all started since Texas City Update.

[ZILLNIAZI17]

No. But where to find it? I would like to double-check.