CRJ-200 v1.7 Issues (XP 10.5x)

[kentwerickson]

Having a couple of issues with the CRJ-200 v1.7 for XP 10.5x.

1) If I increase the sim speed while in flight (e.g., to 2x normal speed), the CRJ-200 automatically rolls back its thrust levers to IDLE (and holds them there). And of course with no thrust control the plane eventually falls from the sky. However if I set the sim speed back to real time, I regain control over the thrust levers.

2) Relatedly, if I start from say a 3nm approach (using XP's :Location" menu), the thrust levers become stuck in the IDLE position. (p.s., Not sure about this, but it seems that maybe the DRM verification has changed in v1.7. On some occasions, when I try to start from a 3/10nm approach, there is a delay in the plane becoming active (powered up), accompanied by "Waiting to connect to server," which impedes the ability to use this feature of XP to practice approaches).

I use an Xbox 360 controller, with the thrust/power controls mapped to the two triggers. In both cases above, when I use the trigger to increase the thrust, the thrust levers in the CRJ flicker/flutter but do not move. I also have power/thrust control mapped to keys on my keyboard, yet with the same result. Likewise, I have tried using my mouse in the 3D cockpit view to move the thrust levers forward--same result; the thrust levers flicker but won't budge. 

UPDATE: I just noticed that the cause, in the second scenario above, is that the CRJ is autonomously deploying its thrust reversers. And if I pull them in, they just go right back out again. This is probably also what is happening in the first scenario above. The magic question is why this happens in mid-flight? (auto thrust reversers are not armed). I have tested this several times, with all of my third-party plugins disabled (so no conflict there).

Edited December 27, 2016 by kentwerickson

[philipp]

1) sounds like a broken preference file to me, like you are triggering two commands with one button. See if the same happens if you change the simulation speed directly via the dataref (using DataRefEditor).

2) Starting up the plane in a situation other than "cold&dark" or "engines running" is not supported and will lead to unpredictable results.

[kentwerickson]

3 hours ago, philipp said:

1) sounds like a broken preference file to me, like you are triggering two commands with one button. See if the same happens if you change the simulation speed directly via the dataref (using DataRefEditor).

2) Starting up the plane in a situation other than "cold&dark" or "engines running" is not supported and will lead to unpredictable results.

I tried re-setting my preferences, which does not seem to make a difference (and I have verified that I do not have two buttons/keys mapped to the same function/dataref). Regarding point 2) above, starting a plane in an approach scenario is a core feature of XP. And so if an aircraft does not support this feature, then in my estimation it is not 100% compatible with XP and, importantly, should be clearly advertised/marketed as such. I've had this debate with Cameron, who simply rejects the argument. But merely saying so does not make it so.

Edited December 27, 2016 by kentwerickson

[philipp]

I have tested on XP10, 11, Windows and Mac and do not see any throttle problem neither with 2x sim speed (sim time running faster) nor with 2x ground speed (sim time runs standard but plane covers more ground distance).

I was also reliably getting the plane launched in the air by selecting an approach scenario, pressing the pause key, waiting for all the systems to initialize (note that this requires the "start with engines running" setting to be set), and then un-pausing the sim to fly the approach. 

As I said, this kind of "duplicate assignment" where one key triggers two unrelated functions is usually the sign of a bad X-Plane preference file. Which is cleared by deleting the files under $X-Plane/Output/preferences

Edited December 27, 2016 by philipp

[kentwerickson]

35 minutes ago, philipp said:

I have tested on XP10, 11, Windows and Mac and do not see any throttle problem neither with 2x sim speed (sim time running faster) nor with 2x ground speed (sim time runs standard but plane covers more ground distance).

I was also reliably getting the plane launched in the air by selecting an approach scenario, pressing the pause key, waiting for all the systems to initialize (note that this requires the "start with engines running" setting to be set), and then un-pausing the sim to fly the approach. 

As I said, this kind of "duplicate assignment" where one key triggers two unrelated functions is usually the sign of a bad X-Plane preference file. Which is cleared by deleting the files under $X-Plane/Output/preferences

Thanks Philipp. I did delete my preferences folder, and let XP create it anew. I need to test further, but this seems to have solved the issue with increasing sim time (although I also re-downloaded and re-installed the CRJ-200 from X-Aviation, and so perhaps this is what fixed the problem). However, I still see the CRJ autonomously engaging its thrust reversers on approach.