Relationship between FS and PM?

[Sean Nixon]

I'm a new PM user, and am slowly working my way through the minefield of settings and options available.

One thing I'm curious about, is what's the relationship between PM and the aircraft you are flying in FS. In my example, I'm flying the defualt 737 in FS9, which is a -400 series. All I think i need from FS is the flight model and the outside views. Is that correct? What do I delete/rename/whatever to achieve that? Is there a better model people are using than the FS one?

Also, I've managed to get the flap settings to display correctly on the EICAS by using the 737.txt files on the PM website, but am wondering if I can make the engine start switches return to the OFF position at the correct time too. At present, they return to OFF almost immediately after moving the fuel selector to idle rather than at 56% N2 which I understand to be the case for -NG's.

All help greatly received.

Sean

[JWS]

Sean,

the second part of your question beats me. Regarding the flight model, I use default and others 737's (POSKY, etc. see the types named in the readme file that goes with Steve Reilings 737 scripts, to be downloaded from PM site) with the different scripts for the CDU. All you have to do if you want outside view only is either get rid of the panel by hitting "W" twice (at least I think it's W) or delete the panel folder (but you probably get error messages:twisted:) or change the panel config. I believe there is a panel config file around somewhere on this forum that does the trick.

Regards,
JWS

[blueskydriver]

Sean,

The flight model in FSX defaults are general ones and not accurate. As for the ones from Project Magenta (PM), you don't get the ones they use. Those flight models or better know as AIR files are proprietary for PM and they're the money makers for them. Therefore, you'll have to pay a lot of money to get theirs.

However, there are alternatives. You can get PMDG B737 and use their flight model or AIR files; plus, you can even use their aircraft in FSX, after you port them (copy them into FSX). You can then edit the AIR file to get better performance.

Finally, you could edit the FSX default B737-400, but if you have PM, I don't think they do the -400, it's 700 and above-NG models. So, you have a few choices, and read this thread that discusses some of the things you're asking:

http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/showthread.php/14439-PMDG-FSX-amp-Throttle-Movement?highlight=AIR+files

John

[JWS]

Sean,

The flight model in FSX defaults are general ones and not accurate. As for the ones from Project Magenta (PM), you don't get the ones they use. Those flight models or better know as AIR files are proprietary for PM and they're the money makers for them. Therefore, you'll have to pay a lot of money to get theirs.

However, there are alternatives. You can get PMDG B737 and use their flight model or AIR files; plus, you can even use their aircraft in FSX, after you port them (copy them into FSX). You can then edit the AIR file to get better performance.

Finally, you could edit the FSX default B737-400, but if you have PM, I don't think they do the -400, it's 700 and above-NG models. So, you have a few choices, and read this thread that discusses some of the things you're asking:

http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/showthread.php/14439-PMDG-FSX-amp-Throttle-Movement?highlight=AIR+files

John

John, how about editing air.files in FS9 in relation to PM (or PMDG). I don't have FSX but would like to have the default (FS9) 737-400 and other 737's behave as best as possible.

Regards,
JWS

[Sean Nixon]

Thanks for the input guys.

If I want to use, say the PMDG model, do I need to disable anything or do I just use it as normal?

Jan, regards the starter switch, it must be do-able (even though we haven't a clue how (yet))?

Sean

[blueskydriver]

JWS,

If you're using FS9 and PMDG together, you're likely using the best flight model (AIR file) possible because PMDG's flight model was designed great for FS9. In fact, that same PMDG model is exactly what I am using in FSX. The only real edits I made to it were discussed in the thread link above.

In either case, to answer both of you, you do have to edit the aircraft file for PMDG to work together with PM. You have to edit the panel files and remove (disable) the auto-pilot, so the PM MCP auot-pilot will work properly. Just do a quick serach for the link, instead of me re-typing the instructions.

Finally, there is one ultimate way of using PMDG where you don't need PM in FS9 (not sure for FSX). If you check out Ian's website here:

http://www.737ng.co.uk/

He knows the most about using PMDG in general and has done so much with interfacing it. His site is full of all kinds of info. Check out : "Using the PMDG 737 for Cockpit Building" in the lower right of the page...

John