Welcome to week 27 of the PMDG 737 rebuild series. A lot has gone into the past 4 weeks, and we have a lot to cover. The control stand is finished, and we have some bug fixes most people will like. The fall 2022 survey is now closed. Thanks to the people who filled it out. We will post the results on Sunday’s blog post for week 27. Now, on with the new content!
MSFS Performance fixes
Many users have noticed that TFM will cause MSFS to buffer audio, drop frames in the video, and on occasion crash. The obvious problem is the airports database and its size. The default MSFS airports database is around 780MB on disk. That’s almost 800MB of text files! When loaded into TFM, it expands to around 2GB. For some reason, loading the MSFS airports database caused GPU overloads, dropped frames, and code matrix overloads. We implemented a fix for it. However, our testing is fairly limited to a few users at this point. To check if the problem is fixed for you, do the following.
NOTE: The following steps requires Open broadcasting system (OBS). So, make sure you have downloaded, installed, and configured it for an MSFS recording session.
- Start MSFS and load into a PMDG 737 aircraft.
- Start OBS and set up for an MSFS recording.
- Start the recording session in OBS.
- While recording a video, force TFM to produce problems. A common way to cause problems is open the cockpit panels with left bracket ([), then Ctrl+P.
- When done trying to crash MSFS or TFM, stop the OBS recording.
- In OBS, go to help>logs>upload and activate the menu item.
- In the logs successfully uploaded window, press the analyze button. A webpage appears with the results.
- Read through the results. If TFM is not causing problems, you will have no GPU or code matrix overruns.
- Close OBS.
It would help us if you would send us your OBS analyzer results, especially if it identifies GPU and code matrix problems. You can send the results to info at talkingflightmonitor.com. Note the @ is spelled out with spaces around it.
The PMDG 737 FMC slash key
The slash (/) key on the PMDG 737 is now fixed. This includes the P3D and MSFS versions of the PMDG 737.
Control Stand
The control stand is self explanatory, so we wont go into much detail about its operation here. However, we will go over the keyboard commands for each section. Most of these sections are split into groups to accommodate keyboard commands. All of these controls have the ability to be silent. Just go to TFM settings/PMDG/737 speech events/Control Stand to find the sections below. Check the box to have TFM announce the value when it changes, and uncheck the box to have it remain silent when the value changes.
CDU
- Has no keyboard commands.
Trim
ALT+T – Elevator trim. Use ‘U’ and ‘D’ to change the value.
ALT+A – Aileron trim. Use ‘L’ and ‘R’ to change values. Currently there is no method to center it.
ALT+B – Stab trim. This is a read-only view.
ALT+E – Electrical stab trim switch. Use SPACE or ENTER to change.
ALT+P – Auto pilot stab trim. Use SPACE or ENTER to change.
ALT+S – Stab trim. Use SPACE or ENTER to change.
Pedestal
ALT+F – Pedestal flood light. Use I and D to change the value.
ALT+P – Pedestal brightness. Use I or D to change the value.
ALT+K – Parking brake lever. Use SPACE or ENTER to change.
ALT+1 – Parking brake indicator.
ALT+2 – Pedestal unlock indicator.
ALT+3 – Unlock failure indicator.
Fire protection
The keyboard commands are grouped because there are too many controls for individual keyboard commands.
ALT+H – Fire handles. For each focused fire handle, press P to pull/push the handle, L to turn it left, and R to turn it right. The focused fire handle must be pulled out to turn I while a fire or fire test is in progress.
ALT+C – Fire alarm cutoff switch. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.
ALT+O – Overheat detector switches. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.
ALT+T – Fire tests. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.
ALT+1 – Fire handle indicators.
ALT+2 – Overheat indicators
ALT+4 – Extinguisher test indicators.
Cargo fire protection
ALT+F – Forward selector switch. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.
ALT+A – AFT selector switch. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.
ALT+W – Forward fire detector switch. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.
ALT+E – AFT fire detector switch. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.
ALT+I – Discharge. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.
ALT+T – Test. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.
ALT+1 – Forward extinguisher test indicator
ALT+2 – Aft extinguisher test indicator
ALT+3 – Forward fire indicator.
ALT+4 – Aft fire indicator.
ALT+5 – Detector fault indicator
ALT+6 – Discharge indicator
Transponder
Left bracket ([), then Shift+T – Opens the alternate transponder window.
ALT+E – Transponder code. Type a value and press ENTER.
ALT+S – Transponder source switch. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.
ALT+A – Transponder alt source. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.
ALT+M – Transponder mode switch. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.
ALT+I – Ident switch. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.
ALT+T = Transponder test. Press SPACE or ENTER to change.. WARNING: the test feature only works under certain conditions.
ALT+1 – Transponder failure indicator
The next update will come in week 29 or 30 when we finish up the PMDG 737 and push it out the door. Have fun with the new release. You can download it by clicking the preview releases at the top of the page. If you need help getting started with TFM, feel free to send us a contact by filling out the form on the contact us page. Have fun flying, and don’t forget the bug reports and feature requests.
