MD 530 Setup Issues, Yes I did RTFM

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biker01
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Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2019 10:27 pm
MD 530 Setup Issues, Yes I did RTFM

Post by biker01 » Sat Nov 09, 2019 11:16 pm

FSX Is Acceleration version.
Windows 7- 64 bit Home Premium, 10.0.61637.0
FSX-X pack.20070926-1421
19 Gig memory 1333
AMD FX-6300 Six-Core Processor
DirectX 11
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti
ASUS 27" Display
Have registered FSUIPC installed in FSX but have not configured for this vehicle yet.

Controls:
Saitek AV8R-01 Stick
Saitek Pedals
Saitek Radio Stack (to be added later)
Mouse
Standard USA Keyboard

- Setup executable run as Admin

---> First thing to mention is that the setup executable looks nothing at all like the one shown in the "Rororcraft Flight Manual" document named "MV_MD530F.pdf" Some of the settings appear but there seems to be no "Controls Menu" screen. This inconsistency along with the setup not appearing to save has me wondering if there is an install error. I don't understand the significance of the 3 setup choices ('Platforms' to install to) for FSX on the first screen of the setup app. Without further explanations of the meaning of the 'Platforms' I am left without a clue. I clicked the second radio button.

- What is the reference to the default "C127" on page 4 of "MV_MD530F.pdf"?

- Vehicle starts up without configuration settings applied even after I hit the save settings button. I saw no indication anywhere that confirmed the setings were being saved. I wanted doors and pilot but no doors and pilot appear after startup.

- Main screen opens with only airport in full screen, no cockpit/superstructure,etc. I switch to virtual cockpit view and superstructure appears with only the top row of instruments visible when zoomed all the way out.

- When I raise the collective the engine appears to kill or stop and I assume this is because I could not click the governor. because I am unable to pan the cockpit view I cannot access the governor button or anything else for that matter. I assume the engine kills because I have not paired the throttle to the collective.

- Even though I set up the vehicle to start hot and ready to fly I am clearly not able to apply collective to get off the ground.

So what I have here right from the start is a great deal of frustration in getting this model working. After reading and re-reading the Milviz part of the manual, I still am stuck with no solution to the missing cockpit and the starting issues.

Suggestions are welcome.

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doodlebug
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Location: LYX>YUL
Re: MD 530 Setup Issues, Yes I did RTFM

Post by doodlebug » Tue Nov 12, 2019 1:39 pm

Platforms refers to the sim platform (FSX or P3D).
FSX:SE refers to the Steam Edition which you can ignore, as you have the stand-alone FSX +Acceleration.

Apologies, RTFM has returned to bite us on the butt. The configuration manager has been updated, but the manual has not. Revising it is going to the top of my todo list. I gather you found the shortcut to the new configuration manager (MVAMS) on your desktop. If the configuration is not being saved it could be a permissions problem. Please go to C:\Users\{your user account}\AppData\Local\MVAMS right click MVAMS.exe, select Properties > Compatibility and select Run this program as administrator.

The reference to the C127 refers to the aircraft that FSX loads by default at startup. It is important to leave the default aircraft as an aircraft other than a Milviz one. Our products will not work if selected as default aircraft.

biker01
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2019 10:27 pm
Re: MD 530 Setup Issues

Post by biker01 » Tue Nov 12, 2019 8:25 pm

Thanks for the new info. I wondered if C127 meant the Cessna 127 but I couldn't figure out the What for or Why. Now that I know the reason, I will change the default to C127. I think I previously made the MD530 the default so I could skip that load step while setting up.

I did run the config manager as ADMIN and it did save a shortcut to desktop.

It is good to know that the appearance of the config program was as designed and I didn't muck something up.

If I run MVAMS again will it overwrite all settings or will it be necessary for me to clean files off the drive and delete stuff in the registry? I have done things like that before but naturally if your program does a "clean" install then it makes no sense to risk corrupting something.

So tonight I will try to redo the setup. I am hoping that will solve the loss of the cockpit display upon startup.

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doodlebug
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Re: MD 530 Setup Issues, Yes I did RTFM

Post by doodlebug » Tue Nov 12, 2019 9:28 pm

MVAMS should overwrite the settings. If it doesn't, then we have another problem.
NB - it's best to run MVAMS before running FSX. Don't run them together.

biker01
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Re: MD 530 Setup Issues, Yes I did RTFM

Post by biker01 » Wed Nov 13, 2019 2:02 am

So I just did a reinstall and started FSX with the C172 and then changed to the MD530.
May main display initializes appears without a fixed 2D cockpit (see ScreenGrab1 attached.) This was with the "Views/View mode ..../Cockpit" selected.

Is there no fixed 2D cockpit in this model? I have another smaller display I use for just the instrument pod for my heli setup.

When I used MVAMS to configure the craft, I saw no feedback from the application that my settings were saved after I clicked the "Save Settings" button. This is very disconcerting. I expect a well-written application to respond in some way to that action. I have run the program as administrator. When the heli is in the side view none of the options (doors, pilot) are rendered in the image.

Until I get a little more experience with this craft, I really would like Ctrl-E to start the engine and it has no effect now even with the C172 defaults.
Attachments
ScreenGrab 1.jpg
ScreenGrab 1.jpg (113.74 KiB) Viewed 1232 times

JonathanBleeker
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Re: MD 530 Setup Issues, Yes I did RTFM

Post by JonathanBleeker » Wed Nov 13, 2019 9:28 am

We don't do 2D panels.

biker01
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Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2019 10:27 pm
Re: MD 530 Setup Issues, Yes I did RTFM

Post by biker01 » Wed Nov 13, 2019 4:33 pm

OK so no 2D panel. For the instruments only monitor I guess I'll just open a second virtual cockpit and resize it to the smaller screen if that works.

I still would like some clues as to why the setup application is not saving/applying my choices.

Any help here?

JonathanBleeker
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Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 7:38 pm
Re: MD 530 Setup Issues, Yes I did RTFM

Post by JonathanBleeker » Thu Nov 14, 2019 1:48 pm

Its a bit of a puzzle for us as well. Just to be clear, you are saving the settings before you select the aircraft in sim?

biker01
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Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2019 10:27 pm
Re: MD 530 Setup Issues, Yes I did RTFM

Post by biker01 » Fri Nov 15, 2019 4:20 pm

I have reopened the MD530 main installer application today and recognized that I probably installed the "SE" edition wherein I should have selected the top Radio button for the "Stand Alone" version. At the time I had no idea what the "SE" meant.

Can you confirm that this might cause the problem of having none of the MVAMS options take effect?

As I have said several times in this post I DID click on the "Save Defaults" button. I ran the MVAMS app as Administrator by itself before starting FSX. I also opend FSX with the Cessna 172 as the default aircraft and then switched to the heli.

Just so we are clear on what I did I included a screen grab of the exact form which was displayed:
MVAMS Screen Grab.jpg
MVAMS Screen Grab.jpg (72.02 KiB) Viewed 1209 times
As I mentioned previously there was no message of any kind returned from the MVAMS application, that the settings were saved successfully. The "Save Defaults" button didn't flicker or change state when I clicked on it as some apps do. All program feedback left me thinking that nothing happened.

After clicking the "Save Defaults"button I exited the window via the "X" in the top right corner.

JonathanBleeker
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Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 7:38 pm
Re: MD 530 Setup Issues, Yes I did RTFM

Post by JonathanBleeker » Fri Nov 15, 2019 4:36 pm

Judging by the fact that you are able to run it in your simulator, it installed correctly.

As for the save defaults button, while there isn't a message, you can always re-open the MVAMS to check if your settings persisted.

And lastly, (forgot about this one), settings are livery specific. Are you choosing the same livery that you set up in the MVAMS in the sim?

biker01
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Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2019 10:27 pm
Re: MD 530 Setup Issues, Yes I did RTFM

Post by biker01 » Fri Nov 15, 2019 11:35 pm

The screen grab I posted was run subsequent to the initial setting so it appears that the settings may have been saved since they are present in the screen grab. Good to know the info. about there being no feedback other than the recurrence in the next MVAMS session.

I believe the livery specific condition should have been legitimate. I believe I chose Black Magic each time I did the setup and then loaded the save model in FSX.

Is there a way I can check the .ini file for this craft? That is can I read it with a text editor? If so where is it located and what generally should I look for in the file regarding the doors pilot and hot start parameters?

JonathanBleeker
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Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 7:38 pm
Re: MD 530 Setup Issues, Yes I did RTFM

Post by JonathanBleeker » Sat Nov 16, 2019 6:32 pm

It doesn't generate an ini file, but rather custom binary files. If your settings persist in the MVAMS after closing it and re-opening it, then it definitely did write to the files and the problem would be with your simulator not reading them.

biker01
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2019 10:27 pm
Re: MD 530 Setup Issues, Yes I did RTFM

Post by biker01 » Sun Nov 17, 2019 8:54 pm

Yesterday I did a fresh install after an uninstall from the downloaded source file.
I selected the first radio button choice as the FSX stand alone.
I followed all the information in this thread and the manual.
I loaded the C172 at my local airport.
I changed aircraft to MD530
I loaded saved settings to map my AVAR Stick and Saitek pedals to the sim controls.
After loading the cockpit view opened.
I switched to external side view which showed no doors and no pilot.
Engine while on when the cockpit view opened quickly died as it had many times before. (I suppose this could be a result of the throttle being at minimum when the view opened.)

I manually started the heli a few times and got off the ground and flew it around. It seemed to be a really doggy machine as far as forward acceleration is concerned. It seemed like it was suffering from drag induced by the open cockpit. RPM wanted to redline all the time while trying to maintain only 60 knots.

I included in my first post all the information about my version of FSX and as near as I can tell it should be capable of creating the setup. Several other helis I have downloaded for free (Eurocopter, Augusta, etc.) have installed and run with acceptable characteristics.

In the final evaluation I am not really very happy with this addon. If I have no solution to the problems I've encountered I really would like a refund. Without a properly functioning heli I know I will never use it so I feel I am out 40 bucks.


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