Month: June 2022

TFM PMDG rebuild series, week 5: the fuel panel

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This is week 5 of our series in rebuilding TFM support for the PMDG 737. This week, we will cover the fuel section of the Forward Overhead panel. This one isn’t very complicated, so, let’s get started.

 

Fuel panel

There are more controls and indicators on this panel. As a result, we had to simplify the keyboard shortcuts. They are listed below.

 

  • ALT+A – Move to the aft fuel section.
  • ALT+F – Move to the forward fuel section.
  • ALT+C – Move to the center fuel section.
  • ALT+X – Move to the fuel transfer and cross feed section.
  • The transfer/cross feed sections contain the fuel valve indicators.

As with any other panel, this one comes with settings to turn on/off the offset as it changes. Go to settings/PMDG/737 speech events/Forward Overhead/fuel to see them.

We want your feedback on any TFM features. To report a bug or new feature request, while TFM is loaded, press the right bracket key (]), then press CONTROL+SHIFT+I to open the GitHub issue queue. Please look to see if your feature or bug has already been reported. If not, feel free to post a new report. Otherwise, make a new comment on an existing report discussing your bug or feature. To contact us about getting started with TFM, feel free to fill out our contact form. One of us will get back with you soon.

PMDG 737 rebuild week 4: Flight controls and navigation/displays

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This week, we continue with our series on rebuilding TFM support for the PMDG 737 aircraft. In week four, we will cover the flight controls and the navigation/displays panels. Before we get started, a quick reminder that there are plenty of websites that show how the 737’s panels are used.

 

Flight controls panel

The flight controls panel has two parts. The top section that contains the controls to manipulate, and a bottom section that holds the indicators. Below are the shortcuts for the flight controls panel.

 

  • ALT+ A – Captains controls, or control A.
  • ALT+B – F/O controls, or control B.
  • ALT+P – Spoiler A.
  • ALT+O – Spoiler B.
  • ALT+Y – Yaw damper.
  • ALT+N – Alternat flaps armed on/off.
  • ALT+F – Alternat flaps position switch.
  • ALT+1 – ALT+0 – the different indicators for this panel.

 

Navigation/Displays panel

 

The navigation/displays panel is fairly simple. It has no indicators and only 5 switches. Below are the keyboard shortcuts.

 

  • ALT+V – VHF navigation selector switch
  • ALT+I – IRU selector switch.
  • ALT+F – FMC selector switch.
  • ALT+S – Source selector switch.
  • ALT+C – Control pane selector switch.

 

To report bugs and new features, while TFM is running, press right bracket (]), then CTRL+SHIFT+I to open the issue queue. Take a look at other bug reports/feature requests before posting a new one. If one similar to your own idea exists, comment on that one before creating a new one. Have questions or want to get started? Fill out the contact form and we will get back with you soon.

PMDG timeline, partial aircraft support

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We get several questions on how long it takes to build support for an aircraft, and will partial support be released to the community. I want to take a few minutes and answer these questions.

 

How long does it take to build support for an aircraft?

The short answer to this question is it depends on the aircraft. It can take a short amount of time for some of the freeware aircraft because they don’t have any panels or controls not provided by the simulator, and checklists are usually short. On the other end of the time scale, it could take a long time if the aircraft has a large SDK and detailed checklists. Each PMDG aircraft has a detailed SDK that provides access to most controls and indicators. On the other hand, the Aerosoft A3xx series SDKs are detailed, but compact. They provide access to most controls, indicators, and markers for the start, in progress, and end for each stage of flight. Each SDK will require evaluating what it can or can’t provide, building support, and testing. Evaluating and testing are the most time consuming parts of building TFM support for an aircraft. Below are estimated due dates for each of the PMDG aircraft.

 

sept 22 2022 737

mar 20 2023 777

sept 22 2023 747

 

Since these dates are estimated guidelines, we could finish early. Each week of the rebuild process will feature a blog post covering the completed items for that week and a video demonstration of those items.

 

Will you release partial support for an aircraft?

In the past, we would release support as we built it – the alpha versions were the released version. Now, we only release a feature when it is complete. Sure, it might need more work, but the feature is still complete. The new ILS feature is an example of this. It is complete, but we can still add to it. From now on, aircraft are part of this decision. An incomplete aircraft means beta or alpha versions, which we will not release. Since TFM is open source, anyone can retrieve the source code, build it, test it, then report on it. You can report bugs, new features, confirm existing bugs, and report a fixed bug. For this, you need Visual Studio 2022, a GitHub account, and a local install of git for Windows. I recommend consulting the documentation for these products to get started with testing preview versions of TFM.

At the end of this week, we will continue our series on the PMDG 737 rebuild process. If you have any new features or bugs to report, press right bracket (]), then CTRL+Shift+I while TFM is running to reach the GitHub issue queue. Try to find existing bugs or features to comment on before creating a new one. Trying to get started and need help? Feel free to fill out the contact form. We will get back with you soon.

 

PMDG 737 rebuild, week 3: Looking “Forward” to next week

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Over the past two weeks, we have been rebuilding the PMDG 737 Aft Overhead panels. This week we finished them. They follow the same format as the previous ones. Switches and buttons first, then indicators. As always, each panel has its own set of settings found in TFM’s settings dialog. Below is a list of panels not covered in previous weeks.

 

Dome lights

It has a single switch to set the dome lights. Choices are dim, off, and bright. This panel has no keyboard shortcuts assigned to its controls.

 

EEC

 

  • ALT+L – Engine #1.
  • ALT+R – Engine #2.
  • ALT+1 – ALT+6 – The various EEC indicators.

 

Oxygen

 

  • ALT+X – Oxygen needle.
  • ALT+O – Oxygen switch
  • ALT+1 – Oxygen indicator.

 

Gear

 

  • ALT+1 – Nose gear indicator.
  • ALT+2 – Left gear indicator.
  • ALT+3 – Right gear indicator.

 

Flight recorder

  • ALT+F – Flight recorder switch.
  • ALT+1 – Flight recorder indicator.

If you would like to provide feedback to TFM, while TFM is running, press right bracket (]), followed by Ctrl+Shift+I to launch the GitHub issue queue. Here, you can create new issues to report a bug or request a new feature. If you see a feature or bug report similar to your own, comment on that one before considering making a new one. If you need help on a one-on-one basis, or need help getting started, feel free to contact us. We will get back with you soon.

 

PMDG 737 rebuild, week 2: PSEU and service interphone

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In week 2 of the PMDG 737 rebuild, we took time to rebuild the aft overhead panels PSEU and service interphone. These panels are fairly simple, featuring a single control for each. The PSEU panel has an indicator, and the service interphone panel has a switch that turns the service phone on and off. Again, these panels come with companion settings for TFM found at settings>PMDG>speech events> 737.