Month: December 2022

Fall 2022 survey results

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Each year, we put out a survey asking the blind simming community where TFM should focus its development efforts. The topics included in each survey are ones that have a significant impact on our time and resources or have no definitive answer through social media polling. After the survey has finished, we gather the results and publish them for the public to read. Sometimes we put out follow-up surveys to answer questions posed by the previous survey or new topics that are asked before the next fall survey is posted. The rest of this post has the results of the fall 2022 survey that ran for the month of November 2022. In the results of the survey, we will put priority on answers with a rating of 50% or higher. Questions where answers are listed from most voted on to least voted on, we will work on resolutions in the order listed. Thanks to everyone who took part in the fall 2022 survey. The survey results are below.

 

Do you have interest in a mobile app?

60% yes

40% no

 

What platform are you most likely to use?

85.7% IOS

57.1% Watch OS

42.9% Android

14.3% Mac

 

Should we invest in a mobile version of TFM, rank the TFM features that we should include in TFM mobile. Results are listed from most voted on to least voted on.

PMDG Panels

Flight Status

PMDG FMC

Ability to automatically announce changes in panel controls

Vatsim data

 

What PMDG aircraft should TFM focus on when support for the 737 is finished?

64.3% 747

35.7% 777

 

Should the 737, 747, and 777 include first officer type of features? This may include checklists, separation of work loads, and more.

73.3% yes

26.7% no

 

Choose the types of additional vatsim data TFM should include. Results are listed from most voted on to least voted on.

ATIS Information, Weather, runway usage patterns, frequency

Facilities, ratings for controlled locations

Pilot ratings, new supervisor, others

Prefiles, information on the prefiled flight plans

general, version, last updated, provider etc

Servers, information about the login servers

 

The Vatsim traffic tab of the nearby aircraft window includes the following columns. Rank them in the way you want them listed in TFM: Results are listed from most voted on to least voted on.

Callsign

Distance From

Rating

Altitude

Ground Speed

Heading

Bearing to

 

The Vatsim controllers tab of the nearby aircraft window includes the following columns. Rank them in the order you want them listed in TFM. Results are listed from most voted on to least voted on.

Callsign

Visible Range

Rating

Facility

Frequency

 

What forms of documentation do you have an interest?

60 % Text files in the TFM download

60 % A keypress within TFM

53.3 % YouTube videos

40 % A new website hosting the documentation

33.3 % Blog posts in a documentation category

26.7 % Microsoft Word Files

20 % Podcast episodes

6.7 % I don’t want documentation at all

 

How verbose should we make TFM documentation:

53.3 % Verbose

46.7 % Brief

 

What database feature should we focus on next?

86.7 % Flight tracker

13.3 % Landing Reports

 

Identify areas where the PMDG 737 FMC lacks. The following are points of interest taken from the short answers given.

It is too slow.

The cursor in the display test jumps around.

Not all FMC buttons have visible keyboard accelerators.

The FMC should be easier to use for new users.

The controls are visually confusing to look at.

 

PMDG rebuild series, week 27: Control Stand, MSFS performance, close to the end

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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.

 

  1. Start MSFS and load into a PMDG 737 aircraft.
  2. Start OBS and set up for an MSFS recording.
  3. Start the recording session in OBS.
  4. 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.
  5. When done trying to crash MSFS or TFM, stop the OBS recording.
  6. In OBS, go to help>logs>upload and activate the menu item.
  7. In the logs successfully uploaded window, press the analyze button. A webpage appears with the results.
  8. Read through the results. If TFM is not causing problems, you will have no GPU or code matrix overruns.
  9. 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.